big plans for an unexpected day off

I am taking an all day class on Fridays, which means I try to plan my weekly chores & errands to make sure we have food and clean laundry before the end of the week.  The college runs most classes on a Mon/Wed or Tues/Thurs schedule, so Fridays are very, very quiet on campus and a number of us are only taking this one class. I also knew it was the only class our instructor was teaching at this college (she also teaches at two other schools), but I am thankful she realized last night the campus is closed today for President's Day and emailed us all. I suspect one of the full-time students might have given her the heads up about the campus being closed today.

I'm not really that out of touch with things - one kid has the day off, the other only gets Monday off & dear husband is working, so it didn't occur to me to check the college calendar. I think kid2 was a little disappointed to find out I was going to be home with him - he rarely has a whole day to himself and probably had great plans for sleeping in, followed by listening to very loud classic rock and/or metal while playing equally loud video games and eating whatever his heart desired.

I'm loving the class, so a little disappointed not to be playing with my art supplies today. However, the time off is going to give me enough time to take care of a little project that I decided to tackle at the last minute for a friend's 40th birthday this weekend. See, there are advantages to getting my chores done before Friday!

First of all, I spent some time yesterday afternoon using the My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club sketch challenge at Splitcoast Stampers to make a birthday card.

This is the sketch:

and here is my take on the sketch:

 I used the October Afternoon Farmhouse paper and one of my new stamps from the Die-namics Vertical Greetings Stamp Set from My Favorite Things on the front of the card and a birthday greeting on the inside. This is honestly one of my favorite cards ever LOL - might have to make a few of these.

I have a great button collection and rarely use them on projects, but am really happy with how this turned out.

Yes, there is an ink smudge on the inside - I might cover it with a couple of buttons before delivering it tomorrow night.

I'm off to see if I can make the birthday project work.

clean & simple for Valentine's Day

hope you all had a sweet Valentine's Day . . .

I love quick, clean and simple cards like these that  I whipped up in about 30 minutes Tuesday afternoon. I made 2 of these - one for each of the kids:

A small & medium fiskars heart punch and a sentiment stamp were all that I needed. The small hearts are on pop dots and overlap slightly the larger hearts.

These will be finished off with a Starbucks gift card.

For my dear husband, I used the same punches and laid the small hearts out to create a big heart pattern - about half were adhered using pop dots. A small oops in the stamped sentiment (it was crooked) was covered by stamping on the pink heart and using it to cover the oops.

until next time . . .

Stay Calm & Carry On

I love using the "Stay Calm & Carry On" WWII poster image on birthday cards for friends that either don't want to be reminded of their birthday and/or have a great sense of humor.

The My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club sketch challenge was the inspiration:

And this is the card I created using paper from the Teresa Collins World Traveler 6x6 pad:

I think the ribbons and stick pin are from Maya Road and the flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts. I've hoarded these way too long, and am finally breaking down & using them.

I tried to talk one of the kids into dressing up as Cupid today, but he wouldn't go for it - his school has imposed a strict no Valentine's celebration policy this year which is a little sad.

Off to think about dinner for my sweethearts!

1st birthday cards

OK, to clarify the title - these aren't the 1st birthday cards I've ever made, but cards for a 1st birthday!

We know a couple of really cute kids - boy/girl twins - that just turned one!

I made them each a card using the My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club sketch 57:

Is it obvious which is baby girl & which is baby boy {grin}?

I used mostly My Minds Eye papers - some if it might even qualify as vintage because it is pretty old. There is also a bit of Little Yellow Bicycle paper on the baby girl card. I replaced the flower embellishment with a pinwheel on both cards and added brads & pearls.

The inside stamp is from Papertrey Ink. I won't tell you how much time I spent cutting the text paper to avoid the word "diva" on the baby girl card. I couldn't avoid it on the front of the card, so really didn't want to highlight it again as part of the sentiment!

Someone is bugging me for the computer, so I have to run.

the challenge of making a composite self portrait

The first assignment for my Color & Design class was to create a composite self portrait using at least 2 images from pieces of art by well known artists. We had studio time yesterday to work on it, but I'd come into class with a pretty clear idea of what I wanted to do - my biggest challenge was deciding on a background.

The well known art images I used were:

Kazimir Malevich's Women in the Farm

Salvador Dali's The Persistence of Memory

Damien Hirst'sValium

I was really looking for a coastal image to use as the background for my self portrait, but couldn't find anything that didn't have print in all the wrong places (we were using magazines for these images).

Talking with the instructor helped with the balance - she suggested trimming the final product to create a longer, thinner final image (I was hung up on the assignment saying produce an 8x10 image). So, instead of trying to place things to cover the print on the page, I cut it right off the page, moving "me" onto a better position on the path.

I had one little piece of print on the page that I covered by paperpiecing a plant from another page - still need to do the same for the barrel cactus in the bottom left corner.

I know I'll be playing around with this a bit before next Friday - I love the Damien Hirst Valium and used it to represent my head being filled with color and ideas. Because the image in real life is massive, there is a massive burst of color when you see it - when shrunk down to "head size" the color is really lost and doesn't work the way I want it too.

Is it a bit ironic that I was drawn to the Malevich and Hirst because of the strong, bold use of color and shape, but have taken pieces and used them in a way that removes most of the color!?

I do love the Dali pocket watches drapped over the rocks & hanging from the trees - at least that element is working better just as I wanted.

Busy day today - 1st birthday party for boy/girl twins and a class at Paper Tales!