Drawing Winner

Just a quick post this morning to announce the winner of the Christmas in July drawing:

MarleneF!

Congratulations Marlene. Use the Contact Us link to send me your address and I'll get your prize out to you. You've won a set of Christmas bling: Stickles and rhinestones! Congratulations!

Soft and Vintage Cuff Bracelet

I was catching up on my blog reading this weekend, when a beautiful creation on one led me to the blog of Natasha Burns. She took my breath away with her beautiful sewn cuff bracelets. I had to have one. Of course, it would be more than fabulous to have one of her creations, but I'd have to settle for one of mine. I got started going through my stash of supplies.

Vintage blue velvet ribbon - check.
Vintage lace to cover the ribbon - check.
Vintage flowers to sew onto the bracelet - check.
Vintage fabric to cut up and sew onto the bracelet - check.
Beads, buttons, snaps, jewelry, bits and bobs to add to the creation - check.

I sat on my living floor while my husband watched Valkyrie and started stitching up this little beauty. I DON'T SEW. But, I was determined to get my very own Natasha Burns look-alike. It took me two evenings, but I finally have one! Here are the pics of my creation.

Check out Natasha's blog to see what she created. Be careful, you'll find yourself getting wrapped up in her beautiful creations and not want to leave!

(Don't forget - you have until the end of today to enter my prize drawing. See the post below and leave a comment there.)

Merry Christmas in July!

Yes, I'm already thinking about Christmas. Today is July 25th, which means Christmas in July around here! I'll be checking in on QVC throughout the day to see what festive stuff and gifts they're convincing me that I need to buy.

Today is also my first post on the Midnight Oil Scrapbook Designs blog! Be sure to check it out: http://mosdinc.blogspot.com/

Since I have a lot to celebrate, including my birthday just a couple of days ago, I'm giving away another prize. In the true spirit of Christmas in July, there will be no peeking at the gift ahead of time. I promise that it will be sparkly and get you in the holiday spirit! To enter the drawing, just leave a comment on this post. You have until Wednesday, July 29 to enter. I'll draw a name Thursday morning and post the winner here.

As a gift to everyone else, here are a few vintage Christmas images you can download and use in your holiday projects. I like to use them on Christmas cards.

Family Canvases

I had a great weekend in NJ. On Sunday, I made a "Family" series of mini-canvases with my sister and niece. We spread out vintage papers, inks, embellishments, ribbons, and anything else we could get our hands on. Then we started layering them all on. Everyone had their own mini masterpiece. here are the pics of the finished project.

Spent Their Weekends At the Jersey Shore

...that is still my favorite line from Billy Joel's "Allentown." And that's where I'm headed this weekend- the Jersey Shore, not Allentown.

I'm heading up to South Jersey to visit my family. Rumor has it that it's going to rain on my beach day, but I'm choosing to not believe it until I see it.

I can almost taste the Kohr Bros. orange/cream swirl custard. Of course, my husband loves it when I bring him back some salt water taffy and orange donuts from Century Bakery - we just have nothing like them here in TX. I'm hoping to take the little niece to the zoo and the big niece to see Harry Potter. And stroll on the boardwalk. And catch up with friends that I haven't seen in a while. That's a lot to cram into one weekend, but when you get up at 6 A.M. and stay up until 1 A.M., it's doable!

Come Monday morning, I'll be exhausted, but it's just one weekend!

Vintage Fashionista Collage

I finally finished my first collage project! I prepped the canvas months ago and never got around to actually creating the collage. For the background, I applied gesso to the canvas, then layered on vintage sewing patterns and gold paint.

The collage elements include the "fashion" page from an old dictionary, a few cut outs from old magazines and a Sears catalog, vintage lace and buttons, a millinery flower, and other little bits like a French stamp and postmark, sewing needle wrapper, and some great images from Graphic 45 paper.

I used watercolor crayons to add color and highlights to some of the ephemera.

Prize Winner

Thank you for all the positive feedback for my MOSD Design Team achievement. The winner of the prize drawing is...

Joyce!

Joyce, please use the "Contact Us" link to e-mail your address to me and I'll get your prize out to right away. This month's prize is some great journaling blocks from My KI and a set of Queen & Co rhinestones. Enjoy!

The Scrappy Shack Circle Flourishes

Here are my first projects for The Scrappy Shack's Design Team. I used two different circle flourishes on these projects.

I created this layout (I think I'll use it as a wedding album cover or wedding guest book cover) using a circle flourish to frame the vintage image. I painted the flourish (it was black) with white crackle paint, and then inked it with blue chalk ink. I added some crackle paint to the photo and used my glitter pen to add some sparkle to her veil. Then I layered it on vintage sheet music, a piece of a dress pattern, and some vintage lace. I added some flowers and a Prima butterfly. The background paper is K&Co Madelaine - one of my all-time favorite collections.

For my second project with the circle flourishes, I created a little embellishment that I'll incorporate into another project.

I covered the circle flourish with copper embossing powder, and then added some Patina Stickles to give it an aged look. The Stickles also helped fill in any small spaces that I missed with the embossing powder.

I hung the center embellishment using fishing line. I punched a large circle and a smaller scalloped circle. Then I added a Prima flower and sparkly sticker and cut a bird cage from a sheet of Hambly patterned paper. I might use this little work of art on a card or layout, or I might incorproate it into a large mirror project that I'm working on.

Don't forget to enter the drawing this week (see the post below).

The MOD Squad

I had some exciting news just before we left for our July 4th holiday - I've been selected for the the Midnight Oil Scrapbook Designs team! This is such a wonderful opportunity and I can't wait to get started. I should be getting my package of goodies from them to get creative with soon, so keep your eye out for their great products.

To help celebrate, I'm hosting another give-away! This time, the prize will be a surprise, but you will not be disappointed.

To enter, simply add a comment to this post. You have until Sunday, July 12 to enter. I'll draw a name on Monday and post the winner here. For an extra entry, subscribe to my blog by entering your email address in the Subscribe box on the left.

Good luck!

Happy July 4th!

July 4th is one of my favorite holidays. I think it's from when I was a kid and I had off from school all summer.

On July 4th, we might go to the beach or boardwalk and we always had some kind of cookout with family. I love grilled burgers and hotdogs and deviled eggs! Mmmmm. Even after moving to Texas, I still spend almost every July 4th with my family in NJ. There's nothing better than eating Kohr Bros. orange swirl custard on the boardwalk, watching the fireworks over the ocean.

I made this "America" banner to celebrate Independence Day.

First, I cut out triangles from recycled chipboard. This gives each banner piece a sturdy backing to layer on all the embellishments. I selected my paper (all Rusty Pickle "Mayflower), cut it to fit the triangles, then adhered it to the chipboard backing. I printed and cut out some vintage postcard images and layered these onto handmade paper rosettes. I added some type of strip to the top of each banner - stitched paper strips, ribbons, even folded cupcake papers. The bottom of each triangle has a letter to spell out "AMERICA". I cut a small hole in each upper corner, then strung all the banner pieces together using ribbon.

Here are a couple of close-ups: