heart the art: week four (control)

i've always been a big fan of saturdays, but since the beginning of january i'm even more excited when the weekend rolls around, because saturday is when the new journal prompt for HEART the ART goes up at tyggereye art! today is no exception--prompt #5 is a goodie, and you can see it here. i just got my page for prompt #4 made today, and having popped over to grab the link, i realize i got it slightly wrong: it was actually "under control" and i used "in control". ah well. worse things happen at sea...particularly to FISH! speakin' of which, here's my page now:

(fish illustration cut from an old book; glossy black cardstock: ranger; thought bubble: bam pop; rub-on letters: making memories; silver gel pen: sakura; other: colorbox ink, sewing machine, manual typewriter)

typed text reads, "hello, i'm bruce and i'll be your haddock tonight"

written text reads, "i'm not in control of the neck headache anymore. (& i don't know what to do about that!)"

those of you who've hung out here for a bit probably know that i have some chronic spine/disc issues; including a really bad halo headache that i get when my neck is out. in the last few years these have gradually increased in both severity and frequency, despite the best efforts of our loyal and devoted chiropractor. lately it occurs to me that eventually i am going to have to do more...but...what, exactly?! thus the page above.

my original plan for the page included some fancy-schmancy ink/paint sponged waves as a setting for the fish...but as i was choosing a cardstock base i happened to rest the cut-out fish and word bubble on a piece of my beloved ranger glossy black...and when i saw it there i really loved the impact of the plain solid background, so i changed my plans accordingly. i think i might get some paints out anyway, though, because now i'm sort of in the mood to make a big ol' mess. which is kind of THE POINT of saturdays, dontcha think?!

♥ happy weekend, darlings! ♥

multi-taskin' hybrid card

it's fuel efficient...and gluten-free!!! :)
(sorry guys, it's been a long week; i think i'm gettin' punchy!)

i was dying to make a card that follows the sketch for the second-chance card challenge at sketchy thursdays

(do you LOVE this sketch as much as i do?! it's a keeper, for sure!)

i also wanted to play around with prompt #24 ("the one where we go neutral") from a fabuous site leah found called the creative type, (thanks, leah!) to use fonts prominently on a mostly neutral color palette.

here's what i came up with:

(digistuffs: paper (re-colored): indian summer nights, marcie reckinger, funky playground; stars, stains & mesh brushes: bad boys kit, gretchen thomas, designer digitals; ledger & logos: bits of history, scrap artist; smudges & flowers: floral art no2, anna aspnes, designer digitals; cardboard corner: torn paper reveals, katie pertiet, designer digitals; distressed edge toolkit: rhonna farrer, house of 3; fonts: typewriter from 286 & dirty ego; software: broderbund printshop; scrappistuffs: chipboard alphas: heidi swapp; bling star & flourish: mambi; sparkly foam stickers (colored with copics): michaels; rub-on letters: k&co; ink & edge distresser: ranger; adhesives: tombow monorunner, staples & sewing machine)

in reverse of my usual procedure, i've layered about a thousand digi-products, and then topped off with only a few "real" embellies. i have too much attachment to both bling and texture to ever go completely digital, but the great thing about dabbling is, having saved the custom background as both a .jpg and a printshop project, i can use it a lot more times: with or without changes to color, size, fonts etc.! gotta love that kind of flexibility, right?!

it's a two-cat week, folks

sorry 'bout that.


the back is bugging me and life maintenance is taking up more time than usual. i have 3 or 4 things half finished, but nothing that's ready to post. so howsabout a little laugh as a down payment, and i will owe you a proper crafty blogpost tomorrow or the next day.

kthanxbai!

♥

turns out, the sewing machine works pretty well on FABRIC, too!

go figure.

over the weekend my friend trish and i took a sewing class at flirt brooklyn's "home ec" classroom. we made totebags, from start to finish, using a commercial pattern. it was one of the best craft classes i've ever taken: our instructor, patti, was both knowledgeable about sewing AND great at teaching, and has developed the class so that a complete novice can confidently finish the project, and yet someone with a bit of experience is not dying of boredom. i also liked that we learned the "WHY" in addition to the "HOW" of each step in the process, so that we can translate the same techniques to anything we might like to sew in the future!

so do you want to see my totebag??
(resistance is futile...you know that, right? might as well say yes...)

the outside is the sort of grey-on-grey pinstriped material from which business suits are made, reinforced with iron-on interfacing; the inside is a lightweight cotton; the flower pin--which came from a trimmings shop in manhattan i stopped at on the way home--is layers of velvet, sheer tulle, and silky fake organza.

i have to confess that my expectations were modest: i hoped to have a fun day out, learn some cool techniques, gain a TON of valuable experience, and leave the class with a rather wonky but entirely lovelable item that would inspire me to go home and practice sewing fearlessly on any medium which took my fancy. and i was totally FINE with that. but as it turns out, i REALLY DID IT!!! not only did i achieve all of my goals for the day, i actually walked out of the class with a bag i absolutely loooooooove and cannot wait to use!

{♥WOW!♥}

best. lolcat. EVER.

need i say more?

...naaaaaah...

♥

this card has been inside my head for over a month!

ever since my lovely friend debb sent me these cool robot diecuts!

(patterned paper: chatterbox, creative imaginations, imagination project, bampop; eyelets: making memories; sticker: paperchase; pen: copic outliner; ink: colorbox; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape; other: dymo labels)

i had actually planned to use half a dozen robots, all lined up in a row, with the one as the "dreamer"...but that was turning into a VERRRRRRRRRY big card indeed; (even for me!) in the end i went with three, so they'd fit comfortably in a 6" square. other than that, this is pretty much exactly how i pictured it!

♥ dontcha just LOVE IT when that happens??! ♥

i'm getting REALLY spoiled!

people keep showing up with, or sending me, goodies! pretty soon i will be starting to pout when the mail arrives and there are only bills and magazines. :)

case in point: my mom, my aunt, and my friend cheryl all happened to be in michaels...separately...at some point in the last week. each of them stumbled upon scrappy stuff at remarkably LOW sale prices. all three said the same thing, "i know how much you loooooooooooooove sparkly jewels, so i couldn't resist!"

the pic doesn't even show ALL of them...there are probably this many again of xmas ones that i already put away. my mom also found the cosmo cricket stack. it was $4.00, and she immediately knew that i would like it b/c of the graph/ledger prints. not bad, eh?!

then *this* lovely bunch of fun was in my mailbox the other day, from leah!

do you see that gorrrrrrrrrrrgeous card?! i don't think i've ever seen BG's obscure line look as cool as that--not even in their ads! she found the AMAZING monsta stickers at borders. i've looked at EVERY paperchase monsta item at every borders i've ever been in, and i've NEVER seen those! i'm not usually a hoarder, but i have a feeling it will be QUITE SOME TIME before any of those make it out of the package! and then there are some fabby images from her collection of bampop stamps! strangely enough, i was in the middle of making a card with the parachuting robot patterned paper when this lot arrived. i will post that tomorrow. in the meantime, howsabout a big orange...

♥
thank you
thank you
THANK YOU!!!

heart the art: week 3 (clearly)

it's only week three of the awesome HEART the ART project gina is hosting at tyggereye art, and already i've gotten very silly. on the other hand, that's still two weeks longer than i usually last, isn't it?! :)

this time the prompt was "CLEARLY...". i thought of several quite sensible things i could discuss, but somehow i kept going back to the very first thing that popped into my head when i read that word; a line from the scene in the princess bride in which the villain vizzini is trying to discern & avoid the poisoned cup in his battle of wits with the dread pirate roberts.

i know, i know: WHAT kind of subject is that for an art journal page?! well, ok, it's a really weird one, but the fact that my sister* and i know EVERY SINGLE LINE of the film, and there are at least half a dozen which constitute catchphrases in our family... (used even by relatives who've never seen the film!) ...kind of deserves to be commemorated, for better or worse, dontcha think? by sunday night, when i realized i'd stopped pondering the wisdom of using this subject, and moved onto HOW i would make it into a page, i knew it was a done deal!

(princess bride photos downloaded from t'internet; software: broderbund printshop; swirly digital frames: scrap-n-fonts; fonts: mom's typewriter, tabitha, 3 hour tour; pages printed on high gloss kodak premium photo paper & 3m inkjet transparency; adhesives: uhu gluestick, tombow mono runner; other: notebook paper, basic grey magnetic snap closure)

i knew right away i'd use the poster art (sans text) from the film, to set the tone. i knew i wanted to list a bunch of my favorite quotes. of course i had to use vizzini's line, to encompass the prompt...and i twigged pretty quickly that i needed a smaller photo which illustrated that particular scene. this book is 4 x 6"--either i needed to work realllllllllly small, or layers were called for! once i started laying everything out in printshop, i knew there was no way to fit in all the elements and my handwritten journaling, so i opted to hide the latter inside a little card made from vizzini's photo. i solemnly swear to you it was not until AFTER i had printed the text layer on a transparency that i realized this technique is ANOTHER play on the theme, "clearly"...but to me that makes it even better! :)

*from whom one of my xmas gifts was THIS SHIRT. i've already worn it to the gym half a dozen times, it makes me--and pretty much everyone who sees it--laugh every time.

happy birdie

i confess that when i saw this week's super sketchy sunday sketch at 365 cards i was very briefly stumped...i think it was the trapezoid:

luckily, they also showed a bunch of gorgeous DT cards made from the sketch, including one by my lovely friend ~amy~ that not only cleared up my puzzlement but made me want to tackle the project immediately. so i did:

(patterned paper: pink paislee, american crafts, we r memory keepers, prima; flowers cut with a graduated cuttlebug die out of some vintage leatherette; pearls & gem: kaiser; ink: colorbox; pen: copic outliner; embroidery floss: dmc; magnetic clasp: basic grey--inside card to hold the top bit flat when shut; frances meyer chipboard bird & heidi swapp heart used as templates for tracing)

my card is a tri-fold, and i confess i needed a couple of go's before i got a proportion i liked. it's not exactly the same as in the sketch, but if you're working with a 12 x 12" sheet of paper and want something bigger than 4" square, the only flexibility is to make it wider!

i think i'm also going to send this in to cards magazine's current challenge, where they want to see trees and branches! when i was thinking about that, i liked the idea of letting woodgrain paper represent the tree, and cloud paper represent the sky, and adding in some some leafy shapes--or in this case--a stylized branch. then all i needed was a little bird (i traced a chipboard shape) and a few embellies--my favorite being the white hand-stitching inside the outlines of the clouds, for texture--and i was all set!

a card that ALMOST works... almost...

it's sort of a weird combination of random accoutrements. now don't get me wrong...i like weird...and random...i'm just not sure this makes sense.

(patterned paper: reminisce, karen foster, october afternoon; cardstock elements: cosmo cricket; glossy black cardstock: ranger; photo diecut: paper house productions; font: body hunter (printed on staples' photo paper); adhesives: tombow mono runner, 3m foam tape; other: ek success circle punch, sewing machine)

having said that, i did send it anyway. i mean heck, it's a handmade card, it's got a rather fab cupcake on it, and i'm utterly confident that my brother-in-law will not have received two of these! besides, making sense is SO "twentieth century" isn't it?!

♥happy tuesday, darlings!♥

one of the coolest things that's ever arrived in my mailbox

it's a thank you card from the amazing tracy, and it made me laugh so hard that i made startling noises, and then a slightly absent-minded computer programmer leapt on me and wrestled me to the ground.*

caption reads, "the horse found these accommodations more pleasing than the last bathroom he'd occupied"

if you've never read douglas adams' ghost/horror/detective/time travel/romantic comedy/epic, dirk gently's holistic detective agency, you're not going to get the joke, and it would really be sort of impossible for me to explain it to you, so i'm not even going to try. if you HAVE read dirk gently's holistic detective agency, you already do get it, and stopped reading about a paragraph ago, due to extreme hilarity. :)

either way, i am sure you are admiring the beauty and elegance of tracy's gorgeous hand-drawn horse; the lovely way she's turned a drawing, a photo, and a few bits of ribbon & paper in to a card that's as lovely as it is amusing; and the fact that said equine masterpiece also adorns the envelope in a way which should have (but alas, did not!) given me a clue as to what awaited within.

♥♥♥♥♥

bravo, missus p!

(i'm glad you liked it!)

*neither of these things really happened; they are jokes that relate to the book. i'm sorry this post has so little to offer non-douglas-adams-fans. tomorrow there will be papercrafts, or at least a silly cat, i promise! in the meantime, i do highly recommend dirk gently's holistic detective agency, available at fine booksellers everywhere.

you know me...

i *NEVER* post twice in a day! but somehow miraculously i have managed to finish not one but TWO versions of laura's sketch 43 and it seemed a pity not to upload them over at 2sketches4you before the deadline!

i love this sketch: it's so beautifully open to interpretation, and yet there's enough structure to get you going, creatively! in short, it's EXACTLY what a sketch should be...you know, the way they are every single week at 2S4Y!!! :)

i've done a "guy version"...

(patterned paper: dcwv (the dear old "rock star" stack!); chipboard letters & ghost stars: heidi swapp; foam star stickers: michaels; rub-ons: american crafts, scenic route; rhinestone flourishes (cut apart): mambi; ink: colorbox; outliner pen: copic; adhesives: tombow mono runner & 3m foam tape; other: dymo labels)

and a "girl" version...

(patterned paper: prima, basic grey, bo bunny; cardstock: core'dinations; chipboard word: ek success; leafy ribbon: may arts; epoxy heart stickers (re-colored) & rhinestones: recollections; adhesives: tombow mono runner, 3m foam tape; other: dymo labels, sewing machine

and now i think it is time to get offline and do something IN REAL LIFE, eh?!

CPS 149: "SING"

did you see this week's sketch at card positioning systems? it's a print-out-n-save one, that's for sure--see?


don't you love it? i can think of LOADS of ways to take this thing, and then if you rotate it, there are even more. but for my official sketch card, sliding in just under the deadline (8pm EST tonight, i believe) i was 100% faithful to the original, as shown:

(patterned paper: pink paislee, basic grey, creative imaginations; cardstock: core'dinations; vintage: sheet music, tickets, foreign postage stamps; glossy clip art bird: anahata katkin; gem flourish: prima (re-colored w/copic marker); ribbon: may arts; decorative tape: heidi swapp; rub-ons: scenic route & making memories; label dies: nestabilities; border punch: fiskars; ink: colorbox; adhesives: tombow monorunner, uhu gluestick, 3m foam tape)

this came together surprisingly quickly. i knew i wanted to use the fabulous pink paislee stylized woodgrain paper and may arts leaf ribbon together, and once i was that far down the road of "tree"...well, a bird just seemed the natural choice for a focal point. the strips in the sketch lend themselves easily to a number of choices from one's crafty arsenal; and since i am utterly addicted to nesties' labels 4 i decided to use some of those, hand-cutting intermediate sizes as mats.

are you diggin' the "antique topaz" gem frame??! that's lovely husband jeff's favorite bit. of course, it was a plain old rhinestone prima one...until me and my burnt umber copic had our way with it--i think it's the perfect finishing touch to walk that funky/elegant vintage line!

speaking of CPS, in the midst of all the holiday hoopla i think i forgot to mention that i won the random prize draw on sketch #145. (another brilliant one that i printed out!) the prize, for which i thank tami mayberry VERY much indeed, is completely AWESOME--a set of fabulous calendar stamps and a book full of brilliant card sketches with examples!

how lucky can one girl get, eh?! :)

♥♥♥

HOORAY for saturday:

time to hop over to tyggereye and

HEART the ART!!!

font throwdown!

being a font-fancier of some distinction, i can often be found on fontfreak or dafont downloading the many fabulous free typefaces available. this one, called "body hunter", is my current fave:

the other day my friend gina got it as well, and proposed a mini challenge: we'd each make a card using the font and post it on our blogs today.

the good news is i made *THREE* cards. the bad news is i'm not 100% thrilled with any of them. we've all been there, right?! on the other hand, three completed cards ready to be mailed out to their intended recipients is never a bad way to end the week, so without further ado, here they are:

(patterned paper: ek success; block glossy cardstock: ranger; photo diecut: photohouse productions; sunset shaded background, distressed edge & font layout: broderbund printshop (printed on staples' glossy photo paper); font: body hunter from dafont.com; other: dymo labels, sewing machine)

this one is for my brother-in-law, a serious motorcycle fancier. i've used the font in two sizes over a sunsetty photo. i kind of like the masculine vibe, and it's got a bit of a distressed feel without being too artsy. of course i am going to take some flak for the bike on the card being a BMW...but the fab diamond plate patterned paper *is* officially licensed harley-davidson merchandise, so i am hoping that will redeem me. ;)

(all digital products... landscape art paperie #6: anna aspnes, designer digitals;
distressed edge toolkit: rhonna farrer, house of 3; fonts: hurricane & body hunter; software: broderbund printshop)

this one's a lot weirder...so obviously i like it more! i loooooooooove that fabulous layered digi-paper, and it seemed the perfect home for the first stanza of "student of clouds" by billy collins. my friend paul, who's a big fan of this poem, will love it. on the other hand, it's not got a lot of the body hunter font, and the script, which LOOKS fabulous, is kind of hard to read. (so here's a translation in boring old arial):

"the emotion is to be found in the clouds,
not in the green solids of the sloping hills
or even in the gray signatures of rivers,
according to constable, who was a student of clouds
and filled shelves of sketchbooks with their motion,
their lofty gesturing and sudden implication of weather."

(digistuffs, all from designer digitals...patterned paper: tropic grunge, gretchen thomas; brushes: floral art #2, anna aspnes; skinny calendar: jennifer pebbles; fonts: susie's hand & body hunter; software: broderbund printshop; scrappistuffs...paper: doodlebug glitter cardstock, grey linenweave paper from a business supply store & 3m inkjet transparency; flowers, (recolored) leaves & gem flourish: prima; metal brads: creative imaginations; gem brads: making memories; butterfly die: quickutz; inks: colorbox, bazzill; other: corrugated cardboard, sewing machine)

attempt #3--a hybrid production--is my favorite of the cards, but again, it's not got a lot of the font in question, does it? also, i really wish the outline around "birthday" was thicker, so the hand-cranked machine stitching didn't obscure it quite as much. but i like everything else about this, from the grungy inky cardboard base, to the watercolory layered digital background, to the over-the-top dollops of black sparkliness in the form of gem flourishs and a glitter-paper diecut butterfly. best of all, it was REALLLLLLLY fun to make!

now i'm going to head over to tyggereye art and see what gina made. won't you join me?!

this was the most fun i've had all year! (so far)

if you enjoy making a big splodgy mess with paints and inks and gesso... (& who doesn't??!) ...then you definitely need to check out this completely AWESOME tutorial by julie balzer* on using prima flowers as masks for a wonderful sprayed ink background! here's a card i made with my first attempt at this technique:**

(plain white cardstock: staples; glossy white cardstock: ranger; pink patterned paper: provocraft; gem flourish & flowers used as masks: prima (btw, said flowers which all cool & inky and then you smear 'em with gesso to get a cool mottled effect; julie b. used hers on her LO; i've saved mine for later) alphabet masks: heidi swapp; velvet flower & fancy brad: k&co; pen: sakura; spray inks: smoosh & glimmer mist; adhesives: tombow monorunner & sewing machine; other: dymo labeller, watercolor paints to drip and brush)

i really like how this came out...but next time i think i'll leave more of the masked bits *WHITE* instead of going back in with a layer of watercolors. it's not that they look bad, but in retrospect i really love the shadowy white bits up at the top right, and i wish there were more of those. still, i think this is quite an honorable first go! i need some more of those little smoosh spray thingies though, for sure, i can totally feel an addiction coming on! ♥♥♥

eta thursday night: many thanks to my lovely friend and jacksonbelle embellishments rockstar ♥amy tsuruta♥ for the suggestion that i enter this in jacksonbelle's current tuesday challenge, "blinging in the new year"!

*which darling stef sent me! i'm telling you, you NEED to check out her thursday link love posts...and by golly, today's thursday...we're just in time!!!

**i know, i know, just when you thought you'd seen it all: i have actually tried A TECHNIQUE! who'd've thunk it, eh??!) :)

new (to me!) sketch site

i just found sketchy thursdays by diana, and i really like it! for starters, they're the source of this AWESOME sketch:

for which the dt cards are *fab* and the prize (by random draw) is a set of 8 copics & an outliner...which i think you'll agree is none too shabby!

of course i printed the sketch for my notebook, and made the first of what i suspect will be a few cards using this arrangement:

(patterned paper: creative imaginations; fabric paper: love elsie; glossy white cardstock: ranger; photo diecut: colorbok (& from the early 14th century, but i really like it!); tiny letter stickers & rub-on alphas: amking memories; embroidery floss: dmc (using all 6 strands); other: sewing machine, fancy pants chipboard scroll used as a template for the swirls)

i wound up flipping the sketch because i wanted to use the sunflower like a sun-- which actually worked quite nicely either way--but since some of the petal/rays overhung, i decided i liked it better up on the top. the yellow swirls are handstitched, while the two panels were attached with the sewing machine. the sentiment, "plenty of sunshine..." continues inside the card with, "heading your way--HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" marks first time i've ever quoted "zip-a-dee-doo-dah" in a card, but somehow it just seemed like exactly the right thing for this one! :)

gotta hurry if you want in on this challenge: the deadline is 11:59 EST tonight. off you go, then!

heart the art: week two

alternate post title,

"i ♥LOVE♥ this one!" she said, modestly.

ok, but here's the thing: i am always thrilled when i am on someone's blog and they've made something extraordinary and they are, as my dear friend/look-alike kristin scott-thomas often says, "chuffed as ninepence", and they SAY SO! because i think we're all realllllly quick to point out our shortcomings and artsy disappointments, but not nearly as willing to be proud and excited and just a teeeeeny bit braggy when we've got it right.

saturday night i made a page for prompt two of gina's wonderful HEART the ART journaling project that she is hosting this year on her blog, tyggereye art, and while i didn't have a clear *picture* in my head, i did have a very strong vibe of what i wanted. which can be kinda tricky. but not this time. see??!

(patterned paper: basic grey, pink paislee, vintage sheet music, core'dinations whitewashed cardstock; kraft cardstock: hobby lobby; journaling labels: jenni bowlin; cardstock alphas: creative imaginations; tree branch & velvet brads: doodlebug; scalloppy tags: k&co; inks: color box; pen: sharpie; adhesives: tombow monorunner, uhu gluestick, sewing machine)

the prompt, as you may have surmised, was "SOMEDAY..." which i think is rather awesome because there are just SO MANY ways you can go, both in terms of subject and visually. but again, i didn't really have to think very hard about what i wanted to say, i used the first thing that popped into my mind, a subject increasingly close to my heart.

text reads, "SOMEDAY...we will be home-owners! maybe 2010 will be our year? (we are SO READY!!!)"

the weird thing is that almost everything on here was a leftover or a pre-cut: the clouds were from the core'dinations blog hop, the deer was an extra from my last blog header, the little journaling labels and the tags which compose the treetop were in a little baggie that i cleaned out of my traveling supplies box, the brads are doodlebug xmas ones...and so forth. i just kept grabbing up stuff and moving it around...and then i made like 14 trips to the sewing machine to attach each layer separately...et voila!

can't wait for next saturday, now!

another butterfly??

yep. same die as yesterday's card...and again...i have layered multiple cuts (four this time!); i've even used *pink* again... (go figure!) ...but all of these things notwithstanding, the two really could not be LESS alike, could they?

(patterned paper: basic grey, prima, making memories, sei, scrapbook wizard; dies: quickutz butterfly & nestabilities labels 4; gems: mambi, michaels, oriental trading co; inks: colorbox; pen: uniball signo; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape; other: sewing machine)

i do like both cards, however. this one is based on a sketch from jacksonbelle embellishment blog's tuesday challenge from last week. since i have not one but *TWO* friends on the brand new 2010 JBE dt... (stef and amy!) ...i thought it behooved me to get my card-makin' butt over there and play along! plus, it's a great sketch, innit?

i did rotate it; and i had to cheat verrrrrrrrrry slightly by bringing the larger rectangular piece to the top of the card. (i triiiiiiiiiiiiiiied to leave it lower, i promise you; but it just did NOT want to cooperate!) other than that i was utterly faithful to the design, which i love. long live the lovely jacksonbelles!!! ♥

hey lady, wouldja make a *CARD* already?!

sure.
here ya go:

(patterned paper: basic grey, bo bunny, doodlebug; glossy black cardstock: ranger; butterfly dies: quickutz; gem flourish: prima; labels: dymo; ink: colorbox; adhesives: tombow mono runner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

it's a challenge card, even! for kazan's sketch 43 at 2S4Y. i am submitting it on the final day, naturally. 'cause that's the way i roll. (by which i mean slowly...and at the very last minute!)

i used my brand new two-part quickutz butterfly die (my december VIP coupon purchase from cut at home--many thanks to dearest june for the emergency compatibility info!) i cut two layers of the body and one of the outline and then machine stitched them all together and attached the "compound butterfly" to the card with foam tape. i love how much dimension it has!

next time i think i will try adding even more layers and see what that does to the dimesional profile.

♥♥♥

by the way, it's saturday...

the new prompt is up at tyggereye art...

do *YOU*
HEART the ART??!

there is NO artwork in this post!

for which i apologize.

there is, however, a lolcat:

for which i am unrepentant.
and an award:

for which i am most grateful to my lovely norwegian blogging friend linda. (who is currently ON A ROLL, card-wise--you should definitely GO & SEE!)

like many such awards, this one had rules attached to it...in this case, i think there were "sevens" involved; of course i don't know for sure because, persuant to my usual procedure, i ignored them entirely. but with a vague nod to the concept of "seven-ness" i shall list seven things with which i am currently very enamoured:

1. this salad. i would eat it twice a day. (if you see a crazed woman buying up all the leftover xmas panettones at the grocery store, come over and say hi...that'll be me!) (fyi: it's good w/o the croutons, just not AS GOOD.)

2. this manifesto. i know, i just i posted on new year's day, but in case you didn't get a chance to read it, why not go now? (you're welcome!)

3. this game. i only play it on my laptop, laying in bed, when my back is sore. (thus, much as i love it, i quite like a chance to MISS IT for a bit!)

4. this blog. i ♥ dina. (sigh)

5. stef's thursday "link love" posts. (which is not to say that the rest of the week does not ROCK, chez stef...but i do particularly looooove the link love!)

6. this pbs program about fractals. i've seen it 2.5 times already. i will probably watch it however many more times it is shown. i am fascinated.

7. free fonts! current faves include cry kitty, body hunter, 3 the hard way, and diesel.

♥

with what are *YOU* currently enamoured?!

(tell! tell!)

♥

52Q: the end! (51 & 52)

i have wrapped up 52Q--made the cards, photo-ed them, put them on their ring, and posted them here--in the first week of 2010.

duuuuuuuuuuude!
could i BE more impressed with me??!?! :)

thus without further ado, may i present...

question 51: what is the best gift you've ever given?

(spotted patterned paper: doodlebug; rub-on letters: ki; all other product: love elsie; pens: uniball & copic; adhesives: uhu gluestick, tombow monorunner)

text reads, "for the past couple of years we have had a blast at xmas: we wait for a good toy sale at k-mart, then fill a cart with all our faves and donate them to toys for tots. it's the best shopping trip of the entire year!"

and question 52: what magical thing happened to you this year?

(anahata katkin clipart; basic grey patterned paper; k&co & making memories rub-ons; mambi & nail art gems; tombow monoadhesive runner, judikins diamond glaze)

text reads, "52Q seemed like a pretty magical thing to me...to spend a year thinkhing about questions big and small and make them into ATC's...thank you, emily falconbridge!"

finally, here is my finished "book"...a ring with 2 covers and 52 double-sided ATC's each asking and answering one of the questions:

i had a fabulous time doing this, and whilst i know that we all have too many commitments already, and only so much time in a day, i cannot possibly recommend highly enough the concept of regularly making something JUST FOR YOURSELF that you get to keep. i know it seems counter-intuitive, but in a weird way, it actually gives you MORE ideas and more creative energy! at least, this has been my experience; i am definitely NOT trying to talk anyone into anything...just mentioning a weird and wonderful thing which happened to me! ♥

just in case anyone is interested in seeing all of the fronts and backs of the cards together, here they are on flicker...or here are the blog posts, in reverse order.

52Q: 49 & 50

ok, so i didn't quiiiiiiiiiite finish 52Q in 2009. this card, for question #49, is the last one i totally completed, and that was on new year's eve. but i managed to very nearly keep up for the entire year, AND i did the last three over the weekend. so frankly, i consider this a big, BIG win!

(all digital materials: software & heart image: broderbund printshop; chapstick photo: from t'internet; font: cherie; printed for my ring of cards on kodak premium glossy photo paper)

again, i went entirely digital b/c i had quite a bit to say and my handwriting is not nearly ATC-friendly enough to squish it all in. i suppose the example i used for this one is sort of a silly little story, but it's something that happened over 6 months ago now, and i doubt there's been a week to go by during that entire time in which i haven't thought of it and smiled. because as far as i'm concerned, you can keep all the fancy cars and diamond necklaces and bouquets of roses...a guy who automatically packs an "emergency chapstick" for his wife, is a guy i wanna be married to. and luckily enough, i am! ♥♥♥

for question #50, emily falconbridge asked what we like most about where we live

(map downloaded from google; paperchase stickers; love elsie patterned paper; colorbox ink; manual typewriter; uhu gluestick, 3m foam tape)

i had to think about this one for a while...there are loads of reasons we like it here...but i kept coming back to the fact that many of them have to do with where we are in relation to something else: jobs, family, stores, culture, etc. so i went with location!

tomorrow i'll post the last two cards and my finished ring with ALL 52Q's on it!!!

heart the art! (week 1)

have you been over to gina's blog, tyggereye art to see the first prompt of her weekly journaling inspiration, ♥HEART the ART♥?! i have, and it's a good 'un! but before we get to that, howsabout i show you the little book i made to hold my 52 pages for the year?

(patterned paper: prima & a bit of love elsie packaging; chipboard letters: making memories; bling & rub-on letters: k&co; clipart banner: anahata katkin; stickpins: joann essemtials; chinese charm: oriental trading; epoxy stickers: michaels; labels: dymo; bookring: staples; ink: colorbox; other: velvet flower, misc. ribbon scraps, chipboard; adesives: xyron, uhu gluestick, tombow mono runner, 3m foam tape)

of course, i didn't need to make a special home for these; i just happen to really loooooove makin' little books, and it seemed a perfect opportunity! afterall, there are loads of cool pre-made journals or blank books out there (gina decorated one of her beloved moleskins); or i could've chosen to make individual atc's, or tags, or digital layouts; or to use the prompts in my existing art journal, or on my blog, or... ok, well, my point--and one of my favorite things about these year-long journaling projects--is that there are as many ways to approach them as there are people who participate! if you feel like trying this on for size, don't think you need to buy or make anything particular to do so!

(you needn't publicly *share* your answers either, if you are a bit shy about it; but if you'd like to, gina has set up a special flickr gallery just for us!)

ok, so anyway, the prompt for week one was "AIM to...?" and here is my page:

(hand carved robin stamp: tyggereye art; branch rub-on: hambly; flowers & leaves: prima; sparkly alpha & star stickers: making memories; white cardstock: staples; pen: uniball signo; other: body art gems, copic outliner, watercolor paints, prismacolor pencils, glimmer mist, vinyl lace used as a stencil, 3m foam tape)

well OF COURSE you knew i was gonna use gina's gorgeous robin stamp for the first time on my inaugural page, right? i mean, it had to be done, even if it hadn't been the perfect fit...which it was, actually! i'd been experimenting with glimmer mist a month or so ago and made some cool background paper with a lacy pink pattern on it. now i realize lacy pink doesn't ordinarily leap to mind as a background for a robin on a branch, but when i sat him on there i thought he looked cool, so i painted in a bit of blue sky in the blank bits of paper et voila: he's sittin' in a flowering tree! (can ya tell i am ALREADY jonesin' for spring or WHAT?!)

text reads, "#1: experiment/learn/play more...make a mess...don't be "safe"...have FUN!; #2: spend more time with friends and family and banish the toxic time-wasters!; #3: pare down, clean out, sell off, donate, use up, re-purpose...less stuff=more creativity!"

so what are YOUR aims for 2010??

prezzies!

of course the appropriate time to have posted pics of my lovely xmas RAKs would've been LAST weekend...but some of us are not quite as organized as that, so better late than never, i say; i definitely received some GLORIOUS handmade cards this year, and some highly drool-worthy goodies!

here they are in reverse alphabetical order, as windows 7 makes it very hard to move photos around inside the blogger window...and also i cannot seem to cut and paste in compose mode; whereas i can still do both easily on my laptop, which runs windows XP. if anyone has had a similar issue and/or knows WHAT TO DO about it, i'd looooooove to hear it!!!

terrie sent me lovely bling... (it's actually meant to be WORN on the skin--we're trying to decide if anyone has ever DONE SO outside of las vegas city limits?!) ...and cool stickpins...and awesome earrings i've already worn!

stef ROCKED the book selection...times two...and found these fabulous textured chipboard shapes that i cannot wait to spray and dab and generally make a BIG GIANT MESS with!

june and amy both made gloriously sparkly cards that you will see me steal...AHEM..."pay tribute to"...later this year!!! ;)

heidi was workin' a fab retro vibe...and sent lots of lovely scrappy goodies...including some of her coveted textural woodgrain cardstock... (i feel a serious ADDICTION coming on!!!)

gina hand-carved this GORGEOUS robin stamp...which you'll be seeing a lot of in future weeks... (A LOT!) (no, seriously!!!)

the lovely debb made the lauren-iest card in the universe... (i am pastin' it into my art journal...if i can ever bear to take it off my desk!) ...
and shared her fabulous die-cutting wisdom--& DIES!--not to mention
making me my very own army of cardstock robots!!! (& this was before she even KNEW about the crobots!)

♥♥♥

thank you

VERY much indeed!!!

♥♥♥