Random on Purpose

Oh, Dear Deer!

I've been working ridiculous hours to try to get a slew of stuff done and delivered before Thanksgiving, but I'm a-feared not all of it is going to be finished.  In my defense, it's a) not for lack of trying, and b) promises made by others on my behalf without my knowledge and/or consent.  For example, I started working at 6:00 this morning, and didn't knock off until 9:30 tonight.  The only time I wasn't actually working was while I was moving loads of laundry around and while I made and ate dinner.

As a result, I'm staging a "mini revolt", and doing NOTHING work-related after I deliver what's finished in the morning!  Not tomorrow, not Thanksgiving Day, not Friday or Saturday or Sunday!  I'm going to paint walls and sew drapes and decorate for Christmas and stuff like that there, instead...

I've also been suffering severe withdrawal from not doing anything fun with any of my "stuff", so - even though it was a little late to start - I made a Christmas tag with a stamp that I brought home with me on one of my most recent wanderings:

Stamps: Studio G deer, Stampin'Up! 'to' and 'from' from Holiday Woodcuts; Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, Close to My Heart Holiday Red, SU! Bashful Blue; Paper: CTMH Holiday Red, white; Accessories/Tools: Fiskars apron lace border punch, Marvy snowflake punch, Bic markers, brad, ribbon

I had the tag all put together and it looked a little plain to me, so I added the loopy doodle border with a fine-tip journaling marker so I could get happy with it.  Nothing overly exciting - just a fun little diversion...  Since I sponged blue around the edge of the white panel, this tag qualifies for the CAS (Clean And Simple) challenge for this week on Splitcoast Stampers, too.

Since we're already talking about deer, here's an update on the little family that visits me:  The mother doe appears to have an injury.  Last week when she came, she was limping heavily because she was holding her left foreleg up and walking only on the other three.  That leg just sort of dangled, but it wasn't deformed-looking or anything, so I don't know if she broke it or what.  This week she's still limping, but she'll put a litte teensy bit of tentative weight on that leg now, so I'm hopeful that it's on the mend.  Yesterday while I was watching them out the window, the daughter doe and mother doe were grooming each other and nuzzling each other and it was very sweet and made me miss my daughters, besides.  The young buck ignored them and kept right on eating the tree... 

Well, Greg has to be up and at 'em early tomorrow, and informed me that his alarm is set for 4:00, which means that I will, of course, be waking up then, too, so I think I'll turn in.  Thanks for stopping by, and maybe I'll have some fun things posted this weekend, so check back!  If I'm not around tomorrow (or if you won't be), then have a Happy Thanksgiving!  G'night!

PS - I just heard heavy machinery outside and went to investigate.  It's a street sweeper!  At four minutes to midnight?  Really?  What the...?!  Okay, now I'm gone...

Punchy in the Middle of the Night

...and I mean that literally and figuratively!  I'm still playing catch-up with work, so I can't really justify stamping/crafting instead, so I have to wait until "the end of the day" to do anything like that, and there's always so much other "stuff" to do then...

I did try the tutorial I'd been brainstorming, and - while not a complete loss and/or waste of time - it needs some tweaking and I lost interest and ran out of time.  I did make a card for today's challenge, though, and it produced a "mini tutorial", if you will...really more of a tip or trick, actually...  The challenge today was to make a thank-you or Thanksgiving card (hmmm...wonder why?), and I made this:

The trick is the acorn I punched - it's my new ornament punch and old scallop circle punch, tweaked like this:

TA DA!  I added a button with some twine threaded through it, and curled the ends of the twine, gluing it down in strategic spots, so the curls would stay...

All the papers are from Stampin'Up!'s "Autumn Vine" collection - beautiful!  I didn't have any ribbon the right color, so I ran some white grosgrain across my Sage Shadow ink pad to dye it.  I also cut a little motif out of one of the papers, but glued it down with the flip side showing, 'cuz I liked it better that way.

And that's the end of the story!  Good night - sweet dreams - and thanks for stopping by!
 
  
 

Peaceful Utopiary

A quick post of a quick card, 'cuz, yeah - it's Monday (= crazy day)...  This morning's CAS (Clean And Simple) challenge on Splitcoast was to be inspired by Vera Bradley's handbags.  I scoped her website and decided that I loved the Imperial Toile fabric, and used that as my inspiration.  Here's one of the bags using it:

 
And here's my card:

 

Stamps: Stampin'Up! Peaceful Wishes, Inkadinkado Utopiary; Ink: SU! Chocolate Chip, Versamark; Paper: SU! Chocolate Chip, white; Accessories/Tools: Detail white embossing powder, ScorPal, mini brads, Marvy corner punch

I had a lightbulb moment for a tutorial this morning, so look for that sometime this week (probably not today or tomorrow, unless things go better than I think they will).  It's been a loooong time since I've done a tutorial, eh?

Hope your week is starting off well, and thanks for stopping by!
  

Delayed Gratification

I finally got a chance to finish my previewed project, but I can't get a good photo of it, so here's a bad one:

It's a banner made from coasters and papers and the really pretty K & Co stickers that I featured in my preview.  Here are a couple of closeups:

All of the edges of all the pieces are embossed with copper embossing powder,  The papers themselves are a mix of My Mind's Eye, Provo Craft, and DCWV.  Some Nestability action, some paper leaves, some mini brads and ribbon...  The letters are Close to My Heart's Homestead Alphabet, the frame around them are Stampin'Up!'s Cute and Curly, and the flourishes are actually part of a tree from Inkadinkado's Fall Season.  And that's all she wrote - literally!  More tomorrow...  Thanks for stopping by! 
  

Fe Fi Faux, Hmm...

Well, well, well!  I started a card for yesterday's sketch challenge on Splitcoast, but didn't get very far, so I scoped the "ways to use it" challenge this morning and decided to incorporate that, too.  What were we using today?  Faux textures.......yeah, sort of "technique-y", sort of not my thing, sort of not happy with the results:

I really love the sketch, really love the papers (Stampin'Up!), am very pleased with the images (more of my soon-to-be-for-real digis), but the faux textures?  Not so much...

I tried using Souffle and Glaze pens for the mittens and boots to make them leathery (shiny and not), and Puffy Velvet markers on the bunny and Santa's beard, hair and fur trim.  Believe it or not, there is also gold embossing on the embroidery of Santa's outfit, too - yeah, invisible, right?  Even close up:

AND - the "velvet" is sort of clumpy bumpy ugly instead of velvety!  Oh - and the star is embossed with the gold glittery stuff, too - not that you can tell...

Anyway, that's why I mostly stay away from anything more involved than regular embossing, and prefer real texture (Cuttlebugged or whatever) to faux!  Keepin' it real, keepin' it real...

I'm tired, tired, tired, so I'm not gonna be any more chatty than that - good night!
 
 

I'll Show You Mine if You'll Show Me Yours...

Weird post today, but I have no time to create anything except piles of cushions to make some money, so this is what I've got:  I've been rolling around the idea for a now-and-again challenge to institute on my blog here.  It wouldn't be like other challenges that occur at regular intervals (like every Tuesday or every other weekend or whatever) - I know me too well!  True to my lifestyle and the title of my blog, the challenge would be a RANDOM one!  The consistency would be in theme.

I also know that you all are very hesitant to play along with me, for whatever reason.  Any time I've posted a tutorial or invited you to join me in anything (Monday Muse comes to mind), there has been {insert crickets chirping here} response.  With that thought in mind, I've decided two things:

• I need to BRIBE you with a prize to encourage your participation
• I need to allay any fears that you might have about putting your stuff "out there" for others to see.

To address the latter, let me offer this:  The prize will be a random-generated number winner, not a "judged" competition.  Also, we all have to start somewhere.  I visit blogs that have amazing artwork on them, and I think that these incredible people must have always been amazing.  And yet...  Recently one of the blogs featured artwork from the design team of their early works, and it was comforting to realize that they had to start somewhere less amazing than where they are now, too!  They were wimpy, though (in my opinion), and did it anonymously.

I certainly don't consider myself amazing, but I know that I have grown considerably since I started this whole papercrafting thing.  I'm going to plunge ahead and share my early creations with you:

That's just a sampling, but you get the idea...  Hopefully I'm better at the photography thing now, too!  So, do you feel better now?  Will you play with me?  I'll be using Mr. Linky, so it's not like everyone will see what you've made here on my blog - just if they click through to your gallery or blog or whatever...

Leave me a comment, please, so I'll know if there's enough interest to even follow through on setting this up!  Meanwhile, I'm going to go upstairs to my getting-prettier-every-weekend room and SEW!  Have a great day! 
 
 
 

Good Morning to You, Good Morning to You...

...we're all in our places, with bright smiling faces - good morning to you, good morning to you!  (Another little ditty from my childhood - pretty perky, huh?)  I know - it's Monday, for crying out loud, so why am I so enthused already...?  Just 'cuz I wanna be, that's why!  AND - my previous sentence just reminded me of a standup bit by Norm MacDonald:  "That sounds like a pre-school award: Little Jimmy, for Crying Out Loud.  Suzy, for Crying Over Spilt Milk..."  I love that kind of humor...*sigh*...

ANYway - I said yesterday that I was going to do something I wanted to do, even though I'm swamped with work.  I did some work schtuff this morning (picked up a chair, cut the foam for all its pieces/parts, took some button thingies to my upholsterer friend to recover for me, went to a design appointment), and when I got back and sat quietly sipping a toasty beverage (Oreo mint double chocolate cappucino - can you say "decadent"?), I scoped the CAS challenge for today, and that's what I ended up wanting to do!

It's a color challenge today - white and ONE other color!  You can't even stamp in black and color it with your second color, because today black is being considered one of the colors!  I did this:

I've wanted that Santa Collage stamp (Rubber Stampede) for two years, but was unable to find it until last month!  I stamped him on white cardstock with Faded Jeans distress ink (Ranger), then cut him out with a Nestabilities Labels Four die.  I also stamped just his starry beard in two of the corners.  I used a Close to My Heart stubble tool (one of the best inventions EVER!) to add some speckles to soften the edges.  A stamped Inkadinkado sentiment (Warm Holiday Wishes set) and some sponging around the edges of things is all the rest of it!

Speaking of Nestabilities, I'm starting to acquire just a few select ones, and needed a good storage system for them.  Here's my solution:

Yup!  A CD case...  These dies will stick to a magnet, so I got some magnet poster sheets that I've had forever, cut them to size, and stuck them into the CD case with a bit of adhesive (I used AdTech).  I know the poster sheets are still available, but I'm not sure where I saw them.  The package looks like this:

Well, that's what it looked like when I bought it years ago, and after it's been moved and abused umpteen times...  Two Nestabilities sets fit very nicely in one case, as you can see!

Okay, the week is off to a roaring start!  Hope yours is, too, and thanks for stopping by!  Go smile at someone (especially if they're cranky) and pass it forward!  Ta!
 
 
 

Does This Look Merry?

I was sort of cruisin' around the 'net last night and decided to check out Splitcoast to see if the inspiration challenge was posted yet (the different hostesses for the different challenges have varying schedules - some post between 10:00 pm and midnight, some don't post until 8:00 am, etc.), and it was, and I had a lightbulb moment and stayed up way later than I was planning to execute the plan...

The inspiration source was Jonathan Adler's online store, and I chose this pillow:

as my inspiration for this card:

Stamp: Inkadinkado Ornate Christmas, Ink: Versamark, black; Paper: Stampin'Up! Melon Mambo, black, DCWV dp; Accessories/Tools: Detail clear embossing powder

I've had this paper for a couple of forevers, and have never quite made up my mind about it - is it Scrooge-y and morbid/somber, or is it elegant or what?  Anyway, it worked to pull off the inspiration I had when I saw the pillow, so I guess that's ultimately what matters, right?  The sentiment was stamped in Versamark and embossed with clear embossing powder on the melon paper, then covered over with black ink.  I wiped the ink off of the embossing and trimmed around the whole thing, then pop-dotted it to the background.  'Nuff said...

Busy day today - more demolition of The Wall, and the electrician is coming to get our wiring updated and ready for what's next...  We're replacing the tacky plug-in shop lights in my workroom with a hardwired, flush mount one (still not pretty, but less ugly than what's there now), so hopefully I'll be able to get in there and paint this afternoon.

The fall-ish, previewed project is still in the works - maybe it'll be ready to share later today or tomorrow, depending on how it goes.  Have a great day/weekend, and thanks for stopping by!
  

Derailed

Super-quick post because I totally blew off work all morning to make a card:

It's for a little boy whose family is celebrating Christmas this week instead of waiting until December, because little Noah will probably have passed by then...  I read about it this morning when I checked the Limited Supply challenge on Splitcoast for today.  You can read the challenge and find a link to the story HERE.  Needless to say, this project pre-empted the one I previewed yesterday...

Here's a view of the card when it's opened:

I got to use four of my Whippersnappers (aren't they sweet?), and just plain ol' random-stamped snowflakes on plain ol' white cardstock (the snowflake stamp is from Stampin'Up!'s "Flakey Friends" set).  I computer-generated the "We wish you a" part of the sentiment (Comic Sans font), and the rest is an Inkadinkado stamp.  Pretty much all there is to tell on this.  Oh, wait - I need to tell you this, too:  I used a light box to see through the cutout images so I could color the backs and add a few detail lines (not as detailed as the fronts, though), so it would look decent on both sides...

Okay, I really do have to get to work now...  Have a great day, send Noah a card if you can, and thanks for stopping by!
  
 

Merci!

I'm getting ready to head out the door, but I managed to make one card that took care of two challenges, so I thought I'd throw it on here before I got too sidetracked...

 

This week's Clean and Simple challenge was a sketch based off of this fun card by Latisha Yoast,  Last week's color challenge was "Krafty Black Melons" - Kraft, Basic Black, and Melon Mambo - yummy!  I stamped the teensy heart from Stampin'Up's "Merci" set on some melon cardstock and added a little white gel pen accent to each one for my dp strip.  The main image from the same set was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Bic and Prismacolor markers, then cut out with a Nestabilities Labels Four die.  A bit of gingham ribbon and done!

Okay, I was serious about that heading out the door thing, so I gotta jet!  Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!