oh wooden it be nice?

miss leslie has really been rockin' the challenge titles over at shopping our stash lately and this week she's got another goodie for us in the form of "wooden it be nice" for which we'd like to see... waiiiiiit forrrrrr iiiiiiiiiiiiiit... wood grain or wood veneer items somewhere on your project! woohoo! here's what i made:

patterned paper: crate, bo bunny, my mind's eye, glitz design, vintage sheet music, creative imaginations; vinyl rub-on sentiment: the late lamented and still very much missed EAD designs; wooden hearts: studio calico; shimmery tan cardstock: bazzill; ink: colorbox; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, scor-tape, scotch gluestick, gluedots, sewing machine

there is some pretty impressive stash-usage here because the little wooden hearts have been sitting in a drawer, in the packet, unopened for... ok, i think possibly since before we moved which is getting on for 2.5 years now. yeah. i needed a push, lol. with regard to woodgrain paper, that's a whole different story, i go through that stuff fast, because somehow it just always looks good. as always when i am paper piecing or mixing patterned scraps i wind up with waaaaaaaaaaaaay too many pieces of whatever the central element is-- in this case it was punched hexagons--. i had a ton leftover, i had another small square of the woodgrain paper and even some additional wooden hearts; plus this cool "XOXO" from a totally different, also un-opened pack of wooden thingies. in these cases i generally think to myself, "i should really make another card to use these up" and then put everything away and move on to the next project. but this time i thought that and actually did it. go, me!

there are many fine wooden-centric designs awaiting you at SOS, won't you give yourself a treat and check those out right now? you can thank me later, darlings! ♥

cue adam sandler!

every year at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ we like to take one fortnight and dedicate it to making cards that celebrate the other winter holidays: solstice, new year, kwanzaa, winter time generally, and yes, of course, hanukkah! or, if you prefer, you can get a jump on your holiday thank-you notes! i went with hanukkah, and here's my card:

watercolor paper: strathmore; blue glitter cardstock: dcwv; black glossy cardstock + various shades of blue and yellow distress ink: ranger; silver glitter thickers: american crafts (via miss leslie, ta v much!); silver mylar stars from my stash; outlining pen: faber-castell pitt; machine stitching using coats and clarks heavy duty black upholstery thread; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foam tape

i saw some really cute menorahs on pinterest a few weeks ago and it occurred to me that i might be able to make a pretty cool card using stencils. i don't happen to have a menorah stencil, or even a candle; but i do have one with skinny stripes and another with rain drops, which made me think i could do this:

...and i was right, lol! do you have a brilliant idea for a non-christmas holiday card? someone who definitely did is miss stephanie, and you can see that just by hopping over to ♥JINGLE BELLES♥?! :)

show us your smile!

it's tuesday once again and thus time for another fun challenge at shopping our stash. this week we want to see your smile. ok, actually, we want that every week, but this time we'd also like to see an image that features a smile --or the word smile-- on your card. of course, in a pinch, you could substitute grin, laugh, guffaw, chortle, chuckle, giggle... well, you get the idea, right? awesome! here's my card:

text paper from an old dictionary; scraps of basic grey, ki, sei, creative imaginations and doodlebug patterned papers; black glossy cardstock by ranger for my card base, with the scraps used to make the sentiment via an XL tim holtz die; washi: freckled fawn; epoxy heart: stickopatomus; punches and corner rounder: fiskars, ek success; ink: colorbox; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foam tape, sewing machine

do you love the little camera? sorry to be obnoxiously proud, but i made that myself, from scraps! actually, a variation of this card is part of a "free style" paper piecing class i'm teaching at paper anthology* in september and october. i know we all love to paper-piece stamped images, but what do you do when you want to make something for which you don't have a stamp, or you need it to be a different size? for the sweet little camera, i looked at some photos and realized a basic camera shape is actually a couple of rectangles, with some stacked circles for the lens. which made me think, "hey, i bet i could do that with the paper trimmer and some circle punches!" turns out, i was right!

in the same class we'll also make a card with a fun pair of sunglasses (using a copyright-free clipart image as template) and a little landscape that's made using ordinary shapes and dies in new ways. (that one's a version of this SOS card i made in june.)

speaking of SOS, the other lovely ladies over there have their very best smiles on this week too... why not stop by and see those right now?!

*paper anthology is a pretty fabulous paper crafting shop located in kenvil, the heart of central new jersey. if you're in the area, you should totally check it out!!! ♥

there's NO WAY i'm starting another daily art challenge!!!

because much as i loooooooooove ICAD --and strongly believe in daily creativity-- logistically, i cannot commit to anything big at the moment. especially something that lasts an entire year. so why am i mentioning all this? well, because the amazing miss tracy and a few other of my lovely instagram art friends are doing 365 doodles with johanna fritz. and it's a SUPER-fun group, with terrific daily prompts. the great thing, though, is that you don't have to sign on for the whole thing; they totally welcome weekly, monthly, or just whenever-ya-feel-like-it participation. so yeah, i've been jumping in a little bit.

365 doodles: TREE

a palm tree, obviously; painted with ken oliver's color burst powders that i put into a palette and pre-wet; so basically they worked exactly like regular watercolors. if i wasn't already hooked on these, this experience would've clinched it! :)

365 doodles: PRETZEL

colored with distress markers, using more attention than i generally give to blending and shading. 

365 doodles: FAVORITE PEN

i'm pretty much in love with faber-castell's pitt artist pens, in black india ink, especially the extra superfine nib (xs) though i use the whole range. i did the grey shading with tombows, having realized AFTER i did the lettering that of course these pens are black and the lettering is white. ah well, artistic license!

"aloha" was just an extra doodle, again with the color burst powders functioning as watercolors.

this guy miiiiiiiiiiiight be my favorite, a chameleon that i drew on labor day morning, watching HGTV in my pajamas. because *that* is the whole entire POINT of three-day weekends, am i right???!

♥♥♥♥♥

oldest + newest

one of my favorite ways to use older items from my extensive (ahem!) collection of papercrafting schtuffs is to mix it in with my newest and most favorite bits. it just seems to freshen up the older things, and keep the new from looking too faddy. at least, i hope it does, lol! i mention all this as a reminder that this fortnight at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ we've teamed up with the lovely ladies from shopping our stash to make holiday cards that feature supplies we've owned for at least a year. here's what i made this week:

vintage sheet music and seam binding; old stuff: studio calico snowflake paper, core'dinations cardstock, doodlebug flower sequin, joann fabrics heart brad; lace and pearly trimming: may arts; snowflake border die: memory box; snowflake die: tim holtz/sizzix; glitter paper: best creation; glitter paste: viva decor in "champagne"; flourish stencil: tim holtz/ranger; colorburst watercolor powders in alizarin crimson and merlot: ken oliver; watercolor paper: strathmore; ink: colorbox; black outliner pen: faber-castell pitt in xs; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, scotch gluestick, 3m foam tape, gluedots, sewing machine

so, old stuff? well, the sheet music and seam binding are vintage and i've had them for a while and i love them both as much as the day i found them* so there's that; but of the actual papercrafting products, the snowflake paper, flower sequin and heart brad have all been around for a bit; easily more than a year on all counts. the "latest and greatest"? ok, yeah, i'm definitely in a stencil phase, especially when used with colorburst powders, which is how i made the ornament. i already loved modeling paste, even before elisabeth at paper anthology turned me on to its more glamorous cousin, glitter paste. holy wow, where has this been all my life?! elisabeth's favorite brand is viva, which is made in germany. it seems like it's a lot pricier than similar products made by dreamweaver and bo bunny... (which are called glitter embossing paste and are also good) ...until you realize that you're getting almost twice as much in a jar. plus, it has a kind of  vintage patina to it, like when you find old xmas ornaments where the glitter has slightly tarnished, which ought to look a bit sad but is actually even more beautiful. (or is it just me who thinks so?? nahhhh... surely not.) anyway, it's good stuff and i'm confident you'll be seeing LOTS MORE of it! :)

speaking of lots more, there is inspiration galore to be found both at shopping our stash and ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ why not give yourself a little treat and check those out!

*at a booksale and rummage sale, respectively. i got a whole (1903!) volume of the former, and an entire roll of the latter. the women who were in charge of the cash drawer at the rummage sale seemed utterly bemused that anyone would even want seam binding when (apparently) now there are much better, easier-to-use products that you iron on, and apologized for the rather steep .25cent price tag. :) 

FIRE!

i realized when i sat down to post my sketchbook page for this week's sisters with heart in art instagram challenge, that i somehow never blogged last week's page either? duh, lauren! ok, so it's a two-fer, then, woohoo! this week's prompt is "FIRE". somehow i went from doodling flames to the five chinese elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. but that's what i love about prompts... you kind of start with an idea and just see where it goes. 

no real art products involved here except my artist's loft watercolor paints and a faber-castell pitt artist pen with a suuuuuuper skinny nib (it's called xs) 

last week we had "SPOOKY" and again, i didn't really have a *plan* as such (can you tell, lol?!) just a color scheme, a phrase and a whole bunch o'stencils, lol!

loads of ranger distress inks here, some heidi swapp alphabet stamps, and a lot (A LOT!) of stencils, mostly tim holtz ones. oh and a doily

everyone is welcome to join the fun, and you needn't be an art journaler; you could stamp, draw, paint, write poetry, do handlettering, collage, take photos... all media and all formats are welcome and there are some really fun folks hanging out, so i think you'd have fun! ♥

outta this world

another stunningly fab title and assignment from shopping our stash this week. the challenge? make a project that is "outta this world" by which we mean, it has an alien on it! what qualifies as an alien? well, anything driving a rocket or spacecraft, i suppose; any characters from scifi telly or movies; most types of monsta ...and david bowie, obviously. not into the idea? ok, then, howsabout something more celestial: sun, moon, stars, planets... ok c'mon there has to be *something* in this paragraph that sounds good to you! i s'pose it goes without saying i went with a space/monsta/alien type dude.

alien based on this pattern by cathy blackstone; texty stars and grungy circle stamps: dina wakley/ranger; star stencil: carabella designs; yellow ink: ranger archival; blue ink: ken oliver's colorburst (in a few colors) + ranger distress inks; pleather, foam (both recolored) and fabric thickers: american crafts; patterned paper: basic grey + a scrap of vintage ledger; long lost googley eyes + tiny yellow gems: michaels; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, gluedots, sewing machine; watercolor paper: strathmore

does it surprise you that despite having loads of awesome pre-made monstas, including carved stamps by my friend gina and digistamps by my friend jess, i paper-pieced a completely new guy based on something i saw on pinterest?! yeah, me too! it was partially because --after a prolonged and increasingly aggravated search-- i found my container of googley eyes, some of which are quite large. also, i had an idea for a background that was pretty inky and detailed, so i needed a plain-but-substantial alien to inhabit it. and finally, i confess that i pretty much built the whole idea around the sentiment, which i pictured in several different styles of thickers; so again... it needed to be a pretty big card. it's a pretty busy card, too, but i really like it!

there's more outta this world goodness over at SOS... well, there always is, but it's slightly more literal this week, lol! off you go, darlings! ♥