When Its Just A Hot Mess!!!

So sometimes you have a great idea.

A really great idea.

You get excited about it.

And it starts out well.

Kinda.....

I started with a piece of paper that was not my fav

out of my CKC kit.

I put it in my CKC kit, because I wanted it to get used.

So I pulled it out.

I picked out this completely fun picture of 

my grandbabe and I.

I LOVE THIS PICTURE!!

He is so amazing!!!

So I have seen a lot of circles done with sewing machine,

and I've been seeing pen drawn type circles on patterned paper 

lately,

So I decided to give it a go.

So I pulled out my Tim Holtz Distress Markers

and started drawing circles on using the thin side of the markers

and 

then used the larger felt side.

I sprayed and let the paint run.

I liked it.

A lot.

I added my layers and picture,

My button border.

Still liking.

And then......

It happened.

Made me wonder what I was thinking.

WHAT WAS I THINKING??

I added BIG sprays of mist.

It made polka dots.

Ummmm......

I didn't like so much.

Hmmmmm......

But I LOVE the picture.....

And the layers.....

And the Circles.....

But those dots.....

And the Washi just doesn't work.....

They are just a problem for me.

A PROBLEM.

But I don't want to scrap the whole thing.

I don't.

But those misty dots.....

What WAS I thinking?

So I had seen something on Shimelle's blog

by Ashli Oliver, pen worker extraordinaire.

So it's a little hard to see,

but I added some pen work around the misted dots.

It helped. 

I'm gonna keep it.

Its a good lesson for me.

I don't hate it.

I LOVE the picture, 

so I'm keeping it.

Then when all else fails.....

Instagram!

=)

So what do you when it just doesn't work?

Do you scrap it and start again?

Make it work?

Hmmm.....

this was a great lesson for me.

Have a Blessed and Beautiful,

Crafty Kind of Day ~~

Layout Linky Love, Heidi Swapp Love and a Question.....Hmmm.....

Well now April has flown by like I don't know what!!!

WOW!!

I have been very busy in the Paper Crafting World 

this month,

BUT.....

I haven't taken the time to get it on here

to much......

SO that is gonna lead me to a question

at the end of this post.

BUT.....

Until Then Let's Take a Look at this month's

Lovely, Shall We?

For this first LO,
I used my  CKC April Kit.
And I'm also joining in on Ashli's LLL,
Layout Love Linky.
YAY!!

My favorite cousin was in with her wee babes.

Well let's use that term very loosely

as her wee babes are now

18, 16, and 13.

WHAT?!!!

How does this happen so quickly?!!

Anyway,

here is said 13 year old.

Ummmm.....Yes I did say 13.

Yes I do realize she looks as if she could be in college.

She is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!

And that hair!!

Oh my goodness.....

It is thick and naturally curly.

She is a Beaut inside and out.

She's also a dancer.

A beautiful Ballet dancer.

And a Contemporary dancer,

and an all around gorgeous girl.

Yes, Just Lovely She Is!

And then there was this.....

My niece went to her first Prom last weekend.

And she is her Auntie's girl, I tell you.

Silvery Sprakley Chucks with her Prom Dress.

Yes Please!!!

That's my girl!!  

I am putting together a Heidi Swapp Mini for Her.

I've been making LOTS of banners to use in this Little Mini.

Banners are fun embellies 

and so easy to make yourself.

I love to sew them together for lots of texture

and layered fun.

Here you see the top layer is popped up.

Not with pop dots, but using a little twine.

Love.

A little pen work to make that lovely title to stand out.

Love.

Indeed.

I'm just working along

like a busy little bee.

And I texted my baby Sis and Asked Her What

the Theme was for My Niece's Prom

and she writes.....

"A Night in Paris"

What?!?!!

I had already added some "Paris" bits and pieces

to this Mini.

It just seemed to fit.

And then when she told me the Theme?

I was just thrilled.

So I sent her a pic 

of some of the lovely's I'd already added.

She was thrilled too!!

YAY!!! For listening to that Still Small Voice,

and

Yes, He certainly cares about the little things too.

Love that.

And I have also been participating in Heidi Swapp's Mini Album class over on her blog.

It's right here.

and It's FREE.

F-R-E-E.

It is every Monday 

& 

Is SO.Much.Fun!!

This Mini Album is chock FULL

of Lovely Pages to embellish and play with.

Like this one.

Yep,

more handmade banners.

Love.

Week two was All About Quotes.....

This is a little stack of Quotes.

I love them.

Thank you Pinterest.

And lots of misting and masking on this one.

Ok,

so now a Question.

Do y'all keep a Blogging Calendar?

What is the method you use to post regularly?

I have the BEST intentions,

and then the day gets rolling

and pictures don't get taken 

and 

the post never gets written.

I want to be more purposeful.

I'm really wanting to post regularly,

even though its busy.

I got the distinct pleasure of being a Guest Designer

last month at CKC,

and I'd love to have more opportunities 

like that.

I also saw that Gauche Alchemy 

is looking for Design Team Members.

I'd love to be able to do something like this.

And I know posting regularly

is important. 

So what says you?
How do you do it?
I've been thinking more about
posting tutorials now and then.
Like homemade embellies
to save a little money,
and still get cute,
lovely bits for our pages.
I just LOVE things like that.
Details.....
It's a HUGE part of my style!!

Love y'all!!!

Have a Blessed and Beautiful,
Crafty Kind of Day ~~

Petrii ~~ Let's Tell the Story

I have been thinking a lot lately about my nickname.

My dear Mr. Winslow gave me this nickname years ago 

when I was a very broken girl.

My life was broken,

a shambles really,

my heart was broken,

my body was broken,

my Spirit broken.

I'm so thankful for this man,

who showed me The Way.

I asked him why he ever gave me the time of day,

and he said it was because he saw something in me.

He knew there was something special in me.

Hmmm.....

I sure couldn't see it.

But he knew that God was gonna do a BIG work in me,

and boy has He ever!!!

I am still such a work in progress,

but.....

I don't even resemble the girl I was 16+ years ago.

The old is gone.

The New has come.

And I am  SO very thankful.

So the story of my nickname Petrii,

needed to be told.

And what had me thinking about it was my recent surgery,

and other recent events that have forced me out of my

comfort zone,

and have made me soar.

So Here is one of two pages documenting my nickname 

petrii.

I love using the same picture in two different prints.

Here we have a black and white and a color.

Taken while recovering from spine surgery.

I mounted it on vellum,

and stretched the vellum over the cage,

and I just LOVE the look.

And the fact that I don't live my life in the cage

of self doubt,

self loathing,

pain & hurt.

Nope I am free.

Free to dance,

I am free to run,

I am free to live for You,

I am free!!

Love that song!

Here are some details.

Again, loving the Heidi Swapp stamps.

LOVE THEM!!!

Usually on the chip board birdies I have,

I try to color them in some way, 

but this time I kept it just the chipboard and added some

diamond stickles around the edge,

and love it!!

Then these letters were all the wrong color,

so what's a girl to do?

Well get your Tim Holtz Distress Markers out of course =)

I love the way they turned out.

I outlined them in black when I was done,

and I popped the dots on the I's.

Here is the cage under the vellum.

Love it!

Here is the second page.

The over lay is Webster's Pages,

and the birdies you see here are embossed with sticky embossing powder

and then gold glitter added,

and then I put a piece of white paper on it and used my brayer

to go over it.

This protects it from flicking off.

Sweet little birdies.....

Tucked in side this washi wrapped envelly 

is the whole story.

These LO's were so fun!!

And I'm SO glad to have this story documented.

SO happy!!!

Have a Blessed and Beautiful,

Crafty Kind of Day ~~

April Kit & 1st LO

WOW!!

I feel SO far behind this month.

I've been wanting to get my kit made and posted,

and I got it made,

but still had not gotten it posted.

I've been reorganizing my studio 

and giving the things that are older

to my nephew's girlfriend

who loves to scrapbook as well.

Here are my papers.

I am LOVING them!!!!!

I added a Glitz Color Me Happy 6x6 and a Crate Paper DIY cut apart sheet.

LOVE this line!!

And there's some Elle's Studio Everyday Collection,

and some Lucky Charm Collection in there too,

plus a couple of older papers.

Here are my solids.  

And my bits and pieces.

Lots of fun here.

So because of the reorganization,

I didn't get any embellies pulled for this kit,

but I do have them at the ready.

So here is my 1st LO of the month.

I'm so sorry my pictures didn't get turned around.

I'm telling ya,

I am definitely trying to play catch up.

I love this boy so much,

and who says you can't add a little pink to a boys LO and make it work.

I love these K & Company tags.

I've had them in my stash for far too long.

And I have chipboard pieces a plenty.....

So I've been using these.

I tell ya,

when ya get things organized you can tell what ya have.

Who knew?  

=)

A little Washi Love.

So, now I need to maybe do a challenge or two and get this kit 

a moving along.

Have a Blessed and beautiful crafty kind of day ~~