Art Journaling, Molly, and Fruity Deliciousness

I made this from a stamp Valerie picked up at a craft expo she and Dawn went to in August. I was going to join them and a friend, but I came down with the Shingles a couple of days before the expo. I may have cried a little.

But the girls made up for missing it by bringing home lots of crafty goodness for all of us to play with! Valerie picked up several of these beauties and I immediately stamped all of them. This one is now in my mish-mash art journal. Note the crackled background, it's another cool stamp Valerie picked up while she was there.

This reminds me, joining the Journal52 Facebook group has brought such crafty joy! We're on week 37 and my journal is getting nice and fat. I encourage you to look up this group on Facebook. Lots of encouraging, talented crafters hang out there; it's become a bright spot in my crafting life.

I played around with clear copier labels and, according to Dawn, it was a success! It's her new favorite craft of mine. So, of course, she got to keep them. I covered the ones I stamped with books with Glue and Seal first and stamped a few without the coating. I wanted to see what difference it would make. I discovered the uncoated ones wouldn't dry, but I managed to make it work. They're great for art journaling and mixed media projects. I'll definitely be making more.

See those little wooden flowers and leaves? They came in this plain wooden holder, but I fancied it up. We used half-off coupons for 2 rolls of Tim Holtz's tissue paper, something that's always been out of my price-range. I thought, what is the big deal about his tissue paper? I use regular printed tissue paper all the time and I love it. Well, I discovered I've been missing out on something pretty fantastic all this time. I'm still glad we waited for such great coupons, but I'm telling you, go buy some, now. It's stronger than regular tissue paper and is more sturdy when decoupaging. But how it reacted to the ink I spritzed on it impressed me the most. Just look at those yummy colors all coming together so perfectly! I'm searching for tiny things to display on the little shelves and will be hanging it in my craft studio. I think I have a few nekkid inches somewhere on the walls.

Punk or princess? Molly says she is versatile.

This was my daughters' August birthday pie. I'm kind of freaking out about being the mom of 32-year old women, but my pride in them overrides it all. I wouldn't mind having one of these pies for my birthday if they can't manage a Texas Sheet Cake. (Which is seriously asking a lot. It's difficult to top my sister's prowess at making a slice of delicious chocolate heaven. Speaking of Heaven, I sure do miss her, dang it.)