Scrappy Blog Tour

Hi All! Last week, Lynn Darda of From My Bungalow tagged me for the Scrappy Blog Tour. (You can be inspired by her post here.) She was tagged by a friend of ours from way back when, Jody at Spiegel Mom Scraps, who is an awesomely talented woman herself. This tour is all about the artist and her creations.

So let's get on with the interview.

1. What am I working on now? I always have more than one project going on at a time, usually in several different media. Right now I'm putting together Halloween treat box kits, I'm crocheting a banner for a swap at the end of the week, I'm working on some doodle designs and art journaling, and putting together an album of our summer vacation to France. There's more, but that gives a pretty good picture of my creative life.

Here's a peek at a few of those projects:

I'm using Close To My Heart's Balloon Ride Picture My Life Collection to document our trip to France.

I love using CTMH Flip Flaps with my pocket pages!

This little box was made from CTMH Scaredy Cat paper with the
added touch of some Purple Glitter Paper
and Black Flourishes. 

This box and the one above it were made using
Pathfinding paper and the For a Friend stamp set.

This will become a fun banner for a friend. I'm using
Sugar & Cream Yarn by Lily.

2. How long does it take me to complete a project? It completely depends on the project and my motivation. If it's something that I've been wanting to do and can envision the complete project, I can get it done pretty quickly. (I once did 4 8x8 acrylic paintings in an afternoon!) If it's something I have a vague idea about or that incorporates a new technique, then it can take longer. Also, my mixed media projects take me longer because I have to let things dry. (Another reason I have more than one project going at a time--it keeps me from messing with projects that are still wet and ruining them.)

3. What are my favorite things to create with right now? Oh, that's a tough one. I'm enjoying playing with alcohol markers. I always love working with stamps. (Hence my connection with Close To My Heart--they have fantastic acrylic stamps!) I'm also starting to work with my gelli plate for mono printing. (Still a bit of a newbie at that though.) And paper...I love creating with paper!

4. How does my creating and writing process work? Both processes start with coffee, and then generally I just dive right in. I don't do a lot of planning before I start. If I'm creating something, I usually have a picture in my head of what I want to make and then start making it. If I hit a point where I don't know how to execute a technique I need, then I noodle around on the computer looking for a tutorial or I haul out my scraps and begin trying different things. (I have scrap paper, scrap canvases, scrap fabric, you name it. I keep them for this kind of experimenting.)

The writing process for me is a little different in that I rarely have the end project in mind. Generally with writing I just sit down and start typing. I write what I'm thinking and clean up the grammar and sentence structure later.

5. How do I become inspired and stay inspired? You can see an example of my how I become inspired in this post. As far as staying inspired goes, I'm not sure that a person CAN stay inspired. You'll always have times when you feel really uncreative. I've learned that those are the times when I need to go read a book, take a walk, have a cup of coffee, hang out with my kids or my friends, anything but stay in the studio. More often than not, if I've lost my creative mojo, it's because I'm burning out. That means I need a break. Sometimes it's an afternoon, sometimes it's a week or two. If it's the latter, that's usually because I've been ignoring the warning signs of burn-out for too long. That used to happen with some regularity, but I've learned how to recognize when I need a break, and I take it.

6. What is my signature style? Okay, this made me laugh out loud. I don't have a signature style really. I love to create in whatever media or style best suits my message. Everything I create is designed to convey meaning and/or feeling, and if it's for a particular person, it will often reflect the style of that person. So I guess my signature style would be "whimsically eclectic with a heavy dose of whatever-strikes-my-fancy."

And that's my artsy self in a nutshell. So now I'm tagging the über-talented Amy Larson at Scrap, Sparkle & Shine.

Be sure to stop back by for a new tutorial and little Halloween special!

A Little More Mojo

Hi all! As promised, here is the second card I made using Mojo Monday inspiration and the Chalk It Up Picture My Life cards.

Here is the sketch again:

And here is my card:

To change it up a little, I cut the base of this card so that it would open vertically. The base is Kraft Cardstock. For the first layer, I pieced 2 of the Picture My Life cards together, and covered the seam with a little Black Striped Twill Ribbon. I then cut the tag from a 4x6 card, punched a hole at the top and added some Slate Diagonal Striped Ribbon and a little Bakers Twine. The "Awesome" sentiment was cut from a 3x4 card. I edged all the layers with Black Exlusive Ink to make them pop just a little. I then adhered them all using thin foam tape. (This is my new go-to for dimensional adhesive. Love it!) I added 3 Black Epoxy Bubbles for a little bling, and voilà: another sweet back-to-school note of encouragement! (And this card required no stamping at all!)

Here are a couple of close-ups:

And one more look at the card:

Hope you enjoyed it! Have a fabulous weekend!

 

 

 

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Chalk it up to mojo....

Hi all! So the kids start back to school next week, and for the first time, I think I'm looking forward to it more than they are. Oh well, that's to be expected with teens I suppose.
Anyway, I decided to play along with the Mojo Monday sketch this week and make a couple of cards for them to start their year off with. I'll post the second card tomorrow.
Here's the sketch:

And here's my take on it:

The card is a standard A2 base cut from Kraft Cardstock. The background paper is a 4x6 Picture My Life card from the Chalk It Up collection that I cut down to size and layered on White Daisy Cardstock. I added Kraft Cardstock to break up the pattern a bit. The black chalkboard layer is a 3x4 card I cut to fit and the "you are truly awesome" card is from the same collection. I added the "FYI" and arrow using the Hopscotch alphabet stamp set and Black Exclusive ink. You'll notice that the Hopscotch set doesn't actually come with an arrow, but therein lies one of the beauties of acrylic stamps. I used the lowercase "L" and bent it slightly to make the shaft of the arrow. I then used the lowercase "V" for the point. Pretty cool!
I embellished the card with the new Black Striped Twill Ribbon and Black Epoxy Bubbles. And that's it! Pretty easy!
Here are some close-ups:

And here is the card one more time:

Hope you enjoyed a look at Chalk It Up and Picture My Life. Tune in tomorrow to see the second card inspired by Mojo Monday and the Picture My Life Chalk It a Up collection.

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