The Lost Art of Penmanship

When I was little learning cursive wasn't an option to learn or not, but as time passed it seems to be an art form that has faded. I am not a big fan of my handwriting, I feel like I have a million different versions of my own font! Depending on the mood, pen or how rushed I am; it can be neat and sweet or messy and unreadable. I know how important journaling is in your scrapbook, so I usually type or print out my journaling, but its also important to scrapbook your own handwriting! Calligraphy has been hitting the spot light lately and I love the way each calligrapher has their own style to such a beautiful art form. 

I have decided to take this time to not only get more confident about my own writing but learn the art form of calligraphy! I have been messing around with a couple types of pens, markers etc. I've looked at Instagram, Google and Pinterest to get inspired and start writing. I really love the look of brush calligraphy and I found an amazing artist to start my journey with! 

Random Olive Design has a great Instagram and video's so you can see her in action! A newsletter, which I love, plus it's a little reminder to start writing. Plus she has an awesome Brush Letter Practice Guide you can buy, download and print to your hearts content all the pages you need to practice. 

The class cost is going up from $20 to $27 !!! More great content has been added to the class but their is still time to get the class for $20 !!!! 

CLICK HERE TO GET BRUSH LETTER PRACTICE GUIDE

This is a peak of me practicing from my Instagram
This is a graph composition book and I am using a Copic Marker! 

Winnie the Pooh Banner

My friend's little one had his birthday and his favorite is Winnie the Pooh! I wanted to help out and make a banner for the event! I'm obsessed with the bee embossing folder, it's so cute, I ordered it just for this project. I'm also obsessed with my circuit explore (that's how I made this banner). I have been a circuit fan for a long time and then the explore came out and I am an even bigger fan! I will be sharing projects in the future as well, so if you have an explore keep a look out!

I haven't had much time to be in my craft room, I've been staying downstairs with puppy as he recovers from surgery. After some bumps in the road we are on our way to being back 100%. Yesterday was national dog day, I included a picture of my furry babies!

CS: Prism. Ribbon: May Arts & Other. Embossing Folder: Darice. 

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Roxi and Hunter! 

Where in the World?!

It has been an interesting year. I have been keeping busy with school and work, among other things. I even started learning more about Essential Oils. Most recently our dog had surgery and he has needed my undivided attention. I have been giving him lots of love and making sure he is taken care of. Thanks for all the loving messages and checking in on puppy! As I slowly get more free time, I have plan to get crafty! I have been busy learning all about pretty planning and that its a whole entire other world! Below is a snippet of my life the last couple of months. I look forward coming back to blogging, sharing my creations and seeing what all my craft friends have been up to.

New Look and New Year!

I am so excited to be back and with a new look! There was some bumps on the road with my new design, but I got in touch with an amazing designer who helped me (and still is) complete the new blog look! I am in love with it! Still a couple more things that need updating, but I will be back next week with some new projects! 

Turning Two Banner

Hello Crafty World! I am sure all of you are just as busy as we are getting ready for the holidays, craft fairs and life in general. I have been creating like crazy just not too much time to post. Plus I have lots of fun things planned for my blog.

The other day I found a big file of photos of my previous creations, I was so relieved. I had been looking for the pictures for a long time. This is was one of my favorite to make. So whimsical and girly at the same time. After the birthday I took out "is 2" so it could be hung in Norah's room! The flowers are from this Sizzix die, they are very easy to use and lots of fun. Since the die is a bigz die you can cut it out of fabric or felt and have the die go even further!

CS: Prism. Ribbon: Making Memories. Rhinestone: Unknown. Die Cuts: Cricut & Sizzix. Stamp: Fancy Pants. Ink: Versamark.

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Baby Guest Book

I got a last minute request to make a small baby guest book for a baby shower. I can't say no to help making a shower more special and having a place to treasure some of the memories from that day. Thankfully I have a big collection of paper, dies and embellishment to make the project.

I didn't want to stick to a square or basic shape album, so I changed it up and decided to go with a baby onesie shape. Seriously how cute is this?! I picked lighter shades of blue and added a grey tone in their too. I wanted the pages to have enough space for the guest to write a special message, so I added the different icons/characters at the bottom of the page. The entire book is make with just cardstock :)

The die is from Sizzix (Baby Onesie) but unfortunately I don't see it on the sizzix site or anywhere else online :( Here is the item on Amazon. If you have a cricut they do sell cartridges with onesie images or in the Design Studio there is lots of onesie's available with the subscription. Non subscription user their is even a free onesie (#M4361B).

Cardstock: Prism. Die Cuts: Sizzix & Cricut. Rings: Junkitz. 

Hot Air Balloon & Cloud Mobile

Hello World! It has been a whirl wind here, both good and bad. I was sick for about 3 weeks, no fun for sure, but glad to be better and back! Lots of great things are coming to my blog and I am so excited to share them with you!

For right now I wanted to share an out of the box project, it's a chipboard mobile! That's right its made entirely of chipboard. I had so much fun creating this, its definitely a technique I will do again. I had made a video but for some unfortunate reason it got deleted (insert sad face here). I am hoping to get my hands on the supplies, so I can do a quick video on this.

I used my local scrapbook store (The Creative Nook) AccuCut Machine to die cut out of chipboard these hot air balloons and clouds. (The "X" shape that holds the mobile together is also die cut from the AccuCut Machine).  I used a combination of misting water and Tim Holtz Distress Stain to create the washed out, colored look on the chipboard pieces.

Distress Stains: Tim Holtz Die Cuts: AccuCut. Chipboard/Twine: Unknown.

View from the bottom! 

Sailor Moon Card

Any chance I get to create a special request card, especially a Sailor Moon card, I am all over it! If your not familiar with Sailor Moon its a Japanese anime show/comic etc etc. I have always been a big fan! I created this card a little while back, but had no idea where the pictures went, well today I found them, a very exciting moment. Sorry about the coloring, the blue background on the card is a lot lighter but the picture came out so dark, couldn't do a redo since the card has been sent off to special fan :)

CS: Prism. Die Cuts: Quickutz/Lifestyle Crafts (Stars). Punch: Fiskars (Circle). PP & Popdots: Unknown. 

Close up, much better color of the blue background.

Halloween Decor and Card

Guess what holiday is approaching?! If you guessed Halloween, your right! I popped into my local scrapbook store (The Creative Nook) and some new Halloween goodies arrived. I couldn't help myself and had to get some for my design team projects this month. The store has a great collection of accucut die cuts, so I completed my creations in house. I love that they have a table and you can come and play!

I didn't want the wall/door decor to be too heavy. So I die cut it with the Accucut machine with Foam Board. Ohh yes you read that correctly, I said Foam Board! The machine cut right threw it, I was amazed, I had never tried it before and it worked perfectly.  The purple piece is cut with chipboard and I put little googly eyes in it ;) I wanted to highlight all the cool dies the store has to offer and the possibilities are endless there! Don't forget to check out the card I made too, with the scraps! I made another card but for some reason all the pictures came out fuzzy, so I will have to retake them and update this post. :D

CS: Prism. Embossing Folder & Ink: Tim Holtz/Ranger. Ribbon: May Arts. Google Eyes: Michaels. Die Cuts: Accucut (Cat, License Plate, Scalloped Board & Pumpkin), Unknown (Fence). PP: Unknown. Scissors: Martha Stewart.

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CS: Prism. Ribbo: May Arts. Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug. PP:Unknown. Die Cuts: Accucut (Bat) & Quickutz/Lifestyle Crafts (Cloud). Circle Punch: Fiskars.

Birthday Cars Card

I have been busy as a bee. New schedule, puppy and life in general. I think I got a good schedule to help me stay organized and use my time wisely. It has been a bit since I have posted but I still have been creating like crazy. Lots of fun things to share with the world. :)

Here are two cards I made with a boy/guy related theme. If you're like me this is the hardest theme to make for cards. Girl cards are easy butterfly or flowers or a cute animal. Boys on the other hand not so much. I love this car stamp from Inque Boutique, I had some trouble figuring out out to incorporate it on the card, so I decided to make it a background. I used Versamark ink and stamped it all over the cardstock! I did the same thing with the Happy stamp. I only have one circle punch (Shocker I know!) so I used that to create a peek a boo for the happy. I adore these puffies from Ki Memories they added just what I need to complete the card.

I am trying something new when I go to create a card. I am making a second one at the same time. That way if I am ever in a crunch, I have a little stack to go and snag a card. ;)

CS: Prism. Stamps: Inque Boutique (Car) & Unknown (Happy). Ink: Versamark. Embellishments: Ki Memories. Circle Punch: Fiskars.

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