Throw Back-Play day

Hi and welcome!  Today I'm sharing some 'throw back Thursday' projects that are perfectly named in so many ways!  I am finally caught up on birthday and anniversary cards, so I had some time to just play around in my studio.  I have a tiered basket that holds unfinished projects and various odds & ends.  The idea is that if I see these things all the time, I will be encouraged to use them.  I wish I could say this was a perfect idea, but more often than not, I'm busy making something specific and don't have time to 'treasure hunt' in the baskets.  Today however, I spied two unfinished art journal pages that were begging to be completed.  I started my art journal years ago as a way to experiment with new techniques and it has also become a great place to collect quotes and words of wisdom.  This is the first 'throwback'. Next, I found a baggie of molded clay pieces that I made a very long time ago and had saved for a rainy day-'throwback' number two!  Finally, I pulled out some well loved, but recently uninked stamp sets making the third part of my 'throwback'.

I decided if this was going to be a play day, I was going to get a little messy and inky.  I colored the clay pieces with markers (and ended up with as much ink on my fingers as on the clay pieces), and pulled out an old plastic stamp case. A quick hunt through my reinkers and I was ready to go.  I actually used copy paper instead of watercolor paper this time since the page was already going to be quite lumpy from the clay parts.  It was a little tricky getting the paper out of the ink and took a very long time to dry, but the end result was quite pretty.  A little stamping, doodling, and gluing and I was done!  

This would have been a perfect creative session if my eldest DD (home from college) hadn't interrupted me to ask if I could help her file her taxes... Nothing like waiting til the last minute!  Luckily, it was fairly quick and painless to do hers, but the next time I decide to have a play day, I'm going to lock the door!

I hope I've inspired you to dig through your stash and use some of those forgotten items!  If you're like me, you could do this every day for a year and still have plenty of things left over!  Thank you so much for visiting and have a wonderful day!

Project Recipe: Stamp Sets-Faith in Nature, Gorgeous Grunge, Ink-blushing bride, Baja breeze, crumb cake, garden green, real red, summer sun, early espresso, black fine tip Sharpie, Paper-always artichoke, Accessories- molded clay pieces, Martha Stewart leaf punch

Book Rental Blues...

Hi! Things are a bit melancholy here today.  We are heading to the schools to pay book rental and verify schedules for the new school year.  It seems like just yesterday we were cleaning out lockers and bringing everything home...  DD#1 and I are hoping for a freak summer snowstorm delaying the start of school, but DD#2 can't wait to be back with her friends.  I'm not sure where I went wrong with that one... (just kidding, but only a little!).

I have another card to share with you today.  It is pretty much a flashback card since so much of it is retired, but I did use my blendabilities again, and a new stamp set for the sentiment so that balances things out a little.

The pear is from the retired Faith in Nature and is one of my favorite images.  I always liked using pastels to shade and color this, but thought I would try my hand at the alcohol markers again.  I still have a long way to go, but at least I didn't want to throw this one out when I was finished!  I seem to be in a rut on the layout of my cards too! This seems to be my default design with the blocks of layers and perfectly straight lines.   Hopefully I will find some time to pull out some sketches and try something new this week.

Well, I better get going so we can take another step closer to starting back to school.  We still have some clothes shopping to do and I have some unfinished jobs at home that I really need to finish.  I hope you find some time to be creative today and have a terrific rest of the week!

Card Recipe: Paper-daffodil delight, whisper white, subtles dsp (ret), Stamps-Faith in Nature (ret), Bloom with Hope, Ink-memento tuxedo black, daffodil delight and old olive blendabilities, Accessories, daffodil delight stitched ribbon (ret)

Flashback Friday- Getting Inky!

Hello! I'm apologizing in advance... Today's post is a little picture heavy, but I did include some cute, furry kitten photos so I hope I'm forgiven!  As I was making some phone calls and paying bills last week, I was grumbling to myself  that I really needed to get a little more organized with all of the papers that seem to accumulate when the girls go back to school.  Sign this, send in $ for that, be sure the choir gowns are altered by the first concert, return fundraiser information now...  It is enough to drive me batty some days!  Just as I was wondering what in the world I could find that would organize and I would actually use, Shadow's big ol' Lab tail knocked a clipboard off of a shelf.  I picked it up and was going to return it to the shelf when inspiration struck.  I should have taken a before picture, but didn't think of it until it was already painted.  The clipboard was one that I had bought to use for preschool and the kids helped 'decorate' it with stray marks from markers and pencils.  I gave the whole clipboard a good coat of off white acrylic paint.  As the paint was drying, I went to Pinterest to see what ideas I could borrow to make my new organization board.

I really wasn't in the mood for a neat and clean papered clipboard, of which there were TONS of photos.  I liked them, but didn't really want to do the whole paper thing.  I did however find some inspiration in a mini clipboard that was all inky and stamped-not my usual style, but it looked like a lot of fun!  

So I pulled out some of my favorite stamps, lots of ink pads, and got busy.  I'm not sure if it was the acrylic paint or the clipboard, but my bold browns were sucked right in, leaving behind a very muted design.  I really liked it, and quickly decided to exchange my subtle blues and greens for the stronger, brighter colors.  The funny thing was I would never have combined the different shades that I used, but they really worked well together once they were dry.  Then I went back and sponged some browns and blues, and a little vanilla for good measure.

When I finished, the chrome clip looked completely out of place! Can't have that!!  So I pulled out the vanilla flower trim and made it all inky as well.  The newsprint bird was a suggestion from my oldest DD, and I added some 'vintage' crochet ribbon to finish it off.

Now I just have to convince myself to clip important notes and paper on here.  Not an easy task since it will cover up all of the inky goodness, but maybe it will motivate me to take care of those papers so I can see the clipboard again.

I hadn't intended to share photos of the kittens, but they were weaving in and out of the table legs as I was trying to take my pictures.  I figured if they were feeling so photogenic, I should oblige.

Katniss decided to climb up my leg as I took her photo. Ouch!

Beauty was too busy swiping to sit still, but finally

I was able to capture this shot.

Where was Shadow during all of this?  Why, resting comfortably on the deck like a good dog.  I'm pretty sure he's convinced that we make way too much fuss over the silly cats who don't even have the courtesy to stay out of my pictures.  He does however make quite a big deal of strutting back into the house with me.  I'm certain he makes faces at them through the window as he enjoys his place inside.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and find some time to play with your craft supplies too!

Project Recipe: Paper-very vanilla, First Edition DSP (ret), Stamp Sets-Faith in Nature (ret), Inspired by Nature (ret), Warm Words (ret), World Map, Ink-soft suede, early espresso, baked brown sugar, marina mist, not quite navy, night of navy, garden green, old olive, Accessories-bird builder punch, scallop oval punch, vanilla flower trim, Chantilly crochet trim

Card Swap

As this post is hitting my blog, I will be living it up in Louisville, KY for the Stampin' UP regional event!! I am carpooling with several of my Crafty SisTAHS and we are going to have a great time!  Since this is my first SU event, I'm not quite sure what to expect, but I know I'll have lots of fun (after all, it's a day full of stamping goodness, how can  it be anything but fun?!).  My upline told all of us to be sure to make card fronts for swapping because there are so many wonderful ideas out there and it's a fun way to meet people and trade talents.  So my 32 card fronts are with me and I hope to have some fabulous new ones to share when I come home!  Here is my card front...

 I wanted to have the sentiment backed by the DSP, but didn't want to be limited to fitting it in a smaller circle, so I temporarily stuck a strip of very vanilla (not sure what size, I used scraps) to a 2" strip of DSP, then I punched the circle and had a perfect area for stamping my sentiment.  I also distressed the edges of everything using soft suede ink and a sponge dauber.

Card Recipe: Cardstock-very vanilla, pear pizzazz, Spice Cake DSP, Ink-soft suede, pastels, Stamp Set-Faith in Nature, Accessories-square lattice embossing folder, 1 3/8 circle punch, linen thread

More than an ornament...

I recently had a class showing how versatile the ornament punch can be. Only one of the three cards actually had 'ornaments' on it. There are so many creative ways to use this punch and I'm not sure who the original inspirations were, but I can't take credit for coming up with them. Today's card uses several pieces of cardstock punched w/ the ornament punch to make a flower.

I made a card similar to this a while back and thought that it was a fun way to use the punch.  I had the design for this one in my head and when I went to put the very vanilla center on the card, it just looked way to plain.  So I dug through my stamps looking for something that would fit on the circle. I looked at the stamp set Faith in Nature and inspiration hit! I used the flower stamp on the circle to add the details of a flowers center and the script on the stamp really dressed it up.

Card Recipe: Stamp set-Faith in Nature, Card stock-crumb cake, poppy parade, very vanilla, baja breeze dsp from the stack, Ink-poppy parade, Accessories-square lattice folder, big shot, very vanilla satin ribbon, 3/4" circle punch, ornament punch

Faith in Nature

I really love this stamp set! The images can go from spring to fall just by changing the color combo! I love a stamp set that works all year long! My card today uses two new items from the 2011/2012 catalog and a few 'seasoned' products too.

Card recipe: cardstock-bashful blue, certainly celery, very vanilla, and bashful blue DSP from Subtles pack, ink-certainly celery and soft suede, stamp set-Faith in Nature and Just Believe (sentiment), accessories-1/4" certainly celery grosgrain ribbon, Houndstooth embossing folder

Lilies for Mom

My Mom has quite the collection of lilies growing around her home. I saw the most beautiful lily card made by Mary on her blog.  It instantly reminded me of Mom and I had to recreate! In order to make the note cards I'm making for Mom more realistic, I took pics of the real things and then used them to inspire my coloring.

 and here are some of the cards! Her birthday isn't until August, but since she doesn't have a computer, I think I'm safe posting them!  Just don't tell her!! 

I used whisp. white card stock as the base and then added a variety of colors from the brights and subtles collections. The lilies are colored w/ pastels. This is probably the most time consuming set of cards I have ever created, but it was def. a labor of love!

The recipe: Card stock and inks- whisper white, pretty in pink, pumpkin pie, rich razzleberry, and daffodil delight, DSP- a variety from the Brights pack, Ribbon- a variety of 1/4" grosgrain, Stamp set- sentiment from Faith in Nature (available July 1), Accessories-scallop edge trim punch, pastels

Yes, Another Peek!

Are you ready for July 1st yet? I promise this will be my last peek for this week.

This card has lots of new and returning goodies! I love the stamp set I used for this!  It is a new hostess set and I think it is so versatile! I am posting this card at Sketches by Carly. She has such amazing talent for such a young lady! TFL!

Card recipe: Stamp Set-Faith in Nature, Card stock-Old Olive and Whisper White, DSP- Paisley Petals (a new one!), Ink-Soft Suede, Accessories-Pear Pizzazz seam binding ribbon (returning from the spring mini), pastels, linen thread, and some of my 'stash' buttons.