ahhhh..........

The weather is wonderful

Wish you were here

                                                    

a teeny tiny frustration

In my last post I mentioned that I don't do inchies. But since I would like to have a complete set of Jingle Belle inspired cards I did manage to make one inchie last night.  This does not count for the challenge but it does count as one more holiday card I won't have to make in December.

a little piece of paper ....

a few little burlap threads from a tattered beach bag...

a little glitter...

Ta Da !   Inchie  !

Now I had to build a card around it.

 So I took a few little words from a sheet of rub-ons

I placed the little words on a tag

Then the inchie found its home on the tag

some more burlap...( bye bye beach bag)

and a few snowflake rub-ons....

then the tag found a home on a card

The inside:

just add paint

I am new to  blog challenges and I must admit it is harder than I thought to keep up with the weekly themes.  A few weeks ago I accepted the challenge to create a Christmas card very week. Week one went off without a hitch. Ok, I thought, I can do this. 
Week two.......inchies........aarrgghh!
 I don't do inchies..
.....they are tiny little critters and drive me up a wall. They are way too small for my big ideas.

 Every now and then you can squeeze an ATC out of me but never an inchie!   So I passed on week two.
Two weeks in and I am already a drop out.  not good at all. 

Now here we are at week three and they...the Jingle Belles....throw curve ball.  It seems another blogger has started a challenge blog called...   UPC  -  use,practice,create.     The Jingle Belles decided to base this weeks challenge on UPC's challenge and we were to create a card using acrylic paints.

I use acrylic paint on canvas, in journals, in collages and on larger paper projects. But I don't think I have ever used acrylic paint on a greeting card.   Okay I can do this.

One of my favorite paint techniques envolves the use of a paper towel in which paint is removed .....well here are the steps:

you'll need  a paper towel with a deep "quilted" design

 paint an even layer of paint on your surface...I am using snowflake paper

 Lay the paper towel down on the wet paint and evenly pat it down

 now working quickly , peel the paper towel off the paint

This is using white paint...see the texture? 

When it dries it is transparent enough to see the patterned paper .....this photo is the best I could get (sorry)

Here I painted a white layer of paint and allowed it to dry.

Then added a layer of green, then the paper towel.

See how the dots are left behind?   I LOVE that ! 

 This is the reverse...green then white. Same two colors with different results.

 Since I had all this paper and more white paint on my brush, I painted a very thin layer of white on the patterened paper. I love how the pattern shows through the paint.

Once I had all this, I cut  into 2 inch squares and pieced them together. I added a sticker and ribbon to make the card

 the inside:

Then while I was on a roll I decided to tackle last week's challenge again and made an inchie inspired card

                                                     I'll show you how I made it in this post



  You can read all about this weeks challenge here...   Jingle Belles # 3  and if you're ready to use all those supplies in your studio check out Tyygereye's challenge here...  UPC  Use  -  Practice  -  Create. 

  

Too much time on my hands

So what happens when a papercrafter finds herself with time on her hands?

She makes something.
  

Since I had not put away the supplies from the card I had made a few days ago..... (see previous post) I decided to make another.  I used the same supplies so I won't list them again.  Only this time I changed a few things.

And.........since I have a whole ton of time on my hands at the moment,  I decided to show you each step.

First I had to dismantle a few 3D embellishments.

I used those two parts and a balsa wood snowflake to make this:

I love the embellishments as they are, but sometimes I like to take them apart and rearrange the pieces. I also removed a layer of that pop up sticky stuff in order to be able to actually mail this card someday.

I set that aside and moved on to make the card. I layered the paper to a piece of cream card stock sponged the edges of the card base with  ink.   Both inside and outside.

Then I added crocheted lace and ....

one piece of gold trimmed ribbon.....

one piece of red ribbon....

and another piece of gold trimmed ribbon....

  

After that it gets pretty ordinary......
...........since the dogs were bugging me to go out for a walk.

 I added the snowflake and Seasons greetings and a bit off holly that I dissected from the 3D embellishments,  and scraps of the gold trimmed ribbon .    To get to this:

After the walk I played with the inside and came up with this:

Then just for grins I created a collage ......just because I had taken so many photos.

If  you want to know why I am making Christmas Cards so soon after Christmas.....
........just blame these gals at   jingle belles

since I still have time on my hands I think I'll go clean a bathroom.   I promise I won't take photos.

Marianne

The "DO" date

pro⋅cras⋅ti⋅nate [proh-kras-tuh-neyt]

verb

to defer action; delay: to procrastinate until an opportunity is lost.
to put off till another day or time; defer; delay.
to put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness.
to postpone or delay needlessly.


I see alot of people posting their New Years Resolutions and one of the words I see most is procrastinate.
Everyone wants to stop doing it.
In some ways I do procrastinate. But while doing it I DO get alot of other things done. Worthwhile things like ..... caring for my dogs, long phone conversations with my good friends, spending quality time with my family,

The way I see it the things I procrastinate on are probably things I didn't want to do in the first place.

So then ....what's the big deal?

I have an old friend who is the happiest woman I know. One day I asked her what her secret to happiness is. She said.  ...   and I quote....

 "I figured out what I don't want to do, and I don't do it... I don't even pretend I want do it, or say that someday I will do it. I just don't do it...period .  !  .    "

She has a wonderful way of saying things, don't you think?

I try to follow this philosophy in most things and delegate alot of stuff to Lifeguard.....He's a workaholic and loves to do stuff. And it's great that he'll do things that I hate to do....like pay the bills, etc.

Now on the other hand there are things I want to do and will do...... someday...... I will get around to those eventually. I just keep moving the " DO date "   I will eventually start posting on my other, very dusty blogs.
As soon as I settle into a new...

          " i don't have to leave my house to go to work anymore "

                                                ... routine.

Have a peaceful day

Marianne