a sunrise and some scrapbooking

Summer is drifting right along here.  

We returned from our annual vacation to Maine: sun, sea, sand, shops, and seafood (and lots of photos to edit and print). 

 I watched my first sunrise on the horizon.

These unedited photos don't come close to capturing the color and beauty.  It was a very moving experience.  A reminder of how blessed we are each day, how each day is a beautiful, new beginning.  It made me feel infinitely small, yet large and powerful.  

And since I came home to a nice clean house, I decided to sit down in my stUdio for a bit and create.

I picked up a rainbow of Faber Castell Gel Sticks on our trip.

From what I can tell, these are very much the same as the FC Gelatos: smooth, rich, blendable color and for a cheaper price (I paid $12 for the set of 12 colors in a toy shop in Portland, but you can get them online for even less.)

To wake up my creative mind (which may have still been lounging at the beach), I tuned into one of the Two Peas in a Bucket videos {this one}.  Lately, I've been loving watching the Garden Girls' videos to spark some creativity, even if I just have one playing in the background while I make a page, or clean up my space.

Techniques used:

1) using spray mist wand to draw heart (shown in video) and splatter ink

2) spraying mist on bubble wrap and stamping onto page

3) coloring gelatos on paper and blending with wet finger

4) lots of layers from leftover scraps

5) creating cut files in Silhouette Designer Edition software using arrows, a font and the weld feature

Thanks for stopping by!

getting stitchy

This summer I joined a club.

I love Wild Olive's fanciful designs and, I loved the concept of a weekly pattern emailed to me.

So I signed up without hesitating.  

Then I kind of regretted it.  

One thing I did not need was another project hanging over my head, another unfinished object staring at me from a basket.  I already had two crochet blankets in the works, a pair of slippers that I started two years ago, a December Daily album from 2009, an embroidery sampler from a class last year, and well, we all know how this year's Project Life is going.

But then Mollie's first pattern arrived in my inbox and I was in love.

I gathered some supplies from my stash

and got right to work stitching fabric hexagons (my first time doing paper piecing) and cutie Wild Olive summer motifs.

So I'm all in, stitching away these summer days, and hopeful that this is one project that will not end up in a basket of UFO's.  Being motivated by everyone else's progress on Instagram definitely helps.

(and stitching is the perfect little poolside project.)

I'm pretty sure you can still sign up here if you're interested.

What little crafty projects are you working on this sumer?

google+ and blog lovin'

I'm sure you've heard all the fuss about Google Reader shutting down on July 1.

So I have a little favor to ask you:

If you like reading my blog (and i love you for that), 

please click below:

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

And while we're at it,  I've also created a Life Made Creations Google+ page:

It's a little lonely there (note the lone 1 in my circles).  I'm still trying to figure that whole thing out, but if you are on Google+ you can join my circles here (do I sound like I know what I am talking about, because I am totally faking it!)

crochet yoga mat bag

Summer.  I'm in love with you.  

Your carefree, no-where-to-be days.

Your bird-chirping, sun-shiny air.

Barefoot through the grass,

splashing in the pool.

Kids up late,

mornings spent lounging in bed reading.

And lots of time to create and refuel the muse.

Here's a little gift I hooked up for one of my middle son's teachers:

It's a crochet yoga mat bag, and you can find the pattern here.

A simple pattern worked in joined rounds of 3dc ch2.

The hardest part for me was the knitted i-cord, which I abandoned after several attempts and multiple YouTube video viewings (both knitting and crochet versions).  With time running out, I just did two rows of double crochet joined with single crochet in an accent yarn.  Works for me!

All packaged up and ready for giving.

an inspired page

It's day two of summer vacation 

and I had only one goal for myself:

create a layout today.

So I did:

This page was inspired by Two Peas Garden Girl Wilna Furstenberg.

She has a video step-by-step of her process that ran in the background as I created my page.

Wilna used her Silhouette to cut some pretty leafy stems and flowers for her page, but flowers were not really the look I was going for on my baby-boy-themed page.   

So I scrolled through my Silhouette Library and found this fabulous cut file from Chic Tags:

Perfect for my theme and to replicate Wilna's border alongside my photos.

I filled the cut border with a mix of patterned papers from the Recollections Mosaic Memories paper pack and some star buttons I've had in my stash for over a decade:

Painted and stamped chipboard pieces create the title and this page is done:

Hope it's the first of many scrapbook pages this summer!

Thanks for taking a peek!