A Purse full of Inspiration

Well, the day is almost over and I'm just getting the chance to upload my card for today's Inspiration Challenge on SCS.  I found several pieces that I had ideas for, but life is only going to allow ONE for today!!  Here is the piece that I used for my inspiration:

I just so happened to have some new rubber from Just for Fun stamps sitting on my desk waiting to be put away in a binder (A chore that I put off until I cannot stand the mess on my desk any longer!).   PERFECT for this challenge!  Here is my creation:

                            

These images have been presented at stamp shows but will now be on the web site for all you to enjoy too!!  I stamped the the three flower images (D3358 is the largest flower, A3350 is the small orange one and B3356 is the on the bottom edge) using Memento Rich Cocoa ink on Gina K's 120# pure luxury paper in white.  I then pulled out my much neglected copic ciao's and colored the flowers.  Cut out all the flowers and adhered them to a 8 1/2" x 3 3/4" very vanilla base.  I then stamped the butterfly (another new web addition, A3378) using the rich cocoa ink again on the luxury white and colored in using the same color copics as the orange flowers.  Cut that out very carefully and attached by it's little body only, gently bending the wings to add dimension.  Stamped the sentiment (also from Just for Fun) AND MANAGED TO SMEAR A BIT OF INK grrrrrr!!!! Sorry.  I am NOT going to tear this apart and start over at this point! LOL!! Grabbed a small wheel used to emboss metal/clay and made my line of dots that were (kinda) faux stitched using my old olive marker.

Thanks for dropping by again today!!  I've already started another new venture in creativity that I will have to share later on this week!  I'm sooooo excited as this is something that I've been "stalking" for a while and decided to take the first steps while at the SuperCraft show!! 

I'm off to get ready for my evening of watching my kiddos play city league basketball (back to back games....Saturday night entertainment at my house!!).  I hope you all have a great weekend!

Don't I live in Southern California? and Some Framed Love and Supercraft show ramblings!

Hey Peoples!!  Didja think that I forgot about this poor little blog?!!  Heehee....

What a week we've had for the weather in Southern California!! First, it RAINS (which if you listen to the song, it NEVER rains in Southern California!). And I don't mean a little bit of rain, I mean RAIN!  Then guess what we woke  up too on Friday morning?

our backyard 7 am....snow still coming down

My courtyard fountain

cozy little spot to sit

what use to be large pepper trees on the bank edge

Can you belive this?!!  We are at about 3300 ft of elevation and we got about a foot of snow!! We also lost all electricity early in the am until about 4:00 pm.....luckily, we have a gas fireplace (not as warm as a wood one, but we kept warm) and a gas stove so food was not a problem.  Schools were cancelled (again, a snow day in Southern California?!! People, I moved away from this stuff for a reason!! LOL!) much to the neighborhood kids delight.  The streets and nearby hills were loaded with snowmen and kids using boogie boards and some snowboards.  I got the day off as I don't have a four wheel drive and was not able to get out of our driveway (or out of the garage for that matter) to try and make it down the hill. 

                                                           

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I did manage to get a card put together between breaks of  taking pictures of my kiddos and trying to keep my hands warm.  But of course, I couldn't upload!! Go figure!! LOL

*(Of course, I still haven't figured out the photo program that came with my new computer.  I think I just need to spend a little time and figure out what photo program I want to use and download so I can get some decent photo enhancements!!....'cause I have lightened this photo and can't figure out how to get the saved version for here!!)

I stamped the college heart from Just for Fun Stamps using SU markers in Real Red and Basic Black on Gina K's pure luxury cardstock.  I then stamped the different elements again cutting out and layering each one with dimensionals.  Here is a close up view that kind of shows all the different layers better:

I used the tutorial on SCS for the recessed window and figured out my dimensions to make a 5x 5 card base with a 3 1/2 x 3 1/2" window.  Now, the first window that I made, I used SU's whisper white.  I DO NOT recommend this particular paper for this technique.  Why?  It is not strong enough to handle the weight of this card.  My inside corners tore, the top edge frayed and the bottom portion bowed out.  I tore apart the card and made it again using Gina K's 120# pure luxury cardstock.  MUCH better. 

Now I'm going to confess my mess up on the embossing of the frame.  I acutally had planned to DEboss.  Which I did on my practice frame (to figure out my dimensions.....to make sure everything I had thought I had figured out~I actually did!!) and on the SU paper frame.  GREAT.  Guess what I did on my "final" frame?!!  I placed my embossing border the WRONG way.  Fine.  I'll just go with it.  THEN I realized that I had embossed the wrong edges first so that I couldn't line up the dots to continue down the sides correctly.  SOOOOO.  You have only the top and bottom embossed "on purpose".  BWHHAAAAAA!!!

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SUPERCRAFT SHOW!!!!!!!!!!!  Guess what I did yesterday?!!  I went to the supercraft show in Anaheim!!!! Now, before you get all excited wanting to see "new" stuff.....this is not the CHA retailer portion of the show.  This is the part opened to the public.  BUT!! I did get to meet sooo many of the SCS "stars"!!!! 

I actually met Daven and Jenn in the parking lot.  Jenn remembered my posting on SCS that I might not be able to get out of my driveway and come to the show.  I got a wonderful "I'm so glad you made it" hug from her and Daven!!  Then I met Beate (gorgeous smile all the time!) Lori, Jimmi, Heidi, Cami, Sharon, Jami, Valerie, Joan, Deb, Dawn, Lisa......AAAACKKKKK!! I'm forgetting names but can recall faces!!

Here are some pics:

OH WAIT!! Star struck me introduced herself but DIDN'T TAKE ONE STINKIN' PICTURE!! DOI!!! How stupid am I?!!! 

And, I finally got to meet up with CAKath, my online "workout buddy"!!!  (she worked out....I kept working out my chewing skills!)...What a blast that was to walk around and see so many "familiar" faces!!

Whew!! What a weekend!! 

Thanks for dropping by again!!  I'm going to throw in another "snow" load in the dryer and see if I can find some clean space to create something else (being around crafting all day helps the creative mojo to get flowing (wink)!!

DaVinci's Imagination

Hello Peoples!!  Hope you are all having a great weekend!!  I was itching to stamp yesterday as life hasn't allowed it at all this week (more on that later, for those who wish to read about it) . Stef is the leader of the Inpiration Challenge on SCS and BOY!! Does she EVER come up with some FABULOUS sites!! This week's inspiration comes from Nell Hill's.  Seriously....I have at LEAST two, if not three more ideas from this site!! LOVED it!!

Here are the two inspiration pictures for my card today:

And here is my card: 

WHAAAT? You don't see the connection?! LOL!!  Let me explain how my brain works (be prepared to be scared, very, scared!! LOL!!)

Believe it or not, I was cleaning up my stamp room and trying to finish the organizing that was started this past summer (what can I say?  I HATE cleaning and am easily distracted from it!!).  I had just put away this  DaVinci Cube set from Just For Fun Stamps and was kind of pondering some ideas to use with it.  Decided to take a break from the cleaning and peek what the inspiration challenge was (I told you I am easily distracted from cleaning!).  When I saw the pictures of the pears/apples, I was struck by the overall background and the wording.  It reminded me of someone's doodlings on a page.  LIGHT BULB!!  Just like DaVinci's doodlings!!! 

I took a scrap piece of Very Vanilla cardstock and of course decided it needed my favorite technique of late~~ wrinkle free distress!!  Seriously, Peoples!!  This technique allows you to make custom papers in ANY color combination that you might need!! LOOOOVE it!!  If you haven't tried it yet, put everythig aside, get out your inks and play with it!!! FUN, FUN, FUUUN!!!

Sorry, back to the subject:  I swiped some Brushed Corduroy, Tea Dye and Vintage Photo Distress inks on my craft pad and spritzed with water.  Smooshed the Very Vanilla cs in the inks~~just once this time, as I was wanting some of the Vanilla to show.  Stamped the images in Peeled Paint and then distressed the edges and applied Frayed Burlap and some more Vintage Photo along the edges.  Matted on a piece of Basic Black and Very Vanilla. 

I have wanted to try the Easel Card for a while now and Beate's video turtorial this week was the perfect nudge to give it a go.  I decided to make my easel card a 5x5 card so I cut a piece of paper 5x10 and scored at 5 and 2 1/2.   I had originally picked out Old Olive as my base but wouldn't you know it!! I'm out of Old Olive sheets and only have scraps.  Pulled out some retired Wild Wasabi and rubbed my Old Olive ink pad directly onto my paper.  I mimicked the front of the card with my sentiment (also from Just for Fun Stamps).  In case you can't read the sentiment it says:  Imagination is more important than knowledge ~~Albert Einstein.  I think DaVinci had this one down to a T!  I then finished off the card with some of

T!m Holtz's gears/wheels from his idea-ology line.  My subtle nudge towards the brain's gears turning with ideas!! (I warned you that the workings of my brain can be scary!!)

For those who wish to know the current life's happenings.....continue on below.  For those who need to get back to their own life's happenings~~Thanks for dropping by again today!! 

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  As you may or may not know, I am a part time Physical Therapist in my "other" life. I joke that this allows me to be creative in coming up with "tortureous exercises (per my patients comments) when I can't be creative in the artistic sense of the word.  I am usually the "on call" therapist for my boss.  I don't work a regular schedule, but get called in to cover for the other therapists/boss when they want vacation/sick time etc.  This allows me to still be involved in my kids school activities and volunteer in the classrooms or at the school.  On Tuesday, I got thrown for a loop.  It seems that one of our assistant therapists has been having some anxiety issues and it just came to a head and she requested a medical leave of absence.  My boss asked me if I could cover full time, starting Wednesday.  Being the great boss, he offered the assistant 4-6 weeks at minimum, more if she was responding to treatment and wanted to come back. Sooooo.  I will be working full time for a while.  This means that creating will have to take place either in the evenings~~ while trying to help kids focus on getting their homework done, music practiced and life requirements such as housework/laundry OR on the weekends.  I bought a new Ott craft light to help with the evening creations.  The weekends hopefully will give me at least one day. 

The good news in all of this (besides having some extra $$) is that I have prepared you for lack of posts by already being a flakey blogger.  No promises here Peoples!! But~~in all reality, posts might decrease to once a week.  I'm going to try and get more in.  BUT (there's that big ol' BUT again)....my family needs to come first in the evenings and weekends since I can't be there during the day. 

Soooo~~cross your fingers.  Who knows?  Maybe I'll get EXTREMELY organized and surprise all of us with even MORE creativity!! BWHHAAAAAA

Off to work on another idea (after starting a load of laundry and finding my kitchen!!)  Enjoy the rest of your day!!

A New Blog in Town

Hey Peoples!!  I don't have anything new to share project wise at this moment (I know that statement is just shocking to you!! LOL!!) but I did want to let you know that Just for Fun Stamps is still having their year end holdiday special of 25% off all items on their site until January 31, 2010.  It's their way of saying THANKS for your patronage this past year and to greet the new year!!

Now, while I don't have a project to share, Sandy Sandrus of the Just For Fun Design team DOES have a wonderful tutorial on the NEW Just for Fun Rubber Stamps BLOG!!!  using a Faux Postage stamps and templates that are available at Just for Fun Stamps. Personally, I couldn't visualize using these stamps and templates until I saw this tutorial.  I can't wait to give it a try myself sometime!!

I'm off to take the dog for a long walk.....can't stand to listen to the pitiful whining and "deeeep sighs" any longer!!  I've been called into work this afternoon, but crossing my fingers that I can start a project idea sometime today!!

Thanks for dropping by again!! Hope you have a chance to get creative today!!

Exploring and a Winner!!

This weekend has been one of EXPLORING!  This morning was spent hiking in the conservatory right below our house.  We started the morning at my in-laws with a HUGE pancake/french toast breakfast (which was why the hike was needed! LOL!) with family friends and then we loaded up all the dogs (3!), kids (3!) and adults (9!) and spent the next couple of hours tromping.  I have to say that this is another reason that I live in Southern California!! It was absolutely GORGEOUS out!!  Temperature was 65 degrees and I was wishing I had worn shorts vs. jeans and a short sleeve t-shirt vs my light weight long sleeve one!!  Here is a little peek at one view that one of the boys took:

Things are kinda brown right now as we haven't had any rain.  If we ever get some, these hills will be GREEN!! 

I also did some exploring (ok....maybe it is more experimenting!) with a small canvas that I had picked up at Michael's one day.  I actually had a different idea in mind when I purchased the canvas, but didn't feel like dragging out my paints so I went a different path.

                                   

I first stamped the Brushed Wildflower silhouette from Just For Fun Stamps in versamark in one corner and used clear embossing powder to emboss ( I kinda missed  the top inner portion of my image.  Not sure if I didn't get powder on it, or didn't get the image stamped well in the versamark there.  Stamping on the canvas requires a bit more pressure I learned!!)  I wanted to kick my self that I didn't use my ever trusty stampamajig to make sure the image went to the bottom of the canvas, but OH WELL!!  I then layed down one of T!m Holtz's mini masks in the upper corner of the canvas.  I took distress inks in Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed and Fired Brick and rubbed them directly onto my non-stick craft sheet.  Gave them a misting until ink beads formed and layed my canvas down into the inks (like the first steps for the wrinkle free distress technique).  Now since the canvas has larger "pores" than paper does, the ink in spots just beaded versus soaked in.  So I grabbed a large 1" stipple brush and "pounced" the ink into the canvas.  I repeated that step one more time then moved the masked to the bottom corner and brushed some inks around to give me a more subtle image of the flourish (I'll explain why you can't really tell the difference of the two corners in just a moment).  I grabbed a piece of copy paper, layed it over the flowers and using my iron set on the highest setting, I melted the embossing powder off the canvas, giving a "faux bleach" look.  I pulled out some plain Mixed Minis grunge paper pieces from T!m Holtz's idea-ology line and painted them black with Folk Art's Metallic Sequin black acrylic paint.  While those were drying I went to work on the butterflies.  I wanted to use the large and small butterflies from Just For Fun Stamps (A3378, C3373....I couldn't get a direct link for these, but if you MUST have them, I'm sure that the folks at Just For Fun would be willing to help you out!! (wink)).  First I tried stamping with different colors on white paper.  Just didn't have the look I was going for~too stark or something that made me shudder!   So I stamped the images onto a transparency sheet with black stazon (I use write on transparencies from Office Depot) that I had altered with some Alcohol inks.  STILL not quite the pop that was needed, so I took a couple of Copic markers in a bright red and orange (YR07 and R27) and went over the "clear" section again to add more color.

Now here is the part that explains the almost disappearing flourishes.  If you haven't noticed lately, I've been LOVING Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist.  So, I thought that a beautiful shimmer in Pearl would just add that little "extra" to my canvas.  Spritzed on the Glimmer mist and MY DISTRESS INKS STARTED TO BLEED OFF!!  Now, when I've used the Glimmer Mists on paper, it DOES change the color a bit if it is applied over the inks.  But on the canvas, it made the distress inks bead up again as when I mist them with water on my craft sheet!  I don't know if the inks hadn't dried on the larger pores of the canvas yet or if the canvas material just makes the distress inks react differently (this will require some more experiementing another time).   Trying  not to panic, I grabbed the stencil brush that was still on my table and pounced the ink back into the canvas.  But OBVIOUSLY the inks had bled so it softened the edges of the top flourish and almost completely faded the bottom flourish (that already had a softer look by the technique applied in that area).  I carefully placed the masked back over the bottom flourish and added a bit more distress ink to try and bring it back somewhat.

Deciding that I had better quit before I messed things up beyond repair, I lined up my "explore" lettering and adhered using some Glossy Accents.  I then carefully cut out my transparency butterflies and rolled small glue dots to adhere only their bodies to the canvas so that their wings could provide more dimension. Some clear gems that I had already colored with Copics for other project (but never used) were applied to make a "flight path" for the larger butterfly. 

Over all I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out.  Not exactly what I had in mind, but I think that this will be a stepping stone for some other projects in the near future!!

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FINALLY!! What you all are waiting for!!  The winner of the blog candy!!  I really enjoyed reading what your goals for creating this year are.  They gave me some "that would be a good idea!" moments!!  I also got some very good suggestions for this blog and I think I will explore more than one or two of them!!   So without further ado:  (insert drum roll here____________________________)

Random.DH (random kid was not available) picked comment number 1 out of the brown paper bag!! (for full accountability, I cut equal sized pieces of paper, numbered them for the total comments, folded each the same way and then placed all the pieces in a brown bag, shook it up good and RandomDH picked one out)
terriavidreader is the lucky winner for my one year blog candy!!  Congratualations Terri!! If you'd contact me with your addy I'll get your goodies in the mail this week!! (offroadtoad@msn.com, please put "blog candy" in the subject line so I won't "trash" your addy!!)

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Thanks for stopping by again today!!  It's been a great past year of blogging and I'm looking forward to another year!!

A Warm Felt WELCOME

Hi All!!  Been another crazy week with trying to get the kids back on their "school" schedule this week.  I'm so thankful that we are not having weather issues like some of you to deal with too (I won't rub in the fact that this week we've had our highs be in the mid to high 60's....there's a reason I moved from the mid west peoples!! LOL!!)

 I don't have a new project (you MIGHT check back in a bit....got hit with an idea and need to see if I can get it to work after I get the kids off to school) BUT!! (there is that big ol' BUT again!!) I DO have a very warm WELCOME to Terre Frye of Terre's Scrap Therapy!!!  Terre has agreed to bless Just for Fun Design Team with her incredible talent!!  I'm so excited to have another talented creator to learn from!!  I hope you will drop by her blog (seriously....it's not one to miss!) and give her a very warm WELCOME to the team!!
And just in case you haven't been by the other team members blogs~here are those links too!! (I try to do my part of keeping all of you from housework by fabulous blog browsing~~~we gals need to help each other out as much as possible!! LOL!!)

Broni Holcombe~~Splashes of Watercolor
Heidi Blankenship~~Embellished Dreams
Linda Duke~~Linda's Works of Heart
Sandy Sandrus~~Cleverideas
Sherry Cheever~~Walking on the Bad Side

Hear all the groaning?  That would be my kids complaining that it is too early to get up for school!!  LOL!! I'm off to start my morning routine of yelling to get them out the door!! LOL

Thanks for dropping by again and please check back a bit later and see if my idea worked or not (maybe I'll post it even if it doesn't work so we can all learn from it!! LOL)
Don't forget that there is still time to sign up for my ONE YEAR BLOG CANDY!! You can read about it the "requirement comments" HERE!!

Have a great day and I'll BE BACK (said in my best Arnold voice!! hehe)

2010....A year Later (plus some candy!!)

Edited to add that comments for the blog candy are now closed!  Thanks for participating!!  The winner has been announced on post date 1-10-10!
A year ago today I started blogging!! Wow!! How time flies!! My first post stated my goal of exploring some new creative ideas and to revisit some old ones.  I think I met that goal, BUT!! (ya had to know there was going to be a big ol' BUT in there!!) I think I just skimmed through the "magazine" of creativity.  I didn't really LOOK  and EXPLORE in depth.  So, this year, it is about DIGGING deeper.  I want to try pushing  myself to get out of my little comfort zone and see where creativity can lead me.  This means I'm going to have to put my big ol' fear of failure and rejection behind me and just leap. 

So, what better way to kick of this new year goal than with some BLOG CANDY?!!  Yep!! To celebrate this NEW YEAR of creativity, I'm going to give away some goodies!  We're talking TWO of T!m Holtz's idea-ology Masks, Papertrey's Holiday Treats clear stamp set, Penny Black's clear Critter Party stamp set, Distress Ink in Spiced Marmalade and some SU ribbon just to start.   BUT!! (there's that big ol' BUT again!! hehe) You've got to give me some feedback:  To be elegible for for this candy you've got to leave a comment telling me TWO things:
1) Tell me at least ONE creativity goal you'd like to try this year
2) Tell me at least one (or more) suggestions of creativity that you'd like to see happen on this blog (besides posting something every day....let's be realistic folks! hehe)

I will have RandomKid pick a winner NEXT SUNDAY, January 9!! 
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I do have a couple of projects to share today.  Both use the same color scheme and main image.  Both have a CAS (clean and simple) look to them, but I think they each have a little different feel.

This first project is more of a decorative piece. It measures 5x7" and could be displayed on a side table or in an office.  I wanted to use this wonderful winter image from Just for Fun stamps called River's Edge.  While I was looking at this image Robert Frost's "Walking Through the Woods on a Snowy Evening" kept running through my head.  I figured that it was a sign so I took a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock and using the wrinkle free distress techniqe I applied Antique Linen, Aged Burlap and Brushed Corduroy to my craft sheet and misted with water and smooshed my paper into it.  I repeated until I got a look I liked them dried it VERY well with my heat gun and little mini craft iron to get out as many of the waves that I could.  I then typed out the poem and printed it out on the custom made background paper.  Using my stampamajig, I stamped the main image using Versafine Vintage Sepia over the text.  Pulling out my favorite Tattered Angels Glimmer mist in Pearl, I added that little extra shimmer that is not seen in my very basic photo (yes, folks, I'm still taking suggestions for photo programs!!  Need to get something soon as this basic program on here is NOT cutting it!!).  I ticket punched the corners and matted the image on SU's Soft Suede.  That was matted on a slightly bigger piece of SU Very Vanilla and then the whole thing onto the large 5x7 piece of Soft Suede.  I used SU's ribbon punch twice to make an opening large enough for my ribbon and made my ribbon treatment (I guess you'd call it a faux bow).  I then added some 1/2 back Martha Stewart pearls in the corners. 

                                       

                                  

The next project came from the same image I had stamped onto Very Vanilla using Versafine Vintage Sepia again.  I then took some Ranger Glossy accents and ran some thin lines along where I wanted some "snow"  I sprinkled Dazzling Diamonds glitter over the glossy accents to give just a soft hint of glittery snow. I matted this over a slightly bigger square of Soft Suede and then that on a larger square of Very Vanilla.  I wrapped my Polka Dot Soft Suede ribbon and made a faux bow.  This was all mounted on the base of 5 1/2x 5 1/2" base of Very Vanilla.

Thanks for dropping by again!!  I look forward to the new year of creating and appreciate the "company" that you give on the journey!!  The ride is always more fun with friends along!!