Back to School - Lily Edition...PLUS a Video Tutorial!!!

Yes, I'm aware that school started quite a bit ago...and that's fine...we can live these beautiful memories all year long!  (Plus I still have one Back to School LO to post after this one!  💗)  Here we are with a sweet little LO of my precious niece on her first day of First Grade!  Plus at the bottom of this post I have posted a step by step video of how I created this!  Here is the LO:

Lily is a special kind of kid.  She loves the color pink, and she loves her fairies and baby dolls, but she also LOVES be a tough little kiddo and play in the dirt, build things (generally out of whatever tools and material she finds around the farm) and use her imagination.  So I wanted to make sure this LO captured her complete spirit and used lots of girly things, but also put some fun trinkets (including a few gears and what nots) to fully show her personality!

Below you can see one of the flower clusters on this LO.  The background paper was a gorgeous mix of yellows and pinks and I knew I had just the flowers to match.  (And now since I used so many flowers I can buy more...right?)  The papers I used for this LO had a bit of a sheen to them and I realized when I was spraying the shimmering white mist that I was able to use a paper towel to wipe some of the color into the paper.  I used the same mist to splatter some spots on the flower clusters.

Below is a closeup of another flower cluster on the opposite side of the photo.  You can also see one of the chipboard gears that I covered in gesso followed by some extreme layers of pink mist, Tim Holtz distress embossing glaze in Speckled Egg and a bit of pink glitter (just for fun).  I also had some metallic gears that I glued down all around the LO and they really worked well with the colors and the chipboard gears.  

In addition to the chipboard gears I also used some chipboard butterflies and used the same array of sprays, embossing glaze, etc.  On the one pictured below I also used some Tim Holtz Foundry Wax for a little bit of extra texture.

Finally, the last flower cluster, a few clock and gear trinkets, and a slight view of the chipboard I put behind the picture.  

This girl has had such a great year in First Grade already and we can't wait to see what she does next!  Thanks for looking and watch the video below for step-by-step info!

xoxo,

Mel

 

Beachy Vibes & Good News!!!

I'm taking a break from my Back to School LOs of all my cute nieces and nephews.  Great news!  I finished my Master's program yesterday so now I will have SO much more free time to craft and make things!  I am SOOOOOO ready for a vacation and one of my girlfriends has suggested a horrible, awful, no-good time trip to Mexico.  In light of that, I went back into my LOs that I haven't blogged about yet and found this great project featuring me at the beach!!!  Anyone who knows me knows that I love the beach...mountains are great too (and pictures from my recent trip to Durango are coming)...but the beach is where I generally locate some of my missing spirit animals!  This picture is a few years old, but when I got this kit in the mail (whenever the heck that was) I knew that I wanted to use the darker tones of the kit and brighten them up with the sunshine and beach!  💗

Here is the final project!

I loved the contrast of the dark background and the white flowers on the paper.  But I also knew I was going to stay with some darker tones and use plenty of teal and some copper-brownish colors as well!  To lighten the overall scheme and make it still feel beachy I picked some more feminine flowers in lighter colors.  Below you can see some of the flower clusters I used on this LO.

I love chipboard and in addition to the deeper teal hues I used to color this chipboard, I used some lighter teal that I really watered down to have a more watercolor look (and who doesn't love water color when it's associated with the ocean!!!)

Below you can see where I added in some deeper hued flowers to contrast with the feminine flowers and then I used some ephemera words for the phrase "Happy Memories" of which most all that I can remember my beach memories being! 

On the chipboard below I stuck with the same light and dark teal hues, but also added in some alcohol ink in Butterscotch and a few other darker brown colors.  I meant to (but forgot 😕😖) to add some sparkly brown glitter (am I the only person who loves their brown glitter or what?) but the overall effect came out just about the way I wanted it to!  😍

There you have it!  The most recent chapter in my education journey is closed and I am SOOOOO ready to see a beach.  (Did I mention it was 31 degrees here this morning??)

Thanks for looking!

xoxoxo,

Mel

 

Back to School 2022 Jacie Edition!

So...here I am...working on finishing up my dual Master's Degree...and in the heart of writing my super long thesis paper...my computer crashed!  So not only was I behind on writing...I got behind on my BTS LO series!  Have no fear...the rough draft of the paper has been submitted, so here is another Back To School LO featuring my sweet niece (and one of my crafting buddies!) Jacie!  Isn't she just precious???  

Here is the LO!

I love clocks and since the parents of this sweet girl are always wanting time to just stand still a little bit more, I figured the clock theme would be more than fitting!  I used a Tres Jolie chipboard clock and started with a coat of white gesso on it.  I also used a brick stencil to make a background and covered the modeling paste in places with white crackle paste and paint for a little more texture!  Jacie's first day of school outfit was gorgeous and I really wanted to channel the natural colors she wore, but also her sparkly personality with plenty of blue tones and TONS of glitter!

The kit I primarily used with this LO came with some metallic flowers, and you can below where I used some of those along with the good 'ole fashioned paper flowers as well!

Below you can see more metal flowers and how I used some Tim Holtz Distress Spray stain in Picket Fence to add some drops of color and give the flowers a little more personality!

There she is, folks!  I hope you enjoyed checking these pictures out just as much as I enjoyed capturing the moment for Jacie!  

xoxo,

Mel