NOW--New year, new challenge, new word...

Good-bye 2014 and hello 2015.  I will not tell a lie---I am happy to see 2014 go.  Time to start fresh with lots of new things.  Yes, every day is a new beginning, but it feels good to put another 365 days behind--365 days that had too many challenges for my liking.  

Alas, one more good-bye.  2014 marks the end of Chicagoland Scrapbooker magazine.  This cute boy above gets to be the focus of the last issue's cover.  I have loved my time with the CS Design Team.  As that door closes, a window opens for me at Michigan Scrapbooker.  I'll soon be joining in the fun over there and hope you will follow me over as I say "hello Michigan".

Scrap It Girl continues to be one of my favorite challenge sites and I am gearing up (along with the rest of the design team) for another year of fun.  January's challenge is ..

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so join in the fun and show us your latest project with snowflakes before January 31st at www.scrapitgirl.com (link your creation HERE)

As I say good-bye to "create" as my word for 2014, I must confess that I hadn't chosen a new word until I sat down to write this post and came across this close-up photo of the cover layout.  SNOW becomes "NOW" in this photo, and "now" seems to be a perfect choice for this next year.  Cherishing each "now" moment, no more waiting and procrastinating--doing it "now".  

Wishing you a happy, happy, happy new year and hoping that 2015 will bring you a bounty of blessings.

~Kelly

Be warm...

Baby, it IS cold outside. Time to dig out those mittens...inside and out! We are all playing with the Linnie Blooms canvas mitten shapes this week and they are just screaming for fun embellishments!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I really do not like shopping. Gift wrapping is where my heart lies. The present inside may not be that great, or it may be a gift card, but a pretty topper makes it special.

For these tags (that I cut into 3 1/2"x 6" from old file folders), I painted the canvas mittens with acrylics and added dashes of Picket Fence Distress Stain, outlined in Rock Candy Stickles. I put a layer of Aleene's Tacky Glue at the top and pressed in tiny clear white seed beads to make the cuff. Into my bin of doo-dads, I found and added some felt snowflakes, metal snowflake brads, wood snowflakes (painted and Stickled), and pearls. I love that these canvas shapes can hold up to anything added to them (they are quite heavy when you start adding paint and beads and Stickles--regular paper couldn't hold up to this kind of "beading"...hee hee).

You can see how the Distress Stain tames the pattern of the paper at the top (I stained the paper, then ran it through the printer when it was dry). 

 

 

I often add sayings and phrases inspired by song lyrics to my projects, and here I am doing it again! I liked this dotty paper, but found it just a bit too bold for what I needed. By adding a few layers of Picket Fence Distress Stain (and drying it with a heat gun between layers), I was able to tame the background and make it ready for running through the printer.

So, while I continue to "pro-craftinate"...that is avoid putting up Christmas decorations (or maybe it is because we are remodeling our bathroom and I have a bathtub, toilet, double vanity, linen cabinet, etc. in my living room and there is no room for the tree)...I am reminded that I am wrapping these gifts in LOVE.

After all, shouldn't the whole season be wrapped in LOVE?

~Kelly

www.kellystarsallthingscrafty.blogspot.com

 

Don't forget...when you are shopping at the Linnie Blooms online store, that you can use the discount code LB2013KS to get 10% off your order!

 

Whatever is lifted...part 1

 

lift

    ·raise something; to move something from one position to

another, higher position

· take something from place; to grasp something and

move it somewhere else

· cheer somebody; to make somebody happier or more

cheerful

 

In scrapbooking, lifting means being inspired by someone else's design.  In fact, being inspired so much, that you take bits and pieces (maybe color scheme, or the photo placement, or the embellishments, or the title, etc.) and infuse them into your own creation.

 

Fiskateers have their own group, called the Liftateers, that are avid "lifters".  Each week, we honor someone's page layout by putting our own spin on their design.  Liftateers are celebrating another year of lifting, by having a "Lift Off" this weekend over on the Fiskateer site.

 

 

 

I am hosting the "Lift MORE Love" challenge.  I lifted this layout design from Carol's page (seen here ). As you can see, I kept the stamping that Carol had behind her picture (I love this lined polka dot pattern from Hero Arts), but changed the color scheme (hers was a monochromatic white on white) and the flower embellishments to snowflakes.

I used a Sizzix die-cut with felt to create the mittens and added some twine to connect them. It's a Sizzix texture plate that gives the silver paper its dotted embossed pattern.

 

 

From the definitions at the top of the page, you can see that "lift" also means to cheer somebody.  I don't know about you, but I would certainly feel lifted if someone was inspired by my creation! 
Part of the "cheer" comes from making sure that you go back and tell the person you lifted how much you appreciate their work, that's called "leaving love", and telling everyone where you got your inspiration from (it also prevents "lifting" from being called "swiping").  I left a bunch of love for Carol--thanks again Carol!

~Kelly