Birthday Girl

Yes, I'm actually posting a card I made - felt so good to be working with this familiar canvas again :) This little cutie was created with the sketch over at CPS in mind, although I admit I took a few liberties with it. I stamped the little girl and added a touch of color with prismacolor pencils, rounded the corners and inked the edges, then added the sentiment and mounted it over the three background strips. I love the happy colors, and it's even nice & flat for mailing. Beauteous!

Girl image: Cornish Heritage Farms, sentiment PaperTrey, and paper BasicGrey Junebug

Feeling Fallish...

I know it's been months since I've posted anything... I've been busy with so many other things, and quite frankly just hadn't been feeling particularly crafty. In the past week or two, though, I'd been missing the East Coast autumn, and decided I really wanted to make something "leafy." Anyway, last Sunday when I was watching the Eagles game I grabbed a pair of scissors and a mostly untouched Boxer pad and started cutting leaves - double thicknesses so I had 2 (mostly) matching shapes. I used some old brown variegated fiber (which I know has been around for at least 5 years) and then glued the leaves together with PVA bookbinding glue (chosen since it dries clear and remains flexible). I gave it about 10 minutes to dry - yes, I'm impatient - and then hung it around the kitchen entry. Thankfully I'd planned ahead and left the nails up from the Christmas garland ;) I love how it turned out, and I even used the scraps to make something else... will post about that later this week!

Clay Fun

Polymer clay - something I was very familiar with due to my religious watching of the Carol Duvall show (I still have the VHS tape that was always loaded and ready in case I sensed that a good paper project was coming up :) - but I had never actually used it.

Well, our daughter saw these cute little animals in an issue of her American Girl magazine, and even big brother wanted to make one. They suggested using air dry clay, but I was afraid that they wouldn't hold up too well, so yesterday while running errands we procured a package of assorted color sculpey. And then, of course, the kids wanted to start making their animals before I'd even left the parking lot of the store - I convinced them to wait the ridiculously long time until after lunch...

I must say, they turned out amazingly well. The kids made all the shapes themselves (the bodies have a ball of aluminum foil inside) and I helped with fine tuning, attaching, etc. The pig is our daughter's, our son made the cat, and the dog and panda were made for some friends. They were hanging out with their long-lost Little Pet Shop cousins yesterday afternoon, and happily survived the rigorous hands-on attention. I predict more sculpey fun in our future!

Love Makes. Love Gives.

I try to keep this more as my "crafty creations" blog, but obviously I share a lot of myself through these little endeavors. As I was going through my Google Reader line-up this morning, this post caught my attention.

Genesis 1:1 is one of my favorite verses: "In the beginning God created..." simply because it reminds me that the enjoyment I get from making stuff is a tiny (and very imperfect) reflection of God's character. He created our whole world just by speaking - except for man, when God reached down and actually took dirt and formed Himself. Talk about a play dough masterpiece!!

Anyway, it also reminded me that many times I have a hard time letting go of my little creations... After a project is completed, I want to keep it to myself rather than passing it along. But the creation is an expression of my very heart, and it needs to be shared.

Even when I'm not sure if it will be "properly" appreciated. But that's what love is. Giving without strings attached. Letting go without expectations. What a gift to give.

Striped Polka Dot Baby Card

I really wanted to play along with this week's One-Layer challenge, which was to create a baby card inspired by one of these cakes. I was drawn to the striped diaper bag cake (10th photo down the page) and I have this new Hero Arts set, which happens to have a striped polka dot. How serendipitous! I originally was going for multi-colored dots, but the result was pretty abysmal. Actually, there was nothing pretty about it. I ended up just using the different colors in different dots, although there are a couple striped ones in the mix. I'm still not thrilled with the finished product, but I'd already spent waaaaay too long working on this "simple" card -- and I really need to get it mailed off to our friends who've announced they're expecting another little bundle o' joy! The sentiment is from Verve - love the versatility of this set.

Would anyone care to offer any design insights? Are the dots too close together? Are the pastel colors just too washed out? Any and all thoughts are appreciated!

Be Yourself

Simple card to share today - the lovely lady is from an Inkadinkadoo inchie set, and the sentiment is Hero Arts.

White cardstock, two ink colors, layered onto a card base. Sometimes nothing more is needed...

My help comes from the Lord...

I can't imagine that each of us hasn't been touched in some way between all the economic issues and the natural disasters sweeping the globe. We know a number of families who've experienced different degress of loss, and I sometimes struggle with what to say. I want to *do* something, but obviously I can't just sweep in and make everything better... I made this card to send to a friend who is going through some difficulties, but I found myself encouraged as well. No matter what is going on, HE is still in control, and HE will provide what we need.

Mountaing image: Cornish Heritage Farms, Sentiment: Wordsworth, Patterned Paper: 7gypsies

Tape Love

Yes, I'm definitely digging tape. This was the stuff* that got it all started (translation: putting in this order) but I realized I had never shared these 2 cards that I cranked out in about 15 minutes. I just stamped the sentiment (both from Hero Arts), layered on a bit of tape, added a flower to 1, and then rounded the corners for a finishing touch.

*I'm pretty sure I bought these as a set at HobLob last fall, but I can't remember the manufacturer or any other info. Sorry!

Teacher Appreciation

Yes, it's teacher appreciation week... and the kids and I worked together to create a few little gifties for their teachers. The thing laying in front is a bookmark (more general info if you're interested here) - I got all the supplies from Hobby Lobby, and I used an acrylic key charm, along with a note saying, "You've been key in ___'s education." Yes, I do love me some bad puns ;) You can see more of that love at work with the eraser - I just wrapped some nice scrapbook paper around it, and added a printed label: "Make no mistake, we appreciate all you do!"

We also made little covered post-it note pads and embellished some pens with tiny punched flowers and glossy accents; I presented them in a clear glass mug (from the Dollar store) with a few marbles in it, basically making for a funky pen jar/somewhat floralish display. They're all inexpensive, fun, and went together pretty quickly - perfection!

Mailing Challenge

Seeing as how I had everything out, I decided to go ahead and make another card (hooray!) and play along with Lisa's Make it + Mail it challenge. I just love the idea of her challenge, and have been wanting to make a little something for my hubby's grandma, so pulled a good ol' standard manila tag out of the stash and went to work... The sentiment is from smARTworks, and I went super simple with everything. The background paper (with FLOCKED dots!) is from Kaisercraft, and I layered on washi tape and a flower. Beauteous!

Now off to the mailbox.

Trusting...

Another month, another project. Wow, this is getting to be a bad habit. Still here, still wanting to play with paper, but many different demands on my time...

I wanted to make something, and started looking around at sketches - is it just me, or are many of them ridiculously detailed?! Anyway, I stumbled onto one over at Get Sketchy and thought that the little strip would be a great excuse to play with my washi tape. I used the Devoted set (Ippity by Unity), which has a rather country-cutesy feel to it, but I do love the verse, and obviously the heart fit with the sketch! The peachish paper and the heart (yes, it's faintly patterned) are from the BasicGrey Capella pad, and I punched the corners of the panel, then inked it all up with pearlescent beige. The swirly background was created with a little template from my stash and bronze glimmer mist. I finished it off with this tape, and there are a couple small pearls right above it.

Ah, it feels good to get creative again...

New stuff!

I'm still working on determining what supplies I truly love and are worth keeping around. As part of that process, I had decided I wouldn't buy anything new until I finished going through my stash. It's been months since I purchased anything crafty, which is a major deal for me.

But my resolve wavered... and these goodies from happytape arrived yesterday. I cannot wait to play!

All about Attitude

It's been awhile since I've joined in the Salt challenge, and when I was catching up on some blog reading this weekend I saw the latest theme: attitude.

Ouch.

Let's just say that I've really been struggling in this area lately... I'm finding myself frustrated, judgmental, apathetic, and showing other ugly 'tudes all too often. And I can't change this on my own. But God doesn't ask me to! My patient Father - who provides endurance and encouragement - will give me the proper attitude. I just have to ask. And be willing to let go of all the junk that I'm clinging to.

My little project is nothing fancy. I hand wrote Romans 15:5 on some BasicGrey Kioshi paper, and then doodled a bit with a fine black pen. I went around the edges with gesso, spritzed it with some pink glimmer mist, then matted it on black before pasting it into my journal. I chose the floral print to remind myself of the organic relationship - if I'm not in Him, I'm dying. I have to stay on the vine if I'm going to reflect even a glimmer of His magnificence.

Double Mojo

I really liked this week's Mojo sketch, and thought it would be great for a Valentine's card. I decided to go with a 5x5 card base, and pulled out the Daisy D's Maybe Baby Valentine pad, which has a very cute, retro vibe. I trimmed out the little kissing booth heart from one of the pages, and then chose some of the lighter colored patterns to finish it off, including some pink to make a paper ruffle. I edged the heart with rock candy distress stickles for a bit of shine, and then stamped the little sentiment (from BasicGrey). Super cute if I do say so myself!

Since I already had everything out, I decided to make a second card for a friend who has a birthday coming up. The same basic routine for this card - this time the stamp is from Inkadinkado, and I used buttons to accentuate the curve. A little hint: if you want to use buttons, get them all laid out to make sure they fit before you start gluing them down :)

Hope you're all staying warm! It's even below freezing down here in semi-tropical South Texas, and my kiddos are home from school today, so I'm off to play games with them. Sounds perfect to me!!

I stamped, I stamped!!

Yes, I'm thrilled to say that I managed to set aside some time this evening and play just a bit. Life continues to be filled with all sorts of craziness, and each time I think, "If I can just get through A, then I'll be able to get back to stamping." Of course, we're now up to approximately LL and the free time has yet to materialize ;)

I still have a number of papercrafting blogs in my Google Reader, and this week's sketch over at CPS caught my eye. I grabbed a little pad of vintage-y gorgeousness that has been calling out to me (Crate Paper 6x6 Restoration Collection pad), and played around. I trimmed the flower from one of the papers, and then hit it with some bronze glimmer mist to give it some sparkle. The sentiment is from Wordsworth, and I layered it all onto kraft cardstock and finished it off with some staples.

Oh, yes. I definitely must do more of this soon!