Posts

Gelli Plate Mono-printing

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 I recently discovered the magic of Gelli plate printing. I used my Ranger Alcohol inks first, then made some impressions using cardstock that I embossed with some embossing folders (regular and 3-D). My favorite acrylic for this technique is a gold metallic by Craftsmart from Michael’s.  The cardstock I used is Neenah white 110lb. This print is my favorite! I hope you try Gelli printing! It’s so much fun. I made a video of the process on YouTube if you want to watch the magic (link below). Gelli Plate Printing Vol. 1 Thanks for stopping by, Therese Aragona

April Garden Update

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Garden update! It’s been about a month since I planted my garden and I wanted to post an update. I planted: Basil Cilantro  Tomato Lettuce Green onion Carrots (I planted these a few weeks later) The basil is growing the best of all. Cilantro took just over two weeks to sprout. Tomato seedlings are finally getting some sturdy leaves. Lettuce in the barrel did not grow, so I planted seeds in a seed grow pod and lettuce sported in two days. Green onion sprouted in the first week, but they don’t seem to be growing much now. The carrots were planted in the barrel planter and sprouted in 3 days. It’s been really fun to watch my garden grow. I can’t wait to get to the point where I can eat some of it! Thanks for stopping by, Therese 

Spring Madness

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Hello world and can it be that we are all wondering when COVID-19 madness will end? I know the world goes through sickness every year, but this year we are all hyper-sensitive to what is happening in every country. Through this time, I  know stress takes a different toll on everyone and I wonder what others are doing around the world to cope. I have seen art projects, music, parodies, toilet paper memes, stained glass chalk driveways, gardening and so much more! I think we are all losing it, but trying to make the best of it. I feel connected in this way of finding the positive in a tainted situation, but I am reminded that the whole world needs to stay inside and keep our distance from one another to do our part to help slow this beast down! I did some gardening a couple weeks ago, something I haven't really done in 4 or so years. I forgot how therapeutic gardening is and I forgot for a few hours that there was anything else going on. I wanted to share some before and aft

Seasonal Door Hanger

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Happy New Year! I wanted to share a super fun project that was inspired by my sister. One year I made her a Happy Spring decor from this post in 2012 . I realized I put my picture on a green background on that post which wasn't a good choice, so here it is against a contrasting background. She said she liked it so much, she put it on her front door, but since she didn't have any other door decorations for the rest of the year, she basically left it up until Christmas. I was up for the challenge of making her more seasons, but it did take me quite some time to actually complete this project (5 months or so). But I have to say, they came out so cute and I even want some for my front door now! Since it is now January, we will start with the Winter one... My concept for this door hanger was to make one background to use as the base of all of the decorations, and then use velcro to change the designs. So this whole piece is held to the background with two

Thanksgiving Napkin Ring Holders

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Thanksgiving is almost here and since the focus of this holiday is around the dining room table, what better way to dress it up than with some hand made napkin ring holders?   I used Miss Kate Cuttables Fall wreath and Lori Whitlock's Happy Thanksgiving sign from the I heart fall kit . I altered the wreath to have acorns instead of candy corn. Then I duplicated my design 9 times.  I also wanted to have a layered look, so I made 9 separate signs to layer on top of the wreath. For some reason my print and cut on my Silhouette Cameo wouldn't recognize my registration marks, and since I had already printed my elements and didn't want to waste the ink and paper, I used my Pix Scan mat instead which cut with no problems. They looked great but I wanted them to look awesome, so I added Stickles orange glitter, then some Michael's brand red glitter and Glossy Accents to make the embellishment look very professional and pretty. To m

Golden Fall Lantern

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Hi everyone! So I've been working on a file that was really fun to get creative with and has morphed a lot since my first vision of it. My husband wanted me to make a pumpkin lantern, so I made my interpretation of it by including other Fall elements. The files I used are from SVG Cuts: Boho Butterflies  for the lamp base and top detail. Crisp Days of Fall  for the lantern and pumpkins. Freebies... Sunflower Oak Leaves Corner Bittersweet Wreath This is what it ended up looking like with some tweaking... I added hemp around the base and parts of the top for texture but didn't like the dull color so I spiced it up with some gold paint. I used a Letter Press wire fence embossing folder for the details in the base and on the top of the lantern. Then, I finished the top with some  Trendy Twine . This is what my rough sketch looked like. It was all made with off white cardstock. I didn't have any vellum on hand, but I did have tracing pap