Blueberry Pie Painted Rock

Does this look like a blueberry pie? I hope so. It definitely doesn't taste like a blueberry pie. Not that I've tasted it. If I did, it would taste like a rock. And paint.  

When I first saw this disc-shaped rock, I thought it looked like a pie. So I painted it to be a blueberry pie, which happens to be the state dessert of Maine. Affiliate links below. 

Blueberry Pie Painted Rock

Materials:

• a clean, disc-shaped rock
• Ohuhu Nahuku markers
• Folk Art paint - Yellow Ochre
• brown ink pad
• mini ink blending brush
• brown colored pencil 

Steps:

Use a light blue paint pen to make dots randomly across the entire front of the rock. Use a dark blue paint pen to draw smaller dots on top of those dots. You should mostly fill the space, but leave tiny bits of rock showing through. I colored the sides of my rock black, but in retrospect, that was completely unnecessary, so skip that. 

Paint the sides of the rock with yellow ochre (yes, completely covering the black that doesn't need to be there.) When it is dry, brush it with brown ink to give it some varigation. Then paint vertical lines to form the first part of the lattice. 

Add horizontal lines to complete the lattice. When the paint is dry, use the ink and a mini blending brush to darken every other intersection. This will help give the illusion that the lattice work is woven. 

When the ink dries, use the colored pencil to draw tiny lines around the outside edge to mimic the crimp marks made by a fork. Then you'll have a blueberry pie that looks good enough to eat! But don't. It's still a paint-covered rock. 

I will be taking the next two weeks off as I spend time with both sides of the family. I'll be back with more posts on December 1. 

The Lab

On paper, we have a 3-car garage. In reality, it is a 0-car garage. Instead, it is a workshop and electronics lab. While I miss parking in the garage when it's raining or 100°+ outside, having a lab in our garage makes it possible for Steve to work from home. And that's way more important to me than parking in the garage. 

The Lab (affiliate link)

This is the third layout I made for the final game of the 2025 BYSS World Series. I earned four points for the Banshees: one point for the specialty paper I used in the background, 1 point for journaling, 1 point for using inks (to color the gears, that started as raw chipboard), and 1 point for taking inspiration from Rebecca Stewart Arceneaux. I liked the way she used different colors of horizontal paper under her photo; I translated that into a spot for my journaling. 

It's not official yet, but it looks like Twisted Scissors will sweep the Scrappin' Banshees 3-0. Darn. We'll get 'em next time!

CHS Band

Steve and I had such a good time traveling to Spokane to watch Aiden perform at the Pacific Northwest Marching Band Championships. 

 

CHS Band (affiliate link)

This was the second layout I made for Game Three of the BYSS World Series. This time, I was inspired by the title of this page by Angie Feldman. I like the way she used the high school's initials on a tag above the rest of the title. I created a CHS banner on PicMonkey, cut it out with microtip scissors, then added it above BAND. 

In addition to the point for the inspiration, I earned points for using a specialty paper (the background is embossed and glittery), journaling, and an outdoor element (the football field sticker). That's a total of four more points for the Banshees. 

Trick-or-Treat 2025

Dressing in a chemist costume and greeting trick-or-treaters this Halloween was so much fun! 

Trick-or-Treat 2025 (affiliate link)

This was the first layout I made for Game 3 of the BYSS World Series. Unfortunately, my team (Scrappin' Banshees) lost again last week. While we won't be winning the Series, I'm hoping that we can get on the board this week and not lose in a sweep. This is the week's assignment: 

My layout earned four points for the Banshees. The NovMember prompt asked us to get inspiration from any element of any BYSS member's layout, other than the color or design of the layout. I chose to use the embellishment cluster in the bottom right corner of this page by Lisa Angie Miller. Hers is a smily face, a layered button, and the year '21; mine are two pumpkins (with smily faces) and the year '25. And some candy corn. 

  

My other three points come from including journaling, using specially textured paper (my background paper is embossed), and including an outdoor element (bat stickers). Go Banshees!

Chipboard Fiddle Craft

Have you ever wondered about the difference between a violin and a fiddle? The short answer is that they are the same instrument, played in a different way for classical and jazz music (violin) versus country and bluegrass (fiddle). The long answer is a lot more complicated. Since the fiddle has been named the state instrument of Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and South Dakota, I thought it would be fun to design a craft based on this instrument. If you need a violin craft, just follow the same directions! 

Before I get to the tutorial, here I am holding my fiddle to give you a sense of scale. Obviously, you can make it as large or small as you want. 

Chipboard Fiddle Craft

Materials:

• fiddle image (below)
• chipboard
• binder clips
• microtip scissors
• Folk Art paint (Pure Black, Yellow Ochre, Autumn Leaves)
• brown ink pad
• black felt pen
• black ballpoint pen
• pencil
• paper piercer
• 3 mm gold brads or gold pearls
• craft glue

Steps: 

Print the image of the fiddle in the same size you want your finished project. Using scissors, separate the neck of the fiddle from the body. You now have two pattern pieces. 

Use the binder clips to attach the pattern pieces to chipboard. Carefully cut out each one, moving the binder clips as necessary. 

Cut out three more pieces from the scraps of chipboard: the bridge, the chinrest, and the tailpiece. You should have five pieces total. 

Paint the neck of the fiddle black. Extend the paint into the center of the pegbox. Rinse the brush. Mix a dash of Autumn Leaves into Yellow Ochre, stirring until it is mostly combined but not completely. Paint the body of the fiddle from top to bottom (no sideways strokes) to mimic the grain of the wood. The slight color variation will help it look more realistic. 

Paint the pegbox next, allowing some of the black to mix with the wood color. Then paint the scroll and pegs. Finally, paint the bridge, chinrest, and tailpiece. Let the paint dry completely. 

Tape the two pattern pieces back together. Use this technique to transfer the location of the F-holes to the painted chipboard, then color them in with the black felt pen. 

Use the brown inkpad to ink around the edges of all of the pieces. 

Use the ballpoint pen to emphasize the pegs and the edges of the pegbox. Draw a line across the top of the tailpiece. Then poke four holes below the line and add the brads. (Or just glue pearls in place and skip the holes. Much faster!)

Using the pattern as a guide, glue the neck, bridge, tailpiece, and chinrest in place. Draw the four strings with a pencil. 

I am really pleased with how my fiddle turned out. It was a fun challenge to try to figure out how to make it. On to the next project!