What Goes Around

Isn't it interesting what becomes trendy in crafting on a smaller scale?  We do a lot of seasonal stuff so it makes sense when everyone switches gears towards Valentine's Day or Christmas.  But fish aren't a season, birds aren't a season, weather has no bounds...

Yet these themes have come up multiple times lately in my crafting groups.  Whenever that happens I do try to stretch my imagination and come up with different things for different groups.  However, sometimes the creative muse is taking a break or time is short so duplicate cards get made.

I made this card for a couple of bird themed swaps and a feathers swap.  I had fun making it as I wasn't sure where it was going except it would have a bird and some feathers on it.  I originally had some real feathers but they didn't go well with this card.  That and I hid them from myself.

The Fine Print: Bird stamp by Inkadinkado. Greeting by A Muse Studio "Essential Sentiments 2." Feather die by Simon Says Stamp.

Who is Christmas for Anyway?

Remove the religious aspects of Christmas and Hanukkah for a moment--I mean, why not?  Most people have lost sight of those a long time ago--and ponder who Christmas is marketed towards these days.

That's right, it's all about buying yourself some shit.  Or anyway, that's how I read it.  My inbox is filled with emails from various craft stores and other vendors about all the sales they are having.  Do they really think my mother, brother, and husband want some of what they are selling for the holidays?  Some of these emails even blatantly state "pick up a little something for yourself."

It used to be that I'd get a couple of these emails and they'd say that they were having a sale and to point your loved ones in their direction to get you a gift you'll really love.  They at least used to try to pretend the holidays were about gift giving.  Now they send a multiple emails a week and they all are about buying yourself more shit.

Trust me, I'm pro-shit.  I love me some stuff.  However, this is the holiday season! I'm supposed to be thinking of others, not out for myself.  It just bothers me.

The Fine Print: Thank you Pet360 for remembering it is the giving season and showing me what presents my kitties would like.  At least you haven't lost sight of what the holidays are all about even if you are just cementing my crazy cat lady persona. Stamp by Inkadinkado, large scallop border die by A Muse Studio, designer papers by DCWV.

Wednesday and a Workdesk

Hewwo! My names is Poppy and I'll be your guest columnist today because Grandpa Kitty bited mom in the hand and made bleedin' come out. So I let her rest her hands today, 'cept for petting.

Moms says she doesn't really feel like doing workdesk Wednesday today because she says that it is just the same old mess from before.  But it isn't!  It is a bigger, newer, and improved mess! No, reallys, it is kind of scary.  It didn't makes it into the pitcher but mom has been using her new box of card blanks ebery time 'cept when she has to do A Mews design team cards becuz the A Mews papers is keeped separately.  We gots new Tampin' Up punches and an unopened box from Club Scraps to play with.  Moms did all her homeworks this week already so I hope we can play soon.

She did maked this card though for spooky Halloween.  I wike being spooky! There was a kitty in my yard so I mades my tail all big and scardey looking and he gotted the spookies and ranned away before he could eat my birds.  I gots a pumpkin neckwace that blinks to be eben more spooky too.  Maybes next time I models it for you.

The Fine Print: The hand is fine, Fido's teeth are too dull to break skin most of the time. That cat does not like to be combed!  Stamp by Inkadinkado, paper by DCWV, dies by Spellbinders, twine by Doodle Twine, matte black bling by Recollections.

Highway from Hell

Does anyone remember that website 'Am I hot or not?'  It may even still exist.  Anyway, the premise was you posted your picture and the masses voted if you were hot or not.  I could make some unkind comments about validation and the type of people who post to those sites, but I won't.

I do not need a website or votes to tell me that I am freaking hot!  I mean, really, really hot.  I keep applying cold packs and random refrigerated items to my body and all that happens is they warm up.  I used to be the type of person who was cold all the time. I don't really need to carry a sweater around all the time unless it is to wipe the sweat off myself.

I'm not really the vacationing type (like at all) but going someplace cool sounds really appealing right now, anything to get out of this over-heated hell.*

The Fine Print: * After living in Tucson for over 20 years I used to think hell probably was cooler than here. I'd still like to think that because that is probably where I am going.  Never fear, I'll save you a seat.  Stamps by Inkadinkado "road trip" set, paper by Basic Gray "wander."

Goals, also known as Diabolical Plans

I have this goal, which I am just now putting in writing (on this blog, see, that's in writing). I remember having it drummed into me that you should write your goals down, but really I think that is highly intimadating and you shouldn't do it.  Besides, if you don't write them down and you forget all about them you don't have some written reminder lying around to make you feel guilty that you didn't do it.

Anyway, my goal is to have only 8.5 x 11 cardstock that fits inside the paper holders that I currently own.  That means paring down all the random piles and stashes.  Wait! Why are you laughing?  Quit laughing! That's rude!

Anyway, once upon a time I bought many sheets of this obnoxious green cardstock and made Halloween cards with it. It was a great experience.  We laughed, we cried, it was better than cats (because cats just lie there and shed).  I was so tickled when one day there was an entire REAM of it for sale in the clearance bin of the paper warehouse (like the place that actaully sells paper, not the paper warehouse place that sells crappy party favors) so of course, I bought it.

What I didn't think through is that I was already over the obnoxious green cardstock phase. And the ream sat. And sat. And sat. It is actually in one of the paper holders but it is taking space away from some other cardstock that I might actually use! It has to go!  I tried to sell some of it but apparently obnoxious poison green isn't that popular. I tried to give some away to friends but there were few takers.  So my diabolical goal is to use it to make lots of cards and make all my crafty friends wish they had this wonderful paper!* Like all good diabolical plans, this one has a flaw.  The flaw is my scanner washes the color of this paper out so it looks about as ho-hum as you can get.   **sigh**

* And then I'll sell it to you for triple the price!

The Fine Print: Obnoxious green paper by Astrobrights "Martian Green." Striped birds by Inkadinkado, corner notch punch by Stampin' Up, fence punch by Martha, spider circle stamp by Imaginisce, greeting and orange chevon paper by A Muse Studio.

WOYWW 165

First off, let's wish Happy Birthday to these August 1st babies: Jerry Garcia (RIP, man), Yves Saint Laurent, Claudius that Roman Emperor Dude, and last but definitely not least Lunch Lady Jan. Woot!

Yeah, those words are probably the most substance you are getting out of me today.  Here's my desk for part of the biggest crafty snoop around the globe, courtesy of Julia. I went for a wide shot today so you could see more of the debauchery.  My desk chair usually occupies the big blank space there.

Here is the area behind my desk jumbled full of lovely things. Can you spot the cat?

Here's a card I made. People are going to start thinking that I am a dog person if this keeps up.  I decided I wanted a girly chihuahua since last week I made a macho chihuahua but I forgot to take a picture of him, you'll just have to trust me on it.

The Fine Print: Chihuahua by Inkadinkado (clear stamp), greeting by A Muse Artstamps, ribbon from A Muse Studio, paper from July 2012 Quick Cards magazine. The cat is under the table next to the Club Scrap boxes.

A Picture is Worth a Couple, Few Words for Sure

What?!  Need I say more?

The Fine Print: No, really, you can't ground me.  I'm the Princess.  My mommie says so.  Stamp by Inkadinkado, crown die by Tim Holtz "Heart Wings," paper by DCWV "Sweet Shop" and faux brad by Candi.

Besides, I didn't do anything wrong. You can't prove it  Those video tapes were faked.

I Wanna Be a Rockstar

I think I'm getting kind of tired of the secretary gig.  Maybe I can be a rock star instead... 

Except I'm not really into staying up late...

And I don't like to travel....

And I don't like loud noises....

And it only takes one Tylenol to knock me out...

So I guess I'll just have to be me!

This is me.

The Fine Print: Rock star stamps by A Muse Artstamps, Wild Thing by Rubbernecker, Never too Late saying by Inkadinakado, dancing flower girl by Stampotique, garden greetings by Make an Impression, Inc.

A CASE Study

Today we will discuss what it means when a paper crafter says they want to CASE something.  CASE stands for Copy And Steal Everything.  That’s pretty hardcore when you see it printed out like that, but here’s an example:

This is the cover of the A Muse Studio holiday catalog (and inspiration guide).  Say that the card on the front cover is so inspiring to you that you wish to make your own, so you copy it.  That makes it a CASE card.  In fact, some folks say CASE stands for Copy And Steal Exactly.

 However, this next card is not exact and most folks would say that it is a CASE card too.

Most of the time, it doesn’t matter if you copied someone else’s design.  After all they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.  The recipient of your homemade card will love it regardless if it was your own creation or if you drew inspiration from someone else.  It would be dirty pool to turn in an exact copy of someone else's card to a contest or submit it to a magazine for publication though.

The Fine Print: Santa’s coat, candy cane paper, and polka dot ribbon by A Muse Studio; Santa by Inkadinkado, greeting by DeNami and paper by DCWV.

No Rules Today

Happy Cyber Monday!  Are you completely stuffed from gorging yourself this weekend?  Have you totally over-indulged at the dinner table and the shopping malls?  Are you already sick of The Holiday That Shall Not Be Named?  Well, too bad, the holiday madness must continue!

Bawhahahaha   (that’s evil laughter in case you didn’t catch that).

 The Fine Print: Snowman stamp by Inkadinkado, Whizzing Dog by Art Impressions, Merry Christmas from the dollar bin.

Gimme Gimme Gimme

Hello and Happy Black Friday to y'all!  So did anyone get up at midnight to go shopping?  How about 4 am?  Did you push and shove people?  Did you get pushed and shoved? Did anyone trample their fellow man?  Did you get trampled?  Did you spray pepper spray into anyone's face so you could buy cheap electronics?!  Fess up!  Did you?!?! 

Well, maybe you didn't, but someone did.  Sometimes I'm embarrassed by my own species.  Based on this card today I can say I had a good day.  I hope you can say so too.

And while I did have some perverse desire to show up at some big box store at some ungodly hour to buy laundry soap,  I did not partake in any retail madness. I only happened to be awake at midnight because buckets of rain, no wait, make that swimming pools-full of rain came out of the sky and it was loud.  I'm sure I was asleep and drooling on myself at 4 am.  I spent the day leisurely having a delectable lunch at a nice place downtown and then going to the art museum.  And for those of you not familiar with Tucson, downtown is not a mecca for retail shopping.

I haven't done anything crafty today (yet!). I still have the goods from my magazine to play with and the Fed Ex dude delivered me a pizza box from Club Scrap, so there could be playing soon.  Here are a couple of cards I made in the past that I thought I'd share just for the heck of it. 

The Fine Print: Striped card base by DCWV, "Good Day" saying by Inkadinkado, kid stamp by Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers.  Other two cards made from a My Mind's Eye kit, enhanced with bling and Prima flowers.

Z Fold Card

Today I had my SALSA stamp club meeting.  It was my turn to teach the in-class make 'n take and I taught the Z fold card, which you can see here:

 

No, really, you can see the pink corner sticking out from behind the camera hog cat.  Okay, maybe here is a better shot of it:

This is the fancy dancy version of it.  For the meeting we focused on getting the card base cut and folded with the punched border along the top and some decorative papers.  We didn't do stamping, die cutting, or embellishing.  That's what the craft room at home is for.  When you fold this flat it fits into an A2 envelope.  Don't be fooled into thinking that this card is 12-inches long with three 4-inch panels.  Nope, it is cut from an 8.5x11" piece of cardstock.  The three panels are not the same size, each one is progressively bigger with the biggest one being in back.  I guess in reality it is a backward-Z-fold but that sounds complicated.

The Fine Print: Rock Star by AMuse Artstamps, Rock Star saying by Inkadinkado, border punch by Martha Stewart, heart punch by Marvy, oval and lacey oval dies by Spellbinders, flowers by Prima, glitter paper and foil heart paper by DCWV.

World Card Making Day

Here's the first card of the day, pre-breakfast:

I wanted to make this card to honor the dandelions on my blog (in the upper right hand corner).  The sheer ribbon is actually curly, until you squash it flat onto the bed of the scanner.  I plan to make some cards for Operation Write Home today but this will not be one of them because I put glitter on the dandelion.  Glitter is a no-no for Operation Write Home cards.  The day is still young!

The Fine Print: Stamp by Stamp Rosa (HM now distributed by Stampabilities), colored with Copic markers.

I have a stack of pre-printed patterned background cards on my desk, so I thought I'd try to use them:

 The Fine Print: "Happy Birthday" by Endless Creations, cake by DeNami Designs, Snowman by A Muse Studio "Chill of Winter" set, "warm wishes" by Hero Arts, patterned cards by DCWV.

And some more patterned background cards:

 
 The Fine Print: Bursting Blooms by AMuse Artstamps, "Smile", bubblegum ink and ribbon by A Muse Studio, "Good Day" saying and girl by Inkadinkado, patterned cards by DCWV.

Continuing the patterned card theme:

The Fine Print: "Autumn a Second Spring" by Stampendous, Leaf Punch by EK Success, glitter paper by DCWV, Pirate Girl by unknown (image given to me), patterned cards by DCWV.

And a couple other ones and then it is beddy-bye time:

 The Fine Print: Chandelier card stamps and bling by A Muse Studio, Not Feeling So Hot stamp by Copper Leaf Creations, peppers cut out from paper "fabric sample"