Occasionally...

 Occasionally I have an original idea for my paper fun.  At the VERY LAST MINUTE I signed up for artjoystuff's Oh Holy Night ATC swap.  Since I was mailing my 1 = 1 ATC to her, I thought, heck, I'll just make 3 more ATC's, in an a couple hours, and mail them all.  Ha.  HaHa.  HaHaHa.  While I often am influenced by steal another artist's product, these just came together from my own foggy head. 

As luck would have it, the crackle glass Stickles didn't dry in time for the mail, but later that night I wrapped up the package so it would be all ready to go today.  Yet...I could not stop that niggling tug at my brain that the ATC's just weren't good enough to exchange with people I don't know (Ha again).  What to do?  What to do!  Immediately upon awakening (well, maybe after a few sips of cafe'), I opened the package and removed the cards.  Up to the studio we went.  I was prepared to start over but also had an idea to just add a bit of fluff.  And fluffing was enough to satisfy me.  (fluffing consisted of adding the wee flowers and holly leaves)  

While I was thus engaged, and heck the horses were fed and hubby still in bed, why not finish the ballerina tag I started yesterday.  This is not really my original design.  I've seen a couple lovely tags using this delicious Graphic 45 paper so I had those in mind while this came together.  A little some'pn some'pn for Mom. 

Midnight Serendipity

Midnight Tuesday morning (just barely Tuesday morning but awake I am); surfing some favorite blogs from my iPad. I landed on http://artjoystuff.blogspot.com/ to see Kimberley's new post for her weekly ATC exchange. Shocking to me is that I won the "lottery" to exchange an ATC with her because I was the first visitor to comment. It was that easy. I guess most of her fans were sleeping. Above is the precious ATC she was offering up as swap bait. I loved it, as I do all of her work, and was thrilled to be able to claim it as mine. Uh, but that meant I had to get my game on and create something nice for Kimberley. 

 

I hadn't made an ATC for over a year.  And I really didn't have an idea in mind.  So I just started poking around my worktable to see what was in the holding area (didn't use but really like and don't want to put back in drawer).  I guess I was still on a playing card groove because I reached for a tarot card (fox) and the vintage French card (lady and gent).  Then I shuffled around in my stash of old die cuts to select a couple of vintage silhouettes.  I also wanted to use my new dry embossing mats along with the Marianne Creatable candlestick die I got recently.  So, with a dib of this and a dab of that, I had 3 ATC's done. Now I had a choice to make.  Eeeek. 



 

Instead of me choosing, I invited Kimberley to select her preference; Mr. Fox is on the way to her. 

Yes, Ma'am!

One of the blogs I check-out is Flying Unicorn.  The other night they had a tutorial on how to make 2 cards in one hour.  They were really cute, vintage Christmas cards that inspired me to give it a go.  First thing I did was grab my iPad for viewing the tutorial as I went along, and to listen to Spotify for background music.   My kitten Rainy Day followed and assumed her spot in a corner of my worktable (upper left).  Here is Alda's blog post if you want to follow along.   http://flyingunicornllc.blogspot.com/2012/11/double-cards-tutorial.html

Whew, once I got the work table mess cleared up, I selected some papers from Graphic 45 and began to cut out the panels and center focal point image.  The instructions were very explicit to cut a round or oval shape for the center image...to not leave it square so as to provide contrast to the rest of the layers.  And I totally agree...but I couldn't bear to cut away parts of these G45 Steampunk Debutante divas. 

The tutorial was well done, even a bit bossy! which made me chuckle.  I did make 2 cards, and much of it was complete in one hour, but I took a break before adding the final embellishments.  You just can't go wrong with G45 papers. 

Start With A Deck of Cards

It all started with a deck of playing cards, and Graphic 45's blog.  One of their fab artists turned a few playing cards into a handy Christmas gift receipt organizer.   I used a playing card sandwiched between 2 sheets of Tim's Seasonal papers, just to follow along with the technique, but really the card isn't necessary.  I sized my papers a bit larger than the playing card because I just wanted more area to work with. 

 In the inspiration example, on the right side of the card, she put a little lined tag to write down gift ideas for each person on her list.  Then she used a little pocket for receipts on the left side of the organizer.  I used both pockets and belly bands to tuck receipts into.  I don't have many people to buy for, so I didn't feel the need for gift ideas. 

I used a binder ring to hold the thing together,  with hole reinforcers to give some weight to the punched holes. I didn't go extravagant with embellishment , because this is a utilitarian piece...but still I had a bit of paper, scissor, glue fun. 

A Day

My 64th Thanksgiving is come and gone.  I found myself at the point of a teary meltdown...was it before or just after we ate?...I can't recall.  I was considering the mountain of work still to be done, with so many hours of effort behind me and it just felt like I couldn't go on.  Then, I took a breath and looked around me; at my family, all engaged in conversation, happy, warm, well fed, together.  A perfect moment in a perfectly blessed day. 

Some Favorite Things

A couple days ago I came across a design that just filled my head.  I actually thought I had dreamed the design, because I could not recall where I had seen it and so I deluded myself into thinking maybe I had created it in my dreams...as unlikely as that was.  It featured the newish Tim Holtz silhouette die, and a piece of plastic for a "dome".  My version uses these elements, coupled with Tim's Floral Garland strip die and some paper from that French dictionary I just bought, mounted on a Tim diecut.  The artist who REALLY created the design that inspired me is  www.digthatcrazychick.blogspot.com.  Check her out! 

Random

 

 

Yesterday I took some time to play with new Marianne Creatable Die/Emboss patterns.  As I'm spending a goodly amount of time watching Clare Charvill's Youtube channel, I can't help but want some of the lovely embellishments she uses.   eBay to the rescue.  What I hoped to achieve was the dry emboss technique.  And so it was that yesterday in the laboratory I toiled with this, that and the other thing trying to emboss with the little steel dies.  Not.  Cutting I can do, and you will see that these leafy designs do cut nicely.  (the black swirly things above).  Last evening, after making a mess at my work table, with little to show for it, I turned off the lights and shut the door. 

During the night my thoughts kept going back to embossing; including a 2 a.m. perusal of Youtube tutorials on how to use my Big Shot for such things.  There is no workaround; I had to purchase 2 special embossing pads.  Again, thank you eBay.  Still, the itch to take scissors and glue to paper was with me this morning so I made some use of the scraps and such that were still littering my table. 

Too Good To Cut

 Do you ever see something and just have to have it?  I know...too often.  Stay with me.  Recently a food blog I follow by David Lebovitz posted pics from an old French dictionary.  This was the page that started it all.  

 The colored "plates" blew me away and the hunt was on.  I found a good selection of individual pages, plus the more rare volume, on etsy.  I think the vintage French "Dictionary" is really what we in the U.S. call an encyclopedia because there are multiple volumes to a set.  And each volume was quite expensive. 

 Letting my fingers fly over Google, etsy and eBay, I narrowed down my search to "vintage LaRousse" and ultimately "Nouveau Universel".  There was one nice 2 volume set on etsy for $100.  Still, I Googled on. 

While there are many colored plates, mostly there are thousands of pages of definitions with illustrations on every page. 

Amazon.com had 2 sellers with copies of this edition from 1949.  For $25.  I chose the seller who was closest to me, expecting a slow arrival, and expecting the volumes to be in poor repair.  Because, after all, I planned to cut up the pages to use in my paper crafting.   

Well, ahem, the books arrived in a blink, and they are in excellent condition.  Too good to cut?!  Yes, I know I could scan the pages and make photocopies, but I much prefer to use original ephemera.  So, I, gulp, think I will cut, certainly the black/white pages. 

Fall Back Extra Hour

I DO NOT LIKE losing daylight when we turn back the clocks to end day-light-savings time.  Maybe because it shortens the time my horses are turned out to their large pastures, or maybe it's just because 4 pm is too darn early for pitch black!!!  (deep breath).  OK, so last night I decided to use the extra hour I gained with the "fall back" to craft; a bonus crafting hour.  I headed up to the studio right after coffee and feeding the horses, before breakfast.  I cannot get enough of this Graphic 45 "Curtain Call" collection; I even used one of the patterns for the die-cut flowers and leaves.  I decided to make 2 more circle easel cards.  All 3 will go out in tomorrow's mail to special friends.  Even though I'm thinking seriously about launching into a Christmas theme, I think I want to make something with "BirdSong".  I waited so long for those papers to hit the store, then I've hardly used it. 

Tim's November Tag

Here is my version of Tim's November tag.  I know I'm in good company, anticipating the click over to each calendar month 'cause that means a new tag from Tim.  What would we do without him?!  As is often the case, I don't have the materials Tim uses, but I have plenty of Tim stuff that works just fine.  Here I used his papers and three of his dies; flower garland, festive greenery and the bell jar, which I just had to use again.  THANK YOU TIM.

Circle Easel Card

 I have been immobile for a couple days due to a muscle strain in my back.  Today I am up and around and fit for crafting...after some triage vacuuming.  I just found tutorials for Circle Easel Cards on YouTube; that was just the thing for today's brief craft session.  I decided to use Graphic 45's Curtain Call collection, an older pattern that I just purchased from ScrappyJack on eBay.  I traced the circles from a template and hand cut the pieces, first from brown cardstock, then from the G45 papers. 

 I needed to watch the tutorial closely to see how the easel was formed.  It is a simple concept but sometimes my brain needs extra TLC.  After bringing out some purchased flowers and leaves, I decided to cut my own using my new Tim "Floral Garland" strip die, along with flourishes from Spellbinders.  I added a bit of sparkle with Platinum Stickles and a jet rhinestone.  Everything was inked with Distress Black Soot. 

I want to comment on dies.  Tim's dies are an investment, but they work.  I wanted a flourish die and opted for this Spellbinders design because it was inexpensive.  However, I am frustrated every time I use is (fairly often); the die just does not effectively cut a clean pattern...even though I now run it through my Big Shot forewords and backwards for a double whammy.  Guess I'll be shopping for another Tim die.