Christmas Card in January

This really should be an oldie moldie Monday card.  The paper for the card is from a 12 x 12 pad of Paper Studio paper.  For this card I let the paper do the talking.  The trees on the paper were quite lovely so just cut each piece to emphasize the location of the trees.  The cut was from the center of the 12 x 12 sheet.  I got two cards from this cut.  I just had to alter the placement of the sentiment.

I believe the sentiment is from Hero Arts.  It is embossed in brown Zing embossing powder.  I finished the insides also.  This is a goal for this year to finish the inside of all my cards as I make them.  I think I will go pull out the other sheet of tree paper, cut out the center section and make two more cards.  I imagine the remainder of these sheets will be used as green mats.

I think I have about six Christmas cards made for 2016.  I hope I maintain this rate.  When I am home, I am trying to do the different Christmas challenges.  This helps and you get a variety of cards.
Thanks for stopping by.  Have a wonderful day.

Oldie Moldie Monday - Valentine Card

I wanted to share a valentine card I made.  It is a prototype for a friend to see if she wants to make it for her church shut ins.  I hope there are not too many layers on it for her.

The stamps are $1 stamps I bought somewhere.  I am sure I always get my money worth out of most of these $1 stamps.  I have had the stamps for awhile also.

The paper is in my Valentine folder of paper.  There is not lots of paper in that folder.  I guess I do not make too many Valentine cards.  I will make two of these.  One will go to my Mom and the other to my Aunt.  Both are in nursing homes and I know the little pig will make them smile.

Remember to show some love to your old supplies.

Another Valentine Card From Scraps

This is a continuation of a post from Wednesday of this week.  I found these scraps on my design table in their home 6 x 6 pad.  The "hello there" sentiment was also in there plus the piece of paper cut at that angle.

I must confess the red strip was not a scrap.

I really should do this more often.  It makes you put on your creative hat to just use your scraps.

Valentine Cards from Scraps

I am in a group on Facebook of fellow card makers.  Many of us go back lots of years and then I met many of them through Operation Write Home.  We have this group so we can continue to share our creativity, challenges and lives.

A recent challenge was to use our scraps.  I was cleaning off my table and I found a 6 x 6 pad of Valentine paper and whenever I use a pad, I always stick the pieces back in the pad so they are all together.  

Here is one of the cards I made.  

The sentiment is from a stamp set I won from Simon Says Stamp.  The black mat and white embossed panel were also on one of my tables.  

Gather your scraps together and make some cards.  I will share the other card on Friday.

Journal Post - Word for the Year

In November, I shared how I was recycling a cookbook I found at Goodwill and I planned to make it into a journal.  You can find  that initial post at this link.

For 2016 I have chosen Explore as my word of the year.  I retired in July 2015 and now I have the time to explore.  There are so many things that I wish to explore.  I wish to explore the world of art and learn new things, try new things and develop my talents.  I want to explore the world and travel.  I already have two trips planned for this winter to escape the winter cold.  I am contemplating a trip west in August to visit family, friends and do some art stuff.  We will see.  I also need to explore my house - I need to see what hidden artifacts I have in this house and clean/clear them out.  I do get distracted when I do this.

Here is my double journal pages in my recycled book.  Please do not be critical, I have done very little journaling.  I am having fun and exploring all kinds of new things.

Here are close ups of some of the elements on the pages.

Do you see one of the birds I have been drawing was laying on the table and he decided since he was the same color he should be on the page.  All the "explore" words were stickers that were gifted to me by a friend as they were moving.

The orange flower is embossing paste that has been colored.  I tried to outline the petals with a black pen.

The black circles were done with the end of a toilet paper roll dipped in black ink.

See those little white things that look like Pac Man - those are the inside of the letter stickers.

Here are some more pictures of how the page evolved.

Thanks for joining us on our Monday journal entries.  Don't be afraid to try something new - EXPLORE whatever interests you.

Christmas Cards in January

Yes it is cold enough for Christmas so I am making some Christmas cards.  I am going to be gone for a couple weeks so want to get some made for the weeks I am not home.  It is warmer where I am going but not sandal weather.

The current challenge at Jingle Belles is Oh Christmas Tree.   I bought this beautiful tree stamp from Impression Obsession.  It is gorgeous embossed also.  The paper is a 12 x 12 pad from Paper Studio.  (Iguess I should have saved this card for Oldie Moldie Monday.)  Maybe I can come up with another one.  The card base was cut with my Silhouette.

The inside was finished and the envelope was decorated.  I need to go adjust the sentiment - it is a hair low on one side - I think - of course - it could be my photography skills.

Stay warm and create something.

Canvas Corp and Words and Paintery Team Up

For the January Challenge at Words and Paintery, they are teaming up with Canvas Corp Brands.

Here is the challenge.

I decided to make a 6 x 6 canvas.  I was working on another project and had used a cardboard heart and decided to use one on this project.  I dug out my box of crayons, found somewhat similar colors, shaved them and placed them on my cardboard heart and melted them.  I think this is the first time I have every melted crayons for a project.  I covered my canvas board with a piece of paper from the 6 x 6 7 gypsies pad Epicurean.  I used a stencil and added texture paste to the top of the paper.  When you see the final project, do you see any of this texture paste?

This is where I started, and you know with any mixed media project, you never know what creative path you will take.  There were two sheets of red and blue patterned paper in the same 6 x 6 pad and you can see a little of them on the final project on the right side.  This is where my path started to go a little crazy.  At one point, I walked away from the project because I was not happy with what I had done.  After awhile, a few things came together in my head and I found some pags on a 12 x 12 sheet from 7 gypsies Ordre Du Jour Collection:  Seize the Day.  I hand wrote the quote on a tag which I fussy cut out of the paper.  I trimmed this tag and you can see the other part tucked in an opposite corner.  Another tag was cut apart and tucked here and there along with some pieces of the patterned paper.  One little drawer image was tucked in the wrapped cord on the crayon heart.  The crayon heart was wrapped with Canvas Corp Cord.  I tore a narrow strip off of a large piece of Canvas Corp Canvas for my bow.  A small cord bow was added to the top of the canvas bow.

Are you curious to see what came out of this winding path of creativity that I took to make this mixed media piece?  I will not keep you in suspense any longer.  Here it is.

Here are some close ups of some of the elements on the canvas.

The wrapped heart with the picture of the drawer tucked in the cord.

The verse tag along with some of the other tags that are tucked in this corner.

Here is the close up of the bow and the papers that are tucked in that corner.

Thanks to  Words and Paintery and Canvas Corp for stretching my creative wings.