Finishing the Challenges

This is the first time I have ever completed all of the challenges from a Cocoa Daisy crop! Yay, me! It did help that they reduced the number of challenges, but I'm still proud of my accomplishment. The first one is a scraplift challenge - I scraplifted a gorgeous layout by Martha and here is my take. Nothing like a little Christmas in July project.

The next was a challenge by Anna to create a project about home, without making a photo of your house the focal point. I decided to take a different approach and show our humble abode throughout the seasons. It represents not only the actual seasons, but also seasons of life. It's a reminder to myself that although things change, it's important to embrace the change and enjoy the moment. After all, there is beauty in every season.

I started with a 12x12 mixed media paper and taped off the 4 squares with washi tape. I used PanPastel to create the background. To create the tree, I stamped directly on the backside of my template and used a brayer to make sure the image came through. The leaves were created with a fun, little stamp from CD.

I truly love challenges, they help me think outside my comfort zone and push me to be more creative. Thanks, Cocoa Daisy for another fabulous and fun crop! ♥

A Crop + Empty House = Productivity

Sometimes the scrappy stars align and make for the perfect time to create. This past weekend was one of those... I had an empty house and Cocoa Daisy was hosting an online crop. Seriously, how lucky can one girl be? :) The challenges the design team put forth were fabulous and (luckily), my mojo showed up for the party. The weekend was full of chats, fun, inspiration, and general craziness and I loved every second of it! There were 7 challenges offered and so far I've completed 4.

There's nothing like a crafty weekend to feed your creative soul! There is still time to participate in the challenges, so head over here and check them out!

Challenging Myself

This week at Cocoa Daisy, we've been discussing stamps that we would love to own. I love laurel wreaths and found a chalkboard image on Pinterest with several styles and shared it on the forum. Would you believe a couple of days later, Wilna posted a YouTube video creating a layout with a chalkboard laurel wreath?! After watching the video, I decided that I would make my own laurel wreath cut file. I could have used Wilna's file, but I thought it would be fun to have my own.

The number one thing I learned with this personal challenge: If you're using a photo of your own drawing, draw really crisp, tight illustrations, otherwise you'll spend HOURS trying to clean up the image and closing gaps to make a clean cut file. You can thank me later for that little gem. :) The July Cocoa Daisy sketch was the perfect design to give my laurel wreath vision a try.

I started with a simple drawing and converted it to a Silhouette cut file. A sketch pen was used to created the background image. I then used gelatos to softly color the background image. I scaled down the cut file to make it a little bit smaller than the background image and cut it out on the Silhouette. I then painted the cut wreath. I used 3-D Foam Squares to raise the cut wreath, to give dimension to the layout. To get my journaling even around the circle, I lightly traced around my photo and added the journaling.

Wow, sometimes I even amaze myself! lol I love learning new things and pushing myself creatively. Getting involved in an on-line scrap community is such a great way to learn, share, and be inspired. Thanks to everyone that inspires me on a daily basis!