About
Beauty: n: The quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest).
Links
BLOGROLL:
My Super Cool Husband's Totally Awesome Blog
Mystic Paper Blog
Blog of grunge guru Tim Holtz
My Links:
Our Family Photos
Matt's Appliance Store
Our Church Family
Oh yeah, and I'm on Facebook a bunch. Take look to see other info about me.
Stuff
NEW blog!!!
Hello, loyal readers!If you are reading this, you have jumped here off of a dear friends RSS feed. Thank you for supporting my blog! My updated blog is located here www.kellsocollage.com . I hope you visit often and enjoy! If my blog is listed on your website, first of all, Thank You! Second, if you could please update the link on your page, it would be much appreciated. Thanks again!
This is my 'feed' address as well: feed://kellsocollage.com/feed/
Jenna Kellso
Sweet Tweet!
These photos are LONG over due to be shared- (LONG overdue seems to be a running theme of my blog these days, but that's another story). I made this birdhouse for my sister's birthday. She shared a quote with me about 'The Martin Bird' that she loved, being a Martin and all. I don't know if she actually expected me to do anything with the quote, but I ran with it. After a bit of research about the Martin Bird, the pieces of the birdhouse began to fall into place. I went with green as a main color to match her house. The 'shingles' on the roof are cut from an antique Girl Scout handbook, the pages are the requirements for the Bird-watching badge. All of the paper on the house is waxed to give it an antique finish. I love finding inspiration in unlikely places, and was so excited to make a gift for Sarah that meant something to her, and came from the heart!
Independence Day
As some of you may know, Jonathan participated in the City of Chandler's swim team this year. While, at this point, we don't foresee a long term career out of swimming, his attitude and perseverance have been excellent, and we are very proud!
One unexpected bonus of this city program is the FREE breakfasts! On the first day of I was told that, in partnership with the school lunch program, every child under 18 had access to free breakfast while at swim team or swim lesson, even those who weren't actually registered! I was thrilled to hear this, knowing that if any of the kids slept in late, I could just pile them in the car and they'd still have food. Even if they had a little snack at home, it was a nice diversion during the 50 minutes while Jonathan was swimming.
But, it also got me thinking-while "Every good and perfect gift is from above..." (James 1:17), I was also aware of the potential problem with this setup. While it really isn't a Republican/Democrat problem, (though it sort of is...Who paid for my kids breakfast in the month of June? You did.), it is a problem that is running rampant in America today. Is there a name for this problem? The 'Hands-out' Problem? The Entitlement problem? The Obamake-everything-better Problem? You get the picture. What would people say tomorrow if there were suddenly no free breakfast? Would we be just as happy to realize a deeper dependence on God? Just as happy for greater responsibility to get the kids up on time, or entertain them during a slow time of day? Will we be thankful for all God has given us in the first place, free breakfast or no? I can be thankful and appreciate breakfast (I DO pay my taxes, after all), but I should never allow myself to rely on it. Is free food increasing our independence, or our dependence, and on who/Who? Where does your Help come from?
Happy Birthday, Noah!
The same hair, always!
I can not believe that my baby boy turns 4 today! After years of struggle and heartache, on June 25th, 2005 my little 'medical miracle' baby came into our lives. It was almost humorous watching everyone who came and visited us that first morning enter the hospital room with glassy red eyes- a lot of happy car crying took place that day! (Oh, don't think we didn't notice!) Even after clearing the giant hurdle that was Noah's pregnancy, we had no idea of the humor and joy this little guy would bring to our lives.
As Matt often claims, Noah is not only the funniest kid we know, he is the funniest person we know. A couple of months ago, from the back seat of the car, I hear Noah singing- "Smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke-smoke, smoke-smoke. Smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke-smoke" to the tune of the famous guitar riff from 'Smoke on the Water'. What 3 year old knows that song?
One evening when my parents were babysitting, he turns to my mom and says "Bepah?"
"Yes?"
"I love Jesus"
"Oh, me, too, Noah!" I know at this point in his life, he was just trying to sound precious, but Matt and I pray every day that someday that would be his true heart cry. I pray every night for them before bed that God would be, even now, softening their hearts and drawing it towards a desire to love and obey God. Oh, I do pray! Noah, we love you so much!
WIN-ners! WIN-ners! WIN-ners!
Congratulations to Amy Bennett, Lisa Mcinturf, and Melissa James-the winners of the frog tape giveaway! Happy taping, and happy painting.To close out this giveaway, I'd like to leave you with a Beatles quote-
"I'm painting a room in a colorful way, and where my mind is wandering, there I will go...."
Frog Tape GIVEAWAY!!!
***UPDATE*** This giveaway is now closed!
I have always wondered how Kiki has all those awesome giveaways on her blog. I have been meaning to ask her, but when I tried out a new product this week that I LOVED, I decided to go right for the source...
As some of you may already know, I am a frequent painter: I love color on my walls and I think changing it up is fun. In the last year, I have painted my guest bathroom (for the second time) and the master bedroom (for the second time), as well as painting the entryway to my parents' cabin as a present for my moms 50th birthday. I am now in the process of painting our play/eating area for THE THIRD TIME! Now, let me be clear. I enjoy having painted walls, but that is very different from enjoying painting...Nobody enjoys that. As I was buying supplies for my most recent painting project, I decided to try the Frog Tape. It was about a dollar more than 'The Blue Stuff', but considering 'The Blue Stuff' is already over $5, I thought I'd give it a try. It was noticeably better than anything I had used in the past! Online you can learn all about their 'Paint Block Technology', but since my paint fume addled brain can't even begin to understand that, I will share what I noticed: 1. The tape itself is very thin and smooth, making it very easy to tell if it is truly 'stuck', and 2. The Results. The paint line is straight, with no blurry edges. I wish I had tried this a year ago!
I decided to express my appreciation to the company, and ask if they would be willing to let me share with YOU! Frog tape has very generously donated 3 (!!) rolls of their tape to 3 lucky winners of my giveaway! If any of you out there are planning on painting a room any time soon, be sure to throw your name into the ring!
Please leave a comment sharing what room you would like to paint next, and next Friday at noon I will pick 3 winners out of a hat! Good luck!
...Just wanna have fun...
Our family is very blessed to have a church full of people eagerly willing and waiting to love and care for us week in and week out. A perfect example is our kids' Sunday School teachers. I know each and every one of them loves and cares for our kids very much, that they desire the kids to be comfortable and safe, and have fun. But, most importantly, they hope and pray, along with us (oh, yes!) that our kids would someday come to a saving love and knowledge of Christ. I continually strive to give back to all these special people in the same manner.A couple of months ago Melissa James sent out pictures to the parents of the '18-24 months' class that had been in her care that week. (Yes, we have to segment our kids 6 months at a time. We are fruitful, and we multiply.) The picture she took of Eden was such a hoot, I had it printed out extra large, and had a blast making a collage with the picture. Thanks again to all of the Sunday School teachers at Grace Bible Churchfor loving our kids so much!
Occasionally, I do scrapbook!
I had some of my favorite pictures printed out recently with the specific intention of scrapbooking them. We are notoriously bad about printing out photos, but since Matt keeps them backed up and organized online, I ususally don't worry about it too much...until I have no photos to play with!Here is one of my favorite pictures of the boys from when Noah was just 1 month old. I printed it out twice to show the 'balance' of the picture. Isn't it funny how their hands are both by their faces?
The text for this page (which is, admittedly, rather hard to read) is lyrics from the song 'Bad to the Bone'..."Now, on the day I was born, the nurses all gathered 'round, and gazed in wide-eyed wonder at the joy they had found' They're such sweet sounding lyrics they fit well with the images of our little 14-month old with tattoos and shredded punk clothing. We're such good parents! Oh, well, at least we spent our Halloween with our pastors family, and they were the only ones who saw it! (ha, ha.)
Edie the little rascal...
Well, girls may be sugar and spice and blah, blah, blah, but there is certainly never a dull moment around here with this little girl. You'll notice that these messes are both 'cosmetic based', (she is OBSESSED with the bathroom, no big surprise), but they are messes nonetheless. Never a dull moment!
D'oh!
Calendar
| « | February 2012 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | |||
Tips and Tricks
Quick tip...
Here is a quick tip to hopefully make your life a bit easier:
Every time I'm shopping for a birthday present, I go through the same thought process-"What does this kid like? Will he use this? WHAT DID I GET THEM LAST YEAR?" I have instead planned out a system to avoid birthday gift confusion. I assigned each year a 'type' of present that I can then adapt for each kid-for example:
Age 1- an outfit and a simple toy
age 2-Crayola/ art supplies
age 3- Bath or pool toys
Age 4- Doll/action figures
Age 5- Books
No racking your brain and no repeats!
Gingerbread House How-to
This house is a Paper mache house, all made with crafting supplies, nothing edible!
To make the windows in the Gingerbread, I used Glossy Accents. I glued sheets of tin foil behind the windows, then filled each window pane with the glue. I had to let it dry and do at least one more layer, as well as make sure no bubbles developed in the window pane (as you can see, I was not always successful)
The gumdrops are made with FIMO clay, 1/3 color and 2/3 translucent. I baked them, then coated them with coordinating colored glitter. They were too bright for me, so I added a layer of alcohol inks by shaking them all together in a ziploc baggie.
Ornament how-to
The ornament consists of 2 pieces of oval glass, with an antique (style) christmas postcard and a printout of 'Joyeux Noel' and some rub-ons on the other side. Then comes the soldering: you must affix copper tape all around the edges, burnishing it with a bone folder to ensure a tight seal. Then, you brush flux on the copper tape, and, with a soldering iron, spread melted metal all over the edge. To finish, I twisted wire to make the hooks on the edge. I added a patina to the solder withalcohol inks, I feel it gives it a much warmer, friendlier look, instead of just slapping things together with the same stuff you use to connect a pipe! (ha, ha)
'BOYS' How-to
I began by scratching and lightly inking the edges of the 5x7 photo with Distress Inks in Frayed Denim. The letters were smudged up with Alcohol inks. My new favorite technique is stamping with Rangers Matte Medium. Along the left hand side of the page are 3 of the stamps, they are clear but shiny and a bit difficult to see in the picuture. Stamping with this adhesive is always unexpected and I have been loving the results. The foam stamp I used was only $1 at Michaels...that's about the most I've spent on stamps...ever! I placed letter stickers on some paper clips I got at Target's dollar spot.
Pumpkin How-to
The entire Pumpkin Tutorial is found here:"WhiMSy Love". A few tips-some of the more chi-chi fabric was a bit slippery. I had the inspiration (2 days after the party) to stuff more tissue paper INTO the T.P. tube to help hold the fabric in place. I bought tissue paper at the dollar store to stuff the pumpkins. I pulled out some fabric leaves and grungeboard to create leaves. (We don't have large/beautiful leaves here in AZ, so we had to improvise). I also gave the gals a chance to experiment with Distress Inks, Alcohol inks, and Perfect Pearls. Fun city!
Pencil how-to
These were super easy- You will need 7 pencils per gift to make a nice circle. Thankfully, I bought enough pencils. (I was planning on using 5 per gift...but pencils are hexagons! Duh!) The tags are made with grungeboard, painted red and lightly smeared with ink to accent the 'grooves'. The hard part was finding a pen to write on the paint...I don't even remember what I used, but I do remember it took a lot of different pens to find the right one. To finish, I tied the bunch together with a brown satin ribbon. Cost per gift: about 70 cents. Scent of new school supplies in the month of September: priceless!
Ode to a P-U-M-P-K-I-N
Perched
U pon
M any
P orches-
K nife
I sn't
N ecessary
Ode to a Pumpkin, Haiku
Smooth, round face
Strong and sturdy sign of fall
Pumpkin, I love you
My Collage how-to
This was my first real attempt at a straight collage 12x12 scrapbook page. I have been reading about collage more and more, and I find them rather intriguing. While, at first glance, it may look like an ‘anything goes’ kind of project, once you try one you realize they’re anything but. There are all sorts of unwritten rules about balance, movement, flow, and color. So, did I hit the mark? Well, that depends. Are we talking ‘Design Team’ mark (no, apparently not) or ‘looks good to me’ mark? You can judge for yourself, but I actually really like the way it turned out. And that may be the only written rule about collage-Like it, or go home.
Layer by layer….
1. This started as purely experimental, as I mentioned. The first thing I put on the page (hardly visible now) is…toothpaste! There is a big, white, chalky stripe down the right side and along the bottom of the page. The toothpaste is highlighted with gold Perfect Pearl luster dust.
2. Another huge inspiration for this page is the dress. The picture was in a magazine, the dress was worn by Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex and the City. I found it pretty, anyway, and saved the picture.
3. Embellishments include a page from an antique Girl Scout manual, a coffee sign and a coffee pot, then arms and legs from a very delicate figure. At this point, the collage started to take on a life of its own-it was becoming a study on Femininity, a blend of traditional and personal interpretations on that theme. I decided to complete the page as an homage to the women who have influenced me over the years.
4. Each of the pictures were cropped in a long, narrow shape, partly to mirror the flow of the arms and rulers, partly to crop out a lot of Men in my Life! (ha, ha.) The edges of each picture were sanded and scratched to age them. I also coated each picture with Matte accents to take away the shine, giving a more antique feel.
5. The title, ‘The Women in my Life- Loving, Supporting, Inspiring’ were both printed and stamped with a label maker. I inked the plastic from the label maker to tone down the yellow, then inked the words again with Pearl ink to highlight them.
My 'house', layer by layer
I pulled out all the stops for this house! I felt this house was an 'all or nothing' project. Here are some of the techniques and products I used
1-Paint the house brown and use Distress Inks to age and warm the paint color.
2-the Roof-I painted the roof black, then used a crackle glaze. I accented the crackles with Pearl Distress Inks. I added a chimney made from a dice. I toyed with the idea of adding smoke I pulled from felt, but it looked stupid.
3-Accent pieces-I cut a heart to fit the house, inking the edges to accent the heart. For the chandelier, I used a pre-printed chandelier picture, cut out all the details with an X-acto knife, then painted the silhouette with metalic purple paint.
4-The windows. These are all recent pictures of my family encased under glass. I added a rub-on to accent each window. The window frames and shutters are made from Fimo dough, then inked and painted navy to age the clay.
5- The door is a logo from the top of an Altoids tin. (does the shape look familiar?) In person, you can still read the embossed 'Altoids' through the paint. The paint is a textured rust paint of my own design, red oxide colored paint with some black to darken it, mixed with Distressing powder to give it the texture of rust. The doorknob is an old bingo chip...N35?
6-The words were printed on the house in a OLD SCHOOL style, baby...Tole painting. I learned this technique when I was still in elementary school. I printed out the words on my computer, then carefully traced and colored the letter with a lead pencil on the back of the paper. After taping the paper into place, I re-traced the front of the letters. The lead was then tranfered onto the house. I inked in the words to finish the title. Halfway through, I realized I would have to transfer the words over the chandelier, which was tricky!
7-I glued the antique-style key to the side of the house, transfered 'Kellso 2007' on the side in the same font, and I was done!
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