now we know what the partridge family has been up to for the last couple of years

and here i didn't even realize david cassidy could knit!

ok, so i don't have anything cool & crafty to show you today, but i have a really good excuse: i got to meet my lovely blogging friend leah yesterday, and we went out and about together for a day of fun! we went to a prismacolor class* ...we shopped at *TWO* scrapbook stores...we had red robin burgers and dairy queen blizzards in the same day! (is that even legal??!) we talked and talked and laughed and talked and played with our purchases and talked and laughed some more! it was one of the best papercrafty days ever! and i think the only person who was happier than leah and myself at the end of the day was lovely husband jeff...who apparently has noooooooo problem at all with the prospect of being replaced as my #1 crafting co-conspirator; go figure!

come again soon, leah! next time we'll actually MAKE SOMETHING, i promise!!! ♥

*(the less said about this the better because whilst i have no intention of "dissing" the very nice people who hosted it, there was NO teaching involved, no techniques explored, no experimentation encouraged; we were each given a set of 12 prisma pencils...gamsol & blender brushes were made available...and we were given several hours to copy four very cute stamped and colored cards on which said pencils were used. not at all a bad way to spend a sunday afternoon, i hasten to add, but let's call it "prisma fun", or "make-and-takes", and not a prismacolor CLASS, ok? sorry to be negative, but i was kind of disappointed, particularly since i'd talked someone else into driving a VERY LONG WAY to accompany me!) (sorry, leah!)

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??! ♥