i have no idea what it is...

...but i think i kind of like it!

(almost everything here is either current or vintage ephemera & 95% of it was sitting on my desk waiting to be put away...the chinese text & picture were from a michaels' collage pack; the postage & trading stamps plus sheet music & silver foil paper are vintage; the fabric & buttons are from a gym shirt i recently "retired" to the rag bag; the fruit stickers were on the apple i ate immediately after finishing my collage...the brand in question is a "pink lady" which i found quite hilarious in the circumstances!; rubber stamps: stampin' up; flowers: prima & michaels; gems: mambi; ribbon & feather: michaels; adhesives: uhu gluestick, gluedots, staples)

yes indeedy, i have said it before (LOTS of times!) and i will no doubt say it again (LOTS of times!!!) and yet here i am saying it now (just the once!):

art play is *NOT* a luxury!!!

at least, it isn't for me. sometimes it's an absolute necessity for me to sit at my desk & spend 45 minutes furiously & randomly stamping and glueing & stapling bits of paper & fabric & buttons & flowers to each other with no goal or destination in mind.

note to self: get yourself back to daily art journalling.

second, more emphatic note to self: stop *saying* that and actually DO IT!!!

third, and completely unrelated note to self: it wouldn't kill you to dust more often, either! :)

two cats in one week??!?!

yeah i know, i've been quite shockingly neglectful, for which i apologize. i've just finished a very large, rather complicated (& MASSIVELY time-consuming) project for the next caardvarks challenge (which will feature a special sponsor & some rather fancy items from the DT, so tune in june 5th, folks!) and it has pretty much meant that this week was a washout for any other creative endeavors.

on the other hand, this photo from i can has cheezburger TOTALLY cracked me up the other day. i think it's the spelling. if they had just typed the ordinary words, it would still be funny...but somehow the "kitteh speak" almost seems to give the cute little guy a voice, rather than just a caption. plus, seriously, how can you look at that little face and NOT smile?!

i do hope all of YOUR "moovin roks" turn out to be turtles!

♥ happy weekend, darlings! ♥

is it fab...or is it moxie?

it's moxie fab world!!! a rather fab (well, duh!) site belonging to papercrafts magazine that's pretty much crammed full of inspiration. at the moment they're having a citrus-y color challenge which lasts until midnight, june 1st. i haven't done very many color themed projects...though i am completely inspired on a regular basis by the cards made for the kristina werner challenge, amongst others. i don't tend to use very much yellow, either. so it seemed like this would be a CHALLENGE in the true sense of the word. count me in!

first the inspiration:

and here's my card:

(lemon image cut from a magazine; india paper: the paper company; patterned paper: my mind's eye; cardstock: staples; florals: heidi swapp; inks: colorbox; adhesives: uhu gluestick; 3m foam tape; karen foster brad (unseen, but holding all the flowers together); other: vintage buttons, paternayan persian needlepoint yarn)

my finished card didn't turn out *exactly* like i envisaged, but i had a lot of fun drawing and pasting and cutting and sewing! plus, it meets the challenge...and it's kind of growing on me... (hey--it's a sunflower--they grow ANYWHERE, right?) ...so i'm gonna call this operation a (modest) success.

also not one of mine

cheezburgers, that is.

but quite funny nonetheless.

i do hope your plan for "wurld dominashun" is going well.

or, at least, that you have a

♥ happy tuesday* darlings!!! ♥

*because YES, it is tuesday; a fact that those of us who worked on the holiday yesterday feel no compunction about reminding you, so just keep those, "oh i'm very tired today because i had sooooo much fun yesterday while you were working!" stories to a minimum, ok? thanks.

52Q: 19

sometimes i need to really ponder these. sometimes i have no idea what i'm going to say until i sit down to write my card. this wasn't one of those times. when i read last week's 52Q question, i felt absolutely no ambivalence or hesitation; in fact, not only did i know what i wanted to say, i knew the image i'd use, as well. but i'm getting ahead of myself.

question 19: what gives me hope?

(software: broderbund printshop; poster image downloaded from the internet; flag clipart; fonts: brushstroke 26 & arial)

ok, so not to be mushy (or repetitive...i know i've mentioned it before!) but i *LOVE* our president. last year, for the first time in my adult life, i felt 100% excited and enthusiastic about a candidate...which was very nearly cool enough on its own...and then he actually WON! since i may never be this politically content ever again, i want to savor the next four years.

as soon as the word "HOPE" and the idea of obama met inside my cranium, of course i knew i wanted to use that iconic campaign poster. since i was downloading the image, it seemed easier to fit the words on digitally, and then make a "flipside" to match.

this is what's FAB about a year-long journaling project, you can have a page with your to-do list right next to one which records a completely historic national event. go 52Q!!!

because you can never have too many cupcakes!

in a papercrafting sense, that is. one of the great sadnesses of real life is that in a dietary sense, you actually CAN have too many cupcakes; as the waistbands of my summer trousers will attest. (sigh)

luckily, then, it is in fact the papercrafty variety of cupcakes i wish to discuss today! because i've got some NEW ONES, and they are *fabulous*!!! see, the prize last week at 2sketches4you was an amazing--and amazingly generous--selection of files from the cutting cafe. not only was i given the entire package the design team received, i was also allowed to *choose* some files, too! how cool is that?! (hint: it is very very cool indeed...but also quite hard b/c the cafe's selection is awesome!)

i got some neat patterns for making pillowboxes...and these astoundingly cool shaped sweets cards (which would, amongst other things, make the best thank you notes EVER, imho!) and obviously i could not resist these adorable cupcakes, which come formatted with fun greetings as A-2 cards so that you needn't even cut them out--just print, fold and color!

for this card, i did cut mine out, however; in fact i paper-pieced them with--if i do say so m'self--rather cool results! but i'm getting ahead of myself, as usual. first, let's look at laura davis' glorious sketch 26 from this week at 2S4Y:



*NOW* we can see my paper-pieced cupcakey card. unusually for me, i used papers that were all from the same line; i finally got to properly break out my making memories 6x6 "sabrina" pad. boy oh boy does it streamline the production process to have18 coordinated patterns in the perfect size for card-making!!!

(cupcake pattern: the cutting cafe; patterned paper: making memories, doodlebug; glossy black cardstock & black stickles: ranger; chipboard letters: k&co; bling: heidi swapp, michaels & teeeeeeny nail gems from the lovely terrie bailey; ink: colorbox; pen: zig; adhesives: tombow monoadhesive runner, 3m foam tape, judikins diamond glaze)

can i just say one more big thank you to the wonderful folks at 2S4Y and also to the very lovely regina easter at the cutting cafe? being COTW was a total blast and i am most appreciative!!! ♥♥♥

gettin' sketchy with it!

a few weeks ago, BR-T from unscripted sketches invited me along to see their cool new sketch challenge site. they post a new design every saturday, and you can make a layout, a card, and atc...whatever format you enjoy...in whatever size you'd like. they're currently on sketch #6 and it's a goodie...see?!

i have to confess that this is not the most literal sketch-to-card translation i have ever done, but i feel like "the bones" are there...and i hope the "unscripted" folk will understand. having said that, i am fairly pleased with the finished product, which is a rather funky anniversary card for my (rather funky!) aunt and uncle. :)

(patterned paper & pink border sticker: basic grey; kraft cardstock: bazzill; chipboard & cardstock diecuts: k&co; eiffel tower stamp: hero arts (stamped on a page from a vintage french dictionary; rhinestone flourish: prima; acryllic stickers: heidi swapp; rub-ons: creative imaginations; inks: colorbox; pens: sharpie & zig; adhesives: tombow monoadhesive runner, uhu gluestick, 3m foam tape)