Whirlpool of Imagination

Santa

I took a break from Halloween because I felt the urge to create with this new stamp I received. Last week I placed an order with Art Impressions and because of a sale promotion, I got a free Santa face stamp. I have long admired Santa faces but have never actually bought one - I think part of me is just not sure how I would use it. So getting this stamp was like a free try.

The parts of this card were not created according to any idea or plan. The red baclground is red ink plus alcohol to create a polished stone background. I made that weeks ago and it sat on my table because nothing I made or thought of went with it. Then yesterday I felt the need to stamp out Santa. I wanted him to just have a little color so I chalked him. (On a side note, I'm currently not too pleased with this black pad. Its not supposed to smudge but it does. On my list, is a black palette pad). I then masked Santa and overstamped a tight weave background in silver. I wanted a real light grey but the silver was all I had so I went with it. I liked Santa with the polished stone so they came together. I thought about stamping a sentiment below the Santa block but glossy cardstock is tricky and while I'm usually okay with images, I'm not so lucky with words so I decided to pull out some fibers instead. I have a large draw of unused fibers so I decided to put some to good use. I like the final result. I had no idea where I was going when I started this one but I'm happy with the direction. I also really like this stamp. I need to play with it more and maybe pick up a few others too.

I had my first unscheduled trip to the doctors today. Conor was fooling around with a friend, fell and got a nice gash on his head. Stitches were a possibility but we were able to fix it without going to that extent. He is doing great and was a trooper. We can only hope he'll stay gash free for a long, long time.

Bats & Anniversaries

Quite a title combo huh? Well, today is my anniversary and both Mo and I completely forgot about it this morning! He calls me when he gets to work and says its a good thing he put it on his calendar! We've long since stopped exchanging cards - I mean, I sell cards. Why would I want him to give Hallmark the money????? So we're pretty low key but I'd say this was pretty low key, even for us! Its been a wonderful seven years and I'm hoping for many more happy healthy years together!

My card today is where the bats come in. This is a quick little iris folded bat. The pattern can be found at Circle of Crafters. I just used black poly-satin ribbon to complete the deisgn. I then used a punch to create the sides since it was looking pretty plain. That's it. Quick, easy, no fuss.

Brewing Up Our Cauldron

This was a quick little project I did with the kids. I found this plastic cauldron at AC Moore for, I think, $1.00. I'm not sure exactly. I was shopping with Conor and he loved it because he could play with his little castle characters (the only reason he likes to go to AC Moore)with it but I do remember that it was pretty cheap. Anyway......I grabbed some rub ons, I already had the googly eyes and the leaf garland. The kids and I applied the rub ons (well, they tried and I usually finished off to get them on). We wrapped the garland and then they told me where to glue the eyes. It was a rather clean kids project (is there really such a thing?), quick and now we have a cute cauldron to decorate the house. I'm not sure if we'll put candy in it as Halloween gets closer or not. But for now, its decorating the ledge over our sink rather nicely.

Paper Creations newsletter is scheduled to be sent out tomorrow. Think Halloween.

Learning Curve

I've been setting up this months' Paper Creations newsletter a little more professionally and its taking me some time to get it right. I've spent much more time on the computer than in the studio. I'm hoping tomorrow for some creating time. I'm thinking some little candy corn treat bags might be good Halloween treats.......

Trick or Treat Nuggets

I love making the cute little nugget boxes but I am loving these little nugget bags even more. Time-wise, they are much quicker to create. I'm hoping to get my newsletter out next week so I'm now in Halloween mode. The cat and spider are TAC stamps and the wording is from Art Impressions, who, by the way, is having a promotion right now......I think if you spend $20., you get to pick a card and whatever is under the card, you get free. I got a fantastic Santa face stamp. I cannot wait to give it a whirl. And their customer service is fantastic - I placed the order on Monday, it shipped on Monday, and I received today, two days later from across the country. You just cannot beat that.

I'm up to 12 Christmas cards completed. I figure if I do just a couple a day, I'll get them done in time. Now I just need to start trying to get a picture. Getting my two to actually look at the camera at the same time requires magic of the sort that eludes me. But hey, my memory card holds how many images??? I have to get lucky one of those times!

The Tooth is History

Last week Meg came home with a loose tooth. Well today, she came home with a big hole in the bottom of her mouth!! She was so excited. She's been wiggling it forever and today, just as school was about to finish up for the day, she wiggled it right onto her hand. I went to take a picture of her cute little face, and the battery says no charge!! Argggh. I'm not sure if there is a picture or not. I'm recharging the battery as we speak. I guess tomorrow will be the toothless shot. We also made a little nugget box to put the tooth in for the tooth fairy. I stamped out the SU princess fairy and Meg colored it which is adorning the box, of which I can't get a picture until said batteries are recharged. Off to clean the tooth!

Reaching Goals

I happened to be at AC Moore today and grabbed a copy of the most recent Just Cards (III) mag and I'm happy to say that they published the two cards I sent into them! My goal at the start of the year was to be published six times so I'm almost there. At the start of the year, I created a list of goals for Paper Creations for 2006. Tonight I sat down and reviewed them. Taking that chance to review my goals was useful. So far I have achieved half of them. Some are a bit more big picture and will require more than one year but I'm pleased I reminded myself of the direction I wanted to take this year. I also have a clearer picture of what I was trying to accomplish for the year. I almost wish I had looked at them a couple of months ago but no matter, the now is what counts. Sometimes I get so bogged down in the little details that I forget to look at the entire picture so now I think I'm back on track.

Another Sunday Night

I am always amazed at how quickly the weekend goes by. It seems like its Friday night and Mo's home for the weekend, I blink and its Monday again. Weather was incredible here this weekend, even a bit too hot. Today I got some time in the studio - I worked on card inventory - 15 cards today. I have a few more of the designs planned out and I started Christmas cards too.

I did create one new design today. This block of flowers/vases, I've had sitting on my table for almost three weeks. I had a whole other plan when it came to using this image (which, quite frankly, when I look at it now was dreadful). The only idea I kept was the purple background but I made that block bigger and stamped the textured harlequin on it. I have to say, while I like harlequin, I love this version because of the texture. I watercolored the flowers/vases and used Stampin' Up's word window for the strip at the bottom. Stamps are from TAC (flowers) and Cornish Heritage (background).

I'm hoping to start Halloween gifts/treats this week, continue with Christmas cards, and work on bolstering my inventory. I still haven't quite gotten into a regular schedule giving myself studio time but I'm hopeful for this week.

Break Out the Needles

Back in what seems like a long, long, long (you get the picture) time ago, one of my first major crafting obsessions was cross stitching. I find stitching really relaxing and when you need to keep your hands busy if just sitting around, its a good activity. Its been a while since I stitched but since I have every color of floss known to man, I decided to try card stitching. I printed off an easy pattern to start with. So tonight, after just working on inventory and not doing much designing, I decided to stitch a little. Okay, now I'm hooked. I forgot how relaxing stitching is and the beauty is, unlike cross stitch, after a little while you have created a picture rather than filled in about one inch square on your pattern! I've seen some beautiful, quite elaborate stitched cards and now I have the bug to create some more designs. Keep on the lookout - my floss is out of storage and the needles are back stitching!

Channeling Abbot & Costello

I always up for something fun - I still crack up when I hear the "who's on First?" skit. Well today with Conor, I felt like I was living it! It's not exactly as witty but remember we're dealing with a three year old here and of course, since I'm the mom, its seems witty to me!

Me: Con, woud you like a plum or banana with dinner?

C: Fruit!! (yelled loudly)

Me: Yep, a plum or a banana?

C: Fruit!! (sense a trend here?)

Me: Con, they are both fruits. Which one would you like?

C: Um, (he was thinking - I thought I had him), FRUIT!

Me: (sighing, it's cute but it't not getting me an answer) Got the fruit part Con, a plum or banana?

C: (He looked like he was going to blurt out fruit - I saw the word forming but at the last minute....)

A PLUM!

Phew - now we can move onto milk or water.