May I Have This Dance?

How many of you just sang, "For the Rest of My Life"?

Don't you just love Cinderella and the

Fairy Tales that all have the lovely young lady

finding her Prince Charming?

"I DO"

and I hope I've captured that in my latest series

The Pixie Cottage Wedding Collection

From the set, also available ala carte, I used the image

May I Have This Dance

Above is my completed project showcased in the 20th challenge at
The Pixie Cottage

I have also sent the pair twirling into a few other challenges:

Paperplay - Wedding Celebrations
Clearly I Stamp - Flowers
Simple Doodles - Anything But A Card
Crazy Challenge - It's A Girl Thing
Crafts and Me - Anything But A Card

Treasured Scrapbooking Altered Composition Book

This poor journal was begging to be altered!

Coupled with this wonderful sketch...

by Bev Rochester of All the Things I Love

It begins to transform into something pretty and functional!

The ultimate place to compile....The "I Do"

"to do"
LISTS!
If you've been in a wedding or have planned one

you know there are bound to be lists!

Having them all in one Artishtic spot

is my gift to (my) mommy!

She and Mr.Bill are getting married in St.Louis

the Saturday following Thanksgiving.

They met dancing, and have continued

sailing around dance floors as their hearts have intertwined!

My mom had quite the productive Friday last week...
she found her dress~ a beautiful Burgundy color, ordered the cakes,
picked out coordinating fabric,
wrote a sweet 'save the date letter',
spoke with the caterers...to name a few.
Surely, if she had this journal

it would be full of check marks!

Hopefully, there are still LISTS to be made...

it'll be en route to Mommy soon!

DANCE~like an ANGEL...

that is how I would describe what the audience at Owasso's Performing Art's Center

witnessed as Ally Sanov danced a tribute

to her big brother Austen Alexander Sanov

Saturday night. It was the first Scholarship Dance Competition

by Dancewerks honoring the memory of Austen

and bringing an educational opportunity to our local dancers.

What a night to remember!

Fast forward to this a.m. ...

It is Wednesday and time for Challenge #19

at The Pixie Cottage.

The option this week is to create a project using "Paper Tole"

accomplished by stamping the same image multiple times

and cutting out specific parts to layer and color;

building a 3-dimensional image with physical depth. That,

coupled with coloring, makes for a striking presentation and is quite fun!

This is my take on Paper Toling

The South End Girl by Andrea T. Seiler...

The additional option to Challenge #19

is to utilize this sketch by

Senior design team member
Pam ...

OR do both....

In the above photo- I overlayed "journaling"

in the upper right section of black journaling petals. I have asked Ally to share in her words. I can't begin to fathom how therapeutic, and emotional it was for her to dance with her 'big brother's' tiny little T-shirt. At the time of the accident she was 3 1/2, she's now 16. From the tips of her fingers down to her toes, on the floor and soaring...she exuded LOVE.

After you create your project be sure to link back your blog posting
to Challenge #19 for a chance to win!

When deciding how to incorporate the circle into my layout-

cutting it out and matting it was not an option...

I wanted to show the floor beneath Ally, WAY beneath her... I captured her flying!

Highlighting the black and white with YELLOW

was a decision based on the shirt she danced with...

it was Austen's from his baseball team,

which he wears in the photo we have come to know him by.

a glimpse of my paper toling in action...

multitudes of South End Girls...

Like most women...what to wear, what to wear, what to wear???

How about a variety of white...textured card stock, thick mulberry, printed glittered vellum...endless possibilities!
It's like "paper dolls" for grown ups!

in true 'makeover fashion'....
Before & After

This technique in the stamping arena was new to me~

yet amazingly similar to the paper piecings I create for eBay

with the "unscripted movement of my scissors".

I look forward to seeing all of your creations!!!

********

Back to Saturday... the evening opened with Ian's ballet class performing their dance to "Austen's song" (the song played at Austen's funeral)

choreographed by Miss Michele (Austen and Ally's mom)

--you met her a few weeks back in the layout I did of her and Ian.


It was simply precious to watch...

There are a few parts where Ian's hand needed to extend upward, as seen here, and in his promenade. I asked him, "Who are you reaching towards?"

"God. Jesus. And Austen up in heaven"

This was the final pose. Tissues were a must.

I don't think there was a dry eye in the house.

A little boy covered by fields of clover...

I shared with you weeks ago that I believe the relationship Ian and Miss Michele have built over the past 3 years was Heaven sent. For her to come to a place of heeling where she could so publicly share her story, for her incredible friend Miss Ellen to propose the scholarship in Austen's memory and to GIVE to the dance community, that Miss Michele and Ally's lives touch daily. For Ian to be a dancer and the exact same age as Austen when he sadly became an Angel...

There is no doubt God had his hand in this.

In memory of Austen Sanov

1992-1997

Blessings from Above,

So, what did you do for...

"Mommy's day?"

We went out for "coffee!"

Oh yes, that's a treat for me.

(it doesn't have to be a national holiday!)

Come November and it's my birthday...

you'll see, I opt for coffee any day over cake!

With very current photos, this is my scrapbook layout for

Challenge #18 at The Pixie Cottage .

This week's challenge is to create with the theme

of "vintage or distressed" and/or use the following sketch

by our special guest sketch artist:

Suzanne Dean, master of Copics, from Scrapbitz!

I love the sketch and wanted to incorporate a bit of the distressed feel.

Unfortunately the last drop of Tim Holtz

walnut stain distress ink went to my last project.

(think fast!)

What's the next best thing, and readily available

in my personal barista station...puddles of espresso...

(~it might even be slightly aromatic!)

All pieces for the sketch in place, let the purposeful coffee staining begin...

(have you ever done this to an important piece of white paper on accident?)
(this is WAY more Fun!!!)

You can even create espresso drip "brads"

(they dry a little flatter)



ta-da...


At Starbucks I ordered my "usual" an Iced Venti Double Shot non-fat
...and although it is delicious and Brown ,
I wanted to tie my layout in with Mother's Day
and one of the newest additions in The Pixie Cottage Stamp Collection
the sweet Bunny with Roses by Di Carubia.
I needed to hold some roses!

Which I happened to have been blessed with at church that morning
...insert them into a 'recycled' cup and voila,

all I had to do with the aid of a trusty X-acto knife
was cut around my fingers so that I could slide in the trio of blooms.

(the lid worked great to keep them in place)

As noted in the sketch there is a smaller circle-
for the card makers that worked well for the sentiment, or an embellished flower.
I used it as part of my title and the platform for Bunny with Roses .
It just couldn't be plain old paper!
I asked Husband Dear if I could have
the wrap off of his hot mocha...cut it in half,
glued it together, used the Creative Memories circle cutter...

flip it over, add title, colored image and more ink...

add a little cream and sugar, or (non-fat milk and Sweet 'n Low)

Oh wait we're talking scrapbook pages... add adorable photos of children.
(three horizontal stripes worked great for moi!)

I began to feel like a serial artist strategically
cutting out all of the letters from the Java Beans
pattern paper by Flair Designs (-the cooking collection)

Although my photo is cut into a large oval I am centered in a CIRCLE of brads.

I continued to recycle items from Starbucks with

the 3 snip-its of straw wrapper placed so that they read

"hot- not recommended"

:) -I prefer ICED coffee!

I can't wait to see how you interpret the sketch
or how creative you can be distressing or going vintage!
Remember to link back to Challenge #18 at The Pixie Cottage
for your chance to win!


Thank you Husband Dear for taking us out for "Mommy Day Coffee"

Have a great week in California!

love you!

(I'm going to hang my artishtic layout in our blue & brown coffee kitchen)

Here's a glimpse of other ways I've "espressoed" myself in said kitchen... this is JOE...

he is now surrounded with 3 blue glass plattes, and coffee mugs

dripping my favorite 'brown beaded beverage'

Here's a portion of my barista station ,

close by another mosaiced coffee piece...

and the centerpiece for our island...

Always thinking outside the box,

"Shrinky Dinks"...

was what immediately came to my mind when I read

Challenge #17 from The Pixie Cottage.

Once again you have the choice to "make a charm" that you add to a card, a layout, or an ordinary glass jar; once containing scrapbook flowers that you saved in your cabinet knowing someday you could RECYCLE it into something much more artistic, pretty and functional...

or you can use the sketch of the week:

or combine them both as many of

the Design Team members from The Pixie Cottage

have done this week. After you create and upload to your blog,

link back to Challenge #17 from The Pixie Cottage

for your chance to win!

In planning my petite flower vase I dove into my drawer of goodies...sure enough "PolyShrink"

a nifty plastic (clear or white) that you can stamp on and then drastically reduce the size of.

In keeping with the "flower" theme I used my stamp Simply the Best Rose

Stamped it 5 times, cut out around the images

and punched holes in the top.

Shrinking the plastic requires a heat source...no oven up here in the studio...so the heat gun worked just fine. I placed a "Hot Mama" sheet from the Little Black Dress Co. underneath it.

I had to chuckle at the instructions
PolyShrink made sure to tell you that
the holes will shrink too!

Now is where you start to GASP...

as the image takes on a life of it's own...


contorting this way and that.
Whewwwwwww!
My heart has stopped racing and it turned out pretty neat.

only 4 more to go.

Affixing them to the vase I incorporated wire and beads...

Add glass gems, H2o , and a floral snip-it and

Voila...

Last night via email Michelle inquired if that flower was a magnolia.

I told her I'd have to research that, for now I call it

"The used to be on the bush next to the detached garage white flower"


I hope your day is filled with brightness,

and that you find happiness in the least expected places!

I blessed my neighbor yesterday by placing this vase,

mysterious white flower and a card in her mailbox.

Her name is Miss Brenda, she has cancer.

Prayers for her, her husband and their 3 girls would be welcome!