Birthday Raccoon

When I was in sixth grade, I read the book Rascal by Sterling North and fell in love with the idea of having a pet raccoon. The whole point behind Rascal is that the raccoon is a wild animal and must be released back into the wild. By the way, this makes it a much better story than either the movie Ring of Bright Water or the book/movie Old Yeller. My sixth-grade self couldn't handle either of those stories.

Neither can my 43-year-old self. I actually cried watching the commercial for Dog Town the other night. The spaniel with both front legs in green casts totally wiped me out.

But even in sixth grade, I was smart enough to realize that wild animals are, indeed, wild animals and shouldn't be caged or kept for my personal entertainment. Instead, I pretended I had a pet raccoon, and really, my Rascal was an outstanding pet who didn't eat or poop or tear up my bedroom.

As you might imagine, every time I see a raccoon now, I think of that library book I checked out in sixth grade. I bought this set from Hero Arts just for the raccoon. Isn't he adorable? I colored him with prisma pencils, a fact I noted on my calendar seeing as it's such a rare event.

I'm not sure about the black thread in the button. Af first, it had orange floss, but the orange wasn't an exact match for the rick-rack, and it looked funny. In changing it to black, I was hoping for a visual triangle of black, but now, I look first at the button, not the raccoon, and it feels distracting. I may change it to white and see what happens. What do you think?

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts
ink: Palette Noir
cardstock: SU cool caribbean, PTI white
accessories: rick-rack, button, floss, dimensionals, prisma pencils

Thank You

Today's card is another inspired by the new Hero Arts Catalog. The leaf branch is from Hero (discontinued, I think), and the sentiment is from Papertrey's Paper Tray--a very useful and versatile set.



Today, I am very thankful that my hit count has now exceeded 60,000. So this card is for all of you who made this possible. Thank you for inspiring me to keep going!

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts, Papertrey
ink: Palette Noir, SU celery
cardstock: SU celery, PTI white
accessories: none

"Let's Work Together..."

The layout of today's cards was inspired by a card on page 6 of the new Hero Arts catalog (and blissfully contains no squares!). I used SU's Baroque Motif set on both, a sentiment from Papertrey's Simple Little Things on the orange card, and a sentiment from Hero on the purple one. All three company's products work together to make pair of pretty cards!



For the orange card, I used PTI's twine and vintage button to accent the scallop punched strip of SU pumpkin pie cardstock. The Baroque Motif swirl is stamped in SU's apricot and the sentiment is close to cocoa.



For the purple card, I used gingham ribbon and a crocheted flower with a rhinestone brad for its center. The inks are SU's almost amethyst and Palette Noir.

Design 101: For me, it's hugely exciting to take a ready-made layout and vary it with different colors and product to produce multiple cards, each with a different "feel." For those who copy cards exactly or those who are just beginning to stamp, try mixing supplies up, using just what you have on hand to vary an existing design. You'll surprise yourself with how creative you can be and how much you'll learn about design in the process!

More Squares

It may be obvious to those of you familiar with the set that I'm trying to use ALL the image stamps in PTI's Sign Language set as part of my 2009/2010 Craft Resolution to use all my image stamps. I had already made this one when people started requesting bling. I just love it when you request stuff.

This card varies the theme of yesterday's cards by adding three squares in graduated shades of ochre (Colorbox chalk inks) to the scored card base. The sentiment is stamped in brown chalk ink. I accented the flowers with little dots of brown Stickles, and it's much blingier in real life. Today's sentiment is from PTI's Mega Mixed Messages.

I'm taking a break with this set now until I feel mentally capable of facing Christmas/winter theme cards for the remaining stamps. Also, I did use the actual sign stamp but decided I just don't like it. So I never have to use it again. Whew. What a relief!

Word of the Year and Crafting Resolutions

This is today's second post...to see cards, keep scrolling!

If you are interested in joining the Word of the Year Project, please visit my other blog, Questioning my Intelligence. I've announced my word for the year and am asking readers to post their words in the comments on that blog.

Now for my crafting resolutions for 2010:

1. Scrapbook. (Yes, that's a verb.)

2. Continue plugging away at 2009's resolution to use all my image stamps.

3. Use more variety from my stash, especially tools and techniques that have languished lately. It was so refreshing to pull out the watercolor crayons last week!

4. Have FUN!

What are your crafting resolutions? Please post those in the comments here!

What Would Happen If...?

What would happen if I took yesterday's cards and added a bit of pressure embossing using my ScorPal?

Something like this, perhaps?



Aww, shucks. I embossed the lines too high and had to cut off a bit of the bottom to get it balanced, but so what? Still quite pretty. What would happen if I tried a Valentine's card?



Sweet! (Even if I do like the scale of the shortened card better....) But what would happen if I rotated it from portrait to landscape? Oh, and switched a stamped and punched heart for the square heart?



Happy sigh.

"What would happen if...?" It's my favorite question when crafting. Sometimes, what happens is a disaster, in which case I shrug it off and try something else. (It took me YEARS to get to this healthy mental state.) Sometimes, what happens is fine, in which case I either leave well enough alone or keep pushing. Sometimes, what happens is totally fabulous, in which case I share it with you!

Well, I think they're fabulous.

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Sign Language, Paper Tray, Heart Prints
ink: Versacolor
paper: PTI white
accessories: ScorPal, dimensionals, square punch (3/4"), small heart punch

Work It, Baby!

When a good idea comes to you, you gotta work it, baby! Like this...


Oh, yeah! Do it again!


And again!


Oh my gosh, STOP IT!!!


Get OUT! Can she do it again? YES, SHE CAN!


WORK IT, sister!


Whew. That was exhausting.

Supplies
stamps: PTI Sign Language, Paper Tray
cardstock: PTI white
ink: various VersaColor
accessories: 3/4" square punch, dimensionals