Simple Fall Floral Arrangement

Time for a new challenge at

Making Memories Crafting !

Theme - Anything Goes/ Use the color board below

Sponsor - Di’s Digi Downloads

Winner will receive 3 digi images

My project was a pretty simple one -

and gave a second life to some old items

I had around the house!

I mixed up some "chalk" paint to paint 

an old mason jar then added silk flower 

heads stuck into a Styrofoam ball to the top.

Make sure your jar is totally clean
before painting. I washed mine in warm soapy
water, wiped dry then did a final wipe with white 
vinegar and a lint free cloth. 

I inserted my hand inside the jar,
turning the jar upside down on my hand,
then used a 1" wide paint brush to apply 
the paint with the opposite hand. 
I applied two coats,
allowing the first to dry completely
before applying the second.

I alllowed the jar to dry for 24 hours,
then lightly scuffed the paint off of
the raised letters. I also added a 
few light scuffs elsewhere.

Once done scuffing, I applied a wax finish.

I cut a circle out of felt
and glued it to the bottom.

Chalk paint lightly rubbed off of the raised areas.

Note: my homemade chalk paint

(you can find various recipes online)

made from some old acrylic craft paint 

and plaster of paris is not nearly

as durable as the store bought, premade

chalk paint I purchased. I mixed my own

because I only needed enough paint

of this color for this particular project.

Perhaps the age of the paint and plaster,

or maybe because I didn't follow an 

exact recipe ratio to make it, had something 

to do with it. It covered the jar well enough,

but rubbed off much easier than I expected !

The floral top piece was reused from a 

table top decoration my Aunt had me take home

from her daughters wedding.

There is a small set of battery operated lights in it.

Thanks for looking =)

Backyard Play Digi Kit

facebook timeline cover

(slightly altered sketch from 

http://stucksketches.blogspot.com/2017/08/august-1-2017-challenge-reveal.html)

(slightly altered template from 

https://scrapdegal.wordpress.com/2016/10/10/templates-doctobre-dcs/)

Today's projects feature items I made with 

the fun new digital kits Backyard Play by

JMC Designs.

They are available at

Plain Digital Wrapper 

 CONTENTS,

each pack sold individually.

Quick Digi Scrap Page - dog

Today I'm sharing a fairly quick page I made 

using the Friends digi kit by JMC Designs

and My Memories V8 software.

I recently came across a new to me

sketch challenge site for scrapbooking:

Stuck?! Sketches

I'm using their sketch from August 15, 2017 (below)

If you like to make digital creations, whether it is digital scrapbook pages or digital art, anything completely digital (no printed and assembled projects), you're invited to play along with a new challenge blog, Digitally Made. 

This months prompt is pets/animals. 

You have until noon September 3rd GMT 

to submit a 100% digital project to our just for fun challenge !

Thanks for looking, have a wonderful day !

Quick Digi Scrap Page - cat

A quick digital scrapbook page - and a reminder !

I created this page using the Rescue Me digi kit I bought several years ago from ScrapsNPieces.

It was created with My Memories Suite V8 software.

Reminder: if you like to make digital creations, whether it is digital scrapbook pages or digital art, anything completely digital (no printed and assembled projects), do play along with the new challenge blog, Digitally Made. This months prompt is pets/animals. You have ten more days to submit a 100% digital project to our just for fun challenge !

Thanks for looking , have a wonderful day !

Burlap Memo Board and Push Pins

Today I'm sharing a basic old wood frame I repurposed

into a burlap covered memo board.

I created this project for the 

August Anything Goes Challenge at

Love To Craft Challenge blog.

There are so many ways to make you own memo board-
or to customize store bought memo boards!

It was simple enough to make,

using thick cardboard (or foam core), lightweight batting,

burlap, hot glue and a point gun.

I simply cut my cardboard slightly smaller than the frame

opening to allow for the fabric to wrap around the edges.

Lightweight batting was cut slightly smaller than the top of the card board
(to make it easier to fit in the frame) then hot glued into place.

Burlap was cut larger than than the cardboard,

allowing enough to wrap around all of the

edges of the cardboard with room to spare to glue the edges in place.

I started with each corner, folding the burlap over

diagonally across the back of the card board 

and hot gluing into place.

I then worked along the sides, starting in the center,

hot gluing as I lightly stretched the fabric along the back.

The completed piece is attached with metal points into the frame.
NOTE: before you begin, make sure your frame is deep enough
 to accommodate the thickness of the board, batting and fabric layers.  

I then had fun creating an assortment of push pins with various
craft supplies found in my stash. The items are glued on top
of upholstery tacks using a dollop of E600 adhesive.

I die cut papers leftover from my USA Photo Collage Map project

into butterfly shapes and added a scrap of wire for antennae

Crocheted (tatted?) flower that I added a

metal edged flat back pearl brad to the center of

Large old button, shank removed

TIP: brush on then wipe off black paint

to help make details pop on gold buttons

Fabric yo yo and wood button

Handmade burlap flower

Upholstery tack


There are sooooo many fun things you can use to create push pins !

Thanks for looking =)

Be sure to visit 

Love To Craft 

to see more inspiring ideas -

and to share your crafts with us !

Spread Your Wings digi kit

Spread Your Wings

is the newest digi kit by  JMC Designs

and is now available at

With Love Studios

 Each packet is $1.00 until August 17th!

Spread Your Wings Elements – banner, 2 birds, 2 bows, 3 butterflies, butterfly button, 2 charms, 5 flair, 5 flowers, 3 frames, grunge, 4 hearts, 3 leaves, rainbow, 5 ribbons, 3 ric rac, scatter, staples, 4 stars, 2 stitching, 3 strings, 2 swirls, 5 word art

20 Patterned Paper Pack – 12X12 300 ppi

8 Cardstock 12X12 300ppi

Photo Painting Computer Background

Today's project is my design team image for Digitally Made.

The prompt we have for you this month is
to use Pets/Animals on your 100% digital project.

Although I have had several pets over the years that
I could have easily made a digital scrapbook layout of,

I decided to edit a digital photo of a bird for this project.
I wanted to make it look sort of like a painting.

I then added a quote. 

Original photo before editing in On1 Photo 10 software.

This pretty sandpiper (?) had been flitting back and forth

between a little bit of wood still above the flood waters

and the exposed gravel at the end of our flooded driveway.

It was late in the evening, the sun was well behind the treeline

so the lighting was not great. I took a few photos of it anyway 

since it's not a bird we would normally see in our yard !

The flood waters obviously pushed it inland. 

Simple edits to the photo to make it resemble a painting: 

Painted Photo filter, Watercolor Bright

Brown Rice Paper texture

Fibers texture (reduced opacity)

Text box added in Photoshop Elements 14, GistX Upright Bold font

Embossed edge in Photoshop Elements 14

The edited photo makes a nice computer screen background.

It could be printed onto card stock to make a card:

(card mockup psd file by graphic burger)

or even made into a print for a wall !

(frame mockup psd file by pixeden, edited)

Upload a digital photo to nearly any photo processing site

for numerous product ideas to have it put on!

Thanks for looking =) 

Be sure to visit the rest of the Digitally Made design team
 member's blogs to see their inspiring digital ideas !

Lemonade Stand digi kit

Above are three projects I've made using 

the new kit, Lemonade Stand,

by JMC Designs. 

It is on sale for 50% off through August 12th at

Plain Digital Wrapper 

and

With Love Scraps

Kit includes - 70 Unique Elements, 24 Patterned Papers,  9 Cardstock

and Lowercase Alphabet in each color of palette

A Girl and Her Dog

Time for a new challenge at Making Memories Crafting:

One for the Girls.

This month our sponsor is Digi Stamps 4 Joy.
$10 voucher

I created a digital scrapbook page for my 

Design Team project.

I colored the Best Friends image by DS4J

using Photoshop Elements ,

saved it then exported it into 

My Memories Suite V8 software

to create the digital scrapbook page.

I also used papers and elements from the digi scrap kit

Friends by JMC Designs.

I digitally colored the image  in Photoshop Elements before I even 

looked at my photos or picked out a digi scrap kit to use.

I probably should have done it in reverse so

the dress colors could have been different,

matching the digi elements a bit better .

Now I need to make a page for my son with the dog :)

Since it is digital and I have the working files saved,

 I can simply remove the colored image

and insert another photo, replace the other two photos,

change the text and I'll be done!

You have all month to create a family friendly craft project

to share with us at Making Memories.

I'd also like to plug our sister site,

Digitally Made Challenges,

for those that like purely digital crafts.

This type of project would be perfect for that challenge.

Thanks for looking !

Paper Quilling

Today I'm sharing another old craft kit I put to use -

paper quilling ! 

When I bought this oh so long ago, 

I did make a couple of the cards to attach

to wedding and baby shower gifts.

Then the kit sat there as over the years I

started rubber stamping.

The finished cards are quite small at 2" x 2 1/2"

and are very lightweight, made on parchment paper.

Here are some closeups:

The instructions called for this to have yellow teardrop leaves.

 I cut some tiny scraps of green mulberry paper instead

and make a small black circle for the center.

It reminds me of the wildflowers on our back hill.

Am I a bad Mom for not feeling too bad about turning my sons old bedroom into a craft room last month? That's where I made these cards - and it was so much nicer than being in the dark old craft dungeon basement ! I had fresh air coming in a window since it was "cool" by normal summer heat standards that day and lots of sunlight bouncing off of the freshly painted white walls.

Thanks for looking =) 


I'm entering my quilled gift cards in the following challenges:
Use Your Stuff- Free Week
Through The Craft Room Door - Anything Goes August 1-7
Crafting By Designs -August Anything Goes Challenge