Get well

I almost never send Get Well cards, so I almost never make them, so when I need one, I can't dig one out of my stash, I have to make it right then.  Here is one I whipped up yesterday for poor Lynn Stevens - her appendix burst, so she has been in the hospital all week, and has suffered through some dreadful surgery.  She is not someone I have ever met in real life, but she is a Technique Junkie like me, and had always had great comments about the cards I post to the group, and has been very encouraging to me about getting published - I couldn't just sit this one out.  

 

The Pencil highlights technique didn't come out quite right, probably because of the metallic textured cardstock I chose, but once I had my pencil in hand, it seemed a simple thing to handwrite the sentiment.  You may remember the Kitty digi, it is one of my favorites.

This card also happens to meet several challenges -

• GingerSnap Creations - neutrals plus one color
• Fab 'n' Funky - black and white and one color
• Some Odd Girl - monochromatic (are we seeing a theme yet?)
• Stamp Insanity - metal
• Sisterhood of Crafters - three flowers
• Paper Pretties - animal

Whew - It's taking longer to blog about it than it took to mail it! Oh, by the way, if you also know Lynn and want to send her a card, I will be happy to pass on her address, just email me.

Again with the hair

Ben got tired of how awful his dreadlocks were looking (it takes a while before they fully lock), so he decided braids would be good enough.  I do like the braids better, but they have to be removed and redone every couple of weeks, and it takes  two to three hours to do.  I will say that teasing the hair before braiding it makes the braids hold better.  He is sleeping in a shower cap to reduce fraying, but it still gets fuzzy.

Why don't teenagers ever smile?

Blue and Green

Danise asked me to make a necklace for her niece.  She said that her niece liked blues and greens, which, in my limited little brain, meant that she would like either a blue one or a green one.  Don't ask me why it didn't occur to me to make one that had blue and green beads together.  Anyway, I was surprised when she mailed me the beads she wanted me to use, but here they are.  They look really good together, I think.  I especially like the catseye beads.

I think I'm starting to get tired of  this design.  It's time for me to start making something else.

4 Seasons inchies

It funny where you can find inspiration.  I needed to make a set of inchies representing the four seasons, but I just wasn't feeling it.  Then Shelly of the many challenges pointed me to to Cowgirl's, which had a weird sort of challenge - 3 designer papers and three different flowers.  Could I combine the two?

Well, I definitely got the three papers in there, and maybe a leaf will count as a very freely interpreted flower.  I have three trees, too, that should count for something.  These are all pretty sparkly, too - there is glitter pen on both of the inchies on the left, although the scan doesn't show the sparkle.

Where to find challenges

You may wonder where I find so many challenges to play.  Well, at first, I was searching for a design team to join, and I noticed that a lot of company sites had challenges, so I started playing them.  Then, I saw that my blogging buddies would play challenges, and I followed their links to play those same challenges.  However, Shelly plays in more challenges than anyone I ever saw, often applying one card to as many as a dozen different challenges! (keep in mind that multiple sites will often have the same challenge, because challenges are frequently season-related)  

I know how hard it is to keep up with a lot of different challenge blogs, so I asked her how she did it, and she sent me a link to Feline Playful.  The owner of that blog, Karen, was searching for a site that lists all the papercrafting challenge blogs, and in the absence of finding one, decided to create one.  Every day, she posts all the new challenges that are starting that day.

On top of all that she's offering this blog candy to bring new users (and possibly new challenge bloggers) to her site.  That's the frosting on the cake!



 

Halloween card meets 5 challenges

I needed a little push for my creative juices, so I checked my challenge blogs.  Tuesday Throwdown wanted some paper pleating, Creative Belli wanted things that begin with "B",  Corrosive wanted masking, Stamps R Us wanted Halloween and Truly Scrumptious provided the sketch.

 

Pleating paper really uses a lot, so I am guilty of grabbing the cheapest stuff in my stash, some old DCWV.  I didn't even make it across the card, but there is enough for texture.  What starts with B?  Black cat, of course!  This one is an adhesive foamie I picked up at the dollar store last year.  I'm sure I haven't used those foamies since last Halloween.  I couldn't tell you how long it has been since I tied ribbon to a spiral clip, either.

So where is the masking?  On the inside!

 

The scale is off - I'm only showing the corner in this picture, but I used the release paper from the foamie and used it as a  mask, echoing the cat on the inside.

This was fun - I love challenges!

Flat Spiral Necklace

One of my RL friends invited me to join her at a free beading class in Fredericksburg.  I wasn't that interested in making the bracelet as shown on their website, an angular creation using various sizes of bicone Swarovski crystals, but I was curious enough to see if there was a tutorial for a flat spiral bracelet online somewhere.  I did find a diagram for one using round focal beads instead of bicones, and I immediately remembered that I had some large pink catseye beads that wanted to be used (Thank you, Danise!).

The flat spiral pattern is neither flat nor spiral, but it does look better laid out flat than twisted, which is probably why most people use it for a bracelet rather than a necklace.  I won't wear a bracelet that bulky, so I went as long as I could - I used up all my pink beads.  It sits right below my collarbone.  The clasp shown in the photo is just temporary for trying on purposes.  I didn't have a gold clasp on hand, but I will put one on as soon as I get one.

I do have some Swarovski crystals in my stash, I might have to try making the pattern again.  It's a lot easier than it looks; it is just a huge resource hog.