Create some sunshine...

Trying to hang onto the warmth and the sunshine as we move into August.  Just had to do one more summer project before I give into oak leaves and ghosts.  

Today, I'm using these fun suns and cute flip flops from Unique Laser Designs on a straw wreath that I wrapped with bulky blue variegated yarn.

Last month, Kimberly gave us some great ideas for ways to add color to our wood shapes from Unique Laser Designs (if you missed that post, you can see it HERE).  That got me thinking...how about nail polish?  Shining up these flip flops was my chance since I wanted to color them a bright green and I didn't have the right color in my box of acrylic paints.  Two coats did it--added color and shine all at once.

Then, I used a Copic marker to add the pink around the edge. Lastly I put a heaping ribbon of Tacky Glue on the straps and poured on pink super fine glitter (that took a while to dry).

Onto the suns...

The top sun, I painted with Ranger Distress Crackle in white and then after it dried I rubbed Wild Honey Distress Stain over it---I love, love, love how it turned out.

The swirly sun, I covered in Tacky Glue and then poured super fine yellow gold glitter over.

For the bottom sun, I painted it with a mustard yellow acrylic, then stamped it with Versamark ink using a chevron pattern stamp. Lastly I covered the wet ink with clear embossing powder and heated it up with a heat gun to get that powder to "rise and shine" (sometimes I crack myself up)!

So, I am definitely not ready to say goodbye to summer...we have a whole month of sunny goodness before the "s" word (school) is back in the vocabulary.  What's your August summer project?

~Kelly

Create with glitter...

Sometimes, just a little bit of sparkle is all you need.  Anything more than a little, tends to leave me covered in glitter from head to toe!  So, when I recently found this giant fleur de lis stamp, I thought it would be perfect for some monogrammed stationary cards for my dear friend's birthday.

These one inch size letters in Cooper font from Unique Laser Designs are just the perfect size for these cards, and they are thin enough that they don't add a lot weight to the card.  The card will still slide right into an envelope.  I simply spread a thin layer of glue over the letter and then sprinkled on some micro-fine glitter.

The gray cards were stamped with clear ink and then heat embossed with white embossing powder, and the green ones were stamped with olive ink and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder. 

Speaking of envelopes, I added some washi tape on the flaps of these for an added surprise of color and a hint for what the recipient will find inside.

So, are you like me?  

Is just a little bit of sparkle and glitter enough for you?  

Or, can you never have enough?

~Kelly

whatever I love and whatever I don't...

Things I love about this layout...

-these patterned papers from Authentique's line, Genuine.  I could wallpaper my house in these papers--and I don't usually love a whole collection, but with this one, every sheet makes me happy. 
So, Authentique, if you are listening (or watching or looking or reading), how about starting a line of wallpaper?

-the yellow polka dot paper from Close to My Heart...
polka dots make me happy too

-the sandpaper I used to cut out the letters in BEACH. 
Guess what they remind me of?  SAND, sandpaper, get it?

-the pattern from this grid stamp (from Stampin' Up) that I stamped with clear embossing ink under the glitter

-the triangle banners at the top of the layout, with the twine underneath. The shape is from Fiskars new XXXXL "Banner Year" Lever Punch. I had previously questioned why I would need a punch that makes triangles when they really aren't that difficult to hand cut, but let me tell you...pop, pop, pop--3 triangles all the same size in 3 seconds, I was wrong...I LIKE it!

-the white lacy leaf from Kaisercraft tucked under the right side of the photo

-this cute photo of my son sitting in one of the many holes in the sand that he made that day

-the mini alphabet, Tiny Type, stickers from Cosmo Cricket--
I could collect these in every color!

-the compass overlay from Me and My Big Ideas that is to the right of the photo

-that this "Quilt Block of the Month", it's #7, from Smitha Katti over at the Fiskars site is much easier to replicate in paper than #6 that had me tearing up over triangle cutting and placement. (I'm exagerrating a little...but just a little).

-did I mention the papers from Authentique? 
Oh, so worth mentioning again.

-the sparkly gold glitter, with that grid pattern, ooh la la!
In Florida, the sand really is sparkly!




OK, now things I don't like about this layout...

there is just one...

-the sparkly gold glitter

Oh, did you notice the sparkly gold glitter ended up on both lists?
(I bolded it for you just in case you didn't notice). 

Actually, that sparkly gold glitter ended up on my barefeet, on the photo, on my fingers, on my clothes, in my hair, all over my scrap dungeon, on my camera, on the front porch (where I took the photo of the layout), do you get the idea? 

I am reminded why I don't like glitter and why I don't use glitter.  I tried that old high school art class trick of spraying hair spray over the glitter to help it set--didn't work.  Maybe I need to use super duper Aqua Net, circa 1987?

Oh well, this layout is one of my favorites. 
So much so, I could almost forgive and forget about the glitter. 

Almost.

Hope you have a sparkly day!

~Kelly