Shhhhhhh.....

Be verwy, verwy quiet!! We are verwy busy crweating (said in a pathetic Elmer Fudd accent)

Hey Peoples!! I know that it's been pretty quiet around here, but believe it or not, I have been creating! Well, some experimenting, some creating. I'm having fun stepping out of my usual creative box.  Some of it is going straight in the trash but I'm learning some new things!  And nothing that I can share until the end of the week! (that's just soooo not right! LOL!).  Unfortunately, I'm having to work a bit more than planned this week, so that limits the creating time too. 

Hope you'll drop back by later this week (ok, it might not be until the end of the week....let's be honest here) and see where my EXPLORING has taken me this week!!

Till then~~remember to make time for some creativity in your week!!

Everything is coming up PINK

It's FRIDAY!! And that means it is Just For Fun® Friday color challenge.  This week, Glenda has challenged all of us to use the following colors:

Did you notice the PINK in the line up?  Aiiiiii, these girls are trying to kill me with the pink!!  I went searching through my paper stacks and guess what?!! I don't buy paper that has PINK in it.  I finally found a sheet of dp from K&Company's Ancestry line that has these vintage looking pale pink and cream roses on it. I decided to use the dp as my inspiration for this:

GRRRR!!!!  PINK invaded the color of the paper!! I swear!! I need to fire myself, the photographer as for the life of me, I mean, SHE, could not take a picture that captured the ACTUAL color of this paper!! IRL, the "base" of the paper is a cream/old paper look with a very soft blue (not that baby blue) and it has CREAM roses mixed among the PINK ones!!  I'm convinced that this is some type of conspiracy to force PINK  into all aspects of my project!!

Ok, deeeep breaths here.  I need to just move on and describe the process here. 

The VINTAGE CREAME background paper (ok, so I just can't let it go!!) is layered onto a Very Vanilla 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" base.  The flower is made from some scraps of vanilla~ mullberry like paper that were left over from my first attempt at this project (let's just pause a moment in respect of the attempt of something outside the "box", that ended in the trash!!). I believe I bought this "handmade" paper from Costco years ago. It actually has different types of leaves wove into the fibers of the paper, which are now composting in the trash.   I swiped some Distress Ink Victorian Velvet and Spun Sugar on my craft mat and misted with Tattered Angels Cherub Pink glimmer mist.   and smooshed the blank portions of the paper into the ink.  I cut three layers of the paper with Spellbinders Peony nestie dies, using #2-4 (with the smallest die being #1).  I wrinkled the layers and glued where ever I thought was a blank spot versus straight layering one on top of the other. 

The sentiment is Just For Fun's® quote from Alber Schweitzwer.  It was stamped over a piece of Very Vanilla paper that was given the wrinkle free distress technique using Distress Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint and misted with Tattered Angles Pearl Glimmer Mist.  The image was cut/embossed using Spellbinders Labels Eleven and lightly sponged along the edge with Distress Vintage Photo. 

The 1/2 back pearl placement is the brilliant suggestion from my youngest DS (since the Toad was not around to give me design advice, I had to call in the back up troops of my BOYS).  The oldest DS gave critique as far as the proper placement of the ribbon. 

 The final touch was the hat pin.  I have NEVER been able to figure out how to use one of these on a project, but have always liked the look of them (if anyone would care to clue me in on how one is suppose to keep the beads and such at the top without sliding down to the stop closure, I'd appreciate it!! Let's just say that clear tape was MY way!!)

For more inspiration, make sure you drop by and see what eye candy the other team members came up with:

Margarita Ybarra

Broni Holcombe

Roni Johnson

Beth Moore

Glenda Brooks

Sandy Sandrus

Kat Tucker

Terre Fry

and

Sherry Cheever

Don't forget that if you play along and link your creation on the Just for Fun® blog, you will be entered into the random drawing for 25% off your next order at Just for Fun Stamps!!

Thanks for dropping by again today!! I'm crossing my fingers for some creative time this weekend (I have a couple of things I've been playing with, just need to find the time to finish!!). Remember to schedule some type of CREATIVITY into your weekend!!

Graffiti Thanks

Hey Peoples! I got a day off today and decided it was high time I got around to making my 13 y/o's thank you cards (yeah...I know his b-day was the last of May!!! Time REALLY does fly in this household!!)

Anyhoos!! I find that the stamping world is pretty girly.  Seriously.  Lots of flowers, swirls, cutesy hearts, cuddly bears.  Even the "tween" sets tend to be girly with cute little hearts over the lettering or smiley faces.  This does not work for teenage boys.  Especially 13 y/o boys.  This is an age where one is trying to discover what is considered cool.  Edgy.  MANLY, but not "old", like all the adults in your life.  After some trial and error, I hit upon a design that got a "that's cool" from the kid himself.

This is a OLC (one layer card) with the base being Gina K's pure luxury white card stock.  I am finding that I cannot use any other paper as it just seems so flimsy!!.  I ran the top folded card through my Big Shot with T!m Holtz's Textured Fades "Bricked".  Yes, I think that this may become one of my favorite backgrounds!!  I then sponged over the top randomly with Distress Inks in Fired Brick and Vintage Photo.  I stamped the "Thanks" (name on the stamp says 1994 Annette Allen Watkins) at an angle over the brick with Archival Jet Black ink.  Then I stamped the different elements from SU's Extreme Elements randomly using Distress Inks in Faded Jeans, Barn Door and Fired Brick.  Wah~Lah!! Edgy and cool!! My youngest, who is 9, said to me:  "Mom, you are sooo creative!! You know how to think like a 13 y/o!! LOL!! Guess that means I was successful in my design! Supplies:  Paper:  Gina K's Pure Luxury.  Stamps:  SU's Extreme Elements, Thanks from LSS.  Inks:  Distress Inks in Fired Brick, Barn Door, Faded Jeans, Vintage Photo, Archival Jet Black.   Accessories:  Big Shot, Tim Holtz's Faded Textures "Bricked"

Thanks for dropping by again today!! I'm off to finish these cards and the laundry!! I hope you all find the time to explore some CREATIVITY in your day!!

Pots of Color

Hey Peoples!  Did you think I fell off the face of the earth?!  Had another week of covering for a vacationing therapist.  After 9 to 9+ hour days at work, my mojo just went into hiding.  Actually, I wouldn't know if it was hiding~~I was too tired to even try to pull it out! LOL!!

I did manage to find enough of the creative partner to participate in this weeks Just For Fun Friday Color Challenge.  This week Sherry has challenged us (and that includes YOU!) to the following colors:

I decided to pull out one of my favorite techniques for this one:  coloring!!!  And coloring with copics is just AHHHHHHH!!  LOL!! Here is my take on these colors:

                                     

I stamped this great image Petunias from Just For Fun® on Gina K's white pure luxury, using Memento Tuxedo Black.   I actually pulled up pictures on the good ol' Internet to see how the shading of yellow petunia's were.  And nothing sets off yellow better than cobalt blue in my opinion!! I LOVE cobalt blue!! I have several large pots this same color throughout my house and yard.  The picture was then matted on some scrap white and basic black with the corners rounded using SU's corner rounder punch. 

The card base is also pure luxury card stock.  Not only is it a WONDERFUL paper for coloring (no bleeding through with this paper!!), it is very sturdy and makes for a great base layer.  I ran the base through my new T!m Holtz Bricked Texture Fades Embossing Folder. 

While I decided that I was going to keep this pretty CAS (clean and simple) due to the lack of energy for anything else, I just felt that the layout needed a bit more of a PUNCH.  To the rescue comes my good cyber friend Anne Ryan.  If you follow the link, you will see Anne's lovely gallery on SCS.  Anne can tie a bow like no other (and totally UNlike me!!).  I happened to mention to Anne several times how much I love her bows.  Well, one day I received a wonderful package of pre tied bows. In the package was this fabulous ribbon all tied up and ready for me to use it. " WAIT!!", you yell at me,  "There isn't a bow on this card!" Well....peoples, this will just prove to you how ribbon challenge I am! LOL!! I loved this ribbon but for the life of me, I could not get the large bow to work with this image as it pretty much covered the card.  Sooooo, I (gasp) took the bow apart and used the ribbon as a matting element.  While I'm sad I could not show off one of Anne's beautiful bows on this card, I am sooo glad she shared a bit of her stash with me as I think it added just the PUNCH I was looking for!! Supplies:  Stamps:  G3161 Petunias from Just For Fun®.  Inks:  Copic markers.  Paper:  Gina K's Pure Luxury, basic black.  Accessories:  Texture Fades by T!m Holtz/Sizzix, Big Shot and the wonderful ribbon from Anne!!

Now, remember~~the challenge is open to all, with or without Just for Fun Stamps.  And to add to the incentive of playing along with us, there is a possibility of you being chosen to receive 25% off your next order with Just for Fun!  For some more inspiration, make sure you visit the other designer's blogs:

Sherry Cheever

Broni Holcombe

Margarita Ybarra

Roni Johnson

Beth Moore

Glenda Brooks

Sandy Sandrus

Kat Tucker

and

Terry Fry

I'm actually at work again today (isn't modern technology wonderful?!) but I'm hoping to get some creative time in over the weekend.  My kiddos have been gone all week with their grandparent's touring the country while the Toad and I have been at the work grind (how does THAT happen?!!).  They return sometime Sunday and I know that they will have so much to share that I won't get any stamp time once they hit the front door!

Thanks for dropping by again today.  I hope that you find the time to EXPLORE some CREATIVITY this weekend!!

M.I.A.

Happy Saturday, Peoples!! I know that I've been MIA over the last 2 weeks, but when it rains it POURS!!  I thought that after all the hoopla of oldest kiddo turning 13 and the last week of school, I'd have a fairly calm week.  NOPE.  Unfortunately on Monday, my boss's mother passed away.  That meant a lot of scrambling to rearrange patients and me putting in 9+ hour days all week. Then to top off the increased stress at work, some moron decided to steal electrical cables from the main box at our other office's location, rendering no power.  But the kicker is, our charting system at our smaller office is done by remote control through the main office.  Sooooo, even though I'm miles away from all that mess, I cannot chart!!  And the final topping on this leaning tower of LIFE was the fact that I needed to get my kiddos all packed and ready to go on a 10 day vacation with their grandparents.  Let's just say that SuperMom/Woman hit her limit this week!! I found myself in a wonderful pity party by Wednesday and decided to just add the final straw and lose my mojo in the mounds of laundry and dirty dishes!!

I thought I would FINALLY share the card I made for my kiddo's 13th birthday today.  The Toad and I finally caved in a bought him a cell phone.  The kid's schedule with middle school varsity sports was beginning to need its own secretary as practices, games and whatnot were always being changed.  Add the fact that the kid gets excellent grades and doesn't get into any trouble, it just seemed like the perfect gift to celebrate hitting his teens. Here is my good looking boy on his day~

Of course, the card was TOTALLY inspired by the actual phone:

I started with a piece of 12x12 textured grey cardstock and made my uneven layers from there.  I REALLY need to get a larger corner punch!! I only have these small ones that are usually used for cards and so I had to round my corners by hand.  Which led to uneven edges!! Good news, since the kid opened the card AFTER the actual gift, he barely gave it a glance! snort!!  For the menu screen, I took a picture of the actual menu screen on his phone (after spending waaaaaay too much time trying to come up with a hand made version) and printed it out on cardstock.  The funky edge along the menu screen would be the photographer's lack of ability to take a picture without the glare on the screen straight on.  I used some copic markers to draw the ear mic at the top of the phone and poorly hand drew the at&t symbol and the other doodads, brand name on the phone using a signo white gel pen.  The little "back" button was cut out, outlined with the same white pen and then attached to give it more dimension. 

Overall, I think it will be a cool card for the kiddo to look back on and remember his first phone!

Thanks for dropping by again today!! I'm hoping to do a little cleaning and see if I can find where my mojo went into hiding!! I have some new toys that I'm dying to explore some creativity with!! Cross your fingers I find mojo in the laundry basket!!

Enjoy your weekend and remember to take time for some creativity of your own!!

Graduation Continued....

Hey Peoples! School is officially out and the heat is suppose to climb to the upper 90's today, uggghhh!!  I REALLY don't want to turn on the air yet!! While I'm ready for summer, I'm not ready for the heat!Trying to crank out some neglected chores while it is still somewhat cool!

I thought I'd drop in real fast and share the general idea of the 8th grade bags that I made up.  For those of you who might have missed the introduction to this project, here is a quick recap.  The 7th grade class has a few responsibilities for the 8th grade graduation.  One of those jobs being providing gift bags for the 8th graders to place all their cards and such in at the reception.  I was asked if I would take on this job and was given 21 LARGE glassine bags (approximatley 14"x 16").  This is what I came up with:

I wish I could tell you what the name of the die cut letters are! I borrowed them from friend and she did not have the sample sheet in the folder (which, I could have used as I used some of the letters "upside down".  Example:  The "B" is suppose to have the small loop on the bottom...but who knew?  Who cares?  snort) I do know they are from Quikutz.  I die cut the names using my Big Shot out of Brazzil paper (again, I did not note the shade.  I'm thinking it was Pomegranate.  I really need to pay more attention to those detail for you all!!) The letters were adhered to the bag with Art Glitter adhesive.  This stuff dried FAST and clear and is quickly becoming my favorite glue. 

The graduation cap is the same one that I used on this card: I started out with this die from Ellison                                                                                          

                                                            

I didn't like the way the tassel portion looked on the clear bags so I made my own top and adhered it with dimensionals to give it a more realistic look. 

                        

I made the tassel from some embroidery thread and used some jewery dohickies to close them off (like those technical terms?!). The tassels were attached around a black brad and a thin strip of red liner tape (1/8").  The year was made using TenSecond Studios Bingo Mold and some Rock Star Black metal.  I cut out each year and filled the back with some embossed metal backing paste which helped prevent the metal from bending so easily and gave me a  place to adhere glue dots to!

The little diploma's were made out of SU's Very Vanilla cardstock.  I stamped "congratulations" on the inside (because I just know that at least ONE kid will untie the thing to see if there is anything inside! hehe) and tied with some black ribbon.  The diplomas were attached using a glue dot behind the ribbon.

I still need to share the card I made for my oldest's b-day LAST weekend!!  But I'm going to spread out the goodies, LOL!! 

Thanks for dropping by again today!!  Remember to take time for some type of CREATIVITY in your day!!

Has anyone seen my Head? Anyone? Hello?

Hey Peoples!! Been running around like a chicken with it's head cut off the last couple of days getting last minute errands ran before the 8th grade graduation and the last day of school.  I'll spare you the details, but sufice to say, I don't have a project for today's Just For Fun® Friday Color Challenge!! I'm bummed because I really want to play with this week's challenge:

This just means I'll HAVE to lock myself in my craft room to play along with you this weekend!! I've got an idea brewing in my head....just need the time!!

 Make sure and check out what the other design team members came up with for some inspiration:

Margarita Ybarra

Broni Holcombe

Glenda Brooks

Kat Tucker

Beth Moore

Sandy Sandrus

Roni Johnson

Terre Fry

and

Sherry Cheever

If you play along with this week's colors, make sure you link them on the JFF blog so we can all see what you came up with!!

Thanks for dropping by again today!! I will be back later with some of the projects that I've been working on!! 'Till then~~remember to take time for some CREATIVITY!!

Tassled Congrats

Hey Peoples!!  Anyone else going crazy with the last hoopla days of school?!!  Fairly quick post (because we all know I can't keep from babbling on and on) today. 

Needed a graduation card and the sketch challenge on SCS today was the perfect jump start to get it done.

Here is my take:

I flipped the sketch, putting layer 4 at the top and sttrrreeetched the layout to a 6x6 card.  The graduation cap is a bulletin board die that I modified so that I could hang a homemade tassel from (you'll be seeing more of these when I post the 8th grade gift bags!! This is an extra one).  The year was made using TenSecond Studios Bingo mold andRock Star black metal.  I filled in the back with some embossed metal backing paste to help prevent the metal from bending so easily.  The paste also gave me a hard surface to attach the year to the tassel. 

The colors are our school colors.  The red paper is Brazil (hmmm.....can't remember what shade, sorry!!) and I layered the b/w vellum swirls over some Georgia Pacific 110# paper. The "Congrats" are some OLD alphabet stickers that I have had in my stash from scrapbooking days.  A CAS with some POP!! 

Thanks for dropping by again today!!  I'm off to get some more items check off the ever growing To Do List!!  Remember to take time for some CREATIVITY in your day!!