meld: verb intransitive

To become merged

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Here it is the 31st day of my 31 days of ribbon! I have used ribbon on a new project, every day for the month of July, which also means I completed 31 projects too! whoop whoop!! This was a big goal for me and I did it!! yay!! the crowd goes wild!!  Gold medal for moi! lol

ok, so maybe I am on Olympic overload! hee hee

I have been working on Barbara's gift for her birthday ( waves hi to Barbara if she is peeking at my blog, she doesn't leave comments, she is one of my blog stalker friends!! ) and this is her gift bag. I recycle gift bags, and there is a chance this is her bag originally, lol Anyway, I cut the flower from the Paper Trimmings cartridge in the colors to match the bag. Doodled on it and sewed a button in the center. The butterfly was cut out of the Cricut Paisley cartridge and set it in my spray box and went to town with almost every single mist, Tim Holtz alcohol ink and distress reinker that I had, plus misted it with water to make everything meld together.

I used an Action Wobble under the butterfly to give it a bouncy feeling and couldn't help but sit there playing with, making it bob around and this picture shows a little bit of that. If my battery had been charged on my camera, I would go back and take another picture on a slower shutter speed. As it is, I am just trying to meet deadlines!

Action Wobbles - Wobble Wednesday Challenge #20
Pan Pastels - Challenge #29, Schools out, or Buttons and bows
Pause Dream Enjoy - Challenge #30, Sports and Hobbies
Die Cuttin Divas - Challenge 76, Anything Goes

Paper Trimmings, and Paisley cartridges
Really Reasonable Ribbon sheer butterfly ribbon
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How's every one's flowers holding up with the hot summer's heat? I am trying out an experiment. This is my Lantana severely cut back. It was all scraggly and pitiful looking and my online/magazine garden club says to cut back plants like this now to the crown and fertilize, and it will hopefully be beautiful again in a month or so...I'm a little doubtful but I'm trying it out. Usually I throw them away and buy a new one, lol This is actually day 4 since the cut, and I can see a little growth already forming....or it's just wishful thinking!!



last: adverb

After all others in chronology or sequence

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I know I have acquired some terrific bloggy friends and I hope you won't mind my asking to once again, visit me over at Really Reasonable Ribbon to wish me a fond farewell as it is my last post as Guest Designer for the month of July!

thank you!

junk: noun

 Discarded material, such as glass, rags, paper, or metal, some of which may be reused in some form
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So I joined Pink by Designs 2 year anniversary challenge yesterday, couldn't finish all the challenges, 13 in all...whew! But I did finish 9, so not too bad. Their last challenge of the night was to use items found in our junk drawer, ick! My drawer is a mess...Here it is in all it's glory!

And after watching the Olympics and cleaning out the drawer, here it is:

wonder how long it will last? At least I can find a pen in here now!

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Wrapping Barbara's birthday present using some scrap booking supplies, something I don't do often enough! I covered the cute little box with scrapbook paper, tied it up with Really Reasonable Ribbon's shimmer satin, and finished it off with a Prima flower.

pretty :)
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Don't forget, you still have time to enter Project Pinterest for July!

Pink by Design Anniversay Challenges

Pink by Designs are having hourly challenges! I missed the first one, darn it!! Olympics got in the way! lol

challenge 2 Favorite Holiday

any holiday that chocolate is the mainstay food group is my favorite!! I lucked out on this one as I had some Easter die cuts sitting around, so this card came together fast, good thing since there are 2 more challenges already in the makings!

pull out the bunny...

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Challenge #3 - Embossing
paper went flying with this challenge, I almost didn't think I was going to even like it but I think it's one of my favorites. I had some extra tea left over from yesterday ribbon dying fiasco and gave this ribbon a quick dunk to tone it down a bit.

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Challenge #4 - Silhouettes

This came together very quickly, and I have to admit that cutting the corners off large moons on Halloween cards are fun for me, I love that little detail.

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challenge #5 Ombre

( broom )

This was almost an oops! I originally made a tag and when I went back to enter it, saw it was cards or Lay outs, went dashing back to the room and quickly cut off the top of the tag and  put it on a purple base...whew....

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skipping challenge #6 to give me more time, need to breathe!

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Challenge #7 Tag Your it

( using up some old American Craft stickers )

This was more relaxing, as I let the stickers do the work for me, although when I stamped on the sign I should have used Stazon because I smudged the words and had to go back over the letters with my black slick writer! I also dismantled his arm so it would drape over the sign like I wanted it to.

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Challenge #8 -  Ribbon or bows

( cut ribbon for grass, and added a ribbon stem for the pumpkin, plus using the ribbon for the tie )

Being that I am finishing up on 31 days of Really Reasonable Ribbon, working with ribbon was a breeze. I used fringe scissors for the grass and a running stitch for the pumpkin stem which I tucked under the ribbon.

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Challenge #9 - Buttons

There is more sparkle to this card than you can probably see, but I like black and white cards with a little bling and embossing. Also used a flat button, from chipboard because it weighs less and isn't bulky when I mail it.

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Challenge # 10 - Go Wild!
LOL, I couldn't resist making a monkey tag out of chipboard. CCR made it easy by welding the shapes together for me.

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OK, pooped...I tried to get all the challenges done but I gave out of energy and didn't get to challenges 11 and 12. My craft room is a mess! lol
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Their last challenge was using things found in your junk drawer combined with a sketch. Think I'll be cleaning out my drawer and watch the Olympics once I get my junk card uploaded. It was fun today, but hectic :) I am using a box of matches ( cut apart ) and a chunky shoe lace. ( Why do I have 1 shoelace in my drawer? )

voila: interjection

used to call attention, to express satisfaction or approval, or to suggest an appearance as if by magic 

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Enjoyed watching the Opening Ceremony of the XXX Olympics

*best moment, when the faux Queen jumped from the helicopter!*

worst outfit award goes to the Czech republic, what's up with those plastic blue boots, and stretch shorts?
most funny...Independent Olympic Athletes? really? Is this new?
Need sunglasses to view them...Jamaica...that's a bright neon yellow!
most casual - Liechtenstein, comfy in jeans!
best looking flag bearer - Switzerland...oh yeah, yum factor!
hardest to wait for - United States! we look like sailors, lol...well disappointing :/ Nice to know that Ralph Lauren who designed our outfits has at least apologized for having our uniforms made in China and not in the USA.
Great Britain...I gotta ask, what's the underarm patches all about? lol

Most humorous: listening to Matt Lauer and Bob Costas trying to keep up with the fast parade of Olympians!

Loved the Olympiad commercials!

 would be the coolest Halloween costume evah'...the bicycle "doves"...totally awesome!

There were a lot of countries I've never heard of. :( Guess I am getting old and am geography challenged!
204 countries represented...wow!

saddest moment, I wish they would leave Muhammad Ali alone, he was way too out of it to have been there.
 Poor man.

I liked the running of the torch with the next generation of athletes, that was nice. AWESOME view of the Olympic cauldron, just beautiful!

hardest moment - listening to the aged Sir Paul McCartney singing Hey Jude...::sigh::
Bless his heart.

Well, enough of my commentary! It was a great opening ceremony!
Well done Great Britain!

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I love making pretty office supplies :0 I mean if I am gonna look at them everyday then they might as well be pleasing to my eye, right?

Nod yes,

great, we agree!

;)

One of my favorite things to decorate are memo pads. Make a little cardboard base, cover it with some fab pattern paper, ink the edges for that awesome shabby chic look with a beautiful bow and top it off with an inspirational quote, and voila...

I also tea dyed the ribbon because it had a white stripe and the paper was ivory toned. But this ribbon didn't accept the tea dye very well and ended up inking it instead.  Does it hurt that the tea was a bag of Christmas tea, and now my ribbon smells like orange cloves?

Oh no it does not! lol yummmmmmm

Really Reasonable Ribbon

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Project Pinterest

Here's a fast and easy tip from Pinterest that really helped me out yesterday. I have been wanting to fix my key ring, I love to add things and when charms get old, I remove them! BUT, I hate, hate, HATE spreading that ring apart with my poor fingernails, and when I saw this

( The site that is posted from is nothing but random pictures, but if you want to go there it's
http://thechive.com/2012/03/13/daily-afternoon-randomness-52-photos-5/?obref=obinsite )

I had my aha moment! Not only did I add my 2 new charms but took every key off and rearranged them, all 7 keys! with ease! I had an organizing moment, just me and my keys as I arranged them in order of necessity, size and use. So I put car key with fob and both house keys with the mailbox key on the main ring. Oh, and see the 2 new house keys in aqua blue, oh yeah..I'm a key ho...love my keys! lol Seriously, I am a key geek! Next ring holds secondary keys ( safe deposit box, brother's house key and hutch key, I have to write on my keys so I don't forget which key is what ) plus the grocery stores and library scan cards, and last ring holds my eye glass kit, cupcake charm and a Japanese good luck charm from my friend Barbara.

I'd love to know, are you a key geek too?

Odes: noun

Colloquial term short for odonate, an insect of the order Odonata; commonly used by enthusiasts to refer to a damselfly or a dragonfly.

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I still have not mastered the art of taking a dragonfly/damselfly yet, but they have given me several chances to do so. One of the phenomenons I have noticed with living on the second floor next to a creek bed, are the Odes. I can see them flying around and sometimes they perch on my porch. They are pretty content to have me walk around them trying to take their picture, but always slightly out of my reach, like this guy who is atop my Clematis. But I will keep trying as long as they let me :)
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And Tracy has us creating a canvas with our word of the year that we picked out in January. I think it was funny, that I wasn't the only one who had forgotten their word! I had to go back and search through her blog to find mine, which was FOCUS. lol I know, right? like evidently I haven't been too focused on the word....need to tighten up my ship! lol

 We were suppose to choose our favorite color palette, which always is a problem for me when you take those little quizzes and they want you to choose one color, like is that really possible? Not for me, so I heaped on lots of different colors, and sticker letters, covered it with a thin layer of gesso, stuck it in my spray box and piled on sprays and inks, misted it with water, put a layer of Saran Wrap on it until it dried, and this was the end result.

Really Reasonable Ribbon hemp cord

I also waxed a little philosophical when adding the butterfly and flower, thinking that the butterfly had to focus to find the flower since it was kind of hidden. Sometimes, what we are looking for is right under our noses if just focus...:)

July Creative Dare

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Project Pinterest

bearfootin' : noun

"Bearfootin' in Downtown Hendersonville, NC has been a highly popular public art display. The bears are sponsored by area businesses and are colorfully decorated in different themes by area artists. The bears reside on the sidewalks of Downtown, along with trees, planters of flowers, and benches in a beautiful park-like setting. This successful art exhibit has entertained people of all ages. A public auction of the bears will be held in October 22, 2012. Proceeds from the auctions goes to charities"

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I have actually seen one or 2 of these bears in people's yards too! lol They are actually quite sought after! You can spend a day searching for them, and they have brochures printed up about them so you can hunt them down. I just like looking at them, secretly, I want to paint one ;)

 "Obearian"

To benefit the Hope Chest For Women

 "Amelia Bearheart"

To benefit Mainstay, Inc.

 "Star Bangled Bear"

To benefit Mainstay, Inc.

"Juiliette Beardon Low"

To benefit The Girl Scouts of Henderson County

"Joy"

To benefit The Blue Ridge Literacy Council

"Together We Can"

To benefit The Arts Council of Henderson County

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It goes without saying, that I love this saying ;)

Cricut - font cartridge - Don Juan

ice cream cone - Everyday Paperdolls

paint, twine - misc.

Ranger - Glossy Accents

Really Reasonable Ribbon - Natural Woven Burlap ribbon
Fiskars - embossing plate
 

Entering this in

 Pause, Dream, Enjoy challenge #29: Sweet Summer Treats

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Project Pinterest for July

faux-naïf: adjective

artfully simple

new word alert for me...was looking up the definition for faux and discovered faux-naïf and discovered that it's meaning was a perfect description for my lay out. I love learning a new word! Anyone else ever use this word before? Did I use it correctly?

Here is the link to the pronunciation for it!

:)

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My desk is a mess! I am currently working on sooooooooooooo many things at one time. I have my 31 days of ribbon, which I try to use ribbon every single day for the month of July, and am working on some Easter submissions for the Cricut Magazine. What you're seeing on my desk is one of the Easter submissions, to the left, you can see sketches I make, ( really late at night when I am trying to sleep, I have to get out of bed to jot them down or I forget them by morning, kinda like a dream! ) and I think I have every single drawer open! lol What a mess!

I know a lot of us discuss how we go about commenting during WOYWW, and usually I do everyone that is before my name, then go through the list picking out friends, and if I have any energy left over, I start at the bottom of the list and work backwards as I feel this group doesn't get as many comments. Last week for the very first time I visited every single blog!! If I didn't leave a comment it might be blogger wasn't cooperating or worse, you still have word verification on! I'll try once, but if I didn't read those wobbly letters correct and it refuses me then I move on to the next blog.

 Have mercy on my eyes, and please ...

:)

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Since my discovery of neglect with my photo album, I have been trying to correct that issue. This was Jamie's last visit in February when we celebrated our dual birthdays and Christmas.

Cricut - font cartridge - Letter Envy

Frosted Designs - Fabulous Friday Challenge, Pattern Paper only!

I love this embellishment I added to a banner by laying down Scor-Pal tape, and covering it with Really Reasonable Ribbon hemp cord and adding a brad. You can see I don't wrap all the way around as it would leave my banner a little wonky and I want it to be as flat as possible. I try to keep my album embellies on the flat side and not add too much bulk.

American Craft - Marvy markers

 

You can also see that I love to doodle on my pages to provide interest vrs. bulk. So I dotted the edge of the banner, even adding a matching dot to the center of the brad, and added some shadowing to the brad for some faux-naïf dimension. Yes, I love my pens and markers. :)

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Don't forget to link up with Project Pinterest!!

pottery slip: noun

A liquefied suspension of clay particles in water, often used in decoration.  Slip is usually the consistency of heavy cream.

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Jamie and I went to a paint your own ceramic place called Fired Up! while she was visiting me. We both went out separate ways in the store picking out our pieces to paint and thought it was funny that we both had picked something with a woodland theme to it. Mine is the fairy and Jamie's is the mushroom. It was a lot of fun to do and I am looking forward to a return visit to this place with Jamie!

Entering this in PanPastel's challenge: #28 Magical and Mystical
 

The most difficult thing about painting with slip is that it soaks into the ceramic so quickly that it is hard to see the color being used. I wanted to add more shading to her arms, but was worried about leaving streaks since I couldn't really tell what I was doing! lol I also needed a magnifying glass to really get into the details, like the eyes and fingernails...oh yeah, my fairy has painted toes and nails! lol And you can see that Jamie and I really got into dots, they had these cute little bottles with these small tips to do dots and lines with, I really think I need some of those bottles!

Now I just need to go find her a plant to hide in while she daydreams out on my balcony!

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and my next mini album page:

page 6

some cute glittery fish jumping and swimming around

Really Reasonable Ribbon twine

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coaster: noun

 A small mat or plate placed under a vessel to protect a tabletop or other surface beneath.

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page 6

figured it would be good for a restaurant shot ;) or cocktail picture ;0

I love the little seagull, I don't use stickers very often but I could use this guy on every beach page! You can see how I pop dotted him up, so I will be able to slide Shirley's picture under it.

This element is giving me so much grief already, I have left the bottom on the wine glass un-glued because I am sure we will go somewhere that will have one of the coasters I can snitch to lay under it. Much better than making one, but in the mean time it is flapping around because I added a metal seashell charm to it which is kinda heavy.

Really Reasonable Twine

and Burlap Natural Woven Ribbon

Ranger - Glossy Accents

pages 5 and 6 together



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Project Pinterest

nod: noun

An indication of approval or assent

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Summer of Color Week Six

The newest, watermelon ice. It seems like just yesterday my first jar post reminisced about catching fireflies as a kid, so for the last jar, it seemed fitting to do one honoring the summer firefly. What goes around, comes around full circle it seems. I have really enjoyed playing in the

Summer of Color Challenges!

It reads:

Fireflies are light twinkling in the dark.

Really Reasonable Ribbon - Swiss Dots Grosgrain

the first three:

sherbet, mint chocolate chip, baseball nut

the last three:

strawberry lemonade punch, wild and reckless sherbet, watermelon ice

all together lit up:

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I also made a spray box, thanks to BJ's inspiring idea! Here I am spraying the jar for the watermelon ice. Before, I had to go downstairs and out into the yard to spray my jars, now I can do it on my balcony...the birds didn't like me very much though! lol

 And my box is a 2 piece, I can remove the top section if I am not spraying inks, and use the bottom piece for dropping alcohol inks onto paper, or for doing any mod podging or gessoing projects. It has a sturdy piece of plastic taped to it while the top box only has wax paper taped to it's bottom section.

I love my spray box, thank you BJ for the idea!

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I also noticed something that has absolutely shocked me, no kidding! I have not done a single lay out for 2012 !!??!! Seriously? I couldn't believe it, but I have been so happily blogging along that it felt like I have been doing them I guess! lol So, whenever I need a mojo jump start, I always head over to Becky Fleck's Page Map Blog, because her sketches are the best as far as I am concerned. So, when I looked at this embellishment challenge, it screamed ( yes, it did ) to do my front page of my album with the focus, ( there, I said it, a pun, go figure, right? ) being on my photography for the year, since I have been taking a photography class for the last 6 months!

her sketch:

My version which has all kinds of nods to things I have been trying this year:

a bit of Tim Holtz influence....
Donna Downey, Tracy Weinzapfel and Elizabeth from Altered Book Lover .....
doodle-tangling, because it seems all the rage....
and a splash of digital mixed media art!

For me, creating this LO, was a time of reflection of all that I have been learning this year, to realize how much different people have had an effect on me. You never know when you will touch some one's life and what it may do to them,

for me...

they have made me one ooey gooey, inky mess!

;)

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Project Pinterest!! been there? done that?

if not, then join us!