FROM THE PAST TO THE PRESENT

My first share today is a real blast from the past. This photo was taken the day my youngest son was born.  I created this layout for the Soul Scrapper challenge ABC6 - F is for Flair Buttons (plus a word beginning with the letter "F").

and now for a few close ups.

 Here is my flair button! I gave this to my older son the day my younger son was born.

I thought this would be a cute accent for the page as my younger son ended up really loving horses.

Here is a great quote about brothers.

and another great brother quote...and this one meets the other challenge criteria - a word beginning with 

the letter "F" - friend.

The next project I am going to share is a real "off-the-page" project.  It is for a site I just discovered called Fashionable Stamping Challenges.  It is for challenge #99 which calls for stamping a person or persons.  I am not a great stamper - I usually only stamp sentiments but I have become a huge fan of the Julie Nutting doll stamps and had just received a few of them that I hadn't used yet so I decided to 'go for it!' 

This is one of my fun thrift store finds...

It's hard to tell but the center is a mirror.  There was plenty of room around it to alter so the next thing I did was decide how to cover it.  I started by coloring the sides of the piece plus the sides inside the mirror black. Then I selecterd several different patterned papers and cut them into small rectangular shapes and overlapped them all over until the piece was totally covered. On top of this I added a coat of Mod Podge.

For the doll I selected Skyler.  I based the piece loosely on my 16 year old son Thomas who is very musical - spending most of his waking hours playing guitar and banjo.  The paper doll was stamped first on some ivory paper.  I paper pieced the clothes and used colored pencils and turpenoid to do the skin and hair.  I also coated Skyler with Mod Podge and put him on pop dots for more dimension.

The three sentiment stamps I used were 'Dream' related. I stamped them in black and then heat embossed.  

So that covers my stamping portion of the project. All that is left was to add two great chipboard pieces which were custom made for me by Cassondra Gloden of Infinity Engraving.

And finally...HERE is my finished creation!

Here is the inspiration behind that piece, (as well as the little newborn baby in the top layout)!

I am also going to share this project at 

Word Art Wednesday for challenge #187 as well as to use it as a designer sample for applying for the design team at Crafty Hazlenuts Patterned Paper Challenge.

I hope you have enjoyed viewing my latest creations!  Please stop back again soon...I'd also be thrilled if you leave a comment and maybe become a follower.