Where did the week go?

I've been busy creating my monthly SNL kit.  And . . . seeing that it is July . . . there's always the Christmas in July festivities over at DSP.  I made a bow (always good to practice those!) and a background paper for that as well.  I've also been working on another kit of my own.  I found a color palette that I really like . . .

Isn't it pretty??  It definitely has a very bright and summery feel to it and inspires me to create something in bloom!

Speaking of blooms . . . there's lots of things going on in my garden as well.

The mini sunflowers are ready to bloom . . .

and the bee balm and coneflowers are just bursting with color . . .

and even more White Swan coneflowers in another part of the garden are looking great too!

I'm off for now and looking to possibly finish the kit that I am working on . . .

Until next time . . . Happy Creating!

~Connie

I’ve been a terrible blogger lately . . .

Been spending most of my time in the garden, doing a lot of cleaning around the house and driving back and forth to baseball practices and games. The new storm door is up and so is the new vinyl fence! The house is spic and span and we’re ready for a party!

My older son is turning 21 so we decided to throw him a party and invited the whole family. We haven’t done one of those for quite a number of years so we thought that being a significant one, he deserved it. He’s been studying really hard and will be done with finals tomorrow. I’m sure he’s looking forward to start his summer vacation too!

I haven’t done much creating of late. I did my monthly SNL kit that was a bit of a challenge for me this time. The theme is Art Journaling and the color palette was beautiful, but I seemed to have a hard time thinking of things to put in the kit and putting elements together. All in all, I think it turned out pretty cute!

I bought some new little decorative bird houses at Michael’s that I found in the $1 bin. I did manage to prime them but I have to pick a day to paint them. It seems my color scheme in the garden is turning more towards yellow, white and blue with touches of red here and there. I have a red Astilbe which is just starting to send up some shoots, but the red clematis didn’t make it through the winter. The red chrysanthemum I bought a couple of years ago has sent up new shoots so now I have about 5 of those. I’ll probably also sow some red Nicotina.

My white azalea started to bloom this past week too and looks beautiful!

I’m sure I’ll post more pictures of the garden in the weeks to come.

It’s Blackhawks fever over here at my house! With Chicago’s 5-1 victory over Vancouver last night . . . . we’re advancing to the final 4 and anxiously awaiting word on when the series against San Jose will start.

Hope to be back again soon.

Until then . . . Go Blackhawks! (and Happy Gardening and Creating too!)

It's been too long!

I can't believe how time is flying!  Been terribly busy with work being done on the house over here . . . and the little guy starting baseball.  We had to have our chimney fixed and since the masons were gonna be here already, we had them redo the front of the house as well.  That really wasn't fun with 4 or so hours of them grinding all the old mortar out, but the results are fantastic.  Now we're getting estimates for a new fence and the storm door in the front is really rickety so we've been looking into that as well.  It's been raining the past couple of days now so the fields are too wet for the kids to get any practice in.  They'll probably resume again on Friday.

Hope you all had a Happy Easter!  Ours started with watching The Ten Commandments on Saturday evening . . . one of those classics that I remember watching every Easter as a kid myself.  We went to a wonderful mass Easter morning and then over to my in-laws for dinner.  The day seemed to fly by, but the weather was just perfect!

I was able to finish my SNL kit for April . . . berry blossoms is the theme and overlays are the focus.  Here's a preview of my kit . . .

I was having so much fun with the overlays and the tutorials that I came across that I made some other digital art with some of my own landscape and cityscape photographs.  Here's what I came up with . . .

  

I'm supposed to be designing the redress of the SNL site this month and hope to get that done in the next couple of days.  I still have some more cleaning in the garden to finish as well.

There's daffodils and magnolias and hyacinths starting to bloom throughout the neighborhood right now!  I really need to start getting pictures of all those before they're gone.  Enjoy Spring wherever you may be!  Hope to be back again soon!

~Connie

SNL's Birthday Bonus Bash

I spent today making a kit for the kickoff of the Sensational Six Birthday Bash over at DSP.  During our regular SNL chat on Saturday, March 27th at 9:00 pm EST, we will be giving away kits and bonuses galore!  So if you're interested in digital scrapbooking or just want to add to your stash . . . stop by and join the fun.  You will have to be a member of DSP in order to get these goodies though.  (There is a link to DSP at the right on the sidebar) Hope to see you there!

Here's what I came up with . . .

Happy digi-scrapping everyone!

~Connie

In the mail today . . .

I received my OWOH prize of the crow that Jennifer Conway made . . .

Isn't he adorable?!  I just love that glitter tophat too!  Thank you, Jennifer!

Been busy trying to come up with papers and elements for my SNL kit for this month.  It was a little tough, but once I made the colors more pastel . . . the ideas started to flow.  I think I'm done with it . . . just tweeking a few things here and there and then I should be ready to move on to my next creative endeavor.  Anyway . . . here's a preview of the kit . . .

Hope to be back again soon . . . spring fever has kind of hit me and I've been trying to clean out and organize my studio since I haven't been able to locate the supplies that I know that I have but just can't seem to find . . . LOL . . . I'm sure alot of you know what I mean!!

Until next time!

~Connie

More Goodies from the Postman

Today, I received my note cards from Lenore over at eat write create.  They are terrific!  I love the texture and embossed accents!  Thank you Lenore!

I also received a lovely note from Clarissa at GlassGrrl Studios telling me how much she loves the bag and has already received compliments on it.  I'm so glad you like it, Clarissa!

It was wonderful meeting both of you through OWOH and I hope to be visiting with you both again soon!

I'm hoping to be able to create more of those DATCs that I started on yesterday.  And . . . since it's the new month already . . . I have my SNL kit to start thinking about too.  Easter is the theme, bows are the focus and the color palette is very pretty . . .

Hope to be back soon!

~Connie

So much going on!

I managed to finish my monthly SNL kit last night . . .  think it turned out pretty cute!

The theme was whimsical valentine with a beautiful color palette.  Doodles were the focus for this month . . . which even though I have a Bamboo, I'm still not completely comfortable using it.  I'm so glad I got this kit done!

Now I can move on to much more pressing things . . . like painting  and CED2010 and visiting all those blogs I haven't yet got to!  Gosh . . . so much to do!!

If you're looking for One World One Heart  . . . it's the post after this one.  I guess I need to start thinking about adding an additional giveaway . . . hmmmmm . . .  what should it be??

Will be back again soon!

I'm so excited!

The new design at the SNL site is up and running. I think it turned out beautiful! This was my first time doing the re-dress and am so happy with the way it turned out! Take a look . . . SNL Scrappers


I was able to do some more painting today as well. I started with a new sketch and watercolor paper this time and I'm happier with the results so far . . .

Will work again on this some more tomorrow.

Finished my SNL kit

I'm really happy I decided to make this kit. I've been so disappointed these past couple of months because of all the problems I had with that demo of CS4 and the limitations I encounter in PSE5. I'm really glad I stuck with this one though. It's called I Remember Grandma. I remember going over to my grandmother's house when I was a little girl and she would let me play in her bedroom. On her dresser she had a silver tray with tons of perfume bottles and all kinds of jewelry. When I got older, she would let me put on her make-up too. I remember those as happy times . . . just being a kid! Anyway . . . here's my latest SNL kit . . .


I'm hoping to get something more done on my CED2010 project and be able to do some painting this weekend.

Hope to be back soon to show you more of my creative endeavors!

In the mean time . . . HAPPY CREATING!

Color Pencil Sketch

Here's my latest on the "body" theme for CED2010. I decided to go with this magazine clip first of all because my hubby said that the girl looked alot like me and my body. I cut it out of a magazine quite a while ago and always intended on doing something with it so when I heard of the theme for this month, I knew this was the picture I would be using. The other reason is that I have back issues and have since I was 22 years old when I had my first bout with a "slipped" disc. Since then, I've had several episodes of sciatica and recently had a displace rib. So my doctor says I need to do exercises to help strengthen my back muscles.

For this sketch, I decided to try colored pencils to get a feel more for the colors . . .

I think it looks pretty good! Next time, I will try my hand with the acrylics on this new linen paper by Strathmore I found at Michaels last week.

On another creative note . . . I have been trying to work on my new SNL kit . . . I have the papers done (which I'm really happy with), but seem to be struggling with the elements right now. I was trying my hand at making pearls again and seem to be running into a problem with some of the effects in PSE 5. Here's what I've done so far . . .

Well, I'm off again for now . . . hope to be back soon with another creation!

Happy New Year!

OK . . . so I mentioned that I'll be taking part in the Creative Everyday 2010 Challenge and have found this interesting tool for finding your word of the year. Leah mentioned it and has a link on the site for a free download from Christine Kane. I've downloaded and printed it out and will be settling down for the night to read and write and find out just exactly what my word of the year will be!

We had some more Christmas shopping to do today. There's the family party for my husband's side of the family on Sunday so tomorrow I'll be wrapping and baking again and hopefully have some time for creating as well.

I'll show you what I have done so far on the painting I've been working on . . .

I'm really happy with the sky! The building needs work and so does the foreground. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some more done tomorrow. I already have something else rolling around in my head as the theme for CED2010 for January is "body" . . . but I really would like to finish this before I start on anything new!

I just might also be working on an SNL kit as well . . . I was thinking that I might put making kits on the back-burner for a while . . . but I really like the theme and colors for January's kit so I think I might have to find time for that as well. This is the color swatch we have to work with . . .

They really are some pretty colors that I don't think I'll be able to resist!

Well . . . I'm off for now . . .

Hope to be back tomorrow!

Layout using my September SNL kit

I'm so happy with the way my new SNL kit came out. The theme is grunge and the focus was cardboard. After I finished the kit, I knew exactly what photo I wanted to use for a layout. This is my younger son a couple of years back . . .

I'm hoping to be back soon with more freebies, etc., although the next week is gonna be kind of hectic with school starting on Tuesday and all.

Until next time . . .

Scatter-brained, easily bored or just busy?

I can't decide which I am. I've been so busy lately that I just don't know where it all starts or ends anymore. I've got several projects going on and only 1 has been completed . . . and that was the last one I started! That being said . . . I got my SNL 53 kit done this AM. I have so many more ideas in the folder yet I decided and settled on these papers and elements:

This was a really fun kit to make and as I said . . . there are many more ideas swirling around in my head, but I really want to continue on with the other projects I've got going as well.

As I mentioned, I feel so scatter-brained . . . it all started when I realized that Michael's doesn't sell the Jacquard fabric paints I wanted to continue on with the art quilt project and had to find a day to go out to Dick Blick. Seems they're the only local store that sells them and I didn't want to have to wait if I ordered them online. Anyway, when I got to the Dick Blick store . . . my mind started racing! With all those art materials, and books and canvas, I just couldn't help but feel the urge to paint, Paint, PAINT!

So instead of continuing with my already "in progress" art quilt and when I came across a roadside vendor who had these lovely sunflowers, I just had to stop and get some. As soon I was at home arranging the flowers, I was setting up a photo shoot and took tons of pictures. I then began sketching in the sketchbook and getting more ideas down. I was really surprised at the sketch I did . . . considering I hadn't done any real sketching for quite some time now. I came up with this . . .

From there I decided to pull out some water color paper and blocked in some color and still, my art quilt was hanging on the design wall just waiting to see what should be done next. But instead, I continued with the sunflowers and blocked-in some color on a 9 X 12 sheet of water color paper and not sure how it was coming out, I decided to get some input and suggestions from the people over at Wet Canvas. We decided that the background was too busy and the coloring of the background just wasn't quite right.

So I was at it again! This time, I went bigger and decided to sketch on an 18 X 24 sheet of water color paper and blocked in the color and here's where I stand . . .

That's how my past 2 weeks or so have gone and I have only 1 real thing to show for it. So now I have to decide whether to continue on with this sunflower project or jump back into the art quilt project. Then again . . . there's my digital scrapbook layouts that I've been neglecting . . . and those weeds accumulating in the garden . . . not to mention all the housework that's been on the back burner too!

Oh well, it will all get done sooner or later.

Making progress

I did get the SNL Christmas in July challenge done today. It will be put together with all the other contributors backgrounds and elements. All those goodies will be given away on Saturday, July 25th at 10:00 pm DSP time during our weekly chat. I will say it was a challenge as I am not big on even thinking of anything Christmas until after Thanksgiving. But given that the colors were blues with silver and white, I found it somewhat easier.

Anyway here is a preview of my backgrounds and elements:




















Don't forget to be there on July 25th at 10:00 pm DSP time to get a link for this and other goodies made by the generous gals over at SNL!

I've also been working on something to give away here as well . . . it's not quite finished yet though! I will say that it does have Red, White and Blue in it!

Hope to be back with that real soon.

WOW! My SNL kit is done!

I can't believe I finished my SNL kit for this month already! I guess it helped that the winning colors were a give away. Anyway, here's a preview that I just had to post . . . I think it came out really cute! The fairy is darling, the magic tree is too and the moon is terrific . . . if I do say so myself.

I'm gonna wait 'til tomorrow to upload . . . just in case I think of something that is missing or that I could have done better. Besides . . . it's a little scary being the first one to post . . . so if someone else beats me to it I guess that's OK.

Be back again soon!