Letting My Freak Flag Fly

Do you remember that old HGTV show about neighbors house-swapping to redecorate a single room on a very limited budget? The designers would paint brick fireplaces or drywall over painted brick, and if the homeowners seemed to prefer earthtones, the designer would use neon. The idea seemed to be "do the opposite of whatever is there."

The worst episode of all included a bedroom wall covered in cork board tiles upon which the designer pinned...wait for it...live moss. I don't know what she was thinking, but apparently, it smelled really bad. The homeowners were not amused.

Sometimes, inspiration affects me the way those brick fireplaces affected the designers: Hmmm, let's do the opposite.

Here's my inspiration:

Source

I focused on the layout of the invitation at the very top of the inspiration photo. It's so pretty and soft and natural and blue and green. I own several stamp sets that would have achieved a very similar look to the inspiration piece, but I didn't reach for those.

Oh, no. I let my freak flag fly.

Whoa!!! The cherry cobbler splatters really don't look as much like blood in real life as they do on my screen.

But seriously, and be honest, is this my moss wall? Does it stink and I just don't know it? Because I love it. There's so much energy, so much artsy freedom going on here. And it was hugely fun to make, especially when I found that saying about age being a work of art. Perfect!

You're entitled to hate it. I feel like I should because it's so not me. But you know, sometimes the heart loves what it loves, and there's not much you can do about it. Even if it's a moss wall.

Just so you don't think I've completely lost my mind, I made a second card using the same layout that makes me just as happy but for VERY different reasons.

The monochrome scheme definitely feels like me. The crisp white raised panel, the bling, the uncluttered feel, the trio of snowflakes arranged in triangle...happy sigh! I love a snowflake card that says some variation of "warm wishes" because the very best thing about snow is being inside, drinking a hot beverage, all warm and cuddly and comfy, watching snow fall outside.

I've been skiing in Sun Valley, Idaho,  and my favorite part of the trip was sipping cocoa in the lodge, reading a book, and people watching. (And no, I never saw Arnold or Bruce or Demi, though they frequented Sun Valley at the time.) Anyway, sitting in the lodge was much more fun, warmer, and less painful than my ski, ski, fall, ski, ski, fall technique on the slopes. That was embarrassing, that was.

Wow. This post has been all over the place. I mailed 98 Christmas cards today and still have to make about 30 more. Feeling a little overwhelmed and giddy at the same time.

Grunge, moss walls, warmest wishes, and Merry Christmas.

Life is weird.

That's why we need mercy, grace, peace, love, and warmth...and those are my wish to you this cold evening.

Supplies
Grunge card
stamps: My Favorite Things Jumbo Abstract Art, Papertrey Grunge Me
ink; Archival plum, StampinUp cherry cobbler, Memento canteloupe, Hero Arts pumpkin pie and soft blossom
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: craft foam, glue

Warmest Card
stamps: My Favorite Things Jumbo Abstract Art, StampinUp and Hero Arts snowflakes
ink: Hero Arts soft pool; Archival forget-me-not and paradise teal
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: craft foam, glue, rhinestones

Pretty Pink Poppy and an Update on Jonah

The pink and gold color combination on today's card came from somewhere on the Anthropologie website and several pins on Pinterest. It's just so pretty!

I thought I'd finished the card when I added the bling, but the matte black center of the poppy looked sort of dead, so I pulled out some black Stickles and livened it up a bit. Much better.

In the close-up you can see the faint grid background for the raised panel. The Memento angel pink is VERY pale, but that subtlety pays off with this card. Stark white would have looked sort of, well, stark. This is softer, more elegant. The grid contrasts with the soft curves of the poppy, adding interest without making the design busy.

The stamped panel looked really odd on a white card, so I was grateful to my little stash of colored Papertrey cardstock for this lovely light pink.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Update on Jonah

Remember three years back when we had a card drive for a little boy named Jonah who was battling cancer? Well, in a strange coincidence, Jonah's mom Molly attended the funeral for my friend Keith a few weeks ago. She knows Keith's son Murray from her church, so she came to the funeral to support him.

My brain was definitely on the eulogy I was about to give, but I'm so glad Molly stopped me and shared that Jonah is doing great. You can see pictures from early this year on his Facebook page, and he's growing so well!  Molly shared that he often tells strangers that he had cancer and is fine now...a great way for a young child to process the trauma of cancer he can barely understand. Strangers, of course, are sometimes taken aback, but it's so good for Jonah to have a healthy attitude toward what happened.

If you're the praying type, send up a little prayer of thanksgiving that this precious child is doing so very well and that he continues to do so under the great care his family and doctors are giving!

Hope, peace, joy, and love this Christmas week,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Altenew Painted Poppy, Papertrey Mega Mixed Messages
ink: Hero Arts intense black, Memento angel pink
paper: Papertrey 
accessories: craft foam, gold metallic marker, glue, Stickles, rhinestones

A Clarification, Plus Two Cards for IC576

Important Clarification: Several readers have indicated they think Simplicity is going away. THIS IS NOT TRUE. The One-Layer Simplicity Challenge IS ending...in fact HAS ended. For details on that decision, please visit the OLS blog here. But all four of the OLS design team members (Heather Telford, Karen Dunbrook, Ardyth Percy-Robb, and I) are continuing to stamp and blog our hearts out. I've kept the links to their blogs on my sidebar because they are amazing and it was such an honor to work with them. OLS is finished, but Simplicity most definitely will continue to pump out posts of clean-and-simple cards for a long time yet, "God willing and the creek don't rise," as my grandma used to say.

IC576
Audrie's choice of a Pinterest board of ceramics is absolutely inspiring this week over at the SCS Inspiration Challenge. Here are the two cards I made for it today.

First up, a card inspired by an ugly pin (to my eye, at least, the pot looks diseased) and a fabulous one. Together they gave me this card:

Inks: Archival red geranium, Delicata gold

The lines come from Papertrey's Faux Ribbon, the circles from Background Basics: Circles, and the sentiment from Clearly Besotted's Holiday Sentiments. Obviously, the horizontal red beads were inspired by the ugly pot, and the fabulous pot gave me the idea of lines linking geometric shapes. I considered making the lines vertical as in the fabulous pots, but the horizontal arrangement allowed the perfect space for the sentiment.

The second card was inspired by this gorgeous pot, with its curvy branch and bird. The style of the pot is obviously very vintage-y (not my style, usually), so I wondered if I could make it over with a cleaner, more stylized feel. It took an inordinate amount of time to choose my stamps here, but I love the effect!

Inks: Archival Fern, Memento Luxe rich cocoa

The branch stamp is an old Hero Arts wood-mounted stamp, the bird came from PTI's Love Birds, and the sentiment from PTI's Birds of a Feather. I cut the stamped panel tall and thin like the vase and added an asymmetrical mat to give space for the half pearls, which complete the visual triangle of brown...which was necessary when my bird took up so much less space than the bird on the vase. It can't be the focal point because it's so small, so I arranged it so it's looking at the sentiment, making that the focal point. Adding the two pearls moves the eye around much more than just two spots of brown did.

Such fun inspiration at the Inspiration Challenge...as always! I hope you'll give it a go. There's quite a huge diversity on the ceramics board, and there are even some pots by an artist who hired me to babysit her child when I was a teen. As soon as I saw them, I thought, "Hey, I know that artist!" Too cool!

Hope, peace, joy, and love,
Susan

Supplies listed above in text and captions

Birthday Bling

What a week! I went to a Christmas party with my Bible study class, had to cancel our Stephen Ministry party because of "a light dusting of snow" that became five beautiful inches, and threw an open house for people to come laugh at Treezilla. The open house required some pretty massive cleaning on my part, but the house looks amazing now, and all my shopping and wrapping and shipping are finished.

All that's left is to finish addressing and sending Christmas cards.

Whew.

On the Christmas card issue...my son was watching me work on them this morning, and he noticed that I was sending both store-bought and hand-made cards. "Why not do all of one or the other?" he asked. "Well, I don't make enough to send to everyone on the list, so I fill in with store-bought," I replied.

"If I were you, I'd just do store-bought. It'd be easier. I mean, how do you decide who gets which?"

He has a point. It feels like Christmas cards are the most complicated of holiday projects; I end up sending about 120-130 each year. That's a lot of Madonna and Child stamps.

We've also received WAY fewer cards this year...a trend that has been going on for a while now. That makes me sad.

Whatever. I like making Christmas cards too much to quit anytime soon, and what's the point of making them if you don't send them?

I knew you'd understand.

Today's card isn't a Christmas card; it's birthday...with bling.

Papertrey's Beautiful Blooms II has this stylized flower with a large center that is great for the Mega Mixed Messages set. I fussy cut the flower and put it up on dimensionals after stamping the leaves.

Sadly, the design looked so...boring.

Bling to the rescue.

The asymmetry is very deliberate and adds interest to the design. And sparkle. Love the sparkle.

Once again, and I cannot emphasize this enough, bling.

Bling, bling, blingity, bling, bling.

That is all.

So, please share how many Christmas cards you send, if you send them at all. Also, do you automate the process and send printed photo cards?

Hope, peace, joy, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Beautiful Blooms II, Mega Mixed Messages
ink: can't remember exactly, but probably Archival tiger lily, Hero Arts green hills and cup o' joe
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: rhinestones, dimensionals, Cutter-Bee scissors

Lime Birthday

As soon as I saw this pin, I knew there was a card to be made.

I opted for a brighter color scheme and butterflies rather than leaves, but the source of inspiration is very clear.

Such a fun card to make! More involved than I usually do, but still, it's got that fresh, clean feel that makes my CAS-lovin' heart happy.

Hope, peace, joy, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Birthday Basics, Tim Holtz polka dot background; Simon Says Stamp Envelope Sentiments, Papertrey Beautiful Butterflies
ink: Hero Arts lime and intense black
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: baker's twine, craft foam, Martha Stewart butterfly punches, rhinestones

Angel Ball Recipe and the Story of a Paper Ornament

As requested, here's my angel ball recipe, including the little tips that make it particularly melt-in-your-mouth.

Angel Balls

Ingredients
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1/2 lb. (two sticks) butter, softened but not melted
2 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. vanilla extract (be generous)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. pecans, chopped fine in a blender
1 boatload of powdered sugar

I use an electric hand mixer to blend the butter and sugar well. Add flour, vanilla, salt, and pecans and mix well. Roll dough into small balls and place on air-bake cookie sheets (prevents burning), and bake 15 minutes in a 350 degree oven. While cooking, prepare a rimmed cookie sheet with cooling racks over it and get your sifter ready. (you could use a fine mesh colander).

Immediately remove cookies from baking sheet and put them on the cooling racks. Sprinkle GENEROUSLY with powdered sugar. When cool, move cooling racks off rimmed baking sheet. Before transferring cookies to a storage container, dip them in the remaining powdered sugar in the rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle more powdered sugar over the cookies every chance you get. The dough is not sweet...the cookies get all their sweetness from the powdered sugar.

Store in airtight container. Cookies are very delicate. Also, don't inhale when you take a bite, or you'll choke on powdered sugar.

And now for the ornament. 

Our Stephen Ministry group handed out our annual "Blue Christmas" ornaments. Many churches honor those who are not jolly during the holidays, either because they are grieving, have lost jobs, are burdened by stress or caregiving or illness. Here's this year's ornament and the presentation that was read at each of our church's three services.

The verse on the back of the ornament is 2 Corinthians 12:9, "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'"

Here's the speech:

Did you know that in Scandinavia, holly is called Christ thorn? In fact, many Christians believe that the prickly leaves of holly represent the crown of thorns Jesus wore at his crucifixion, and the red berries symbolize the drops of blood shed from those thorns. We deck our halls with boughs of holly for a jolly Christmas to celebrate Christ’s birth. What an appropriate reminder that we owe our hope, peace, joy, and love to a Savior who gave His very life for us.  

                                                                                  

For the past four years during Advent, Stephen Ministers have given away ornaments as a reminder that Christmas isn’t holly jolly for everyone, and that’s why this year’s ornaments have holly on them. For some, this holiday season is a time of worry or frustration, or a painful reminder of the loss of a loved one, a job, a marriage, health, independence, or even faith.

If you know someone who is grieving or in crisis this Christmas, we encourage you to reach out to them, listen to them, and encourage them. You might also tell them about Stephen Ministry and how a Stephen Minister can meet with them once a week to listen to and encourage them for as long as they need.  Ask their permission to give their name and telephone number to a Stephen Leader, and pass it along to Pastor Amy, Zandra Woody, or Susan Raihala.

God’s amazing grace is sufficient for each one of us, and His power is made perfect in our weakness. When someone is feeling weak and hurting, that’s just when Christians are called to step in and be agents of God’s amazing grace. God can work through each of us to heal the hurting, and Stephen Ministers are especially well equipped through training, through faith, and through love of Christ to serve those who are suffering.

Wouldn’t it be a wonderful Christmas present to connect someone who is hurting with Christ’s saving grace? Perhaps that person is you. Stephen Ministers are here to help.

Stephen Ministers will be standing at each exit after service to give one ornament to each family. If you would like an extra ornament to give to a hurting friend or family member, just ask.

We wish you a very Holly Christmas!

For those of you out there who are Stephen Ministers or Leaders, feel free to use our idea as you see fit. We love handing these out each year and almost always get several new care receivers as a result. 

To each one of you reading this, if you are hurting this Christmas, know that there are people of faith ready to help you. Reach out. Talk to a pastor. Talk to a friend. If you don't know of a Stephen Ministry group in your area and might be interested, email me and I will try to find one for you. 

If you know someone who's hurting this Christmas, reach out to them. Listen. Don't try to fix their problems or tell them what to do. Cry with them, listen, be there. 

I'll get off my soapbox now and wish you all hope, peace, comfort, and love this season and always.

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey 
ink: Archival leaf, red geranium
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: corner rounder, red 1/8" satin ribbon, circle punch, Avery label sticker (for verse on back)

Soap Inspired IC575

Another IC card inspired by a photo on Anthropologie...this time soap packaging.

As you can see, it's a pretty literal interpretation that keeps the general shapes and colors or a portion of the soap package design. Very abstract, but I love the navy and gold! The images are from Altenew's Simple Flowers and the sentiment from Hero Arts' You Are My Happy. I tried to keep the font of the sentiment similar to the inspiration piece, but I wish it were a little heavier for balance. Still, not bad.

I hope you're playing along with this week's inspiration challenge at Splitcoast. Anthropologie has some amazing stuff to inspire paper crafters, and I'm so grateful to Audrie for sharing it with us!

And now for a couple of pictures that made me smile today. First, my son Jack plays trumpet in the 8th grade band, and their holiday concert was tonight. Jack, who has sensory issues that make him extremely hostile toward collared shirts, dress pants, and dress shoes, loves playing trumpet but hates dressing for concerts with a hot hate. He cleans up cute, though!

And yes, he's wearing a Loony Toons Christmas tie, but he liked it because it's mostly blue.

I rarely like pictures of myself and even more rarely like a selfie, but today I wore this extremely fun apron while baking a double batch of my famous angel balls (my family's name for Mexican wedding cookies...yes, go ahead and laugh...my husband does...as he's stuffing them in his mouth because they are divine.). The apron was a gift from a dear friend who lives in Idaho and protected my purple sweater from flying powdered sugar.

Everyone needs a polka-dot apron. Even people who only bake once a year. Like me.

Hope, peace, joy, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Altenew Simple Flowers, Hero Arts You Are My Happy
ink: Versamagic night sky, Delicata golden glitz
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: gold metallic marker, metal ruler