random.on purpose.

I Can Amuse Myself for Hours

I consider myself a relatively intelligent individual, but there are some things I just don't understand.  One of those things are people who actually say - out loud - the words, "I'm bored".  Are you kidding?!  With libraries full of books, blogs and websites to explore, hundreds of channels on television, classes available at the community college, scads of stuff at craft stores and other hobby/sporting goods stores, parks and mountains and other outdoorsy venues to walk/bike/hike/ski, and all of the other numerous activities/adventures out there, seriously - ARE YOU KIDDING?!?!?!

In my little corner of the world, there are never enough hours in the day to do all of the everything I want to do.  I've complained enough about it on this blog that I'm sure it's not new information, but there it is again, in case you missed it the first hundred times... 

When I have free time, I can ALWAYS manage to fill it up quite effectively, and I often post the results here.  Last night and this morning was such a time and here are the results:

 

Yes, indeedy - FIVE cards!  You see, what happened was this:  I was looking at another one of the stamps from the Decorative Dainties set I used on my last project, and I wanted to do the image with different colors, but I know I'm not all that proficient with the coloring-the-image-with-markers-and-huffing method, so I considered chalk popping, and then I decided to try both, and then see what other ways I could pull off the same image, and one thing led to another, and there you are!  I decided to use the exact same image, and the exact same layout to explore how different they could look just by using different methods and colors.

First up was the one I knew I was bad at - coloring with markers:

 

Ink: CTMH and Crayola markers; Paper: SU! Lovely Lilac, Gable Green, Pink Passion, and Tempting Turquoise, DCWV dp

It isn't that I think it's hideous, it's just that it's not "watercolor-y" enough for it to make me happy that way, and it's not crisp enough to make me happy that way - it's sort of in between, which makes me crazy, sort of...  I also am not wild about the color combo, but I was doing it for a color challenge, too, so there's that!  On to the chalk popping:

 

Ink: Versamark, SU! Creamy Caramel; Paper: SU! Cameo Coral and Old Olive, Holiday Thyme dp; Other: various chalks

A much softer, more vintage look and feel, and more even distribution of color - much happier with this one.  Another color challenge here, too.  Next up was embossing:

 

Ink: Versamark; Paper: DCWV; Other: Gold tinsel embossing powder

I used my gold tinsel embossing powder, and gold cardstock, so it was kind of hard to get a decent pic, but you get the idea, right?  I like this one a lot - very classy, I'm thinkin'!  Next was emboss resist:

 

Ink: Versamark, CTMH Spring Iris; Paper: CTMH Spring Iris; Other: Detail clear embossing powder, Cuttlebug and Birds and Swirls embossing folder, sandpaper

I just used Versamark ink and detail clear embossing powder on white cardstock, then sponged ink over it.  I used the Birds and Swirls embossing folder on some cardstock the same color as the ink and sanded it to reveal the white core.  This looks a lot like a cameo I had when I was a young girl, and I really like the softness and understated-ness of it.  I figured I might as well just do a straight-ahead, plain old ink version, too:

 

Ink: SU! Purely Pomegranate; Paper: SU! Purely Pomegranate, Berry Bliss dp

and I actually really love it this way!  So, there are the results of my little experiment.  Amazing how different they look just by swapping out ways to ink up, isn't it?  I hope this inspires you to look again at all the different ways you can use the "same old thing" so it's new again (that's why I included the Thrifty Thursday tag - no money spent here at all!)  I have to go work on taxes now, since I finally got my 1099s yesterday...some fun, huh?  See you another day, and thanks for stopping by!

I Should've Known Better

 The inspiration challenge for Splitcoast Stampers on Saturday was a great website for stationery, etc., called elum.  I chose to be inspired by this collection, specifically this pattern:

   

I also really liked the pink paired with it in the collection, so this is what I came up with:

 

I have a ridiculous number of Close To My Heart stamp sets (172, to be exact), and love them, but I forget how much until I haul one out and use it.  I feel I've been neglectful of them of late, so I'm trying to "show them a little love" these days.  I wanted to show you how I made my own "designer paper" with the Decorative Dainties set.  Here's a pic of the set:

 

Really pretty, huh?  Anyway, I wanted to figure out spacing and combinations of stamps and all of that, so I got some plain old copier paper to practice on.  First I stamped the largest motif, like this:

 

Then this one upside down below it:

  

To get this:

 

Then added a flower to each side to fill in some of the space:

 

And here it is all finished:

 

Then I played around with adding other motifs around it until I got the spacing I wanted.  Here are pics of that process:

 

 

Obviously, it took a lot of playing (and ink and time), but I'm pretty pleased with the result, I must say!  Here's another look at the card:

 

I didn't want to cover up the pattern I'd created, so I originally only had the "Love" sentiment in the corner, but it looked way too bare, so I added the bow and hearts.  Here's a closeup:

 

Those little hearts are epoxy stickers I forgot I even had!  I stuck them to some white cardstock (they're clear and I didn't want the background or pop dots to show through), trimmed around them and pop-dotted them onto the card.  The pink cord they're "attached" with is actually thin elastic cord I've had for a couple of decades, at least (I think I bought it to make bracelets or something...)

And that's the rest of the story!  Whew!  Okay, I'm signing off for tonight - have a great evening!

Stamps:  Close To My Heart Decorative Dainties and Soul Mated Word Puzzle; Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, CTMH Pink Carnation; Paper: Georgia Pacific white, The Paper Company Black, CTMH Pink Carnation; Accessories: Fiskars corner punch, Creative Imaginations epoxy heart stickers, Michael's ribbon, Rainbow Elastic Co. pink elastic cord

Valentine Treat Tote

Another What's Up Wednesday!  Hope your week is going well so far...  I subscribe to several (okay - more than several...) blogs, and I got this idea in an update from Dawn Easton.  She got the idea from Andrea Walford's blog , and here is a link to her post (there's even a video tutorial!)  Here's my take on this project: