A Niggle Usually Means Something

Yesterday I got a niggle to make a card. Not just any card, but a pink card. If you're new to this blog, I'll let you in on a secret: I don't EVER choose pink. I'm just not that kind of girl. But, for some reason, I felt the urge to create a card, inspired by Carol's Ink Spot, using pink. The set that came to mind when I saw this card a few weeks ago was Friendly Flowers, a retired set that I've not used much. I set it beside the bubble gum Pink Passion card stock and ink (again, the niggle), and white craft ink, and set to work.

Carol used vellum as her stamping surface, mounted on top of colored card stock, so I pulled out a 4" x 5.25" piece and began stamping. It take a LONG time for ink to dry on vellum, so I sped the process along by using my heat tool. You have to be careful not to warp this thin paper when heating it, and fate smiled on me and I was successful.

Once I was done stamping, I mounted the vellum on the card using regular adhesive. I didn't want it to show, so i placed it strategically underneath the strip of card stock that would go over it that has the "they say it's your birthday!" Not a unique idea, but one that lets the images be the attention, not the adhesive.

I liked the button that Carol used, but I didn't have any pink buttons (see above for reasons why). I did have some small clear buttons and some thin light pink ribbon that had been gifted to me. That would work, right? I tied that into the button and mounted it on the card, but something was still missing. When I went hunting in my drawers again, I stumbled across a baggie of flat small rhinestones. Again, in the spirit of full disclosure, you must know that I am also SO NOT a rhinestone girl. Not a flashy bone in my body, friends. But I felt like they belonged on this card (nigggle niggle). Who am I to argue with the creative muse? So I went with it. They're a pain in the you-know-what to mount because I didn't have the right size glue dots, but I used some glue and persevered until I'd used the entire package.

I stamped the coordinating message and decorated the inside of the card--this is all the rage right now--and went looking for my digital camera. While searching for it, I got sidetracked by my laptop and spent a little time on Facebook. While cruising through my notifications, I saw a little message in the right column: Mikayla's birthday is Wednesday. NO--really? I didn't believe FB and went to her page to confirm it.

THAT'S WHY I'D HAD THE URGE TO USE PINK! THAT'S WHY I'D HAD THE NIGGLE! Mikayla is my niece, and tomorrow she'll be 10. Double digits. That's a special birthday that needs to be celebrated, even if your auntie, uncle, cousin, and doggie relatives live 800 miles away. So the card will be a bit late, but that doesn't mean we won't be thinking of her.

Lesson learned? PAY ATTENTION TO THE NIGGLES.

A Color Challenge

Kristina Werner has a wonderful blog, and every week she posts a color inspiration challenge. Didn't I just say yesterday that I was looking for inspiration? I love it when that happens. Kristina doesn't know it, but she's being doubly helpful to me, because I've been searching for blue and brown bedding for months now and have not found what I like! Perhaps my search is ended...

But I digress. Here's what I came up with. Since SU! doesn't make a Soft Sky marker, I had to improvise. I stamped the entire image in SS, then colored over the areas I wanted Chocolate Chip or Close to Cocoa for the flowers. After doing the largest one this way, I didn't add Close to Cocoa to any of the other flowers, because it was too difficult to differentiate between the two browns, seeing as they both were "diluted" by the SS already on the surface.

Originally, I had set out this morning to create a frame with my Dots jumbo wheel, which matches the Friendly Flowers set. This turned out to be a bit more challenging than I had anticipated. I ended up using it as the mat for the main image, but you can't see very many of the dots. Perhaps I'll attempt this look again another day.

Overall, I'm happy with it, and someone will be pleased to receive it. Don't know who it'll be, but that's why having a stash of cards is good! Thanks, Kristina!

In search of relaxation...

Two nights ago, I sat down at my craft table around 9pm and began to color. I had finished putting together the supplies for today's Stamp-A-Stack--I missed all who couldn't come--and I needed to unwind. I spotted a scalloped circle in Whisper White on my desktop and decided it was time to do something with it. I went to the Friendly Flowers set and pulled out the largest flower. I had some Purely Pomegranate scraps on the desk and decided to use Rose Red (no marker for PP) as my jumping off point for creating a color palette.

I pulled out my handy SU! Color Coach wheel and pointed the arrow to Rose Red. The coordinating colors of Cameo Coral, Certainly Celery, Barely Banana, and Garden Green were listed. The flower that's the focal point of this card is the result. I really enjoy coloring on rubber. I didn't even moisten this by exhaling before stamping it. Great colors together, yeah?

The word "friend" comes with the Friendly Flowers set, so again I started with that and thought about what I could add to that on the Garden Green base. I have a stash of sayings that I attached to Jenga blocks (see this post for deets) and I combed through those and found "praying for you." This is not something I say lightly, so this card will be reserved for someone who truly needs to know they are being lifted up and for whom I'm really faithfully interceding.

I didn't want to put anything else on the card besides the main image, but it seemed a bit lacking. I didn't have ribbon that would complement, so I went with the little triangles that match the colors of the flower. Still not sure I really like these, but they're attached now, so they're staying.

I know I've been a bit lax in posting these past two weeks, and I don't want my faithful readers to be discouraged. I'm just suffering from a bit of creative burnout. I have 2 days off this coming week, so I'm going to see what I might do to remedy this. Thanks for your patience in the meantime.

Oh the Pressure (March SAS Card #3)

I don't know what was effecting my creativity when I went to the craft table this morning to create another card for the SAS tomorrow, but getting to the finish line with this card was like giving birth!

It all started out innocently enough when I saw this ensemble in the Title Nine clothing catalog. I was drawn to the color combination of gray, khaki, and light blue. I wanted to apply this layout by Patty Bennett (who was inspired by Cami Turnbow--what goes around comes around) to my color combo with the newly released Friendly Flowers stamp set. This turned out to be akin to trying to get all the planets and stars to align! It was discouraging me greatly because I really liked each of the elements I was trying to marry.

After about 45 min. of trying to push a round peg into a square hole, I abandoned my color palette and came up with this. Same layout, but a completely different color scheme featuring East Coast designer paper. The base is Whisper White stamped in Tempting Turquoise with two of the flowers from the set. It looks a little bit like some sort of wild island print to me! The focal image is the largest flower from the set. The designer paper's double-sidedness (is that a word?) works well and creates a flap underneath the flower for writing your message inside to your friend.

Okay, time to clean up from that and start thinking of the next one. 3 down, 2 to go.