Gelli Plate playdate with Carolyn Dube, Day 1

Today begins a funtastic workshop, One Pull Wonders, working with the Gelli Plate.  Carolyn Dube of A Colorful Journey, has this great talent for creative, innovative and just plain fun techniques using the Gelli Plate. My first intro to the Gelli Plate was with an online workshop by Carolyn, who's patience, wit, humor and vast knowledge took the mystique out of this fabulous medium. She just makes ya wanna play along, the "Oh, Oh, pick me" type of teacher that just brings the creativity out of you.

If you want to "play along", visit her website and sign-up for the class called One Pull Wonders. It is an Online Classroom, which you take at your leisure, in the comfort of your home, when you want. It's a beautiful thing!!!

If you are familiar with the Gelli Plate, you know you can get more than one "pull" from the paint/media you have laid down on the plate. Each "pull" produces unique images, never the same.

Today she taught us a technique that just "rocks my socks"!!! It is soooo easy, so simple, yet produces these fabulous results of texture and layers all in one process!!! Here are my "pulls" from class today:

This is the first pull after applying paint and doing the process Carolyn demoed in class. Look at that texture in this -- amazing!!

This is the 2nd "pull". Still some texture, but not as much as the first "pull"

The 3rd gets less and starts to look somewhat distressed to me, like weathered wood

The 4th "pull" is more of a mop-up, to clear the Gelli Plate

The final one is just as amazing as the first "pull", and it was soooo simple to do. Look at all those colors, the way they mix, the texture...

If you want to learn how this was done, please join us in Carolyn's One Pull Wonders Online Workshop. You'll love it!!!

KIT Day (Kraaft It Together Day)

In this fabulous Kommunity I belong to on Google+ called Kaarfter Kommunity we have a monthly kraaftfest called KIT which stands for "Kraaft It Together". Using Google+ Hangouts On Air, we are able to get together and kraaft all day in the comforts of our own home. How KOOL is that!!!

This past Saturday was our Kraaftfest for the month of September. These are the items I was able to finish (always a good thing!!) Plus I get to hangout with some of the zaniest, kraafty people EVER from all over the world!!! Amazing, simply amazing, when ya think about that -- all over the world!!!

The first item is a booklet I demoed how to make out of recycled envelopes in my KISS Segment over on my YouTube Channel - taboriginal. Click here to check that one out. I just love making these booklet cause there are so many tabbies, and pullouts that just make them fun!!

Recycled Envelop Booklet:

I painted the tag with Chalkboard Paint. Now they can write on it what ever they want to. 

Love this idea!!

Chalkboard Paint here to...

T-Shirt Bling:

My grandson plays Varsity Hockey for his High School and I wanted a t-shirt to support him. I LOVE bling, so I went with a blingy logo made from Swarowski Elemets for HotFix. I used a black t-shirt and adhered light blue, medium blue and clear crystals to the front using Varsity Letter font. I printed the logo onto printer paper and then cut out each letter, placing onto the t-shirt and blinged around each.

I love how this came out, and boy, do those Swarowski crystals shine and sparkle!!! Next I will make a sweatshirt, cause I get so cold in the arena, I covered up my t-shirt with a sweatshirt -- bummer.

I tried to capture the bling, cuz that's what ya have to do with bling -- watch it sparkle!!!

Kaards By Kraafters Project

Over in the Kraafters Kommunity on Google+, we have a continuing kaard project where we meet via "Hangouts" once a month. We make kaards to brighten the days of others, to let them know we are thinking of them as they face life's challenges, and they are in our prayers.

We met online yesterday and these are the cards I made:

Sunshine:  I embossed the kraft card stock and matching envelop. The Sun is stamped and colored with Copics, then fussy-cut. The Orangish square is from a watercolor blocking I made with Distress Inks, which I cut up for this card.

My Thoughts:  Cream card stock, a watercolor blocking and stamping I made which I cut up for this card, thenstamped the dragon fly image over it and using an H2O Brush, I spread the water based ink to mute it and blend in with the other watercolors. Added some sparkler to the bursts with a silver Gel Pen.  Using the same Distress Ink Peacock Feather, I watercolored the cotton twine.

Hi:  Using the triple layer stamp techniques I gleaned from fellow card maker, Sheri Whitfield, I used Distress Inks to stamp the image, layered with turquoise paper. Stamped the dragon fly onto the card stock and also again onto a scrap, fussy-cut and adhered with foam tape.

Mugs:  Using the same watercolor paper, I stamped on the mugs, then colored with Copics. Embellied some mugs with silver Gel Pen for sparkle. Stained the ribbon with Distress Inks to match the colors in the card.

Recycled Envelop Booklet

I just added another video to my YouTube Channel Series "KISS" Keep It Simple Sylvia. Today I demo how to make a very simple booklet by recycling those return envelopes we receive in our snail mail.

Please join me over on my YouTube Channel or click the video below...

Simple Booklets

I just added another KISS video to my YouTube Channel -- taboriginal

Today I am making a very simple booklet out of one sheet of cardboard that is the backing on a 12x12 Designer Paper Pak.

I used Tim Holtz Distress Paints to color each "page" in Fall Colors, and for coloring several yards of seam binding also.

Click the above link (KISS video) to view this video and/or my Channel (taboriginal),  or just simply view here:

Creative Blog Hop Paying It Forward...

I was asked by my friend, Heather, to participate in a Creative Blog Hop and by accepting, I agreed to asked a couple of other bloggers to join along, so this is them "Paying It Forward"...

Please visit Peg at her Blog to discover all that she creates and what makes her do it at Bits n Pieces


And then there is Patty -- this lady oozes Southern Charm -- y'all can HEAR it in her Blog. Head on over to check out her craftiness and what inspires her at Fun Little Pieces of Life

Creative Blog Hop

Hi everyone!!!  Hope you are having a great day. I know I am cuz today I am participating in a “funtastic”  Blog Hop called “Creative Blog Hop”. My dear friend Heather asked me to participate, and I jumped at the chance. What a great way to meet new creative people, by visiting their blogs, being inspired by all their fabulous posts, and leaning some new tips, tricks and  techniques. Check out Heather's Blog and see what inspires her by clicking this link… http://kraaftshaak.com/the-creative-blog-hop/

Now, I gotta tell ya a little bit about this gal that inspires me daily and how we met:

Heather has been a crafter for many years and we met in an online class Tim Holtz conducted called Creative Chemistry 101 several years ago. We became steadfast friends, and we have actually had several opportunities to “meet in person” which just sealed the deal. We have been staunch supporters of each others “craftiness”, as Heather likes to call it !!!  

She has a great presence on Google+ with a community, page, and YouTube channel.  She has been instrumental in establishing Business HangOuts On Air as the premiere way to share her “crafty bone”, as she calls it, with great LIVE Events on a weekly basis that are recorded on her YouTube Channel for later viewing for those who can’t attend the live event. Please visit her web site www.kraaftshaak.com to see all her “kraafty” genius, where she has links to all her social media sites.

As part of this Hop, we have been asked to answer the same questions:

How do I create/Where do I get my inspiration… wow, that’s a loaded question. Sometimes a idea will just pop into my head, or I will hear a song that speaks to me in a way it never had before and I see a vision in my mind’s eye of how I want to express that. Or, I see a sunset or sunrise that touches my Soul and I gotta just “do” something. Then there are the people in my life that I need to “do” for and I just love making little books/booklets for them to do with as they please.

I have commitments to my wingsiifreedom FaceBook page and Google+ community to get stories done and create digital art that goes along with those stories. I also love recycling items , and I have a YouTube channel -- taboriginal -- where I post simple crafting idea called KISS -- Keep It Simple Sylvia.

So I guess in a nutshell, the answer to this question is  “Life” --  that’s what inspires me to create. All I see, hear, feel, smell, and taste, stimulate my senses and I just gotta make something with my hands. But with all this said, it is truly God who puts all this into my head, my mind’s eye, my hands, my thought processes and that inspiration sometimes just makes me sit back and say/ask, “ I did this??!! “ It might have been my hands but it was His guidance...

What am I working on...  Boy that's a full one as I have several projects going. 

I belong to a Bunco group that meets monthly and this month is my time to host the event. I have been busy making individual score sheets with pencils attacked. Pencils ---aurgh --- they are the one item that get’s lost on every table. Some players take them with them as they move to each table, some leave them behind, then a table will have 9 pencils, another has 3 and one will have none. So I decided to make each score sheet with its own pencil attacked to it so it will follow the player from table to table.

 Plus I made treat boxes to place at each players spot,

and I made table score sheets for each set of games

I also made cute utensil/napkin holders for each player out of a paper bag. They can just toss away when meal is done

I am in the process of making name rings to put on the glasses so each player can keep track of their drinks

I also belong to Heather’s Kraafters Kommunity on Google+ and we have a Kaards By Kraafters Project where we make cards for various causes

I also have an event in October that I am making cards and other items for

Also, I am working over in Google+ on a community called -- wingsiifreedom -- which honors all our Veterans. I have one on -- FaceBook also. But the neat thing about Google+ is, it allows me the opportunity to record live video. I have lined up a few people to interview via BusinessHangouts On Air where they can tell their stories “in their own words”. First up will be a writer friend who is a Military Wife, Military Mom, and Military writer. I have two great Vets from WWII that will be speaking later and hopefully another writer who just journeyed to France to walk in her Father’s and Uncle’s footsteps as paratroopers in WWII.

Finally, I am a Close To My Heart Consultant. You can visit my -- website -- or my -- Google+ Page -- for more information.

How does my work differ/describe my style...

I tend to be more “grunge”, with a slight Victorian look, vintage style. I love earthy colors -- those seen in the trees, flowers, and grasses. My name means “forest” and I am so drawn to them for sure. I love their smells, their colors, their denseness, the sound of the wind as it kisses the branches, the leaves -- oh the rustling of those leaves on the ground, is true music to my ears!!! 

The colors of Fall are by far my favorite. Nature puts forth her glory in Fall and paints a picture that words can never capture, for it is felt in our Souls only.  And then there is Spring, I love her colors also, they are awakening colors, with beautiful new hues. They are rebirth, we get to begin again and nothing is more Glorious.

Victorian lace, vintage items, and antique tones, with their timeless beauty, softens the grunge and adds just the right amount of historical tie-back to a gentler time, a peaceful era of Gentleman and Ladies. I try to achieve that with rounder edges, and softer lines and borders, with inky edges, and scratchy pictures, and recycled items that speak to simpler times. 

To continue this Creative Blog Hop, I have asked a couple of friends to join us. Please visit their blogs and see the crafty, creative, heARTistry they do...

Peg is a creative Soul whom I met via a Tim Holtz OnLine class a few years ago. She has her hands in so many different media from inks, to paints, to copics to jewelry and is an avid gardner -- oh her flowers, you can almost smell them via her pictures.Then there are the veggie from her garden… yum is the best word.  If you are ever fortunate to see her “studio” you would drool, just drool and then understand her love of everything artsy. Hop on over to her blog and be dazzled. She will be sharing her Creative Blog on Monday Sept 1^st. Until then, hop over to her blog and she what she is up to today -- Bits n Pieces

Next up is Patty. I met her in a Google+ community I belong to. She makes cards every Monday Night with a group of ladies from her church as part of their Card Ministry. They give their cards to local hospitals and charities. She also writes an amazing blog, full of wit, humor, treasures she creates, and life’s happenings -- snakes invoked quite the chatter among some of her blog followers!!! Check it out at -- Rose Tresures.  She always closes with a Scriptural affirmation that warms the Soul. She, too, will be sharing her Creative Blog on Monday Sept 1^st, so be sure to check it out.

A Jolt From The Past

Hi everyone!! I got a jolt from the past I had totally forgotten about, but upon receiving an e-mail notification, I remember that day well...

Over a year ago, I was sitting with my 8 year old granddaughter in Starbucks before the start of school. She was showing me the website she made, (yes, 8 years old and she made a website) and it completely blew me away.  I asked how she did that, where upon she proceeded to show her Nana how. I was flabbergasted on how easy it was, so when I dropped her off at school, I hurried home to attempt my hand at creating my own site.

Like most things on the web, I had to create an account, and you have to answer alot of questions and keep clicking through until you finally get to a starting point to create. And I did. I put alot of "stuff" on it, cuz I just did not know where I wanted to go with it, nor what I really wanted it to accomplish. But, hey, I was there, it was easy and it was "free".

I recall I spent the better part of the morning playing with it. Then I got interrupted by life, closed it down and completely, without giving it another thought, forgot about it -- erased it from my mind. Never to enter that void again, or so I thought...

Over the past weekend I received an email letting me know, I had renewed my domain name for XXX dollars. Domain name??? Really, what domain name? Now normally I do NOT open any email i know not from whence it came, but something, SOMETHING, about this one seemed familiar, so I clicked it open and BAM -- instant recall!!!

There was that website I had made over a year ago, and I laughed, and of course, chided myself for forgetting, for not utilizing something I had paid for. And speaking of paid for, I really don't remember clicking that, but I surly did cuz they had all the right info. Apparently in my eagerness to CREATE, I just clicked all the buttons I could to just get me to that starting point, and quick!!

So today, since I have paid for another year, I decided to actually USE it (how novel). I have spent the better part of the morning fixing all the silly stuff I had put in place and actually making it a website that gathers all the places I am present on that vast intricate web out there.

It's a simple site, unpretentious, that just tells ya where to locate me in all the social media sites I am on, well most of them.  Slowly I will add all the spots like pinterest, twitter, instagram, linkin, etc when I become proficient in them.

The problem is, I find, there are SOOOOO MANY sites now where one can create an account and be seen, followed, +'d, circled, befriended, defriended, added, liked, hearted, tweeted.... aurgh!!! Too much!!

After appearing on Google+ Community's  Kraafters Kommunity "Kraaft It Live" show yesterday and being asked by Heather, "So, Sylvia, how can our viewers find you?" and I really had nothing except this blog, which I don't maintain well, I thought, no, remembered that website, and told myself to get busy and use what ya got, crimony!!!  So I listed the sites I use the most, for now.

Please be kind when ya mosey on over there. The programmer in me just wants it done to a working degree cuz the crafter in me wants to get busy and get inky!!!

To visit it, if you wish, please click this      www.taboriginal.com