{crafty} Social Media Blog Hop

Today I'm taking part in a new monthly blog hop!

This blog hop was inspired by the connections made through social media. Each person participating will create a new project that was inspired by one of the others on the team. That inspiration can come from an IG pic, a quote they posted, something I saw on their blog, Studio Calico gallery, whatever I choose!

If you happened upon my blog by chance, head over to the first stop on our hop today at Shay's blog. There are many prizes up for grabs along the way so be sure to visit everybody!

This month I found my inspiration from Caz's "pool buddies" layout. 

I loved the misting and clusters on the layout but what inspired me even more was the little "oh happy day" banner across the pictures. I instantly thought of the gospel song and how upbeat and joyous it is.

I knew the bright sunny colors from Studio Calico's So Cal kit would be a great way to bring that joy in to my project. I had been wanting to alter a printer tray for quite some time, so this was really a fun project for me!

The white chevron pattern is Mister Huey's Opaque white and chevron mask. I just recently discovered Mister Huey's and I do believe an obsession has been born. LOVE them!

Blog Hop List:

Welcome, by Shay http://sbookinshay29.blogspot.com/ sbookinshay29
Margrethe http://onelifedocumented.com/ margrethe_ 
Melissa http://www.melissapriest.com/ click click
Amanda http://somethingsorta.blogspot.com/ mandadej  <-- YOU ARE HERE!


NEXT STOP --> Caz http://www.cazhancock.com/ cazhancock


Erika http://erikabardo.wordpress.com/ erikabardo
Kristin http://rukristin.blogspot.com/ rukristin
Monica http://monicalifeasme.blogspot.com/ MonicaB
Angela http://kindlelover.blogspot.com/ akochmcelroy
Suz http://livealifeextraordinary.blogspot.com/ SuzMannecke

All of our Instagram usernames are listed after the blog URLs, unless stated otherwise.

And I do believe I mentioned prizes? I have a collection of thickers and washi to give away! You can earn 3 entries by following my blog, "like" my facebook page and commenting on this post. Please leave a seperate comment for each one. Be sure to leave your email address in a comment so I can get a hold of the winner. Giveaway will close at 9pm Pacific on June 30th and I will use random.org to pick a winner!

{crafty} Word Art Canvas

Word art seems to be everywhere these days, and I love it! From the simple tone on tone quotes to the distressed reclaimed wood lists, it all makes a statement. I wanted to get in on this word art action but being a scrapbooker at heart I couldn't bare to do it without having fun with some gorgeous paper and embellishments.

 I saw this quote planted over a serene image on Pinterest and it is one I kept coming back to. I knew it would be perfect for canvas. When SCTNow asked me if I would donate a piece for an art auction at one of their events I knew it had to be this quote. And even better when I found Studio Calico, who puts together AMAZING collections of scrapbooking products, I knew exactly what I was going to use to make my idea come to life.



I couldn't be happier with how this turned out! So much so that I was sad to see it leave my house. I couldn't think of a better reason to give it away though. If anybody is in the Portland Oregon area please come out to SCTNow's Freedom Flicks event on June 30th. There will be a documentary on trafficking, food, drinks, panel discussion and a silent art auction.

{off topic} The Rock and the Ripple

Purpose. 
I had my purpose for going to Cambodia and I will just go ahead and say it, I thought it was a darn good one. Leading up to the trip my heart was growing more and more towards protecting children from trafficking. I just knew I had to do something to help and I was elated that I actually found a way to do something about it instead of just dwelling on it even though I had no idea how I would be able to help in a medical setting. Ultimately that didn't matter, I knew I would do what was necessary. At first I was assigned to do height and weight checks for all patients but somewhere along the way I was moved to registration. This ended up being such a huge blessing because I learned a valuable lesson; MY purpose does not trump HIS purpose. 

I started the week strong and happy to help in any way that I could but by day 3 I was a wreck. I was struggling to find the connection between what I was trying to accomplish and what I was actually doing. It is known that the leading cause of trafficking in Cambodia and other third world countries is not being able to afford medical care but I wasn't seeing it directly and a big part of me was left wondering how I was actually helping to stop it. While I was sitting with everybody that came through for help I was totally unaware of their circumstances. What brought them there beside their illness, if they had jobs or homes, how many children they had, if they were considering selling a child to get help or even knew it was possible. And lets face it, these are not exactly questions you can just ask somebody. 
I was lucky enough to have reinforcements though. Friends, many of which I was just getting to know, to help lift me up when I needed it most. 

Me and Kim

That third day there was a little boy. I struggle to remember his age, he was about the size of a two year old but the children are so tiny he could have been 5. When his mother brought him to our table I noticed right away that he was lethargic. The only thing his mother told us was that he had diarrhea and was vomiting. We sent him along to see the doctor and my heart went with him. I could not get this little boy out of my mind. I struggled so much with not knowing what was happening after he left our table. And that is how I felt all week. Not knowing. I was blessed to be sharing my duties with a young girl named Victoria who has an amazing heart for God and his children. Without me really having to say anything she always managed to find time to sneak away and check on the people that touched me in some way, and I'm not even sure she realized it most of the time. This boy was no exception. I found out from Victoria that this little boy had Typhoid, had not been able to eat anything in 5 days, and he had already seen a doctor and was sent home to die because he was too sick. I think it goes without saying that I completely lost it. I took a break and was lucky enough to have Kim to lean on and pray with while I was trying to find strength. Our group, however was there on Higher Authority, and was not giving up as easily as the previous doctor. Several people gathered and prayed over the boy before treating him with fluids and within 30 minutes he was responsive again. I do believe a miracle happened before us! The boy and his mother stayed a couple hours to monitor him. I got away for a few minutes to see him and just sit with him and praise his healing. They left with him eating and walking, when just hours before he could barely open his eyes. It was encouraging, to say the least. 

Me and Karen

Even then, it wasn't until a couple weeks after we were back home that I finally had that "a-ha" moment. That it clicked for me that I wasn't there for MY purpose. My dear friend Karen shared an illustration of a rock creating a ripple in a pond and that we were the rock. A-ha! We were that rock. We created those ripples. We may never know where those ripples lead but we created them. And that was His purpose for me being there. I may never know if I directly prevented a child from being sold, but He does. Two years ago, that would not have been enough for me. Today, it brings me peace. 

These wonderful, beautiful, strong women held me up that week and I will never forget it. 

Kim and Karen

Sau-Pon, one of our translators, and Victoria

Be a rock. Start a ripple. Give it to God. Start another ripple. Let's do this!

{flashy} "Hey Girl" Photo Challenge

Perhaps its because I am not quite done sharing about my trip to Cambodia (you wouldn't think so considering I have yet to blog about it since the first time over 3 months ago) or that I haven't ventured out with my camera as we are just now starting to see days of sun without rain, but I am again entering in a portrait shot in Cambodia for this months I Heart Faces photo challenge.


In villages filled with children so happy for some extra attention, that leaped in front of my camera smiling to ear to ear, this little girl caught my attention. She seemed to be curious but skeptical of why this big group of people who did not speak her language were spending the day in her village. I took her picture a few times, smiled at her, said "ah-goon" (thank you) one of the few words I learned, and went about my way as to not make her uncomfortable. I saw her a few more times that day curiously peeking around but never getting too close. I admit, I kind of wanted to give her a big hug and tell her not to worry :-)

{flashy} Fix-It Friday #136

It has been quite a while since I have participated in Fix-It Friday over in the I Heart Faces community. When I saw the image up for editing today I knew I wanted to play! Editing my own photos, I often stick to basic clean edits but sometimes it is a nice break to have a little fun with it. I knew looking at this picture, by Angie Arthur Photography, that I wanted to give it a saturated urban feel. 

Here is what I did for my final image, it may look like a long list but each step is fairly basic

Edited in Photoshop CS4

• Cropped
• Selected a portion of the brick wall, feathered to 20px and copied to a new layer to get rid of the small amount of window that was left after cropping. 
• Levels adjustment layer on each channel (you can see my tutorial on this here) 
• Duplicated the background image and set to Overlay blend mode, reduced to 80% opacity and masked back her shirt to bring back some detail
• Duplicated the background image and set to Multiply blend mode, reduced to 40% and masked back the girl. 
• Duplicated the background image and ran a High Pass Sharpen with a radius of 20px and set to vivid light blend mode, reduced opacity to 35%
• Duplicated the background image and set to Linear Light blend mode, reduced to 10%
• Selective Color adjustment layer, selected Reds and reduced magenta to -50 and upped yellow to +5
• Gradient adjustment layer with a violet/green/orange gradient, reduced opacity to 30% and masked back the girl at 50% opacity to reduce discoloration in her skin. 
• Flatten layers and save.