Up Up and Away - Pretty Little Studio

 

You know me, every time I start to throw something away that is torn or broken, the little creative light bulb over my head starts to flash and I realize I have another awesome trash to treasure project just waiting to be completed.  Such was the case with this sad piece of wall decor that had been hanging in my laundry room for so long that the decoupaged paper had begun to peel off.

Into my craft room I went and with the help of my acrylic paints and PRETTY LITTLE STUDIO papers, mostly from the Birthday Cake Collection, I turned a sad, torn wall hanging destined for the trash pile into this:

I loved adding these 3D balloons and think they are worthy of a close-up or two:

Would you like to see how I made this?  For step by step instructions, head over to the Pretty Little Studio BLOG, where I am featured today!  Hope to see you there!!!

A Challenging Weekend

This weekend, I made sure that I took time out from the laundry and the grocery shopping and the house cleaning to have a little crafty me time.  I love challenges, and BIRDS OF A FEATHER had a couple that really caught my interest.  First, I completed the Scraplift Challenge.  Now, for those of you who don't know, a scraplift is where you take another person's layout and, basically, copy it as much or as little as you like.  When I was just starting out and trying to figure out "my style" and learning different techniques, I did a lot of scraplifting.  It was the perfect way to teach myself how to get an end result that I liked.  Today, it's still fun to occasionally find a design I like and make it my own.  The best part - like most things in scrapbooking, there is no right or wrong way to scraplift.  The ONLY hard and fast rule - give credit to your source of inspiration!

I chose to lift a layout by the very talented Lisa Wilkinson, which can be found HERE.  I chose Lisa's layout because, like me, she loves to incorporate lots of layers and bits of randomness here and there.  She definitely speaks my scrappy language!  I chose some wonderful new Heidi Swapp papers from her Sugar Chic collection and lots of bits and piecesfound on my always messy work table.  The picture is of my second daughter flexing her beautiful muscles.  Her strength and determination is always an inspiration to me so I thought this picture was perfect for a layout - even if you don't see her face.  The paint is, partly, a happy accident that I was trying to clean up.  I just took a deep breath, convinced myself that messes can be a good thing, and went with it. 

I like the look the two different "fonts" of letter stickers together.  What do you think?

I just kept adding different layers here and there to get my final look.  I stitched and doodled on some layers, and I added pop-dots under others to give emphasis.  And see what I mean about randomness from my messy table?  I see things from at least five different manufacturers on this close-up!

Well, that's it for tonight.  Stay-tuned - tomorrow I will be back with my second layout from this weekend, and I can't WAIT to show it to you!