Stationary Gift Set

Howdy, crafty friends (and non-crafty friends)!  Happy 4th of November from sunny Texas!  It is 86 degrees today; it was in the 50's a couple days ago and tomorrow is supposed to be 91!  Crazy weather!  And... my AC/heat is broken... parts on order, blah, blah!  Okay, rant over!

I came across this adorable stationary gift set/box on You Tube.  There are multiple tutorials out there; I followed the one on Maymaymadeit.com.

I used the Coral Couture paper stack from DCWV from Michaels or JoAnns.  It's been in my stash forever.  I used black cardstock (65lb for the mats and 110 lb for the box frame itself.  The only other things I used were some Tombow Multi adhesive and Art Glitter Dries Clear adhesive.  I did use my EZ Runner Grand tape runner for the cards.  I fussy cut the bottom of the box front and inked it in a coral chalk ink.  I added a cellophane butterfly to the front, from my stash. I think it came out great!  Thanks for looking!

The front of the box with the lid on.

 This is what the box looks like opened.

This shows the open box and everything that comes in it - 6 A2 cards, 6 - 3x3" cards, 6 gift tags.  You can also see the blue post it note pad and barely see the tiny pocket next to it for postage stamps.

The A2 Cards.  I popped up the center piece on all but one and added some pearls and bling to most of them.

 The Gift Tags.  I matted them and used a Stampin Up punch for the center.  Punched a hole and threaded some trim.

The 3x3 cards.  For these and the A2, I used the cut outs from the paper collection.

Mixed Media Paintings

Hello creative people!  I've been following Mimi Bondi, https://mimibondi.com, on her website and You Tube. I love how she works with color!  I bought her book "No Shenanigans!" and it is filled with glorious eye candy and really detailed instructions. If you're a beginner in mixed media or someone with experience that just wants to try some very specific techniques, I highly recommend her book. She also has a video class available.

Here's a picture of one of the lessons I completed. I added some of my own "touches", which she recommends, so it didn't look exactly like hers.

Below is another painting I've started.  Its on a 16 x 20" canvas which is a stretch for me!  I started with some of the Tim Holtz picture strips of the found relatives, the ones that come in a strip of 3.  I cut them apart and glued them randomly around the canvas.  I added paint in red, pink, turquoise with a little lime green.  I added some bubble-like stenciling with heavy gel and dried it with a heat gun causing it to bubble up even more.  I carved a new rubber stamp, a sort of wavy spiral and stamped it in black and gold randomly around the page, being sure to go off the edges of the canvas at times.   Then stencilled some birds from Dyan Reaveley's bird stencil in black archival or stazon ink and used another stencil with white modeling paste.  I also used a tree stencil with Stazon red ink in each corner.  This one isn't finished yet, but its on a break until I am duly inspired for what it needs next!

Cards with limited supplies

Greetings!  Thought I'd share some cards I made this week!  I challenged myself by choosing a few pieces of scrapbook paper from a few different 6x6 pads, most having a vintage feel.  I had also purchased some embossed 12x12 cardstock at Tuesday Morning that I wanted to use as card bases.  I had also bought some new embossing folders and used some coated papers to test those, adding some inks to highlight the embossing.  I had some ribbon that I had temporarily stashed in a container before relegating it to its color coded container.  I added my scrap paper organizer for solid color mats and my container of bling, my ATG gun and some pop dots and voila!  If I decorated the inside of the card, I've included a picture of that as well.

Would love to hear your comments!

Horse Themed Mini Album

Hello out there!  It has been so, so long since I posted to this blog!  I could list a bunch of reasons, but I'll keep it short.  I've been dealing with some significant pain in my hip and back over the last year - hasn't been at all fun, but there have been many serendipities!  The back issues are being managed with regular exercise; I'm in the best physical shape in years which really helped my recovery from a total hip replacement and subsequent emergency surgery due to a very large hematoma under the incision (7 days in the hospital!  Yikes).  Its been several weeks now and I am well on the mend!

I just have to comment on the wonderful support I've had from friends.  One in particular who flew up from Florida to stay with me during the first surgery and take care of me and the pups (Bless you, Barbara!).  Another whose timing was so perfect she was with me when the ambulance came prior to the second surgery (Bless you, Dianne!).  And another, relatively new friend who came to my house twice a day to care for and play with Lillie and Gideon - cannot imagine what I would have done without her (Bless you, Jeri!)!  And thanks too to my family and friends who called and commented with so much support on facebook and via texts.  I have never felt so incredibly fortunate.

The last amazing serendipity is about Gideon - I'm going to do a post on the pups cuz they are so darn cute, but in a nutshell:  Gideon joined our family a year ago last March and, although unknown to us at the time, came with some fear reactivity issues.  He is on anti-anxiety meds and we have done a lot of positive reinforcement training and he is doing so much better.  However, when people would come over, he would get very concerned and bark a lot; I would usually have to put him in the bedroom where he just felt safer.  Well, upon Barb's arrival, Gideon was so smitten with her, I was afraid I would have to check her suitcase before she left!  And then Jeri sat on the floor and played with him all the days I was hospitalized.  Then there were nurses and Physical Therapists at the house in the subsequent weeks and Gideon has realized that people are usually pretty darned OK and goes up to everyone for pets and kisses!  What an incredible blessing this has all been!  We're still working on what he thinks about other dogs!

Okay, on with the creativity!  I've been working for months on a mini-album (although there isn't a whole lot "mini" about it) for my wonderful boss as a gift for her 30th anniversary with the company.  She is an amazing boss and person and I am so excited to give her this.  Here is a video of the finished product.

The inspiration for the pages came from http://jshobbiesandcrafts.com/(Designs by Shellie).  Some of the pages are identical to those in some of her videos and some I modified.  Her tutorials are excellent and she has all the parts and pieces in her online store.  I highly recommend both!

I hope you enjoy the video!

I made this beautiful (if I do say so, myself!) Chipboard Album for a friend at work who was moving to a new position.  I was going to make it a sort of memoribilia book, but ran out of time, so it is just a pretty photo album.  I had so much fun making it!

Mini Album for Baby

Here's a video of the little mini album I just finished using Graphics 45 Little Darlings paper as well as Creative Imaginations, Mother Goose and Preposterous (Alice in Wonderlandg) papers. The 2 baby stamps used are from Stampin' Up, Distress Inks, Antique Linen and Tea Dye were used to edge most all the papers with Weathered Wood for the outside cover.

This was my first actual scrapbook and I had so much fun! I owe many thanks to various and countless YouTubers whose videos gave me technique ideas and inspiration!

My Spray Ink Addiction and Organizing

Today's post is to tell you about my recent organization attempt!  One of my favorite things about this hobby is organizing!

First, I found this 5'x12'x 6" bookcase-like structure by the trash can in my complex.  I wasn't "dumpster diving," but my apartment is right next to our complex' trash compacter and this is the second time something caught my eye.  I think this was probably one of those tall, narrow, shallow bookcases for CDs or videos as it had the little shelf pegs in it.  Anyway, I took out all the shelf pegs and placed it horizontally across the back of my craft table.  It serves as a 2 level shelf and has really helped me clear off the majority of my table and enlarge my workspace!  Yippee!  One can never have too much workspace.

However, and here is a question some of you might have an opinion about - Why is it that no matter how much space I clear, I either fill up everything outside of my double craft sheet or somehow end up working in a space about 18"x24"?  It never ceases to amaze me!

Then, I decided to catalog my spray inks - I have a lot.  No... that doesn't really tell the story... I have more than 150 spray inks.  I am almost embarrassed about that!  Yes, there are some colors that are practically duplicated from one manufacturer to the next, but barely!

A while back I had gotten the idea from another crafter (sadly, I don't remember who!) to store them in the Swivel Store.  If you haven't seen these, check them out on Youtube.com; they are very cool!  And more recently, the idea to create a swatch-book of colors from another creative soul - each swatch has the color sprayed on, the name and manufacturer written on it.  And still yet a 3rd idea from another to create a numbering system - each bottle has a number on the top and the corresponding number on the swatch  card.  Then, my own idea, which has proved most useful - So each swivel store has 2 shelves within each of the 2 sides and they hold about 7 per shelf or about 24 per Swivel Store.  I created a little index card with columns representing the rows of the SS (Swivel Stores) and labeled the index card columns with the numbers and the color families. 

So now I can find colors in a couple of ways.  I can decide on a color family, look at the index card to see what rows it is in and open up the SS to look or I can flip through the swatch-book to find the color I want and then refer to the index card to find the number's location!

Lastly, I created a spreadsheet that has the color family, manufacturer and color name, number as well as qualities about the color like sheer, opaque, glimmer or flat.  I am hopeful this system will keep my spray ink addiction in check!

More Hand Carved Stamps!

I've made some more hand carved stamps as well as one using that Magic Foam.  You can see the details in the video.  I am definitely hooked on this hand carving thing.  The only thing delaying further creation is my lack of original ideas of things to carve!

Have an artful day!

Not my usual content... but very, very important!

I am not a particularly politically minded person and sometimes I feel a little guilty about that.  However, when I find a topic (typically animal rights related) that so moves me, I am willing to take a stand.  I hope the data in this post doesn't offend anyone who might be reading, but I am OK with it if it does.

Freedom of the Internet is at stake.  ACTA is a pending law which (like many) appears to make sense on the perimeter, but when you get to the middle, is very scary.  Please take a moment and watch the 2 videos above to learn more about this.  It is something that will threaten anything from generic drugs to using content others have made freely available, to the extent that you could be banned from the internet.  I know... it sounds so "sci-fi," doesn't it?  It looks like it has already passed in the US and is now in several European committees.  Someone smarter than me might understand this better. 

Here is a site you can go to and sign a petition in protest.

A couple of years ago, I started a blog about dating and attempted to use Adwords.  Well I must have done something wrong, because Google banned me.  I could never find out what I did or how to fix it or reach anyone to get any information.  This is so much worse.

Making Lists, Life Lists...and Telling Stories

I've been at home sick with a silly cold the past couple of days and so what better to do when I'm tired and feeling blechey (practice word flexibility) than surf the web, in between naps, that is.  Of course I'm not just surfing the web... I'm in my craft room/art studio and doing some art journaling, watching technique videos, tearing apart layers of decorative napkins and other things constructively crafty.  But you know how it goes when there is a computer at your fingertips and your mind is kind of fuzzy... and of course, surfing the web is kind of like a journey to far away places without a map - you never know where you will end up or what amazing things you'll run across!

So, anyway, as I was surfing, mostly various blogs... BTW, I want to say that people have some really cool stuff on their blogs - from art, quotes, pictures, to DIY projects, personal stories and of course, links... oh, the links!  It's like a treasure map, right?!  OK, I guess I'm not wrapping up that incomplete sentence (more flexibility, please).

And finally to the point of this post, a theme I noticed in my blog hopping was lists.  Teesha Moore (if you ever want to start art journaling, check out her videos; she is amazing and I must credit her with my first exposure into the world of the amazing art journal) talked about making a list of 49 things she is going to do this year (apparently, it was her 49th birthday).  Willow has LifeBook 2012 (while not really a list, it seems to fit here, which has been very tempting as soon as I can put together the funds.  Effy Wild has her Book of Days 2012 which I have been inconsistently following but really enjoying (I made my first altered book journal!)  She is offering this as a free course, folks!  Ali Edwards has this Project Life thing going on... I've tried to stay away cuz I'm already so distracted by everything I think I want to be doing, but, it was apparently not meant to be.

I've been hearing about To Do and Ta Da! lists (I think once you've completed a thing, it goes on the Ta Da! list).  I know I am more productive when I have a list, so I have come to the conclusion that the universe is trying to tell me something and I should pay attention.  And while we are talking about lists, The Organic Sister has a great list of 47 Ways to be better to yourself.

My goodness, I can ramble on, can't I?  Funny, sometimes I stare at my art journal page wondering what to write, maybe I should try digital art journaling if I write more with keys under my fingers.  OK, I'll put that on the list.  I did just download GIMP, a Photoshop like program that is free to download - another sign from the universe!!

I kind of liked Teesha's approach, the 49 things... but since I turned 56 a month or two ago, my list will be 56 things I want to keep or newly, do, see, learn or otherwise accomplish in the year 2012.  I will be adding as I go, the list is not yet complete but here ya go!

1. Blog weekly, at least
2. Take 3 (or more) online art classes in art journaling, drawing, etc.
3. Research buying a house
4. Finish my taxes
5. Work out consistently and continue to attend Weight Watchers meetings
6. Fit into a size 16 (or smaller) by year end (I've lost 4 sizes in the last couple of years, from a 28 to a 20)
7. Volunteer
8. Go out on at least 3 dates
9. Use my art journal as a spiritual practice (arting, writing, "what if")
10. Start a small book just for art journal prompts
11. Reorganize my craft room
12. Renew the purge of "stuff" in my apartment
13. Save money every month
14. Continue growing my Meetup group, meeting new people and developing friendships
15. Regularly journal on gratitude
16. Stay in better touch with friends in Chicago
17. Try one new recipe each month - put it on the calendar!
18. Start a list of recipes to try
19. Learn to use GIMP
20. Try my hand at digital art
21. Spend more time with family on Facetime or Skype

Wow, 56 is a really big number!  I might be happy with the list above...  Stay tuned!

I found the above quote on one of Crafty Dayeseye blogs; it is by Ben Okri.  In fact, she may get the credit for the graphic in which the quote appears.  She too has a list - A Stupendous Life List!

Here is another of Ben Okri's quotes that I really liked:  “Only those who truly love and who are truly strong can sustain their lives as a dream. You dwell in your own enchantment. Life throws stones at you, but your love and your dream change those stones into the flowers of discovery. Even if you lose, or are defeated by things, your triumph will always be exemplary. And if no one knows it, then there are places that do. People like you enrich the dreams of the worlds, and it is dreams that create history. People like you are unknowing transformers of things, protected by your own fairy-tale, by love.”

Another First - Hand Carved Stamp!

Check it out! It has everything to do with the material - I had tried one of those wood backed lino blocks with no success. The pic below was with the Speedball pink rubber - soft like butter! Really easy - give it a try.

For some help, see Lindsay's (The Frugal Crafter) video.  She inspired me to try it again.

Here's her blog address





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Help! I Can't Throw Anything Away!

I think anyone who creates mixed media art can relate to my lament.  I'm thinking of starting a new 12-step group for craft collectors anonymous.  It is already challenging to keep any order in my craft room - it is such a shopping hobby, this paper crafting, mixed media stuff!

I found a bar of soap I had bought at a craft show - Pumpkin-Ginger Creme (yum!).  So I took it out of the box and put it in the bathroom.  I was going to throw away the box (or at least recycle it), but I noticed the cute little orange and black pumpkin label and thought, "hmmm, I could use that in something, right?"  So I took it to my studio to take off the label and put it somewhere I would hopefully find it before Halloween was over.  Well, then I noticed the box... one side had a cute little oval cut out, perfect for a frame, and the other side I could trim and use to back an ATC.  I threw the sides and tops to the box away before I could come up with any more ideas... Or did I, what's that on my craft table...  hmmm... inchies?

I'm doomed...