Reclaiming My Mojo

I can not believe it has been nearly six weeks since my last post and the summer is nearly gone. Time does not fly. On a slow day it careens past us at breakneck speed . At other times it moves so quickly it can not be seen by the naked eye. And yet it happens every day. That must explain why I look in the mirror and don't recognize the woman who looks like my mother and wonder what happened to the real me.

In the meantime I've been very busy with my garden, which always brings me great joy, and I've been trying to get back into a crafting groove. To that end I have been creating cards as well as some little embellishments. One of the recurring motifs of this summer has been the dragonfly. I have never seen so many dragonflies in my garden as I have seen this year. They are unsurpassed in number and size as evidenced by the photo of a huge dragonfly that visited me last month (Beautiful colors on the body, don't you think?). I love the look of dragonflies and in the past have purchased rubber stamps and embellishments of dragonflies to use in my crafting. This time I thought I would try my hand and creating my own little dragonflies embellishments. Using a paper punch, I punch out several dragonflies from acetate and colored the wings with Stazon solvent ink. I punched out more dragonflies from card stock, cut off the wings and colored details onto the bodies with gel pens. Then I glued the paper bodies onto the acetate dragonflies and bent the wings up at a slight angle. Voila! Little dragonflies that measure only one inch square.



I also created a card for an upcoming challenge card swap with Oriental Stamp Art Yahoo Group. The challenge was to create a card with only the colors black and turquoise. I love limited color challenges so I signed up and created the card you see below. I stamped the envelope with watermark ink and dusted it with blue-green pigment powder. The subtle sheen changes from blue to green as you move the image in the light.





In a departure from the standard A2 sized cards (4.25 x 5.5 inches) I usually make, I have begun using a smaller 3.5 x 5 inch format which lends itself very well to a quick and informal kind of note. It so happens I have a box of blank cards waiting for embellishment so when the mood strikes me, I just grab one or more and I can start crafting. The other two cards on this page were the result of these creative urges. In both cases I used items from my stash of supplies that been seldom used in the past so I'm starting to rediscover the treasures hiding in my drawers and closets.

My intention is to continue on this creative bent and get back to the level I had reached a few years ago. It was a fulfilling, joyful and magical time for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Really now, who wouldn't like a little more joy and magic in their lives? I hope you'll come along for the ride.

Ballo ergo sum

- Gitana, the Creative Diva

An Unconventional Valentine's Day Card

(Click on the picture to view a large image.)

2012 - a dramatically different color scheme

When you think of Valentine's Day, you think of pink and red hearts, right? Yeah, me too, but this year I wanted to do something a little different for my seniors. Our Valentine's Day projects for the past two years, as seen below, have included the mandatory red and pink hearts. This time I wanted to give an unexpected twist to our craft project. While this year's card sports the obligatory hearts and flowers my ladies know and love, the color scheme is anything but conventional. Inspired by a beautiful piece of specialty paper in shades of turquoise and purple , I designed a card that really played up those colors. I will admit that, at first, I wasn't too thrilled with the way this card was turning out but the more I worked on it, the more it grew on me and now I'm very pleased with the final outcome.

Our very first project from 2010

2011's hanging ornament

The colors are not the only things different about this card. You can't really tell from the photo but this is not a foldover card, it's an insertion card. What I mean is that there is only a front and a back to this card, like a postcard. It doesn't open up. You have to turn it around to see what is written on the other side. This will be a bit of a departure for these ladies accustomed to the more conventional type of card.

For this project I had my DrawPlus graphic software and my eCraft electronic cutter working overtime. The heart is crafted of four different layers stacked upon one another. Each of these layers had to be designed and cut separately. It took quite a few attempts to get the lighter blue trellis-like layer to cut correctly, after which I had to manually poke out all the little holes in between the mesh. Once the heart was completed, cutting the rest of the card elements was a piece of cake. The tiny tag was just the perfect size for a kiss print rubber stamp that I've had for the longest time. I deliberately left off any overt references to Valentine's Day because I wanted this project to convey the universal aspect of love over the celebration of one calendar day. This card could just as easily be used to congratulate a newly engaged couple or be sent as a quick hello to a cherished grandchild. Although I admit that the swirls and flowers lend a very feminine air, the color scheme would suit a young man. I'm sure the ladies will love it.

Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva