Bid deal!!!

This is my latest big deal! Great bargain and beautiful art all in one. Could it get better? Yes, it can. My kiddos are pictured on it. I'm just giddy with excitement to tell everyone about this! It's one of those deals that seems too good to be true...but it's not!

Here it is: There's a company called Canvas People who are offering a deal to have your favorite photo printed onto canvas.... for FREE! Yep, a free 8 by 10. You just pay shipping. Or you can upgrade to some larger sizes for a little more. I read about it on another blog I like to read, "Make -it-and-Love-it". I thought I'd give it a try and I ordered an 11" by 14". I got it today and it is AMAZING quality. I don't even have it framed yet. (Not a great photo--I had to use the flash. In real life it is not grainy at all.)

I love, Love, LOVE it and with the holidays coming.... I just might order more! Click here for the link to it.

Cheers,
Christy

Ahh... Paris

If you knew Brentt and I before we had kids, you would know how much we loved going to France to vacation. I speak French so it was a place that we got to know deeper than the average tourist. Someday we will return again. Remodeling my scrapbook room (see the previous post) brought back some memories of Paris. Of course, I was dying to mess up my new room and here is one of my first projects. It is a 9 by 12 inch canvas with a lot of texture and techniques. The background is crackle painted and dry brushed with silver paint. I love to marry sparkly bling with an antiqued look. The keys above are a sweet souvenir from Paris from my dear friend Cydne. I couldn't find a flower that coordinated well with the lace and the rest of the canvas so I made one from a doily and some old paper ones I found in my stash.
It will make some great artwork in my new scrap room. Thanks for checking in!
Christy

New classes

I'm so excited to be teaching at Yellowbird Scrapbooking again! My last canvas class at Yellowbird sold out so I'm planning to do another canvas class there this round. I've had babies on my mind lately (hint!) so this canvas is called "Oh Baby!" It teaches basic collage techniques and students can choose to do a pink version or a blue version. I think these would be a nice wedding gift too. Just leave off the title. The class is only $20 and everything is included in your kit. If you can't make it to the class, you can just buy a kit. I've included instructions.The other class I'm teaching is a 2-sided acrylic layout. I only opened it up to 5 students this time since none of the acrylic classes seem to sell well at Yellowbird. Not sure if its the projects or that ladies just aren't interested in working with acrylic. I'm calling this one "Shabby-Chic Dreams". I'm not crazy about it but there's a lot to learn in this class and it comes with a ton of product. If you wanted to take any of these classes, you can register here.
Thanks for checking in! Have a great day!
Christy

That which does not kill me only makes me stronger.

I've been such a bad blog poster.... so many things coming our way these days. Many I can't share to the general public... yet.... Which is totally not my style! If you know me, you know that I don't have much to hide in my boring, happy, normal life. But things have not been boring....

Something else that is totally not my style is this latest creation I made for my bike-crazy husband. He's been training for a race called the "24-hours of Adrenalin." This is a race where he will ride his mountain bike for 24 hours STRAIGHT! He is insane! And he has been training like a mad man. I made him this 11" by 14" canvas to celebrate his achievement/cheer him on. Here it is....Yeah! Crazy, huh? No flowers. No pearls. No lace. Nothing sparkly. And yes, that's a real bike crank set and chain attached on the canvas. Had to get the old drill driver out for this one! Not a typical scrapbook tool in my room. I made some good use of my new Tim Holtz Distress Crackle Paint. I also painted the back ground with ... hold onto your seats... Glimmer Mist from Tattered angels. Yep! The brown is the "Cocoa" color and the green blotches are "Olive Vine." The words are a combo of magazine cutouts and letter stickers. Although its not my style, I really had fun making it. Its fun to branch out and try something completely different. Also, I'll leave you with a few pictures from Easter.

Decorating eggs was a hit with both kids. I couldn't believe how patient they both were!
The egg hunt we went to was great fun even though it was really cold and windy.
How funny is this?!? Sam would only pick up the blue Easter eggs. Guess what color is his favorite now!Thanks for checking in. Have a great weekend! Cheers!
Christy

I'm back...

Oh dear blog... I am alive. I'm sorry I've neglected you. It's not that I don't care. Its just that I've been so busy and you... well... you obviously don't care since you're reading this anyway. I'm happy that you've returned to read more into my crazy, creative, rather normal life.

My mama was here visiting for a little over a week and we had a great time. She's rebounding from her last round of chemo and her numbers are within a normal range for the first time in 9 years! Thank God! That woman is an amazing piece of strength and inspriation. my only regret from her visit is that I didn't take more pictures. I've also been busy making a couple projects for the next classes that I'll be teaching at Yellowbird Scrapbook Store. I saw this idea at the Daisy Bucket booth at CHA. I'd love to claim that idea as my own but ... that wouldn't be right. I did use different papers and stitched through the canvas. It's such a fun project and it'll cost only $20. i'll teach it on March 25th and on April 18th. You can sign up for it online here.

Here's a side view so you can see all the dimension.
The other class I'm teaching is a 2-sided acrylic layout class. My budget was increased for this class so it has a whole lot more embellishments and fun bright papers. I really think this is a new favorite class because it's so full of techniques. You'll be an acrylic pro after this class. Painting techniques, stampling, cutting, adding glitter (2 ways), punching, layering acrylic, and so much more. This class is on March 11th and April 9th. You can sign up for it online here.

I have so much trouble taking photos of acrylic projects. Anyone have suggestions? These are a little hard to see all the details with the green wall behind it.

Allright, there's my shameless plug for my new classes. Thanks for checking in!

Vintage Christmas Canvas

If you're interested (and in the San Diego area) there are a few spots left in the canvas class I'm teaching. I'm teaching this Wednesday, November 19th at 6:00pm at Yellowbird Scrapbook Store. If you can't make it then, I'm also teaching on December 6th at 10:00am. The class is $20 and you make this 11" by 14" canvas. It focuses on a lot of techniques so you'll be able to use what you learn on so many future projects.
If you just want a class kit, just email me or call the store. Oh, and as a bonus, this is what you can make with the scraps from the class. Its a gift card holder using a few of the techniques. Although its not part of the class, if we have extra time I'll talk you through it. I think this paper from Basic Grey is just awesome!

If you're around here, I hope to see you at the class!

A little news....

I have 2 bits of happy news to share. I finally opened a shop on etsy.com. Click here if you want to view it: christyhoover.etsy.com

My obsession with creating stuff might as well make me some money, right? I only have a few things posted there for now. I'm just getting my feet wet to see how it goes before I list a whole lot of things (and incur listing fees.) I'm having a garage/craft sale on November 8th and whatever I don't sell there will be posted in the shop. If you're in San Diego and you want to come, email me and I'll send you the address.

On another note, Yellowbird Scrapbook Store is letting me teach a canvas class in November and December. I call it "A Christmas Carol" canvas. There's nothing Scroogey about this canvas, it just reminds me of a Victorian, Charles Dickens' Christmas. It's a big canvas too- 9" by 14". Its not a complicated class but once you learn the techniques, you'll be using your scrap supplies on a lot more than cards and pages. The best part is that the class is only $20! What a great gift! (But I wouldn't tell anyone if you wanted to keep it for yourself!)

Here's a photo:
It uses the new Wassail line from Basic Grey, vintage sheet music, Jenni Bolin papers, and so many embellishments that adds real dimension. Contact Yellowbird if you'd like to take the class. I'm looking forward to teaching such a fun thing!

Things like this make me want to just skip over Thanksgiving and go right to Christmas. But I wouldn't do that...probably... Anyways, first things first. We need to take down all the Halloween stuff. I'll post some fun pics about last night soon.

Thanks for checking in! Enjoy your weekend!

Oh so much inspiration!

For some reason, I've been attracted to a vintage/shabby chic style lately. So, I bought this book called Vintage Paper Crafts by Anna Corba and I'm in LOVE! This book is so inspiring. So many projects are so simple, yet elegant. Now I'm on the hunt for vintage sheet music and all things French (no surprise on that one!). Inspired by this book, I made this little candle in about 5 minutes with a few things I had on hand. Cute, eh?

Fall is my favorite season and I find inspiration everywhere. Outside hiking, warm apple crisp, cozy sweaters, and of course, making Halloween plans. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays so when I found this fabric print of the Wicked Witch of the West on etsy from Vintage Bella, I knew exactly what I would use it for...a scrapbook layout, of course! Last year, our family did the Wizard of Oz theme for Halloween and Madeleine was Dorothy.

Take a look....I am madly in love with this layout!

And here's a halloween card made from the scraps of the layout.

Back to the vintage stuff... I just wanted to share another canvas collage I've made. This one is of my Mom's family. My Momma is the cute girl sitting on my Grandpa's lap. I love making these collages and am considering making custom ones and selling them in an etsy shop. I wonder if they'd sell, and if so, for how much? Hmmm....
On a more personal note, last week Maddie started Karate. She loves it and has been practicing her kicks on the ottoman. And she never forgets the loud "hi-yaa" as she does it. This could be an interesting experience for my living room furniture.

Also, Sam started a "Tiny Sports" class where he'll learn T-ball, soccer, and basketball. But, perhaps "learn" is too big of a word here. Really, its a bunch of 2 & 3 year olds running around randomly and occasionally following instructions. Its like herding cats. I'm exhausted by the end of class. Its all about us being fit together I guess....

Anyways, I hope you're finding lots of inspiration in your everyday moments too. Thanks for checking in!

Christy

Canvas art

Eversince I took a class at Papertales here in San Diego, I've been inspired to do canvases featuring vintage photos. This one that I just finished features a picture of my mom when she was just one year old. Its easier than you'd think to make. The canvas is 8" by 10" and I used Making Memories Noteworthy paper. First I painted the canvas with a glossy black acrylic paint. I then layered and adhered the papers on with a glue medium. I then applied the rub-ons (from Amy Butler) and the letters and gave it a finish with the gel medium (matte). The photo is an enlarged photo copy. I cut the photo out and then I adhered it to chipboard covered in pink paper. After cutting it out, I used pop dots to give it some dimension. The finishing touches were adding the flowers (from Amy Butler), the chenille ric-rac and the fabulous white paper fringe (adhered to the outside of the canvas) which I bought at Papertales.

The best thing I love about doing canvases is that you can add as much dimension as you want, and you don't have to worry about smooshing it inside a scrapbook. Here's a photo showing some dimension of this canvas.

I hope my Mama loves this art-piece as much as I do.

The canvas of my life

My friend Shalamar brought to my attention that I hadn't shared this canvas on my blog yet. I made it right after Easter. It measures 9" by 12" and I used so many of my favorite products: paints, pearls, lace, buttons, Creative Imaginations papers and stickers, stickles glitter, beads, chipboard, and ribbon.



I hope you enjoyed it! Now, we're off to tap dance lessons....