With all my heart

So Chartpak held a contest to try out their new mixed media paper and this is my entry, titled With all my heart, using some Rubbermoon stamps, StencilGirl stencil and DecoArt paints.



Even if I don't win I know I want to buy their journal mainly due to the "in and out" page feature. I mean, I love that idea. You can remove the papers and then place them back in, something I can get a lot of use out of since I have to remove the paper when I have them printed.



You can go here to see the entries, some are just fabulous and there are a couple which don't look like they used the paper that was sent to them, but maybe I am wrong. lol I'll be curious to see who wins.

Linking up to Paint Party Friday!

Seashell mermaid

Have you ever played with Grafix Shrink film? If not, you should try it, cause it's lots of fun and easy to do. So easy that you can take it with you to the beach to play with on those afternoons when the rain storms roll in across the ocean.

I had some awesome Rubbermoon stamps gifted to me recently and they were so easy to stamp on the sheets using my Stazon ink. Grafix sent me some of their new gold and silver metallic shrink film to play with. I love how shiny the colors are, my photos don't do them justice.

Next, just color them in, and I used my PITT pens, look how bright and pretty they are!

Next, you cut them out and make sure to punch holes in them if they are going to be a charms but they are also great for adhering to cards, and mixed media projects! 

My friend Bridgette found this little shell on the beach with the perfect hole at the top to hang the little mermaid charm from that I drew and shrank. I poured some DecoArt Glamour Dust into the shell and let it sit overnight to dry. Kristen has such an eye for things I never would have thought of, like using some broken shells as wings...omg, I loved that idea! I'll never look at a broken shell the same way again!

Linking up my seashell mermaid to Paint Party Friday!

View from our room.

Some of those rain clouds I was talking about, although it never did rain, it was just overcast and windy...very windy!

I don't know if you can see him but there is a small alligator tucked into those reeds. 

We had a spur of the moment mani-pedi day after brunch on Sunday. 

All smiles!

My niece who lives at the beach brought her little man up to visit his old grand aunt for the day.

Great trip: wonderful friends and family combined with some fun art,
life was fine this past week!

Etching, the problem solver

Potluck dinners, a sick or bereaving friend or church functions, those are the occasions where I bring a casserole or dessert, and then begins the fretting of getting my dish back. 

Yes, I fret.

After all, there is no such thing as Dish Karma.

 If you lose one, another doesn’t show up as a random act of dish replacement. 

The Land of Lost Pyrex is right down the street from The Land of Single Socks.

The best and easiest way to get your dish back is to etch your name a design on it.
Permanently into the glass.

Shattered Stencil designed by Lizzie Mayne

 I didn't want to etch my name into it because one day, someone might inherit my dish whether through a garage sale or through a hand me down moment so I thought I'd etch a design into the dish instead so it's more "user" friendly down the road. But you can do your name if you so desire.

The little dots are actually from the paper that I placed under the dish to get some contrast.

After etching, it's safe to wash in the dishwasher and safe to put in the oven

as long as the bakeware is intended for oven-use. 

And do etch on the outside area of any dish, just in case..

ya know what I mean.

I am sure you've gotten quite a few etching instructions along the way on the hop 

so I'll just mention a couple of things I learned along the way:

1. A painted stencil did not effect the etching at all, so you don't have to start off with a new stencil. This is a picture after the etching paste had been scraped off before washing the remainder of the paste off in the sink. And an extra tip, the spray nozzle did great for removing the paste in between small areas of the stencil design.

2. Areas on your casserole dish that have a raised area (like the name of the dish, size of the dish, etc.) won't etch quite as well because the stencil itself cannot lay flat,

 but overall I think it turned out very well.

The little dots are actually from the paper that I placed under the dish to get some contrast.

GIVEAWAY
One lucky winner will receive an etchall® Glass Etching Bee-ginner Kit,
reposition/reuse stencil spray
AND a $25 Gift Certificate to StencilGirl Products!
Enter to win by leaving a comment below.
Then be sure to visit the other blogs in the hop and comment to win.
The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to WIN!
One winner will be chosen at random from all blog comments!
(One comment per blog please.)

You have until Tuesday, March 20th at 11:59PM Central Time to leave your comments.
Winner will be announced on
StencilGirl's Facebook page and etchall’s Facebook page on Wednesday, March 21.

Blog Hop Order:

March 14
Mary Beth Shaw
Gwen Lafleur
Mary C. Nasser
Debi Adams
Tina Walker
Cindi McGee
Nadine Carlier
Joe Rotella

March 15
Belen Sotelo
Cindy Gilstrap
Kiala Givehand
Janet Joehlin
Anita Scroggins
Erin Reed
Candy Rosenberg
Susie Bentz

March 16
Carol Baxter
Sandee Setliff ← You are here!
Louise Nelson
Terry Ricioli
Christie Troxell
Steph Ackerman
Julie McGuffee

I'm linking up the blog hop to Paint Party Friday while I have a piece of Lemon Meringue pie...
the things I do for my design team...sigh
😜

Enough

There is a difference between giving up and knowing when you have had enough.

Well, another attempting to draw 29 faces and although I still didn't make it I did get further along than normal, so I guess that's a good thing. My problem is that I get bored drawing the same subject. However, I did learn to use my IPad a little bit so that's a big plus.

23 out of 29 faces completed

Linking up to

Paint Party Friday

Happy Birthday to PPF, wow 7 years?!!

Time does fly when you're having fun!

Twice as much fun

Mail art (also known as postal art and correspondence art) is a populist artistic movement centered on sending small scale works through the postal service.

My post is up over on the Rubbermoon Artsmosphere today and I would be honored if you stopped over there and left me some love. 💗💙💚💛💜 I made a short video of me making my card and matching envelope too if you're interested in watching it. :)

I'll link to their blog once my post goes live. I'm up EARLY this morning and beat them to it, lol I mean really, who gets up this early without meaning to? Sigh, so as you can tell, not sleeping real well these days. I remember when I was young I could sleep forever, now that I'm retired I can't sleep at all! ugh!

Linking up with

Paint Party Friday