...advice, please...?

i think i want a die cutting machine. maybe. ...probably...

...BUT...there are a lot of them out there! and of course i'm thinking about ebaying for a used (cheap-ish? with some dies?) one, which i guess means the options are not even limited to the ones that are sold in stores now! yikes.

i think i want a mechanical one rather than the computery type. i have some really fun ideas regarding custom chipboard alphabets and accents (...like gluing various types of paper to the board and then cutting letters and shapes...) or even cutting fabric, maybe? and the wishblade types only work on paper at the very thickest, right?

i was soooooo excited when the latest CK mag said they'd be comparing 7 or 8 models...but then i came away with more questions than i went in with!

...SO...if you have a die-cutter--or experience using them--can you help me, please?! is there one you adore...or wouldn't take if it were given to you, giftwrapped? do you use yours more or less than you expected? do you have any pet peeves or warnings or things you'd do differently if you were choosing now??

if you have a mechanical one, do you feel like you have enough variety of choices? are there lots of alphas? are they super-expensive?! is there flexibility between old and new models sharing dies--is there ANY flexibility between different makes sharing dies? can you easily cut chipboard with paper glued onto it?? can you cut fabric? can you emboss?! (this is something that never occurred to me...until i saw the very, very cool stuff june and her friend tracy have made with the embossing thingie on cuttlebug!)

if you have any opinion, advice, tips or hints, i welcome them most gratefully!!! you can leave a comment, or email me directly if you prefer. (llaurenb@hotmail.com) tell yer friends...tell yer granny...tell yer granny's friends... (sigh) i'm soooooo confused!

thanks, you guys!

have you seen this website??!

it's called three beautiful things ("3BT" for short!) which a very cool woman called clare is using each day to (and i quote) "record three things that have given me pleasure". her beautiful things can be big or small, serious or funny...mostly they are tiny, ephemeral moments that could easily slide away without being noticed. except clare noticed them. and made a concious effort to write them down. every single day. and what writing it is! i would give serious money and/or one of my less vital limbs to be able to turn a phrase in the seemingly effortless way she can.

i found the blog a couple of years ago and read it avidly each morning with my coffee; then, while brushing my teeth, i would think about the previous day (since, emphatically not being a morning person myself, i hardly ever experience a "beautiful thing" before 10am) and decide on my three. often i would think, "i should start doing this properly" or at least, "i should write these down"...but of course i didn't...

embarrassingly, somehow (probably when my comp crashed & all links & emails were lost) i got out of the habit of reading 3BT. and then the other day--out of the blue, while doing something else--i found it again!!! and this time, i'm resolved: i AM doing it properly! whereas clare is a writer, and chose a blog format; i am a papercrafter...so i've made myself a funky little minibook. in addition to things i experience & enjoy, i'd like some of my "beautiful things" to be little innovations or discoveries i have made creatively. the feathery friend on page 1 represents my current "funky little bird mania" phase; sometimes i may doodle, or paste in a swatch of patterned paper, or maybe i'll stamp in there, who knows? i'm thinking my book will probably be three-quarters 3BT and one quarter art journal...but we'll see...

thank you, clare--your blog is one of my three beautiful things! :)

...if it's made out of paper, i probably want it...

a little random postcard love for ya today. this is my favorite of the vintage cards i bought in california. at the moment, it's probably my favorite postcard, period. wellllll...except for the texas ones from besh...oh yeah and that edward gorey one...and the amazing irish guiness ones (especially the toucan!) that deborah sent...

...ok, let's start over...

here is a scan of my absolute favorite, hand-tinted, pristine, vintage, bathing-beauty-bedecked, california postcard:

nice, innit?!

...got a condo made o' stone-ah...

there's a guy i've been longing to meet since 1976. back then, my mom kept us apart. ok, i admit it: at the time, i was very young, and there was a significant age difference. and it's not only that he was *older*--he was also famous, wealthy, and sporting the kind of dark, mysterious & scandal-laden past that would make any mother think twice. in retrospect, i realize it would never have worked out. i mean, he was a media darling, travelling the world and playing to sold-out crowds; whereas i was just trying to finish sixth grade.

but things have changed. i'm older now, with a lot more life experience. he's been out of the limelight for a few years. so when we're finally together, we'll be on a much more equal footing! of course, i'm very fortunate to have a husband who understands. in fact, he's coming with me. (we are quite sophisticated, you know, here in central new jersey!)

we have a date, for next friday: we'll meet here. i'll be wearing something casual, yet flattering--probably black. he'll be wearing something formal and tight-fitting--probably gold. even though it's been years, i'm pretty sure i'll still recognize him; but just in case, i've got his photo:

see you friday, my darling!

more ribbon...and another bird!

caardvarks currently has a very cool ribbon flower tutorial posted, that i'm absolutely in looooove with, so i just had to try it! (please forgive the wonky & horribly lit scan; believe me this was BY FAR the best photo of said creation) as you can see, i am still firmly in the grips of funky little bird mania!

the tutorial is by melanie (whose other creations are also BEEEEEEAUTIFUL!) but nathalia has also made some examples, which you could eat with a spoon!!!

in the meantime, the ravishing ribbon gallery is looking pretty darn...well...ravishing! you should see some of the amazing cards people have made! i am extremely glad that it is the embellishment studio's job to pick a winner and not mine!

photo finish

i'm done editing my pictures from california--wanna see?

ok, everyone takes a zillion pictures of the the pandas in san diego zoo,

and i'm no exception. what can i say? pandas are cool.

here's our b&b, the artists' inn, in south pasadena. very nice.

and now...some pics from the breathtaking gardens at the

huntingdon library:

here's a bit of the rose garden...

...here's the japanese garden...

...here's some girl...onna bench...

behold, the san diego museum of art--hubba hubba!

(did i mention i loooooove museums?!)

this is where we saw the pre-raphaelite exhibition...

which was ah-MAY-zing, i might add!

the day before i left, we visited another place full of art & wonder:

LEGOLAND!

they have prince charming...in lego...

...mardi gras...in lego...

i looooooved legoland! as a matter of fact, i loved everything we did in california; i don't think there was a single day when i thought, "oof--that was a bit disappointing"! au contraire. in fact, the closest i have

to a travel horror story is:

that gelato we had in ocean beach? i suspect it was mass-produced!

(oh, the horror!!)

seriously, that's as bad as it got!!! :) what a fabulous trip!

now i just have to finish the minibook i started out there. i keep mentioning it here, in the hope that if other people know i am working on it, i will make it a priority, and not let it get pushed to the back of the busload of things i need to accomplish!

(there are even more pics here. because god knows, there is nothing quite as fascinating as the mediocre vacation photos of complete strangers! lol. enjoy!)

junk bowl challenge

you're looking at my guilty secret! (well, one of 'em!) :)

see, when i make something, i pull out ALL the supplies i think could possibly work with my theme, try out lots of options, and pick the best. so it's kind of vital to clean up between every project, otherwise i'd never find anything! and, really, i'm great about the big stuff--cardstock, tools, packages of chipboard--they all go right back to their homes! but the little things? the 3 discarded rhinestones, the primas that were a bit much, the sequins found under the couch, the cut-out rub-ons too small to go back in the packet? not so much. i toss all the little "bits" into a bowl to put away "later". uh-huh. much later. ugh.

the other day, overcome with virtue, i decided to empty the dreaded junk bowl for the first time in...well, in a while...and then it hit me: what if i used all the stuff in the bowl...on one card?!

i decided my goal would be to use everything--or as much as humanly possible--without adding any new stuff, except for basics like cardstock & adhesive. oh yeah, and in the spirit of tapping my "instinctive" side more often, i would put a half-hour time limit on the endeavor.

so what was actually in the bowl?

yikes. this might be harder than i thought! but wait: there's a lot of pink here, and a lot of flowers...hmmm...hey wait, i think i've got it!

i didn't use everything. the hula dancer & the matchbook are cool--i want to save them for another day. the fortune & the ribbon...i tried, but...no go. and i just could not spell anything using only "I-S-H"...so i snagged a few more alphas...the "HAPPY" is used, inside the card. when i was done, there was a little empty spot in the lower left, so i added a charm & a couple of tiny rub-ons. (first rule of any lauren challenge: creative cheating is not only permitted, it's actively encouraged!)

the final product.

ok, i'ts not the BEST card i've made in my life, but it's fairly fun & funky!

so here's the challenge: i bet YOU have a junk bowl, too! maybe not a bowl, as such...but a pile, or a box, or a particular drawer in a particular cupboard...somewhere... you've got little dribs and drabs of supplies from old projects, am i right? great! go get 'em, grab your basics, set the timer for half an hour (or, if that's normal for you, go 15 minutes) and see what you can come up with!

there's no prize, but there are rewards: you get a super-fast card,

aaaaaaaaaaaaand:

yep--empty junk bowl! WAHEY!

...oh, *SURE*...

so i spend friday night makin' a blog header with flowers & flourishes & an adorable bird on it, and the very next day that rhonna farrer releases her blog header digikit featuring flowers & flourishes & an adorable bird on it!!! coincidence??! HA! i think not! (sigh) ...we hip-n-swingin' trendsetters are always getting copied like that... (lol)

but what i really wanna know is: does rhonna's convert easily into a birthday card afterwards?? well, does it, rhonna?! HUH???!!

because *mine* does--so there! :)

(of course, you know i'm gonna spring for the kit at some point...it's $8 and absolutely beeeeeeeeeautiful...well, it's rhonna, so no DUH!)

**********

totally unrelated--but fun--ps: my new blogging friend june, in response to a question i asked the other day, did a whole special post just to answer my question about a class she taught. how cool is that?! (ya gotta love a blogger who takes requests, right?!) :) thanks, june!

you collect WHAT???!!

funeral home fans.

("did she say, 'funeral home fans'?...i think so, yeah...let's back slowly out of this blog before she notices us!")

that may not be their official name, but i don't know what else to call them. they are hand-held, heavy cardboard fans that usually have artwork on one side and advertising info on the other. mostly, the advertising is for a funeral home, which is where i guess a lot of them were given away. i think the ones i have are mostly from the 40's and 50's. which makes sense: in the years before air-conditioning, if you were going to be at, say, a viewing, for several hours, in your dress clothes (& probably a hat & gloves, in those days) you might well be slightly warm, after a bit. hence the fan. and wouldn't a lovely mountain scene, or a picture of jesus, be comforting to look at, in such sad circumstances??!

i found my first one at a garage sale a few years ago and just fell in love with it. heck, as we know, i like paper, generally, and vintage paper especially! i like old books, and those souvenir pamphlets you get at tourist attractions, and i really REALLY like postcards... (but that's a whole 'nother blog entry!)

anyway, having found one, of course i had to keep looking, and thus a mini-obsession was born. i can go for months without really thinking about them, but if i find myself at a flea market or antique shop--especially one stocking vintage postcards & paper ephemera--i will ask hesitantly, "you don't have any...funeral home fans...do you?" sometimes i get a look from the proprietor. often i get one from my companion. in south pasadena, with my friend barb, i just got a smile. which i didn't think too much about, since barb's a happy kind of gal. a couple of days later, on my birthday, the smile made sense, right after i opened...

...THESE!

well, as you can imagine, i was stunned! i mean, a friend who takes you to see pre-raphaelite paintings and bakes you a cake on your birthday...by jingo, that's a good friend! one who does all that, and remembers that you collect funeral home fans...and finds some for you??! (and somehow--heroically--manages NOT TO REVEAL that fact when you are in an antique store together several days beforehand & they are mentioned...??!!)

wow.

i don't know what i've ever done in life to merit such a friend, but boy am i grateful!!!

thanks, barb!!!

...happiness is...

...an egg mcmuffin as a very special treat...

...a telephone that quite miraculously fails to ring...

...feeling caught-up enough to really take a day off and just be a laaaaaazy thing...

...the on-call husband not being called...

...temperatures cool enough to turn off the a/c and open the windows...especially if the night-time is chilly & you can snuggle...

...finding out there's a fred astaire movie you've never seen that's starting right now, commercial-free, on pbs...

basically, happiness=saturday, and yesterday was a really good one!

...what i made...

...when i was supposed to be doing something else! :)

i spent last night making the whimsical bird-based blog header you see above you, instead of dusting, paying bills, balancing my checkbook and doing 17 other dull but important chores. on monday, when i NEED the chores to be done...and they're not...i will regret it, but for now--WOOHOO, is that little guy *cute* or what?!

the bird is a scraplift of mary ayres from the spring "cards" issue of paper creations magazine. a mag i'd not seen before, i pretty much bought it b/c i looOOOooved the little bird on the cover! the rest is a compilation of everything i'm loving right now: ghost shapes & colored chipboard smothered in rub-ons, black&white&pink color scheme, flourishes, flowers, 97 patterned papers and a zillion tiny rhinestones. YUM! this whole "making something for yourself" lark--oof, am i enjoying it!!!

complete materials list & description on my lifetime moments gallery page:
http://gallery.lifetimemoments.com/showphoto.php?photo=153619&ppuser=7126

the whole magilla!

what IS a magilla, anyway??! do we know? but i digress... FINALLY, it is friday, and the new challenge RAVISHING RIBBON has gone up at

and lemme just tell you, if you've not seen it already, that the prizes--yes, plural, more than one, in fact LOTS--are out of this world!!!

plus today i can show my full-sized project photos, wahey! let me preface this by telling you that each member of the design team was given an amazingly generous, absolutely mouth-wateringly gorgeous packet of vintage ribbon and lace from this challenge's sponsor

using mine, i was able to make four large greeting cards, a set of notecards in a decorated tin, and a giftset comprised of picture frame, greeting card and giftbag! ok, i added in some ribbons and trims of my own--but mostly, just in order to pursue various color scheme options--in fact, i still have a teeny bit of ribbon leftover! here are my photos:

"but lauren," i hear you say, "you said you made four cards, and i only see three pictured above!" well, darlings, the fourth card is for someone who may occasionally visit me here in blogland, and i'm taking no chances. so...if you know me irl, have an august birthday, and would like to be surprised by your card...don't go and visit the design team gallery! as for the rest of you...prepare to be amazed and astonished--my fellow DT members, they can totally rock the ribbon, i'm a-tellin' ya!!! :)

...i say, "tantalizing"; you say, "obnoxious"...

you know how on the fancy scrapbooking blogs, the designers will say, "i'm working on FABULOUS new things...but i can't show them to you"...

and you just wanna SMACK THEM?!

well, it turns out

when you've spent a whole mess of time & excitement on projects

during the delay between the deadline & the event

it is PHYSICALLY PAINFUL

not to show anyone what you have done!!!

which essplains why

i don't condone it

and i'm embarrassed to do it

buuuuuuut:

i hasten to add that these are all glimpses of different items; lest you think i have completed my masterwork, entitled, "explosion at the flower factory"! :) something UNAMBIGUOUS that i can tell you right now is:

has some verrrrrrrrrrry nice kits and

has a very cool challenge that starts...TOMORROW! hang on a second...those two things couldn't have anything to do with each other, now could they??!

...nudge-nudge, wink-wink...

oof, and check this out: the lovely & talented danni chose *MOI* as one of her rockin' girl bloggers (thank you VERY much dahhhling, your check is in the mail!) so now i need to choose mine. i think i'm gonna pickfive from outside the card/scrap universe...b/c there's NO WAY i could narrow down to only five of the girls who post on caardvarks. as far as i can tell, ALL of them are rockin' girl bloggers!!!!! ok, so five other cool crafty types i dig are:

anahata joy katkin a collage and mixed media artist. there's art you want to look at, and there's some you want to own...i would like to climb into anahata's work. absolutely luminously glorious!

threadbared ok, if you think *I* have a weird sense of humor...well, yeah, fair enough...but these gals......! basically, they collect vintage sewing & knitting patterns, and then they make up funny little stories to go with the (often hilariously inappropriate) pictures.

yarnstorm (don't worry, you don't have to be a knitter to like it!) two friends, who live 3,000 miles apart, started a blog to keep each other apprised of their knitting lives...and i guess it just sort of mushroomed into...well...this! if you're smart & crafty & interested in stuff...you'll like it.

art tea life the crafts here range from collage to jewelry to...well, she makes a little of everything, really...but the reason to read is just sheer unadulterated charm...by the BUCKETFUL!

pam garrison more from the collage/mixed media tip. a place where on a daily basis, i think, "oh my gosh--i wish *I* had made that!!!" ...but in a GOOD way!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!

did you see that the winners for the 10-k challenges got posted this morning?! wow--those are some SERIOUSLY cool cards!!! ...BUT... without taking anything away from those ten amazing creations: there was not a single card made in ANY of the challenges that was not a wonderful piece of original art!!! there should probably be some sort of special judges' prize for "picking ONE CARD from amongst too many agonizingly great choices"!

...so what are we doing when we hit TWENTY THOUSAND...??! :)

(kidding!!!)

...random braggin'...

just felt like posting a few little mini-book projects...the links lead to my lifetime moments gallery, where there are more pics of those particular projects. the tiki book--my very first mini-book project--has a whole little album to itself, the rest, just selected highlights!

this was a little gift presentation for my father-in-law's 75th birthday this march. it's from all his children & grandchildren. the story is here: http://gallery.lifetimemoments.com/showphoto.php?photo=142570&cat=500&ppuser=7126 and there's a sample page, as well

here we have what my family refers to as "the thing on the ring"; it's part card, part mini-book, part...ummmmm...basically, i felt like making something using a LOT of chipboard shapes...so i did! :)

http://gallery.lifetimemoments.com/showphoto.php?photo=140772&cat=500&ppuser=7126

da book of tiki

made for my friend barb, the ultimate expression of an "in-joke" too silly for anyone else to understand! the first time i saw a mini-book in a magazine i thought, "i'm gonna make a TIKI BOOK!!!" ...it's good to have goals, right...?! :)

http://gallery.lifetimemoments.com/showphoto.php?photo=121952&cat=8942

a little book about our florida trip in may. this is the first (and to date only) thing i've made out of paper and gotten to keep! and for that reason alone, i looooove this thing! everything that's cool about the construction (it has photos, brochures & postcards from the trip bound right in!) is a lift of my friend beshka, who is a visionary & genius.

the awesomely inspiring book besh made, that i copied, is here:

http://gallery.lifetimemoments.com/showphoto.php?photo=149240&cat=500&ppuser=7126

the (kinda longwinded & boring) story of my book is here:

http://gallery.lifetimemoments.com/showphoto.php?photo=142458

i'm still working on a travel journal from the california trip...altho truthfully, i haven't TOUCHED it since i've been back. so by "still working" what i actually mean is "longing to get back to it, but basically not doing anything just now"

what are YOU longing to get back to??!

...this is where...

...the intelligently witty paragraph would be...

IF i could think of one

(well, sheesh, it's 8:30 monday morning! that was never on the cards, was it?)

alternately,

...this is where...

...the breathtakingly beautiful inspirational photo would be...

IF i had taken one

(i've got warthogs, from the zoo--any help??? whaddaya mean, "warthogs aren't inspiring"?! they inspire me to...ummmmm...greater levels of hygeine & grooming...? ok, nevermind.)

ideally,

...this is where...

...the snapshot of my amazing creations from the weekend would be...

IF i had scanned them yet... and i was allowed to show 'em

(you guessed it: nope and nope!)

soooooo,

...this is where...

...i'm putting the pic i made in the south park character maker thingie a while ago. it's of myself, and lovely husband jeff, as we would appear, early on a monday morning, in south park. the resemblance, if i may say so, is uncanny!



ok, you're right: next time, go with the warthogs!

WOW!

if you haven't been to CAARDVARKS' sarah's blog-- *she scraps* -- in a while, you should go today...she has some BIG (awesome) NEWS!!! i don't wanna steal her thunder, so i won't say what it is, but i will say to sarah:

1. CONGRATULATIONS!!!

2. you deserve it, girl!

3. wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(yeah, i know i said "wow" already; trust me...this is "two wow" news!)

a little hint: sarah makes more than just cards!!!

well, my living room is kneedeep in supplies, and i'm working like a little beaver on my cards for the 20th! maybe tomorrow i'll have another little "hint" for ya. for the moment i will just say if you visit here:

and you like this...

you're going to want to go ALL OUT come friday!!! :)

cue barbara streisand!!!

can you believe it's DAY TEN already??! the 10-day, 10-k just flew by in a frenzy of CAARDVARKIAN excitement! in the midst of all the frantic cardmaking and posting and emailing and deadlines, someone asked me, "aren't you going to miss the daily excitement?" and i thought, "oof, i'm kind of hoping for...ummmmm...a nap or something, actually!" but now that it's here, i realize that YES, i really am going to miss it!!! i've been loving that there's a little group of "early birds" i've gotten used to seeing in the comments section before me: i'm chatty (denise) (whose blog won't let me comment until i sign up...which i'm gonna, denise!), ingrid, mum on the run, my world/my life/my art, danni, sandie from australia (whose blog i'm dying to see, but i can only get as far as the "profile" page! sandie, if you read this, send me a link!!) ...ok, i know there are more, and if i've left you out, please forgive me!!! but my point is, this was my first big CAARDVARKS adventure, and i can't wait for the next one! ...but first...

i *AM* takin' that nap!!! :)

oh yeah, wanna see my card?? :)

pssssst: are ya ready for another little hint about the july 20th CAARDVARKS challenge???

ok, so howsabout a little pic?

...'nuff said...for now... ;)

10-day, 10-k: NINE TIME

oof, i can't believe the CAARDVARKS 10-k is almost over! it's been a lot of card-makin' in a short time, but soooooooo much fun. challenging, in fact, in all the best ways!

of course, as i say this, i realize that work-wise, i've done NUTHIN' compared to nathalia and jen, who've not only done ALL the challenges, (rather magnificently, i might add) they've also been doing tons of "behind the scenes" work--uploading cards, answering emails, keeping the galleries updated, and so forth! those girls accomplish a thing or two each day, dontcha think?!

anyway, here is my card for NINE TIME:

(here's my lifetime moments gallery, where you can see a bigger version, if you'd like.)

this was probably my favorite card to make this week. i just looooooooove me some complicated layers, and this sucker has about 427 rub-ons! ...along with some little rhonna transparencies, stickers, painted chipboard, flowers, gems, a charm... (upon reflection, it seems like maybe it would've been quicker to list the supplies i didn't use!)

10-day, 10-k: EIGHT IS ENOUGH

voila!
here it is: my "EIGHT IS ENOUGH" entry--proof that i can make a "normal" card every once in awhile! :) (don't get too excited, i shall resume my regularly scheduled weirdness any minute now!)

so LUCKY 7: WOW!!! apparently, i was the only one who was even a little bit stumped by a "good luck" theme! of course, as soon as i saw the gallery, i was kicking myself: i mean, i had thought of shamrocks & clovers--but not of using them in such CoooOOOoooL ways! LADYBUGS!!! cards & game pieces of all descriptions! lucky stars!! butterflies!!!!! even just using a beautiful airy "green-ness"! plus there were tons of cards that didn't feel any need to "work a theme" and which are absolutely amazing! i think...and this is not the first time by any means...i think i was overthinkin' it! ladies (& gents? do we have any gents?!) i stand chastened & rebuked...and impressed!!!

and now...remember the other day, we were saying that there were BIG (cool) THINGS afoot for the CAARDVARKS' july 20th challenge? ok, well here's another little hint for ya:

(and since i'm never sure what i will be able to make "clickable" and what i won't, here's a good ol' fashioned hot link for ya!)

PS: to SANDIE, from parkenham, australia who made the awesome laurel & hardy card for "LUCKY 7" (& who is emily, tammy and josh's mom!): can you please send me a link to your blog? b/c for some reason all i can get to is your blogger profile, and not the blog itself! thanks!

10-day, 10-k: LUCKY SEVEN...

...and time for a shocking true confession: of the gazzillion or so cards i have made in my life, i have never made a good luck card. until now:

yes, this is my entry for CAARDVARKS' lucky seven challenge. of all the cards posted so far (and there are over a dozen, if you count the early entries, and the designers, and today's very special guest designer LINDA BEESON) surprisingly, this is the only one to feature frank sinatra and the lyrics to "luck be a lady"! go figure.

ps: i'm trying to work out how to have my card photos be thumbnails that will open full-sized at my lifetime moments gallery; where you can see loads of othere stuff i've made, plus my materials list & so forth. however, i do not think i have accomplished this today, and i'm running out of time to mess with it, so here's a fallback for ya: http://gallery.lifetimemoments.com/showphoto.php?photo=152861&limit=recent

ok, so it's not elegant, but at least i'm pretty sure THAT will work! (arrrgh)

10-day, 10k: SIX SHOOTER

right, well it's the first of the CAARDVARKS' challenges that was sort of "freestyle" (w/o much in the way of guidelines/rules) so it seems like everyone took the chance to go all out in her own particular way! the design team (whose work is just ASTONISHING every day anyway) have absolutely surpassed themselves--which is saying something!!!

i had been longing to make a freeform collage ever since i got home......even whilst on the road, actually......in CA i came across the work of anahata joy katkin and i was in HEAVEN! anyway, i had a great time cutting and pasting and playing for this day six challenge. plus i learned a couple of things! for instance it turns out that:

A) i'm not a FAST collage-maker! (ok, see, i knew that, but somehow i thought with a short deadline and a small size...) (...nope...) and

B) i'm not a small collage-maker! (again, i had my suspicions on this; usually 10x12 is about as low as i go......it's often difficult to pare it down that far......) and

C) on a practical level, the beaded trim ought to have been at the TOP of the card's spine and not centered; also, the lower left hand side needs one more thing......preferrably a *dimensional* thing...... but

D) a bad day makin' a collage pretty much beats a good day doing anything else!!! :)

PS: just to be mystical and annoying (awww c'mon, you know how FUN that is!) i want to mention that i've had a little hint from the CAARDVARKS design team about the next regularly scheduled, non-10k challenge, (july 20th) and it's gonna be a DOOZIE!!!

...so crack yer knuckles...fire up the old sewing machine...sharpen those colored pencils...get the lawnmower tuned up......ok, just kidding about that last one, but, well......it's BIG and you're gonna wanna be READY! (trust me!) ;)

photographic milestone!

it's taken three years, but we've finally managed to get a picture of ALL THREE nieces facing the same camera at the same time. ...of course, it wasn't OUR camera...but still...

this is from yesterday at my brother's house. we played dress up. we played bus driver & passengers. we played dollhouse. we drew pictures. we had cookies.

basically, yer perfect sunday.

10-day, 10-k, (half-way!): FIVE STAR

or in my case, i'm calling this one,
COULD YOU *BE* MORE LITERAL??! :)

nah, actually i'm very happy with my entry. i needed a "guy" birthday card, and i've had this idea (stars & all, i swear!) sort of semi-formed in my head for a while. i am loooooooving the combination of ghost shapes and rub-ons right now, mostly just for looks, but also it's a GREAT way to use up all those little half sheets of leftovers that are laying around!

those CAARDVARKS have been hot, hot, HOT on all of these challenges! if you've not seen the FOUR SQUARE gallery yet, you need to go and look. (no, i mean it--go and look!) oh yeah, and if you're wondering, "why bother to make something THAT FAST and post it?", may i direct your attention to the gigantic club scrap kits that every single challenge winner is going to receive??! uh-huh.

maybe if i don a clever disguise and make a second card i could enter it under an assumed name & get a shot at one o' those......oof, don't tell anyone i said that......and if you see me on the street, call me "rita". ;)