Come And Play

I was really inspired by the colors for this CSI case. They reminded of the bag of mice sent when we got a new cat. I also loved this new cut file by The Cut Shoppe and thought it had such a playful look. These fun flair from A Flair For Buttons also caught my eye and fit with the playfulness. She just LOVES that yellow mouse.

Evidence used: stripes, animals, something loopy, scallops, something transparent, distress
Testimony is an invitation to play.

Planet Earth

My friend an fellow collaborating artist, Tina Walker, asked some of her artist friends to take part in a year long project on sustainability. I love collaborating with these ladies, so I jumped on board. This months theme is Planet Earth, We Are All Connected.

For my project, I decided to make a canvas. In this day and age, we are more connected than ever. Between air travel and social media, the world has become a much smaller place and we can visit other cultures and learn. I'm super excited about seeing the world and discovering new places and new bits of me. I think everyone needs to travel because we all call this planet home.

Do You Want To Fill A Snowman?

This week's CSI case is up there as one of my favorites. I love the colors and love how my layout turned out.

I was given this cute lil snowman, filled with coconut macaroons. It was sad when his belly was empty, so I filled him back up and he sits on my work desk. Doesn't he just make you happy?

Evidence used: snowflakes, jewels, ribbon, stamps, glitter
testimony is a haiku.

Snowman filled with treats
From your tummy into mine
Empty?! Fill again!

Artists Collaboration: Inspired By Iceland

I joined another of Tina Walker's Artist Collaborations a couple of months ago. She's always wanted to go to Iceland and thought it would be fun to create art that's inspired by this beautiful country. My mom runs an adventure photography company and they've done a handful of trips to Iceland and the photos are just amazing. You can see their gallery here. I love that they have warmth as well as cold in their images. I decided to go with the colors of the auroras, with a touch of warmth, and make my Christmas cards.

I started by stamping my Unity stamp on watercolor paper, then went to town with my stay inks and water bottle. My fingers were green for over a week. The warmth and light was achieved by using an ink color with gold shimmer in it. Then I pulled the pink of this amazing light show in by watercoloring some of the bits of the stamp. My final addition was some chunky Stickles. I love the way it gives that golden ice shimmer, like the photos of my mom and step dad's.

An InLinkz Link-up

My Own Class

Happy New Year! This marks CSI's 5th birthday. I've been solving cases with CSI since case #2, so Happy Birthday, CSI! These challenges have helped me grow and settle into what is me and I'm so grateful.

To celebrate, we have a couple of birthday/celebration themed cases for you.  I don't have a birthday layout for you, but I am celebrating being awarded my own Zumba class, after subbing for a year, at the local gym.  I took a couple of photos to mark the occasion and celebrated with my students. My students :)

I pretty much kept to the sketch, adding the banner to the top.
Evidence used: tiny dots, triangles, different colored letter stickers, enamel dots, and stamped phrase

Testimony is a mix of letter stickers and handwriting. I didn't even set out to spell something appropriate with the beginning letters, it just worked out that way. 

2016 Top 10

A few friends are looking back at some of our favorite projects from this past year.

1.This layout that documented our journey to Costa Rica. Loved the trip and the old world feel of the page.

 2. I hand carved this stamp of Bruce. Ended up doing a second one later. I'm quite proud of him!

 

3. I loved the mosaic look of this layout and the way the waves turned out.

 

4. I seriously love the watery, soft look of this page. That shade of green is so pretty!

 

5. My mom got me started on weaving this scarf. Love how soft and delicate it is.

 

 6. First of all, I love this photo that an instructor took at a Zumbathon. Secondly, I love how bright and fun the page turned out!

 

7. One of the things we did in Costa Rica was go on a hunt for Quetzal. They are gorgeous birds and we saw 3. I'm sure we looked funny silently running about this farm. Local guides pay farmers for reporting sightings and planting trees that the birds like. I love how the ink dispersed and the buttons.

 

8. We went to the coast with some friends and he did a bit of surfing. I loved how this photo turned out! I ended up giving him the page for his birthday. I love the waves and textured cloud, not to mention that giant life guard chair.

 

9. My little sister got married Halloween weekend, so she had a Hallowedding, complete with costume contest and decorations like wrought iron, a coffin, cauldrons, etc. I made this super fun card to give her.

10. This has to my favorite project of them all! It was for an artist collaboration, where we all started with a packet of supplies that was the same. It was so fun to see what people did with them. I had so much fun getting this clock all "rusty" and old looking.

 

 

  There you have it, some of my favorite projects from 2016. Can't wait to see what 2017 brings!

Van Gato

Yes, it's still December, the time of Christmas and I am still using the CSI cases for kitty layouts, that's just how I roll.

I recently had a crafter day with my good friend. She brought over a huge painting to work on and Sydney was so very curious, and of course gave her opinion. I love how the case just matched my photos so well, so I had to use them, right?

Evidence used: stripes, stars, flowers, leaves, tags, sprinkle something (the stars and enamel dots)

Testimony is on a tag.