But first, a couple of additions to yesterday's post, by special request from a reader. Seems that when I showed the card I'd made, I mentioned the embellie sheet but didn't show the photo of that, nor the pre-decorated card base. So, to correct that:
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| Here you will see a sheet of paper that used to be filled with embellies and now only a few remain - yes! The one I used on yesterday's card is the "happy" circle. You'll also see the "hat" square used in the card I'm sharing later in this post. |
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| In this photo you can see the happy circle again, along with the card base and envelope of yesterday's card. Also, some of the paper scraps used on it, plus a a few of the embellies used on today's card below. |
Please feel free to email me if I ever post something you don't understand, because your confusion is probably a great indicator. I may well have forgotten something or didn't explain fully. Please make me aware and help me out!
Now, onto today's card to share:
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| Card front: I used that hat square embellie inside a square frame and a rectangle from a sheet of Scrapworks embellies (that is partially shown in the first photo of this post). I grouped them all together to make a matted focal rectangle that I then trimmed in lace. I stamped a repeating pattern on the paper base with party hat stamps, to which more lace and checkered ribbon were added, along with a rhinestone, flower brad and Souffle pen dots. |
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| One of my goals is to cover more card surface, so I did some more repeating patterned paper on paper trimmed with deco scissors, and made a sentiment mat with more Scrapworks embellie rectangles and photo corners (sentiment stamps are by Clear Dollar).. |
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| The card back got attention, too, with coordinated layered papers and the signature stamped on another Scrapworks embellie (signature stamp is by Impression Obsession). |
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| Love the way this looks, all heat embossed... |
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| Stamped the corner of the envelope with the party hat stamps (maker unknown) for a small coordinated touch.... |
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| A final close-up to show the heat-embossed stamped (Clear Dollar) sentiment and the front focal grouping from a neat angle... |
The year on the Scrapworks paper collection I used is circa 2005. If you can remember the thin, double-sided, textured Chatterbox papers, these papers feel almost the same. Since I still have a sensory lover affair with Chatterbox, I enjoy using these old papers. I recall thinking just a year ago they were hopelessly dated, but lo and behold, a little time passes and they are okay to use. Lesson learned.
I'll leave you with a few thoughts about this book, one of the ones I go-to when I need to refocus my creative eye, refresh my creative urge or replenish my creative well:
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| Open Your Eyes by interior designer Alexandra Stoddard |
It's what I'd call a process book, because Stoddard sticks like glue to teaching the reader how to open their eyes and really see things. And she does this by offering exercises on every page using your household and outside natural surroundings. She is relentless and focussed, and if I am not liking my art or not creating what I intended, or if I'm blocked, I've found it immensely useful to open this book to a random page and just follow her instructions for awhile.
The book has a ton of famous quotes about vision, art, beauty, nature, and their interactions dispersed throughout it, and one of them is speaking to me now:
"Just as appetite comes by eating, so work brings inspiration." ~ Igor Stravinsky
Working with old out of style paper supplies requires opening one's eyes to see it differently, positively, to reinvent it to be in tune again. And, a goal of using up a lot of stuff to create works of art requires an art-of-work ethic. For some unusually wonderful reason, Stoddard's book helps me remember these things.
