Getting Into a Small Creative Groove

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I've been pretty busy lately doing a whole lot of creative things that have nothing to do with my crafting. This is the time of year that consumes me with preparing my vegetable and flower gardens...gardens that are not confined by the limited plot of dirt I have to cultivate but that spill over into every conceivable pot and receptacle I have. Then there is the business of spring cleaning which, when you have a dog that constantly sheds, never ends. And then there is my baking, something my family and I have been enjoying immensely for the past several months. There is never a lack of bread or cookies in this house. As satisfying as these endeavors may be, they can not substitute for the singular enjoyment I experience when I sit at my crafts table with paper, rubber stamps, ink and imagination. This week I carved out a few slivers of time and played for the first time in many months.

The pieces you see here are smaller than my usual creations. The card top left is only 3.5' x 5", smaller than my preferred A2 size of 4.25" x 5.5". The central motif was created on a 1.75" x 2.75" card by masking out the moon and brayering different colors of ink to create the background. The mask is removed, the bonsai branches are stamped in black and the edges are sponged with black ink. This layer is adhered to black cardstock just a scant 1/16" larger all around, creating a thin black frame. The turquoise layer is stamped with an Asian text rubber stamp using a glue pad. Ultrafine black glitter is sprinkled over the glue and set with an artist's fixative. This is also layered onto a thin black frame which is  gilded along the edges with a paint pen. Gold bamboo motif outline stickers and tiny hot glue rhinestones asymmetrically frame the central motif which is centered on a black card.

To the right you will see the results of a random moment of inspiration. This is an ATC tri-shutter card. Although I have made tri-shutters before (see here and here for my previous examples), they were always in the standard A2 size. This tri-shutter, when closed (as in the top photo), is no bigger than an ATC, measuring 2.5" x 3.5". I placed a quarter next to the closed card to show the scale of the completed work. It took a little imagination and a good measure of fractional math in order to adapt the full size template of this layout down to this size but I think the result is quite pleasing. No extraordinary efforts here...just basic black stamping on card stock with a little die cut butterfly, some white gel pen accents and some tiny rhinestones.

It feels good to manipulate the paper again. Now to find the time to do so on a more regular basis.


Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

Sipping from the Well

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It seems like such a long time since I've sat down to create a card solely for myself, not because I had to create a project for the seniors or had some upcoming event that needed a gift card but something purely to soothe my creative beast. A recent trawl on various websites allowed me to drink in the beauty of and draw inspiration from the artistic work of others.

I truly love the simplicity of black and white, silhouette images and bare hints of color so I created the cards at right using elements composited from other cards I found online. The butterfly is an SVG cut file I created for my eCraft electronic cutter. It's body is glued down and embellished with rhinestone trim while the wings are lifted up off the paper giving a three dimensional effect. The stamped swirls were created using Inkadinkado's Flourishes clear stamp set 97618. Tim Holtz's distress inks (Old Paper, Crushed Olive) and Memories dye ink (Baby Blue)  were used to add the subtle color around the edges of the white paper. The tiniest rhinestone bling I could find was used to accent the corners of the butterfly square and a few curlicues in the swirls. A black satin ribbon tied in a bow pulls the whole thing together.

It was immensely satisfying to work solely for myself. I certainly hope to do more of this in the near future.

Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva