Sunday, May 31, 2015

My Other Creations: The Queen's Musings Notebook

The theme this week over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog is, "Let's Be Royal."  What a fantastic theme!  I decided to make a notebook which would be the perfect place for a queen to jot down her royal thoughts and ideas:


Isn't that girl stamp fabulous?  It's called, "Mona Lisa" by Penny Black, so apparently she's not royalty, but she looked like she could be to me!  I started by making the background for her using stamps, color sprays, ink smears and stencils.  When my background got too dark, I added some Gesso on top.  Next I stamped the girl onto light-colored paper and fussy-cut her out.  I added some pink chalk to her cheeks and colored her with ink and Spectrum Noir markers.  I drew and cut out a crown for her and added lots of die-cut shapes using the Moroccan Tile die from My Favorite Things and the Sizzix Mixed Media die set.  I used alphabet stamps for the sentiment.


I tried something new with this notebook and that was to create the pages out of 6x6 patterned paper that I hadn't used in other projects yet (you know when you buy the 6x6 paper pads and don't use every page?).  Since they were already a uniform size, they made quick and easy pages until I decided to round the corners of all of them.  My hand almost cramped up from all of that round-edge corner punching, but I liked how it turned out. 

Here's a peek at the inside:


This really was an inspiring theme and I was able to make good use of these products, which you can find at Simon Says Stamp:



Can't wait to see what you come up with for this week's challenge!  Upload your creations to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $50 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp Store!
http://www.simonsaysstamp.com/

Sunday, May 24, 2015

My Cards and Tags: Thanks for Bailing Me Out

There are a few truths that I've learned in my life and one is that there are a lot of people to be grateful for.  No matter what happens or how I react to it, I have family and friends that will help me through and who love me unconditionally.  What a rare and wonderful gift!  As I thought about them, and thought about other people I interact with everyday, I realized just how many opportunities there are to say, "Thank You," which is this week's theme at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog.  I decided to make a card for someone who seems to save my metaphorical boat from sinking at least once or twice a week!


The image comes from Tim Holtz's Found Relatives set and I made my guy's green "boat" out of a soup bowl that I cut out of an old cook book.  The background is paper from Tim Holtz's "French Industrial" pack and I added splotches of Salty Ocean Distress Ink and stain.  I stamped the "Thank" from My Favorite Things Photo Booth set and the "You" was die cut from Avery Elle's "Simply Said You" die.  The letters are Label Letters and I stamped, "Party Hat Ready" using Hero Art's "Playful" alphabet stamps.  The colorful party hat is cut from Simple Stories' DIY Boutique collection and is topped with an enamel dot from My Mind's Eye.  I also used Tim Holtz's Stripes stencil for the paper behind the sentiment and inside the green boat.

This project inspired me to try to say thanks more often.  There are so many people who deserve to know they've made a difference and I hope I can express that more consistently.

Here are the supplies I used for my card, which you can find at Simon Says Stamp:


So how will you say Thank You this week?  Can't wait to see what you come up with.  Upload your creation to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog so that we can be inspired and so that you'll have a chance to win that fabulous $50 gift voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store!
http://www.simonsaysstamp.com/

Sunday, May 17, 2015

My Other Creations: Flashcard Yarn Holders

When I learned that this week's theme at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog was "X, Y, Z," my mind went down a regrettable math path!  I suddenly remembered all those tear-filled "solve for X sessions" that were had around the kitchen table with me bawling my eyes out over the futility of it all while my truly wonderful father would try to make math problems seem like fun little mysteries to solve.  The man is a math genius (ditto with my bro).  Bless all the enthusiastic mathletes out there, but "fun" and "math" will never "equate" in my brain!  And so it was revenge time.  I found some vintage subtraction flashcards and chopped them up into something useful: yarn holders!


I started with these vintage subtraction flashcards (ironically, my math problems started early with never mastering subtraction), which I cut into file-folder shapes with the Penny Black "Tags &Toggles" die set.


You know I love my Dina Wakley paints, so I grabbed those and finger-painted some color onto my cards (highly therapeutic, by the way). 


I picked up my sponges and my Distress Inks and rubbed some on.  And yes, math was starting to be tolerable...barely.


I used Ranger Jet Black Archival ink and stamped on a bunch of random stamp images.


Last but not least, I whipped out the watercolors and filled in the rest of the card with colors.


Here's how they all turned out before I wrapped yarn around them:


I wrapped some yarn around these and secured it with some decorative paper clips that I've had in my stash forever.  Now I have a nice place for some of my favorite yarn and I finally feel like I've gotten revenge on math!

Here are the supplies I used that you can get at Simon Says Stamp:



"XYZ" is an interesting theme and I can't wait to see what you come up with!  Upload your creations to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and you'll be entered to win a $50 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store!
http://www.simonsaysstamp.com/