Cool metaphysical graphics & stamps

Ever since I started scrapbooking back in 1998 I’ve been looking for Pagan, Wiccan, astrological or any other ‘metaphysical’ theme craft supplies.  I’ve found some items… mostly ‘fairy’ theme. But lately I’ve been seeing more elements that can be used in Pagan and metaphysical craft projects.

This first one came to me courtesy of my mom. She’s always on the lookout for craft supplies & elements that she knows I can use in crafting my craft. She found the cutest set of astrological clear rubber stamps called What’s Your Sign? at Oriental Trading Company(Craft supplies & Hobbies>Scrapbooking>Clear Stamps) . They have a bunch of nature designs and a cool oriental design too.  I’m so excited now I can add cute astrological images to my art.

This second one is all me! You all know I LOVE my computer. I’ve been a computer geek since the early 80’s. I’m a certified Photoshop junkie! I have Photoshop CS on my laptop and PS Elements for my desktop. I love surfing the net looking for free brushes, actions and digital scrapbook kits. Yesterday I found Obsidian Dawn, a super awesome site that offers free brushes for Photoshop and PSE. The coolest thing is that many of their brushes are metaphysically or Pagan inspired. They have 2 Egyptian Hieroglyph brushes, a Celtic Knot brush, Arcane Runes brush, Arcane Circles brush, Alchemy, Aurora, Spider Webs and my personal favorite the Dark & Gothic brushes. This last set has everything from a Pentacle, skulls, gargoyles, medieval crosses, bats, a tombstone, Gothic rose and stained glass window patterns. Make sure to stop by Obsidian Dawn and don’t forget to check out the Ghosts brush too!

I’m off to go play in Photoshop and see what I can come up with!

Blessed be,
Chris

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Crafty Holiday Gift

Every year for the holidays I always make my friends special handmade gifts. As a Pagan I try to make/reuse/re-purpose as many things as I can.  I often try to match the gift I make to a hobby or something else they enjoy in life. This year I decided to put together a Holiday Craft Bag for a few of my Christian girlfriends who like to scrap. I found a bunch of cool embellishments like clear acrylic frames and wire words. I found a bunch of clear acrylic stamps in the dollar bin at JoAnn’s. They were just too cute to pass up so I grabbed a few general sets and mini stamp blocks too. When I got home I knew that I had a few things from my own personal collection that I wanted to share.

I love using fibers and ribbons on my scrapbook pages and cards and over the years I’ve collected over 100 different kinds of ribbon, ric-rac, yarn and fibers. Some were special seasonal prints, some were vintage ribbons and fibers, like me it’s a very eclectic mix. I cut a yard each of dozens of fibers and ribbons to share with them. I also have a Sizzix Die Cut system and a bunch of cool dies. I have alphabets, basic shapes, dog tags, buttons, buckles, tickets and mini people. I punched a bunch of die cuts in different solid and patterned papers and added them to the bags. Each of my friends that received these gifts has kids so I used my alphabet die cuts to cut the names of each of their kids. I love using die cut letters. Their so easy, clean and slick looking. I wanted to share this time saver!

I know because of their kids they get busy and often their scrapbooks are put on a back-burner. I just wanted to share a little inspiration and some new embellishments that they might not have worked with before. I really hope they like their gifts and I hope their inspired to work on their books a little more too!

Blessed be,
Chris

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It’s begining to feel a lot like winter…

We had our first big winter storm visit Northern Arizona. Down at my house in Dewey we got a lot of rain this week and only 15 minutes of snow fall yesterday. It didn’t’ even stick. But things are so wet that my yard is frozen and my front yard is covered in frost.

I haven’t lived in the snow since I was a kid and I haven’t even been skiing in about 14 years. So when I started snowing earlier in the week I just had to go visit the snow. If it wasn’t going to come to me then I was going to it.

I drove the 20 minutes up highway 89A to the back side of Prescott (sadly there’s only one JoAnn’s Craft store and it’s here). I took Iron Springs road up to the Granite Basin Recreation Area. I drove up and down snow covered streets trying to find a pull off that the snow plows had all ready cleared. Well, I found what I was looking for.

A snow covered mountain in Prescott

This morning I woke up to find my yard covered in frost and the small landscaped rock stream in my backyard was iced over. I have pics of those that I’ll post tomorrow. Brrrr it’s cold but at least it’s sunny. Today is perfect to stay in and work on a craft project.

I have several gifts that I still need to finish. I’m making a Goddess prayer box for one of my friends. It’s going to be cute. I’m taking a small balsa wood box and decoupage scrapbook and origami paper to the sides. I’m going to make a polymer clay Goddess to lay on the top of the box. I’m really excited about it. It’s similar to the wish box I made my Mom with the little polymer clay angel on top.

I also have to finish my Scrappy Gift Bags! I have 2 girlfriends that are crafty chicas. They both scrapbook but like most mom’s they get behind and sometimes loose inspiration. So I’m taking some really fun embellishments, brads, tags, die cuts, velum pieces, samples of my fibers and ribbons, rubber stamps and lots of little embellishments that I made myself. I also used my Sizzix to punch a bunch of letters to spell each of their kids names. I know how much I love the ultra polished look of die cut letters on my pages and cards and I thought it would be nice to give to my busy friends. I just wanted to share a little inspiration with them.

My biggest project is my Altered Art/Mixed Media piece that I’m doing for my mom. I usually make a scrapbook page for her for each holiday but I’ve been slacking. So instead of a scrapbook page I wanted something more. I saw an altered art journal while watching Craft Lab with Jennifer Perkins one day and it gave me the idea to make an altered art wall piece for my mom. I went to my local craft store and purchased an 11×14 canvas and an extra bottle of Mod Podge. I have several pictures from when I was a kid that I want to use and I even have some old fabric that she used to decorate my room when I was a kid.  I’m working on the general layout of the piece but as you crafters & artists know, sometimes the piece has a mind of it’s own. I’ll post pics of all my projects with instructions just after the holiday.

Have a safe and happy Holiday season and warmest blessings for the year to come!

Happy crafting,
Chris

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New changes for the New Year

Well, I think I need to ground myself. I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve posted to this blog (I have several blogs). But that’s ok because I have great news. I’m working on a lot of changes for me and my website, mainly this blog and my jewelry blog.

I’ll be posting more frequently to this blog. I have a lot of great art and craft ideas to share. I have great layout and page theme ideas for you scrapbookers. I’ll also blog about Photoshop and give tutorials on different elements I do. I’ve got ideas for handmade cards and gifts, jewelry and polymer clay projects too.

As for BellaDeaDesigns, that site has been been released back to the URL universe. I’m only creating pieces for myself and custom pieces for family and a few friends. I found that the designs I had weren’t ready for mainstream audiences.

I’m really excited about some of the new jewelry I’ve created  lately. For Thanksgiving I this beautiful Turquoise and Garnet necklace. I originally was designing the piece for physical aesthetics, I love teal and red colors together. As I was looking over my gemstones I decided to pair turquoise and garnet for this piece.

I chose turquoise because it’s a healing stone and opens the throat chakra to aids in communication, serenity and spiritual bonding. Turquoise is also an ancient absorber of negativity. It’s a very spiritually powerful stone that aligns and centers all chakras.

I choose to pair Garnet with the turquoise because Garnet is a stone that helps balance our emotional states (something I always need when traveling by car). Garnet has also been used to protect people from the perils of travel. But on a deeper level Garnet is a stone of faith, love, trust and commitment, all important qualities to have, especially around the holidays.

Both Turquoise and Garnet have a deeper spiritual meaning and pair well with silver. Silver has always been associated with feminine energy and the Goddess and I wanted to incorporate that feminine energy with the communication and serenity of turquoise and the trust and passion of the garnet.

I wore this necklace to our family gatherings and receive many compliments. I felt calm and balanced all day. My boyfriend and I visited  with our families, shared a great meal and had a wonderful day.  It was beautiful to wear and it felt wonderful on.  It’s amazing how things work out. Sometimes I’m a bit shy in large groups or around people I don’t know. This year there were 6 new family members to meet so it was an amazing coincidence that I made a necklace to help with communication, serenity, balance of emotions and trust. I don’t think I could have planned it any better!

So, many exciting things going on for Next Year. Hope to see you all there!

Blessed be,
Chris

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