Saturday, June 25, 2011

And Now for Something Completely Different...

One of my biggest challenges in crafting is to loosen up and have fun. Ninety-nine percent of everything I make is tightly controlled, carefully planned, and precise. But as Betsy's acrylic block proves, loosening up and not fretting over a smudge here or there has its distinct advantages.

When I bought the Grunge Me set from Papertrey, I immediately sat down and made half a dozen cards that are what you expect from me: neat and tidy with lots of white space and fun color combinations. I'll share those later, of course. But then, I made this:



It made me smile. It's loose, happy, and fun. But something about it didn't feel right. The colors are some of my favorites...SU pumpkin pie, Memento canteloupe, and rich cocoa...but the warm scheme seemed a bit off considering the sentiment. The "paint" looks like earth, terra cotta, dust.

So I reached for SU marina mist and baja breeze and Memento black and tried again.

Oh. My. Gosh.



The cool, water colors on the crisp white are perfect. Just perfect.

Now, if you look closely, you'll see some order in the chaos. For instance, I stamped the big spatter three times in full-up marina mist in a triangle arrangement. The small spatter is also stamped three times full strength in baja breeze. Then I filled in all the holes with off-stamped, lighter images.

See, this AR/OC tiger won't change her stripes.

But she might spatter some ink around every now and then.

33 comments:

  1. Yup, that Grunge Me set ROCKS!!! ;) I love what you did with it! ;)

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  2. Susan, this is too cool - you are incredible! I love the way this stamp set looks so different with the two color schemes. Great card!!!

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  3. So controlled , so messy, so fun :)

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  4. Being unfamiliar with this stamp set, I had to look it up. Thanks for telling me about it! I especially like your second card. It's cool...

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  5. One is warm, the other cool. I like them both :)

    Did you ever take art classes? Not graphic design, but art? I only ask because I am AR/OCD just like you claim to be. I once had an art teacher who I thought was very tough on me. He would critique my work that I had planned and executed with precision, and he was very critical with the marks. When I would ask for advice he would take his pencil (or other medium) and add something to my project and then stand back and look at it and say "It just needed one more thing to make it better." I thought he was being a jerk, so I stopped trying to impress him. One project I left to the last minute, then just slapped something down in anger thinking it wouldn't matter anyway...and guess what? He gave me 100% on it. When I asked him how it deserved a perfect mark when I didn't even try, he replied that art isn't about planning and perfection. It's about life and emotions which are messy and imperfect, and letting them show in your work. Of all the things I've learned, that one lesson has taught me to step out of my perfectly square box once in a while and stop trying so hard. I now fondly remember him as one of my favorite teachers because he taught me something I couldn't have learned from a book.
    The sentiment on your card today reminds me of my art teacher, and of what he was trying to teach me. I love it!

    I can appreciate messy creative energy in other people's work, but I still get hung up on the details. Why are we doing this hobby that is supposed to relax us when it is so full of little details that make us crazy?

    And no, you can't change a tiger's stripes. But you can splatter paint on them once in a while, just for fun :)

    (Sorry to take up so much space with this comment, your cards just triggered a trip down memory lane, so it's official...they are truly art!)

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  6. See Susan.....you have got to do this more often!!

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  7. I was quite surprised to see this post!! So different to what I'm used to on Simplicity! But I love both cards - gorgeous colour choices.

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  8. Looks great and fun. And splattered in a controlled and purposeful way.

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  9. See, I didn't get the grunge stamps because they were just too messy for me. Never liked paint splatter, looks good on your cards though.

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  10. Fab projects - let yourself GO girl!!!!

    Kathyk

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  11. Loose is a good look on you, a really good look!

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  12. WOW - I think you have fab results here. Love these two cards.

    Hugs, Sandra

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  13. I love both cards...and loved reading your post! Hmmm - I see a little bit of myself in what I read, too. I just love your honesty!
    Way to go!!!

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  14. Surprising cards from you - but I love them both

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  15. Yeah, let loose Susan!!! It's something I have a hard time doing.

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  16. Love them both! /From the comments I've read, these cards are a big hit! Just let it all hang out, and get messy! LOL
    I don't have this stamp set, but just may splatter some paint on a card today!

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  17. Deliberately messy...did you have to run in place, dangle your arms and shake all over to prepare and breath deep? Was it traumatic?
    The color change really made a difference. Thanks for showing the contrast

    blessings
    patti moffett

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  18. That looks like fun! And I love the earthtones as much as the watertones. Beautiful!

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  19. Surprisingly untraumatic, Patti!!! But I find myself eager to show the more controlled cards, LOL!

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  20. I love them both - the colour schemes are balanced so nicely. Funny how much order there is in the faux-chaos ;) I squinted when I saw the first card in my reader...what? Simplicity is messy? Naw, not possible.
    BTW, I keep saying AR/OC in real life, and then having to define it. It works so perfectly for so many situations - so glad you coined it :)

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  21. Great-I especially like the last card because I like those colors best; both are neat cards.

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  22. I really love both cards and the way varying the
    colors gives such a different look and feel.

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  23. Woohoo Susan! You did it! You stepped out and did you step out awesome! :) Super stuff! Love that sentiment too!

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  24. Wasn't sure I was in the right place!!! But they are both fantastic! I think my favourite is the blues - but that's more because I'm not really an orange type girl!! But it works too! Fantastic! I think the grungy stamps would be great for teen type cards!

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  25. What a difference!

    Warm colours are my favourite and I reach for them automatically, but in this case blue is definitely the right choice.

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  26. Thought I'd come to the wrong blog. Checked to make sure it was you. Blown away by both cards. Partialk to the blue though. Priya Venkat

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  27. you did good with this stamp.
    again!!

    marty

    ps. how about one with 3 different happy colors...orange, purple, green?

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  28. I LOVE that stamp. I am lucky to have it, and I also appreciate it on the more artsy designs. Your cards are BEAUTIFUL as usual (smiles), I especially love the colors and how easy it is to give a whole new feel to a card just by changing the color. You demonstrate that is such a wonderful way! Thanks for all that you do! Hugs-Audrie

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  29. Of course there's order behind the chaos! The second card is even more fabulous than the first. Both are WOW!

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  30. Gorgeous cards Susan. I recently got this stamp set and created my first card with it yesterday. Love it. TFS

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  31. What a great way to use these stamps!

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  32. I too thought I'd arrived at the wrong blog but no it's the right one and you've let your hair down, it's a very good look. Love these cards, both of them but I'm interested to see how you can control the blob, LOL Gay xxx

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment!