Happy Friday!

Yup it's Friday again and for me that means another Unity Friends with Flair linkup!  Just to re-cap last year I realized that I had a HUGE hoard of brand-new, still-in-their-packages Unity stamps and I was determined to USE THEM, and Unity's Weekly "Friends With Flair" link up was just the motivation I needed to get me going and to keep me going. I have to share that I am REALLY proud of how I've managed to use and touch a bit of my Hoard (maybeeee 20%?)  So here's to another year of Unity Stamps and Friends with Flair and hopefully another 20% used - Grin.

This week I took a quick snap of the Valentines' Day ATC's I'm working on.  This is  something new for me, and I will be sending them out to people all around our Globe, who have touched my life, even if I have NEVER touched them, (thanks to Facebook and Instagram!) 

I am using one of my newest Unity Itty Bitty stamps "Be Joyful" (like I needed MORE?!?) and I really wrestled with this purchase because I don't Need any more stamps... Grin, but boy am I glad I got htis one because it's Adorable and Perfect for what I want to do! And I stamped the John Lennon quote on the back, "I get by with a little help from my Friends."

So Thanks for popping in and before you go check out what everyone else at "Friends with Flair" linked up today, please do leave me some blog lovin' in the form of a comment if you like what you see!

Cheers!

Scrapbook Lynne Mizera

Jumping Aboard The *NBUS Wagon! (*Never Before Used Schtuff)

Today I am happy to be sharing a card I created for one reason only - well actually two, since I needed a birthday card for my BIL (Brother-In-Law).  But the MAIN reason I made this card is so I can participate in the djkardkreations NBUS Challenge #3.  

djkardkreations is a blog created and run by the lovely and effervescent Darnell who coined the term NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) when what she was bringing in was outweighing what she was using. And boy did that strike a nerve with us card makers and scrappers ALL OVER THE WORLD! Grin. But ANYWAY... her challenge is to create a card using stuff you have that you have never used before, that's it! and then link it up to her blog HERE

So ...Taaa Daaa... here is my card which I created for my BIL's Birthday and every single stamp on this card is (or was) Brand-Spanking-New! And not the kind of Brand Spanking New I-just-got-home-from-the-store new, but the kind of Brand Spanking New I-NEEDED-IT like four years ago, and I'm still waiting to use them - REALLY - four years ago!

But I really love how this card turned out...Now for those that want to know - I stamped each image on some 140lbs watercolor paper and re-discovered my Angora water color paints which I LOVE because they are so vibrant, yet water-colour-y... I then created a collage of the images around that wonderful saying of Van Gogh's "The way to know life is to love many things." Which so applies to my BIL who is a very outdoors-y woodsman type and loves all the things on this card. 

And even though it's a "BOY Card" it still got stickles and liquid pearl and liquid glass... but maybe a bit less (grin). I just love how this gentle water coloured card came together so quickly and yet is still a Manly card.  Because "Masculine Cards" can be so hard sometimes, can't they?

Darnell's NBUS Challenge #3 is on until January 22nd so why not whip something up, because not only do you get to use your schtuff, but she's giving away 10 $25 Gift Cards to Stamplorations, so it's a Win Win!

Thanks for popping in to see what I am up to today, and please do leave me a comment if you like what you are seeing!

Cheers

Scrapbook Lynne Mizera

Happy New Year! Winners!! AND Unity's "Friends With Flair" Today!!!

Well it's a Triple Post today!!! First off ..... 

HAPPEEEEE NEW YEAR!

Like a lot of us, I am happily waving goodbye to 2014... this was a difficult year for many of us on many fronts, myself included, and it is with a HAPPY HEART that I wave Good-byyyyyyyye! Grin, and Welcome In 2015 with a wide open heart!

Secondly, I promised to draw from all the comments from my last post of 2014 and to send each of two people who commented the cards I made from that post.... and the Winners ARE:

Number 8: (whooo hOOO!)

ionabunnyDecember 19, 2014 at 5:23 PM

I love both of these although I'm leaning toward the first one as my favourite. Love the way the colours pop against the black. Thank you soo much for making these for me LOL. I've made cookies. Do you want one? The whole house smells like melted chocolate. Let me try one for you. Hmmmm, yummy. They are so nice when they are still a bit warm and the chocolate bits are melty. Better have one myself before they all go...... Big hugz

And Number 16: (Big CHEER!)

CrystalDecember 22, 2014 at 10:24 AM

I love both of these gorgeous cards! Your coloring on the girls is perfect and the backgrounds on both are amazing!

Congratulations Ladies, now will you kindly send me your addresses to my e-mail of:

scrapbooklynne(at)hotmail(dot)com

so I can pop those into the mail for you!  and of course IonaBunny... You can have your first choice! Grin

and Finally!!! Here are my two contributions for Today's Unity, Friends with Flair... keeping in the theme another of my new Suzi Blu stamps, her "Serenity Angel" ... I. LOVE. THIS. WOMAN!

Stamped with Archival waterproof ink onto 140lbs watercolor paper, painted with my watercolors and highlighted with white and black pens and stickles for some sparkle... 

I think she is adorable and I cannot decide which one I like better!

So Thank you my friends for popping in to visit today... and please do leave me a comment if you like what you are seeing!!

Scrapbook Lynne Mizera

 

Be the Change YOU Want to SEE in the World...

The Drunken Stampers are doing Challenge #140 - Buttons this week and Chromatic Craze's Challenge provided my color pallet and gave me the germ of an idea for a background.  I know it's not my turn in the Drunken Stampers Lounge this week but I wanted in on the action (grin)

Here's the Chromatic Craze Color Challenge

I ended up with this card that I made for a friend using some of the new arty techniques I learned this spring.  I haven't shared any ARTY Stuff with you for a while so I am excited about this card I made with watercolors, some Twinkling H2O's and dylusions sprays.

Believe it or not I have a tough time with buttons - even though I seem to have a Whole Lot of Them saved up - so I did what I do these days when I am stuck - I went to Pinterest and did a search for cards using buttons... and Holy Smokes - what a bunch of creative people we have out there!  After that little meander through Pinterest the creative juices started flowing and I just love what evolved.  Now, just in case you too have a button HOARD that you want to use up I am including the link to all that Pinterest awesomeness but BE WARNED... This site may cause you to lose time (Big GIANT Smile!) CARDS USING BUTTONS - PINTEREST

To create my background I used 120lbs watercolor paper, wet it down and splashed a whole lot of watercolor paint all over it.  Then, while it was still wet, I sprinkled the paper with salt and let it dry, when I brushed off the salt I had this amazing textured look.  To create the button tree I stamped an image of a tree and filled it in with buttons, and then I drew in some leaves along the outside edges and painted them with my Twinkling H20's - It only took about 15 minutes to make the tree, mostly because I kept changing around my buttons.

Because I just couldn't find the right sized letters or right styled letters for my card I ended up just doodling in my sentiment using a black waterproof ink pen and because it seemed just too plain I painted over my lettering using my Dylusion sprays - yup Dylusions as paint - Now THAT'S Cool!

You can see how the ink bled across the watercolor paper but I really liked the effect.  So why not drop by and see what everyone else created?
CHEERS!
Lynne

I am linking up this card to the following Challenges:

Drunken Stampers Challenge #140 - Buttons, 
Chromatic Craze Monthly Challenge #2

Drunken Stampers Challenge #137 - THING: Twine

Welcome Peeps - to the Drunken Stampers Challenge #137 - it's a THING this week and the thing is TWINE!  Create a card using Twine or string or hemp as an accent - THAT IT!  Then take a picture and post it to your blog and link up that post to OUR Drunken Stamper's Blog using the linky tool... YOU TO could be the winner of the coveted "Life of the Party" blinky!

Here is what I created for this challenge - and I am UBER excited about this card because I used a digital stamp from a little company I found on-line out of the UK, called HANDMADE HARBOUR.  I LOVE their stuff and thanks to the amazingness of world wide web and Paypal I can easily shop in the UK with my payment being converted to Canadian $'s immdiately and I receive an e-mail right away so that I can download my digis right to my computer and print and color them immediately - I can also change these digital stamps to any size I need - I just pull the image into a Word doc and make it do whatever I want (Oh the POWER! grin)  If you haven't used digital stamps before you should really check them out. Handmade Harbour has a few freebies if you want to try them out. (and NO I don't work for them ... Grin.. But I would LOVE TO!!!)

Normally my product of choice for coloring stamps are my Copic markers but for these beach houses I used my teeny palette of water color paints because it gave the wood such a wonderfully weathered and beachy look. 

To create my "beach" I tore strips from some sand-colored paper and inked the edges and layered them, popping few pieces to give it some depth... Cool Huh?  And I colored the clothes on the line using my gel pens so they were brighter and newer looking than the beach houses. 

I already had some water colored looking blue-sky paper so I just painted in the sun behind the houses and drew a horizon line and added some birds with a black marker.  

And YES I cut out everything and popped it off the card because that's just what I do - smile.  I think the rope border just finishes it off beautifully and I may just mount this card on a canvas because I LOVE IT so much! Bigger Smile

So thanks again for stopping by and if you have time why not take part in this Challenge?  It's just TOOO FUN!

Cheers

Scrapbook Lynne Mizera

Codicil:  Since I scheduled this post I have been invited to join the first ever design team for Handmade Harbour... So now I DO work with them - Grin!!!

A Reflection On "Being Grandma"...

I LOVE being a Grandma!  My grandboys are giving me the opportunity to be the Mother I "would have been" if I could do it all over again with more money, more time and more experience.  I recently had two of my grandboys for an entire week while their parents were off having a rest and it was NOTHING like back when I was raising my own children!  I had more patience and I had More Fun!  I didn't sweat the small stuff - and let's be honest, since I knew that they were eventually going home, it was a LOT easier to be patient! 

 

Today I wanted to share with you this layout of Grandson #1 all fresh and new, ready to start grade two...sigh.  He's going to be NINE in a few short weeks and it has just FLOWN by!  So I wanted to pass on this very important piece of advice to all you future Grandmas out there "DON'T WASTE A SINGLE MINUTE!!!" you have a very small window before hanging with Grandma isn't "cool" anymore so get in every single experience you can... it is so very, very SWEET!

I used myStamp Box Floating Leaves set and my watercolor paints to create this gorgeous background paper

Thanks for stopping by to look... and I would LOVE if you left me some "love" via the comment section of my blog...
Product Used in this Layout:
myStampBox Floating Leaves stamps
core 'dinations Sandables cardstock
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Paper String
Basic Grey Brads
Watercolor paints
Clear embossing powder
Tsuniko Gingerbread ink for edges
Tim Hotlz tiny fastener

Some Birthday Love...

Here is a Birthday card I created using my new Dyan Reaveley stamps.  I stamped and painted all the images with watercolors and created the background with my gelato's.  Isn't she just too Cute!  I am sending her out to all my friends who have birthdays this month and there seem to be quite a few (Could it be that long weekend in May? Grin) 

I think there is something about turning 50 (plus) that allows us to finally free our inner child... you know the one who has been chained up since kindergarten?!  I am having a blast learning how to use my new itty bitty watercolor paint set given to me by my good friend Erin.  I have been AFRAID of paint all my life (not sure why?)  But thanks to Erin's gift of this tiny paint palette I am discovering a whole new world!  This month I encourage you to go and try something new or scary just to see if maybe YOUR inner child is ready to be unchained!

I am entering this card into the Ecletic Ellapu birthday card challenge this week... Wish me LUCK!

 

 
 

A Masculine Kinda Birthday Card

I just had to share this wonderful little card I made for my son-in-law's recent birthday with Susan K. Weckesser's new Unity stamps "In Circle Me" as a background and "Sail Away" as the focus.  Since My son-in-law was born in one of the coldest months of the year were we live I wanted to send him a little sea & sun and I just LOVE how this card turned out! 

I used water color paints instead of my usual Copic markers to color this stamped image and I actually stamped and painted it once on the card and a second time on a piece of watercolor paper and cut out various bits to pop off the original to give it some dimension.  As always, a layer of stickles and liquid glass for sparkle just finished it off!

I loved this card so much that I am entering it into the Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #86

Challenge 86 Masculine Birthday Featuring Technology or a Gadget

So Wish Me LUCK!!!