Hello my crafting friends!
Did I mention that there are fur babies at my house? Mini poodles, Coco and Nico. Coco, having been an only poodle for several years, prances through life…literally. She was born with wisdom and grace. She rules the roost with just a glance. And if anyone misunderstands her plans for the day, a snort of derision reigns them in.
Not so Nico. Nico is the son of a European immigrant champion. And he was born to perform and run. We deal with his enthusiasm for life by going outside several times and day and just saying “run, Baby, run”. And he does. At first it was just back and forth across the yard. But no more. We forgot to build him a performance track, so he is designing it himself. He has added great long leaps, figure eights around the garden, up stairs, down stairs, under trees, around vehicles…and of course a brief refreshment stop at his favorite fountain. And he runs like the wind. Some days the game changes and he expects to be tagged as he passes, but most of the time he races around his obstacle course and looks for ways to make it more complicated. There are days I fear we have done him a disservice expecting him to just be part of a family, when he is so obviously a performer. But he loves us all so much and is so pleased that we are here, And if ever I have quiet crafting to distract me from his games he lays quietly with his head on my foot until I’m ready to play again.
Enough about puppies!
What to do on a day between deliveries, when all the obvious cards have been designed and created… Work your stash!
You’ve got dies, inks, papers and creativity…and what you want to do wait for that box of new inspiration… but it’s held up at customs.
So look for a left over like this and let it inspire you.
Actually it was a 6 x 6 when I started. I still not sure what those organic looking bumps should be, so I turned to my sentiments. Sometime a few words can lead to an idea.
In my puffy sticker collection I ”discovered” a small sentiment that simply said ‘off the beaten road’. I looked at those bumps residing on their curving lines and by Jove! They could be trees and not minions… So, I cut out a few segments along the long lines… Interesting. But with no coordinating background or focal point I knew something was needed and decided to pull out my reactive distressed oxide inks.
(I know, I know…I need to learn to do instructive videos…)
Using my blending tool I spread color across a 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 piece of card stock. Then I spritzed it water, and waited until I saw the magic happening, dried it quickly with a paper towel and laid it next to stash paper. I traced some of the curving lines onto the died paper and cut several sections. I rearranged them until a found a pattern I liked, and adhered it all to a card base. Next I stamped a sentiment, which I mounted on black card stock and popped up with foam tape, added a couple more puffy stickers that repeated the background shapes and three black dot embellishments… And, of course, added that puffy sticker “off the beaten road”. Et voila…a fun “missing you” card was complete.
I continued working my stash and found that stamping tone on tone flowers and leaves made a nice background that tied a geometric designed paper to a sheet of paper printed with books and plants. In my stash I also had a sheet of short phrases that looked like they had been tacked on a bulletin board. They fit the book theme nicely. I distressed all the edges of the elements I was preparing for this card, used my alcohol markers to enhance the colors of the “tape” on the phrases and added some Nuvo drop “tacks”. Popping all the elements up with foam tape really gave a nice dimensional look to this card. I created a sentiment with puffy stamps and stamped the word “are” to tie the words together. Adding a few more Nuvo drops to geometric design helped move the eye around, and card two from my stash was completed.
Next I pulled out an orange card base and laid it in the midst of the stash papers I had selected. I suppose somewhere in me is a bit of the art instructor still saying ”add a diagonal line to every design,” and it showed as I continued creating cards. I found I really liked the turquoise and orange color contrast. I used tone on tone, and color contrast (orange on white) . I added a sheer white ribbon and bow to one card…but when I photographed it the camera really enhanced the shadows.
So that’s five cards from my stash! Orange you glad I’m done for today?
Paper Poodles and Puns 