Thursday, June 02, 2011

Hodgepodge Happiness Note

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Keep Asking "What If?"
I find that there are times when I am afraid to experiment and take chances in the craft room.  I get so worried about how ugly my creation might turn out if I try something out of the ordinary!  It is during these times that I realize I am too focused on the outcome as opposed to the process of creating.  If we are not willing to take risks, it is difficult to grow and move our art (and our life) in new directions.  One way to keep ourselves growing in our art is to continue asking the question "What if?"  For instance, "What if I combined these two ink colors when they are still wet?," "What if I try to reheat my embossing powder and add glitter while it is all melty?", "What if I combine frost white shimmer paint with Bashful Blue ink?"
It is this last question that led to today's 3"x3" card!  I was lamenting the fact that I didn't have shimmer paint in colors other than champagne and frost white and I asked myself "What if I combined the shimmer paint with my inks?"  I took out a tiny little paint cup (you could do this on a palette or piece of freezer paper as well) and combined a bit of frost white shimmer paint with some Bashful Blue ink (about 3 drops of ink) and then stirred it with a wooden skewer.  I then painted a piece of watercolor paper with the mixture.  The result was a beautiful, shimmery piece of light blue paper that inspired this card!  I tore a small piece of text out of an old book and adhered it to the Whisper White card with glue.  I added the shimmery square on top of it.  The sentiment is from Hodgepodge Happiness, stamped with Basic Black ink and then punched out with the 3/4" circle punch.  I made the little flower from a scrap of the old book paper and adhered it to the card with glue as well.  (I will try to make a video to share these quick and easy flowers with you).  Allow yourself to keep asking, "What if?"  It may lead you to new discoveries and awesome adventures in your art and life!!!! :)

1 comment:

Lorraine said...

Thank you for sharing your new discovery. Sometimes I think it's fun to think like a mad scientist, especially when you get such great results!