Are You Sitting Down?!!

No, your eyes are not deceiving you.  It is really yours truly, come back from the land of No Time for Creating!!

I always have to fight the urge to apologize and over explain my prolonged absences from posting on my blog.  Why do we busy mom's feel we have to apologize for putting Life before creativity or blog posting? I guess it is that secret compartment inside that holds that ugly word comparison.  We (okay, I ) see other creative mom's posting daily and it is hard not to think "well, so & so posted her six cards, the homemade 8 layer cake with step by step instructions, the final pictures of her living make over and her finish of the half marathon this week.  Why can't YOU make one measly card  and post it, say every other week????!!

I think I'm about to digress.

Let's just move onto the ACTUAL card I did manage to create, shall we?!!

School is finally out for our little school and with that I was in need of a graduation card for a senior girl.  Now, I am obviously SOOOO out of practice in making cards (just in case you missed the significant time lapse between posting dates) and this card went in a TOTALLY different direction than I had planned.  This particular senior girl, while all girl, is, was our little school's top female athlete.  I wanted a touch of feminine with a coating of athleticism.

I failed.  Miserably.  Somehow my vague idea of what I wanted turned into a girly girl card.  Which, is okay.  Just not what I had planned.

Sometimes, it is just best to go with the flow!! I really do like how this card turned out and while not what I had envisioned, it was still a touch of feminine without being over the top girly girl.

Before I share the card, I do have to giggle at how rusty my card making skills have become.  First,: it took me all day to make the card.  I will give myself credit for the fact that I spent quite a bit of time experimenting with the background technique until I got the look I wanted.

Second: may I strongly suggest that when making cards, one FIRST verifies that one has an envelope that FITS the card dimensions PRIOR to completing the card?!! Let's just say that the card was tucked into the envelope, but in no way, shape or form, was the enveloped sealed.  And the card was hand delivered. 

Finally: THE CARD

I made the background paper by stamping Cornish Heritage Farms 6x6 Vintage Text onto a 5x5 piece of Gina K's Pure Luxury card stock with Memento Rich Cocoa ink.  I then stamped the swirls (old set I've had in my stash fo-evah!) using Versamark ink and embossed with clear embossing powder.  Distress Inks in Barn Door and Fired Brick were sponged over the entire background.  Distress Vintage photo ink was lightly sponged along the edges.

I then die cut two flowers from three different sizes from  Rose Creations by Donna Salazar for Spellbinders from textured white card stock (I believe it is SU, but don't quote me.  I'm using my stash!!) and sponged only one side along the edges and partially down the petals.  

The petals were then shaped using a large stylus and a foam mat.

Beginning with the smallest flowers, the flowers were glued using a hot glue gun. Shaping of the petals were done by hand and a small stylus (you could use tweezers also, but I couldn't find mine!!)

The smaller flowers were made the same way, except I used smaller variations of the dies and sponged only the edges of the petals. 

The leaves were die cut using Spellbinder's Foliage.  They were then embossed with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder.  

The numbers were die cut using Cuttlebug's Olivia alphabet dies.  

Well, that is about it for me today! I will make no promises that I'll be around more frequently this summer, as our schedule seems to be jammed packed and just as crazy as the school year was, BUT!! I will be back!! said in my best Arnold Schwarzenegger voice!! 

'Till then, enjoy the creativity!!

  

Cartoons

Soooo.  Would someone please tell me how we are already into the second week of May?!! The Kiddo's will be out of school at the end of the month and in the mean time, every teacher is cramming in as many possible end of the year activities as they can come up with in 5 days a week.

One of those end of the year activities is for the Youngest Kiddo's class.  They will be spending the night in the Pit (assembly area of the main school building) later this week while watching the live cam of the watering hole, Pete's Pond., in Botswana.  

Unfortunately, it is also the rainy season this time of year in Botswana, so the teacher is a bit afraid that there may be NOTHING to see that night.  She has planned some games and other activities to occupy the kids.  One of her ideas was to have a safari photo prop. She found a the "perfect" photo prop board that fit the fun safari theme she has planned.

$99.  $99 dollars for a photo prop that is probably made out of cardboard.  Seriously?!! Who the heck would pay $99 for a cartoon style photo prop?!

So, Mrs. L. asked me if I could draw and paint a similar style of photo prop.  Looking at the picture, I thought to myself "piece of cake.  Shouldn't take more than a couple of hours."

Want to know why people pay $99 for a photo prop?! HAHA!

Actually, it really didn't take me too terribly long to draw up and paint the photo prop.  I wasted more time trying to take the "easy" way out and use a terribly cheap light bulb projector to "trace" the picture idea.  I finally admitted defeat and just got out the picture, pencil and a large eraser and drew out a sketch myself.  

Mrs. L. had originally planned on using a single piece of large cardboard that she had ordered from the local paper company. Life got in the way and she was not able to pick up the board. Plan B:  duct tape two project boards ($1 each, by the way!) together.  Worked for me!

After drawing and tracing with a black Sharpie, I got out my cheapo acrylic paints, a little tub of water and painted in a very loose, cartoonish (is that even a word?!) fashion.

Want to hear something funny?  There is a teeny tiny little blip of brown paint that I smudged on the board that just bugged the beejeebees out of me until I had Youngest Kiddo pose behind the prop.

THEN I had the the very disproportional left shoulder bug the major beejeebees out of me.  

And the fact that this guys thighs must be three feet long and his calves about 6 inches.  

I keep telling myself that this is a cartoon drawing.  I keep saying it really doesn't matter that the shoulders look like someone stuck a 9 foot pole in the shirt for shoulder pads and that the body is totally out of proportion.   I'm saving the classroom $99 that they don't have to spend on such a silly photo prop. Right?  

The shoulders are bugging the beejeebees out of me.  The legs are now bugging the beejeebees out of me.  

And as I keep staring at this, the feet are too little too. I needed to make the jacket shorter in length.  That would have helped considerably.

Sigh.

It's a CARTOON.  I am willing to bet that not ONE kid will notice these silly mistakes.  This is one of those projects that I just need to take a deep breath and say, "it is what it is.  Let it go."

So, 'till next time.  Remember, they can't all be zingers! HA!

Be Yourself

Hey there Peoples!! Today is my last day as guest DT on the eP blog.  I started out with the idea of exploring a more layered mixed media journal page and ended up with more of my usual style of  CAS (clean and simple) mixed media canvas instead!! LOL!

AND I used PINK!!!  

I am dying of laughter on that one!! I find it beyond amusing that I titled this project "Be Yourself" and I used PINK!!! BWHAHAAA!!

 Yes, for those of you who may not know, I am sooo NOT a pink type of gal but for some unknown reason I reached for some pink stains and inks on this one!!

I hope you will visit the eP Blog  to see more details about this "girly girl" project!!

Distressed Hummingbird

Hey there People!  I have another project up on the eP blog today as April's Guest DT!  This week I pulled out my never used very neglected Distress Stains and played a bit also with the new Distress Paints.    Just to make sure it was a true "mixed media" project, I included pastels and a bit of charcoal too! Add some very rusty skills of sketching, water coloring and I came up with this:

 I hope you will drop by the eP blog  for more step by step pictures and listing of products used!!

'Till next time.............pull out some "neglected" mediums and have FUN!!

Canvas Message Board

I am so thankful that Kim from eP invited me to be a guest DT for the month of April.  My creative wheels have been turning in over drive!!  

This week I'm sharing how I altered an 8 x 8" canvas board to create a message board.

I hope that you will head over to the eP blog  for more details as to how I made this!!

'Till next week.....make sure you add some creativity time on your calendar!!

Hello???  Hello???? Is anyone still out there?!!

It's been a loooong time since I last posted!! I had to just walk away from it all.

Walk away from the mess created from moving from my craft room to a corner of my bedroom.

Walk away from the overwhelming task of downsizing.

Walk away from trying to figure where to put everything.

Walk away from blogging and looking at blogs.

And then  literally, I started walking and exercising again.  Which takes up quite a bit of my "free" time.

The mess is still present.  I'm ready to start dealing with it again.  I need to deal with the clutter so my messy creative self has room to throw paint, pull out papers and make a whole new pile!! LOL!!

Yep.  I'm ready to get back to my creative journey.

That journey starts today.

I am very excited (and a bit nervous!) to be joining once again with the E-Team as a Guest DT blogger for the month of April!!

Head on over to the eP blog  to get more details on how I used these products-----

to make THIS!!!

She's BAAACCCCKKKK!!!! lol!!

'Till next time.................make a mess!! Explore some creativity!!

I'm Still Alive....

......but still trying to dig my way through 7+ years of  paper crafting accumulation.

Yes, that means the Toad is correct.  I did not have a craft room. I had a crap room.  Seriously.

Downsizing from an entire room to mostly a desk and corner of my bedroom has not been easy.  I have given two rather large boxes of "stuff" to a couple of teachers at the Kiddo's school.  I figure they can decide what to do with the stuff they don't think they'll use.  Although, I did mention that any of the stamping stuff that they didn't want, I'd take back to offer as blog candy.  But, don't hold your breath on that.  That could be weeks, months down the road before they decide what they want.  I sent another box to a friend.

You'd think I'd see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Not really.  I still have piles in my room to go through.  I still have piles in the hall way to go through.  And the Newest Kiddo isn't going to have use of the closet in his room.  The Toad had built shelves in it for me  it to store all my SU stamps, family photo albums, the kiddo's mementos from each school year.

I bought the Newest Kiddo a self supporting hanging closet thingamajig to hang his dress clothes in. This girl can only handle so much at one time!! LOL!

While I've been going through things, I've had many conversations with myself.  Such as:

**You are NOT TO BUY ANOTHER PAD OF PAPER FOR THE NEXT 5+ YEARS.  OMG.  You have enough paper to last FOREVER.  Doesn't matter how cute it is...the answer is NOOOOO!

**Your art was changing.  Now, how the heck are you suppose to know if you'll use this stuff on your emerging art that you haven't used over the last 7 years?????

**Why do I still have all these Mrs. Grossman's stickers????

**Just how many paper cutters does one person need???? (My answer:  two.  The rest were given to the teachers)

**Really should get rid of all my SU ink pads/refills.  BUT.  I still use some of them.  Sometimes. They are great for classroom projects.  sigh....

**WHEN was the last time I even opened up one of these OLD SU catalogs for inspiration?

**OMG.  I still have Creative Memory idea books.  I have not done any scrapping in 12 years.  Ewwww.  Now I know why I had so many stickers.....

**REALLY.  Brads, grommets.  Why are you still keeping them???? WHY???

**Just trash it.  Don't over think it.  If you have to struggle to think of the last time you used it (or, in more instances than I'd like to admit...have NEVER used it) just get rid of it.

**You realize that once you go through everything, you should go through it again and pitch some more.

**If this takes much longer to go through, I'm just going to pitch everything.  Seriously.  Okay...maybe not.  But I'm starting to like that idea more and more.

**And the biggest, yet still unanswered question:  what do I do with the dimensional art that I have made?  The altered frames, metal projects, the canvases?  

Cards, easy.  Give them to others.  Art.  Not so easy.  It is more personal.  You can gift it, but ONLY if a person asks for it.  Otherwise, it is most likely junk to them.  Yet, I can't make myself toss it.  It has a part of me in it.  And while me, myself and I don't always like each other, we all put a little bit into each project.  That is hard to trash.  sigh.....

Suggestions and comments welcomed on that sticky point.  I'd love input.

This weekend, I figure I'll take some pictures and share how I'm organizing what I am keeping.  Who knows, maybe you'll gleam an idea that will work for you too.  And maybe you'll be able to share some ideas with me too. I'm open to suggestions!!

Till then....is creating a mess creating????  sigh.....