The ocean.  It’s my happy place and where my muse lives.   So no shocker that I jumped for joy when I saw June Pfaff Daley’s latest designs. She has 4!  You can check them all out over at the new stencils area at StencilGirl Products.

On this painted background, I used bead gel to create a wonderful textured seahorse.  As long as I had all the supplies out I put seahorses on several papers.  Turned out that was a good choice…

To make the seahorse stand out I used Viva Decor’s Metallic Rub.

Stamped a seashell stamp, by 100 Proof Press, over and over.  And then I got that feeling.  It didn’t have the look I had planned.

But it was just an Oops.  An Outstanding Opportunity Presenting Suddenly is a gift that has yet to be fully revealed.

So I went to my go to thing, scribble journaling.  I used a Posca pen because they are so opaque.

Had to have a bit of color so I added green acrylic paint to the edges.

Then a bit of watered down white acrylic paint. And then, the Oops showed up again.  The idea that I had in my mind required the seahorse to be somewhere else, but it wasn’t moving.  A mistake? Nope.  Just an Oops.

That Oops led me to go in a different direction. I wanted 2 or 3 seahorses for the new plan.  I cut out one of the other seahorses I had made.  Really easy to cut out too!

Now, this looks like 3 but it is really 1 cut apart- why waste any of it!  Stamped the words, “Swim in the little moments”.

Added some green rose trim and a gem for the eyes.  And it felt complete for me.  All the Oops I had while making this led to me to here, a place that is better than what I had planned!

The blog hop has all sorts of giveaways…there is more than one stencil to be won! Tehre is a giveaway on the StencilGirl Talk blog that you get a chance to win by leaving a comment on each blog in the hop.  Comment on more blogs get more chances to win!  Of course, just one comment per blog is eligible. On top of this giveaway, there are more!  Check out all the blogs to find the other giveaways!

StencilGirl Talk

June Pfaff Daley

Mary Beth Shaw

Leslie Tucker Jenison

Paula Phillips-Journal Artista

Kirsten Reed

Marjie Kemper

Mary C. Nasser

Carolyn Dube You’re here!  Head over to Maria’s blog next!

Maria McGuire

Supplies Used (click on the product to see more information and purchase)

Linking up to Paint Party Friday, Anything But a Card (summer), Creative Every Day, Journal Journeys (summer) and Art Journal Every Day.

I have fond memories of Greece and am in awe of ancient Greece.  Love the old temples, the history, the mystery of it all! When I saw this stencil by Maria McGuire for StencilGirl Products I was flooded with memories of my visits.

Maria and I decided this stencil was to be our Artsy Fartsy challenge– a special edition of Artsy Fartsy in celebration of her new stencil, Stitch a Greek Medallion!  Over on her blog, BelieveDreamCreateWithMaria she is using the stencil too! Stop over there and check it out!

She’s modest about her design but I am not- I know good design when I see it and use it! In the video you will see how covered in paint this stencil is because it has been used to much in the very short time I have had it!

Watch it on YouTube: Using a stencil and rubber stamping in an art journal

I grabbed some rubber stamps in the Greek theme and went to town!  Not perfect stamping but it didn’t have to be- this was just the first layer.

Using my Dylusions journal.  Stamps are from Toybox and American Art Stamp.

Here’s the full stencil but I will tell you that you will be seeing more of this stencil on my blog in the future because it is so versatile- each pattern is magical all on it’s own and when put them all together- stencil magic!

I am a bit biased because Maria is on my dear friends and the universe works in magical ways.  The dictionary page that I stenciled on has Damon and Pythia as guide words at the top.  They are a tale from Greek mythology about 2 friends.  How perfect for an Artsy Fartsy!

I grabbed these frames and felt so good using them up but then I thought, UGH- I don’t like how this looks.  It was all glued down so I decided it was an Oops! Just an Oops no matter how tight the knot in my stomach was…since it was just an Oops I trusted  (took me a few minutes to get to the trust, but I got there) that would end up somewhere wonderful.

And it did!  This is the direction I intended to go in the beginning but better.  That Oops that felt so horrible in the middle of the process had to be there for me to get here.  And I like it here.

Thanks for visiting my blog.  Preparing a blog post takes quite a bit of time and energy.  If you enjoyed this post, I’d appreciate your support!  How? By sharing this post however you are comfortable.  Your support makes my muse happy and a happy muse keeps me coming back to the studio again and again!

Linking up to The Dictionary Challenge (letter D), Fashionable Stamping (text, book pages), Simon Says Stamp (anything goes), Creative Every Day, Art Journal Every Day, Our Creative Corner (words) and Glue It Tuesday.