All Things Altered BLOG HOP 3/23

Ok, so this is actually the first creative project that I completed since all my personal drama. And I have to admit if it hadn't been for Pammejo inviting me to participate and being so encouraging...(along with my other scrappy sisters around here) I don't know if I would be able to do anything yet. I also have to say that completing this project made me feel SO GOOD!!! (and really, I knew it would so why couldn't I do something sooner, maybe my muse wasn't ready)

You should be hopping over here from Jess B. If you just popped in to check my personal blog then the hop begins at Pammejo's so come on and join the fun, there are prizes to be won and lots of cool inspirational things to see!

I found this at a local thrift store:

The canvas measures 36 inches square. The frame adds another inch.

I couldn't have bought a canvas this size on sale for this price!

So I took out some lovely gesso and got to work on Plan A for this giant canvas.

Now I needed some words, for texture:

And to apply the pages/words I needed my favorite medium :)

One coat of Gesso later:

Then I started adding pages.

Then breaktime was over so I went back to work with evidence that I was creating at home.

All the words are added now for some lovely COLOR!

Bright, happy, energetic this is what I was feeling and now for the phrase I wanted to add.

I cut the lettering out of vinyl with my Cricut.

Then I carefully layed out my phrase. We are almost at the part where I had to go to 

Plan B.

Now a layer of Black Gesso.

And even more Color!

And now, when I tried to peel up the vinyl letters, it peeled up everything, even my dictionary pages. I blame impatience and using the wrong type of vinyl. I should have used a lower tack vinyl and let the stuff dry way longer before trying to add the letters and then paint over... ugh impatience is NOT a virtue. 

But again my fingers bore evidence of some well spent crafty time at home, and my mood was super elevated!

Plan B involved cutting paper letters out and then altering them with stamps and glimmermist for a really cool look. I used painter's tape as a guide to position my letters.

Yeah this would work!

I liked it so much, I signed and dated the front! Now how to make the frame look good...

Oh yeah, there's still that dictionary!

Right now I can honestly say that this is the best thing I've ever created for myself. 

All my pain went in and all the joy I crave came out.

This quote is from the original Muppet Movie. In fact, I looked it up for you, thanks youtube!

Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out my project. I hope you had a great time and good luck on the hop! Next stop is Laura so get have fun! 

St Patty's Day!

I've been not scrapping so long... well, so long for me. I just haven't been able to put my "new" space together, I go upstairs and walk in the room and just get so down I can't function. I was supposed to go out with friends for St. Patrick's Day, but my plans got cancelled this afternoon. I didn't think it was a big deal, then it was. I didn't realize how much I had been looking forward to the company. I got sad, I wanted to get motivated to do some much needed work around here, but that wasn't happening.

I got a text from another friend asking what it was I liked so much from Jim and Nick's (the answer was pig in a potato patch btw...) and then she asked what I was doing. When I said my plans had gotten cancelled, she told me to get over to Archiver's to scrap.

I said ok, and it was possibly the best thing I could have done for myself :)

Here is what it was like...

And even more exciting, here's what I made: (note... it still needs to be bound, and I'm missing a photo that I need to find and print but here's most of it anyway... I'll do a video when it's all done, ok?)

Chick Flicks!

So I have a few standard Chick Flicks I throw in when I need a good cry... or just need to, I don't know, watch a chick flick. In no particular order they are:

Fried Green Tomatoes

Dirty Dancing

Steele Magnolias

I guess on some level I think they help me reach some emotional place I need to be at, but have trouble accessing any other way sometimes. Today I am adding a new movie to my list.

The Help

I have had it on my list to see for awhile, but I went to a housewarming party last night and  the house didn't have cable, so my friend had The Help playing...

This morning I rented it from iTunes as soon as I woke up and I just finished watching. It made me sob out loud, which is one of my requirements for a great Chick Flick. And it made me cry for this reason. It showed a girl's mom becoming proud of her daughter for who she is, and not who the mom wanted her to be. And also it shows how people who are non-blood related can become so important in your life.

There are a lot of other lessons in this movie, and a lot of truth about the "old-school" South. These are all important, but I think everyone who watches this movie will take something different away from it.

 I feel like my explanations are too trivial, but I so want to encourage everyone to watch!

Hugs!

Good things coming!

So I've started creating again, and will be a part of a most exciting blog hop soon, but first...a trip to Chicago.Stay tuned for info and pics ladies, good stuff is happening... Oh, let me share my Valentine's Day surprise with you:

 

Just so YOU know, I've NEVER gotten red roses before, for Valentine's Day or otherwise... and the card read: Rare, Precious, Beautiful.

So just in case you wondered how I got off my tukus and started creating again, this was a big help, and I can't thank him enough! 

Hugs!

I'm ok...

So I just realized I haven't posted in a very, very long time. I'm still around. I haven't been scrappy at all in oh so long. I'm getting there. I'm coming back. This is such a different journey than the one I thought I was going to be making at this point in my life.

I have been listening to music.

I know that's not a big thing for most of you, and most of you listen to music when you scrap, but when I used to listen and sing out loud ALL THE TIME! It was part of how I knew I was happy. And the world was right. I have been using lots of music to help myself to feel better and to help.

This song

All songs by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young | allSongsBy

Ripple in still waters...

This was the song that we played at our wedding while we lighted the unity candle. Most people just thought it was a cute country song, loads of people there didn't listen to the Grateful Dead. They were more my band, but because of the way they experimented, it made them his band too.

Here are the lyrics (as told by Lyrics007)
If my words did glow with the gold of sunshine
And my tunes were played on the harp unstrung
Would you hear my voice come through the music
Would you hold it near as it were your own?

It's a hand-me-down, the thoughts are broken
Perhaps they're better left unsung
I don't know, don't really care
Let there be songs to fill the air

(Chorus)

Ripple in still water
When there is no pebble tossed
Nor wind to blow

Reach out your hand if your cup be empty
If your cup is full may it be again
Let it be known there is a fountain
That was not made by the hands of men

There is a road, no simple highway
Between the dawn and the dark of night
And if you go no one may follow
That path is for your steps alone

(Chorus)

You who choose to lead must follow
But if you fall you fall alone
If you should stand then who's to guide you?
If I knew the way I would take you home 


And here is why I am sharing this with you. Some of you already know, but loads of you lovely online friends don't. My husband, the man I wanted to share my whole life with finished his life three weeks ago yesterday. He shared his whole life with me and I wasn't ready for it to be over, I totally shut down for a few days, but I can't do that very long. I have an incredibly strong support system that is here for me and praying for me and lifting me up and helping me to live. 


I didn't understand why no one would let me be alone those first few days, until the first day I was alone. But I am ok. I am having good days as well as bad and that is ok too. I just wanted to share, because that's what I do. 


I would ask from each and everyone of you lovely readers to send up a prayer, not just for me, but the whole family. I can't imagine how it would feel to lose a grandchild or a son. Those are things I don't have. I have lost other people who I was close to: granparents, great aunts and uncles, an infant great nephew but this hurts more. 


Hugs,
Charity

I have a lot this year!

Happy Thanksgiving week to all my peeps here in the states! This year I have a lot to be Thankful for. As Thanksgiving is my favorite week, it is a special honor to be posting for the Vintage Heartfelt Designs Team this week!

I am so thankful to have my hands and my mind, my family (which at home consists of dh, 1 loving Kayla dog and 2 "special" kitties) who understands that I need to make a huge mess with inks, paints, and glue.

This tag was cut from a manilla file folder using the Tim Holtz Tag die and then I used his distress inks in some of my favorite colors and spritzed the life out of this tag with glimmer mist. Then I drew from some fall foliage I had lying around (um "silk" foliage in this case). I then used a scrap of sheer orange fabric and a stick pin that I made to embellish this Thankful tag. I hope you enjoyed my tag today and remember to hop over and check out Dee's blog (she's our fearless leader). I wish you all a happy week and hope that you all have plenty to give thanks for!