OSA Swaps and Challenges

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OSA Crane Swap 2014

OSA Layout Challenge #263

One of the challenges of working from home is the lack of interaction with other like-minded individuals from whom you can learn and draw inspiration as well as share ideas, news and techniques. Years ago, in an effort to combat this artistic isolation, I became a member of Oriental Stamp Arts Yahoo Group, a wonderful group of people who share a love of rubberstamping, card making and Oriental motifs. These people are wonderfully supportive and welcoming to everyone, no matter what their level of expertise, something I sorely needed when I was a newbie to the world of rubber stamping techniques. 

One of the great things about the group is the card swaps and layout challenges that are held on a weekly and monthly basis. This gives those of us who wish to participate the opportunity to practice our craft and share our work with others of our ilk. Recently I have tried to participate as much as I can in order to get my idle hands back into the rhythm of papercrafting and you can see those efforts in my previous posts here and here. Above are photos of my most recent cards. The green crane card was made for a swap in which I had to make four identical cards with a crane motif and send them to the swap hostess. In return I will receive crane cards from four other artists participating in the swap. In this manner we are able to physically exchange,or swap, our work. It's a great way to compare your work against that of others and see what techniques others use to create their cards.

The butterfly card was made for a weekly challenge in which we had to create a card that conformed to a layout selected by the challenge hostess. These challenges involve photographing our work and posting them on the OSA Yahoo group site for all to see and comment. No physical swapping of cards occurs. It never ceases to amaze me how many different interpretations people can come up with, some of which would never occur to me. It's a great way to learn new things.

I hope to participate in more swaps and challenges as time permits and I will post those images here. If you have any questions about the materials or techniques I used to create a card, please feel free to send me a message and I'll be happy to answer your questions. 

Until then, happy crafting. 

Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

Trying To Get Back Into the Swing of Things

OSA Challenge #260

OSA Challenge #258

 I haven't been playing as much in my craft room as I prefer to and, frankly, I have missed it terribly. Life just kept getting in my way, focusing my attention on things other than my crafting. Recently I have been making a dedicated effort to making at least one card a week, just to keep my hands and mind moving. Sometimes, though, try as I might, I have a hard time coming up with an idea for a card and I end up wasting a whole lot of time futzing around and not coming up with anything. It was time to call in the reinforcements which, in this case, meant drawing on my network of fellow card makers at the Oriental Stamp Art (OSA) Yahoo Group that I haven't reached out to in years. There is a weekly layout challenge that gives you either a theme or an actual layout to use as inspiration in creating a card that is Oriental in nature and contains at least one stamped image. This is exactly what I needed, something to get my creative juices flowing and keep me focused on completing a project without having to come up with something totally new and original on my own.

OSA Challenge #259

Here you see my interpretations for the last three weekly challenges. I loved doing them and the regulars in the group welcomed me back with open arms and hearty compliments on my work. This is exactly the jump start I needed to keep my engine running. It felt so good to create something. Too good perhaps because life jumped up in my face again with more plans to divert my attention. This time it was flooding in my basement work room...three times in a week. Let's see how I can juggle this latest challenge and still find a bit of time to craft.

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

My Thursday Tip

Oriental Stamp Arts, the Yahoo group to which I belong, solicits tips and tricks from its members every Thursday. One tip is selected from among the entries for a weekly prize. One recent tip that I submitted was seen by Nancie Waterman, the editor of Vamp Stamps News (http://www.vampstampnews.com) who contacted me for permission to publish my tip in the June 2010 issue which I granted. I never thought my little tip, discovered quite by chance, would garner so much attention. Read it below.

When using acrylic stamps, I have found that when I'm stamping a verse or image that is long and thin, it is difficult to get the stamp to cling in a straight line. It always seems to curve ever so slightly up or down when I try to lay it on the mount. By chance I discovered that if I lay the stamp face down on my cutting mat, the grid lines help me align the stamp properly. Then all I have to do is lower the stamp mount onto the stamp and, presto, it's straight.

I hope you find it helpful. Thanks for stopping by.

Ballo ergo sum- Gitana, the Creative Diva