Happy New Year

What better way to bring in the New Year than with a challenge!!!

Opus Gluei is having their #121 challenge: Out with the old and in with the new.

My project of choice is a January 2012 calendar page made with old materials.

I made the backgrounds on the papers. I used two sheets out of my Canson Mixed Media 9x12 art journal. On the background itself, I applied some pink and blue acrylic paint. Then used a sponge to dot with some lighter pink paint mixed with a shimmery agent. I then used some glimmer mists in pink and grey. And a bit of another brand (whose name escapes me at the moment) of blue misty paint and just spritzed a little on top of that.

The paper I used for the days is some of the same grey, blue and pink just spritzed on the plain white sheet. I used another sheet that I ripped out for a bit of a stencil.

I waited for it all to dry. And waited. And waited. I am not the most patient of people. I know, I know, I could have pulled out my heat gun, but I didn't.

"JANUARY" are some stickers that I have had for I don't know how long. They are MY LITTLE SHOE BOX in Ocean color. I used a matte gel medium to adhere the 1.25 inch square-ish blocks to the background. Then used paint pens to highlight the boxes and draw the snowflakes. I decided to hand number the days and the year.

I will probably not cut the top off. I kinda like it.

This was inspired by the wonderful Calendars you can see HERE. Mine is not nearly as decorated as some of them. I LOVE the ones that have all the pictures. BUT, I had to face the fact that this is what I have time for right now. I have WAY too many other projects that I want to spend time on. SO, this is my JANUARY. There may or may not be a FEBRUARY. We'll just have to wait and see....

Opus Gluei Beats the Heat

Poobah Deena over at OPUS GLUEI is challenging us to BEAT THE HEAT this time around.

I love the Summer months. I love it when it's hot. It's a wonderful time to wear loose, flouncy clothes. It's also a great excuse to nap in the middle of the day. It's too hot to DO anything, so take a nap.

What's a nap without a great spot for your head? So, I made a cotton pillowcase. I picked a petite printed strawberry fabric with a crisp white background. And then I crocheted a nice bright red trim on it.

Can't you just picture yourself in a nice little slumber???

I got my inspiration from flickr. I just love flickr. I am a very visual person. And you can find pictures of whatever your little heart desires on flickr. Heck, you can even find pictures of things you didn't know you couldn't live without on flickr. Anyway, THIS is the picture that sent me into this pillowcase frenzie. Be warned, it's a gorgeous picture.

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Tips to make things easier for you:

Don't try to wing it on your own like I did. Take tips from those who have done this before. Use a double thread to bake the base. I should have looked at a tutorial or two before I just made this one. BUT you know how delusional icanmakethatitis can make oneself.


Mark the fabric for your needle. I didn't at first. And then had to pull out some of the yarn, and mark the hole locations, then went on with the blanket stitch.


Go ahead and count your stitches. I didn't and just got lucky. I would have liked for the scalloped edge to lay flat, but I was in a hurry and didn't think about crossing a blanket stitch to get that result.


All in all, I WILL make another one. Or two. It was relatively quick and easy.

Make one for everyone in your family. Otherwise nasty fights will break out. Just trying to help out here.

Up for a good scrap....

....of paper or stickers or cardstock. Or whatever is lying around in your Studio. The challenge at OPUS GLUEI this week is to use up some of those goodies you have lying around. (Or in a drawer or cupboard.)

Mine are pretty simple. But I like them. And that's what counts. Right?!?!?!

I'm also working on 3 bookmarks that I am swapping on Swap-bot. I'll show them later. Maybe. I don't know why I don't always remember to take pics of the swaps I send out. Silly, I know. But I seem to forget to take pics. Sometimes I get lucky and remember before I mail them out. I have been known to rip open an envelope to take pics. Ha ha ha.

Far Out - OG #62

Believe it or not, my card took me all friggin day, last Saturday, to make. Don't be alarmed, I am not posting an imposter. My card, the card that took forever, is posted a bit further down. I know it isn't overly decorative. It took me so long Not because it is so complicated, but rather because my 10 year old came in to ask a question when I had first started to make the card, and then she wanted to make a card using the same set of stamps. She wanted me to "help" her. (translation - Watch me.) So I watched as she made this card for her father.

She used every stamp, save two, in this set. (She didn't use the "FAR OUT" or the lone star.) Every image was a different color too. So I had about 8 ink pads open, spread out on my tiny little work area. So even if I had wanted to work while she did, I couldn't have.

Anyway, back to the card I made in record time. LOL.

I can't remember what the background paper is, but it was part of a Christmas stack of photo mats. The planet is from a Dollar Store set of paper. The stars are dew drops. I stamped the spaceship onto white cardstock. Then used some rub-on glitter paper for the stars. And rub-on foils for the ship. The monkey is colored with copics. And I Diamond Glazed the cockpit. Then fussy cut and popped it up. The letters are Making Memories.

I got the stamps as part of a major score from Michael's the other day.

I love this little monkey. He gets to do so many different things.

I got all this stuff for $35. Pretty cool, huh?

I SCREAM for ICE CREAM

This little card of mine is made for no one in particular. It was made for a couple of challenges.

OPUS GLUEI - ICE CREAM

CRAFTY HO's - THINK BRIGHT

Thanks for visiting. Hope this card didn't blind you for too long. LOL.

Life's a Beach...

The OPUS GLUEI Challenge this week is the BEACH. I made a frame for one of the many beach photos we have. We live about 15 minutes from the Atlantic Ocean. Less if the lights are all green. When the weather gets warm enough, I try to take the girls to the beach about every other weekend. Life is too hectic to really try for anything more.

I painted a plain wooden frame an off-white, then sponged on some blue for the water, and some lighter blue for the sky. Sponged on some clouds and then applied some sandy/glue stuff that I got at a scrapbook convention a while ago.

I let it all dry. And then I simply used foam tape to adhere some OLD dollar store stickers. They were so old that the adhesive that originally came on them didn't stick anymore, thus the foam tape. I punched a crab out using one of the really cool flat EKSuccess punches. I love those things.


You can see some of the dimension in these two shots.

Hope you're having a beachy time.

I's love for you to head over to OPUS GLUEI and splash around with us.

I Can See Clearly Now - Opus Gluei Challenge # 57

Opus Gluei wants you to use clear sheets this week.

Here are a few of the things I came up with:

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This is my first project. I didn't post it on the Opus Gluei site, because I haven't figured out what I want to do with the closure. And I didn't want to post an incomplete project.

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I don't know what possessed me to make a Halloween Candy Box.

But this is what came to my mind.

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I knew that the mice would look cool.

And forgive me for saying, THEY DO!

It's a Martha Stewart border punch.

So is the dripping goo at the top.

Unfortunately, I can't remember who makes the skull and cross bones stamp.

Or the cool spider paper on the top. Sorry.

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And now to switch gears to something SOOOO not creepy...

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I knew I would make a card. I need a girlie, blingy card, so here it is.
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And I knew I wanted to make something with one of my Spanish Stampin' Up sets.

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Then this little owl stamp just spoke to me.

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CARD: I used a premade journal spot, turned it on edge. Then I put a border of adhesive (I love my ATG gun). And scrunched ribbon along the edge AND stuck it to the center of the card front. I used a Cocoa Daisy stamp, fussy cut around it and glittered the girl. YUM. I applied the bling sticker before I popped up the Cameo. Then stuck on the pretty pink flowers. The inside is corner stamped for a bit more interest.

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CANDY BOX: I scanned the tutorial on SplitCoastStampers. I remembered that the bottom and top were made using 3 inch squares and that the column was scored using 1 & 15/16 inch increments. From there I just winged it. (I'll go back to see if there is something I could have done easier. Bit too late for this one, but I WILL be making these again.) I taped everything together and then decided that I wanted th ribbon to be on the inside of the bottom, but on the outside of the sides, so I pushed the sided of the box away from the adhesive and shoved the ribbon through the bottom. It wasn't so elegant, but very successful. I like this little box. Have I mentioned that???

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INCHIE: Was an afterthought. Honestly. For some reason (???) I had this little stamp just hanging out. Then I had this little scrap of acetate and put the two together. I stamped with Staz-On, then colored, and finally punched the inchie out. He's a cutie pie.

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Thanks for looking.

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I would love to see what you can come up with using Clear sheets.

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Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall, all you have to do is draw...

This week's challenge at Opus Gluei is to be inspired by the seasons. Luckily, I have a set of stamps from Stampin' Up entitled "A Flower for all Seasons", or something like that. But that isn't my inspiration for this challenge, but rather a tool to use my inspiration.

Here are the cards I made. One for each season.

Can you guess the inspiration?

(There is a hint in the pictures of each card.)

Winter

SPRING




SUMMER

FALL

Have you guessed it yet?

It's the markers.

I have duplicates of these markers. So I want to give the extras away.

Go over to Opus Gluei to see the details about the drawing.

See you over there...

Healthy, Wealthy and Wise - Opus Gluei # 55

The challenge at OPUS GLUEI this week is

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HEALTHY, WEALTHY and WISE.

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You know how the quote goes:

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Early to bed, early to rise,

Makes a man

HEALTHY, WEALTHY and WISE.

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Well, I DON'T get to bed early.

I DO rise early on work days.

And I am NOT a man.

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So I decided to take each word by itself. Mostly because I couldn't think of ONE project to encompass all three words. Yup, some weeks are like that for me. And this was one of them. Anyway, here they are:

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HEALTHY for me includes mental health.

And that involves laughing and playing:

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(Cardstock and ribbon is Stampin' Up, paper is Imaginisque, Stamp is HERO ART courtesy of Jingle - Thanks Jingle, Border punch is Fiskars)

I used ZIG markers on the stamp.

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WEALTHY is not necessarily measured in money for me.

I feel so blessed to have a wealth of information, real and imaginary, because of reading. And my love of reading came from my mother. So I made her a bookmark:

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(Cardstock is white and unknown, Flores Suaves and Well Scripted stamp sets - Stampin' Up, Ribbon -Making memories)

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WISE came to me only because I have this stamp set. I honestly didn't have anything in mind. I was looking through my stamp sets, say this and well, here it is:

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(White cardstock is unknown, papers are printed from Gina's "Of the Water" digi set, stamps are Stampin' Up, ribbon is from my stash, Zig Markers on the bird/bamboo stamp, Memento Ink in Tuxedo Black on the quote)
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There might just be a secret giveaway this week to one (or more) of the Opus Gluei players.
I can't say for sure, cuz that wouldn't be fun.

But, (wink, wink) you might want to play...

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Just sayin'.

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MOJO Friday (well it started yesterday...)

I think my MOJO is back.

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It took a little vacation,

but I think it came home last night

when I started this VERY late B-day card.

HAPPY FRIDAY !!!

Heart the ART & Opus Gluei

My oldest daughter has been rather, er, ah, uhm, trying as of late.

Don't mis-understand. She isn't knocking over banks, or knocked up. She is just impossible to please.

She's just 15 going on bitchy.
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Don't worry sweetie, mommy won't let you fall into the volvano for real, it's just make believe.

Anyway, I made this journal page to release some of my frustration. It will be printed out and placed in my Heart the ART journal for week 12. The pages I am making are not going in the book in any particular order, so I am really not worried about the week number. I didn't really stick to the topic. I'm not Irish so an Irish blessing just didn't feel right. But this quote, hit the spot. I also made this page for Opus Gluei's 53rd Challenge - Can I quote you on that?

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{<{([*])}>}

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I also made a bookmark for the Opus Gluei challenge. I read a lot, and usually my bookmarks are receipts or napkins (not used). I thought it was time for a proper bookmark. Especially when I saw the wonderful free kit that Gina is offering on her blog. Thank you Gina. She offered it in honor of InterNational Scrapbooking Day, but I think she'll be okay with a bookmark today.

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I printed out the front and the back as one 4x6 photo, scored down the middle and folded it in half. Then glued it together, inked the edges, punched a hole and added a scrap of ribbon I had from a previous project.

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I am offering the 4x6 jpeg if you'd like to print out a bookmark for yourself.

Just go to Opus Gluei and pick it up. And join in on this weeks challenge.

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You'll have fun. And you can QUOTE me on that.

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Hope you like these projects, and I hope you don't hate me for wanting to mentally dunk my teenager into hot lava.

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It's just that sometimes......

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Opus Groupei Buttons are now available...

You can post this button on your blog if you have ever joined one of our challenges.

That's all you have to do.

It's not a well known fact, but there might be random sacks of candy sent to Groupei's on occasion.

The Poobah's just might get a wild hair and send out surprises to someone if they spot the button on the sidebar while blurfing.

Just sayin'...

52nd Challenge on OPUS GLUEI

This is the 52nd Challenge posted on OPUS GLUEI. I can't believe that we have managed to stick around so long.

Technically, Rosemary and I have been posting to OPUS GLUEI for over a year, but we took a couple of breaks due to really busy times for both of us. Our reasoning for starting OPUS GLUEI was that most of the challenge blogs we saw were taking themselves WAY TOO SERIOUS. They wanted new projects. They wanted only one type of project. Granted, that requires creativity and thought. We wanted a challenge blog that let people run with their ideas. AND we have NO DEADLINES. I don't always get inspired by a topic right away. Sometimes inspiration will hit me days, weeks or even months after the idea is introduced. So we did away with deadlines. We do a re-cap every week, and include projects submitted for ANY of the OPUS GLUEI challenges, past or present.
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We really have NO restrictions. No real guidelines either. Take our topic and run with it. We don't demand any certain medium, but rather embrace them ALL.
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This weeks 52nd challenge is to MAKE SOMETHING.
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Anything. Just make something. Doodle, cook, garden. As I have here. But this is no ordinary garden.
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This garden is the brain-child of my youngest child. Melissa decided that she wanted to plant a garden. Since we don't really have a spot in our yard (it's big enough, but neither DH or I want to deal with a garden) we offered up a window sill garden, of sorts. It's really located on the ledge between the kitchen and family room. On the pass through. Her idea was formed weeks ago. Deal was a garden for a clean room. She finally cleaned her room. LOL.

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Amongst the plants to be grown are: Basil, Oregano, Chives, Grass, Baby's Breath, Sunflowers, Marigolds and a Pine Tree. She picked all the plants. And what garden is complete without a Garden Gnome or two.

Opus Gluei Challenge # 51

The challenge over at Opus Gluei this week is to:

1- make a set of whatever it is you are making

2- use NO patterned paper.

I made two sets of cards, based on a card I made at a Stampin' Up club meeting recently.
Each card uses 4 stamps and 2 inks.

I also made envelopes to match.

I stamped either the branch or the rose onto either a white or kraft envelope.

(Sorry, no pictures of those. They just seemed really boring.)

Just a simple little note card.
But pretty I think.

(Stamps: Owl-Unity: Rose-Unknown: Letters, Butterfly, dots, branch-Stampin' Up)
(Ink: White cards:Stampin' Up-Old Olive and Rich Razzleberry)
(Ink: Kraft cards: Stampin' Up Old Olive and Dusty Durango)

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Next up is this set of ATC's. I really wanted to see the difference, up close and personal using watercolor crayons, colored pencils and Copic markers.

I am in LOVE with the watercolor crayon ATC. The colors are more vibrant. And you all know I love the bright and cheery colors. I used a Tyggereye Arts stamp. One of my all time favorite stamps. Somehow in the scanning process these little guys were flipped around. And being the observant sleuth that I am, I just now noticed. Hmmmm.

Hope you can play with us over at Opus Gluei this week.

Opus Gluei Challenge # 50 - For the Birds

Bird is the word.

At Opus Gluei that is.

Create something inspired by birds. I chose to make a digital image. A whimsical one at that.

I am paying tribute to all the wonderful ladies that have visited Opus Gluei and played with us over the past, almost, year.

I used several images that are available on the internet. I can't remember them all, but Pringlehillstudio, the Vintage Moth, Dover Publications, Crowabout and several others come to mind. I am not sure which images came from where. :-(. That's just how much of a bird brain I really am. I used a couple of pieces that were made by our Opus Groupies too. They are the gifts being offered in the above image. (If you really need to know where something came from, let me know and I'll do my darnedest to figure it out for you.)

Opus Gluei # 49 and my first hand-carved stamp

This week Opus Gluei is challenging us to SPARKLE.

I made a journal page with MY version of:

There is nothing to fear but fear itself.

My simpler version is shorter.

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No special reason, I just like it shorter.

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Any way, I used this striped patterned paper:

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I traced the page template from my HEART the ART journal and stamped my own peacock feather stamp, with Staz On brown, in an arc. I was hoping to mimic a peacock's plummage. Then I had to stamp a white edge along the scalloped border because the word FEARLESS wasn't visible. Stamped FEARLESS. I stamped a grid onto a complimentary paper. Then the quote. All in black. I stamped an old Stampin Up background stamp of little dots on the wispy part of the feathers. Then I wrote the whimpy journalling. It looked pretty plain. SO I started to glitter. At first it was just the inside of the bigger part of the feathers. Then I decided to outline in green. Then it needed more, so I glittered more of the feather lines. Now you would think that was enough. NOPE. I colored in some of the dots with metallic Gelly Roll pens.

I am biased, but I think it's wonderful.

AND it SPARKLES. A LOT.

Now, on to the peacock feather stamp. It's all Gina's fault. If it weren't for her tutorial, I would never have tried to carve my own stamp. I am NOT a talented drawer, (nor did I do well in English) but I decided to try anyway. I'll post more Tuesday about my very own stamp and how I got to it. And the others that I now have.

Have a wonderful Sunday and

HAPPY EASTER

Opus Gluei Challenge # 48 - Get all Felt Up

Everyone loves getting felt, don't they.

A hug brings comfort,

a pat on the back brings affirmation of a job well done,

... wait a second, that's not the felt Opus Gluei wants.

They want projects made of felt.

So, I decided to make a felt needle case.

(or four!)

I cut the butterflies with a die using my Sizzix.

This one is my favorite.

Sewed the ribbon with a zig-zag stitch.

This is a bit smaller than the others.
That's why there is only one butterfly.

I like the way the stitching on the butterflies look like their bodies.


Here are the inside pages. I only stamped this one.
Nope, I couldn't find a needle to model. Figures, doesn't it.

I love the brown, orange, blue color combo.

I stamped the smaller butterflies with brown Staz-On Ink using a Damask stamp.

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Now for the good part, I am giving two of these away.

Not my favorite, sorry, I have to keep that one.

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But, join Opus Gluei this week, post your entry there and you are entered once.

Come back here, let me know you entered the challenge this week and you are entered twice.

Oh, and if you are a follower on this blog, I'll give you another 2 entries.

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I'll drawn two names next Sunday.

Good Luck.

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NOW go get all FELT UP.

Opus Gluei Challenge # 47

This week we are to take an ordinary piece of paper that is used by us during the week and transform it into something else. To use it in our project. I picked a spreadsheet that was destined for the recycle bin. Since I work with spreadsheets, this was the best choice for me. Plus I could picture it distressed and faded. (and that gave me a bit of a smile)

Here are the steps I took, without pictures, because at the time I didn't think about taking pictures. I was too "into" the process.

1. I inked the whole thing with a distressing ink.
2. I crumpled the paper and flattened it back out.
3. I inked it again. This intensified the ink on the creases.
4. I took it outside and misted it with a copper mist spray.
5. I punched out a bunch of butterflies, placed them randomly on the page and sprayed with a green mist spray. I wanted to mimic the aged look of copper. You can't really see the butterfly cutouts. It didn't really work like I had pictured, but it added some interest anyway.
6. I cut on the diagonal into 4 ATC's.
7. I stamped two edges of each ATC with a scroll-y border stamp.
8. I colored with some metallic-y pens.
9. I searched for butterfly quotes and picked four that I liked and weren't too long and printed them out.
10. I found some butterflies (metallic and grey) that were already on another project, carefully peeled them off of that project, carefully removed the foam tape because it was no longer sticky.
11. I cut little strips of foam adhesive to fit onto the little butterflies.
12. I cut the quotes into strips.
13 I played with the positioning until I liked it and glued down the strips and stuck down the butterflies.

Here are all four of them. Let me know if you are interested in trading.

2 of them are obligated, but 2 remain ready for flight.

Thanks for looking. Now go to Opus Gluei and join their challenge this week.

(Shameless plug for my and Rosemary's challenge blog, isnt' it?)

Heart the ART, Something from Nothing and Opus Gluei

I made this this morning. It satisfies me, but it also satisfies the requirements for a few other things.

1. I am really enjoying the Heart the ART prompts at Gina's Tyggereye Arts blog. Although I am not current with the weeks, and have now gone out of order, I am enjoying them tremendously. She is really talented and is making me stop and think. I decided to make a page for this year long adventure. I didn't know the prompt I would use. I thought I would make the page and it would come to me...

2. I needed a project for Opus Gluei. This week's challenge is to use a picture provided by them, for inspitation. I thought I would use the flowers, colors and the grey background as a starting point.

3. I am using my stash as directed in Shimelle's Something from Nothing class. I pulled out several patterned papers (flowers) from my scraps drawer.

How it came about: I traced the page onto grey cardstock and cut it out. Then I punched out flowers from the scraps of papers. I used the negative as a stencil and used white ink to print flowers onto the grey paper. Then I stamped an alphabet stamp allover the background. It's very faint, but it's there. Then I distressed and added the word paper, the flowers and the journaling and title blocks. I added the bling and the owl and then wrote.



Like most of the images I post, you can click on it for a better view.

Jingle happy, Mojo happy and Opus happy

This is what really cool people send to other people on their own birthdays:

Yup, you read that right. Jingle sent this to me because it was HER birthday.

The stamps are really great, but check out that FABULOUSO pin.

She made it. And sent it to me. I LOVE IT.

SHE ROCKS!!!

Thank you JINGLE.

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I made these two cards for two challenges.

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OPUS GLUEI "It IS easy being GREEN"

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and MOJO MONDAY 128 Contest.

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Not that I am interested in a contest. I am just NOT competitive. But I really do like their sketches..

Both cards are the same sketch. With, oh so minor differences.
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(Papers, heart stamp and ink are Stampin' Up. Sentiment is Studio G.)


(Papers, shamrock stamp and ink are Stampin' Up. Sentiment is Studio G.)