Friendship Day Mixed Media Canvas

Like many of the days that we celebrate in America, Friendship Day was originally founded by Hallmark in 1919. Their plan was to have a special day set aside for people to celebrate their friendship by sending each other cards. It was a great plan, but it died out by 1940.

Well, Friendship Day is back in style! On April 27, 2011 the United Nations officially recognized 

July 30^th as International Friendship Day, but most people celebrate it on the first Sunday in August. 

As usual, I'm late, but I don’t think my friends will hold it against me (they know me too well). I hope that you will forgive me for being late, as well. (belated) HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY!

Here’s what I made to share with you in honor of Friendship Day:

Supplies: Julie Nutting Doll Stamp; Claudine Hellmuth Multi-Medium Matte; Tim Holtz 

Distress Paint – Mustard, Picket Fence, Salty Ocean; Clearsnap Smooch – Sundance, 

Tuxedo;Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist – Marshmallow, Goldens Fluid Acrylics – Iridescent Gold; 

Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents; Ranger Ink Stickles – True Blue, Stardust, Yellow; American Crafts 

Crate Paper Thickers – Little Boy Blue Doll Glitter; Stampin’ Up! Punch – Circle, Spring Flowers; StazOn – 

Jet Black; Tim Holtz Distress Ink – Vintage Photo; Cosmo Cricket – Tiny Text; Miscellaneous Canvas

A little bit of Stardust Stickles adds a sparkle to her wings.

Smooch Sundance adds a nice shimmer to the shoes, headband, and flowers on her dress.

Although the designated Friendship Day was yesterday, it’s never too late to recognize and celebrate your friends. Make cards, treat boxes, handmade flowers, mixed media canvases, ATCs, or whatever makes you smile and send them to your friends. 

There’s nothing like getting something besides bills in the mail. Many call it “snail mail,” but I prefer to think of it as “smile mail.”

It's never too late to make someone smile! How are you going to recognize your dearest friends?

Hot Fun In the Summertime!

"Them summer days, those summer days...." Nobody does it like Sly and the Family Stone! You really can't help but feel good when you hear that song.

Whenever I hear it, the soothing melody reminds me to slow down and savor "them summer days" because "those summer days" seem to go by faster and faster the older I get.

Happy Independence Day! I hope it finds you and yours having a blast! There are so many ways to celebrate -- family reunions, block parties, cookouts, watching fireworks, lighting sparklers, and the list goes on. Whatever it is that you do, have fun doing it!

Although I enjoy celebrating just like everyone else, July 4th always reminds me that we're halfway through summer. Not like a sad thing, just a reminder to slow down and savor "them summer days, those summer days."

Last month, I shared a tropical travel themed album with you. This month, I thought I'd share a beach album that I made using Mud Puddles and the On the Boardwalk collection from one of my favorite paper craft companies, Graphic45. I hope you like it!

I added sea shells and glass elements to the cover to give it depth and add to the texture that the Mud Puddles gives. I used Glossy Accents on the swirls near the Glimmer Glass palm tree by Tattered Angels, which I heated with a heat tool to make it pliable.

The lace was sprayed with Glimmer Mist, the backs of the Glimmer Glass elements were colored with Copic Markers, and I added a crumpled ticket to add to the boardwalk theme.

I used a nautical mask with Glimmer Mist to create the effect above, prior to placing the Glimmer Glass on the paper with a brad.

I applied Peal Ex to the back of the seahorse prior to heating. And of course, there always has to be a little bling!

For a little something different, I sprayed the paper with water, crumpled it, opened and inked it with Distress Ink, and then sprayed it with Glimmer Mist.

Now that you're done looking, take a moment and listen to Sly and the Family Stone singing "Hot Fun in the Summertime."  Remember to slow down and savor "them summer days, those summer days."

Enjoy,

Create a Vacation Mini Album

WOW! I can’t believe it’s June already. It’s so hard to believe that we are midway through 2013. Time sure does fly.

June means graduations, weddings and what we all long for – the beginning of summer.  Barbeques, days at the pool, family reunions and summer vacations, all of which means lots of fun and pictures, lots of pictures.

I must admit that I don’t really go on vacation during the summer, but just about all of my friends do and no matter where they go, they all take lots and lots of pictures. And, like many of us that go on vacation, they are all so eager to come home and show everyone their pictures…one painstaking picture and story at a time.

So, why not make a mini album to put vacation pictures in?  Whether it’s for your own vacation pictures or as a gift for someone you know that’s going on vacation, a mini album will make viewing the photos a much more pleasurable experience.

Here’s a mini album that I made to teach as a class.  I can’t wait to see what it looks like when one of my friends fills it with vacation pictures.

Supplies: Graphic 45 Tropical Travelogue Collection; Basically Bare Funky Findings Album; Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist and Mask; Embellishments: Glossy Accents, Burlap, Ribbon, Pearls.

I even had enough scraps left over to make this little album that can be used for additional photos or as a journal.

Amazing what you can do with scraps! 

Wouldn't you rather view your friends vacation photos, or show off your own, in a fun mini album, rather than in a stack -- on picture at a time?