meltdown: noun

 A disastrous or rapidly developing situation likened to the melting of a nuclear reactor core

or in my case

An emotional breakdown

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What's on my desk?

A confession of death and destruction....

melodrama and woe....

::sigh::

( brave face )

....Happy WOYWW!

I'm not even sure if anyone remembers the Mermaid Altered Book I had diligently been working on through Elizabeth's class over at Altered Book Lover. I had been having problems since the very first lesson, which was finding a sewn book. My eyesight isn't the best and I thought I had found one but I had not; I discovered after a few lessons. I never complained and mustered on but I have been having pages crack and separate from day 1. So my meltdown had been slowly but surely evolving.

So here we go...I got to Lesson 10, was having fun, cutting images from magazines that were not mermaids and making them into a pretty swanky art deco mermaid lounging on the sea floor and was trying to figure out the next step which was making a frame, while playing with gesso, dropping alcohol inks...

Discovered the alcohol inks had seeped through to the next page....

::held breath while I had a whole 30 seconds of panic asking myself...

did it seep through the previous page? ::

I was afraid to look!

OH MY GOD.................NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...................It had.

I had ruined one of my "most hard to complete" pages.

I was devastated. I was pissed.

MAJOR meltdown occurred.

I took my exacto knife out and cut out every page.

So now I have this, which remains of my temper tantrum:

Which I stuffed back into my book like so:

and propped my fan on it like this....which is where it has sat for the last month.

Now what?...I lay the future of my book at your feet.

::hangs head and skulks off::

in for a penny, in for a pound: idiom

If something is worth doing then it is a case of in for a penny, in for a pound, which means that when gambling or taking a chance, you might as well go the whole way and take all the risks, not just some

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In for a penny, in for a pound, I decided to do the other side of my picture-less lay out. I have also come to the conclusion that I don't need to leave a lot of room for journaling since my pictures that get taken at the beach usually end up being shells, birds, sunsets and beaches. So I opted out for a saying I saw on Pinterest:

I added some micro beads and Ranger's stickles to the seahorse.

Fantabulous Cricut - Challenge #123, Cool Off

Here are both pages together:

Also, I had a couple people asking me about the "surf / seafoam" on the paper. It's by Paper House.

Now let's hope that I'll find some pictures to fit the spaces I provided!

demise: noun

the end of existence or activity; termination

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It looks like a simple lay out but there is a lot going on actually, but it's all in the little details. :) First off, I am following this sketch by Becky Fleck. I absolutely love her sketches and have been following her blog for 4 years? I think that's right, but then I have a habit of losing track of time, so who really knows?

So you can see I followed the basic design of the sketch. I was really focused on the paper itself which shows the ocean washing up on the beach. But I think you can see that the large hand torn sand castle replaces the paper layering on the right and the flag is the date element on the top right edge. The only layering I didn't incorporate is on the left side. The flower embellishments are replaced with the 2 clouds and the sand dollar.

 I'm not the best at making lay outs ahead of time as my pictures usually dictate my creative process but I will have to keep in mind the lay out and work in reverse. Taking pictures to go with the design, harder to do than it sounds!

I was really inspired by the jar, and built a beach scene within a beach scene. This is one of those details. If you look inside the jar, you can see the same elements repeated, sand, seashell, sand castle, seagull and clouds. Now look at the general lay out and you will see the same embellishments. It's my beach washing up on the beach. ..( welcome to my world, lol )

Sizzix Jar Die, and Sand Dollar

Really Reasonable Ribbon Hemp Cord
Cricut - Everyday Paper Dolls, clouds

I also had a lot of fun with the sand dollar and the castle itself. I did shading, added gold beads and stickles to both. The sand dollar on the other hand became way more involved, I added LuminArte' Twinkling H20's, paint, and a thick layer of Ranger's Candy Crackle. It actually wasn't this color, but when I added the crackle it changed! lol That was a "breathe and let go" moment!

As I have discussed before, I don't add a lot of dimension to my lay outs, I prefer to use doodling, shading, bead work and sinking. But the jar began my demise into dimension, with the cloud following suit, lol It's not too bad, just a little height.

For my "sinking", I used the water paper tearing for the sand dollar and the jar, and my exacto knife for the sand castle. You can see the differences in the edges of the 2 techniques.

 Here is what the back of my lay out looks like ;) I was a little sloppy with my glue and you see where I had too much glue around the edges, be careful and don't glue your lay out to your craft table!! I can say that I've never done that, but I have come close ;)

Becky Fleck - Fancy Pants Sketch Contest

Just Add Water Silly - Artist Playroom - Turquoise and Lime

Paper playtime - Challenge #81 - Hot and Spicey + a Die Cut or Punch

fickel: noun

 describes persons or things that are not firm or steady in affection, behavior, opinion, or loyalty

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My favorite?...why the one I am currently working on, of course. At least that's the way I feel when working on any project. This one is no different, although some things have to grow on you a bit in order to become a favorite, take this tag for instance.It started off in a normal fashion, cutting the tag base and embossing it. I did get to use one of my new embossing folders which is just beautiful. I then used regular paint to cover the raised areas using my blending tool as Timmy advised. Then followed up with the 2 brown inks.

Cricut - tag- Don Juan cartridge ( 6" )

embossing folder- Sheena, heavy swirls

paint - Delta, Forest Green

Ranger - Distress inks- Antique Linen

Ranger's - Distress Ink ( reinker )- Brushed Corduroy

I really was not looking forward to making any flowers. As a rule, I don't like making them at all, and I have 2 cartridges just for flower making. You can imagine my disappointment when I learned that I stunk at flower making. :( Hoping that TH could change my flower making; I dutifully watched the the video, wishing it would spur on that moment of flower creativity and I admit I was intrigued about using the toothpick to base the flower's structure on. I still may not be a superb flower maker but the process was enjoyable anyway, and I will use this trick again, although I do confess that when I made my first one, I had to laugh because I thought.."oh,look, a tiny cute pink pine cone.."

flowers - Cricut - Flower Shoppe cartridge ( 3", 2.5", and 2" )
branches - French Manor cartridge ( 3" )

Ranger's - Distress inks - Worn Lipstick, Mowed Lawn
Tattered Angels - glimmer mist, Pearl

I altered the sentiment because I thought this one went better with my butterfly, and I made the butterfly dimensional along with the saying. I didn't have a frame stamp ( that wouldn't involve masking ) so I cut out my frame on the Cricut using a 2 sided tape applied to the card stock before I cut the image so that I could still emboss it easily. I also probably ruined the flowers by adding the inside color with alcohol inks, but lesson learned as they ended up being so bright.

butterfly stamp - Hero Arts

Cricut - frame - Happy Hauntings cartridge

sentiment - Karen Foster

Tim Holtz - alcohol inks - Watermelon, Citrus, and Sailboat Blue
embossing powder - American Crafts

I did substitute the pearls with a clear and black crystal, the pearls just looked too white. I also used a green ribbon because I think it balanced the color of the tag well.

crystals - old necklace from stash

key charm - Cousin

ribbon - stash

Tim Holtz August Tag

Pan Pastels - Challenge 30 - Summer Fun

Really Reasonable Ribbon - #53 - Bling and Ribbon

Divas by design - Challenge 46 - Flowers

So I learned a few things, not to drop bright colors inside a muted toned flower! along with a new technique for making flowers. It's still my favorite, but then I am a fickle crafter and I know my next favorite is always right around the corner! ;)

And in my continuing endeavor to increase my TH stash I made my monthly purchase:

 And my goodies that Sheena sent me..because I was... and I am quoting her:  "being my first non UK commenter" ...lol..That was such a treat and I love her products too. I am looking forward to playing with all this treasure as soon as I can! She was very generous! :)

self portrait: noun

A pictorial or literary portrait of oneself, created by oneself.

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Well, I'm not sure where to start with this post. Guess I'll begin Monday night watching Tracy Weinzapfel's online painting party where she issued her August Dare canvas.

 "To use a picture of yourself."

What? ..::blink, eye roll, moan and groan::....I did them all.

 I even said to myself that I doubt I'd do one that would actually ever get used. Maybe do one to be a good sport, and then toss it in the trash afterwards. I really thought that would happen as my first attempt was so bad that it's actually the first layer underneath the finished canvas. This morning, I woke up and said, well, if it's going to be trashed then have fun and don't worry about what it looks like! Try it again! So I took some book pages and adhered them with my medium. Scanned and printed out a church directory picture, then sat at my desk and begin stamping, painting, spraying, daubing, spritzing, dropping, smooshing, you name it...I was doing it. I literally painted over the picture itself, and I am loving the effect.

And, ok, so my skin isn't really this smooth, but hey it's a journey into what I think represents me, so I guess this is how I think wish I look...to me. lol I also pulled out tons of stickers from my stash; like waterfalls to represent the mountains and hiking which I like to do, butterflies...just  becuase I love them, a fish because I am a Pisces.

Flowers which I love growing, a camera to represent my photography, snowflakes to show my love of the snow, and the sea shell since I was born in Florida. The flower over my eye hopefully shows my sense of humor in that I never want to take myself too seriously.

And LOOK, I love it so much that it has a spot on my bedroom wall. Right above one of my favorite wall hangings I made. The 2 kind of go together I think. :) I haven't done a self portrait in ages, and it's not something I would have set out to do on my own, but I am so happy that I have done it.

The words that I wrote on my shirt are 3 different quotes/sayings I found on Pinterest:

I am on a journey, with my work, my expolrations and a few sad stories. I travel with a suitcase full of outrageous blessings, I am on a quest for truth, beauty and quiet joy. I am a writer, an Artist, an Explorer. I am on a journey.

and

Life is a great big canvas, throw all the paint on it that you can. danny kaye

also

Make Time for your art.

So, are you up for the challenge?

Here is Tracy's creative Dare for you for August:

recording of her Live show here

1. Create a project featuring a photo/portrait of YOU!
2. Journal or use words to describe who you are TODAY!
3. Incoporate your own handwriting in your piece

Also entering this in
Try it on Tuesday - Anything Goes
Fab 'n' Funky Challenge #132 - Anything but a card

 Frosted Designs Fabulous Friday Challenge - color challenge

HA! : interjection

used especially to express surprise, joy, or triumph

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Well, if y'all are expecting me to complete what I did last month, then HA! no way...if nothing else, vacation plans will get in the way...and happily derail my crafting this month with lots of frou frou drinks planned by the pool!

But I am a Guest Designer for Unique Crafters this month and for the month of August, it's all about bling! I sure hope that y'all can join in, especially as this is such a fun challenge. I mean, who doesn't love bling? And if you say you don't....I don't believe you  ;)

Unique Crafters Challenge Blog - #6 Glitter and Shine

Figured I could get ahead of some little Christmas gifts, the kind I give to my neighbors, along with maybe a nice pen? or a plate of cookies? which would you prefer?

And then a congratulatory card is always nice to have on hand..

Beacause if ....

then a blingy pig can soar!

DCWV - Shimmer stack
all the rest given to me by Unique Crafters

decked: adjective ( slang )

Decked or Decked out, Dressed nicely, or liked "pimped out"

--------------------------------------------Happy WOYWW and Happy Olympics to all!----------------------

This will be short and sweet, I admit that July had been a very busy month for me, thank you everybody for your support...the tally for July:

31 consecutive posts, with 31 days of ribbon

6 completed submissions for Cricut Magazine

2 projects completed and submitted for Unique Crafter's guest design team

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39 different projects for July!

whew :)

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my desk, just the beginnings of a canvas for Tracy's Weinzapfel's August Challenge:

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Kudos to Michael Phelps for 19 Olympic Medals!  48 year old record broken, awesome achievement!

15 Gold

2 Silver

2 Bronze

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Thank you Anne, for sending me this eye glass adorable frame all decked out in England's colors, plus she had it tied up with a Union Jack charm which I added to the frame! It sits out in my den right below my TV!