Hoping Still...

Crazy week!  Are you ready for another round of Hope You Can Cling To cards?  Because I did manage a few more between all of the other stuff...

(Stamps: Stampendous Fruit of Plenty; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Papers: Stampin'Up! Apricot Appeal and Rich Razzleberry, Paper Studio Black, Prima Almanac dp; Accessories/tools: Stampin'Up! Apothecary Accents die, Fiskars slot punch, seam binding ribbon, Bic, Prismacolor and Spectrum Noir markers, Zig Painty gold pen)

The challenge from Kathleen (Kathleen Curry) was to make a card depicting something edible - "Food for the Body and Soul", and I've been waiting for a good reason to use this beautiful stamp, so there you go!  I know that there is a way to do the die cut so the image can extend beyond, but I had an epic fail there, so I've got multiple layers going on to accomplish the task...

(Stamps: Stampin'Up! True Friend, Boho Backgrounds and Day of Gratitude, Close to My Heart Goodness of Life; Ink: Stampin'Up! Pacific Point; Paper: Stampin'Up! Pacific Point, GP and Recollections white; Accessories/tools: Stampin'Up! Square Lattice embossing folder, Cuttlebug corner flourish die, Spectrum Noir markers)

Kerry (kerbear) asked us to google "mosaic tile" and create a card inspired by one of the resulting images.  I liked this one:

I found some stamps that were similar in style to some of the tiles in the pic and used similar colors, but kept it much simpler, obviously.

(Stamps: Penny Black Hugs, Stampin'Up! Double-Line Doodles; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin'Up! Strawberry Slush; Papers: Stampin'Up! Summer Picnic and My Mind's Eye Quite Contrary dp, Recollections white; Accessories/tools: Micron black pen, Specrum Noir markers, The Cat's Pajamas Framed Up dies, American Crafts ribbon)

Lisa (Shoe Girl) is all about the "HUGS!", so that was easy-peasy!  I fussy-cut the embracing mice and popped them up for a little dimension.

(Stamps: Unity, Studio G sentiment; Ink: Close to My Heart Spring Iris, Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Onyx Black; Paper: Stampin'Up! Pool Party, Recollections white; Accessories/tools: Spectrum Noir markers, Sakura clear glaze pen, makeup sponge)

Lori (LMcAree) reminded us that those going through cancer treatment have light days and dark days, and wanted us to represent that on our cards by using an ombre technique.  I wanted to create a resist for my vase of flowers, then sponge on the ink to create the ombre effect.  Usually I would go over the whole image with a Versamarker and clear embossing powder, but my Versamarker had outlived its usefulness and had to get tossed and I haven't replaced it yet.  I thought I'd experiment with a clear glaze pen to see if it would work, and it mostly did.  There are little gaps here and there, and little halos here and there, but overall it was reasonably successful.  The pinks in the flowers got totally lost somehow, but I'm still relatively satisfied with the card - it's at least close to the picture in my head...

(Stamps: Stampendous Damask Chair; Ink:Versafine Onyx Black, Close to My Heart Blush, Delicata Gold; Paper: Stampin'Up! Blushing Bride, Paper Studio Black, Georgia Pacific white; Accessories/tools: Detail clear embossing powder, blender pen, computer-generated sentiment (French Script font))

Gail (mamaxsix) stressed the importance of relationships in the whole big picture of cancer treatment and life in general.  There are two back stories to my card:  The first is that - back in the day - I owned a shop where I did reupholstery and such, and I had a tendency to collect chairs with the intent to rework them and send them back out into the world.  I seriously never met a chair I didn't like and, at one point, had sixty-five chairs waiting for my attention!  I felt that this affinity was explained by a Hallmark card I found one day, which had the sentiment I've used here.

Back story two: When I was staying with my mother and caring for her while she battled leukemia, I used to be up earlier than everyone else in the family (they were all on Pacific time, and I was used to Eastern, so my inner clock still woke me up three hours earlier than everyone else).  My mother would wake up early, too, and I'd sit beside her and talk until everyone else started to stir.  Those early morning moments are among my fondest memories, and always will be.  And that's the rest of the story!

(Stamps: Unity; Ink: Ranger Peeled Paint, Peacock Feathers and Wild Honey Distress Inks, Versafine Onyx Black; Paper: Manila tag, Close to My Heart Colonial White, Colorbok Summer Splash aqua, Paper Studio black, and My Mind's Eye polka dots; Accessories/tools: Ranger craft mat, Mini Mister, heat gun, Perfect Layers rulers, ribbon, brad)

Final card for today!  Angie (ohmypaper!) reminded us that "Tears Can Be a Good Thing", and asked us to use a water-based technique called "Wrinkle Free Distress" on a tag or cardstock for our card.  I'm generally reluctant (*ahem*) to try techniques, but I put my big girl panties on and gave it a go!  It's one of those techniques that has less-than-perfect results and, rather than get said panties in a twist, I decided that "good enough is good enough" and embraced the imperfections and got on with the card!

And that brings you up to speed on EVERYTHING that I've accomplished for HYCCT thus far!  I'm still eight challenges behind, but I'm thrilled that I've done as many as I have!  This is SO unusual for me!  It's been good to get back into some kind of creative groove, and it's also been good to give myself permission to not worry about things being perfect, or being behind, or any of the other things that would usually get under my skin a bit.  Baby steps, people!  Off to find something edible, and then - perhaps - make another card or two!  Thanks for stopping by!

Comments

[Lu C]

I am really enjoying your cards! Love that you give the 'back story' to the creation process. And kudos for trying the technique...to stretch is always good.