If I Had A Hammmer...

From Lead Alter Artist Natalie:


This month's altered art project is an altered hammer. The theme is "The Softer Side". Try to look at the hammer as just a "hammer-shaped canvas" if you wish. Or dress one up to reflect what the hammer symbolizes to you. Natalie's hammer is a gift for her father and was decorated to evoke memories of a loving father who is a handyman!

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Tammy's hammer is the result of a loving family pulling together with their ideas as Tammy had to endure a seasonal illness! You can see a little bit of each family member's personality in her hammer! So, just go have fun, there are no rules.

FhRTYWgbstaaa!!! What The Heck???

Is going on with Blogger today? I have some more amazing projects to share and cannot get them to load. Whaaaaaaaaaaa! Come back later and see what is new :)
Deb♥

Stamp Kitchen Style

Our Lead Stamp Artist here at If It's Groovy is Peg and she came up with a great idea to find something to use in stamping your project while cleaning your house. Hit up your junk drawer!

































I also took Peg's challenge! I used the inside of my Basil shaker because it was close to empty so why not right? I then used my fancy scissors and cut around that stamped image, added a punched image behind and presto a homemade embellie :)

We would love to see your take on this one too! Come on over to the NING site here:

http://ifitsgroovy.ning.com/group/Stamping/forum/topics/marchclean-the-house-challenge

Treasure Hunting in the Bedroom/Bathroom

Per Kathy our resident Repurp Guru:

The bedroom and bathroom are our comfort zones, a place of rest and relief from our everyday busy lives. A typical person spends 40 percent of his or her daily time sleeping and taking care of personal hygiene. So whether it’s enjoying a bubble bath or taking a cat nap, time in these two rooms can be well spent looking for groovy scrapbook items for a future layout.



Bandages Dominos Product Packaging

Bobby Pins Extra Buttons Puzzle Pieces

Broken barrettes Makeup Applicators Rhinestones and crystals

Broken Mirror Shards Nail polish Safety Pins

Broken Watches Nail decals Shoelaces

Children’s Art Old compacts Small Toys

Clothing Labels Old Jewelry Terry cloth remnants

Coloring Books Old Jewelry Boxes Board game piece

Cotton Balls and Swaps Playing Cards Handkerchiefs

Dental Floss Potpourri


Here are a few of her examples and more tips following from her theme this month, but be sure to head over to our NING Repurpose Group to see more creations :)

http://ifitsgroovy.ning.com/group/RepurposingandScrapbooking/forum/topics/march-challenge-treasure







A FEW MORE TIPS . . .



Faux Chalk. In a pinch, use powered eyeshadow for chalk. Brush or spray lightly with rubbing alcohol to intensify the colors.



Need a dab of paint? Use nailpolish.



Texturizing Cardstock. Drag a comb in patterns through wet paint on cardstock to create textured cardstock. Use for background, borders, mat, frames or tags.



Splatter Painting. Apply paint to an old toothbrush and run your thumb across the brush for a paint-splattered effect on paper.



Shaving Cream Painting. Put a thin layer of foam shaving cream on a paper plate and add drops of acrylic paint or reinker drops on top. Use a toothpick to swirl the paint or ink lightly to create a marbleized effect in the foam. Press the cardstock facedown into mixture. Wipe off excess foam with a paper towel in one stroke and allow it to dry.



We can’t wait to see what you find in your bedroom and bathroom. Don’t forget to share your groovy creations with us.



And next month we are headed to the Home Office for some more Treasure hunting. I hope you’ll join us!

Meet Kelly Pieces & Parts Designer R U Next???

Have you met Kelly? She is my latest Happy Mail Recipient of Pieces and Parts





...in fact here is what I sent to her all by Paper Crush:





I thought it was cute when I read what she said after opening her happy mail "These pieces actually were perfect for these photos of my little rock star strumming away on the Camp Rock toy guitar she got for Christmas."

So here is what she made after saying that:

She had plenty of goodies to work with so let me show you project #2 and her description
"Project #2: Easter card. I dropped a bit of red, pink, and blue acrylic paint on the edge of the paper and pulled a squeegee (is that how you spell it?, like you use to clean your windows) through it. My pink paint was a little old and clumpy...which actually made a cool pattern."




And #3 Busy girl huh?
"Project #3: Oversize (8x8) birthday card: Used that squeegee trick again to color the paper. Inked the edges with pink. Chalked the letters of "birthday"."

Then there is Project #4!!! An even busier girl!
"#4: Friendship card: I embossed the paper using the Big Shot. I punched small circles (from all of the tag pieces) to make the flower petals."

Now that we have seen THE ART let's find out more about THE ARTIST and see what she said when I asked her what makes her a groovy chick ")

Why am I "groovy"?

G is for "go to" I am the "go to" for my family and friends (and at work and at my kids' school) for all things creative and crafty.

R is for "resourceful" I love to re-use objects and create something new.

O is for "outrageous" Ok, maybe I'm not too outrageous. But, I do like to push my self into trying new projects.

O is for "oodles" I have "oodles" of art and craft supplies at home. Yes, I am a saver. I have been told that my basement craft "dungeon" looks like a store. Need pipe cleaners? What color do you want? Need popsicle sticks? What size do you want? Need styrofoam? What shape do you want? Need stickers? What are you celebrating? Get the idea?

V is for "very creative". Whether it's thinking of a project for the school auction, or for Children's Liturgy of the Word at church, or for a Early Childhood motor group at work, or re-arranging the art work on my walls at home, or thinking of a scrapbook layout...I will admit I don't need to think real hard or real long. Creativity comes very easy to me and for that I feel truly blessed.

Y is for "yes". Yes, I tend to say "yes" too often. It has been known to get me into an overwhelming project, but...I'm never bored!

And that is why "I'm groovy".


Thank you so much for letting me be your P and P designer. It was challenging and GROOVY!

Kelly
http://kellystarsallthingscrafty.blogspot.com/

Leave some luv here for Kelly and YOU may be the next P&P Designer too! It really is so much fun to see what you create with leftovers :) Thanks to Kelly.
Deb♥

A Perfect Match

Ah yes remember back around 1999 when the ever now famous white gel pen came along? I was heavy into pen pal letter writing and had to have gel pens of every color but even then as it is today white gel was my favorite. My challenge to you this month is to create something with black and white. It is classic, simple and stands out in an amazing way too :)

Deb♥

Here is my example, TFL!

Time for the Family!

Sweetheart Designers Jami Lynn and Newbie Heather had a theme this month of Family Time with their little sweethearts. Don't we all wish we had more of that these days? With awesome weather around the corner I hope you find the time to go outside to play catch with a little sweetheart of your own, take in a movie on a rainy Spring day with your big sweetheart or just curl up together reading robot books under the trees at that park :)


Wanna see how these designers have displayed family time? Here ya go...


Jami Lynn




Heather



Be sure to check for Heather's pic here on the blog and click her link to pay a visit to her blog too :)

Psalm 139:14 Faithbooking Layouts

Have you started a faith book of your own? It is a wonderful way to leave a legacy to future descendants of your own. Start one today :) Here is the latest from our talented design team with each one's spin on the verse Psalm 139:14 which reads:

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully [and] wonderfully made: marvellous [are] thy works; and [that] my soul knoweth right well.

First up is our team leader Marci:



Next we have Anna:



And now Vanessa:

SMoooooooooCHes!!!

I love the phrase Kiss the Cook! Don't you? Who doesn't love a sloppy baby kiss, a funny crazy neice kiss(like this one), etc etc???



My challenge to you for this month is to create a sign to hang on your fridge like I did with this one and put a pic on there of someone kissing the cook :) I inserted a magnet behind the layers of paper and used one of magnets from the fridge to hold this pic in place, that way I can remove the picture and add a recipe card if I want to.



Let's see what you come up with!

Deb♥

Feel'in Lucky? And...DT Call!

Have you started on your St Patrick's Day cards? Our card team has already completed theirs to show us with the theme of Feel'in Lucky?

We also would like to send a big welcome to our newest card team member Angela! She is listed to the right with a link to her blog. Be sure to drop in and say hello :)

Sadly Jen T will be leaving our team now as it is getting close to the time of her baby to be born. Although I will miss her she does have a very important job to care for her precious newborn who is expected very soon. Because of this we do have an opening for a card team member. Are you her? Email groovydeb@yahoo.com with a link to your online gallery showing cards :)

Now let's see those green cards! First we will start with Jen's paper piecing card then Niki_Ray and Angela's very vintage feeling cards...

Ladies in Green

This month our Dollbabies team has created layouts with the theme of green, be it recycled, green embellies/paper...their choice! Before I show you their layouts let me reintroduce you to the girls because we have had a few changes to our teams lately. Look for pictures on the right with links to their blogs.


Jen -lead

Darlene


Cacie





Now on to the projects :)



Jen's


Darlene's


Cacie's



The Dollbabies have been joined by Repurposing Artist Kathy this month too so let me also share hers here:


I think many of you will enjoy learning how Darlene made those aweome flowers so here is some helpful info on that. Enjoy!





Here are the basics on how I made the flowers.

1. I cut a 6x6 sheet of plain cardstock (medium weight but you could certainly use any paper you have around (double sided might be really nice too!)), into 3 inch squares by cutting the 6x6 paper in half and cutting the now 3x6 halfs into 3x3 halfs.

2. Once I got my squares into the right sizes, I took a pencil and made a spiral shape, with just 3 or 4 "rings" (anymore "rings" weren't really working for me in this size), and cut out my spiral and rings with scissors (does not have to be perfect cutting!) Keep the negative spiral cuts (scraps) handy for step 6.

3. Once the spirals were cut out, I used my fingers to roll them into a "rose" shape from the outside of the spiral to the center.

4. I dabbed some adhesive or tacky glue on the end of the trail, and cut some of the bottom side of the flower off to make more flat (mine didn't seem flat enough to be about to stick on a project.)

5. When I got my flower rolled, glued shut, and cut the bottom to a flatter side, I decided it was too "rounded", so I went one extra step and smashed the flowers with the palm of my hand a few times until I was satisfied with the outcome. After doing a few flowers, the "smashing" was hurting my hand, so I got creative and used my bone file, or anything else heavy and straight to be able to press down on your flowers with minimum effort. That smashing created a bunch of interesting detail which I inked in a complimentary color to my layout for more texture and detail. You can certainly skip this step if you prefer the "rounder" petals.

6. My flowers were nearly complete. I used the negative cut of the spirals to make rough circles about an inch or so wide (or you can use a circle punch if you have one.) and tacky glued that to the bottom "flat" side of the flower. This way you can easily position and adhere your flower on your project, and also the flowers won't be "hallowed out" in the center". Now your'e done! Enjoy!

Optional: Make leaves for your flowers and cut out the image by either drawing your own leaves, using a stamp, or doodling them! Have fun!

NOTE: You can alter the papers original size based on how big or small you would like the final product of your flower to be (you could cut a 12x12 sheet length wise and by height and get 6x6 squares for larger flowers, 4x4 sqaures would give you a smaller flower then the 6x6, 2x2 might be too small to work with, but I don't see why you couldn't try if you wanted to make mini flowers.) You could skip cutting up any cardstock and use those "scrap packs" or "mat stacks" of paper we all have laying around. the flowers on my 3x3 squares came out about 2 inches width, so subtract an inch or so for the size square you plan, to use to determine how big of a flower you will need. Also, visit this website for a some pictures on the project: http://dozidesign.blogspot.com/2008/05/paper-flower-tutorial.html

1 Photo 3 Ways!

I recently swapped photos with fellow Fiskateer April Dawn. She would be scrapbooking my picture and I scrapbooked hers. What April Dawn did not know was that I would also be scrapping the same pic and on Valentine's Day I asked my husband to also for the first time scrapbook that same picture. I personally think there are not nearly enough guys in scrapbooking so when I explained this to my husband Kevin he decided to play nice and do this. Isn't he a good sport? LOL!

So to let him know how much I appreciate him taking on my challenge I will show you his first then, my guest swapper April Dawns and following with my own. I am going to put all three in my album of us :) Let me also add that Kevin had NO help. I showed him where my embellies and paper were and the rest was up to him. With April Dawn the only restriction was that she scrap hers on 8x8 paper and knew nothing about the pic.

I cannot help but giggle that Kevin and I both chose a paper with a circle and black/tan/teal. I guess after this many years together we kinda think alike...on some things lol! He did an interesting job for his first scrapbook page dontchathink???

April Dawn chose some of my favorite colors so I love her version too!!!

Thanks to both and now without further adieu:

March Groovy Challenge

We all know the term monochromatic right? Well this month I challenged the design team to create layouts using only their scraps and to stick to all one color scheme. Let me show you how it turned out. The twist was that the title could be made of anything and any other color if they so wish. Come on and play! Email me with your layout and you may be the winner of this month's giveaway :)
Deb♥
groovydeb@yahoo.com