Journaling With Benjamin - My Entries

The last two days I have been working on some journaling pages. I purchased some 'Grundgeboard' alphabet and then some lined 'grungeboard' from Tim Holtz. I let Ben use the BEN in the last entry for his page - DON'T YOU JUST LOVE IT??? For my first page I cut out some swirls that I drew on the grundgeboard ~ they weren't so easy to cut out, maybe I don't have the right scissors? I have discovered that grundgeboard is kind of leathery or suede like and is not so easy to cut out on the blank sheets with design on them. It is definitely manageable though. I won't rule it out that's for sure as it adds a whole other layer to my journal pages that I truly love.
I also used my Robins Nest Dew Drops, however, my glue does not keep them on the page. I have tried two different kinds of glue, one from 3M and one from UHU and both have not adhered the drops securely. If anyone has any suggestions I would gladly receive them. Nancy, what do you use???? (She is a wealth of knowledge).
The second page I did was done with a little stamp set I purchased from Michael's for $5.00. It is called "Mood De Jour" I think it is quite fitting for my many moods.
Happy Creating!

My Little Faithbooking Journal

After starting the Sharing The Journey: Faithbooking blog I decided that I would make a little Faithbooking journal. I went to Co-op the other night and found this cute little notebook ~ so I brought it home and embellished it right away. I seem to be using the same products over and over again... I'm still working through my big box of scrapbook paper from Costco. I am trying to get over my fear of 'tearing' paper so I made sure I tore some to put on the cover. I am slowly learning to like this technique. I used some of my brads that I have had for awhile but haven't used. And I embellished the cover also with my new dew drops and square shaped paper clips. For my first page I used my distress inks to color the page and just wrote and doodled what was on my heart! I am going to have a lot of fun with this journal.
Happy Creating Everyone!

How Fast Can You Type????

63 words

Speed test

Another New Look

I know... I am playing around too much with the look of my blog. However I must say that I am learning a lot! I have not liked the banners that I have made previously, they just didn't 'do-it' for me. So... I sat down and got out my pen-tablet and opened up my Adobe Photoshop and I was determined to create a look I liked. This was not as easy as I thought it was going to be. I first chose the size 12"x3" so that it would go across the top of my blog. Then I chose the color and filled it in with the salmon pink. I needed some sort of "effect" to the pink background, I couldn't just leave it plain. So I chose "Render" and "Lens" and this gave me a brightening as though from a flash of a 35mm camera. I then proceeded to draw the image of the flowers with my pen tablet. (These are wonderful to use if you want to create your own images, I use a 4x5 Wacom Pen Tablet and find that it is all the work space I need for my projects). For drawing the flowers I zoomed in to ensure the drawing was properly filled in. I then chose the font of the text and the size of 36 for the Kelly's Art Journaling, and then 18 for the other text at the right hand side. I then saved it as a picture for the web and then added it as the header of my blog by choosing to "add" a picture from my computer.
I am pleased for now with the look. I also chose a different template for my blog because I was sick of the green and I really like the black. Let me know what you think if you get a chance.
Happy Creating Everyone!

Introducing Dot

Dot is our new addition to our family. Joshua has been talking about getting a Gecko for a long, long, long, time. So... his birthday is this month in a week. So Randy took him to Pisces pets and helped Josh pick out Dot - A leopard Gecko. She's actually rather cute and I don't mind holding her at all. In the first picture Dot was on my head and I was a little concerned looking. The other two pic's are of Joshua getting to know his new pet.

Two Dalia Cards Specials

The brown Dalia card was made using different pattern paper, dollar store brand brad and some bella doo-dads (pink). I love these little things. My girlfriend Nancy gave me some of these little beauties. What a cool little embellishment these make!

The next card I made with other scrapbook paper patterns and "God's Blessings" SU Sentiments and my SU Word slot punch. The sentiment didn't say all these words in a row but I was able to stamp and punch them out to make the words say what I wanted. I like this technique. So... a few more cards for the fundraiser done!

Well I hope you enjoy.
Happy creating everyone!

Fairy Page - Blissfully Art Journaling

Blissfully art journaling posts ideas for journal pages every now and then and one of them was "Fairy". The only rule is that you must include the word "Fairy" on the page. Now that's not too hard to follow! I had already drawn the fairy when I was drawing with my son Ben so I just added a few embellishments to the page and voila!

Happy Creating Everyone!

It's Fundraising Time - How To Get Inspired

Okay, I am getting all set up for round 2 of Fundraising for Kid's Camp at Church to help kids go to camp this summer. So far I have made approximately 80 cards... only 320 or so to go. How do I keep inspired while making cards? I hang my cards up around me on strings so that it seems like I have made hundred's of cards already ~ when I have actually only made about 80 - LOL. I don't know why, but it makes me feel like I don't have as far to go.
The last two cards I made are fairly simple though I used a concept I am not prone to using - mixing different patterns of paper together. I have seen this more and more throughout the web ~ there are some amazingly talented people out there! I have just started using this technique and I'm not too sure about it yet.
I also used my Spellbinders Nestabilities to form a simple layered card. For the blue card I used "Glorious Gift" SU Stamps for the flowers, Sentiment "Michael's Clear Acrylic $1.50", SU Stampin spot Bordering Blue.

Happy Creating!

Sharing The Journey : Faithbooking

Dear readers of my blog, wonderful friends that I have met while blogging... I would like to share with you an idea I had and if you are interested in taking part I would love it if you would e-mail me at ksun_1999@yahoo.com.
Iam starting a different blog, on top of this one, completely dedicated to women sharing their journey with the Lord. As you can see from the title of this post I will call it "Sharing the Journey: Faithbooking". You can go to this blog at www.sharingthejourneyfaithbooking.blogspot.com
I have been thinking about the gifts the Lord has blessed me with and I am urged by the Lord to use them to further the Kingdom of God. I want to start sharing my journey in faith with others and I want to learn about other women's journey's as well. I want to hear testimonies, I want to know what other women have struggled with and what God has done through them. I don't know about you but I know that my trials have not been in vain, they happened for a reason and I know that God can use my experiences and yours to help others. I want to start a blog that logs these journey's, shares encouragement, shares creative ideas and is an outlet for Christian women. I am going to post questions and YOU can answer them with your own testimonies, or you can ask questions for others to post answers to. Eg. How did you find the Lord? What are some lessons God has taught you? Etc. You can answer them by posting pictures of your journals, scrapbook pages, or even simply just answering the questions. The only rule is that in everything we do, we glorify God.
If you are interested in signing up for something like this... please e-mail me: ksun_1999@yahoo.com
I want to be apart of the Community of Christ and together we can make a difference.

Happy Creating Everyone!

Fact #8

Fact #8 My Life is devoted to serving God. I gave my life to Jesus when I was 11 years old, my family all gave our lives to Christ on the same day. It wasn't until after I was married at 22 that I fully understood what that meant, that God desired a relationship with me, that I could talk to Him, pray to Him and He would answer my prayers. I read my Bible numerous times since I was 11 but it wasn't until someone told me to ask God for wisdom to understand His Word that my eyes were opened to it's meaning. This changed my life forever and I am so thankful for that friend that revealed this to me and to God for choosing me to be His child, adopted into the Family of God.

Happy Creating Everyone!

Journaling, Journaling, Journaling....

My girlfriend Rhossana leant me a book called "The Heart of the Artist" by Rory Noland, and I am so enjoying it. I have been praying that God would show me a way to use my art for Him... for His good and perfect purposes. I don't want to create art just for the sake of creating it... I want to touch people's lives. I want people to look at my art and see God, or see how God has touched my life. He has helped me through so many trials that I want to give back to Him through my art. Maybe my art can minister to a lost soul. God is so good.

My "Heart of the Artist" page is filled with yummy tidbits of information and questions and answers of things that were brought up in the book. Artists have always struggled because artists view, and feel and take things in differently than non-artists. We feel deeply.

Interesting fact: In the middle ages "artists" with the Melancholy Temperment were seen as in-sane and most were placed in sanitariums. Having an "artist temperment" was seen as a physical disorder. Then during the Renaissance era artist's made a comeback (so to speak) and they were seen as having a divine gift.

My other journal page was made with my Tim Holtz Distress Inks layered in the background. I used one of my Dalia flowers and the circles are the leftovers after I cut out my circles for the flower. The verse "To Live is Christ, to die is gain" is from Philippians 1:22. Paul was speaking of his life when he was imprisoned for preaching the life of Jesus. His meaning was that if he lives his entire life being is Christ, to die would mean that he would be with Christ, so either way his life was devoted to Christ. I love this verse, it is so powerful... it is how I desire to live. I often find myself falling short though. I serve a forgiving God though, one full of mercy and grace. When I fall He lifts me back up again and brings me back to Him. This is the God I serve.

Happy Creating Everyone!

What Do I Do With My Acrylic Stamps????

I was at my girlfriend Nancy's house on Friday, I haven't been to her house in a long time so she had a lot of things to show me. One of these things was the way she stored her acrylic stamps. She used empty CD cases and stuck them inside and taped the pictures to the cover. What an awesome idea! We went to Future Shop after lunch and I picked up a package of empty CD cases. When I got home I went to work. I didn't think I had enough acrylic stamps to fill the 30 cases I purchased but I did manage to fill more than half of them. One case can accomodate two small acrylic sets or half of a large set.
I am starting to get organized and it feels great!!!

Nancy has also posted another wonderful storage idea for storing your Spellbinder Nestabilities. She is full of awesome ideas so go and take a peek!

Happy Creating Everyone!

Fact #7

Fact #7 - I got my son's addicted to Archie's. Yes it's true, and now I have to hide them in my closet during the week so they don't read them! I remember when I was a little girl I loved reading Betty'n'Veronica... so I wanted to introduce them to a cute little comic that I thought they might enjoy. I had no idea that they would be reading them every minute of every day; eating breakfast, before bed, after school, etc. Oy vay!

Happy Creating everyone!

Fact #6

I have two sons who are complete opposites. One is creative and imaginative and the other is logical and a true thinker. The picture is what my son Ben did with his stuffed animals before bed, he sits them all beside each other as though they are having a conversation. It amazes me that two people living in the same home can be so different. My sisters and I are all complete opposites as well. God is pretty amazing the way He makes us isn't he?

Happy Creating everyone!

Dalia Card and Another Journal Entry

Over on Kelly's Blog yesterday she posted a card with a tea bag Dalia fold flower and I fell in love with it. She is a very talented stamper and I enjoy seeing her creations. I have since made numerous Dalia's and now have to figure out what I am going to do with these lovelies. LOL!

I promised my boys that I would watch a "Boy Movie" with them tonight as my hubby is not home. So we rented "Hot Rod" a really silly boy movie (with unfortunate swearing though). I had to sensor it in a few places.

Anyway, while watching a 'boy' movie what do I do but create a 'girl' journal entry of course! I don't know why I am into drawing faces and pretty things lately... I guess I just need feminine things around me. God made me and I think most women with a desire for beauty around us, a longing to be beautiful... like a queen or a princess must feel. Maybe He has placed this desire inside of us to give us a glimpse of how special we are to Him, and how special we will be in heaven. As Jesus sacrifice made us heirs to His kingdom we God's children, are adopted heirs and therefore will be royal for eternity. What an awesome thought!

Happy Creating Everyone!

Fact #5

This is our little pup Mila. She is my fact #5... I have two boys, Josh and Ben... but if God blessed me with a girl I was going to name her Amelia and her nickname would have been 'Mila'. So when we moved to Calgary we bought our Toy poodle Papillion and named her Mila. She is my girl and I am no longer the only girl in the house!!! I convinced my girlfriend to come with me to the pet store when my hubby was out of town and we fell in love with Mila and Nancy fell in love with Mila's brother and named him Milo as a joke, but the name stuck. So now we have our pups Mila and Milo and we live across the park from each other. They are our babies!

Happy Creating!

Journal Entry & Fairy & Fact #4

I wanted desperately to try my Tattered Angels Glimmering Mist Spray so I sprayed an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of white SU Cardstock in various places with my moonlight blue and burnt red mist. I let it dry. You can't see the shimmer as well in the picture but it shimmers so beautifully in real life. I absolutely adore it! I then drew a picture of a head, I try to follow my features... green eyes, brown hair etc... and then I cut it out and drew the caption on a separate piece of paper. I cut the caption out and placed foam double mounting tape on it and placed it on my dry piece of cardstock. I then stamped my "notepad" stamp all around my drawing, filled in each notepad, stamped a few letters and voila. I then layered it onto black cardstock and stuck it in my journal. I didn't know what to create today and this is the outcome of having a sort of blah creative day - LOL. We're all allowed one of these once in awhile I think.

I drew this fairy sitting on a leaf from a drawing that Chris Down did in the book The Crafter's Design Library: Fantasy. The picture looks a lot different than the original picture because I personalized it alot and made the fairy into a woman instead of a little girl fairy. I colored her with my Gelly Roll gel markers, as well as her dress. I glittered the wings in different colors with my Making Memories Scrapbook Shimmer. Then I layered the entire drawing with my - you guessed it - self-leveling gel! I'm not too sure what I am going to do with her yet. I would like to do a large drawing of a fantasy jungle of some sort and possibly put her in there... who knows. I will wait to be inspired.

Fact #4
I have loved drawing since I was a little girl. I have never had a proper lesson but taught myself from looking at other pictures. I do not make a very good student when it comes to learning art... I find it too confining. I used to watch my oldest sister draw and then I would try to draw what she did. It has taken me many years to be able to actually draw a person and have it look proportionally correct.

Happy Creating Everyone!

Another Doodle Me This Card

Lot's of love... feelin' the love. This is the first year I have made so many Valentine's cards and I am finding it's really cool! This card was so much fun to make because I got to use my new Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Ink as well as my Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist and my new little 'Notepad' journal stamp. The letters I drew out and doodled around them as well as the sentiment "How do I love thee, let me count the ways..." and the x's and o's. The little hearts are from my 'Peace and Love' Stampin-up set. I used a q-tip and dabbed it in black and just rubbed it around the outer edge of the card to make it have a more distressed look. That's basically it.
I hope you like it.
Happy Creating everyone!

Quilt Journal Entry and Fact #2

Over at Blissfully Art Journaling there is a journal prompt weekly. Last weeks journal prompt was "Quilt". They basically give you one word and you go from there. As long as that word is on your page you have followed all the rules. I have just joined this group, looking for further inspiration. So far I am quite pleased and I do find myself inspired more.

I basically just journaled whatever came into my head... don't ask me why I put that my hair was so thick that I have broken every brush I have ever had?????? I have no idea why I put that! LOL

So... continuing on from yesterday of 100 Things about me here's #2.

#2 Considering what I journaled today... I have extremely thick hair. I have broken every brush I have ever owned and every hairdresser has commented on how thick my hair is, saying, "This is the thickest hair I have ever seen!".

Well that was easy. LOL
Happy Creating everyone.

Catherine's Freehand Challenge - First Card

A card challenge... believe it or not I have never taken part in a card challenge before. I know it's shocking! It never appealed to me because I didn't like the idea of confining my creativity to a particular challenge, not that I have read many challenges. There are more than likely many out there that I could possibly do but none have drawn my attention until this one!
Over at Catherine's blog she has put forth a challenge that I find rather intriguing. Making a card with any layout that uses mostly free hand doodles. I know the concept sounds rather scary... but why not give it a try. I love to doodle and therefore I went to work.
The card is rather easy to explain as I used no stamps and only my doodles including the sentiment and background. Even the layers I cut out myself. So I can't really give you the directions... LOL.
Catherine was so nice to contact me personally with her challenge after seeing my doodles - she knew I would love her challenge and she was right! I am going to set out to make a few more over the next few days. Thanks so much Catherine for thinking about me.
So hey, why not step out of your comfort zones and give it a try - you might just be surprised!
Happy Creating everyone!

Lettering Fun - & Blog Candy Winner

One of the things I love is learning how to doodle different letters, calligraphy etc. I took some lettering books out of the library, brought my pens out and went to work. I will be posting some of my letter doodles once I have had time to work on them, but I needed to post a picture didn't I???

Now on to the goodies!!!!!

First of all I want to thank all of your for all of your awesome support, comments and ideas to help my blog along. All of you are the best and I have so enjoyed reading your comments and getting to know all of you better. You have all been so encouraging and I have been having the best time.

Have I stalled long enough?????

Okay...

So...

The...

Winner...

of...


my...


blog...


candy...

is...



JAN SCHOLL Congratulations Jan. I will try to e-mail you for you to send me your snail mail address to send your goodies to.

Thanks everyone again for playing. I hope to continue hearing from all of you and I will be around on most of your blogs as I have subscribed to the ones I could subscribe to.

Happy Creating Everyone!

Doodling Mood - ya think??? Plus Last Day To Enter

I have really been in a doodling mood as of late. I don't know why... I have just longed for my art journal and pens. This page was all about fun girl stuff. There are many different images on here, some were inspired by surfing the net and others by looking through books and then there are those that I just felt like doodling. I love the shoes in the middle (my design) and then the zebra shoes and matching purse are from a designer which I wrote on the shoe. The "Aloha Mama" image came to me when I was longing for Hawaii and the warmth. I so want to go back there!!! The lettering of "SHOES" I used two felt markers and bound them side by side with an elastic to get this font - it is a calligraphy technique used to get even spacing through out the entire letter. The "Groovy Baby" I just had to put with this image of a 1970's lady wearing a strange psychedelic outfit! LOL! I saw this image on a shoe website and I had to draw one for myself. The rest I just filled with flourishes and fun images. I like this doodle page because I didn't have to think too much and I was able to be creative without really having a purpose.
I hope you like it!
Happy creating!

JUST A REMINDER THAT TODAY IS THE LAST DAY TO ENTER FOR MY BLOG CANDY WHICH WILL BE DRAWN TOMORROW SOMETIME. YOU CAN ENTER AS MANY TIMES AS YOU LIKE, EACH ENTRY IS ANOTHER CHANCE FOR YOU TO WIN. GOOD LUCK!

Valentines True Love

Feeling the love again! This morning as I was going through my blog subscriptions I ran into this post and Leigh had an incredible tutorial. Part of it was using a glue gun and stamping an image with the glue gun... and this gave me a great idea. Thanks Leigh for the inspiration.
The first thing I did was heat up my glue gun, find an image that I thought was romantic for Valentines day and got out my "non-stick" aluminum foil. I placed the hot glue on the non-stick side of the foil and then stamped the rose. Letting the glue dry a bit I carefully peeled the glue off of the stamp... then I used my Perfect Pearls gold and brushed it over the image.
I cut my black cardstock to the appropriate size then layered it with a piece of mulberry red paper. I sent a piece of gold shimmering paper through the cuddlebug to emboss it. I had a foamy layered embellishment that I'm not so sure where I got it from and layered it with gold pigment ink. Then I glued the glue image onto this little foam pattern piece. Lifting one corner and attaching it with brads, I then stamped the "true love" image from one of my "g" Clear Stamps set in gold with gold embossing powder, then embossed it. I find this card very romantic and beautiful. I may just give this one to my hubby for Valentines day.

Remember to scroll down and enter for my blog candy. All and any comments count and feel free to enter as many times as you like.Happy Creating Everyone!

Easter Cards in January?? & Blog Candy Reminder!

I know it's January... a little early to be posting Easter Cards... however I am making all occassion cards right now for another fundraiser I am doing at Church for Kid's Ministries. This summer our Church is having a kid's camp at a more expensive facility that will accomodate more children and have a kitchen staff (which we usually cook ourselves), though is more expensive. So... I will be selling cards to raise money to send kids who cannot afford to go to this camp.
So... my first card; A simple "Happy Easter" card made with my Nestabilities for layers, scrap paper from Costco box, the stamps are both from Stampin-up, one from an occasion set and one from an Easter set. I made this card simple for a reason, not everyone likes embellishments! I know, I know, that's crazy right???? It's true. There are some out there who really just want a simple card.
Card #2 I absolutely adore! I used my cuddlebug circles embossing folder for the background. For the half scallop behind the "Happy Easter" I used a piece of a scalloped circle and just cut it and then slid the stamping spot (SU) up to look like pedals on the scallop. The swirls are also from Stampin up as well as the half flower stamp. Then I added a little bling and voila! A lovely Easter card.
Card #3 Also a simple Easter Card. I used my Nestabilities for the scalloped circle, my cuddlebug for the background, I cut a scalloped circle to make a ribbon slider and used my slit-punch (from SU) to pull the ribbon through. The butterfly is from the "So Sweet" (I think) set from SU... I stamped it, cut it out and layered it with self-leveling gel... let it dry... then added two bling gems to it. I really like the look of the ribbon slider.
Card #4 One of my favorites again. The Cherish card. It can be used for Valentines day or Easter, or whatever occasion. I wanted to experiment with the swirls so I used two different colors of SU spots... Regal Rose and So Saffron. I stamped the So Saffron first and then the Regal Rose. Again I used the half flowers as well as the little daisies from the Baroque Motifs and stamped them in the two colors as well. Then I stamped a larger flower image, layered it with regal rose SU paper and placed it on the card with double-sided mounting tape, added my "Cherish" sentiment and my bling and away I went. I like the way it turned out.
Happy Creating!

BLOG CANDY REMINDER: Make sure you enter for my blog candy for it would give me great joy to give something away right now. Enter as many times as you like and remember the more you mention my blog in your blog and to your friends the higher the chances of you winning are!
LEAVE A COMMENT ON ANY POST, EACH COMMENT IS ANOTHER ENTRY FOR MY BLOG CANDY!!!

My Word For 2008 - Blog Cand Reminder

My word for 2008 is "Contentment" . To try and be content no matter what happens or is going on around me, to never want for more. This is a very difficult thing in this world. I decided to do a journal page on this word and see where it took me. I think it is going to be a struggle to get there every day but I am sure going to try. To explain... my struggle is that I sometimes have a hard time in battling depression and right now (winter) is very difficult for me because it is not warm, and it is not very bright outside either. So much is going on around me that to get through the day feeling content about everything in my life, well let's just say I haven't reached it quite yet - though I am still striving. I am very blessed with a wonderful godly husband who treats me like gold, and two precious boys ages 10 and 12 whom I adore (I'm not so much adoring the teenage attitude but I adore my son). I do have so much to be blessed for that it should be relatively easy to find this contentment (like Paul found in Philippians 4:11 "For I have learned that in whatever situation I am in, to be content".) I will get there for the Lord is on my side and He lifts me when I cannot lift myself!

On a much less depressing note: Make sure you enter for my blog candy for it would give me great joy to give something away right now. Enter as many times as you like and remember the more you mention my blog in your blog and to your friends the higher the chances of you winning are!
Blessings dear friends.
Happy Creating!