more ribbonny goodness!

i have a confession to make: i have a serious "over-thinkin' it" habit!!! i don't need either of the ladies from monty python's penguin-on-the-telly sketch to run rings around me logically, i can do it all by myself! case in point: for this, the second week of our ribbon rendezvous at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥, i spent nearly an entire day lamenting the fact that i had already used the idea i wanted to employ for this week's card. before *finally* the answer came to me: so what??!?! who says you can't use the same idea twice, or a hundred times, if it's one you like, and you're still inspired by it?! so i CASE-d m'self. i'll show you the original card in a minute, but first here's the all-new, all-xmassy version:

(patterned paper: my mind's eye; glossy white cardstock: ranger; ribbons: making memories, michaels, we r memory keepers, american crafts; fancy embellished poinsettias: the girls' paperie; glitter letters and wordfetti sticker: making memories; adhesives: staples brand gluetape runner, sewing machine)

and now, here's the "original" from june of last year:

i have to say, i like BOTH versions, pretty close to equally, and let's face it, using only my current supply of ribbon, i could easily make another 47 of these... and not have any two be alike; then just imagine if i decided to combine ribbon with washi tape?! who knows, maybe i will make another 47! :) but for today there's just the christmassy one, it's over at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ along with an utterly gorgeous card by miss stephanie, as well as an amazing readers' gallery, just to inspire *YOU*!!! ♥

what are you doing june 1st?

gina and i are doing index card a day, on the daisy yellow art blog and i could not possibly be more excited!

because, as g said, "we need a project!" and because, as i said, "we need to journal more!" and because last year was ♥AWESOME♥! here are a few of my favorite cards from ICAD 2012*:

(last year we drew and colored)

if you're an avid art journaler...

(and we stamped)

or a lapsed art journaler...

(and we stenciled and painted)

or you've always thought you'd like to try art journaling, but didn't really know how to start...

(and we collaged and quoted)

maybe you're feeling a little stale, or a little stuck, or just ready to try something new...

(and sometimes we did stuff that we didn't even know what to call when they were finished... and those were my favorites, lol!)

why not check out tammy's FAQ over at daisy yellow, grab some index cards, and give it a try? you don't have to make a commitment, or even tell anyone, if you don't want to... but who knows... ya might like it! ♥♥♥

*my biggest problem, preparing this post, was narrowing down to only choose *5* favorites from all the cards i made last year. when was the last time you were that excited about your output of artsy stuff over a two month period of time? ok, so right there you have the whole reason i ♥LOVED♥ doing this last year and why i'm thrilled to start up again on saturday!!! :)

let's get trendy now!

i've been fit to burst the last few weeks, with a really ♥FUN♥ secret! i'm going to have a featured project in an AMAZING workshop being offered by three of my favorite crafty divas: amy tsuruta, yvonne yam, and julie tucker-wolek! want to know more?! here you go:

Hello there friends! Would you like some fabulous ideas for working with some of the hottest trends in crafting today? Why not come join us for a fun (*FREE*!!!) online workshop?

I'm joining this group of awesome ladies in the Let’s Get Trendy Now!3 workshop where we will be showing 5 trends: 

neon

sequins

handmade embellishments 

stitching 

and textured layers 

Not only will you be inspired by 32 never-been-seen projects, you will also get a chance to win some prizes if you play along with our challenges.

Just add your name to the linky tool and join us from 3rd to 7th June at the Let’s Get Trendy Now!3 site.

i really hope you'll come along and check it out, because it's completely free and the projects are going to be ♥AMAZING♥! plus there will be challenges, prizes, and all kinds of fun. in addition to the blog, there's a facebook page, too. hope to see you there all next week, and especially on wednesday, when my own card-- which i am UBER-excited about-- will be revealed!

SOS103: graduation *OR* anniversary

one of my favorite things about the challenges at shopping our stash is how often we get to CHOOSE what to make, based on what sort of cards we actually need at the time. how convenient is that? this week is yet another example: since june is traditionally a month with quite a few graduations and anniversaries, we figure you might have a few of those occasions looming, so why not make a card for one or the other... or both?!

i needed an anniversary card this week; ok, more accurately, i needed it *LAST* week, but it's going to be sent this week, and i hope the couple in question will think it worth the wait. i definitely had a ball making this one, it's full of allllllll kinds of stash, of every description, thrown in there together: i've got real vintage (the cool bird illustration + the ivory eyelet) copied vintage (the sheet music--copied onto index stock to make it stronger... but also... i was afraid i might mess up the first one, so i made an "insurance" copy!) i've  retrieved some elderly stash (the metallic bronze cardstock + a few scraps of basic grey paper that i've used as mats); tapped some newish stash (those glitz giant rhinestone thingies + 7 gypsies deco tape) and employed some "found objects"... in the form of the faux dogwood flowers, which were ripped from a stem at the back of a vase in my dining room, lol! :) the best part, fun-wise, was machine stitching the dogwood branch on the paper behind the flowers. which, of course, you can't really see because the flowers are right on top of it... but it's still kinda cool in a "moral high ground" sort of way! :) :) :) i took a photo before i assembled the card:

i lightly drew a branch shape on my cardstock in pencil; not because i was going for perfection or botanical accuracy or anything cool like that (lol!) just so that i'd more or less keep the design within the space i'd allotted in my collage. then i machine stitched with dark brown thread back and forth along the pencil lines, adding branches to the stem, and twigs to the branches, as i went along, until i had something i thought looked pretty good. and then, yeah, i went back and glued the flowers on top! :) but in real life, you can actually see a bit more of the sewing from various angles; plus, it was REALLY fun to do, so i'm ok with it being a "subtle detail" instead of a big "feature element" in this case!

now off you go to see what the rest of the SOS gang have done, because as always, there is a FAB mix of styles and techniques, and we've got both anniversary and grad cards galore, so whatever you need to make, we've got you covered, darlings! ♥

it's time to tie one on!

because the brief this week at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ is to make a holiday card which features ribbon. and you can't get much simpler than that, right? so let's go!

(patterned paper: prima, making memories; florals: making memories, recollections; velvet holly leaf: prima; brad: we r memory keepers; lace: from my vintage trimmings box; ribbon: michaels, american crafts, may arts; adhesives: staples brand gluetape runner, xyron, 3m foam tape, gluedots, sewing machine)

in addition to my usual friday custom of linking up with 52 card pickup, this week i'm also sneaking in just under the deadline at unscripted sketches, having used this gorgeous plan of theirs:

as soon as i saw the sketch, i hit upon the idea of using those fabulous xmas inchies from artchix studio, but it was only whilst rooting through a stack of smaller papers that i found this:

only the BEST. PAPER. EVER. in terms of using inchies on a card, am i right? it's from a super-old mat stack of prima's called "rock on love" that one of my favorite designers, adrienne looman, did for them years ago, and i still have a little bit left. i'd love to tell you that it was my plan to unearth and use this stuff all along, but truly, it was a complete fluke! but hey, i'll take it! :)

and now i'd like to take ♥YOU♥ over to jingle belles to see stephanie's card and start planning what you want to do, when you join us this week! because you are gonna join us, right? pleeeeeease?! trust me, you'll have fun now, but in december, when you're completely free of the holiday-induced card-making stress, you'll be ecstatic! ♥♥♥

SOS102: what's in your tool shed?

ok, this week at shopping our stash we're having my ♥FAVORITE♥ kind of challenge, because we can make ANY type of project, using any colors, any ingredients, any theme, any sketch, any... well... ANYTHING we choose. so what's the challenge, then? you may have guessed it from the title, actually, "what's in your tool shed?" because yeah, we want you to find a tool (punch, cutter, piercer, crimper, crop-a-dile, eyelet setter, etc) that you haven't used in ages... or maybe ever?! ...and use it. simple, right? any tool. just be sure to tell us what it is, because you know how we love to hear "the story"; and if you can incorporate scraps, leftovers, upcycling or anything else "stashy" too, so much the better!

i chose to employ my sadly neglected cuttlebug and for the first time used a cool rolodex card die i bought some time ago on a super-discount sale but hadn't yet test-driven. wahey!

(patterned paper: studio calico, provocraft, october afternoon, amy tangerine + bits of a vintage map + an illustration from an old gardening book; my own instagrammed photo of our house, formatted in PSE9 using segoe script font, printed on kodak premium photo paper (which... for the record... irl is NOT all horribly crosshatched and grainy, but for some reason just REFUSED to photograph well; apologies!) tape: bazzill, recollections; rolodex die: quick kutz; diecutting machine: cuttlebug; white index stock: staples; adhesives: staples brand gluetape runner, 3m foam tape, scotch gluestick, staples)

and yes, for the record, it's yet another use of that same instagram pic of our house, of which probably everyone but *ME* is thoroughly tired. but it happens to still be my favorite, and since i was the one making the cards, i won! :) this time it's the centerpiece of the "change of address" cards that i made, marathonically, in a rare fit of mass-production; which, by the way, totally reminded me why i swore off mass-production in the first place. yikes. is it just me, or is there nothing DULLER in the craftiverse than making elebenty gazzillion of EXACTLY. THE. SAME. THING. especially when the genius who develops the prototype thinks it'd be super-fun to have a wholllllllllllllle bunch of "casual" layers. yeah. can i please request, darlings, that next time i design a project which needs mega-duplication, one of you step in to act as spotter and "talk me down" from such folly. seriously. please. i must be stopped. thank you. :) :) :) having said all that... i do really like how this came out, and having already heard from the very first recipients, it seems to be a bit admired, so there's that. ♥

and now may i be so bold as to suggest a trip to shopping our stash to check out what my lovely DT-mates have concocted with the contents of their tool sheds. g'wan. you know you wanna! :)

putting the "doll" in dolphin

ok, so, i promised to show you the dolphin i crocheted for niece madeline's birthday, and i will; though i confess i'm not in love with this one. mostly because i don't think i did a brilliant job on the sewing up, attaching of fins, etc. it's still pretty cute, though, and as often happens on these occasions, maddie (and the rest of the gang at her party!) were so impressed by the fact of a crocheted dolphin materializing under ANY circumstances, that the details just sort of slid by. which is nice. :)

speaking of things that make one smile just by virtue of their sheer improbability, i absolutely HAVE TO share this pic my sis texted me on the day of maddie's "kid party",which had a campfire theme*. she and madeline made this gorgeous horse cake**, can you believe it?!

oh yeah... and the birthday girl is pretty adorable too, dontcha think?! 

happy *9th* birthday, 

maddie!!! 

♥♥♥

*my sister, amie, a brilliant elementary school teacher currently doing the part-time work, full-time mom gig, comes up with the most amazing activities for her kids and their friends! the campfire party featured make-your-own bandanas, twig art, a REAL campfire with songs and games and smores, etc etc; i keep trying to get an invite to these things, they are THE social events of the year!!! :)

**amie says i have to say it was made with this recipe from parenting.com!