The Month of May....

First things first, here is my May tag for the Tim Holtz's tags.  This was pretty much the only creative thing that I did this month.  I am just happy that I am still on track. So I am giving myself a pat on the back for at least getting this done.  Yay.

I honestly have no idea what I used this time around.  I just kind of grabbed a bunch of stuff and went and played.  I liked the idea of using rubons as resists.  I had some really nice white rubons that I want to try using.  Instead of using the film ribbon, I thought I would use an acetate silhouette of birds on a tree branch instead.  The only thing I am not sure about is the yellow lace.  It looks better IRL but looking at it now, I am not sure.

Anyway...the reason why I have not been very creative this month is because....this happened:

My parents came and visited.  One of the many things that we did while they were here was to try out a friend's restaurant.  It was amazing but I can't take my kids anywhere.

 

Thankfully, we pretty much had the restaurant to ourselves.

Then we did this:

 

And this:

And this...which was so cool.  And yes that is Nathan Fillon shaking hands with my daughter although you can't see her because of my back.

And then, I met him:

And then, her:

And then I ran into this kiddo and brought him home:

The kiddos raised these:

And over the long weekend, this happened:

Which was also incredible cool.  We missed seeing the first one emerge but we did see the second one.

Spring finally arrived this month and my lilacs were gorgeous:

We had lots of rehearsals preparing for my daughter's end of the year ballet.  The second set of grandparents came up to see her dance.

She was a woodland fairy in Peter Pan and she also had to do a character dance in the showcase.

And while the second set of grandparents were here, we had an early celebration for this kiddo.  Who is turning eleven very, very soon....too soon.  How did that happen?

I am not ready for him to be eleven yet.  Oh well.....bring on June and hopefully, more time to be creative.

Just Under the Wire

I almost dropped the ball this month.  The end of April just seemed to get here so fast.  I swear that yesterday was April 1st.  Crazy...that May is only one day away.  But happily, I did manage to get this month's Tim Holtz tag finished.

I need to thank Tim and Mario once again as well as Simon Says Stamps.  The gift certificate that I won on Tim's blog last year was the one I used to buy the stamp set used on this month's card.  I love this butterfly.

The marbling background is an interesting technique.  I think next time I will dilute the paints a bit more to give a more translucent look.

Even though May is going to be a busier month than April was, I am hoping to be able to keep up with the Tags.  At least I am keeping my finger's crossed.

Happy Tuesday.

A Star Wars Ballad

In a totally non-craft oriented post, I wanted to share my son's ballad that he wrote with his best friend.  They presented it in the Poetry Cafe at the school a while back.  These kiddos have talent:

Star Wars Ballad by R. and N.

In a galaxy far, far away
a cruiser went astray
Flew into Imperial space
Left, without a trace.

Two droids were on that ship
as it fell in a dip.
And the crucial plans
were put in their hands.

They got into a pod
Launched with a nod
Some troops saw them flee
To a planet with no sea.

They were put into captivity
As they past city to city
Finally sold to Owen Lars
They'd been freed from iron bars.

Met Luke Skywalker
Who was really a talker.
They found an old jedi
So they wouldn't have to die.

Followed a guide to Alderaan
But the planet got blown to sand
To rescue Leia was their mission
They returned to their position.

They blew up the station
To save their nation
But this wasn't the end of the empire
For they do not tire.

In a galaxy far, far away
A cruiser went astray
Flew into Rebel space
Left without a trace.

This boy just makes my geek heart so proud. :-)

March Tag & End of March Break

I can't believe that March break is already over.  It went by so fast.  It was nice to have a slower pace and not have to worry about so many details.  But alas, all good things must come to an end at some point.  The kiddos head back to school tomorrow and the mad rush with activities, homework, projects, and lunches descends upon us once again -- only 3.5 month until the summer break.  Not that I am counting.

I managed to get Tim Holtz's March Tag finished this weekend.  I was debating this one for a few weeks.  I like the techniques but I wasn't sure how I literal I wanted to be in my version.  I ended up keeping most of the same elements but tweaking it a bit.  I even dug out my Silhouette.  I thought I would use it to cut out a bunny on ornate label shape; but as I was going through my cutting files, another idea came to mind.

Materials used:  Bazzill Cardstock, Core-dinations Cardstock, Tim Holtz tinsel, ribbon, stamps, and dies, misc. metal embellishments, Distress ink, Alcohol ink and Archival ink.

I really like this damask shape and thought that it would be great with the "antique" tinsel technique.  Once I picked the damask shape, the grass didn't fit so I changed it to a more ornate edge which I double cut but in slightly different sizes.  I offset and used pop dots to give the edge a bit of dimension.

I still wanted to use metal elements and a couple of old jewelry bits worked well.  I ended up tucking a little metal bunny which I painted in the same manner as Tim painted his flowers.  It was my nod towards Easter.

Now that the tag is done, I think I am going to tackle another art journal page.  I have a few ideas swirling around with gesso stamping and modeling paste textures.

Have a good Sunday...or should I know say Monday.

Tattered Floral Challenge

Okay, I will admit that this one had me stumped for a while.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do for the Tim Holtz's Tattered Floral challenge.  I love this die and I have used it many, many times.  Usually, I cut out paper and then dry emboss the petals to make a dimensional flower; but for this challenge, I wanted to do something out of my comfort zone.  The thing about doing something outside your comfort zone is that you can't really decided if you can pull it off or not.

Finally,  I settled on this idea.  I wanted to make a floral crown.  Something that could be used as a ballet or Halloween costume accessory.  I wanted to use cheap items from the dollar store or the craft store $1.50 bins so that if I crashed and burned, I would not have wasted too much money.  Plus, when you are putting together costumes, you want to do it as cheaply as possible.

I started out with a 0.49 cent metal ring, some sparkly pipe cleaners which were less than a dollar, a roll of dollar store ribbon and sequins, and some gold Christmas ribbon mesh which was about $1.50.  So all in all, I spent less than $5.00 on supplies for this crown.

I cut out the floral shapes from both of the ribbons and coloured the white ribbon with alcohol inks.  I wasn't too precise since they were going to be layered and smushed.

I constructed the crown by wrapping the sparkly pipe cleaners around the metal ring and by making a number of loops to form the foundation for attaching the flowers.

The flower centers were made with the sparkly pipe cleaners and the sequins.  I used a hot glue gun to put a dollop of glue on my craft mat.  I, then, squished and formed the flowers to give them dimension and then glue gunned the centers to the flowers.  The flowers were then glued to a gold ribbon mesh flower to give them a bit more interest.

A few glittery leaves, some dangling bling and a heart shaped rhinestone finish off the crown.  It is surprisingly stable considering it is just made out of pipe cleaners, a metal ring and glue from a glue gun.

I even had my lovely model try it on this morning.  It would certainly work for a fairy princess crown.

Now we just need to have an occasion to wear it.