Kraft card

Long time, no see, right?  I've come to the conclusion that my life is in a place right now where I have to forgive myself if I sometimes go a week and a half without a blog post.  Sometimes other things have to come first, and if those things are making me feel overwhelmed, I find my time in my craft room being more like "organize and stare at your supplies" than "create something amazing."  And that's ok.

Anyway, I was able to make this card during some free time last week.  Since I've been spending more time organizing than creating, I've found a few things tucked away that I'd like to get used.  One of those was a pack of die cuts that I bought from Michaels once upon a time.

I started with a white background and a kraft mat.  I found a few pieces of washi tape (another supply that needs to start getting used more) that matched the die cut, and wrapped them onto the mat in a pattern.  Then I just adhered the die cut.  Super simple, but the detail in the die cut doesn't need a big fancy background, which was the thought process when I was buying them.

I'll be entering this card into the Simon Says Stamp, Wednesday Challenge Blog challenge called Get Crafty and Use Kraft.

Watercolor background

I don't know about you, but I've caught the artsy bug lately.  I'm spending a lot of time playing around with art supplies and various mediums.  When I saw the challenge at Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday blog this week- to use watercolors- I was excited for an excuse to pull out the new water brushes I got a few months ago and get messy.

I recently bought a sketch book at Michaels to help me with my Project Life planning, and part of their deal was that a whole pad of sketch paper was included free.  I decided to test that paper out to see how it held up to watercoloring.  I'm sure I could have googled it and found some tests from people more experienced than I am, but part of the fun is the experimenting, right?

I used a whole bunch of blues and purples to watercolor this background, and tried out different amounts of water to blend it together.

I stamped the penguin from Jaded Blossom and the sentiment is from My Craft Spot.  Then I added some washi tape and jewels for embellishments.

This was a fun card for me to make here and there over the last few days.  On one break from work, I was able to do the watercoloring.  The next day, I colored the penguin and stamped the sentiment.  Then, I used the stickles on the snowflake and let it dry...etc etc.

Side note:  Why is it that my coloring mistake on his face looks so hidden on the card and stands out so well on the photo?  Ugh.

A Sophie scrapbook page

Hi friends!  You know those weeks when your car decides it's going to roll the dice to decide whether or not it's going to start, so in addition to your planned errands/work/cleaning and cooking to prepare for guests over the next few days you suddenly have to find the time to also go to car dealerships and try to find a new car?

I do!

In all seriousness, I realized that there's very little chance I'm going to spend any significant time in the craft room over the next few days, and if I do there's even less chance I'll be able to photograph whatever I make and blog about it, so I thought I'd just treat you to a recent Sophie layout, so you know I didn't forget about you.  Isn't it stinky when life gets in the way of crafting?  At least I'll probably get a new car out of the whole deal.  ;)

I really enjoyed making this layout.  It's artsy-er than I usually do.  First, I cut this Studio Calico paper to 8x8 and matted it on some leftover cardstock for sturdiness.  Then I used white acrylic paint to paint over it.  After that dried, I layered some scraps that I had that went together, and put the photo on top with the little Smash clip.

I made the title with some tile stickers that I had in my stash (I'm really bad at cutting apart letter stickers and then forgetting who made them.  It's either Simple Stories or Fancy Pants) and some of my very favorite Thickers ever.  I added the wood veneer arrows, and then the little washi tape/sticker combo at the bottom.

Bonus points if you "get" the title of the layout.  Sophie doesn't like to play fetch outside for some reason, despite me throwing the ball for her, and I thought it was hilarious that she looked so exasperated, like "give it up already!"