Falling for Inspiration

I think fall is my favorite time of year.  Day time temperatures are warm but not melting.  Evening brings open windows and thoughts of light sweat shirts to ward off the chill in the air.  Colors that are rich, warm and golden.

For the past two weeks, fall has been but a dream. Triple digits temperatures that only fell to the upper 90's at night.  Humidity that is rare for this part of California.  

Basically, weather that zaps all energy, smiles and creativity.  So, once again, I turned to my Pinterest inspiration board when the need arose for a birthday card for the Toad's grandfather (aka "Big Papa").  This card caught my eye due to the fall theme I was craving.  

My version:

Supplies: 

Paper: Gina K's Pure Luxury in Ivory

Stamps:  CHF 6x6 Vintage Text, Tim Holtz: Falling Leaves, SU Warmest Regards

Inks:  Distress inks, Memento Rich Cocoa

As I finish up this post it would seem that possible the first signs of fall are here!! Cooler temperatures and open windows today! 

'Till next time....................enjoy what makes you happy

Geometric Gelli Print Card

Hi All!!

Just a quick post tonight.  Our day was spent in HORRIBLY HOT, HUMID weather (with included a downpour) while watching the Oldest Kiddo play flag football.  While I only watched from the sidelines, I am drained!! LOL! How these kids can play 2-3 games in this type of weather is beyond me!!

I realized while looking through the cards I have yet to post (YES!! Believe it or not, I'm actually behind in my postings!! You might want to look out your window to see if pigs are flying!) I realized that all the cards that I have shared lately have been birthday cards.  While one can never have too many birthday cards on hand, I find it a bit sad that my creativity of late has been dictated by need versus free flow creativity.

It is what it is.

Another quick card needed for yet another teen boy.  Pulled out my Possibility File (experiments that might have potential)  and found a few similar Gelli plate prints that I die cut into various square sizes.  A few snips, fussing over the placement and Wah-La!! Card was done.

Can I just say that the money I spent on the two sentiment dies from Cottage Cutz was just about the best investment I have made in a long time?!!! I am going to wear these dies out!!

Sorry for the lack of chatting, I need to get the cattle prod out for two Kiddos (and The Toad) who are busy talking about the games today instead of focusing on homework that needs to be done NOW. 

'Till next time................

A 5 Minute Card

Happy Wednesday!!  I've been trying to find the time to post since the weekend, but with the kiddo's now in school full time, time has been spent getting back into the groove of after school sport practices and then directing the focus on homework.

This card was literally a 5 minute card to put together.  Inspiration seemed to have left the building so when another teen boy card was needed at the last minute I went through the pile (quite sadly, that is a literal description) on my desk and came up with this rejected background that was made while I was playing with the stamping with embossing folders technique.   On this particular piece, I believe (ahem.  I am a TERRIBLE detail blogger lately!! I'm guessing here as to what I did!!) I used the Distress Stains again, but this time I actually ran the embossing folder through my Big Shot to emboss the image.  The stains seemed to dissipate, leaving a more blotchy, random look.  I grabbed the piece, trimmed and then using my "old style" label maker, punched out the sentiment and used the mini stapler to add a little extra to the simplicity of the piece.

For the LIFE OF ME, I cannot get a decent photo when I use this label maker!! I don't know if it is the shine of the tape, the shine and combination of the raised lettering, but my camera just can't seem to focus on the whole picture!  Apologies, but hopefully, you get the gist of the idea!!

A splash of color.  Embossed, raised background.  A simple sentiment/embellishment combination. A quick card but for a young teen who was probably more interested in the gift card inside.  Works for me!!  Maybe I should call this reality stamping, LOL!

A 5 minute card and a 5 minute post!!  Laundry and Back to School Night on the agenda now!!

'Till next time...................remember that some times rejections can lead to other opportunities!!

Embossing with Distress Stains

Hey People!!  Can you believe it is the middle of August already?!!  This past week has been dedicated to trying to get this house under some type of order before the Kiddos start back to school next week.  Needless to say, I didn't get as much accomplished as I had hoped, but a couple of steps in the right direction will make the To Do List a bit easier to manage, I hope!!

I am sharing yet another card that uses the stamping with embossing folders technique  that I have used on the last three cards I have shared. On this particular card, I used Distress Stains instead of paint for my background medium.  I also went for a more masculine look, which, if I do say so myself, turned out quite well!

Due to an unfortunate idea gone horribly wrong, I was left with only a portion of my original stained print. I made the best of what I had left and went for a minimalist look.   Rather than leave the panel whole, I cut it into strips to break up the pattern just a bit.  The dies are from Cottage Cutz.  Clean and simple and perfect for a masculine card!!

I apologize for the slightly blurred picture.  Once again, my last minute photo sessions and not downloading immediately to check out the outcome has become my nemesis. 

That's it for me today. I have two cards that need to be made tonight; one for a teenage boy and a baby shower card.  No time to chit chat as one is needed by tomorrow afternoon and the other Monday afternoon.  One would think that I would quit this procrastination creating, LOL!! 

'Till next time...........................

LOOK!! More Butterflies!!

Hello there!!  It's been a bit longer than I had planned between posts, despite the fact that I actually have a couple of cards that I have made and need to share.  Ahhhh!! The joys of being busy!! 

After my last card, it would appear that I had a rough time branching out from the butterfly genre.  I needed another teen card for a young lady mere days following the panic creating for the last birthday celebrations. Those creations can be found here and here, for those of you who may wish to refresh your memories or get a gander for the first time.  

I usually try to create cards that are not overly "girly" for the fairer peeps of my boys, as I would rather they not be embarrassed to give the cards.  

Not to mention that if one is going to embarrass their children, one should be able to see them squirm, am I right?!!

Despite my best efforts this card turned out to be a bit more "girly" than I was aiming for. BUT!! I used the last of my scraps from the papers made for the previous two cards and I got the card done fairly quickly, which in itself, is rather a miracle.

I apologize for the poor lighting of this card.  I took the pictures just before leaving to take the youngest kiddo to the party and didn't have time to download to make sure I had something presentable. You will just have to use some of your creativity to "lighten" the card to a brighter shade!!

As I said, the making of this was fairly simple.  I dug through my hoard and found a box of Glimmer Mist Masks and spritzed with a combination of light pink shades of Glimmer Mists. 

Would someone PLEASE let me know why I even own PINK Glimmer Mists?!!! It is driving me crazy as to why I would have purchased these colors!! But, apparently, I'm using them, so maybe I'm more of a "pink" type of gal than I want to acknowledge! 

The butterflies were die cut using a Tim Holtz die and a Martha Steward punch.  A bit of bling for the bodies.  Stamped the sentiment, adhered the butterflies with rolled glue dots down the center of their bodies so that the wings could be bent and popped up for "flight".  The front panel was cut slightly smaller than the card base and popped up with some dimensionals.

Easy peasy.  

I promise that my next couple of cards will NOT have butterflies, LOL!! In fact, I'd say they are at the opposite end of that spectrum!  

'Till next time................................

Winged Birthday Wishes

Hey there!! Today I thought I would share the second card I made using the same background technique I shared in my last post  but in a different way.  If you followed the link to the video of the technique  you will recall that it was recommended to use water color paper for the background. Call me a rebel a curious soul, but I wanted to see how the technique looked on different papers.  I used a heavier paper, (sorry, I think it was from Walmart.  I no longer have the info on it as it was a NEED STURDY PAPER NOW purchase and I was willy nilly in throwing away the information), along with the water color paper to compare the outcomes.

Recommendations are a good thing.  I liked the outcome of the technique better on the water color paper.  Much crisper image, but if you are looking for a more "water colored" or slightly more imperfect image, try it on card stock.  I'd be interested to see how the images compare from heavier weight to lighter weight card stock too.

Anyhoos!! I decided to use the results from the card stock paper with some punches.

I wanted a very light background paper as the butterflies added quite a bit of pattern on their own.  Again, the card size is a bit larger, 5x5.5" (?).  And I have NO IDEA what retired paper pack I used from my stash on this card as I had pulled out just about every pad I own trying to find a subtle background that wouldn't  distract from the butterflies.  Geesh.  I'm really slipping.  Obviously I'm not pushing any specific products, LOL!! I'm quickly becoming the antithesis of a design team member!!  I DO know that the punches are a combination of Tim Holtz, Martha Stewart and retired Spellbinders.  And the sentiment is retired SU.  Inks are the same as the last card: 

Distress Paints in Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade and Wild Honey.  A mixture of Glimmer Mist Pearl and Luminarte Radiant Rain Pearl Blue. Embossing folder Sizzix Tropical Paisley.

I tried to get a photo of the shimmer on these winged wishes, but I couldn't capture the subtle shimmer. 

More shimmer to come!!

'Till next time.........................I hope you have a fabulous and creative week!! 

Patterns

Believe it or not, I have been trying to get this card posted for over a week now!!  

It would seem that my secretary tends to overbook the calendar. I really need to fire her.  

Oh wait.  That would be me. 

Can one be fired from a job that one doesn't get paid for?

Sigh.

At any rate, I made this card for a fellow paper crafter, who just happens to be our office PR gal. We celebrated her birthday last week.  

I originally had just planned to use another print from this particular paper pack that had these wonderful flocked/raised flowers on it.  I was running short on time and was going to let the paper do all the work for me.

Then, I had a brain freeze and decided to embellish the card myself.

 No, I prefer to think that I took advantage of the excuse of needing to make a card to carve out a bit more creative time.  

Or, I had a brain freeze. 

The 5 inch square card base is Gina K's Pure Luxury 120# in Ivory.  I then ruined utilized several pieces of black paper in my attempts to try and punch out the decorative border, keeping a straight line.  I obviously failed and after the millionth attempt, (only a slight exaggeration, I assure you), I gave up and figured no one would notice the uneven framing of the patterned paper (from an old DCWV paper pack) but me.

The flower was die cut from some bright, rich red metal that a friend gave me.  I could not capture the actual color with my photo or correct with my limited photo editing skills.  The flower was die cut using the Tattered Florals Die.  I used a decorative wheel and the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder to make the pattern and lightly sanded with a burnishing block.  

I had figured out that I could stamp on the ribbon BUT! Alas, another brain freeze attacked and I adhered the flower (with E600 glue, no less) prior to the stamping.  That rendered my trusty stampamajig useless as I could not bend up the petals enough to place the jig where I needed it to make sure my stamping was straight.  After several failed attempts to fashion a more narrow jig from Legos that actually worked correctly, I finally stamped on some velum paper and adhered with velum adhesive to the ribbon.

Note to self:  DO NOT USE YOUR PRECIOUS METAL FOR CO-WORKER'S CARDS!!!  It would seem that when other co-workers are signing the card, they don't appreciate the the delicacy of embellishments.  This poor flower was smooshed, smashed, bent and crumbled every which way!! 

That's it for me today!! I now need to change the creative gears and try to come up with a card for the Oldest Kiddo.  It would seem he needs a b-day card by Friday!!

Nope.  No panicking here!!

'Till next time!

 

Flashback Thursday

Notice how the newest craze on FB is to post flashback photos on Thursday?  Today, I'm posting a birthday card that flashes back in using an oooold SU stamp set, Time Well Spent.

Actually, this card uses some old SU card stock colors also.

And the combination gives a retro, bright, 60's-early 70's look.

I'm just rocking the flashbacks today!!

The pink paper is either SU's Pink Passion or Pixie Pink. Who knows? I never labeled my paper colors and I actually had to look at my SU inks to get the possibilities.  The orange is Only Orange.  

I needed a card for a classmate of  Youngest Kiddo.  This particular girl is new to the class this year and I really don't know much about her personality to give me a clue as to what style of card I should go with. 

 This card took life with the determination to figure out how to use ink sprays (in this case, Tattered Angel's Glimmer Mist in Tuscan Sun and S.W.A.K.) besides just spritzing for general overall glimmer.  I taped down the honeycomb stencil from Heidi Swapp and tried to keep from being too heavy handed or too close with the spraying.  Then I dug through my paper stash and tried to find papers that matched the Glimmer Mists.  

Just a side note.  I am beyond curious as to why I even own a pink colored Glimmer Mist.  It is a well known fact that I am not a "pink" type of gal.  I cannot recall why I would have purchased such a color.  I must have needed it for a specific project. Who knows?!!

I then stamped the flower image from Time Well Spent three times using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  I colored with Copics and cut each layer out and adhered with dimensional tape.  A epoxy dome was place over the center and bling added for extra pop.  The sentiment is also from an old retired SU set; It's Your Birthday.  I used the same Glimmer Mists on the sentiment flags to tone down the intensity of the colors just a bit.  A bit of a clear mist was then spritzed over the flower to tie it all together.

A bit brighter and much more "girly" than I usually make for my boys to give to their female friends, but, in this case, the Youngest Kiddo didn't flinch (much) when he saw it.  

Now to see what I can come up with for yet another female classmate's birthday this weekend!!

Creative Brain Strains

Hey there Peoples!!  I thought I had better pop in before you all assumed I had fallen off the face of the earth!!  Actually, as crazy as life has been around here lately, falling off might be a much needed little vacation! haha!

Creativity lately has been sorting through HUNDREDS (literally) of pictures I have taken of the girls and boys varsity basketball teams this season and editing photos for collages for the coaches and seniors.  It continues to amaze me how many BAD photos I take, LOL!!  I need to take about a million more pictures to figure out my camera settings for the awful lighting in gyms and action shots.

Last weekend I did find the need to create a card for another one of the Oldest Kiddo's classmates. Yes, I said last weekend.  It's been one of THOSE weeks.  

Did I mention that it was for a young lady?

Did you know that  lack of creating + having to make a girly card that isn't too girly for a teen age boy to feel comfortable in giving = major creative brain strain?!!

Despite my incredibly rusty wheels, I managed to get the card done before the Oldest Kiddo needed to leave for his party.  I began by pulling out my Chevron stencil and taping off so that I'd only ink a designated portion onto my card front.  I was trying for an ombre look, so I used a combination of blue and green Distress Inks.

Then I dug out some Pink Paislee, Coffee Filter Words by Christy Tomlinson and die cut several flower layers.  A little sponging of ink, a blingy center brad and a sentiment stamp and I called 'er done.   And yes, it is beyond pathetic how long it took me to get this accomplished.  Seriously People, I spent more time trying to figure out an idea than the actual making of the card took.  Pathetic.  That's all I can say.  Pathetic.  

I should take this moment to apologize for the less than stellar lighting of this card.  I finally finished making the card after dark and was just too dang tired (and lazy) to dig out my photo tent and lights.  Trust me.  I won't let that happen again.  

A little side note:  when I showed the Oldest Kiddo the card (after struggling with it for quite a while) he didn't look that thrilled.  When I questioned further, his response was "Would it be really hard to change the colors to purple and gold?  The party is a combination birthday/Superbowl party and her favorite team is the Vikings.

Uhhhh.  Sooooo not happening Kiddo!! 

That's about it for me today.  I've actually have another project sitting on my desk as I type, just waiting for me to finish up.  Hopefully, I'll have that up and posted before the month's end, LOL!!

'Till next time!!

Birthday Vine

Hello there Peoples!!  I hope you had a wonderful Day of Thanksgiving yesterday!! I actually spread out Thanksgiving over the past week.  Youngest Kiddo and I went back to Colorado and spent 4 days with family.  Got home late Monday night, and have been trying to play catch up since!!

I missed my chance to say "Thanks" to those of you who stop in, browse and comment. But, I believe it is never too late to say "Thanks" so please know that I appreciate each and every one of you who do take the time from your busy schedules to visit this little ol' blog!!

Today's card is the last of the cards I made a few weekends back.  I'd like to say that I got out of my stuck in a rut, stuck in a rut layout, but alas!  I'm afraid that this layout is just a CAS (clean and simple) version of cards One and Two!!

Details:  card base is Gina K's Pure Luxury Ivory, 5.5" square.  Design Paper is My Mind's Eye Madison Avenue that was sponged along the edges with Distress Ink in Vintage Photo.  The flourish is Sizzix Flourish 2, that was die cut from SU Chocolate Chip and spritzed with various Glimmer Mists (sorry, it was a grab and spray type of thing and I forgot to note which ones I grabbed and sprayed!!).  The little flower petals were punched from an old SU punch (has 3 little flowers on in).  I sponged slightly in the middle with a Q-tip with Distress Ink Warm Lipstick and shaped with a stylus and mouse pad.  The little 1/2 self adhesive pearls are from my stash. The sentiment is from SU's retired stamp set It's Your Birthday and was stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa. 

That's about it for me today!! I have the goal of starting to put out my Christmas decorations this weekend and need to do some preparation cleaning first!!

'Till next time.............................

Gelli Circles

Yesterday I was needing to make a card for a 13 y/o boy's birthday.  I had a very CAS (clean and simple) idea floating in my head and was certain that making the card would be quick and easy.

Don't you just hate when reality decides that you need to be brought back down to earth?!

First, I discovered that I didn't have the correct sized sentiment stamp for the visual impact that I was wanting to achieve.  Then I wasted  spent an absurd amount of time going through my stash of junk supplies trying to find something else that might make the original idea still a possibility. 

The good news: I "found" lots of supplies that I had forgotten I had and look forward to pulling them out and playing with them!

The bad news:  I own NO SUPPLIES to make teenage boy cards. 

Okay.  That was a lie.  But, keep in mind that I was on a time deadline to get the card done in just a short amount of time so that the Youngest Kiddo could give it to his friend after school let out. And Fridays are always half days.  Time was a tickin' !!!

I had just come to the conclusion that I had forgotten how to make cards, specifically cards for young teenage boys, when inspiration hit while thumbing through my file of "possibilities" (the file that I keep of technique prints that didn't make the cut for some project, but I liked enough to file for another day). 

Ahhhh!! I so love it when an idea comes together!!

I pulled out a bright "fall" colored Gelli Print and actually garnered up the nerve to cut it into circles using a variety of sizes of Spellbinders Classic Circles.

Then it was a matter of arranging, rearranging and just commit already! 

I debated on the sentiment for quite a while.  I REALLY  liked the card front without it and thought about just stamping the sentiment inside. But, somewhere I got this ridiculous notion that a card HAS to have a sentiment on the outside.  

I need to get over that.

Luckily, the different height of the circle layer on the base layer only caused a little blip with the stamping of the sentiment.  It rather annoys me, but I highly doubt that the birthday boy will even notice it!!

Geometric shapes with the slight patterns of a Gelli Print.  PERFECT combination for those cards needed for teen boys!! 

'Till next time.............. 

Using Up My Gelli Print Scraps

Hey People!!  Amazing how quickly time flies! I can't believe it has been three weeks since I last posted. I don't know why that surprises me.  One would think that by now I'd realize that posting on a somewhat regular basis is sooo not going to happen!! LOL!  

Oldest Kiddo was invited to spend this long weekend at a friend's house to celebrate said friend's 16th birthday.  Originally, I had an idea that actually came to me while trying to fall asleep one night, but, as the creative karma would have it, I happened to see a scrap of the Gelli Print that I made for the eP Birthday Bash.  

So the dreamland idea went out the window (in favor of just getting the card done) and a somewhat quick card was made from the Gelli Print scrap.

Look familiar?!!  Yeah, I really didn't venture much from the journal cover made in the last post.  But, what can I say?!! I REALLY liked the look and it seemed perfect for a 16 y/o boy!!

Did I mention a "somewhat" quick card? 

The scrap piece of Gelli print did not have any of the black paint accents on it.  Since I had pulled the print using a self adhesive laminating sheet, which, is a slick surface, I had to do a bit of experimenting to see what medium would best "stick" to the slick surface.  I know I could have stamped with Stazon ink, but I confess, I was sooo afraid that I would mess up the stamping and ruin my one little scrap piece!! 

Mediums tried:  A very THICK layer of Wendy Vecchi's black embossing paste.  I was hoping to use a stencil I had for the numbers and it is made of a very thick plastic (more for hand lettering, not actual stenciling).  Then a THIN layer of the black embossing paste.

Then I tried Claudine Hellmuth's black paint.

And a basic sharpie.

The paint won.

I felt that the embossing paste was too easy to scrap off.  While I could scrap off the paint with my fingernail, it took a bit more work. And the sharpie just rubbed right off (which didn't really make sense, but maybe I didn't let it dry enough).

So, using the same TCW stencils as I did on the journal cover, I added some accents with black paint.  I could not find a die cut of numbers that fit the style of this card.  I tried to cut out my own layered numbers from paper, but I did not like the uneven lines I got with fussy cutting.  Finally, I dug through my stash of stuff and found some grunge paper elements. I painted the numbers with Claudine's black paint, smooshed them in a Versa Mark pad and embossed with fine black embossing powder.

That's it for me today!! I actually have another little "scrap" project in the works, so hopefully, I'll be back sooner than later!! And of course, there is still the dreamland idea!! 

'Till next time............have a fabulous and creative week!!

Using Up Some of Those Hoarded Supplies

Helllllo!! Well, summer is officially over now as the Kiddo's started school this past week. Now, I get the pleasure of trying to figure out three different schedules again!! The sport practices are what throw me for a loop!! All three boys are involved in one or two different sports, so keeping track of who is where and when can get my head a spinnin', LOL!

I needed to come up with yet another masculine teenage birthday card this weekend.  Of course, MoJo decided to throw a little fit since I've neglected her for a while and decided not to cooperate when I needed her most! Go figure!! You would think that by now I'd realize that I am not one of those who can just turn on the "WOW" creative juices on a whim!! I need to keep that line dripping at all times or it takes a while to get the wheels turning again!!

I had a very vague idea floating in my head, but have to admit that the supplies (or lack of) dictated that I forge a different route.  While not the direction I would have preferred to go, given my last minute ahem! deadline and lack of MoJo, I'm thankful that I got a card made and used up a bit of of chipboard pieces that I have had in my stash forevah!!!

I started with some Pure Luxury card stock in Ivory, because much to my dismay, I discovered that I'm out of white!! YIKES!! I dripped a couple of drops of Distress Shabby Shutters and Tumbled Glass on my craft sheet and spritzed with water.

Using an old toothbrush I splattered the watered down ink on the front of my card.

I did a little sponging around the edges of the card with Distress Ink Vintage Photo.  I then decided to keep things simple and adhered some old DCWV chipboard embellishments and idea-ology alpha parts Ransom numbers that I swiped with Distress Paint in Picket Fence.

Not necessarily a WOW card, but it rated a "That's cool" from the Youngest Kiddo, so that must count for something!!

Now I just need to keep that trickle of ideas going!!

'Till next time.................hope you have a creative week!!

Splattered Birthday

One of my goals for this year is to actually use the supplies I already have in my overwhelming stash versus buying the newest version that has come out.  I have to say that overall I have been successful, but it does require some serious pondering when one has an inspiration but lacks the supplies to accomplish the look.

I needed a card for a 12 y/o boy this past weekend and really liked this card by Heather Campbell.   I lack owning any "splattered" stamps or stencils.  I experimented with some alcohol inks and Distress Ink refills and a can of compressed air (the type you use to clean off your computer keyboard).  I finally settled on the Distress Ink splattered look.

I dropped Distress Reinkers in Tumbled Glass, Shabby Shutters and Barn Door onto Pure Luxury card stock and "splattered" by spraying the drops with the compressed air. I then wet a small paint brush with water and dipped it into another drop of Barn Door reinker and tapped it against my hand to get the smaller splatters. Stamped the sentiment (from SU's retired It's Your Birthday) using Archival Jet Black ink. Rounded the corners using a punch and matted onto a scrap of Riding Hood Red paper.  Base is Pure Luxury.

Clean, simple and quick!! Can't complain about that! LOL!

That's about it for me today!! I am seriously behind in my mile challenge with my cousins so I need to crank out the miles this week!  School starts the end of next week and there are about a million little chores to get done before the big day!!  Oh! Some days I seriously need a clone!

'Till next time.................

The Process of Creating

The Oldest Kiddo has been invited to a classmate's 16th birthday bash this weekend, which resulted in a swift kick in the rear to clear off enough space on my desk to make a card.  To make it more of a challenge, the party is in honor of a lovely young lady.  

Eeeaaak.  A sweet 16 card that can't be so girly that my son is uncomfortable in giving her the card.  

During the process of creating this card, I made an enlightening discovery.

It is now understandable as to how I can take HOURS creating a simple card and have a huge mess made in the process.

I thought I share just a teeny tiny behind the scene look as to how my brain functions when I create. I will spare you the complete process, as I'd hate to put anyone's creative mojo into shock.

The Sweet 16 celebration is to take place at the beach and the invitation had a wonderful color combination of soft sea green and a blue/teal, which I used as my starting point.  Went through all my "beach" stamps and decided that they were either too cutesy or not what I envisioned for a 16 year old.  Pulled out a couple of old SU retired stamps and had the idea to go a bit more trendy with a more geometric type look.

I then pulled out some distress inks and smooshed (technical term) them randomly on my craft sheet and spritzed with some glimmer mist.

Nope. Didn't like the look today.

Then I took Glimmer Mists in Honey Dew and Patina and spritzed on my craft sheet.  Smooshed (that technical term again) my paper in the mist and came up with a background that I liked.

PERFECT soft, sea foam look I was going for!! 

Then I stamped the sketchy circles from SU's retired So Much set using Memento Rich Cocoa ink.  Added the circle dot stamp with Distressed Tumbled Glass.

And here is the final project

Did your head spin 360 degrees?!!

Yeah.  This is how my brain works.  I start out with one idea, then I go off on a completely different path!  

After I got the first basic background done, I die cut the numbers and wasn't feeling the groove. Dragged out several different paper packs and nothing was bringing that background to life. Mind you, this is after cutting SEVERAL different colors of card stock for the base and matting layer thinking that would help the creative flow.  Nothing was flipping that "OH YEAH" trigger.  I think the background had turned out too grungy or masculine for this particular young lady.  So, I started messing with different ideas on scratch paper (I'm a slow learner). I liked the sketchy circle, I just had to find a way to use it in a more feminine way.  Finally, the idea to use SU markers in Rose Red and Old Olive randomly on the stamp clicked with the die cut numbers. First tried making the flower in a solid red, but didn't like that.  Went with the basic white with a bit of Rose Red sponging on the edges.  Stamped the sentiment in Old Olive, cut the flag banner by hand and sponged the edges and curled it.  Got everything all layered for Oldest Kiddo's approval before final taping was done.

Oldest Kiddo;"Oh. That's cool. Thanks Mom."

Showed him the original background.

Oldest Kiddo; makes weird face. "Nah. I don't like that one as much. It doesn't fit *L and I think it is too busy.  I like the white better."

Smacking my head.

Details:  Card base and white layers:  Gina K pure luxury card stock. DP:  Basic Grey Sweet Threads. Stamps:  SU (retired) So Much and Celebrate Everything. Inks:  SU Rose Red, Old Olive.  Dies:  Spellbinder's/Donna Salazar Rose Creations.  Tim Holtz/Sizzix Word Play.  

'Till next time.........let the creative path lead where it may!

Round and Round...

.....the hands on the clock continue to fly! OH MY!!

The household is still adjusting to adding another teenager to the mix.  Funny, the Newest Kiddo drives himself to school, does his own laundry, makes his own lunches, but, yet, there is more time spent going grocery shopping, following up on school work, going grocery shopping, following up on whereabouts, going grocery shopping, following up with teacher's, going grocery shopping.

Not to mention more friends hanging out after school on Friday's.  Which is fun.  And noisy.

I still haven't gotten my crafting area set up.  I have SO MUCH JUNK  craft supplies that need to be gone through, purged, or boxed up to be given away. The thought is rather overwhelming, and so, I look for any little distraction to keep procrastinating facing the task full on.  I just keep picking at it instead.  Yes, continue to stay tuned.  I'm thinking big ol' blog candy boxes are going to be hitting the post office soon.  

And no crafting area means no creating.  BUT! Lucky, lucky you!  I have a card I made just prior to the Christmas holidays to share today.

It would appear that all teenage birthday celebrations are to be last minute. And since this particular celebration happened two days before I hosted Christmas Eve dinner for the family, quick, clean and simple were the only options for the makings of this card.

Basic details:  Top fold 4.25x5.5" Pure Luxury card base.  TenSecond Studios Peacock metal embossed with embossing folder.  Burnished off the color of the metal on the raised portions.  Adhered to base with TSS Humungo tape.  Stamped the sentiment from a retired SU set.  Slapped an iTunes gift card on the inside and sent the Oldest Kiddo off to the party!!

While this card was made for a teenage boy, switching out the metal color, maybe adding a little bling on the sentiment flag and wahla!! Teenage girl card!!

Okay. I am going to FORCE myself to face the pile of crap craft supplies for at least an hour.  

Or, maybe I'll go exercise, clean the kitchen, mop floors instead.

hehe

'Till next time...................

Vintage Rose

October 30.  Uhhh.  It would seem that I feel off the edge of the earth for a little bit!

In reality, while I haven't been crafting, I have been creating.

For the Annual Fall Fair:
250oz of homemade caramel.
150oz of Apple Pumpkin Spice dip.
Two pans of brownies, and 100 dipped S'mores marshmallows.

Before I even recovered from that tornado that hit my kitchen, I became "General Mom" and went into over drive, barking orders to the troops, aka The Toad and Kiddo's, to get a layer off the house to host a part for  the Oldest Kiddo's class that got changed to our house at the last minute.

This week, I TOTALLY went the opposite direction of being productive.

Unless you count the four books that I have finished since Sunday afternoon.  Which, for me personally, was a wonderful escape.

But I have warned myself that the mini book vacation is now over.  Time to snap myself back to reality.

My first reality check came in the form of a needed birthday card for my mother in law.  Whose birthday was actually on Tuesday, but will be celebrated tonight.

So, being the Queen of Procrastination, I waited until today to start thinking about it.

While the card took a bit of a different turn than I had originally started out with, I'm happy with the end results.  The card is kicked up a notch from CAS (clean and simple) but not too BAM! Does anyone besides me remember Emeril's cooking show?!

One of my goals this past year has been to use the vast amount of supplies that I already have, versus buying anything new.  I did break down a couple of months ago and bought Donna Salazar's Rose Creations, but justified the purchase with the knowledge that it was TWO YEARS ago released and has been on my wish list since!! 

Basic Details:  Card base is Pure Luxury Ivory (Gina K).  Designer paper is K&Company (oooold, from my stash), Spellbinder dies used for all the die cutting.  Stamp is from SU's retired It's Your Birthday. Tattered Angel's Glimmer mist in Vanilla Bean gives a slight shimmer to the rose.  Rose edges were sponged in Distress ink Victorian Velvet.  Leaves were sponged with Distress Peeled Paint while still in the die.  Bottom corners rounded with 1/2" corner rounder. 

'Till next time................remember to take time to explore some type of creativity, whether it be something that you create or the creative works of others!

Twisted Birthday

I don't know what the weather is like where you are, but here, it seems more like late spring than fall.  Earlier in the week we had a glimpse of fall weather.  Yesterday, it was cool in the morning, then got to a nice mid to upper 70 level.  Today is suppose to be in the upper 80's.

I'm talking 86 plus degrees.  I don't think that is fall weather!  I'm ready for cooler temps that call for hot chocolate and warm soup in the evening.

But, I'll take upper 80's over mid 40's any day! haha!!

Since I don't think you dropped by to chat about the weather, I'll get to the card I'm going to share.  I actually made this card last week.  I've been debating whether or not to share it since.

Do you ever put unreasonable pressure on yourself to produce "WOW, BEAUTIFUL, AMAZING" cards  for your blog posts?  There are so many wonderful designers out there who seem to churn out one amazing card after the other.  Their creativity never seems to dry up.

I am NOT one of those designers.  Seriously.  I'm not looking for "this is fabulous, I don't know what you are complaining about comments".  I am in a creative funk.  There is no "WOW" creative thoughts coming out of my noggin. I decided to share the card because this is real life.  "AMAZING, WOW, FABULOUS" does not always happen.  Sometimes, creativity is only SIMPLE. BASIC.  FITS THE NEED.

And that is perfectly OKAY.  I'm giving myself, and if you need it, a break from the sometimes unrealistic goals we set for ourselves.  SIMPLE. BASIC. FITS THE NEED.

 I needed to make another last minute birthday card for a friend of the Oldest Kiddo.
Question:  is it only my children's teenage friends that decided the day before that they want to have friends over to celebrate their birthdays?  I now keep a stack of Game Stop and iTune gift cards on hand for these last minute celebrations!!  Since the Great Creative Funk of 2012 is still in it's prime, I was at a complete loss as to what new and exciting way I could make a birthday card from the same themes of interest of the birthday kid has had over the past 3-4 years (that would be basketball, music or Xbox). I saw a clever fold on one of my blog cruises and tucked it away in the brain files for later use.

This is a Twisted card fold.  The tutorial on the making of this fold can be found here. Since the die cut basketball is almost 3 3/4" across, I had to adjust the size of my base cuts. I believe my base was 6 x 12".  I made a couple of stabs at getting the base the right size to fit to basketball and still fit the envelope.  And since it was over a week ago since making the card, my brain has totally forgotten what the final outcome was.  

Sigh.  

I think this would have looked better with some type of sentiment flag.  But then the front started to look crowded.  So I skipped it.  

A helpful hint for this card. Use double sided design paper. My design paper was single sided.  That meant that I had to use another sheet of paper and reverse the cuts to get the inside panels.  Since my brain is not functioning at a high level of creativity, this took some extra brain power to figure out! haha!

Basic details:  12x12 chocolate chip base.  Design paper from LSS that I have had in my stash forever.  Basketball die is from Quikutz and was made from Dusty Durango paper and sponged with either Close to Cocoa or Creamy Caramel.  I had the basketball die cut for a couple of years for yearly basketball season notes on classroom doors.  Recycling!!

Simple. Basic.  Got the job done.  Sometimes, that is all one can ask of oneself. 

'Till next time....

Using Maps

I get lost easily.  I absolutely have NO sense of direction.  While a college student, my "friends" would find it funny to lead me out a different door from the many buildings on campus and watch me try to figure out which way I needed to go.  

I swear I am the only person who can get lost while using a GPS.

But despite the fact that I have no idea where I am going (in more ways than one!), I have gotten better at knowing the general direction in which to head.

But I still print out maps and try to follow someone else if I possibly can.

I continue to be lost as far as having any "original" ideas for creating.  It is what it is.  Life is just too busy right now and I can't seem to push myself to explore a new direction.  I'm not really fretting over it.  I know the general direction that I would like to go. I just have to figure out which doorway I'm starting at.

In the mean time, I'm not above using what "maps" I can find to help me on my way.  I needed a birthday card for The Toad's grandfather and wanted something simple, as in, requiring very little thinking on my part!
I found this sketch from an old SCS sketch challenge (June 7, 2011) and it got me to a CAS finished project in time for the family celebration.

click on photo for larger image

Basic details:  Base is Pure Luxury Ivory, 5.5" square.  Timepiece Collection design paper from Bo Bunny. Some sponging along the edges with Distress Gathered Twigs.  Sentiment is oooold SU Warmest Regards stamped with SU's Cranberry Crisp ink.  After I took this photo and was editing, I decided that the card needed three more self adhesive black pearls under the "Happy" to balance the card better.  Just use your imagination on that.  I literally applied the extra pearls as I was putting the card in the envelope while walking out the door! LOL!

That's it for me today! I'm trying to take advantage of a rare day off from work to tackle the laundry and find my kitchen counters!!

'Till next time........remember there is no shame in using a map to reach your destination!!

Camouflage

Can you believe it?!  It's been less than a week (okay, I admit it, I'm scrapping the edge on that one!) AND! I'm posting again!!

Quick!  Someone grab the camera just in case pigs are flying!

ANYHOOS!  After surviving the traumatic ordeal of making a teenage GIRL card, I was able to get back into a more comfortable creative zone.  I needed to make a card for the youngest kiddo's birthday.

Now, while I am more at ease in making masculine cards, here is the reality check that I am dealing with lately; it would seem that my kiddo's and their friends are getting into a "rut" as to what their interests are.  When they were younger, each year was a different interest:  the latest action hero, DS (remember those?! snort), wild animals, race cars, Bionicles, etc.  Now, it is narrowed down to guitars/music, basketball, cross country with a bit of Air Soft thrown in for the oldest and basketball, Air Soft and Xbox for the youngest. Problem is, I have already made cards with those interests for a couple of years running now!  EEAAAKKK!  People!  There are only so many "YOU ROCK" cards one can make for the same kid!! LOL!

Since the Youngest Kiddo was receiving a new Air Soft gun for his birthday, I went with a "Commando/military" theme.  I pretty sure I still had some left over camouflage design paper left over from a previous project. Turned out I was sadly mistaken.  So, I pulled out a pale green paper, that I think might possibly be some old SU Mellow Moss, some Copic markers, a picture from the Internet of Camouflage patterns and made my own.

remember: you can always click on the picture for a larger view. 

Disclaimer:  IRL there did NOT appear to be all the streaks from the markers.  I keep staring at this picture, stare at the card, shake my head and just let out a sigh.  

The HARDEST part of this card is the dog tag.  I have had these dog tags in my stash for evah!!!  O...M...G!!! Pulled out the Stazon ink, found the Happy Birthday stamp in my forgotten stash of PTI (I only own a few sets from when PTI first started producing stamps...this is from the Borders and Corners, Rectangles set) and LITERALLY stamped the image AT LEAST  20 times before I got a half way decent impression.  I don't know if it was because I was trying to use a clear stamp and Stazon on the slick surface or what. I would either smudge the impression by slipping when putting pressure on the stamp or the stamp would stick, and I mean STICK to the tag and when gently pulled off, and would pull the ink off too, leaving a wonderful HUGE blotch, larger than the SMALL blotch I finally settled for!! I finally decided that this is a "worn out tag", applied the chain, strategically placed rolled glue dots to hold it in place and called the thing DONE!!  Originally, I had planned on stamping another tag with the Youngest Kiddo's initials and add it to the chain that he could then wear.  Uhhhh. NO.  After trying to get this ONE image stamped somewhat decently, I decided that this was IT!!  

Basic details:  Card base from SU's Chocolate Chip cut to 5.5" square.  Basic black mat.  Custom camouflage paper.  Tag, from stash.  Stamp: PTI (I don't know if they even sell this set anymore...it was THAT long ago I bought it!!)

That's about it for me today!! I actually made another card last weekend too!! I'll pop that up here in a day or so.  I'm dragging out the posts as long as I can, LOL! 

'Till then..............enjoy some creativity this weekend!!