Triple Tiara Tuesday- For the week of May 3rd!

Hey all! Well, if you didn't know, I am on the Royal Court for Queen Kat Designs! :) I am one month into it and things are starting to Rock and Roll! :) I will be taking part in a lot of their challenges and also hosting a few myself...so stay tuned. :)

The assignment for this week's Triple Tiara Tuesday was just to make something distressed! :) I love distressing so this was easy for me! :)

I, of course, used one of my fave artist's stamps, Charles Bristow. I am telling you....I love his stamps. He never disappoints me with his releases and I love every single one....BUT let's face it....I just love Queen Kat Stamps...PERIOD! :) LOL!

The stamp I used for this card was: Codi- She happens to be a voodoo fairy! :) She may be a bad girl, but she looks innocent as all heck. :) To me she looks like Ashley Greene from The Twilight Saga. :) Just sayin'! :)

What I used: Charles Bristow for Queen Kat Designs stamp: Codi-the voodoo fairy, Recollections cardstock, Fiskars border punch and corner punch, the patterned paper was something I bought from Michael's YEARS ago. :), Tim Holtz vintage shabby patterned paper pad, Nik Bantok brown ink pad, Hampton Arts Glitter Glue, Prismacolor Pencils, Pebbles Inc. Chalk (Iridescent), ek success corner rounder, Ribbon from Michael's .

Thanks for looking! :)

Creative Therapy Catalyst #95

Hey everyone! I am so happy that I got to take part in Creative Therapy's Challenge! :) I have wanted to take part in these for so long now. I found them through one of their artist scrapbookers, Dedra Long, who is one of the most gifted scrapbookers on the planet! Her work has been published and is beyond gorgeous....I would LOVE to see her work in person someday. A girl can only dream! ;)

Anyway-the catalyst for this week was: "What is something you struggle with?" At first, I was thinking, THIS IS A HARD THING TO DEAL WITH FOR THE FIRST CATALYST I AM DOING!!!!!! Then I thought and focused and came up with a layout idea that I thought I may like and then I went with it.

This is what I came up with:

The title is: There's always gonna be an uphill battle.

I then remembered there was a song that had those words...I just couldn't remember what it was called....Then it hit me...."The Climb" by Miley Cyrus. So then I looked for lyrics on the web. I started reading and realized I was right, that line was in the song. I then decided to read the song and started to cry...the words explained everything! I loved it!

Here are those words:

The Climb (written by J. Alexander and J. Mabe)

I can almost see it

That dream I'm Dreaming

But there's a voice inside my head saying

"You'll never reach it"

Every step I'm taking

Every move I make feels

Lost with no direction

My faith is shaking

But I gotta keep trying

Gotta keep my head held up high

There's always gonna be another mountain

I'm always gonna wanna make it move

Alway gonna be an uphill battle

Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there

Ain't about what's waiting on the other side

It's the climb

The struggles I'm facing

The chances I'm taking

Sometimes might knock me down

But no, I'm not breaking

I may not know it

But these are the moments that

I'm gonna remember the most, yeah

Just gotta keep going

And I, got to be strong

Just keep pushing on

'Cause there's always gonna be another mountain

I'm always gonna want to make it move

Always gonna be an uphill battle

Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there

Ain't about what's waiting on the other side

It's the climb, yeah

There's always gonna be another mountain

I'm always gonna wanna make it move

Always gonna be an uphill battle

Somebody's gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there

Ain't about what's waiting on the other side

It's the climb, yeah

Keep on moving, keep climbing

Keep the faith, baby

It's all about, it's all about the climb

Keep the faith, keep your faith whoa.

Now for the completely personal part. I had to write these struggles on my layout. I was wondering.....Am I ready to do this? I think sometimes we think that if we don't say or write our insecurities, worries....our not so "shiny" aspects of life that they don't exist. That is so not the truth. I thought that way and I couldn't have been more wrong.

So here is my journaling: Insecurities- my weight- ( I joke about it, but it kills me when I look in the mirror) my skin- (I have always had BAD SKIN, but was hoping once I was in my 30's- it would be nice and clear). how I kiss (told you this was deeply personal)- (This isn't my hubby's fault, but I worry constantly about this.) I'm very critical about my cooking- (Even though everyone tells me how good it is, I always feel it could be better.)

Worries - financial- ( This has been a struggle for me for a while. I am one of those "I need it now!" types. Health- (I have fibromyalgia, but I refuse to let it control me.) my kids- (I worry about how I am as a mom.) my hubby- (I worry if I make him happy-ALL THE TIME!)

Addiction- -Sometimes I feel like a cigarette--I have been able to say, "NO!" for a few years now. Shopping- this is actually an addiction.

Depression - After being diagnosed with it 2 years ago-it is still a struggle.

-I am always wanting to be successful at my art.

- I want people to enjoy me and my work.

What I used: I bought pretty much everything , except the Jolee's paper roses from Mountains of Memories and More...not only is Jeanie my friend, but she is an awesome person and her store is great! :)

Both the blue patterned paper and the cream part I wrote on are from My Mind's Eye, Bella Bella Collection. For the title, I used a chalk template from (Ben Franklin) by TheCraftersworkshop.com. I used chalks from Pebbles Inc. to chalk the templates (also the edges of the lyrics). The butterfly is Glimmer Glass from Tattered Angels. The larger flowers are from Jenni Bowlin (I got them from my friend, Jayne's webstore and the smaller ones are from Making Memories Vintage Findings Collection (Michael's), Bazzil cardstock for matting.

I really hope you all enjoyed this! : )I did! :) Thanks! :)

CuttleBug Fun "Springy Flower" Card

I decided to have a little fun with my Cuttlebug (and join their challenge #26) tonight while my Bestie, Bex, was here with me! :) I used a Fiskars embossing plate with it to make my Fun, Springy Flower Card! :)

I cut out a flower shaped card twice (at 6" with the Expression) with my Cricut Wild Card Cartridge. I cut this shape in light purple and white Best Occasions Cardstock. I lined the two card cuts up and adhered the backside (square part) only together. Now, the card cuts out the flower shape on the front of the card with a square backing, but I wanted a circular back, and I didn't feel like messing with my Design Studio, so I enlisted my Creative Memories Circle Cutting System to do the job. I cut the back of the card at a 5 &1/2" circle and made sure that the circle template was overlapping the fold of the card so I wouldn't cut my card into two different pieces.

I then put my Expression into frame mode on the Wild Card Cartridge and cut the flower out in white and pink Best Occasions cardstock. I ran the pink and white flowers through the Cuttlebug (separately) with the dotted Fiskars embossing template and then chalked them with Pebbles Inc. Pearl Chalks (white was colored with pink and pink was colored with white). I did this to bring out the embossed dots a little better.

I did have to use my Fiskars rubbing tool to emboss the purple flower because it was a little too big to go through my Cuttlebug.

I "skewed" the flowers on top of each other (white on top, then purple "card", and last pink). Pierce the 3 layers (be careful not to go through the non-adhered white flower shape of the card) and place a Heidi Swapp Big Bling Brad though the three layers. Then adhere the white flower part of the card to the layers.

I finally stamped the phrase "lean on me" from the CTMH Friendship word stamps set, in CTMH Amethyst ink. I then took a clean Fantastix (tsukineko) pointed end tool and put a little Amethyst ink on the end and made three dots. Then on the inside of the card I stamped, with Amethyst, the phrase, "through happy times and sad", also from the Friendship set. I used the flower border from the same set and stamped the top and bottom of the inside of the card. :)

I just love the end product and hope you will enjoy it too! :) Thanks for looking and visiting! :)