Random on Purpose

Is It Night Yet?

For whatever reason, I kept waking up evry half hour or so all night last night, and finally gave up around 2:30 or 3:00 and got up.  It's now 7:41 pm, and I'm about to fall off my chair...  I'm so tired that I'm actually nauseated from it!  But, I'm trying to be more conscientious about posting when I've actually created something, so I'm going to do that, then go to bed!

 

Stamps: Stampin'Up! Cute & Curly; Ink: SU! Night of Navy; Paper: SU! Kraft, So Saffron, Night of Navy; Accessories: SU! Curly Label punch, Martha Stewart lattice arch border punch and butterfly punch, Cuttlebug Heritage ornate square die and textile embossing folder, Offray ribbon, ScorPal

I made these little (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") thank you cards for the Fabric Mill girls because they were so sweet and gave me a birthday party and lots of yummy food and beverages, and lots of great gifts, and I just really appreciate having friends!  When you've moved as many times as I have, and in as short a time span, friendships are harder to establish and maintain.  This is a great group of girls (women?) and I love them!

These cards are also for the color challenge for today on Splitcoast: Kraft, So Saffron, and Night of Navy.  At first I wasn't quite sure about this combo, but I ended up liking it quite a bit!  I still haven't gone anywhere to get little brown buttons (maybe tomorrow), so I'm still not sharing that other card...  Good night, all, and thanks for stopping by!

Ahem...

I don't know if I'm being paranoid, or if my suspicions are based in fact, but it's been really q...u...i...e...t here the past few days, so I'm wondering if folks popping by saw the "We Interrupt This Program" post and thought I hadn't updated my blog at all...  I mentioned that I would be leaving that post at the top of my blog, and to scroll down for regular stuff, but maybe y'all are like moi, and just tend to look at the pictures or glance quickly, but don't really read unless you have time, and missed it...  That being said, I'm letting that post fall into the normal lineup of things here, but please do take the time to help out if you can.  HERE'S the link for the info and all...

I've posted at least twice since that post, so scroll down if you think you may have missed something...  Thanks!

Okay, Fine Then!

I've been stalling all day on posting, because I had TWO cards made, and wanted to put both of them on here, but the second one still needs three little brown buttons for me to be happy with it, and I haven't gone anywhere today to purchase them. 

I did, however, organize ALL of the buttons that I currently own, which takes some doing, let me tell ya!  I have - literally - about 20 POUNDS of buttons!!!  I always bought the baggies of buttons at the yard sale, the Mason jar of buttons at the estate sale, the ancient tin of buttons at the re-sell shop, the two-scoops-for-a-dollar of buttons at the going-out-of-business clothing factory, the - well, you get the idea...  I had some of them sorted previously, but most of them were in a huge glass something-or-other that Jackie gave me for Christmas (I don't even know what to call it - it's tall and hand-painted and has a foot like a compote and a lid like a candy jar and it's very pretty, but I don't know what you call it...)  In the optomistic hope that there might be little brown buttons in there somewhere, I dumped them all out - they covered the entire desk and the entire sewing table, and plowed through them all - white ones in this jar, black and gray ones here, brown ones there, etc., ad infinitum.  Took me about three hours, I believe, and I did find some little brown buttons but they're not quite little enough, so...

Anyway, I'll just share the one card that has been totally finished all day long, waiting for its friend to finish getting dressed (sounds like me and Greg or, rather, Greg and me!)

 

It was for the CAS challenge on Splitcoast to make a Clean And Simple (CAS) card with some added sparkle - glitter or Stickles or whatever.  I opted for some pink sparkle embossing powder and some Stickles on the punched stars.  It was an experiment of sorts (mostly the two-toned embossing on the sentiment), and is obviously not perfect, but I share the good, the bad and the ugly here, so there you go!

One little tricky tidbit:  I laid my stamps onto the card front where I thought they should go like this:

 

then I laid my acrylic block on top of them with the left and bottom edges ined up with the same edges on the card and pressed to stick the stamps to it:

 

That way, when I went to stamp it, everything was lined up and ready to roll!  I apologize for the inky block - it used to have Tack 'n' Peel on it, and after I took the TnP off, ink stuck to it and I can't get it off with anything!  I've tried every solution - stamping-related and otherwise - that I know of, and nothing works!

Okay, maybe I'll have some buttons tomorrow and can show you the other card, but for now I'm out!  Greg just got home and I need to feed the poor, tired boy when he gets out of the shower...  Have a great night!

Back in the Day...

So -  I managed to step away from the sketch I seem to be obsessed with long enough to do yesterday's Inspiration Challenge on Splitcoast.  Sarah Collier is a fabulous artist that mixes vintage pics, text, and other images into very unique creations.  I was inspired by her entire Flickr gallery, as opposed to one particular work, to make this:

  

It's a collage of various images that hold meaning for me personally.  Here's the scoop:

• Led Zeppelin was the first concert I went to, and the old man on the cliff and the runes are from the cover of my favorite Led Zep album.
• The Beach Boys and the entire beach culture were highly influential in my childhood and youth, and I went with my sister and friend to their "Endless Summer" tour with the band Chicago at Anaheim Stadium.
• The snippet of map in the upper lefthand corner shows Corona del Mar and Laguna Beach - two of the places I frequented regularly.
• The girl's face is a charcoal rendering I did in high school, and it had a quote that went with it that I still find meaningful: "Within you there is a solitude and peace to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself."
• The other two girls are the cover of a pattern I made several articles of clothing with back then - I also wore my hair like that, only longer....
• The peace frog is just representative of the era.

I plan to mat and frame this some time in the near future - or possibly use it as a starting point for a "Book of Me" type of scrapbook.  It was fun and nostalgic and introspective and all of that while I was putting it together...

Then - of course! - I had to go back to the obsession and crank out another card:

 

Stamps: Stampin'Up! Arachnophobia and Best Fiends; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Black StazOn;Paper: Provo Craft dp, Close to My Heart Smokey Plum, Paperbilities black; Accessories: Cuttlebug w/bubble embossing folder, sewing machine, transparency, Souffle pens, Prisimacolor and Bic markers, 1 3/8" round punch

Same sketch - different papers, stamps, subject, etc....  The bat and dangling spider were stamped onto transparency with Black Stazon, colored on the back with Souffle pens, cut out, and adhered with clear glue dots behind the colored areas.  The rest is self-explanatory...

Well, loverlies, I'm gonna sign off for now - I've been partying with the Fabric Mill girls all afternoon and poor Greg was home all alone...  I need to go spend some time with him now, I'm thinkin'!  I'll take some pics of the fun stuff the girls gave me when we have daylight tomorrow, and share with you then.  Have a great evening, and thanks for stopping by!

Oh No, Not Again!

Yes, yes...another card from the same sketch:

 

Stamps: Stampin'Up! Buggies and Booties; Ink: SU! Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue, Ranger Vintage Photo distress ink; Paper: SU! Chocolate Chip and Summer Picnic dsp; Accessories: Marvy corner punch, Cuttlebug w/textile embossing folder, heavy thread, SU! mat pack

I sometimes/never do boy cards, so today I have TWO to show you!  This one is (obviously) for a baby boy.  Lots of hand-stitching, but otherwise pretty simple.  The other one is for today's Limited Supply challenge:

  

Stamps: The Cat's Pajamas Puppy Love; Ink: Versafine Onyx Black; Paper: SU! Kraft; Accessories: Marvy corner punch, ScorPal, Target $1 Spot brads, computer (Action Is font), Zig Painty gold pen, Stickles, Prismacolor pencils

Back story on this one:  My husband has a hard time sitting still long enough to watch a movie, so we never go out to the movies, and he wanders away periodically even when we're at home watching a video or a movie on TV.  That being said, there are certain movies he does sit still for.  One of them is "History of the World, Part 1" (Mel Brooks), and his favorite part is all about how "It's good to be the king..."  Greg laughs and laughs, and will randomly say this phrase for weeks after he's seen the movie (again)!  This card is for him.

Laundry, grocery shopping, housecleaning - all of these fun things await me now!  On the up side - Sherry's Stampin'Up! order is due this afternoon, and I have a few things coming in it - woo hoo!  Have a great day, and a FABULOUS weekend!  Don't know if I'll be around, as I have two birthday parties to go to (and one of them's MINE!)  Ta!

We Interrupt This Program...

...to ask all of you a favor.  One of the blogs I follow is Cindy Motherway's "This is My Story".  She is one of the Splitcoast Stampers "Dirty Dozen" (a design/challenge team), and a generally fun person.  Her update this morning was a request to join in a card drive and email campaign for a woman who just finished serving two years in Iraq, and can't come home quite yet.  She is currently in a hospital in Kenya, paralyzed from the neck down, and cannot be moved (as in "back to the US") for at least two months.  To read the story and get all of the details, please visit THIS LINK.  I will be keeping this post at the top of my blog until further notice, so you can easily find the link whenever you need it.  Scroll down for newer posts and all the "regularly scheduled" programming.  Thanks for joining us - you're the best!

A Little Sketchy...

I know last night I mentioned that I really like this week's challenge sketch on Splitcoast Stampers.  I also mentioned that I had multiple ideas rolling around in Odd Brain for it.  I stayed up WAAAAY too late last night (okay, it was actually early this morning...) because two of them wouldn't leave me alone...

For the first one I swung the pendulum over from the bold, bright, super-saturated end of the spectrum clear over to almost no color at all:

 

Kraft and white and Pink Pirouette - Stampin'Up's softest pink ever!  I embossed the heart from the Always stamp set on some Bella Rose dp and cut it out, then stamped it again on the same dp and trimmed outside the stamped image with scalloped scissors.  To get some definition between the layers, I traced around the cut-out heart onto some kraft and cut slightly outside the traced line with some eensy-teensy scalloped scissors.  The white embossed images on the two smaller panels are the coordinating "wheel" (yeah, not a wheel anymore...) - Always in Bloom.  I added some white pigment ink (CTMH) to the edges of everything, and unearthed some tiny heart brads.  Done!

The second card is more colorful, and is an experiment of sorts:

 

That center panel is only 2 1/8" square, but the stamp I used is 4" square.  I was curious how just a portion of the stamped image would look, and I have to say that I'm very pleased with the result!  All of these stamps are from Stampin'Up!'s Fresh Cuts set, and the paper is Basic Grey Sugared.  All the mats are SU! Bravo Burgundy, and I stamped with Old Olive and distressed with More Mustard.  A touch of ribbon and a trio of dewdrops finish it off.

I hesitate to post today's "ways to use it" challenge because we're back to ultra-bright again, but I guess I will, anyway:

 

The challenge was specifically to use bold, bright colors, so I started with some big ol' plastic buttons I unearthed while looking for some for the previous card (I used dewdrops instead...)  I used my Stamp Camp gingham backgrounder again - black this time.  The sentiment is from Heidi Grace's Tags and Words set.

I haven't done a single useful thing yet today, so I'd best get on that!  Thanks for stopping by, and have a MEGA-HAPPY DAY!

Summer...?

Ho.o.o.o.o.oleeeeeey!!!  Can I go back to being a school kid and have a summer vacation....PLEASE?!?!?  This being a responsible adult thing is getting reeeeally old!  Work, housework, brain work, prep work, house-buying work, money-managing work, work, work, WORK!  Enough, already!!!

Okay, thanks - I feel better now...  Having ranted about work, let me now say that I actually took some time tonight to PLAY!  This is the result:

 

This card is for TWO challenges on Splitcoast Stampers:  the color challenge  to use Pacific Point, Tangerine Tango and Summer Sun, and the sketch challenge.  I really like this sketch, and have several more cards in mind using it...

This color combo seemed like a good match for the Beautiful Batik stamp set that has been languishing in my stash of Stampin'Up! stamps for some time now.  I thought it would have the most impact if I used the emboss resist technique, so that's what I did:

  

I stamped flowers in Summer Sun, the leaf/bud/whatever-the-heck-that-thing-is in Tangerine Tango, and embossed all of them with detail clear embossing powder (except the one you can see that I missed in the pic above...)  Then I inked up my brayer with Pacific Point and went over the whole thing.  I also used a sponge dauber to get in all the little tiny cracks within the motifs, which created sort of a "halo" of darker blue - I kinda like it!  Obviously, this technique is not an exact science, and I'm far from perfect on the execution, but I managed to be happy enough with it to carry on...

I used the same process for my central motif, but the other little bits are just stamped, and not embossed.  I did roll the edges in the tangerine after I inked up the stamp with Summer Sun, though.  The little popped-up orange on white thingy has a mini brad through the center.  That's all there is to this card!  No sentiment, no other embellishments - nada!

I have to go clean up the mess I made now (unless I decide to make another card, of course!)  I'm sorry for how sporadic my posts have been of late, and I'll try to do better, but I just never know...  Anyway, thanks for stopping by this time!  Have a great night!  Buh-bye! 

What's Black and White...

...and stitched all over?  Today's cards for the inspiration challenge on Splitcoast Stampers!  Stef chose a fun little baby/kids shoe website called Bugaloo.  First I chose these adorable little shoes:

   

and used them as inspiration for a little 3" note card:

 

Stamps: Hampton Art Life is Sweet; Ink: Close to My Heart White Daisy pigment ink; Paper: Paperbilities black, Georgia Pacific white; Accessories: EK Success 3" scallop circle punch, Creative Memories shape-cutting system, Marvy flower punch, Treasured Memories button, Offray ribbon, detail white embossing powder, sewing machine

I almost never do anything for the boys, so I chose these shoes next:

 

and made this card:

 

Stamps: Stampin'Up! Hope Happens; Ink: SU! Black; Paper: DCWV textured black, Georgia Pacific white; Accessories: Lacing cord, eyelets, Crop-a-dile, charm, sewing machine

You would think - after the week I've had - that I'd be completely averse to the thought of using my sewing machine, but I surprised myself and stitched on both of today's cards!  I also hauled out my long-forgotten eyelets and Crop-a-dile and unearthed a charm from who-knows-where!  I'm kind of proud of myself for using things that have been hanging around for way too long!

I saved five or six other pics of little shoes, so I may play again another time, but that's it for me today - still dog-tired and it's almost time to start dinner.  I also have some things to catch up on here on the blog (awards and groups and blog rolls and such), but - again - too tired today...  Hope your weekend is going well (and is less soggy than ours!), and thanks for stopping by!

Breezy Ruby Whispers...

It's been waaaay too long since I made something new, and I was suffering withdrawal big-time, let me tell you!  I've acquired a couple of new toys, though, and needed a break from sewing (86 tablecloth hems later...), so I tried out this week's color challenge on Splitcoast: Baja Breeze, Ruby Red, Whisper White - which explains the title of the post, yes?

The first card I made is a direct rip-off of THIS CARD on Deb Rymer's blog (one of the wonderful newly-discoverd ones I subscribe to):

  

I like her color combo better, but I was playing along with the challenge, and I had these cute little red metal flowers that I got in the $1 Colorbok stuff at JoAnn's.  I added some self-adhesive gems to them (no clue where they came from).  The "merci" is from the Stampin'Up! set of the same name, and the ribbon is some from Michael's.  It was a brighter aqua, but I toned it down by running it across the Baja Breeze ink pad.

My second card is bearing testament to the fact that I have finally succumbed to the cupcake craze.  Yes, I know - I'm one of the last to "get it"...  I've always thought that they were sorta cute, but never felt the need to acquire any of the stamps until I saw Hampton Art's Life is Sweet set in AC Moore yesterday.  I tried to find it online for you, but was unsuccessful (sorry!).  I used a sentiment and two of the cupcakes.  There are also ice cream cones and sundaes and such, so it's more than just a cupcake set - love that!

 

I used a blender pen to pick up the Baja Breeze ink to add to the Ruby-Red-stamped cupcakes.

I guess that's it for tonight!  Gonna drag myself off to beddy-bye now - early (and long!) day tomorrow...  Thanks for stopping by!