Creating heals. Sorta...

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So I've been sick for the last four days with what is either a very bad cold or a very mild flu. It isn't bad enough to keep me totally bedridden but it's annoying enough to leave me without much energy. I had to forgo my dance class today, something I really didn't want to do, which underscores the level to which I am sick. Next to nothing keeps me from a dance class. Thankfully I have been lucid enough at times to venture into my craft workshop and make up a couple of cards.

"Celebrate You" was created in honor of my sister and brother-in-law's 29th wedding anniversary. It was made in shades of white and iridescent ivory and accented with tiny bits of black and gold bling. Materials used were: Spellbinders Borderabilities A2 Curved Borders One die, Memory Box Vivienne Butterfly die (style #98265), Stampin' Up Elegant Lines Embossing Folder (retired), Celebrate You stamp by Stampin' Up (retired). Flowers, pearls and mini bling from my stash.

"Center Your Heart" was created for the Oriental Stamp Art (OSA) Yahoo Group's weekly layout challenge. The challenge for this week was to create a card similar to this one that also adhered to the basic rules for the weekly challenge, those being that the card must be Oriental in nature and must contain at least one stamped image. This was my best attempt. Actually it was my only attempt. I was lightheaded and fatigued as a result of my not-quite-the-flu symptoms but I liked the challenge so much that I muddled through until I finished it. I'm so glad I did. Creating a card, however simple, gives me a satisfying feeling of accomplishment. It goes a long way to combating the feelings of uselessness I get from spending a day slopping about in pajamas and generally feeling like...like...bleeechh!

Yeah, okay. It's time for me to crawl back into bed again.

Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

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

OSA Crane Swap – 2014

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As I said in one of my recent posts, I'm making an effort to create more cards through the OSA weekly layout challenge. (Click here to read that post.) Each week a winner is randomly chosen from the participants in that week's challenge to win a small prize. My card at right featuring the Asian fans was chosen as a winner and my prize was a set of acrylic stamps from Mark's Finest Papers and Stamps (Birds of the Orient 2014) that featured cranes and Asian kanji symbols. Inasmuch as I only had one crane stamp that had already gotten quite a bit of use, I was thrilled to receive some more cranes. In order to put some mileage on my new stamps, I was invited to join OSA's Crane Swap 2014 by its hostess, Margo Seegrist.  Below is the card I created for this swap. This card also gave me the opportunity to work with a wonderful new cutting die I recently purchased. The details on all the materials used in this card are below. 

Please feel free to comment below if you have any questions on how either of these cards was created. I love getting feedback. 

OSA Crane Swap – 2014

Stamps:

  Crane, kanji: Birds of the Orient 2014, Mark’s Finest Papers & Stamps

  Bamboo:  Asian Influences, Inkadinkado #97616

Ink:

  Versafine Onyx Black

  Whispers Apple Green

  Versamark Dazzle Champagne

Flourish die cut: Viney Swirl, Hot Off The Press #5319

Polka Dot Background: Michael Miller Memories Fabric Paper (discontinued)

Base Card: Die Cuts With A View Street Lace Box of Cards

Self Adhesive rhinestones in various sizes

Ballo ergo sum

- Gitana, the Creative Diva

OSA Weekly Challenge #261 - Sunburst

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This week's Oriental Stamp Art weekly challenge was to create a card using a sunburst or starburst pattern. I chose a pallette of cream, gold and black. I created the rays out of various papers in shades of cream and placed them on a gold paper with an embossed brocade pattern allowing the gold underneath to show between the rays. The coin pattern was stamped in clear Versamark watermarking ink and dusted with gold Pearl-Ex pigment powder to echo the look of the three Asian coins in the central motif. What I like about this pattern is that it can be used in either portrait or landscape orientation as I've shown here.


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

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

OSA Layout Challenge Cards

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 In spite of the grueling schedule I have had to keep at work this past week, I managed to eke out  time to craft some cards for the weekly Oriental Stamp Arts challenges. I consider it art therapy to battle work-related stress.

For the card on the left, OSA Challenge #173, our challenge was to create a window card according to the layout provided.  This is a card with an aperture cut out to reveal part of the inner card design. For my card I chose fans and gingko leaves. They are a natural pair inasmuch as they have the same general shape. I stenciled the gingko leaves on the outer card layer using a 6" x 6" template from The Crafter's Workshop. The fans stamped on the inside of the card were colored with Prismacolor art pencils and highlighted with glittery gel pens. The fans were then masked and sponged with ink to create the soft green shading all around them.

For OSA Challenge #174, we were asked to make a card using a printed napkin as part of the decorative elements of the card. I decided to give myself a double challenge by also creating a card in a out-of-the-ordinary format. Because I enjoyed creating the twisted easel card for my daughter's graduation so much, I decided to use that format again. I am very happy with the way this card turned out and apparently the moderator for the OSA weekly challenges liked it enough to make the twisted easel format the subject of OSA Challenge #175.

I chose a circular rice paper napkin with a beautiful blue floral border for my card, spray glued it to a piece of white card stock, cut it into quarters and trimmed close to the edge of the image. A piece of gold-dotted handmade paper was layered onto the top of the card and a quarter of the napkin glued on top of it, trimming it as necessary to create the look as seen in the photo to the left. My biggest challenge was trying to get the flowers on the inside of the card to form a continuous semicircular image. I ended up cutting out and individually placing flowers for optimal results. I managed to use to rosebuds from the image as the stops for the upper 'easel' panel by placing foam squares behind them. The kanji symbol for summer on the upper panel is echoed by its English translation on the lower panel. Strategically placed gold Asian motif stickers, as well as some tiny golden dragonflies, coordinate well with the gold dotted background.

The beautiful butterfly is cut with coordinating Memory Box dies, one for the upper veins and another for the lower body. The body was cut from blue card stock and colored with pigment inks and gel pens. When I first got these dies, I loved them so much I cut and colored a bunch of butterflies just for the love of it so all I had to do was reach into my RTU (ready to use) stash and pick one out for this card.

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

Getting Back Into The Swing Of Things

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My two year stint as the arts and crafts instructor at the Dorchester Senior Citizens' Center was a wonderful experience. Working with and getting to know those seniors was truly inspirational as well as educational. I learned much about the process of conceiving, creating and implementing a crafting session but I think I learned even more from the seniors themselves. This period was an investment of time and effort that rewarded me over and over again. I have been blessed me with many new friends and it is a time I will never forget.

There was one downside to this experience. The time and energy I expended on the senior crafting projects meant there was less time for me to create for myself and engage in the artistic comradeship I enjoyed with my fellow members of the Oriental Stamp Art Yahoo Group. Participating in swaps and weekly challenges was something I had truly enjoyed and sorely missed. Now that I am no longer crafting for the senior center, I have more time to spend in those pursuits that I enjoy and so I have stuck a creative toe back in the water and have begun participating in the weekly challenges again. So far I have done two challenges (see photos) and already I can feel that familiar feeling of creative electricity coursing through me. I am looking forward to participating in some swaps in the future and continuing my artistic journey to wherever it may take me.

Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

Stretching My Creative Wings

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As a new design team member for About Art Accents, I am sent rubber stamps with which to create artwork that is then featured on the AAA website. Because I have no choice in what images are sent to me, I invariably receive stamps that I would not necessarily have chosen for myself. This actually turns out to be a good thing because it forces me to think outside my comfortable box and come up with fresh ideas. That was the case with these two stamps.

These cards were created with About Art Accents rubber stamp images. The upper image is AAA plate #246 - Gnarled Pine Tree. The lower image is AAA Plate #246 - Umbrella People. They were created using totally different techniques. "Gnarled Pine" was done using brayering, masking, sponging and reverse stamping techniques. "Stormy Day" uses chalking, masking, coloring and wet embossing. Although I have used those techniques before, I haven't used images like these before. They strike me as moody, evocative and strong, lending themselves well to being used as focal images.

It never ceases to amaze me that when I'm not totally comfortable or pleased with a piece of my work, it tends to turn out better than I expected. That was the case with these two cards and with "Stormy Day" in particular. I had never before attempted to make a "wet" card, that is to say one that simulated wetness, in this case, rain and puddles. Although I have created clouds before, I've never made storm clouds. In spite of stumbling about a bit on this first effort. I think I managed to accomplish it well enough that I am pleased with it. Several of my fellow members of the Oriental Stamp Art (OSA) Yahoo group I belong to seem to agree and have asked me to describe how I did it. To that end I have created a document outlining the steps I used to create the clouds, the shadowy reflections on the ground and the raindrops. If you are interested, just send me an email requesting the Stormy Day tutorial and I'll be happy to send it to you. My email address is gypsiwoman55@yahoo.com. Thanks for your interest.


Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva
Design Team member for About Art Accents

It's Been an Exciting Month!

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This month has been an unexpected whirlwind for me. In September I wrote about a card I created for a challenge swap being voted first place by my peers in the Oriental Stamp Art Yahoo group I belong to. (You can read that post here for some background info.) Well, this month I had the unrivaled thrill of being notified by the editor of Vamp Stamp News (www.vampstampnews.com) that this card was also chosen for publication in their December 2009 issue! I was over the moon. First time one of my cards was submitted for publication, it was chosen. As if that wasn't unbelievable enough, it got even better. It wasn't just chosen for publication, it was chosen for the front cover! AMAZING! The owner/moderator of the OSA group who submitted the cards on behalf of the members told me that no one EVER gets published on their first time out, much less on the cover. What a rush!

But wait...there's more. Lightning struck twice. Within days of this news, another of my cards that was submitted for publication was chosen by yet another magazine, Rubber Stamp Madness (www.rsmadness.com)! That's two cards chosen for publication by two different magazines. I'm still reeling from all this.

I'm including images of the two cards chosen for publication. The Holiday Tri-Shutter card appears in the December 2009 issue of Vamp Stamp News. The other card, featuring two figures walking together, will appear in Rubber Stamp Madness' Spring issue scheduled for release in January.

Hmmm, I just noticed something. Both cards are green. I guess that must be my lucky color.




Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

Passport Invitation

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It seems as if my life is being carried in a small boat along a fast moving stream. So much has happened in the last month that I have not had time to post on my blogs or participate in any of the challenges hosted by the online groups to which I belong. Fortunately my little boat is not sailing without a rudder so I can keep myself from capsizing into the rapids.

One of the big events for me was being contracted by a returning client to produce invitations for her annual client event. Her invitations are always tied into the theme of the event and are intended to set the mood from its receipt. This year's theme is adventure so I came up with the concept of creating a passport document to act as the invitation. A specific color palette was requested and you can see two of those colors in the photo above. Although the concept was easy enough, designing it proved to be somewhat more challenging than I expected but after two weeks of brainstorming I prevailed.

When I presented the prototypes to my client and her assistant, they were completely bowled over. They particularly liked the small details I used to convey the idea of adventure and travel throughout the document. In years past the order was for 50 invites. This year's order was doubled! This presented a double challenge for me; 1) I now had to produce twice as many cards, a substantial task when you consider they are all made completely by hand and 2) I had to do it in less time than I had in the past because the process began later this year. Regardless, I am up to the challenge and am enjoying it immensely.

To see additional photos of this card, click here to go to my Photobucket album where you'll find photos of my other cards as well.


Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

Birthday Swan

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I have a number of birthdays coming up in the next couple of months that I will be making cards for. One of those is that of my parents who happen to share the same birthday. I find it difficult to create a card that would be suitable for both of them since they have different preferences as to colors and motifs. What is suitable for one may not be to the others liking.

Paper Craft Planet, one of the papercrafting sites I belong to, offers a weekly sketch challenge for its members to participate in. Although I haven't taken part in one of PCP's challenges for a while, I decided to create a birthday card using the sketch that was featured. I chose bold colors, something that would appeal to my father, and a beautiful swan image that is sure to please my mother.

Although I'm not featuring this card in a tutorial, here are some of the details of its creation. The layout is simple enough to figure out on your own.

Material Details:
- Patterned cardstock: DCWV Taj Mahal Mat Stack
- Embossing pattern: Cuttlebug "Swiss Dots" embossing folder
- Swan image: Stamp Zia
- Gold corner and sentiment stickers: Jeje Produkts, Netherlands

Coloring Details:
- The shimmery swan was painted with US ArtQuest Stargazers Watercolor Palette in Nova White.
- The balance of the image was colored with Prismacolor Premier Coloring Pencils and blended with odorless mineral spirits (OMS) and a blending stump. Colors used were:
*Violet Blue (top peak and bottom wave)
*True Blue and Light Cerulean Blue (water)
*Orange (beak)
*Goldenrod and Canary Yellow (sky)

A few notes:
- The swan appears to be surrounded by a golden yellow mat. In fact the image was embossed with black embossing powder onto a golden mustard colored cardstock (CS) which was trimmed about 1/4" from the image, giving the appearance of a separate mat. The Prismacolor pencils were laid down and blended on this mustard paper. In spite of the colored background, the Prismacolors laid down true, even color (an advantage to using quality products).
- The mat layer behind the swan is navy blue CS oversprayed with Krylon Webbing Spray in Gold. The next mat layer is gold paper with a satin sheen.
- The blue panel with the raised embossed dots is edged with a gold paint marker.
- This was created as a card front that was subsequently adhered to a base card cut from Astrobrights Gold CS (not visible in photo).

If you have any questions about this card, feel free to contact me at gypsiwoman55@yahoo.com. I'd love to hear from you. I'd also be pleased if you would leave a comment below. Thanks for stopping by.


Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

Tri-Shutter Card

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One of the crafts groups I belong to offers a weekly layout challenge where its members are invited to create a card according to a featured layout. This week's challenge is called a tri-shutter card, an interesting bit of paper engineering that offers myriad possibilities for decorating. Splitcoast Stampers has a great tutorial for this card and you can see it here.

For my first attempt I created a card for my daughter's friend who has been like family to her during their first summer as camp counselors. I was told the young miss prefers "red and green, like Christmas" as her colors of choice so, armed with that information, I began to create. After staring blankly at the paper for an eternity this is what I came up. After all was said and done, I liked it.

The embossed textures and large flowers were done with Cuttlebug folders and dies. The ovals on the front were cut with Nestabilities dies. It is difficult to see from the photo but the red scalloped oval is flocked, giving it a velvety texture. That was achieved with Fun Flock. It is embellished with self-adhesive rhinestones that I picked up at a local 99 cent store. My thanks to Annette Warkentin at About Art Accents for the sentiment stamp which I received as a generous freebie from her. (She's got beautiful stamps and other goodies at her site. Definitely check it out.)

The smaller flowers and leaves were cut with the Empunchlar hand punch system (I don't recommend this particular punch as it has limited functionality). The swirls and flourishes were hand-drawn with gel pens.

Now that I have cut my teeth on this particular layout, I think I will create another one and submit it to the weekly challenge. That one has to have an Asian theme so this red/green card doesn't qualify. No matter, I'll just have to start crafting again. Yippee!

Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

The Joys of Card Swapping and RTU's

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When I was first introduced to the world of online craft groups, I was interested in the practice of swap challenges. This is when participants create an item according to certain guidelines such as specified color(s), theme, layout, technique, etc. It was an opportunity for us crafters to try something new, share it with others of our own ilk and get some feedback on our work. The group I was member of for nearly two years recently shut down and its moderator suggested we join Paper Craft Planet if we were interested in continuing to swap, a suggestion which I took. In the past two weeks I have participated in two challenges and the results are pictured here. These are all examples of challenges where you have to create a card based on a specified layout or "sketch". The first two cards were created for the same challenge. You can see how the placement of the elements in both cards is the same but the colors and themes are totally different. The third card is for a different sketch challenge that required that the central element be a heart in addition to using the specified layout.

This last card is an excellent example of how you can use little things you may have laying around in your craft stash to create a beautiful card. I like to experiment with different techniques and new materials in order to get a feel for them. Some of my efforts end up in the trash but some of them I like so much that I can't bear to toss them even though they were meant only for practice. I call those pieces RTU which means Ready-To-Use. That is the case with the inked and embossed chipboard heart on this card. It was a successful experiment that was lying around in my stash and perfectly fit in with the requirements of this particular sketch challenge. The polka dot ribbon came from last year's box of Valentine's chocolates and the velveteen stripes were created with redline tape and Fun Flock over striped wallpaper.

Are you a crafter? Do you have a stash of RTU's waiting to be "discovered", or perhaps you have already created works of beauty using little bits of this and that? If you have a photo gallery with pictures of your work, please share them with me through your commnents. I'd love to see them. Thanks.

Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva