Farewell Blog Hop

Welcome to my blog! What a feast for the eyes this My Little Shoebox Blog Hop has been! The design team is so talented. It has been an honor to be included among them this past year.

Even though I've thoroughly enjoyed my time working with My Little Shoebox, I decided not to renew my contract for another year. I would like to focus more on teaching, publishing and expanding my artistic repertoire. As you can imagine, each of these things requires an abundance of time and energy. I'm excited for all the opportunities that are waiting for me to seize!

I'd like to bid a fond farewell to a wonderful company with a few of my favorite projects. Love you MLS!

Without further ado...

(Cape Cod Moments appeared recently in Somerset Memories.)

Whew, you made it to the end of my photos! Congrats!

Now, if you'd like to be entered into my own personal giveaway, please leave a comment with your favorite color of MLS Sprinkle Glaze Alphas. I will randomly choose a winner on Monday and will do my bestest to send you your favorite color. Good luck!

Now on to the GRAND PRIZE! It is only a blog away! Hop on over to Pattie Beltran's blog.

On Reaching Goals

This month, I finally reached a goal that I've been working toward for years. It is one of those goals that I never really thought I'd reach and when I found out that I did, I cried.

I was published this month in Somerset Studio.

I submitted a piece to the Alice in Wonderland call 100 years ago and hadn't heard back. I assumed that it was because I was rejected. So when I opened up my issue and thumbed through and actually found ME! I screamed with joy. Of course, this frightened the poor children sitting in the car with me half-to-death. (I look at magazines during red lights much to the annoyance of people sitting behind me in traffic. It is a terrible habit. I'm getting help for it.)

Here's my piece. Do you recognize it? (It is the heart with wings. On the very top!)

I hadn't come down from my Somerset Studio high before I got this magazine in the mail a few days later.

Hmmm. I thought to myself...I didn't order this...I wonder why I got it? Then it occurred to me that perhaps I had something published in it! And I did!

I'm still kinda in shock over the whole thing. And so happy. So very happy.

The Silhouette SD: Digital Cutting System Review

Today my review of the Silhouette SD went live at The Scrap Review. I had so much fun playing with this machine! If you are looking for a cutting system, you need to check out my review before you purchase. (Since they are a major purchase!)

I'll be chatting about my layout later this week, but here are a few projects that don't need to much explanation.

Here is a card that I made using flowers cut into various sizes, sprayed with Shimmerz Vibez and stacked. The swirl was also cut out using the Silhouette, stamped and sprayed with Shimmerz Spritz. (Both the flower and the swirls were cut out of basic copier paper.)

The Congratulations sticker is from SRM.

Now for a cute project that my girls are absolutely ga-ga over. (BTW, Old Navy kid's shirts are on sale right now!)

Isn't it beautiful? It took a long time to place all the rhinestones, but the happy smiles and refusal to remove their precious shirts at night make all that time a labor of love.

Next, I made a mini-art quilt using a dress form that I cut out from copier paper, sprayed with Shimmerz Vibez and sewed to a piece of muslin sprayed with Shimmerz and stamped. The heart is also a piece of muslin that I sprayed with Shimmerz. Can you tell I'm loving the Shimmerz? (giggle)

I've never etched glass before, but I attempted it for this review. It was amazingly easy. I was a bit worried about the whole chemical reaction thing, but it turned out to be painless. I've got plans to etch the bottle that I keep dish soap in. Won't that be pretty?

Have a great Monday!

xoxo
Bethany

Artistic Chore Chart

As a member of the Artistic Mother group, I made this simple chore chart for the sweeties as my interpretation of part of week one's assignment.

I waste so much time telling each lovely forgetful child to do the same things. (I'm positive I'm the only the mother with this problem...giggle) Now, I can just ask them if they've completed their chores. This will probably save me at least 15 minutes each day. Enough time to work on a project, right?

All the papers are from the new My Little Shoebox lines. Aren't they the cutest things ever? Those birds make my heart sing! And that car? Oh, that I could be so hip!

Can I just tell you how much I love making backgrounds? This one was made with a combination of Shimmerz Vibez, paints and oil pastels. I love how it turned out.

Have a great day!

xoxo
Bethany

Heart Sessions with Rebecca Sower

Rebecca Sower is hosting heart sessions on her blog. In order to participate, you need to post a handcrafted heart along with lovely words. I love this idea and immediately wanted to participate. Imagine hundreds of blogs all linked up with hearts. Isn't it wonderful?

Here are a some heart projects that I've completed over the past few months. I hadn't realized how much I use hearts in my work until now! It's funny how you don't even know your own work until you see it as a body.

Directions to make this piece can be found at The Next Step.

 

Directions to make this piece can be found at The Next Step.

 

Directions for this layout can be found here.

 

These tags are part of my Home album.

You can read more about this layout here.

 

To close, I'd like to leave you with a few quotes that I find inspirational. I hope you do too.

To love someone is to see a miracle invisible to others. 

(Francois Mauriac)

Be strong, go with your heart, and believe in miracles because anything...anything can happen. 

(Marlo Javidando)

Have a wonderful day!

xoxo

Bethany

Vintage Ornaments with Shimmerz

I recently purchased the Christmas postcard kit from Crafty Secrets and had a lot of fun Shimmering them up with Shimmerz paints and spritzes and Martha Stewart glitter. This is a wonderful kit that I highly recommend to anyone who likes vintage images. I blogged about this in more detail on the Shimmerz blog.

Here are the ornaments that I made.



You can see the beautiful iridescence from Shimmerz Blingz in the close-up.


I think that this one is my favorite. Those birds and that deer just melt my heart.


I used Shimmerz Blingz on the birds to give them extra sparkle.


The tinsel around the edges is from Melissa Frances. Isn't it beautiful?


More Gold Glimmer Blingz for sparkle.


This is one of my favorites too because of the cute children.



This is what the back look like. The kit came with all those stamps. Isn't that the coolest thing?


I used silver chenille stems as hangers for most of my ornaments and while I was heating up the embossing powder around the edge of the postcard, I discovered that silver chenille melts too! It changes into a more vintage looking silver that I'm totally loving. You can see it in the picture above. This may or may not be safe so please be very careful if you decide to melt your chenille, okay? I don't want anyone to inhale toxic fumes or burn their house down.

Happy Christmas!

xoxo
Bethany

Happy Laundry

With 5 active children, I do a lot of laundry. I'd say I spend at least 5 hours in my laundry room each week. For some reason, some of my worst attitude moments are spent in this busy room. Perhaps it is due to my dislike of folding. Perhaps it is due to the fact that 5/6 of the people that I wash, dry and fold for do not thank me for my efforts. (The one that thanks me is my sweet husband, Todd.) In fact, some of those 5 people actually moan and groan when I give them a basket filled with clean clothes freshly folded for them to put away. Yes, it is true. I know you can't believe it.

When I was a child, I never moaned and groaned when I found a pile of clean clothes on my bed. And I never, ever was so lazy that I just dumped that pile on the floor for a few days then swept it up and put it into the dirty clothes pile again. Never. I was a perfect child. When I found a pile of beautiful laundry on my bed, I would first put it carefully away making sure not to ruin any of the folding that took my mother so long to do. Then I would run to her joyfully singing her praises. I would make her a cup of tea and massage her feet as she rested from her labors. Yes, that is what I would do. My mother might have a different memory of my childhood laundry escapades, but since she isn't writing this post, we'll just stick with my version, okay?

Back to my laundry room...because I have some seriously ugly thoughts in that room, I knew that I needed something happy to spruce it up. I needed a reminder of how laundry is a way for a momma to show her devotion for her family despite their protests. It is an act of love that goes unnoticed (that is until it doesn't get done because that momma is sicker than a dog or tending to a newbie.) It is really part of a higher calling and I'm grateful for that.

I made this Oh Happy Day! banner to hang over the window in my laundry room. I love the bright colors and cherries. They just make me happy even when I'm crabbily folding and folding and folding.



Materials: Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker papers, brads, stamps, breadless tags, mini-album and craft flags; acrylic paint; ribbon from Michaels and Target; American Crafts pen; Harmonie buttons; DMC floss

Believe it or not, C's jubilant smile in the picture was completely unplanned. He just happened to be in the area when I was taking pictures and asked me to take a picture of him. Sometimes the best things are totally serendipitous. In my opinion, he totally makes the project shine.

Here are close-ups of each flag.

I did this project for a review on The Scrap Review of Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker products. Boy, it was fun to work with her stuff! I love her sense of humor.

I spent the entire day Saturday at a paperclay class and had a wonderful time. As soon as I finish my Santa, I'll post more about that lovely day. In the meantime, I'm on ScrapScene again with my glitter ornament project and I just found out that I'm going to be published in Scrapbook Trends in May! Yeah!

It really is a happy day! Now, off to fold and fold and fold...

xoxo

Bethany

Christmas Crafting with the Kiddos

If you are looking for a beautifully easy project to do with your children (ages 2+) I've got an idea for you.

These glittered glass ornaments are really easy, quick and gorgeous. I wish I knew how to photograph glitter better because these pics just don't do them justice.


Materials

1. Glitter in many colors. I used Martha Steward glitter that I found at Walmart. I am totally in love with Martha's glitter packs. I own every single set. Yes, every. single. one. That's how great the colors are.


I think the glitter vials are so pretty that they deserve their very own photoshoot.


You will also need...
2. Spray adhesive (I used Elmer's)
3. Clear glass ornaments (I found mine at Hobby Lobby.)
4. Various ribbons for hanging.
5. If you'd like, silver and gold snowflake stickers (I used some by Harmonie)

If you are tackling this project with wee ones, you will also need patience for a few of these...


And a broom and dust pan for a few of these...


Directions

1. Remove the metal top from the glass ornament and put it somewhere safe. So you don't lose it like we did. (ahem...) This is a job for an adult or older more careful child (8+) as it is easy to break the top while doing this.

2. Spray adhesive into the ornament. The best method for this is to place to nozzle in the ornament and spray it all around. Try to coat every surface (inside the ornament, not outside) without leaving a major puddle. This is an adult job unless you want massive sticky spots all over your workspace.

3. Dump 1 color of glitter into your ornament. Start with your lightest colored glitter. (We used up to 3 different colors in a ball. In my opinion, the best results were with 2 colors. However, flashy Zoey (my 6 y/o) would disagree.) My 8 y/o, Dani, was able to dump glitter successfully. I didn't give anyone else the option. (Did I mention that I covet my glitter?)


4. Place your thumb over the opening and shake the ornament to distribute the glitter. Everyone was able to do this step successfully as long as their thumb was big enough to cover the hole. Little Lyssie (2 y/o) had a bit of trouble because of her mini-thumb. But she still triumphed in the end.



5. Dump your second color of glitter and shake. Repeat until the entire inside of the ornament is covered in glitter.


6. When you are done, replace the cap, tie on some ribbon and enjoy the fruits of your labors!


If you have some beautiful metallic stickers, they are really impressive stuck on the outside of the ornament. These are made by Harmonie and I must say that they are absolutely exquisite. That fine detail! They are tough little buggers too. I pulled them pretty roughly by one snowflake arm without any ripping. None! I couldn't believe it. You can find the silver ones here and the gold ones here. They really add that extra oomph to this project.




I had each child make 3 ornaments for teacher gifts this year.


It was a fun project! I hope that you enjoy it too!

Happy Creating!

xoxo
Bethany