Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #13 - A Year of Choices (And Some Changes)

It's the first of the month. That means it's time for another challenge over at The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge. We are celebrating our 1st Birthday!! It's been an awesome year and we have lots of fun things planned for our birthday celebration. Be sure to check out this month's challenge post for some amazing inspiration.

We are also implementing a few changes to our challenge rules, so be sure to remember the following when creating your June post.

1. You must include the challenge graphic.
2. You must comment on at least 3 design team member's blogs to be eligible for prizes and recognitions.
3. You may combine with 4 other challenges.

Also, our sponsor this month is Maya Road and they are offering 2 prizes filled with Maya Road Goodness to our 2 lucky random winners.

Our theme this month is "A Year of Choices." You can pick out any theme we have done over the past year. How fun is that? For my project I used several themes: Spray Inks, Around the House, Stamps and Flowers.

I made a very Patriotic American Shadowbox. Since Memorial Day was last week and the 4th of July is coming up and I bought an awesome new Unity Stamp Company Patriotic Stamp set, I was in the mood to make some thing red, white and blue.

Michaels has had these 7 Gypsies Shadowboxed in the Clearance section a while now and I finally picked one up.

To create the background I brushed on some Decorate Twinkles Glitter Paint in Blue Galaxy.

Then I sprayed on Decoart Spray Ink in Primary Cyan and Maya Road Spray Mist in Strawberry.

Here's the final project.

When I was trying to decide what to do, I thought my big Unity Flag Stamp would fit perfectly in the big opening - and it did!! I also used the smaller round star with stripes Unity stamp. I used Decorate Media Matte Medium to adhere the stamped images to a piece of thick chipboard before I adhered them to the box. I stamped Let Freedom Ring on a Maya Road Ticket and stenciled a red star on the ticket with Decoart paint and an Andy Skinner Stencil. I attached it to the shadowbox with a Maya Road Mini Clothespin in White.

In the lower left corner of the box I added a Maya Road Kraft Flower that I colored with Stampers Big Brush pens in red and blue. Then I added a wood 4 and 3 blue Maya Road flowers. For the rest of the embellishments I used stickers from various companies. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will play with us this month!!

Moxie Fab World Creative Spaces Link Party

The Moxie Fab World is having a Link Party. Teri is asking everyone to show their creative craft storage solutions. Check it out here.  I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of Volume #3 of Creative Spaces. I have looked at the other two volumes countless times, especially when I was designing my new craft space.

I decided to show how I store my spray inks and paints. I ordered a 3 Tier Tray from One Kings Lane. I didn't know what I was going to do with it, but I knew I would find a place for it in my new house and after it sat assembled in my area for "things that need to go somewhere" I had the bright idea that I could store my spray inks and paints in it. It was just the right size. I put it on a lazy susan I bought at Walmart so it will spin. I also purchased the smaller cosmetics caddy from Joss & Main with the same thought in mind - it'll go somewhere. So I tried out my Dylusions Spray Inks and I was so happy that I could get 4 of them in each section and it holds all of them!!  I love these two storage solutions because they allow me store upwards and they fit nicely on the counter in the bathroom of my craft room and they spin for easy access.

My original plan was to paint them hot pink, because the accents in my craft room are hot pink and turquoise, but when I put all those colorful inks in them I thought the bright pink might be too much. But, I'm still debating that. I'm also showing my version of the tin can storage like the ones shown in the Moxie Fab World post. I used a large canned pumpkin can. (I go through these cans because pumpkin is loaded with fiber and my dogs love it. It keeps them very regular and it's an awesome treat - FYI) I painted the can with a spray paint/primer in one. I put several coats on it. I love how big it is and how many of my brushes and tools it will hold. It also lives on my bathroom counter top.