Dressing your blog

Today I wanted to share with you a very talented friends blog, her name is Leslie Avila.  This gal is so talented it's crazy gewd!! 

She dabbles in paper, paints, mixed media and fabric and to be honest I don't think there is anything she can't do!  We met about a year ago and although we live a few hours away from each other she is a dear friend!  Well, she made me a beautiful cuff bracelet that you can see on her blog HERE.  I had wanted to make her something for her birthday, then for Christmas and well time got away from me!  So, I decided that a blog makeover would be another way I could gift her something.  So, hello this is just another way you can use the incredible digital elements from Rhonna Designs!  

Here is a peek at Leslie's blog but I do hope that you will head on over and see for yourself and drop her a note to say hello HERE.  *I have to say that viewing the blog via mobile or iPad will not show how fab it turned out.  If I do say so myself *wink

I used items from the following kits when dressing Leslie's blog.

Kiss Me Background Kit

Kiss Me Pieces Kit

Kiss Me Border Kit

Rhonna has a great Valentine Bundle Set that include those kits above and MORE that link to the bundle set is HERE! And so really that is the way to go for a great savings! And if you are new to my blog or Rhonna's you should go and visit Rhonna's Blog too because she has some amazing Valentine DIY projects up on her blog. Lots of hybrid crafting, seriously it's all delish you have to go look HERE.

And lastly, if you are on FB and are using the new Timeline look (which we will all end up with soon) you will want to check out this Kiss Me Cover Page Kit HERE. It's an easy way to dress up your Timeline for the Valentine holiday. And actually with any of her digital elements you can create your own.  Yes, I have created some myself, love changing it up!  In fact I need to dress up my blog header too! This week for sure, after all it's has to have a touch of Valentine right *wink

Here is my FB Cover photo that I created with elements from her Kiss Me lines but in her kit she has some all ready for you to use and she even has some that you can add photos to!

 I hope to have a DIY project up this week so check back soon.  And I'm also working on an idea for a video screen tutorial for those of you who want to learn how to decorate your own blog using Rhonna's designs, Photoshop Elements and Blogger.  Any interest in a tutorial?

Thanks for stopping in today!

My OLW for 2012

If you don't already know about Ali Edward's One Little Word then just go HERE for more info.  Most folks who are sharing their OLW via their blog usually have an explanation as to why they chose it.  I did last year (found HERE) but this year at this time I am not.  I had two words in mind and this one chose me.  I hope to share more on it as time goes by but, for now this is all I got.

 Won't you join us?!

And what about Project Life you ask? Well, I'm participating in that this year too. Last year was a major fail for me. So, I am going to try again and this year I am DETERMINED to finish it! You can learn more on Becky Higgin's Project life HERE

Hope to get back to my blogging and creating, so see you back here soon. *I wouldn't mind it too bad if you sent a little creative mojo my way though *wink

The art piece I used above is from Rhonna Designs A Year To Follow Your Heart Printable Kit found HERE . Since it's a printable kit you can print the pages out and make your own journal! How cute would these be in your Project Life sprinkled throughout!

Rhonna DESIGNS: New Year. New Kits. New Look. Twenty.12

Have you stopped over at Rhonna's blog? There are some great new kits!! Love the calendars!

Rhonna DESIGNS: New Year. New Kits. New Look. Twenty.12: I'm sooo excited about this next year...twenty.12.    My focus & mantra for the year is to: Follow My Heart. it really means so much t...

My sweet grandpa, Ernesto...

Today we lost our grandfather Ernesto to cancer, our hearts are broken.  But, we are comforted by the fact that we know he is in a better place, with his Lord and Savior. Until we meet again sweet grandpa! I will forever love you and hold my memories of you in my heart.

Merry Christmas Friends!

May you have many blessings this coming year!

All items (minus the two photos) used to create this card can be found at www.Rhonnadesigns.com

And some beautiful Christmas music for you from Mindy Gledhill's album Winter Moon. You can find the entire CD on iTunes or on her site www.mindygledhill.com

The link below will not take you to another site, you will get to enjoy her song via my blog.

09 The Christmas Song by mindygledhill

Play It Again Sam -Hybrid Ornament Take Two

Today I asked a friend of mine if she had seen my ornament post HERE and as we chatted about it an idea came to mind.  I told her that I was a bit sad to mail off my ornament and so I would have to make myself one. Then I thought how about creating an ornament with a monogram for my nieces and nephews to put on my tree.  I think that it would be special for them to see "their" ornament on our tree.  So, I changed out one side of the ornament when creating it and changed up the junk bow a bit.  I also took step by step photos, if  I had not taken photos I could have finished this up in 20mins. If you try your own I would love to see a photo!

*Click on photos to see them in a larger size*

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The K was from the Monogram Junque Kit found HERE

And the piece with the doily is from the Christmas Junque Pieces Kit found HERE

The little "bright" and "twinkle" pieces are from a stash of tinsel & twig from a past line of the girls paperie

Thanks for stopping by!

Hybrid Christmas Ornament

Welcome back friends to my piece for cReative Team Tuesday!  Be sure to head over to Rhonna's blog to see all the other amazing projects!

This week I am sharing with you the hybrid ornament that I created for an ornament exchange. It's on it's way to a sweet friend miles and miles away and I hope she loves it as much as I do. 

*You can click on photos to see them in a larger size to see more detail*

I started out with some extra pieces of printed Christmas Junque pieces I had left over from my December Daily project. A few other items as shown in the photo above. I also gathered some pieces of ribbon, lace, tulle and burlap to create the junk bow used on the top of the ornament. 

I bought a package of clear ornaments at my local Hobby Lobby. 

I liked that they weren't a globe like most clear ornaments.  You can see one of the printed pieces that I slipped into it.  What I actually had to do was roll up the piece then slide it into the hole. I then used a thin paintbrush and a metal tool that was even thinner to help me unroll it.

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Here is side #1 of the ornament.

Here is side #2 of the ornament

In this view above you can see that I inked the edges of the piece inside. I added some silver numbers to the outside of the ornament. I made sure to add some glossy accents over them so they wouldn't fall off over the years.

Now in these two views, I am hoping you can see that I have a tinsel garland that I adhered with the red tape around the bird piece. You can also see in these photos that i used some sewing pattern paper between each of the two pieces so that they would help fill the ornament.  I think that using the pattern paper gives it a shabby chic look.  I also sprinkled some of the glitter and Diamond dust into the ornament so you can see them stuck to the inside of the ornament.

I thought that the glitter was just so delish that I had to add it to the pattern paper that I used in the junk bow. Some glossy accents was rubbed on the paper then sprinkled with the glitter. Love!

I love this view above, it shows the pattern paper I used to print the bird piece on. And it also shows the glitter on the mini flag and star. Love how delish that looks!  I used a little tip that Margie taught us during her Spark Your Christmas to give those little flags the dimensional shape.  This ornament was mostly if not all inspired by Margie!  It's not too late to take her course, the videos are amazing! And so many of the tips she taught us can be used all year long in many projects!

The digital pieces used throughout out this ornament can be found at http://www.rhonnadesigns.com/

I used the ledger piece from the Christmas Junque Background kit to cut out the two small flags HERE

And pieces from the Christmas Junque Pieces Kit found HERE

There are many wonderful pieces that you could use within the Christmas Junque Line. The possibilities are endless!  Hope you are enjoying this holiday season!

I will be back this week with a few more pages from my December Daily (hopefully *wink)

Creating Your Own Christmas Card

Hello friends! I'm back with a second post today! I was going to share this with you next week but then realized that many are mailing cards out now so why wait!  

So, here is a card I created as an example of what you can do for your family card.

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1. I simply opened up my Photoshop Elements program and created a size I wanted for the card. It's a good idea to first check and see what size cards your favorite photo processor sells.

2. I then pulled in one of the new Chevron backgrounds from this Kit HERE. I did customize the color to my liking. Super easy!

3. I then simply pulled in the photo mat from this Kit HERE and then layered a photo on top.

4. Added the sweet little bird from this Kit HERE.

5. Re-colored a washi tape from this Kit HERE and placed it on my collage.

6. Added some text (used Decor Font) on the top and bottom.  Rhonna has many more fabulous fonts that   are available HERE  *I used my color selector to pick up a color from the bird piece so it would all tie together.

7. Upload to your favorite Photo store, many offer a blank where you can pull in your own jpeg file. You simply use it as a background. Just be sure that you use a high pixel photo for the best quality. I'm using a lower pixel in my example.

8. Mail them off to family and friends.

Thanks for dropping in and if you have any questions just leave a comment and an email so I can reach you.