Create, Inspire and LOVE...

Hello Everyone!!! (smile) In just one more day it will be the beginning of another new year and this REALLY excites me. "Why?" you ask, since we do get a new year every year... Well, the answer is the older I get the more I appreciate the gift of Time...  to me every single new year is a gift of more time to do things I haven't tried yet and to continue doing all the things I already love to do - which is what I did today, something I LOVE for my Susan K. Weckesser design team post.  I am so very excited to be able to share with you a brand new canvas I created using three of Susan K. Weckesser's Unity stamp sets, some heavy-body acrylic paint and incorporating some of my newest art passion - my Zentangle patterns.

Susan's house stamp from her Little Haven set is so easy to fill with "tangles" that I just couldn't stop... the hardest part of the entire process was trying to decide whether or not to color in my pattern-filled house or to keep it black and white.  As you can see they both have their charms...

 In the end I decided to use color... because that's just how I roll! (smile)

To create this wonderful zentangled house I stamped my image on 140lbs watercolor paper with Archival ink and used my Sakura micron pens to create the patterns inside the house.  I used watered down colored india inks to wash in some color and because all the products I used were waterproof there was no transfer of color or ugly black smears when I added the color or when I glued everything onto my canvas.

 

I added patterns to all the elements I stamped and after I had all my elements in place and nicely glued down I "painted" the canvas with my tiny bottles of stickles, liquid pearls and liquid glass to add light and lightness to the finished canvas.

This lovely piece of happiness with its uplifting message is going to hang on my studio wall for all of 2014 to remind me of that wonderful saying by Picasso -

"Inspiration exists, but it has to find us Working"

Thanks for stopping by to share with me today... and don't forget to leave a comment if you liked what you see!

Cheers!

Scrapbook Lynne Mizera

Products used on this project:
Susan K. Weckesser/Unity Stamps - Little Haven 
Susan K. Weckesser/Unity Stamps - Painted Sentiments
Susan K. Weckesser/Unity Stamps - Fly Away
Golden heavy body acrylic paints
Golden matte multi-medium
Ranger stickles & liquid pearls
Sakura Pigma Micron pens
Maria & Rick's Zentangle Kit

Do You "Do The Zentangle"?

Pheeewww... December 28th and another Christmas under my belt... this year was particularly sweet as it was the first Christmas Dean and I have ever spent alone - Together (smile) EVER... but surprisingly I really, really enjoyed it and I hope you also had a wonderful holiday spent with the people (or animals) you love the best!

Well, I went from a blog post every day in November to very few posts in December as I recovered from a wonderful two-week holiday in Mexico and then Christmas, so it's CATCH UP time and today I want to share the "Arting" I made while on holidays. Yup ... I was still creating even on  vacation because I cannot go from creating something every single day for 30 days and then do nothing! So I packed my wee watercolor palette, a tiny art journal, all my gel pens and my five Sakura Micron pens (sizes 01-08) thinking I would finally have the time without interruption to learn this thing called "ZENTANGLE" that I heard about over a year ago.  So here is a photo montage (with written commentary of course!) of my wonderful holiday in Manzanillo, Mexico and the ARTING that I made while I was there.... ENJOY!

This small deck (with our own pool) is where I did most of my morning Arting

But I would move to the shade cover of this larger deck next to the tree tops in the afternoons

My tools (plus some sparkly gel pens)

My first ever attempt at using watercolor to paint what I was seeing....  I used gel pens to enhance the watercolor and add sparkle!

Here is the sunrise I kept trying to capture

as always my first attempt is my favorite!

This one is waiting for me to finish

but I think I captured the colors of that sky, don't you?

Learning Zentangle patterns

I used eyeshadow to add that faint hint of color (grin)

adding color with gel pens...

and playing...

And Playing...

And Playing...

And Playing... at the airport

I created these two zentangles on the plane on the way home...

between the very crowded plane, small seats and a sick baby that cried for five hours and NO entertainment systems (not even a group movie) they saved my mind! a TRUE Zen experience... smile

Well, I hope you enjoyed my Arting montage... don't forget to leave me a comment if you liked what you see - AND if you want to know more about Maria and Robert's Zentangle check out the official website HERE and I can highly recommend their Zentagle boxed kit which includes a HOW TO CD (which I purchased) HERE

Cheers (and Happy Arting)

Scrapbook Lynne Mizera

Drunken Stampers Challenge #155 - Embossing!

Hello Everyone... Yes, it's that time again... Drunken Stamper's Challenge #155 - THING - Embossing (dry or heat embossing). I chose dry embossing because I have an entire collection of embossing folders that I just never seem to use... AND even though it's December 21st I am kind of tired of making Christmas cards so I thought I would make an uplifting, happy card for someone in my life who is facing some pretty big challenges right now. And I thought if I'm making one card I might as well make three cards....Grin... so here they are ONE embossing folder and Three cards all featuring my very favorite Unity Stamps by Phyllis Harris:

I used the sunburst from my stash of Tim Holtz embossing folders and some generic orange card stock and then I gently rubbed the embossed image with several complimentary shades of yellow ocre, rust and beige pigment inks to really bring out the embossing.

I stamped all my images on 140lbs watercolor paper using waterproof Archival ink and then painted them using a really light hand.... I just love the effect don't you? 

I cut out my painted images and layered them over the embossed cardstock using foam pop dots to give them dimension.  I matted two of the embossed cards and added the leaves and flowers cut from a piece of unknown pattered paper in my stash.

And of course I added stickles to accent the flowers and sunburst and liquid glass to finish it off and even some doodling on a few of the sunburts. 

I love these images by Phyllis Harris... they make my heart feel lighter just looking at them... I used to be that girl with the pigtails on the swing with my head thrown so far back I felt like I was upside down.... happy sigh...

So why not pop on over to the Drunken Stampers Lounge to see what my fellow design team-mates created this week and maybe you want to add an embossed card to the challenge (you have until the 26th) for a chance to win the coveted "I was the Life of the Party" Blinky for your blog!

And please do leave me a comment if you feel inclined (smile) I love hearing from you!
Cheers
Scrapbook Lynne

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let it SNOW!

Yup! It's another Handmade Harbour Midweek Papercraft Party and this week the theme is "Snow or Rain"... create something  using this theme and link up your blog post to the Handmade Harbour Blog using our linky tool ... You are competing for the new Handmade Harbour Winners Badge for your blog, AND if you use an Handmade Harbour digital stamp in your project you will be entered to win more Digis of your choice! Isn't that just too easy?  Here is my project for this challenge, I made this lovely Christmas Card using The Snowman Family - another new digital stamp from Handmade Harbour:

I colored these guys using my Copic markers and after I cut them out and mounted them using foam pop-dots, I accented the image with Ranger's Stickles and Liquid Pearls and CTMH Liquid Glass.

So pop on over the the Handmade Harbour Blog to see what else my Design Team mates created this week!
Cheers - Scrapbook Lynne


 

Challenge YOUrself... Our VERY FIRST Challenge...Behind the Lense

WELCOME to the very first challenge for the Challenge YOUrself site (drum roll PLEASE...) and Challenge #1 is: Behind The Lens  {create a layout using a self portrait OR selfie and list a minimum of 3 random facts about yourself}

Here is what I created for this challenge, and all these photos were taken using the Photobooth on my MAC computer... I do love that feature... and then I played around with the lighting to blur out what I didn't want to see (grin).  Yes, my eyes are really that blue... but my skin is not quite that smooth these days.

I am super excited about this challenge site because I think it is so important to get some of ourselves into our scrapbooks... I know we usually hate how we look in photos at the time they are developed, but five years from now you will be saying... "Hey, what was I thinking? I looked great!"  and for me... I want to leave behind a true snapshot of not only what I looked like, but also who I am... because one day I will be that white-haired lady in a wheel chair that my grandkids will bring their children to visit and those great-grand kids won't know what an truly amazing woman I am unless I leave something behind for them to share now.

For this layout I wanted to create something that reflected how I see myself and more importantly how I feel about who I am... so I created layers upon layers upon layers and then I glued my photos on top of all those layers... because I am a multi-dimentional being with many, many layers to my personality... some sparkly, some grungy, some whimsical, some pretty, some not so pretty, some loud, some happy, some sad - etc. etc.

But on my life journey I have come to realize that "I am PERFECT, just the way I am" and that I will never let anyone DULL my SPARKLE again!  So in a nut shell this is me... Grin

I hope you like what I have created and I hope you will feel empowered to go take a photo of yourself RIGHT NOW and scrapbook a layout which will include three things that you want everyone to know about you - (and then if you do all that WHY NOT link it up to our blog for this challenge? Grin)

A new challenge will be posted on the 7th of every month and you will have an entire month to get a layout in for that challenge... You may win a prize, but it really won't matter because I think you will already have won with completed layouts all about YOU for your family to share...Smile

Cheers!

Scrapbook Lynne

Drunken Stampers Challenge #153 - It's SANTA CLAUS

Hello From Mexico Everybody!  YUP... I am currently in Hot and Sunny Manzanillo and right now I'm either sleeping or eating or DRINKING the day away... Big GIANT Smile!  But I'm sure back home it is cold and snowy and it IS almost CHRISTMAS so it's not surprising that the Drunken Stampers chose SANTA CLAUSE (or anything to do with the Holidays) for Challenge #153.  Here are my two cards... 

both created using the myStamp Box Christmas Stamp set and my new Dyan Reaveley Christmas words and OF COURSE no card of mine is ever complete without some stickles and liquid pearls (smile) then I mounted Santa and his sleigh onto a couple of wobbles - they just makes these cards, don't you think?

And I bet you made some Christmas cards this year, so why not take a photo of one of them, blog about it and link up that blog post to the Drunken Stampers Lounge with our Linky Tool for a chance at winning that coveted "I Was the LIFE of the Party" blinky for YOUR blog!

Thanks for stopping by to share with me again today.... and once again... MERRY CHRISTMAS from Mexico! 

HOLA! (Grin)

Scrapbook Lynne
PS:  I'm entering these cards into the "All That Stickles" Happy Holiday Linky Party ... Wish me luck -smile 

Sending You a Christmas "Tweet"!

Yup! It's another Handmade Harbour Midweek Papercraft Party and this week the theme is "Feathers or Fur"... create something with a feather or fur theme and link up your blog post to the Handmade Harbour Blog using our linky tool ... You are competing for the new Handmade Harbour Winners Badge for your blog, AND if you use an Handmade Harbour digital stamp in your project you will be entered to win more Digis of your choice! Isn't that just too easy?  Here is my project for this challenge... The Robin Family on a Branch:

This is a new Christmas digital stamp that is just so cute that I had to color them with my Copics. I then did the fussy-cutting thing, and of course totally covered them with sitckles and liquid glass... (grin) but the BEST thing is what I stamped inside the card... "Sending you a Christmas TWEET!"

I think that  could be a twist on words meaning "treat" OR meaning a twitter TWEET!

Don't you just LOVE how my brain works?  Because I DO!

Thanks for stopping by to share with me today... and check out what else my Design Team mates created for the Feathers or Fur Challenge this week.

Cheers! Scrapbook Lynne

A HUG for Whole World....

Happy Daaaay Everyone (smile) today for my Susan K. Weckesser design team post I am sharing with you my fervent wish to be able to spread "JOY" to everyone in the world.  Sometimes I wish I could just give a big giant hug to our world...

So today I created a card to express those feelings...

I LOVE this little snowman guy designed by Susan for the Christmas Love Campaign - and I hope he makes you feel like you've just been given a hug too!

Cheers from Scrapbook Lynne
Susan K. Weckesser Design Team Member
(and Hugger Extraordinaire!)

Products used on this project
Unity Stamps - One of a Kind Winter & Create Your Day stamp sets

Bazzill Co'ordinations Spotted Sandables
Snowflake stamp from Tim Holtz Reindeer Flight collection
Rangers Stickles and liquid Pearls

Stampin' Up Joy to the world stamp
Foam pop dots
Copic Markers