a fun little evening that inspires....

so, tonight i spent some time with some of my girlfriends, scrapping and chatting, chatting and scrapping... well, one of us was scrapping. one was working on a card swap. one was making her own rubber stamps. and me? well, i was making ATCs! :)

i don't have my camera handy, so you'll have to trust me on this when i say that they're LOVELY! :) the first one, which i'm hoping will turn out in the end, was based on the theme "ghost" from the challenge blog Inspire Me Thursday. the other one was much more romantic, featuring a vintage couple. it was inspired by the Stripes challenge on, um.... another challenge blog (can't remember which one off the top of my head!)

the ghost card was done with versamark ink on glossy cardstock. over that, i sponged fuschia ink, which then smeared over the versamark image, leaving a ghostly image. i mounted it diagonally on grey cardstock, with the word "believe" stamped with black stayz on in the corner. once all that was done, i covered the image and word with a crackle medium... i'm waiting for it to dry, and then i'll post (if it isn't damaged, that is).

the second card was pretty basic. some paper (BG eva), and cardstock, mounted off-center of each other, with a pink frame stamped behind the couple. a metal "love" charm attached, and voila! ATC number 2! :)

like i said, when i have my camera, i'll post some pics. until then, you'll just have to trust me on this. they're lovely! :)

k, off to play euchre for a bit! ttyl!

Blockage!!!! Ugh!!!!!

ok, so, an hour ago, i was feeling so creative, and sat down to work on one of my newest projects. and, i might add, one of my favourite projects. an altered journal. LOVE IT!!!!! well, i did at the time...

and now...

it is my NEMESIS!!!!!!!!

that's right, folks, i'm blocked. i got nothing. i put one of my most anticipated elements on: black eyelets with black wire wrapped around the edge of the cover. LOVE IT!!! but now what?

i'm sitting here staring at it, going, "it looks cool so far, but it needs more. but what?!" and i don't know. i mean literally, i have no ideas here.

i'll admit, i briefly toyed with the idea of prima flowers, a pretty contrast to the harsh/industrial feel of the metal accents. but it just wasn't working for me. i have a stamp that would look absolutely stunning, but where to put it? i have bling of various descriptions, but that's not right for this piece. fibers? they're lovely, but i don't think they're right, either.

my one thought was to do the whole edge with eyelets and wire. that might look cool. and hey... now that i'm thinking about it... it WOULD look really cool... and i could do something funky with the stamp, and then use some wire and maybe a transparency to anchor it... and then a word or quotation at the bottom or something...

oh, the ideas are flowing now!!!!! yay!!!! thanks for your help!!! ;)


UPDATE: GAH!!! doing the whole edge with eyelets and wire... yeah, can't work. the measurements are wrong, and it will leave either too much space at the bottom, or too little. which sucks, because that would have been freaking cool! :(

SAFETY ALERT - scrappin supply recalled

just so you know... Health Canada has recalled some dollar store scrappin embellishments due to high lead content. here's the link.

http://tinyurl. com/6ywmhv

just thought i'd let you know.

how did i forget this?!

mom and i were going through some beads the other week, and we came across this pendant... that boat at the top of the skinny. well, she had never had any idea what to do with it (she beads). i saw it, and immediately knew it was going to go on a skinny with that boy!!!!! so, i got out all my stuff, and got to work. here's the result.

i used: SU cardstock and stamps, BG patterned paper (ambrosia, i do believe), some brads, some fibres, and a vintage boy. so simple. and i dig it.

btw, it was for a challenge. the theme was "red." but i don't remember what challenge blog it was for. once i remember, i'll update.

Arty Girlz - Red!

the theme this week on Arty Girlz is Red. it's been a while since i've played there (or have i before? i don't remember. after a while some of these challenges blend together, to be honest... especially if you're not a regular. but they're fun and i like them, so...). i wondered what to do for this one, since i don't often use red in my work (other than the tag i did on the weekend; that was also an exception), so this challenge was just that... a challenge!

i was playing beads with my mom earlier this evening, making myself a necklace to go with a sweater i just bought. my mom showed me a gold chain that i could use for a different necklace, and she said, "you can just get rid of that pendant." i sat speechless (imagine that!), gazing at the pendant in my hand, and i was immediately inspired. i knew the papers, i knew the theme, and i started searching for the perfect little boy. and there he was! thank-you, gail, at PaperWhimsy! he's delightful!

the only real challenge on this piece was attaching this most beauteous pendant. it took me a couple minutes to figure out, i'll admit. in fact, i deliberately left it till last, and i pondered this dilemma whilst working on the rest. i finally went with glue dots, some scrunched up into "boogers." then i punched a hole in the paper behind the loop at the top, and threaded outrageous red and oranges fibres through.

so, here's the run-down of what i used: BG ambrosia (love it!!!!), SU! Flexible Expressive Phrases (or something like that... if you know the name of the stamp set, let me know. i forget and i can't find my old catties). other than that, it's miscellaneous brads and fibres and ink. there you have it. my little travelling boy. i dig him. :)

and i forgot to mention that this is a skinny (3x5). i think this is my favourite size. although ATCs are fun, too. and 4x4. and tags. oh, bother, i love them all! :)

Tag You're It!

so, the challenge this week on Tag You're It is a sketch challenge, and as one who loves sketches, i am very pleased by this challenge.

so, for this challenge, i used my BG Romani paper, which i lllllllllooooooooovvvvvveeeeee! also, that metal circle thing is Basic Grey. oh, the fun i'm having with BG lately (i'm trying to make up for dissing them in my last post). and of course, Prima flowers. yup, i used some of my stash (which, apparently, is abundant).

ok, so staci thinks that she should be the subject of this post. i'll grant her that. she provided the location and wine and "chips ahoy for fat chicks" that i enjoyed while working on this project. so thank-you, staci, for the good times, and thank-you, deb, for reminding me why i don't do paper piecing. (i'll post about that later.)

anyhoo, here's my tag. hope you like it. :)

tag challenge - dream

the challenge this week on Tag You're It! is "Dream." i created this little lovely (ok, not so little... she's approx 6.5x3.5) tonight, having been inspired to paint.

for the painted background... i mixed together eggplant and silver and swept it upwards on the tag. then i combined black and silver and dry-brushed the bottom left corner and up and around the top. the metal words along the right side are: bon voyage, create, cry, play, dance, dream.

this will likely be a gift for someone who is helping me immensely along my journey right now, and her favourite colour seems to be purple (i can't remember the last time i didn't see her wearing purple).

anyway, there you have it. my first challenge in quite some time, but i think i like it. :) but, it's getting late now, so i have to go link to the challenge site, and then go to bed. nighty-night! :)