"The Best Camera....

...is the one you have with you."

 These are some of my favorite Instagram photos from our trip to Ohio. This was by far my favorite trip home, yet. It really felt like a vacation this time around. I'm sure that had a lot to do with the kids being older- no baby routines!

Light My World

I made this page using Studio Calico's June kit, So Cal. I cut several layers of circles first, then cut those into triangles. After I had the triangles, I pieced them back into circles around the page an sewed around the circles with teal thread. I hand-cut the title and added some embelishments and voila!

Crate Paper: June Color Challenge

This month's challenge included three shades of pink...I dug deep into my past CP left-overs for this one.

Pretty Peonies

A few Instagram pics of our backyard peonies. My plan is to make some sort of mini with pictures of the flowers in our gardens.

"Be True"

I'm in love with the little birdie. I found him in a bird book. I'm pretty sure some of the flowers I made were using paper from that book, too. I made this one 2 weeks ago...and I've learned some new techniques since then...I may have to go back and jazz it up a bit. If I do, I'll post the before and after.

This is an 8X10 inch canvas. The background is just a piece of scrapbook paper. I sprayed it with water and crinkled it up, opened it and crinkled it again. Then, I wiped distress ink all over it while it still had wrinkles. Next, I smoothed it back out and adhered it with mod podge. The flowers are a mixture of Basic Grey canvas flowers (that I got in a Studio Calico kit- and hated...but they were perfect for this!) I also used little paper doilies from Martha Stewart, book paper, buttons and stamps and my own doodles. The key is K & Co.. And the lace is from my mother-in-law...I've used it on just about every piece I've done recently! (It makes great scallops for roofs on cutie houses!)

All Caught Up!

Alright! I'm all caught up with cleaning...still need to get to the grocery store and go through the mail. But, yay! the cleaning is done (for the moment...you know how that goes!)

Here's a peek at what I did this weekend:

                   "Blessing" this is an 8X8 inch piece of scrap wood I found in the garage!

"Let Love Grow" this is a 6x6 inch canvas. My mason jar stamp was the inspiration for the piece. I love mason jars! I used Tim Holtz's Distress Stains over the patterned paper to give it a vintage watercolored look.
I'll save some of the other ones for a future post!

*Warning: Distracted Artist at Work*

 I've been even more distracted by my art than usual! My recent interest in art journaling has led me back to working on canvases. I've been learning new tecniques and working with different mediums. I've been soul searching- asking myself "how can my art work best reflect me? (and not just the artists around me- the ones I'm learning from).

So, I've been researching, taking notes, journaling and sketching like crazy the past few weeks. This past week and weekend, I began putting it on my canvases. I feel good about what I've come up with- and the finished product trully feels like me. It's not perfect- I still have some learning to do, but it feels like I'm on the right track.

And, just about everything else has fallen into disarray! The house is a mess. The clean towels are piled up in a laundry basket and we haven't had a home-cooked meal in several days. I'm over-due to grocery shop and I have a pile of un-opened mail. Luckily, I have a supportive husband who swears he hasn't noticed!

I'm lookig forward to sharing my work! Hopefully I can get some pictures taken today and get them uploaded soon!