Whirlpool of Imagination

Iris Scottie

I need to organize my iris folding patterns - that will be next on my list. As I went through them I decided to make up a card. This scottie pattern is courtesy of Sarah from Circle of Crafters. I wanted to add some plaid ribbon but I didn't have any so I used my Score-It just to add that little bit of definition in the score lines around the design. There is a new tile technique over at Technique Junkies that has got me pulling out my Score-It which gave me the idea for a quick border on this one. The cuts are not super tricky but my x-acto is starting to dull so I had to go back over quite a few sections. A sharp blade is one of the number one musts for iris folding. I used poly satin ribbon for the design itself.

I looked over the tile I embossed with the SU Irridescent Ice. Just some notes: 1) it looks better if the image colored below pt is lighter rather than darker - I have both shades in the piece and the dark section doesn't look so good, 2) this actually dries to a rough texture - you can feel the glitter rather than a smooth embossing. I haven't decided if I like this effect or not. Still looks cool but a big note to self to cover my scanner with a transparancy before scanning anything made with this. I may give this a go again tomorrow. Stay tuned.

This and That

My Paper Creations newsletter went out today, finally.

I finally got a chance to try some of Stampin Up's Irridescent Ice today. Its kind of cool - a cross between Suze W.'s UTEE and glitter. I didn't quite get the effect I wanted in my mind but it was neat nonetheless. I'll have to play some more.

Oppressively hot weather + 2 small children = a frustrated me who may not get much done this week. I don't like having my kids outside in this type of weather so I'll be trying to keep them and me happy inside for much of the week. My stamping will either take a back burner or I'll be in there trying to keep my sanity. Only time will tell which one it is.

Birthday Cupcake

Meg has a friend who is just turning 5 so I made up a quick card today. This iris folding pattern comes from one of the generous folks on Circle of Crafters. I'll have to check the pattern for the designer. The background stamp is from, can you guess? Yes, Cornish Heritage, my favorite site for background stamps! The flame and candle are satin ribbon and the cupcake and paper are papers. This little girl loves pink so I went with that color scheme.

I'm really hoping to get some studio time tomorrow to finish up samples for my newsletter. Let's hope I can get it out tomorrow evening.

Striped Joy

All my buttons are back! I recently got this "joy" stamp from Spunky Stamps and decided to play around with it yesterday in the studio. I ended up with one design I liked and one I didn't. I haven't given up on the one I didn't like, it just got put away for a couple of days so I can come at it with a new perspective. Since this summer has been tough inspiration-wise, I went to my sketch books to give myself a jolt. This design was originally used for other sentiments but I thought it would look good as a holiday card as well. I played around with color schemes using the striped paper as a jumping off point. The other elements fell into play quite nicely. I am definitely liking the deep green/burgundy color scheme this season. I have a feeling you'll see a lot of that from me this year. I used CTMH ink and I believe the patterned paper is from Bo Bunny.

Stymied

I wanted to show you a new card I made today but none of the insert images, links etc keys are showing up right now. I did have something to show you. Hopefully Typepad will get fixed shortly.

Weathered Christmas

I started this card last night but couldn't for the life of me find my tree stamp. I looked in the place I thought it would be and then looked everywhere else. I had no luck and since I don't like to lose stamps, I was too frustrated to start something new. Today, the stamp turned up in a different storage place. I really need to index all my unmounteds....... Anyway, the idea of using the weathered background and the tree was originally on Splitcoast Stampers. When I saw the example in the gallery, I loved the looks of it. This is a bit simpler than the original but if you read my blog regularly, you know I go for cards that are practical to mail rather than elaborate. This is actually mounted on a cream base but my scanner has a habit of cutting that layer off for some reason. Background stamp is from Cornish Heritage, tree from Stampin' Up and sentiment from Spunky Stamps. I used CTMH ink for the BG and colorbox chalk ink for the tree and sentiment.

I am almost done with the unicorn invitations. I always like the idea in the beginning but after coloring and cutting I wonder why I didn't make it easier on myself! Thank goodness I only had 10 to do!

Updates

Meg liked the card design although we have to color the flags on the castle pink and purple stripes instead of one color.

You can find one of my baby card designs in the July/August 2006 issue of The Rubber Stamper magazine. This is one of my favorite stamping magazines so I'm thrilled to have work published with them.

I will be designing this week for my July Paper Creations newsletter which I hope to send out possibly by mid-week.

Sort of an end to the drought

This is one of those times where I feel the need to explain my forthcoming card example. My daughter is having a Unicorn and Butterflies birthday party. As these invites need to get done and mailed, I sat myself down to end the old stamping drought that is called the month of July. I showed my husband the card and his best response was "well, it certainly has unicorns and butterflies". Not a rousing endorsement but I have to keep in mind my target audience. I'm talking about 5 year old girls who like girly magical extranvaganzas. Did I succeed? I'll find out tomorrow when I submit it for Meg's approval. It's not what I'd create if I'd planned a casual night of stamping. So here it is in all its unicorn and butterfly glory.....

The unicorn is from Cornish Heritage, the butterflies and grass from TAC and the castle from Inkadinkado.

Can New Images Fuel the Mind?

I just got an order of new TAC stamps in. I'm hoping the new images will jumpstart me. I've tried but my mind has shut down when it comes to inspiration. I stare at the supplies but nada, zip, zero comes of it. I'm hoping all this lovely new TAC will get me going....

I'm Scrapping Tonight

I had a friend over tonight and we scrapped for a bit. Over the last couple of years, since I started Paper Creations, I haven't scrapped much. I always had something I needed to create for work rather than just because. Tonight I looked at the empty cardstock and it was almost like I had forgotten how. I can work with 6 x 6 pages because they are relatively small and similar to card sizes. But tonight I decided to work on 12 x 12. I honestly had no idea what I wanted to do. In the course of the night I only created one layout but I feel good about it. I craft for many reasons, including for publication, but that doesn't include scrapping. I do that for me. I keep it very simple and I don't need all the latest and greatest. And still tonight, it almost felt like starting over. I would like to try to keep it up - for me, for my kids. They love looking at their albums and now Meg wants to start scrapping her own album. So tonight no pictures of what I created. This one's for me.