Rise & Shine With Rita Barakat New Years Eve Party!

The countdown has begun!

Just a few short hours until a

New Year begins!

With the New Year, there 

is so much opportunity 

for fresh starts, new plans, goals 

& even new dreams.

And with that said, there is a new beginning

for creativity, with the launch of the 

"Rise & Shine With Rita Barakat"

Facebook Group.

Join in tonight for a New Years Eve packed full of fun, challenges, and a peak at what is in store 

in 2019!

Here is a sneak peak at my project for this fun event!

Just follow this link to join the fun!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/201214940814883/

Hope to see you there!

Wishes for many blessings to you & yours 

in 2019!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Old Fashion Inspired Christmas Gift Trio With Canvas Corp Brands

Hello Creatives!

Welcome to INSPIRE!

Just wanted to pop in and share the link 

to my final Christmas project this Holiday Season.

I created this lovely, vintage inspired Farmhouse 

Christmas Trio, using the 

Farmhouse Christmas Collection from Canvas Corp Brands.

http://blog.canvascorpbrands.com/vintage-farmhouse-christmas-gift-trio/

Follow the link under the photo

to see the details!

Visit the Canvas Corp Brands shop to purchase this collection, and for many more fabulous products including Tattered Angels, 7gypsies, Brutus Monroe & more,

visit here:

https://shop.canvascorpbrands.com

Thanks for visiting today!

And Merry Christmas to you!!!!

2019 Is Gonna Be A Big Year!

Hello there creative friends!

Welcome to INSPIRE.

A blog where creativity meets life.

At every years end, I spend a lot of time in prayer, meditation & contemplation.

To reset focus in my life for the upcoming year.

I also choose a "word" of focus to apply to my life.

For 2019, that word is "BE".

Seems like an insignificant word for certain. But in looking up the definition, this two letter word, has quite a punch, and when applied to every day living, can bring surprising results.

be

/bē/

1. Exist

2. Occur

3. Remain

4. Continue

5.Endure

6. Persist

7. Prevail

So in essence, all I need to do is just "BE". To "BE" present in my life instead of hiding away. To persist towards goals I have set, and "BE" all that I can.  To "BE" successful in my pursuits and my dreams.

No more baby steps. It's time to walk tall and to walk strong.

And to kick of the new year right, I am doing just that. Beginning with re-launching my YouTube channel.

And I want to invite you along on this new journey. I hope you will join me, and step out of comfort zones, try new things in creativity, and let your creative spirit soar!

Here is a quick preview for what is to come.

Stay tuned for an official date, coming soon!

Thanks so much for visiting today.

I want to wish you and yours a 

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year too!

Merry Christmas Ornament Made With Rita Barakat & Art Anthology

Welcome Creatives!

Thank you for visiting INSPIRE today!

Today is an extra special treat, it is the 

Rita Barakat & Art Anthology Blog Hop!

I am so excited to share this project created with BEAUTIFUL holiday die cuts from 

Rita Barakat Designs, & FABULOUS products from Art Anthology.

I have had this wooden frame in my stash since last Christmas, and with these products, it became the perfect item to create with.

To begin, I used white gesso to cover both sides of some chipboard snowflakes, and clear gesso to both sides of the wooden frame, because I wanted the color to be more of a natural looking wash, and not to absorb into the wood.

Once the gesso had dried on the snowflakes, I used 

Art Anthology Fiji Velvet medium, with a wet brush, 

to give a "icy" random wash to the flakes.

I then used a dry brush, to splatter the medium over the surface of all flakes, 

on both sides.

For the frame, I also used a slightly wet brush to give a washed appearance, when applying the Art Anthology Leaf Sorbet, which features just the right amount of shimmer. to give a little spark to the design.

After only waiting a few short moments for the Art Anthology mediums to set, I spritzed the snowflakes with the AA Ice Fairy Dust Spray.

To intensify the green shade on the frame, I used a light spritz of the 

AA Granny Smith Colorations Color Spray on both sides of the frame.

While letting everything set, I created a small embroidery floss tassel to dangle from the bottom of the frame.

I also chose 2 of the designs From Rita Barakat's new die cuts "A Merry Little Christmas Collection", used Scrapbook Adhesive Double Sided Squares to hold them together.

I used a small dab of Plaid Glitterific to make the wreaths shimmer, and then added them to the center of the frame, using a mixed media glue.

Using the same glue, I added the snowflakes, staggering them a bit, followed by adding flat back crystal elements around the frame and each snowflake.

The finishing touch was adding the hassle to the bottom of the frame.

An adorable ornament, with lots of color and sparkle, and lightweight enough to hang from any Christmas tree branch.

All made possible by the AMAZING products from 

Rita Barakat & Art Anthology. 

For the products I used in creating this project, please visit the following links.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/RitaBarakat

https://www.artanthology.net

And be sure to visit the designers listed here, to get even more creative inspiration!

Thank you so much for stopping by on your way through this incredible hop!

Please visit INSPIRE again soon!

Until next time......

Blessings!

A Christmas Blog Hop With Beautiful Farmhouse Inspired Ornaments

Hello Creative Friends!

Welcome to INSPIRE!

Today I want to share with you my recent Christmas creative project, BEAUTIFUL Farmhouse Inspired Ornaments created with products from Canvas Corp Brands, and from my own craft stash.

I want to share with you, that this is also part of a 

Christmas Blog Hop, featuring a host of FABULOUS

artists from the CCB Creative Crew!

Be sure to follow to the end of the of this post, and follow each link to find more inspiration!

My ornaments were totally inspired by the 

Farmhouse Christmas Collection Papers 

by Canvas Corp.

https://shop.canvascorpbrands.com/products/farmhouse-christmas-paper-collection

This collection is nostalgic of vintage farm Christmas's. Just full of delight!

I decided to use acrylic flat round ornaments I purchased at Walmart as my base.

Using the black & white variety of paper, images from from two separate designs for the inside of the ornaments.

The first,I chose a farmhouse truck. I cut out the truck design, cropped the corners slightly to give a rounded edge, and gently rolled the image to place inside the ornament.

Using tweezers, I adjusted it to fit snuggly.

I then added faux snow, and a bit of fine white glitter for shimmer.

I glued the silver cap into place after filling the ornament, and added a remnant fabric piece as a ribbon, some Christmas greenery and pearls to complete the ornament.

I followed the same steps in creating the second ornament, that featured a sentiment from another Farmhouse Collection Paper, adding a tiny red ribbon, and shimmering snow flakes and pearls to the inside of the second ornament. 

Each ornament took only moments to create, and look elegant, with a vintage farmhouse twist.

What inspiration! And so very easy to do!

And now for even more inspiration!

Click on the following names, hop to their blogs, to see more BEAUTIFUL projects created by very talented artists!

Betz Golden

Mary Cat

Karla Yungwirth

Karen Jiles

Ava Gavoski

Thanks so much for visiting today!

Please visit again soon!

Be Blessed!

The Christmas Comes Early Hop With A Christmas Card How To

Hello Creatives & Friends!

Welcome to INSPIRE!

Well, the holiday season is officially upon us, and what better way to get started than with an exciting & inspiring holiday blog hop!

Today is the launch of the 

"Christmas Comes Early Hop"

hosted by Rita Barakat & the 

Rita Barakat Design Team.

This hop is jam packed, guest artists, with holiday inspiration, fun & loads of PRIZES too!!

I invite you to come along!

Be sure to visit ALL the blogs listed below, lets know you visited, and be eligible to win!!!

My creative inspiration for the hop, is a holiday card, inspired by one of the most recent die cut releases by Rita Barakat, the Fairy Tales collection.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/652459073/faitytale-ephermera-alice-red-riding?ref=shop_home_active_2

Upon first seeing the Red Riding Hood die cut, I was inspired to create a "woodsy" themed card.

Why not make it a Christmas card?

And this is how I did it.

I first cut a 6x6 card from heavy cardstock the base.

I decided to layer the background using traditional Christmas colors, green & red. The first layer is a plaid pattern, the top layer, is patterned with little tree's,  and very light splatters of white.

I used various sizes of miniature tree cut-outs, left over from a project last Christmas, which were PERFECT for this card. Using Scrapbook Adhesives 3D Foam Squares to attach each tree.

Following the same concept, I used additional squares to add the Red Riding Hood die cut, after lightly gluing a portion of baker's twine in green, to add the tag greeting.

Once all was in place, I used ScraPerfect's 

Best Glue Ever to go around the tree's & 

Red Riding Hood, followed by some white glitter to add some sparkle to my card.

A perfect, fairytale inspired Christmas card.

How cute is this!

So easy to put together, and made PERFECT 

by Rita's ADORABLE die cut!

Follow the following link to Rita Barakat's Etsy store to see the complete Fairy Tale die cut collection, and so much more!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/RitaBarakat

Remember, to check out ALL the blogs listed here, be sure leave a comment on each blog to be eligible to win prizes!!!

So excited for this hop! A bunch of your favorite designers getting together to bring you Christmas early! 

The artist line up includes :

Rita Barakat https://ritabarakat.com/index.php/2018/11/12/hop-with-us-christmas-comes-early-blog-hop/

Eileen Hull https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eileenhull.com%2F2018%2F11%2Fchristmas-comes-early-blog-hop.html%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR32XFqyIi5oQVBbCEdLwZuAvNH2A9llCB4fA_KglQmqKZjeSKfCLW09XnI&h=AT3hE_eELPfPzxF5E4nhUHM1QbvfXrtItkxSBxcTSkidL1HW6MtFPC2e4bZo44cziL-hNfrFgpTZ5tpMGjeDfZ9kER7srbV_yhoHf59tlCgRiSQlhHk_xtDDypudzovwYhMoX2LM40UV

Betz Golden https://betzgolden.com/2018/11/12/christmas-blog-hop-with-rita-barakat

Joe Rotella https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createncraft.com%2Fportfolio-items%2Fdiy-cookie-box-and-amaretto-apricot-chews-cookie-recipe%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR0N5mrDLPp0Go4oPbHtgSZ9AGV-Oo4dkhWjoYT7pOyohztPXCYaPBXIVK0&h=AT2sKI4b-QNbA8tZzvpX_CK8p4tplTt_OrpCIN8G4UxzTDRJDXPig2APaq5yjGffT-EWnag1Dw-z9CgQuaL1YTMAboPLxv0e8fvx8X00NElGyAzg60RHguiUH0qCpco-DlveGImzN_0V

Yolie Burke http://www.justyolie.com/2018/11/christmas-comes-early-blog-hop.html

Midge and Madge https://www.midgeandmadgemingle.com/blog/christmas-comes-early-hop

Susan Hiles https://youtu.be/Hbs0QK9u-DQ

Carolina Moore https://30minutecrafts.com/2018/11/woven-christmas-ornament.html

Michelle Wells https://histrulybeloved.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-christmas-comes-early-hop-with.html

Candy Rosenburg: https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fcandyscraps.typepad.com%2Fscraps%2F2018%2F11%2Fholiday2018bloghop.html%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR3jTp4GU3pARtAgwMXt2AoqSrDedQMC2CLld6WUxUUGfTaOr0PDTdpPcEo&h=AT21dAS7woPCJmR0ypS0pCzMt6Ygq1zEJmaA_GlIMKvxzGJ_Z72-0pJibyW-VVhN1k5ZX_lu2KiuuGRsKCy9gVW4VRE8E15XrOnpInCbIDNcP2Iio1A9IlHMPmsOzJx8qHoM

Please visit each of the blogs listed above, and leave a comment!

If that isn’t enough we have over $100. In crafty prizes including the entire line of Rita Barakat diecuts/ephemera and fabulous paints and glitters from @plaidcrafts! 

This is going to be awesome!!!

To enter to win you must visit and comment on each post! Bonus, stop by Plaid and like their FB Page! https://m.facebook.com/InspiredByPlaid

You have one week and Rita will announce the winner live on Facebook Monday, Nov 19, 8pm CST on Mixed Media Monday! @ritabarakat1 

https://m.facebook.com/ritabarakat.1

Thanks so much for visiting today!

See ya again real soon!

Be Blessed!

Christmas Comes Early Blog Hop: A Simple Gilded Card Challenge

Hello friends!

I am back again for my second challenge for the 

Christmas Comes Early Blog Hop Party Challenge.

The inspiration for my second challenge is the lovely 

Pink Haired Angel Angel Die Cut from 

Rita Barakat's Angel Wing Die Cut Collection.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/638625652/angel-ephemera-angel-die-cuts?ref=shop_home_active_1&crt=1

Every time I look at these angels, I literally think of a host of songs, both holiday and inspirational, but kept coming  back to the Christmas classic,

"Angels We  Have Heard On High".

I decide to go with a a basic 5x7 card, and add some gold & glitter, and of course soft feathers 

to add to the angel wings.

The gold foil paper, by Rinea, made the perfect

northern star, and some Gold Dew  Drops form the Robin's Nest, gilded stars in the "distance".

https://www.rinea.com/collections/all-products/products/metallics-foiled-paper-variety-pack

https://www.shop.robinsnest-scrap.net/Metallic-Gold-Dew-Drops-dd42.htm?categoryId=-1

I used gold ink, and stamped miniature sheet music in the background, and added gold metallic thread.

Your challenge,

is to create a simple card, layout and design up to you, but add some glitz & sparkle, ANYTHING to give it spark.

Instructions for this challenge:

• Use a basic card
• Add some kind of glitz, bling or sparkle
• If you have Rita Barakat stamps or die cuts, please feel free to use them in this challenge.
• This is not a requirement though, any products or images are just fine. 
• You have one week to complete all challenges and a random winner will be picked for each challenge and announced on Monday Nov 19th on Mixed Media Monday at 8 pm CST at Ritabarakat1 And don't miss a chance to enter our grand prize by participating in our hop starting Mon Nov 12 at 9am est.

Follow these instructions in sharing this
for your chance to win!

When you have completed your project, please share it on the GET CREATIVE WITH RITA BARAKAT Facebook Page post on the original post in the comments and tag your post with challenge name.

Be sure to visit the Christmas Comes Early Blog Hop Event Page on Facebook, and let us know you will be joining us this week for this FABULOUS event.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1751472101642410/

We will have great projects full of inspiration by the talented Rita Barakat Design Team, as well as a host of some of your favorite artists & crafter's in the crafting community.

Did I mention there will also be a chance to win a

"GRAND PRIZE"?

Full of Rita Barakat products, PLAID and additional goodies.

You don't want to miss this!

Thanks for joining the party today, and for visiting the INSPIRE blog.

If you have any questions, or would just like to leave a comment, please do so below.

Hope to see you again real soon!