HAPPY 2013~~

NEW YEAR new plans, resolutions, goals, and best of all adventures!!
I want to let yall know on a new adventure for me!!  Creative Times Magazine which is a fabo online crafting mag has allowed me to be their new quick tips article writer!!  I am excited!!  You will find it here:
www.creativetimesmagazine.com   and best of all they are working on it not only being an online mag you could also order a hard copy!! I will be doing that!!
my first article of tips is in there!!    I am inspired so wrote up the next article last night for the march/april issue.

And onto new plans:  I have a few new projects I so want to make and some of them are ideas from the most wonderful online site  PINTEREST!! oh my love love LOVE that place!!  I can so get lost on the site!! If you havent visited please do do but be warned!! LIMIT yourself!!  hours pass quickly on there and I dont get much accomplished around here!! LOL oh well!! I have 50 some boards and find new things to pin by the minute.......no second!! 
here's a link to my boards:::   http://pinterest.com/chickenscratch/
And dont you know my boys have their own board!! LOL I need to put some more pics of them on there soon.           New goals: I have a few do you?  I really want to try making some great altered mixed media jewelry pieces.  I have visions in my mind but just have to incorporate that into actuallly doing...ya know.    Another goal would be to clean up and.....oh that dreaded word............organize my craft studio!! It has become a dumping ground if you will for everything!!  I can't even think of being creative in there anymore!! =(  time has come to pitch the unwanted unused items. 

Onto some of the things I did just before xmas.  

Susan made this beautiful chocolate mint torte.  Layers of decadent moist chocolate cake with peppermint infused buttercream topped with luscious chocolate ganache' and some marizpan holly!  Oh so yummylicious!!

chocolate dipped butter squares   and they were addicting too!!

my mom decorated some little sugar cookie trees for on our cookie trays and boxes. 

our popular red raspberry filled linzer tart cookies!!

some twisted candy cane butter cookies Susan made.  These were soooooooo yummo!! 

Old milkcan for my hubby's boss.  I was very pleased with how this turned out.  I had sectioned the painted area off with chalk, *hint* chalk wipes off with no marks, use it all the time when painted signs or pretty much anything.   hubby sandblasted the area and left the rest of can it's lovely rustiness!!

OK OK!~! I got up on christmas eve at 2 am to finish this block set for my little darling neice, so yes!! can u see it!!!  I didnt until her mommy and her unwrapped it!! I will be making another R for it!! LOL

I used vintage seam binding in brown for the outside edges, painted the blocks light sage green and mod podged the awesome My Mind's Eye papers and some little pearl accents.  My cricut finally got to get used!!  I have had it sitting on a work table poor baby neglected..... I can see using that alot this year!! I have alof of things to make!! 

And a couple last minute signs I painted for gifts!  Love those snowmen and a bit unhappy to not paint them til next winter!! sad!!=( 

maybe if we had some snow I would paint them more!! but we see grass!!

 

Love this guy!! I did one similar for my shows and the lady that bought it loved it so much she ordered 2 more.

Love this one too!! 

So that is about all for today.  Hope yall had a wonderful happy safe new years!!  My mom and I went out to lunch yesterday, did a bit of shopping and then came home.

 Hubby and I stayed home with the "boys" last night, watched tv, played games and had popcorn!! What a wonderful evening and start to the new year!!  Love my boys and our family!

Have a great day! be back soon!!

HUGS

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

TGIF and more vintage scrappin

Hey yall!! WOW oh WOW it is friday already!!   We had our last of the winter markets at Bronson today and it was great! SO happy to be a part of it and will miss everyone but will be back there in december!!
Seems so very far off but with summer markets, baking and farmin may-nov just really flies right on by us!  So I did work on a few more projects this week inbetween bakin. 

So here is my niece Carissa.  She is just growin up wayyyyyyyyy too quick!  I love her litle pink vest!    So for her one year pic I decided to do a bit of a vintagey feelin lo.  I used a grey patterend sheet for the backround, added my own touch with the layered chipboard flowers and hearts. 

And one more piece of the grey pearl flourish I took apart.    I also used Believe chipboard title out of my pack from K&CO another of my favo companies!! 

Here is one I did up for hubby's dad.  Another vintagey feelin one since this is a great black and white pic of him with his bike.  ANDDDDDDDDDDD more of the grey pearls I love so much!!  I also added some layered chipboard hearts and a flower.  I did use a Tim Holtz stamp along the edge of the chipboard in numbers then machine zig zag stitched around the sheet music paper.  

I loved the light pink, cream and black color combo I decided to do this one first but wasnt as happy with it as the one above.  I do love the backround page which is another in the Lost and Found series by My Mind's Eye~!~  LOVE LOVE LOVE this set, did I already mention this!! LOL

And I so love the tickets along the top of the sheet music ontop.     So that was the last of the projects and I just want to take a minute to give PRIMA definetly 2 thumbs up for their new pearl line!! I am so so lovin these flourishes and bought more today, I got some white and silver ones and more of the grey I love so much~~ WTG PRIMA!!  and I also love their packaging, I have used the cards they are stuck to on a few projects now so great way to recycle~~ 

so I will chat with ya this weekend it is suppossed to be rainy and cold here so geeeeeewhizzzzzzzzzzzz nothin to do outside!! DARN~ have to spend the time workin in my studio!! DARN~LOL

ENJOY your weekend!!

HUGS

 Darlene 

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

A vintagey lo and me

I decided to stay home today and play in my studio!!  Dont ya just love when u get something new like a new tool or stickers or die cutting machine or well patterend papers!!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE papers!! and I know I have said this before but love My Minds Eye!!  Love them!!  So with that said I just wast chompin at the bit to work with the new papers I bought.   In fact I can hear some more calling my name so on my way home from market friday there justttttttttttttttttt happppppppppppppens to be a hobby lobby right on my way no goin out of the way or even gettin off the main road just make a right turn and opppppppppss there they are!! LOLI made the flowers using some great patterend papers and adhered the base one to some chipboard and cut them out.  Added distressing along the edges and bent the petals up and down. 

together is the name of this vintagey lo.  I am not quite sure who the couple is but it was in my grandmothers old photos I had.  It says miami fla at the beach handwritten on the back.  Not sure of the year either.

And here we are again with the pearl flourish!! the last of the pieces I cut apart.  gonna get more of them too! 

I machine stitched along the vintage sheet music in a zig zag pattern but you really cant see that at all on the pic. 

And I had to do a lo of me, something to show my style and had to have a few ingredients in it.  Stitching on the page, I stitched the muslin tag to the gingham paper,  My favo Tim Holtz stamp!!  so that had to be on the page, those favo pearl flourishes I love so much, they are sooooooo me!! 

Flowers, flowers and hearts!!  Love making layered altered distressed flowers!  again SO ME!! and that pic of me and my sweet Buster Brown.

Yall know PINK is a favo color of mine so this had to have lots of it on the page.  I layered my pic with a few different pink papers, notice too if you can my sweater is light pink~!~LOL  of cource, and there are some great pink gems here and there!

So now I am off to work outside since the sun is shinin and it has warmed up to 45 oustide.  I think that might be wrong it feels warmer than that.  But I want to plant some rainbow swiss chard and cilantro in pots in the greenhouse.  It is like 90 in there!! LOVE IT!  love gettin in the dirt!  maybe that is why I distress and age just about everything!! dirty lookin!! LOL
so have a wonderful wonderful tues!!
talke to ya more soon!!
HUGS
Darlene

  ~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

An altered organizer day

I have to say yesterday was just a wonderfully perfect day!! It was my birthday and  started out with my sweet mom and brother taking me out for breakfast, then came home and putzed around the house and did a few things in my little studio and then took the "boys" for a walk and then a ride bye bye, hubby came home after work and we watched tv and had supper and played outside with the "boys".  What a perfect day!!
Our little Bruno is so well fitted for our family he is a blessing from above that is for sure. 

A friend was talkin bout using foam core board and it reminded me of pins I made using it last year.   This one i made using foam core as the base, it is nice an lightweight and easily cut with an exacto knife.  I adhered the cut out fairy ontop of some sheet music paper, then stamped some flourishes on it and added those beautiful wings.  Using my JUST RITE stamps I stamped the words believe and dream on it.  The sides I just painted with some metallic silver paint, added a few layers of triple thick glaze and a pin back and that was it.  easy peasy!

Had to put a pic of my favo flower on today, Sunflowers have been a long time favo of mine and with all these dark, grey glooomy days I wanted something a bit bright to look at!! they just make ya smile and think of long sunny summer days laying in the grass looking up in the blue sky and watching the clouds lazily roll by.  OH cant wait for summer!!

Ok I posted the start of this book awhile ago and finally finished all the embellishements on it.  It is used for my orders for markets.  I MUST be organized this year!!  Once market season opens and the farm is in full swing things get crazy and busy and I get .................gulp..................yes a bit absent minded! well maybe just a bit forgetful sounds better ????  Anyway I figured I needed something fun to help me be more ontop of things this year.  

Each page has the day of the week on the end tab and inside there is a pocket that I have paperclipped papers to, to write the requested item in. 

Using lots of emphemera and my altered chipboard and ribbons and bakers twine this will be perfect. 

I just love the blue frame around this bunch of forget me not flowers.    Lots of stamping and altering was done to make this.  And I had this old vintagey label in my stash Miss Muffets fine teas and cakes!  Fit rather perfect for my bakery organizer. 

Even though I am a primitive kind of distressed gal I love pinks and browns together.   Love my flourish stamps and these were stamped with TIM HOLTZ distressing inks.  I dry brushed almost every detail with black paint for my prim look. 

Ticket stubs, hearts, postage stamps, words, and well just about any and everything is in here.  

This is what I started out with.  Just some pretty folders from a local dollar store.     I cut each one in 1/2 and I think you get 3-4 in a pkg.  They had a couple of different ones but since I am a pink fan this was best for me.

So now run out to your nearest dollar store and make one for yourself.   I am finding a bit of organizing doesnt hurt at all!! LOL I must admit I have good intentions and start the year off with high hopes of letting that organizing part of me show but it does get pushed to the wayside so hopefully this will help me out!! 

I am off to start baking for market so hope yall have a wonderful glorious wed. and I will be back soon!!! Thanks for stopping by!!

HUGS

Darlene

 ~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Spring altered sign

I am so sooooooooooo in the mood for spring!!  and all the lovely springtime joys!!  CANT wait!
Here's another springy project I did this week.
The wood sign is actually a dollar store find!!  I took the ribbon off it that was a hanger and replaced it with twine (that primitive gal in me loves twine and with using hay everyday for my horses and goats always have it )

I used this dragonfly stamp to stamp around the edges of the polka dot base.  Love pokadots~

Found an emphemera pkg full of great vintagey inspired things from K & CO at MICHAELS so used some of that on here.  I like the way the birdcage shows up like metal! It is a bronzey metallic looking cage from the pkg. 

I cut the leaves from green pp and just sprinkled with a bit of MARTHA STEWARTS glitter.

The letters were on a pkg I bought and put in the stash drawer to use up finally, lol, anyway to give them nice depth I just dry brushed them with some black paint and also edged a bit with antiquing medium.  same with the edges of the sign

And I also did up a set of 3 baby girl cards.    I had a page kit of mother goose things so used some of that on these.  

Love using hat pins and the little alpha beads.

A layered altered chipboard flower I cut and painted and stamped and inked the edges.

So that was it for yesterday.  Hubby is doing better from his oral surgery and I am hoping he wakes up feeling good today.  Slept on and off most of yesterday and actually we were in bed right after idol last night.  The boys get so excited we all march off to bed together at night~ they play and ruffhouse a bit then we get comfy and our little family is off to sweet slumber.   Good life!  Wish Bubba dog was here with us but I know he is with us in spirit.  We miss him so.

Still trying to find a little girl for my sweet boy to have a date with and hopefully we have a lead on one not too far away just have to time it right. 

Hope yall have a wonderful friday!~!~  I am off to bake for market tomorrow, banana blueberry bread, banana bread, shortbread cookies, multi grain bread, and mabye some of my cinnamon roll bread pudding. 

Will talk more and have a few more things to share this weekend!~!~

HUGS

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~