Sometimes It's The Little Things...

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Have you ever had one of those "DUH" moments when you slap yourself on the side of the head? You know, one of those "Shoulda had a V-8" moments when something so simple and obvious has eluded you and you've just noticed it? Yeah, we all have. Well, I just had one of those moments and I wanted to share it with you.

My computer has a bunch of different external drives: two CD/DVD drives, a personal backup drive, several memory card drives, not to mention a couple of internal drives. Each drive has a different name -- C drive, D drive, L drive, etc.. This makes for a versatile computer. It also makes for one that can make you a little nuts when you're trying to figure out which drive is which on your directory tree.

For years I've been using trial-and-error to find the right drive for one purpose or another but I've just found a super simple way to avoid all that angst. All it took was sticking some self-adhesive letters on the front of each external drive. Now each drive is identified with its own name and I won't have to play "eenie-meenie-miney-moe" anymore when trying to distinguish them. Now why didn't I think of that sooner.

DUH!!

Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

Staying on the Good Foot

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I've been trying hard to keep up with the weekly Card Layout Challenges sponsored by the Oriental Stamp Arts Yahoo Group I belong to but the demands of my job are leaving me with little time and energy for fun things like crafting. I did  manage to complete challenges #171 (top) and #172 (bottom). As always, my style is simple and clean. With images that represent the Asian cultures I believe this is the best approach. I love the simple elegance of Asian motifs so I tend to keep the elements somewhat spare to allow the natural beauty to be seen.

OSA Challenge #17

Challenge #171 required the use of three squares of different sizes to be placed slightly off center with an embellishment of some sort across the top of the card. As I suspected, most participants in the challenge either used three squares of differently patterned paper or stamped three different images on each square. I chose to keep it simple, using a small yellow-green polka dot pattern paper and sponging a slightly darker shade of green ink around the edges of the three squares before arranging them. Then I stamped one image over the three squares. Of course the image did not stamp cleanly, leaving little gaps where the papers overlapped, so I filled in the gaps with a black marker. The swirled background and bamboo branches along the left edge were all stamped with various shades of green. In spite of the multiple patterns on the paper, the overall composition looks light and airy due to its pale monochomatic scheme.

OSA Challenge #172

For the layout in Challenge #172, I turned it on its side and used it in a portrait orientation instead of the original landscape orientation. Again the use of colors is minimal -- black, creamy white and a vintage beige. The background is a piece of pattern  paper that looks like an old Chinese newspaper. The layout required a panel with a verse or sentiment and an embellishment that was anything BUT paper. I chose narrow satin ribbons in black and creamy white and knotted them together in a simple yet interesting way to really play up the contrast of the ribbons against the background and against each other. The kanji symbols in the text box are actually three small stamps that I placed side by side, held together tightly and stamped them all at the same time. I sponged Distress Ink (color - Old paper) which perfectly matched the look of the background around the edges of the white panel and also around the background panel for a subtle effect. The wispy little branch stamp was embossed with superfine embossing powder to make the color really vibrant and contrast strongly against the patterned background. In spite of the strong contrasts, nothing in this layout is overpowering. Everything seems to be working together in perfect balance and harmony.

Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

Less Is More

I'm not known for my simple designs. Seems I begin with all good intentions to keep things simple then I find myself going and going, not knowing when to stop and having a ball in the process. This time I think I may have accomplished that elusive task of creating something simple without it being boring.

The central motif was accomplished with a cut-and-fold template by POP-UPS by Plane Class (www.popuptemplates.com) and double-sided paper. In this example I used plain paper, red on one side, white on the other. There are double-sided papers made for this type of application. What is important is that the paper is text weight, NOT card weight, or else the folding won't be as crisp. This panel was adorned with stickers and adhered onto navy blue card stock. All gold stickers from StarForms, Netherlands.

There is no multiple matting, no stamping, no embossing, no distressing, no fancy or extraneous anything. Just three ingredients: paper, stickers, card stock. It doesn't come any simpler.

Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva