I have been B U S Y.....

On my last post I announced the birth of my granddaughter, Wren Elizabeth.  Since then I have had the pleasure of being Gammi/Nanny to her and her two big brothers while mommy teaches school.  School is out for the Summer and I will have more free time on my hands so I promise I will try to do better posting here.

First ....  Here are some of my Favorite Pictures of the kiddos:

Big Brother Adler loves his baby sister.

Squishy Face

Ready to celebrate being a Patriotic Princess.

Wren swinging 8 months old.

This is the look I got AFTER she threw all her toys on the floor.  She knows how to get what she wants.

Adler "grew" a butterfly from a cocoon.

Tate is playing soccer this year.  He has fun!!!

Adler, Wren and Tate.  They are my youngest son's children.

Tate, Drake, and Adler playing on the last day of School.  Drake is my oldest son's boy.  We don't get to see nearly enough of him since he started school.  So glad we will have time with him this summer.

I have been art journaling in my Bible....Below is just a sample.

And I am still on the design team for Texana Designs Stamps.  I am busily coloring samples with Derwent Inktense Colored Pencils.  I love how vibrant and water colored they look.

This is what is on my Paper Crafting Table.

My Embroidery Machine has been busy doing patches for BACA Bikers Against Child Abuse.  After the Waco Motorcycle "event" that has been in the news so much lately, It is a true honor to know and help these wonderful Bikers who stand in the gap for abused children.  They "adopt" them and go to court with them or surround their homes to make the kiddos feel secure and protected and loved while they are dealing with the effects of being abused.

And I am still sewing and crocheting.  I will post more things later.

I have a GRANDDAUGHTER!!!

Wren Elizabeth Lambert was born on September 30, 2014.  She is the FIRST Lambert Girl born to this branch of the family.  She will be spoiled rotten by her family, that is for sure.  I have been busy making dresses, bows, and toys for the last couple of months.  Yes I am EXCITED!!!  

Now don't get me wrong....I LOVE MY GRANDSONS TO THE MOON AND BACK.  They are the lights of my life.  Drake, Adler, and Tate are the most wonderful boys in the whole entire world, but they are boys.  Being a bridal seamstress for the last two decades doesn't translate well to Jeans and Tshirts.  

And I couldn't use pink paper and flowers on THEIR scrapbook pages.  So the other thing I have been doing for the last several months is making a PINK Mini Album.  

My friend Theresa, showed me a mini album she made and I was intrigued. It was beautiful and had so many unique ways of displaying pictures. I had made numerous mini albums for my grandsons, so I decided to make this one for Wren. It has 6 pages with lots of hidden pockets and waterfalls to add pictures. It will be a work in progress and it won't be finished until it is full. Directions on how to make it are on YouTube.

Chalkboard Stamping

I love chalkboards.  I love how they look.  I love that I can change the art on my walls whenever I want.  I have several that were given to me by my son. 

This week I decided I wanted a chalkboard the size of a wall.  I made a trip to Lowes and bought a quart of chalkboard paint and proceeded to paint a wall . 

I then I found a large frame to hang on the wall.  

And finally yesterday I filled my frame with artwork.

This morning while reading my blogs I found Tim Holtz post with instructions for his November Tag.  He used a technique he taught in his Creative Chemistry 102 called CHALKBOARD STAMPING.  I had to try it out.  

We had just come back from a trip to Lost Maples State Park in Vanderpool, TX.  We went in hopes of seeing some fall color.  We were not disappointed.

You can see some of my pictures here.

I followed Tim's directions using Texana Designs Jam'n Oak Leaves in all three sizes.  Stamping them on Black.  I also stamped a few on colored card stock, just to add a little color to my layout.

I used black card stock for my background.  I rubbed chalkboard chalk over it to make it look like a well used chalkboard.

After fussy cutting my leaves out, I glued them to the background along with a picture from yesterday and this is what I came up with.

Carving Memories....One Pumpkin ScareCrow at a time

This year is missing something..... we have gone to Comfort TX every October for the last 3 or 4 years to see the Scarecrow Invasion.  We have plans to help photograph the DSACT Buddy Walk this weekend and won't be able to make the trip to Comfort.  There isn't anything any different about Comfort's Scarecrows.  We just enjoy the drive to that quaint little Texas town.  It's fun to take pictures of the scarecrows and walk around the little downtown area.  Here are some of my pictures from 2011

Since we won't be making the trip this year, I decided to print out some pictures from a previous year and create a Scrapbook Layout using some of my Texana Designs Stamps to create cute little embellishments.

These are the pictures I chose for my layout.

So I started pulling out supplies and planning my layout.  This is how I created it.

I used my Dylusions Sprays to create some mats and some "patterned paper" to stamp my pumpkins for my layout.

I picked the stamps I wanted to use and stamped them on the tinted paper.

I also sprayed black through a stencil on one corner and then flipped it over and to rub the excess ink from the stencil on another corner creating a positive and negative.

Using Distress Markers I colored the pumpkin leaves and stems.

I found a scrap of patterned paper with a harlequin pattern in my stash that was large enough to mat my largest picture.  I used a Uniball Signo pen to outline the diamond pattern in white.

I sanded the edges of my pictures to distress them and create a white edge around them.

I used Black Soot Distress Ink and my foam blending tool to distress my mat..

I glued the picture in place and added 3 orange gems to the side of the mat.

I cut mats from my background paper and inked them with Black Soot Distress Ink

And outlined the patterns with my White Signo Pen

I fussy cut all my pumpkins out and added white dots to the eyes.  I also lightly inked them with the same Black Soot Distress Ink and the foam blending pad to tone them down alittle.

I found some patterned paper I liked for the page.  This is from Teresa Collins Whimsical Halloween Collection from a couple of years ago.  The words are actually from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.  Which happens to be a popular new television show for this season, though I find it very scary.

I took a manila tag, sprayed it with Dylusions and inked it with the Black Soot Distress Ink.  Using Versamark I stamped my sentiment and embossed it with White Embossing Powder. 

I glued everything into place.  And here is my finished Layout.

You can find a complete supply list at Texana Design Blog