My Documented Life Project week 25 page, and a mid project before/after photo

Hello Everyone,

Happy Sunday!  Have you been watching World Cup Soccer?  I've been catching a bit here and there between projects. 

Here is my week 25 Documented Life Project page:

The challenge for this week was to add hearts to our pages.  It was refreshing to work on hearts now, at the beginning of summer, rather than in February, when I am up to my ears in Valentine's Day projects.  I was inspired this week by Stephanie Ackerman's week 25 tutorial  .  It is thanks to Stephanie that I was inspired to start the Documented Life Project this year.  If you've never checked out her blog, you should go visit right now!  You will be amazed at her incredible art, and her beautiful spirit.

I used a heart border that I cut with my Silver Bullet cutter, from this handmade layered stencil paper.

 I applied Distress Inks in various colors over a designer paper using a foam applicator and these stencils:

I love using my Silver Bullet to cut stencils.  I use both card stock and template plastic for my stencils.  The Silver Bullet cuts through stencil plastic beautifully!   I also cut the heart border from plain blue paper, and embossed and inked some of the inner hearts to place in the printed paper frame. I used a pre-painted Dylusions background as a starting point.

 I loved using green rather than pink for my summer heart page.  The bit under the die cut border is the original background color.  The portion to the right has been finger painted a la Stephanie Ackerman, with acrylic, gesso, Gelatos in layers, with some stamping thrown in for fun. I used a charcoal pencil to mimic Steph's shadows around the heart.  I added a sketchy Sharpie pen border, and a quote from Rumi. 

Now for that mid project photo from my craft room:

I found this marvelous vintage metal filing cabinet at a favorite antique store just before Christmas.  I lugged it up to my craft room, and since I didn't want tospray paint it in the midst of winter, I put it to use as is, as a sorter for my many, many paper scraps. 

 

Today, I emptied out the drawers a few at a time, and after removing the hardware, painted them with chalkboard spray paint.  I stopped mid-stream to take a photo.  Now all of the drawers are painted and refilled with my goodies. Weather permitting, I will paint the cabinet portion next weekend.  This unit fits perfectly at the end of my craft table, and makes sorting and using my scraps so easy!  Each of the top 12 drawers holds a different color of scrap paper, and the bottom drawers hold some of my overflowing collection of craft supplies.

 

 This unit is definitely among my favorite finds for craft storage, especially now that I have started painting it. 

 

Thanks for stopping by! 

 

Elizabeth