and the winner is.....

Drum roll please!!!!! The winner of a 7Gypsies 4x6 white photo tray is......


Emily B!
Congratulations Emily! You're the new proud owner of a photo tray (hehe I'm having way too much fun with this). So Emily, make sure you send me your info at artsycraftyme@gmail.com :o)

I want to thank all of you for stopping by my blog.. I hope it becomes one of the frequent stops you make on your cyberspace journey hehe. I'm definitely gonna have more of these soon. They make me happy :)

and as promised... Here's my finished photo tray :o) I can't even tell you how excited I am to have this finished. Honestly this week has been so crazy that I probably wouldn't have finished it if it wasn't for the giveaway. So let me hear a woot woot for our first drawing :o)

I'm really loving how this turned out.. I think it's mostly because it has so much meaning to me. It's gonna be great looking back at our lists years from now and seeing what we wanted or liked. Not only that, but it'll be a constant reminder of our dreams and goals...

I'm beat... we just got back from St. Augustine. I'll tell you more about that soon. Although I can say one thing I learned for sure. *must* have Dean take pictures of me from all angles before leaving the house to see how I *really* look. Gym tmw six o'clock. :-X

Thanks for playing! We'll have to do this again soon :o)
Stay sweet,
Mari

and the winner is.....

Green at Heart Part 3:

Two single layouts and one double layout later I can happily tell you I will be putting my Green at Heart scraps aside for a while and move on to Kioshi WOOT!!
I didn't want to rush the journaling on this layout so I left it blank to post. Another St. Augustine layout from a different St. Augustine trip :o) This time is was our very first official road trip. Out first stop was our happy place... we got some ice cream and hung out at the fort for a while before heading to Jacksonville and then to Amelia Island. This spot has such great meaning for me... and I really love me some St. Augustine Mud Ice cream :-X

Have you left a comment to enter the 4x6 photo tray giveaway? If not do so here. I'll be picking and announcing the winner on Wednesday :o)

Stay sweet,
Mari

Green at Heart Part 3:

Green at Heart Part 2:

Number two thing I love about Basic Grey is their versatility. I just never want to stop making layouts with their product lol... I even already have a two pager in the works from one of our trips to St. Augustine hehe

Here's the layout for today. I really love this picture of me and Blue and I'm really happy with this layout :o)

we didn't get home till late today. No natural light = crappy picture. :o(

Tomorrow I'll try to take some pictures of the paper we made in our class today.. It was so much fun! I can't wait to incorporate this new craft form and all the knowledge that comes with it in scrapbooking! I'll let you all in that too hehe

Hope you're having a great week!
Stay sweet,
Mari

Green at Heart Part 2:

Finally!!

I've had these pictures printed out for over a week now...I would look at them and the paper that looked so great and I'd be dying to play but something always got in between me and my Basic Grey! :oP Today I said no more! Today I was a happy girl :o) Made a few layouts with this line (Green at Heart) Here's the first one:and some detail shots like always... (courtesy of Dean)




This is the thing with Basic Grey; EVERYTHING will come out looking awesome. Their papers coordinate so well that very little effort is needed (although that didn't stop me from spending more than a couple of hours on this layout :-X ) I love Basic Grey. It makes me happy...

Tomorrow Dean and I will be starting our paper class at Crealde School of Arts and then we're gonna swing by the Photoshop expo, so I doubt I'll have time to make anything new... Worry not! I'm saving Green at Heart layout number two to post tomorrow. :o)

I also have to start my photo tray soon since I have to have it ready to post with the winner of the white blank tray mid next week! If you haven't left a comment yet to have the chance to win a 7Gypsies 4x6 white photo tray for you to play with go here. I'll be announcing the winner next Wednesday!!

Stay sweet,
Mari

P.S You have no idea what troubles I went through to get this posted. The Internet on my computer was acting up and Blogger was not able to save all of my text before it started freaking out. I'm a Mac in a house full of PCs - that's just not fair. After many attempts to revive the Internet upstairs I decided to do the not-savvy but clever thing and take a snapshot with my IPhone, bring it downstairs and type it all over again (thankfully Dean offered to dictate) I'll leave you with this... in the process of trying to get this posted, and getting everything ready for tomorrows class, I managed to staple my finger. Now, how the heck did that happen? ...I have decided to stop questioning myself... :oP nighty night!

Finally!!

Artsy Crafty's FIRST Giveaway WOOT!!!!

I'm so excited to share ArtsyCraftyMe's first giveaway! This is my way of saying thank you for stopping by and taking a look and to hoping you'll keep coming back! hehe

All you have to do is leave a comment below to get entered to win this awesome 7Gypsies photo tray!

**Contest winner will be announced Wednesday March 31st. Comments will be open until then**
If you have any questions feel free to email me at artsycraftyme@gmail.com :o)
I hope to make a lucky winner very happy! Let the games begin... hehehe

The story behind the giveaway: I've had their older version of this photo tray for a while now (the black one that has more squares) As soon as I saw this new white one I felt like I had to have it! But then I thought that wasn't really fair, I mean one empty photo tray is one thing, but two? So I decided to compromise. While this giveaway is going on, I promise to work and *finish* my black photo tray. That way I can make someone else happy also, with a blank photo tray to make their own! Here's what I have so far for my photo tray...

I'll be posting the finished project along the name of a lucky reader on March 31st :o) Can't wait!

So once again, thank you for stopping by - it really makes my day knowing that I get to share my creations with you. Good luck to all!

Stay sweet,
Mari

Artsy Crafty's FIRST Giveaway WOOT!!!!

For the love of tags!!

It's true I'm in love... Making these tags is so much fun! To be honest, they're quite liberating. They don't have to have a purpose, or a destination. I can make them just for the love of art and I'm perfectly fine with that. Now, don't ask me what I'm planning to do with or how I'm going to display them - cause honestly, I'm not really sure, and at this moment I'm not too concerned about it. I'm just happy with them the way they are and will definitely be doing more soon!!! :o) Who knows, maybe I'll make a lamp shade with them. Or I'll take Dean's advice and make curtains... or how about this fun display and instead of using pictures I'll just hang my tags..isn't that the coolest thing ever?!?!?! I *love* Umbra. It is definitely my new favorite, after making tags of course. :oP Dean and I stopped by Sam Flax earlier on the week and saw sooooo many cool frame ideas. Seriously how do people come up with this crap? Just amazing. I invite you to check out their stuff. I bet you'll be as amazed as us. :o)

Here's a compilation of the new ones I've made. If you wanna see how the whole tag craze started, check out this post.

With all this tag talk I almost forgot about Basic Grey! I printed some pictures I want to use with Green at Heart and I can't wait to play! Dean and I are helping my parents with some trade shows until Sunday so I'm not sure when I'll get to it. Hopefully sooon!!! I'm really psyched about this paper :o)

Hope you're having a great week, thanks for visiting!
Stay sweet,
Mari

For the love of tags!!

The true adventurer

Dear Lizzy! WOOOOOOOT! I really wanted to post this page today, but this time change is killing me so a quick post and run its gonna have to suffice :oP Playing with the Dear Lizzy line was so much fun! So many things to cut, pop out and play with - def. my kind of paper :o)

Here's my layout:
(I must say Indy is getting a lot of attention in my scrappin lately... Some Blue pages will be coming soon :o) sometimes I'm just glad they have no idea whats going on hehe)

check out that little hammock I made with a piece of burlap hehe:

and of course - a shot of Indy in the car with his latest layout:

That's all I got for today.. I'm beat. A quick prediction before I leave you - I can see some Basic Grey in the near future... YUM

Stay sweet,
Mari

The true adventurer

Quick post today..

My internet has been wigging out all day, so I want to post and run before it goes down again :o)
I made this layout earlier on the week with some Crate Paper I picked up on our bus trip. I *heart* Crate Paper. Thought these pictures of Dean and Indy being silly in the office worked great with it :o)

now that I look at it - a title would be awesome sideways on the white! hmmm.... must think of cute title :oP

Happy Friday everyone! Have a great weekend :)
Stay sweet,
Mari

Quick post today..

Cuddle buddies

I was coming down the stairs one day and I caught them sleeping like this... So I quietly ran back up to get the camera so I could capture it. They're too good though, I guess Indy heard me and moved. I could have positioned them back to what I had seen before just so I could take the picture, but I refused - its just not the same knowing that you posed a photo... To my surprise a few minutes later they were back like this! This time I made sure I snapped the photo quickly and quietly :o)

I made this layout using Nikki Sivil's new line Willow Bee. You can see her entire collection here. Ah, I *heart* clouds... they make me happy :o)

We watched Hachi today and I cried like a baby... something about Dog movies really get to me. Let me just say I'm a sucker for unconditional love and loyalty and there nothing like the one a dog can offer you. Like Blue is with Dean. It's just beyond words, an unbreakable bond.

Stay sweet,
Mari

Cuddle buddies

He Loves Me.

I got a new layout for you today with some yummy Little Yellow Bicycle! At first I wasn't too crazy about the paper because they are not really my colors, you know? But then it was one of those times when you just get this idea and you *must* do it. Once I knew exactly what I wanted to do, there was no stopping me. I can't even tell you how pleased I am with it way it came out. It even made me wonder if it was too vain to love something you made so much... I love the picture, I love the meaning that it has for me, I love the composition of the layout and I even love the colors! :oP It's healthy though, to an extent, to love something you made this much. It's an extension of yourself, right? So be proud of what you make, and don't be afraid to show it!

and some detail shots :o) :

these are white Prima flowers... I needed them to stand off the page more so I outlined them with some pink smooch. The little flower is the center of the big one. Oh! and the yellow crocheted flower is part of the Dear Lizzy collection! (which is on my list to play with sometime soon, hopefully)

Hope you like it too and maybe even sparks a little something in that creative mind of yours for a future project :o) Thanks for looking.

Stay sweet,
Mari

He Loves Me.

So in love with this... so liberating!

I can't even tell you how excited I am right now. I've known that Tim Holtz is awesome for a while now and I've been obsessed with his ideo-logy products since forever and I've even gotten to play with alcohol inks once or twice, but this excited? - never. Not till yesterday ,that is, when I finally sat down and opened his new book and discovered a new world of possibilities.

So I will leave you with a bunch of pictures.. just different shots of the 4 mini-projects below. Wish I could stay and chat but we embarked earlier on a mini office remodel journey which we will like to finish tonight :o)

and here's the book that has changed my life:

What I love most about all of these and the many more that will come in the near future is that you can really do ANYTHING and there are no mistakes, EVER. Everything you do can be built to be something beautiful and 100% YOU. So far I've incorporated 6 of the many techniques covered in his book. I can't wait to keep going and see where it takes me - Let the journey of discovering my true self begin! (Once we finish the mini remodel journey that is! :oP )

Stay sweet,

Mari

So in love with this... so liberating!

Indino the gardener...

Cosmo Cricket WOOT!!!!! So excited to finally be able to play with it. As soon as I saw their Garden Variety collection I thought of Indino. Dean calls him the gardener since he loves to dig holes in the dirt, take out dead plants, roll around in the grass and just admire natures beauty... If we would let him he would stay outside all day, just pondering. I love him.

and some detail shots, of course:

Here's the layout with the guest of honor:


and here I'm sure he's thinking "WOW all that just for me? They must really love me... So pretty :) Now, can I have some treats, pretty please?"

We celebrated Indy's first Birthday tonight. His official birthday was last Sunday but I didn't get home till late from the bus trip so we had to postpone it. We had pupperoni filled balloons and treat filled pinatas and squeaky toys :) I think we did pretty good.. Both him and Blue seemed happy.

So excited to share some mini-projects I made using Tim Holtz A Compendium of Curiosities book.. Come back tmw to take a looksie!

Stay sweet,
Mari

Indino the gardener...