Moving!

Hi my dear readers. Sorry I've been missing in action and don't have a project to share today. This month has been a whirlwind of activity.  I had not planned to move but after getting notice that the rent was increasing once again I decided to look at buying a manufactured home. The realtor which was doing the showings of available ones suggested I see if I could be pre-approved for a home loan. Not only was I pre-approved but a house was just listed in my price range. Several people looked at the house on Friday so I couldn't see it until Saturday. I fell in love with the house but was so afraid that because it was Labor Day weekend someone else might have beat me to it. There was an offer but the people couldn't get a loan.  Since the seller wanted to be out by the end of this month and I was pre-approved after some negotiating we came to an agreement and as Thursday the house is mine.

I never realized how much work there was in buying a house. I'm exhausted but alas I need to keep packing up things so I'll be out of the apartment by the end of October. This weekend will be spent doing some cleaning and moving things in. Of course my "playroom" will be one of the first rooms which will be set up and organized.

The attached garage has been converted so that will be my playroom. It will be nice to not have everything all crammed together and to be able to set up stations.

My fur babies will have a yard to run around in. Lol! It has been several years since they have had a yard so I hope they remember what it is to be free.

Thank you for stopping by and do come back next week as I'm working on a project for the design team.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

It's Fall Y'all Challenge

Hi everyone the challenge this week over at Hiding In My Craft is a Fall Challenge. This week the challenge is being sponsored by Star Satmpz. The Give Away is 3 digital images.

I love the cute image from Star Stampz I used. It would be perfect for a Thanksgiving card if you make any.

For those who have been reading my posts for any amount of time you know I like to play and to use things that otherwise might be thrown away.  For my background I took crumpled,torn brown paper which had been used as packing material. I layered paint letting dry in between coats and  crumpling the paper. The wet paint kept erasing my wrinkles. With each layer of paint I smooshed plastic wrap.When I would pull the plastic wrap I would pull some of the paint off. For my final layer of paint I made sure that the paper got wrinkled under the plastic wrap. Then after the paint was dry I sponge painted copper paint. After applying my torn piece of paper to my card base I edged and covered where the white card base showed with Photo Vintage distress ink.

My leaf background is a photo I took years ago of a pile of leaves someone had raked up. If you are into taking pictures besides selfies you can often create your own pattern paper. Even blurry pictures will work.

I had created the Autumn Blessings last year in Silhouette Studio so I added it to the digital stamp. I then grouped the two images together and centered them on the leaves image. The image is colored with pencils.

It doesn't feel like Fall or Autumn if that is what you call the season where I live. September is being a seductress making me think that Summer will last forever. When Autumn arrives it will be quick and not so kind. I'll go out in a t-shirt to walk the dogs only to realize I needed a jacket.

Not only are there changes in the air. I've already noticed a few leaves which Nature has painted. If things go smooth there will be a change in my life. Hopefully by the time I post again I'll have some good news to share. The waiting for things to work out is the hardest.

Thank you for stopping by. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Valentine's Is Everyday "Be Mine"

Hi everyone Autumn is definitely on it's way as I notice that Mother Nature has taken out her paint brush and started painting the leaves. I love living in an area where the seasons change although right now September is being her usual seductress teasing me with the warm weather.

This week's challenge is a scrap challenge over at Hiding In My Craft Room. This challenge is being sponsored by Oddball Art who provided the hanging hearts image I'm using. The give away is two images from them.

I now know why the textured paper I used for my background was donated to a thrift store. There were several packages of it and probably because it can't be cut. I got better cuts with my old guillotine cutter but the edges were still rough. Luckily I had in my stash the ribbon to cover the edges as well as the narrow scrap which I used a punch on.

 I opened up a heart file from the library in Silhouette Studio. Then I filled the shape with a polka dot pattern. I took the digital image of hanging hearts from Oddball Art and sized it to fit inside the heart.I added the be mine from another file in the library. Once that was done I printed and used my cutting machine to cut it out. I took chalk to color inside the heart. I took a marker and colored the hearts.

My frugal tip is if you have narrow scraps use them for a border. Punches, dies, or even a cutting machine can be used to create borders.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Fall Color Challenge

Hi everyone Fall is in the air and it is the perfect time to join in the Hiding In My Craft Room Fall color challenge.  This week the challenge is being sponsored by Digital Delights.and one lucky person who participates in the challenge will receive a $5 gift certificate.

Not sure of the name of the Halloween image but I think it is cute. Here is my inspiration piece.

When I think of  Fall colors I think of oranges, reds, yellows, and browns.  Because the image is Halloween I threw some black in. 

For my background I decided to see what would happen covering white card stock with chalk pastels and then taking a wet stiff bristle brush and brushing over it. The brush ended up causing the paper to pill but I like the technique. When the card was dry I went ahead and rubbed yellow, orange and red chalks and then blended. I then rubbed paste wax and buffed it. I love how the areas where it is pilled took on a darker color.

The bat and Jack O Lantern is from Silhouette's Bat Skeleton cutting file. I ungrouped the file as I only wanted the solid bat and wanted to cut the pumpkin out by itself as I wasn't sure I was going to use it.

I traced and detached the bee in Silhouette Studio after I did some resizing. Then I was able to use the Shadow feature under image effects. I didn't think that there was going to be white spots since I did the outline mode when tracing. After printing and cutting out I used a color pencil to fill in the white spots and to have the shadow all one color.

I used both Tombow Markers and color pencils to color the image. 

Thank you for stopping by. Do come back again! Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!