SOS62: what was i thinking?!

cool title this week at shopping our stash, no?  so let's get right to it:

Challenge 62: What Was I Thinking?! 

Use something you bought, maybe because everyone else was buying it, but it's sooo not "you".

this one was sort of dificult for me, because being one of those lazy types who doesn't really follow the trends, i tend not to BUY stuff that isn't "me"! so i chose a couple of products i really *like* but which i find a bit more challenging to use, and thus i've had them a while: grungeboard* needs to have an ink or paint treatment every time (for which i don't always have the patience) and little metal charm thingies are often an issue to ATTACH. having said that, i really like this card, so i'm thinking there could be more grungeboard and charms in my future! :)

 (patterned paper and charm: prima; glossy white cardstock and grungeboard wings: tim holtz; fuzzy rub-on: heidi swapp; ink: colorbox; paint: folk art; adhesives: tombow tape runner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

i used this week's retrosketch (#22) pretty literally, but took the liberty of making the inset squarish panel into a heart. to me that's "tweaking" the sketch and making it my own; but i realize that everyone draws the line differently on that sort of question, so i will understand if it's considered i've changed a key element!

a key element at SOS is our rockin' design team who have crafted their little hearts out this week... do hop over and leave them some love, k?!

*also... and no disrespect to tim holtz or anything... but grungeboard kind of has... how can i put this politely? ok, nevermind, i'll just say it: grungeboard *smells*! it's not a particularly bad smell, but it's definitely noticeable, and not entirely unlike the fertilizer aisle at home depot. is it made from recycled stuff or something? does anyone know WHY it smells... or (remembering the febreze controversy from some months ago) perhaps i'm the only one who feels this way? your opinions on this issue are most welcome! ♥♥♥

CCCB120: solid as a rock

can you believe how quickly july has flown by?! they say that's what happens when you're having fun, which explains how we are already into my last week as guest designer at the city crafter challenge blog, where i have been having such a total blast with that talented gang of crafty gals!!!

this week the challenge is called SOLID AS A ROCK by which the lovely miss kirsty means we're to eschew patterned paper entirely (YIKES!) and concentrate on solid color cardstock!!! of course we can use whatever inks, stamps, stencils and embellishments we want... we just have to start off with a blank canvas; and that is what i did-- literally-- i took some fabulous sticky back canvas, one awesome aspen tree stencil and a wholllllllllllllle lot of blue inks, and after several hours of painty, inky, marker-outlining fun, i had this:

(6x6" aspen tree stencil: the crafter's workshop; paint: folk art metallic pearl white; pen: sharpie fine point; sticky back canvas: claudine helmuth; inks: colorbox, ranger, martha stewart; wood veneer: kate's paperie; cardstock: core'dinations; fibers: basic grey; adhesives: 3m foam tape, gluedots, sewing machine)

i know, i know, it's not a very layered or very "laureny" card, is it? but seeing as how i'd already had a "practice go" on one of my ICAD cards, the stenciling came out so well that i hated to add much to it! so i just matted the trees on a panel of genuine (but very thin) wood veneer, machine stitched in black all the way to the edge of the canvas, and at the end tied some seriously ancient basic grey fibers around it. the black card base is core'dinations "black magic" so the interior of the card is one of the medium shades of blue from the front.

whenever you are talking about texture and/or shimmery paint, it's IMPOSSIBLE to get a photo which really show the effect properly; or at least it is whenever *I* am talking about those things and left in charge of the photos, lol! so clearly this one doesn't either, but you can at least (kind of) see that there IS an effect, which makes the bark of the trees look rather realistically both rough and translucent; and in real life it looks pretty awesome: 

of course, you're all invited round to see it in person, just let me know when you're coming, so i can stock up on creme de menthe and beef jerky! :) in the meantime, i hope you'll stop over at CCCB and see the amazing design team creations and start plotting ♥YOUR♥ bid for world cardstock domination!!! 

the penultimate ICADs!

the first three are from the week 8 prompt list in the index card a day section of the daisy yellow art blog; the last three are from week 9! don't forget that tammy is going to be posting a daily paper prompt for the entire month of august, which-- quite incredibly to me, this summer has FLOWN PAST!-- starts on wednesday! come and play! come and play!!! ♥

card#54: paint

i almost threw this one away. because, seriously, when i had only done the background paint-through-stencil part, it looked totally lame and not at all like birch trees, and i was pretty disappointed. luckily, the only rule i made for myself in ICAD was: "just keep going!"; and since i couldn't toss it out and start over, it meant that i did just keep going... and thus i learned that some stencils really need a bit of outlining, too; and insipid paint backgrounds can be intensified with chalk or ink; and that metallic pearl white paint when applied messily over uniball pen really does start to look like birch bark and... well, let's just say it was a good night for LEARNING STUFF and this is now one of my all-time faves!

card#55: cup of tea

simplest collage ever. :)

 card#56: mail art

i found this envelope and its typewritten carbon paper invitation to "love and loyalty night" (erwin, nc; feb 8th, 1962) stuck in a book i got at a rummage sale. i wanted to make something with it, but it had to be something *I* would get to keep, lol; so here it is. mrs. margaret swanson, erwin chapter secretary, your work lives on and i salute you!

card#57: lyrics

this is one of the few cards from the whole ICAD project that i really, seriously don't like: i don't like the way the stencil came out; i don't like the way i blended the inks; and i REALLY don't like the way the stamping looks on top! but here's what i ♥LOVE♥ about it: i learned how NOT to do all of those things next time!!!!!!!!!!

card#58: bird

more inky, stencilly, blendy essperiments. i'm getting better and using a light touch to avoid "ink lines" when i change color. i've learned that hairspray will set chalk, whilst at the same time lightly bleeding the ink from a uniball pen; and that wonky stitching (plus papaya clip art) will cover a multitude of sins!

card#59: payne's grey

this is based around an extra print i had of a digital collage i made, which just happened to have the exact right color background! it was going to be a LOT more layery and complicated, but when i got the words on there they decided they wanted to be the star of the show. so i let them.

i was very excited this week to have my "happy day" card featured at laurel seabrook's "inspired by" challenge (ta v much, missus!) and also randomly selected to win $10 worth of basic grey goodies on the BG blog; plus, i got a shout out at unscripted sketches (thank you, ladies!) for the "ooh la la" card i made for this week's "something new" challenge at shopping our stash!

speaking of which, i happen to know that the upcoming challenges at both SOS and city crafter this tuesday are going to be pretty awesome, so i hope you'll stop back and see my cards*! 


*in one of them you'll be able to see the direct line between ideas i thought about/played with in these ICADs and a "finished product" of which i am quite proud; because while it's true that process IS more important than outcome; practice and experimentation in the "process" phase can later affect, or even improve your outcome... just sayin'...

santa, baby!

our new prompt at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ is a really fun one, so i hope you'll c'mon over and play along! for "santa baby" we invite you to make a holiday card featuring mister christmas himself OR any other denizen of the north pole: missus claus, the elves, dasher, dancer, rudolph...? heck, invite the whole gang and make it a party! :)

i went with santa, because this october afternoon chipboard sticker has been burning a hole in my creative pocket for several weeks!

 (patterned paper: love elsie, echo park; chipboard: october afternoon; arrow sticker: daisy d's; tape: love my tapes; pen: copic; ink: colorbox; adhesives: tombow mono runner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

i've paired him up with my last little leftover strip of echo park trees, some seriously vintage love elsie papers, and a few other bits and bobs from both holiday and regular stash. this month at merry mondays they are letting everyone make their own challenge by choosing ANY mm sketch they fancy, so i used this totally fun one:

you've got until wednesday, august 8th to link up with us at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ we can't wait to see you over there!

the first half... of the last week... of ICAD (sigh)

i'm sooooooo going to miss the index card a day project when it winds up next week; although, having the prospect of an entire month of daily paper prompts on the daisy yellow art blog *IS* assuaging my panic somewhat! i'm currently trying to decide whether to dust off my old (and sadly neglected) art journal, or to start a brand new one* on august first. haven't quite decided yet. meanwhile, there are still a few more ICADs left both to make and to show; these are from the week 8 prompt list:

 card#50: use a photo

i took this photo last week, of the sunflower field belonging to one of our (down the road) neighbors; it was a bit of a grey day, so i came home and added a little "photoshop magic"...plus the van gogh quote.

 card#51: numbers

ok, pretty basic here, just A LOT of different numeral stickers, vaguely in order, and outlined; this was weirdly hypnotic to make.

 card#52: candy

i think liked this one a liiiiiiittle better before i covered up so much of the woman's figure; although on the other hand, i think the quote adds to it... (i had planned to use the reverse side of this magazine page, in which the woman with the umbrella is visible, but when i turned it over to glue up, the surreal silhoutte was just too cool!!!) ...also, i think in a journaling project, if i don't "wreck" a couple of ideas per week by "going too far" i'm probably are not taking enough risks!

card#53: faces

i started drawing silly "happy faces" in college and never stopped. to this day i still always color them in with a yellow highlighter. my favorite is "le visage heureux"; that's him, with the beret!!! :)

i hope one of the happier "happy faces" out in the world this wednesday afternoon is YOURS! ♥♥♥

*why is the thought of starting a brand new... ANYTHING... always soooooooooo much more tempting than continuing an old one??! or is that just me? please share your thoughts on this matter, especially if doing so will make me feel less guilty about my fickle art journaling nature!!! :) :) :)

something new...

...at shopping our stash this week. no, i mean literally, that's the brief. see?!

Challenge 61: Something New 

Use something you HAD to have but have not yet used.

using new stuff is not a problem for me, except in the sense that sometimes i have a hard time waiting until i get home to open the packets!!! :) i will confess, however, to occasionally allowing something to "fly off my radar" if i have somehow managed not to use it right away. that happened with the set of glittery papaya art gift tags i bought in california this spring; partly because the tin is so pretty i've been using it as a decoration, and i sort of somehow *forgot* the tags were in there! but i've remembered now, and am firmly re-smitten, so expect to see more of these babies!

(ooh la la gift tag: papaya art; patterned paper: heidi swapp, graphic 45; velvety flower: petaloo; pearl flourish: want2scrap; other: heart doily, music twill; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape, gluedots, sewing machine)

oh and something else i am using for the first time is the gorgeous music note twill that miss leslie found, and sent to me for no other reason than just because she knew i was looking for just such an item! (♥thank you, missus!!!♥)

for the arrangement of my card, i used this week's lovely (#168) unscripted sketch, which i rotated ninety degrees, counter-clockwise:

i'm also linking this up with miss patrice's 52 card pick-up on her blog, the old back porch.

and now i hope you will hop over to SOS to see the rest of the gorgeous DT creations, and start thinking what kind of unused fabulousness ♥YOU♥ have forgotten about... and how you'll attach it to a card, layout, ATC or altered project! 

bon voyage, mes amies!

no, i'm not going anywhere... (nor, i hope, are you!) ...but i'm so excited about miss ros' chosen challenge at city crafter this week, that i just had to jump right in! yep, you've guessed it, this week's assignment is to create a "BON VOYAGE" card or  project! how fun is *THAT*?! 

as you know, i ♥LOVE♥ making travel journals, so much so that i've begun to make a few "extras" for my etsy shop. here's one that was inspired by ros' gorgeous vintage illustration:

(vintage: ship illustration, ocean currents map and nautical charts (inside covers); patterned paper: making memories, american traditional designs; transparency: hambly; woodgrain thickers: amy tangerine; decorative tape: bazzill; book ring and white index stock pages: staples; font: vogue; ink: colorbox; adhesives: xyron, scotch gluestick, tombow mono runner, sewing machine)

i love using a mix of real vintage goodies, vintage-inspired paper-crafting products, and even plain old regular office supplies! in this case, the gorgeous illustration of that lovely ship-- (a real ocean liner called the ss united states) --came from an old book on the history of shipping; the "ocean currents" illustration is from a vintage atlas; and the nautical charts which make up the end papers of the book are from a lavishly illustrated (but sadly falling apart) book about sailing. 

the decorative bits, and the title of this journal are attached to a transparency which is layered over the front cover. i've done this for a couple of reasons: for one thing, i just generally LOVE layers; for another, it means that you can, if necessary, take this layer off... either temporarily (so it doesn't get banged around while on your vacation!) or even permanently, if you'd like to add your own title to the front of the book.

the inside consists of plain white pages with just a decorative border and a bit of printing. there are two weeks' worth of "day" pages for journaling what you did when; about a dozen "theme" pages (such as "the journey", "the weather", "the food") for recording more details of the trip; and some blank pages for adding photos or sketches or... well, whatever you'd like! the single ring binding makes it easy to add, subtract or re-arrange the pages however you'd like; and also to include postcards, tickets and other ephemera you want to save. the book's size (4.5 x 9.25") is designed specifically so that the ubiquitous travel brochures we all accumulate on trips can be punched and added, as well; with no need to create layouts or pockets to accommodate them!

if you take a little book like this on your next vacation, spend 15 minutes or so each evening writing down what you did each day, and then punch holes and add whatever ephemera you've collected... by the time you arrive home you will have everything you want to remember from the trip complete and together in one place! a great keepsake on its own; even more fun if you add some photos; and it will contain all of the the details and souvenirs you'll need if you want to create more traditional scrapbook layouts later on! 

you can find this particular book in my etsy shop, just enough stuff. if you'd like to see details of what some of my own personal travel scrapbooks in this format look like when they are finished, and/or get some tips on how to build your own punch-and-go journal: here is my san francisco trip; here is a cool visit to new york city; and here the story of the very first travel book i ever completed... a VERY BIG milestone for me!!! there are even more to see under the label travel books!

and now i hope you are already plotting and planning your very own fabulous BON VOYAGE project or card, but if you need inspiration, be sure to check out the amazing work of kirsty, linda, cheryl and ros on the city crafter challenge blog!!! ♥

ICAD: the rest of week 7

(another awesome title, no?!)  :)

ok, so the bad news is that the best, coolest, most fun thing i've done ALL YEAR-- the amazing index card a day project at the daisy yellow art blog-- is winding down at the end of july. the good news is that tammy, who devised and hosted this incredibly inspiring project, will be posting daily paper prompts for the entire month of august!!! i'm excited because i was really hoping to take the energy and enthusiasm i have gained via ICAD and channel it back into a much more regular art journal practice, something which i have let slide this year, and which i was really missing! many thanks to miss tammy; can i get a "woohoo"?! ♥♥♥ 

(the following cards are all from the week 7 prompt list.)

 card #45: owl

everything here was in my "leftovers" box  except the tree and branch which i hand cut out of a scrap.

card#46: madala

i have ALWAYS wanted to try making one of these!!! i traced a few chipboard flowers and circles to get the main shapes, and then doodled to fill in the intermediate layers. i was absolutely IN LOVE with this before i colored it in; i still like it... just not quite as much...

card#47: graffiti

i think this one speaks for itself, which is excellent since i'm pressed for time; movin' to brooklyn to become a professional "tagger" lol! :)

card#48: strips of fabric

again, it does what it says on the box. i like the look of the ripped fabric, which IRL, has a lot of dimension to it, almost like ruffles, hence the name.

card#49: dreamy

i used a cloud mask and about 6 different inks to sponge and mist this; the moon is from an "extra" digi print i did; the stamps are from the dollar bin at michaels, and starting to lose their "cling". 

i'll be back on tuesday... times TWO... with city crafter and SOS posts. ciao, darlings! ♥

what's red and white and pink all over?

we are still rockin' the traditional colors-- but in NON-traditional pairings-- at JINGLE BELLES this week; our lovely guest star, june houck, has challenged us to use either RED or GREEN on our cards... but we can't use them TOGETHER! interesting, no?! it's actually slightly trickier than you might think, but totally fun, as well, because it makes you come up with pairings you might not necessarily have thought of otherwise!

this week i was "seeing red" and one of my favorite ways to use red is with pink... and a maybe a few neutrals to tie everything together:

(vintage: cake and recipe, velvet frame (cut from an old xmas card), lace and doily; patterned paper: basic grey, tpc studio, mme; ticket strip and chipboard sentiment: october afternoon, florals: prima; brads: mme; tape: love my tapes, tim holtz; rhinestone flourish: want2scrap; ink: colorbox; adhesives: tombow monorunner, scotch gluestick, 3m foam tape, gluedots, sewing machine)

i've also got a pretty strong vintage vibe going on; of course you know i always love to use my cool one-of-a-kind thrift and booksale finds, and especially on holiday cards; but this week i just happened to stumble upon the blog of tara anderson, from the crate paper design team, where i saw the MOST AMAZING travel pages in the history of... well... scrapbooking? collage artistry? maybe even in the entire history of paper! and you know how sometimes, once you've seen a thing you just HAVE TO try to make something like it? well, that was me, i was obsessed!!! i don't think i've done a patch on her lovely, ethereal, funky pages... but i was definitely inspired by her layer-upon-layer style, and the way she mixes the newest of papers and product with full on vintage goodness. you should go and see, i tell ya!!

two other things you will definitely want to check out are stef's and june's second cards; plus you still have nearly an entire week to play along with us at JINGLE BELLES, so link up your own RED creation or GREEN creation while you're at it?! ♥

the *MUSE* returns!

after making several consecutive cards (in a ROW, lol!) which featured neither a papaya muse sticker, nor even a tiny bit of amy tangerine paper, the separation anxiety has become too great for me, so here they both are, back with a vengeance! a bright pink, doily encrusted vengeance... which is quite obviously the best kind!!! :)

(patterned paper: amy tangerine; "muse" sticker: payapya; floral: prima; floral fabric tape: love my tapes; glossy white cardstock: ranger; sparkly star stickers: michaels; other: cupcake cut from magazine ad, vintage doily; adhesives: 3m foam tape, gluedots, sewing machine)

i've used this week's retrosketch (#20) which you will definitely be seeing again--i've already printed it out to put in my inspiration notebook!

speaking of that fabulous challenge site, i was VERY excited and totally honored to have gotten a shout out from those talented ladies for my "sunshiny day" card, and i thank them most heartily!

you'll have noticed this card boasts yet ANOTHER of the fabulous deco tapes i got from the love my tapes booth at scrapbook expo. this one *might* be my favorite, because for one thing, it's fabric... which just adds so much lovely texture; plus, at 1.25" it's wider than the average tape which i really like! (if i could change ONE thing about this amazingly wonderful tape craze... 90% of them are 5/8"... i'd love to see more variety of widths, wouldn't you?! but i digress...) i threw in a few glittery star stickers, as well to be able to sneak another card into love my tapes' july challenge!

and that's about it for me at the moment, i have a super-duper layery ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ card to show you tomorrow, so i'll sign off until then, darlings! ♥

son of ICAD!*

more index-card-a-day, anyone?
(please say yes, as i actually do not have a "plan b" for today's post... except to suggest that the LOLcats always provide hearty laughs; or perhaps you'd prefer HAMSTERDANCE**?!)

as always, these are based on prompts devised by the very clever and talented miss tammy of the daisy yellow art blog; most from the week 6 list; the last two from week 7:

 card#39 (a two-fer): draw apples or lemons 

AND draw lines with a ruler

because the natural response to those two prompts was ALWAYS going to be a "tartan tatin"*** obviously.

 card#40: circus AND use a definition

another two-fer; both just good excuses to root through lots of lovely vintagey bits until i found something that worked!

 card#41: colored pencils

basically just a full-on "CASE" of tammy's gorgeous ICAD badge, but done in colored pencil instead of watercolors. (i am having to physically restrain myself from "finishing" this by adding a focal image or sentiment or SOMETHING... process not outcome; process not outcome...)

 card#42: cut out

not a two-fer but a double play: fussy-cut images AND a circle punched in the top of my two layered cards, in which prince charming is kneeling.

 card#43: white

A LOT of layers here, even for me; arguably too many; or maybe just not enough definition between them? this one was ALL ABOUT "process" however... (as opposed to outcome) ...so i'm callin' it a "win"!!!

card#44: concentric circles

...or in this case ECCENTRIC circles: punched, inked, stacked wonkily, layered with transparency off-cuts and then stitched all over. better than therapy this one was; cheaper, too! (this is lovely husband jeff's favorite card so far; he's always very kind and complimentary about things i make, but this one really intrigued him, he kept turning it around and over to see how it was constructed, etc; i love it when that happens!!!) ♥♥♥ 

*yes, i am runnin' out of snappy titles for these and have begun to just get silly. sorry about that, can i just OWE you an awesome title to be presented at a later date?! (like... when someone else thinks up a great one i can STEAL?!) thanks! :) :) :)


**you'd forgotten all about HAMSTERDANCE hadn't you?! yeah, me too. you're welcome!


***pat yourself on the back if you get this joke; until you realize... it probably makes you as weird as i am! (sorry!) :)

♥ my precious!

(if you're looking for my CCCB post, scroll down... after reading this one, obviously!) ;)


i'd have to say this week's is one of my all-time favorite challenges at shopping our stash, but on the other hand, it might be one of the hardest. i'll let miss carla tell you:

My Precious 

Use something you have hoarded that you never, ever, planned to actually use. Piece of pretty paper? Special embellishment? A piece of special ribbon or lace?

i'm not usually bad about hoarding. in fact, if anything, i tend to use (even OVER use!) my favorite/newest supplies the most quickly! the exceptions to that being A) when beloved things go out of print (you'll hear howls of anguish when my last hambly transparency is gone!!!) and B) my real vintage stuff, which i can, admittedly get sliiiiightly over-attached to--but then i also collect postcards and old books and things, so when that happens, i kind of just re-categorize the item in question! :)

but in the spirit of the challenge, i busted out two hitherto untouched acquisitions from my vegas thrifting expeditions with kirsty in march, and i made this:

 (vintage: photo sleeve, phonebooth (from a game card), and phonebook page--ok, not so much "vintage" just OLD, lol; patterned paper and foam thickers: amy tangerine; tape: love my tapes, romantic pink; arrow: scenic route; sticker with dots: love elsie packaging; round alphas: so old i don't even know whence they came; star trim: from fabric shop via my mom's stash; ink: colorbox; adhesives: tombow mono runner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

my "precious" items are the phone booth, which is fussy-cut from one of these AMAZING vintage memory game boards:

and also the photo refill sleeve (actually miss k's find, but she very generously shared them!!!) which i've used as a mat:

this card also incorporates my beloved deco tape, as well as some star trim... (which i could easily be tempted to hoard except i happen to know my mom has more of it and i can sneak up to the sewing room next time i visit her and snag a bit, lol!) ...thus i'm sending this in as a second entry to the july challenge at my new favorite site, love my tapes, where you can not only find the most LUSCIOUS varieties of washi; (including the clouds and hearts one on this card... my all-time FAVE!) you can get the most awesome inspiration from their DT on how to use it!

speaking of cool DT's, SOS has one of those, for sure, so why not hop over and see what they've done with this fabulous challenge?!

ps: ACK! it's a day for updates! i cannot believe i forgot AGAIN to mention that we're currently having a DT call at SOS, which i must confide to you is one of the best-- and most fun!-- gigs a papercrafter could possibly hope to land! check out the details HERE!!! ♥♥♥

we've been *HEXED*!

but, i hasten to say, in a GOOD way... for it is miss cheryl's turn to play hostess at the city crafter challenge blog and for week #118 she has decreed that we shall make projects which incorporate one or more hexagons. so we did!

(patterned paper: american traditional designs, prima, basic grey; hexagon chips: pink paislee; paper blossom and canvas bird: prima; lily off the valley stickers: martha stewart; cardstock label and flower stickers: fancy pants; heart stickers: sassafras; rose trim: tim holtz; yellow border: k and co; border punch: recollections; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape, gluedots, sewing machine) 

as it happened, i had a brand new packet of lovely chipboard that i was longing to tap into, and this was the perfect opportunity. i played around with a bunch of different grid ideas before settling on the combination of this elderly graph-paper, asymetrical placement, and a softer, rounder collection of embellishments placed near--but not exactly IN--the center of the card. i stitched the little hexes to my card-front partially to extra-securely adhere them* and also to add another small textural/design element.

as soon as i have a lot of straight lines on a card, i'm usually on the lookout for a way to add some circles... or at least some non-linear shapes. in this case i went with a few truncated curvy labels, a scalloppy border punch, a custom-dyed canvas bird sticker, and flowers made of paper, ribbon, and cardstock.

hexagons are (deservedly!) SUPER-popular right now, so i hope you'll be itching to get to work on your "hexed" creation, but do stop by CCCB and check out the design-team's inspiring take on this fun challenge! ♥

ps: many thanks to the always au courrant miss stephanie for pointing out that this card--as well as any hexy ones that y'all might make this week-- serendipitously fits to perfection the current "hooked on hexagons" challenge at moxie fab world; where, as usual, they have put together a swooningly gorgeous post just totally FULL of ideas from the worlds of papercrafting, fine arts, quilting, decor, etc! can i get a, "woohoo!"?!

*in my experience, rigid chipboard pieces are just WAITING for the opportunity to leap, lemming-like, off of my papercrafting projects. so, being vigilant, i TAKE STEPS. :)

this one morphed more than the entire cast of "transformers"!

does that ever happen to anyone else? you start out with a very clear and specific idea--a road map, if you will; but an hour later you suddenly notice that you took two left turns back in albuquerque and you're headed for the border?! (metaphorically, i mean!) :)

anyway, here IS my card, which i like, despite the fact that it's not what i was expecting to make:

(patterned paper, old school alphas (arguably the best alphabet stickers EVER MADE in all of history!) and pearl flower sticker: basic grey; rub on ("day"): fancy pants; brads: mme, doodlebug; plastic flowers and heart gem: queen and co; pennants: pink paislee, mme, and hand cut from scraps; epoxy stickers: imaginisce; flowers: prima; adhesives: tombow mono runner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

i started out with laurel seabrook's "inspired by" photo (#32):

and the intention of using the full-on, full-strength colors, plus a string (or banner or SOMETHING) of beads. then i saw this week's awesome sketch on the basic grey blog:

and decided the rows of little blocks should be pink patterns from various older BG collections... and as it turned out this just worked better to turn the dial down to "softer pinks". 

i do still have some little hits of the bright magenta and teal from the inspo pic as accents; my string of "beads" has become a banner, though! however, one of the many things i love about miss laurel is that when she says, "inspired by" that is what she MEANS; she's giving us a starting point, and our finished projects may or may not look like the photo. it's VERY freeing and helpful, and i thank her for that! ♥

someone else i'd like to thank is miss patrice, for reminding me to come and link up at 52-card pick-up, on her blog, the old back porch, where she has a round-up of creative card makers every week, and there are, as she puts it, "no rules, just sharing the fun of making your own cards"!  awesome, no?

why not check out all of these fine blogs, then c'mon back here tuesday when i will have not one, but two lovely posts--for city crafter AND shopping our stash! ciao till then, darlings!

ICAD: the book of the film

i'm excited to have an "interim" post for the index card a day project at daisy yellow art blog instead of the whole entire week at once! oh yeah, and i finally decorated the cover of my little ring-bound book, so it's started to look "REAL" if you know what i mean? which ought to keep me going to the end, so as to have the complete collection; though actually i cannot say i've felt any inclination to stop-- apart from the occasional time constraint issue. (all of these prompts are from the week six list.)

card#36: rainbow

this is my new favorite. which is good, because despite being an almost EMBARRASSINGLY simple idea, it actually took longer to make than any other card in the entire project! i punched holes from rainbow colored paper scraps, and then stuck each tiny circle to a pre-glued index-card arch in rainbow color order, and then, because some of the dots were really not anchored as securely as i'd've liked, i put transparent text tape over top of the whole thing. you will definitely see me making additional "punch mosaics"... but possibly not from standard hole-punch-sized circles, because after carefully tweezering about the first hundred tiny orbs neatly into place, it just becomes seriously tedious. :)

card#37: ladybug

again with the drawing, lauren??!?! yeah. i am completely unrepentant about my utter lack of talent in this area, and highly recommend to everyone that they sit down once in a while and draw something, then color it in. apart from anything else, it is just SOOOOOOOO MUCH FUN!!! (and, no, it turns out not to matter at all-- fun wise-- if your drawing talent stopped developing at age 7, like mine did! process is INFINITELY more important than outcome!!!!!!!!!!!)

card#38: the ocean 

and here's the QUICKEST card of the whole project, sparked by finding this duplicate photo of a sandpiper taken during a seriously lovely may evening at new smyrna beach, florida.

ok, so the cover design turned out to be a lot simpler than i thought it was going to: just awesome (cursive!) magnetic refrigerator letters, some magazine goodness, a heart-shaped playing card, and a bit o'dymo love. whenever i make a minibook-- especially an art journally one-- i can never resist a "top shot" that shows all the bulky lumpy pages with sticky-up bits, and this was no exception:

another must-have shot is "the big sprawl", lol. ordinarily i wait until the thing is complete before doing these, but i just couldn't wait! :) i found a cool magazine shot of graffiti and this tape measure graphic for the back cover:

we are nearly 2/3 finished and my strongest feeling is that i really don't want it to end! i'm trying to think how i can keep the art journal habit going when this project is over. for some reason, i seem to be a person who *NEEDS* to be given a starting point... anyone have a favorite "prompt a day" (or week) site they love? anybody??! all suggestions welcom and appreciated! ♥