I don't know what the weather is like where you are, but here, it seems more like late spring than fall. Earlier in the week we had a glimpse of fall weather. Yesterday, it was cool in the morning, then got to a nice mid to upper 70 level. Today is suppose to be in the upper 80's.
I'm talking 86 plus degrees. I don't think that is fall weather! I'm ready for cooler temps that call for hot chocolate and warm soup in the evening.
But, I'll take upper 80's over mid 40's any day! haha!!
Since I don't think you dropped by to chat about the weather, I'll get to the card I'm going to share. I actually made this card last week. I've been debating whether or not to share it since.
Do you ever put unreasonable pressure on yourself to produce "WOW, BEAUTIFUL, AMAZING" cards for your blog posts? There are so many wonderful designers out there who seem to churn out one amazing card after the other. Their creativity never seems to dry up.
I am NOT one of those designers. Seriously. I'm not looking for "this is fabulous, I don't know what you are complaining about comments". I am in a creative funk. There is no "WOW" creative thoughts coming out of my noggin. I decided to share the card because this is real life. "AMAZING, WOW, FABULOUS" does not always happen. Sometimes, creativity is only SIMPLE. BASIC. FITS THE NEED.
And that is perfectly OKAY. I'm giving myself, and if you need it, a break from the sometimes unrealistic goals we set for ourselves. SIMPLE. BASIC. FITS THE NEED.
I needed to make another last minute birthday card for a friend of the Oldest Kiddo.
Question: is it only my children's teenage friends that decided the day before that they want to have friends over to celebrate their birthdays? I now keep a stack of Game Stop and iTune gift cards on hand for these last minute celebrations!! Since the Great Creative Funk of 2012 is still in it's prime, I was at a complete loss as to what new and exciting way I could make a birthday card from the same themes of interest of the birthday kid has had over the past 3-4 years (that would be basketball, music or Xbox). I saw a clever fold on one of my blog cruises and tucked it away in the brain files for later use.
I'm talking 86 plus degrees. I don't think that is fall weather! I'm ready for cooler temps that call for hot chocolate and warm soup in the evening.
But, I'll take upper 80's over mid 40's any day! haha!!
Since I don't think you dropped by to chat about the weather, I'll get to the card I'm going to share. I actually made this card last week. I've been debating whether or not to share it since.
Do you ever put unreasonable pressure on yourself to produce "WOW, BEAUTIFUL, AMAZING" cards for your blog posts? There are so many wonderful designers out there who seem to churn out one amazing card after the other. Their creativity never seems to dry up.
I am NOT one of those designers. Seriously. I'm not looking for "this is fabulous, I don't know what you are complaining about comments". I am in a creative funk. There is no "WOW" creative thoughts coming out of my noggin. I decided to share the card because this is real life. "AMAZING, WOW, FABULOUS" does not always happen. Sometimes, creativity is only SIMPLE. BASIC. FITS THE NEED.
And that is perfectly OKAY. I'm giving myself, and if you need it, a break from the sometimes unrealistic goals we set for ourselves. SIMPLE. BASIC. FITS THE NEED.
I needed to make another last minute birthday card for a friend of the Oldest Kiddo.
Question: is it only my children's teenage friends that decided the day before that they want to have friends over to celebrate their birthdays? I now keep a stack of Game Stop and iTune gift cards on hand for these last minute celebrations!! Since the Great Creative Funk of 2012 is still in it's prime, I was at a complete loss as to what new and exciting way I could make a birthday card from the same themes of interest of the birthday kid has had over the past 3-4 years (that would be basketball, music or Xbox). I saw a clever fold on one of my blog cruises and tucked it away in the brain files for later use.
This is a Twisted card fold. The tutorial on the making of this fold can be found here. Since the die cut basketball is almost 3 3/4" across, I had to adjust the size of my base cuts. I believe my base was 6 x 12". I made a couple of stabs at getting the base the right size to fit to basketball and still fit the envelope. And since it was over a week ago since making the card, my brain has totally forgotten what the final outcome was.
Sigh.
I think this would have looked better with some type of sentiment flag. But then the front started to look crowded. So I skipped it.
A helpful hint for this card. Use double sided design paper. My design paper was single sided. That meant that I had to use another sheet of paper and reverse the cuts to get the inside panels. Since my brain is not functioning at a high level of creativity, this took some extra brain power to figure out! haha!
Basic details: 12x12 chocolate chip base. Design paper from LSS that I have had in my stash forever. Basketball die is from Quikutz and was made from Dusty Durango paper and sponged with either Close to Cocoa or Creamy Caramel. I had the basketball die cut for a couple of years for yearly basketball season notes on classroom doors. Recycling!!
Simple. Basic. Got the job done. Sometimes, that is all one can ask of oneself.
'Till next time....
