2014....and Now, for Something Completely Different

(and if you are a Monte Python fan, you will get a bonus giggle out of that line.  Compliments of my kids who LOOOOVE to quote it often!!!).

Welcome to 2014!! It's been a little bit (okay, more like quite a bit) since I've posted last, but one of my strategies for surviving the hectic holiday season this year was to let go of those "things" that did not add to my holiday spirit.  So this year I skipped putting up my large tree (sniff, sniff....but that's just a one year toss, I hope!!), I did not send out ONE Christmas card (GASP!!), I forgave myself for not making each high school teacher a baked treat aaaand  I put aside blogging.

Guess what?!  The holidays were still crazy hectic, but with just a little less "extra" stress I had a little more time that allowed me to sit down on the couch with my family and enjoy time together, which, is what the holidays are suppose to bring about!

With a New Year, there are always thoughts about goals and what word is going to best describe what you hope to achieve in the next twelve months. I made a comment on Susan's blog  that the only word I could come up with was last year's word.  But, in my ramblings while writing my response, I actually came up with a word.

New.

As in a New Year.  New ideas.  Wanting to try NEW techniques.  New goals for health, home and creativity.  Taking the leap and trying NEW things. Sharing New ideas, thoughts, recipes?!!

So, to begin this New Year, I'm sharing a NEW type of creativity with you. I've been long fascinated with the idea of making jewelry.  Which, is rather ironic, as I really don't wear much myself. Nevertheless, I am drawn to the process of being able to create something that connects to the person who chooses to wear it.

This past Thanksgiving I traveled to Colorado with The Youngest Kiddo for a family celebration that combined Thanksgiving, a young cousin turning 4 and my sister celebrating her first year of being cancer free. I wanted to make something special for my sister that marked this blessed milestone.  Obviously, I needed to attempt something very basic.  Thanks to YouTube and this tutorial , I was able to come up with a simple bracelet and matching earrings.

My sister has an incredible outlook in regards to cancer.  She calls it her "health opportunity".  She has taken a very unconventional treatment plan, choosing to change her lifestyle versus undergoing radiation and chemo.  And because of her choices, she has had the opportunity to meet and teach others (including her doctors!) about what she has learned on this journey.  You can read a bit more about her journey on her blog  .  Just a heads up:  poor blogging habits run strong in this family!! My sister has proven even worse than I about updating her blog!  I have sent her fair warning that I am linking to her blog and maybe she should update soon, LOL!

I wanted to use pink beads for the obvious connection they have to breast cancer. I like the fact that the beads are varied in color, just like everyone's battle with cancer is varied. I also like that the beads are not the "traditional" light pink that is associated with the pink ribbon of breast cancer.  Fitting, for a sister who has chosen not to go the traditional route of treatment.

And lastly, I like that the beads are only held together by the links.  I think it is symbolic of how the link of family, friends, doctors and others that you meet make the whole of the journey.  

So here is to a NEW Year!! I hope our link continues!

Birthday Vine

Hello there Peoples!!  I hope you had a wonderful Day of Thanksgiving yesterday!! I actually spread out Thanksgiving over the past week.  Youngest Kiddo and I went back to Colorado and spent 4 days with family.  Got home late Monday night, and have been trying to play catch up since!!

I missed my chance to say "Thanks" to those of you who stop in, browse and comment. But, I believe it is never too late to say "Thanks" so please know that I appreciate each and every one of you who do take the time from your busy schedules to visit this little ol' blog!!

Today's card is the last of the cards I made a few weekends back.  I'd like to say that I got out of my stuck in a rut, stuck in a rut layout, but alas!  I'm afraid that this layout is just a CAS (clean and simple) version of cards One and Two!!

Details:  card base is Gina K's Pure Luxury Ivory, 5.5" square.  Design Paper is My Mind's Eye Madison Avenue that was sponged along the edges with Distress Ink in Vintage Photo.  The flourish is Sizzix Flourish 2, that was die cut from SU Chocolate Chip and spritzed with various Glimmer Mists (sorry, it was a grab and spray type of thing and I forgot to note which ones I grabbed and sprayed!!).  The little flower petals were punched from an old SU punch (has 3 little flowers on in).  I sponged slightly in the middle with a Q-tip with Distress Ink Warm Lipstick and shaped with a stylus and mouse pad.  The little 1/2 self adhesive pearls are from my stash. The sentiment is from SU's retired stamp set It's Your Birthday and was stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa. 

That's about it for me today!! I have the goal of starting to put out my Christmas decorations this weekend and need to do some preparation cleaning first!!

'Till next time.............................

Having Hindsight

After completing my Gelli Print Meets Metal Roses card I immediately had to buckle down and start creating another card needed for a birthday celebration.  I pulled out some older paper packs and found inspiration from one of the papers in My Mind's Eye Sunshine 6x6 pack.  I started die cutting, assembling, spritzing, panicking because I spritzed the wrong color, spritzing some more, over spritzing, became frustrated and them almost ruined the whole thing by trying to remove hot glue from a wet petal.

Then I discovered that I had basically re-created my Gelli Print Meets Metal Rose card, but with paper.

Which, would explain why I liked it, but I admit I started to chant stuck in a rut, stuck in a rut, stuckinarut.

Details:  Card size is 5.5" square. Paper: Gina K Ivory, basic black, SU Wild Wasbi. MME's Sunshine. Mustard paper is scrap paper.  Ink: Distress Old Paper, Vintage Photo.  Stamps: Unity Bold Insight. Dies: Spellbinder's Label Two, Rose creations.  SU small flower punch (sorry! I don't recall the name of the punch!). Sizzix Branch w/Leaves.  Other: Tattered Angels Glimmer mists.  Sorry, I don't recall which ones I used!! I was grabbing left and right to try to fix my mistakes!

 A CAS version to be revealed next!! stuck in a rut....stuck in a rut....stuck in a rut........ 

Gelli Prints and Metal Roses

I had a very creative weekend as it seemed everyone and my mother in law celebrated birthdays!!

Okay.  That is a slight exaggeration, but I cranked out 3 cards in one weekend.  And if you have visited this blog much in the past, you know that makes up more creativity than I usually manage in a month!!

I, of course, will only share one card today!! I am going to take advantage of having a "stash" of work to share over the next week or so!! hehe

While I was on the creative endeavor to make my father in law a birthday card a couple of weeks ago, (the card that actually came to be can be seen here ) I actually started out with the idea for a Gelli Print on the sticky side of a self laminating sheet.

Allow me to digress.  Making Gelli Prints on packing tape or the sticky side of a self laminating sheet is probably one of my most favorite Gelli Print techniques.  While I love the "unknown" outcomes with the more traditional methods of making monoprints with the Gelli Plate, I really, really REALLY like the process of planning out what what direction my print will take.

I might have a little issue with control.  Or just letting my art F....L...O....W....

ANYHOOS!!  I made this wonderful turquoise and copper print a couple of weeks ago and for the life of me, could NOT figure out how "finish" the card without taking away from the print.

Sometimes, walking away is the best way to complete a creative project.

So, I started with the background.......

Gelli print made with some turquoise and brown acrylic paint (stash) brayered over the TCW's Mini Gears stencil. Copper Pearl Ex was then applied on the "clear" area of the print. 

And rediscovered my love of working with metal.......

Roses were die cut from Ten Second Studios Dark Chocolate Metal with Spellbinders/Donna Salazar's Rose Creation dies.  The leaves are from Spellbinder's Foliage and the flourish is an old Sizzix die.   

Finished with  a little extra wire and bling ! Who needs a sentiment?! Not this card!!

I will admit that this card ended up being more than what I had envisioned.  But I thoroughly enjoyed working with the metal sheets again and have vowed to pull out that medium more often in the future!!

'Till next time..............

Gelli Circles

Yesterday I was needing to make a card for a 13 y/o boy's birthday.  I had a very CAS (clean and simple) idea floating in my head and was certain that making the card would be quick and easy.

Don't you just hate when reality decides that you need to be brought back down to earth?!

First, I discovered that I didn't have the correct sized sentiment stamp for the visual impact that I was wanting to achieve.  Then I wasted  spent an absurd amount of time going through my stash of junk supplies trying to find something else that might make the original idea still a possibility. 

The good news: I "found" lots of supplies that I had forgotten I had and look forward to pulling them out and playing with them!

The bad news:  I own NO SUPPLIES to make teenage boy cards. 

Okay.  That was a lie.  But, keep in mind that I was on a time deadline to get the card done in just a short amount of time so that the Youngest Kiddo could give it to his friend after school let out. And Fridays are always half days.  Time was a tickin' !!!

I had just come to the conclusion that I had forgotten how to make cards, specifically cards for young teenage boys, when inspiration hit while thumbing through my file of "possibilities" (the file that I keep of technique prints that didn't make the cut for some project, but I liked enough to file for another day). 

Ahhhh!! I so love it when an idea comes together!!

I pulled out a bright "fall" colored Gelli Print and actually garnered up the nerve to cut it into circles using a variety of sizes of Spellbinders Classic Circles.

Then it was a matter of arranging, rearranging and just commit already! 

I debated on the sentiment for quite a while.  I REALLY  liked the card front without it and thought about just stamping the sentiment inside. But, somewhere I got this ridiculous notion that a card HAS to have a sentiment on the outside.  

I need to get over that.

Luckily, the different height of the circle layer on the base layer only caused a little blip with the stamping of the sentiment.  It rather annoys me, but I highly doubt that the birthday boy will even notice it!!

Geometric shapes with the slight patterns of a Gelli Print.  PERFECT combination for those cards needed for teen boys!! 

'Till next time.............. 

Route 66

I must admit that if I were you Peeps, I'd be a TAD BIT AFRAID as to what the world is coming to, as it seems I am posting a mere week later than my last post. 

Be Afraid.  Be Very Afraid!! hehe

Well, in actuality, the world is continuing to spin on it's normal rotational axis.  I just needed to make a card for my FIL's birthday today!

Of course, my creative MoJo started in one direction and ended up completely turned around going in the opposite direction. 

I had this wonderful idea for another Gelli Print. After 3-4 attempts I got the look I was trying to achieve. 

Then, I was totally stumped.  LOVE the background.  I just can't figure out how to add any elements to it. So, I walked away from that gorgeous background and took the next exit on the creative road. 

It dawned on me last night that my FIL is 66.  And the light bulb went off in another creative room.  

The card is 5.5" square on a Chocolate Chip base. The hardest part of this whole "creative trip" was finding a map  that didn't have a million advertisements on it, since The Toad  refused to let me cut up one of his treasured maps.  I finally found a large enough section of an ad free portion of California and printed it off the computer.  I added Distress Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain ink to give it a more vintage look.  The stamp set used is from Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz's Travel Ways.  I stamped the car with VersaMark ink and embossed with fine black embossing powder.  The Route 66 sign was stamped with Distress Fired Brick.  The Road Trip was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and sponged with a combination of Vintage Photo and Fired Brick.  Both the car and sign are adhered with dimensionals.  

*******

Now to figure out what to do with my Gelli Print.  I'm thinking it just might become a page in my "journey" creative journal!! Stay Tuned!!

'Till next time................enjoy where the journey takes you!

  

 

Using Up My Gelli Print Scraps

Hey People!!  Amazing how quickly time flies! I can't believe it has been three weeks since I last posted. I don't know why that surprises me.  One would think that by now I'd realize that posting on a somewhat regular basis is sooo not going to happen!! LOL!  

Oldest Kiddo was invited to spend this long weekend at a friend's house to celebrate said friend's 16th birthday.  Originally, I had an idea that actually came to me while trying to fall asleep one night, but, as the creative karma would have it, I happened to see a scrap of the Gelli Print that I made for the eP Birthday Bash.  

So the dreamland idea went out the window (in favor of just getting the card done) and a somewhat quick card was made from the Gelli Print scrap.

Look familiar?!!  Yeah, I really didn't venture much from the journal cover made in the last post.  But, what can I say?!! I REALLY liked the look and it seemed perfect for a 16 y/o boy!!

Did I mention a "somewhat" quick card? 

The scrap piece of Gelli print did not have any of the black paint accents on it.  Since I had pulled the print using a self adhesive laminating sheet, which, is a slick surface, I had to do a bit of experimenting to see what medium would best "stick" to the slick surface.  I know I could have stamped with Stazon ink, but I confess, I was sooo afraid that I would mess up the stamping and ruin my one little scrap piece!! 

Mediums tried:  A very THICK layer of Wendy Vecchi's black embossing paste.  I was hoping to use a stencil I had for the numbers and it is made of a very thick plastic (more for hand lettering, not actual stenciling).  Then a THIN layer of the black embossing paste.

Then I tried Claudine Hellmuth's black paint.

And a basic sharpie.

The paint won.

I felt that the embossing paste was too easy to scrap off.  While I could scrap off the paint with my fingernail, it took a bit more work. And the sharpie just rubbed right off (which didn't really make sense, but maybe I didn't let it dry enough).

So, using the same TCW stencils as I did on the journal cover, I added some accents with black paint.  I could not find a die cut of numbers that fit the style of this card.  I tried to cut out my own layered numbers from paper, but I did not like the uneven lines I got with fussy cutting.  Finally, I dug through my stash of stuff and found some grunge paper elements. I painted the numbers with Claudine's black paint, smooshed them in a Versa Mark pad and embossed with fine black embossing powder.

That's it for me today!! I actually have another little "scrap" project in the works, so hopefully, I'll be back sooner than later!! And of course, there is still the dreamland idea!! 

'Till next time............have a fabulous and creative week!!