My color seems to be teal at the moment....

 Kind of sad today. I'm trying to clear out stuff, but I get all stuck on the sentimentality. My dad would be laughing at me if he knew that I got all sentimental over those hog rings. Keep plugging along, right?

This is a stencil from Tim Holtz, but I'm not liking the results yet. I tried using a blending tool for this. I love the stencil but am trying to figure out how to get the detail. I'm going to have to watch Tim again and figure out why I loved the stencil...

Sometimes when I get things, they sit for awhile. This die was not the best die, that's what you get when you buy cheap. It took a long time to get all the pieces out. I did two of them, but the other one tore. Go figure, that's the one I turned into a card first.

The background on the left was a gelli plate that I dabbed with one of those produce bag things. I cut off the best parts of the die cut, so that's what was left. It's much prettier in person.

The thank you card I printed on computer (the greeting) and then added the peacock feathers. I colored with gelatos straight on the stamp, then misted the stamp to print. I love the dreamy look.

And that's how far I got today. I went through all my cards, and I'm going to have to get writing. Or give some away. I enjoy both. 

Now to go dig into my parents' stuff and find something else to cry over LOL

Cards when you want to write a long letter

These cards are for when you want to write a long letter. I don't often write long letters, but there are times when I started on a regular card and couldn't fit in all I wanted to say. So I made some cards for those times when I feel like I have a lot to say. They are 4 1/4 x 5 1/2. A whole sheet of card stock folded in half. So there's a bunch more writing space.

The prints are gelli plate prints. The first has printing with leaves on top of it, and some have stencils, or stamps added. Voila, multi media. Some are printed with ink, some with acrylic paint, some with both, some with Posca pen addition, one with die cuts added. It's whatever I feel like doing at the time. 

And so the pile of prints goes down. These are the ones I was satisfied with and didn't want to add another layer or anything. Quite a few more in that pile that needs a little something more. I'll work on those another day. I also have a  bunch of rocks I want to paint, mandelas to make with the dotting stencils, stamps to carve, unending cards to finish, pop up card ideas, a wall hanging to quilt, a big quilt to finish piecing, a bunch of pillowcases to make.... oh I am sure The Idea Lady with Less Follow Through. 

Trying to follow through these days, clear out the cobwebs in my corners and my brain.

Birthday Blessings

 Three cards today, one made at 4 AM when I wasn't sleeping anyway. The first one is a gelli print. I put blues and a bit of green on the plate on top of a stencil, took off the stencil, and pulled the print. I loved it, didn't think it needed any more layers. The Birthday Blessings was from playing around with the Cricut that Loretta gave me, and I was experimenting to see the sizes. I cut out a whole page of these in different sizes, because I love the sentiment for birthdays, and have used it before on cards. Loretta's birthday is coming up, but since I can't send it to her, I'll have to figure out who to send it to. 

The second one is a piece of card stock I used to clean the brayer while gelli printing! I loved the colors, added a touch of yellow with bubble wrap, some stamping, and some glitter. It was fun. I never use glitter, but somehow ended up with glitter embossing powder, I think I got it in a thrift store box. But I was just laughing and glittering away... and now I'll have glitter in the craft room forever. 

The last one is a marble print scrap from a long time ago. You take a box, put a small amount of ink in it, several marbles, and fasten a piece of card stock in it, then tilt the box around until you get the effect you want. Sometimes just little lines like this, or use more ink and it has thicker lines. It's fun. I remember doing a bunch awhile ago, but I was clearing out my scrap box and there it was. 

I'm getting there, using up scraps, clearing out extra stuff. Thinking of my mother in law especially today, since her birthday was in September, and there are strangely no other birthdays in September in our family.  Every other month has at least one. So I'm sure I'll figure out who to send them to. 

Still super smoky here, we're in the red zone, that's second highest. I've been glad for masks, since I've even been wearing them in the yard. 

It feels so good to create. Yesterday I was in a lot of pain, couldn't sleep last night so I made cards! I have decided to just not get anxious if I can't sleep, just go ahead and get up and craft. Why not? Well today it meant I was up from 3 to 7 and then slept from 7 until noon. I don't like that. BUT.... for now, it is what it is. I know there are plenty of people out there in the same boat.

Painting Play

Playing for a little while. Hard to see the color in a picture. This was totally an experiment, I am still learning how to use a gelli plate, and this was the first time I grabbed dark paper. I love gelli printing, because it's unpredictable, you never know how it will turn out, and if you don't like it, just put on another layer!! The birds are a thermofax screen from Terri Stegmiller.