Four Ways Friday #91 - Betsy's Blossoms

This week's Four Ways Friday was created during my visit with my cousin last week :)  I played with her Betsy's Blossoms stamp set and some of the new In Colors, and here is what I came up with!

I began with some one-layer stamping - just card stock, stamps and ink.  Here I layered the images, one on top of the other.  The flower was stamped using Summer Starfruit at half strength.  The bird was stamped with Primrose Petal and the greeting, from Friendly Phrases, in Gumball Green.

For the second card I did a bit of stamping and layering with punches.  The flower was stamped in Primrose Petal at half strength.  The smaller flower was stamped onto a scrap of Whisper White card stock using the same ink at full strength.  It was then punched out with the 1 1/4" circle punch.  I punched a scallop circle out of Wild Wasabi card stock and layered the punched pieces with dimensionals.  The greeting, from Perfectly Penned, was stamped with Midnight Muse.  Here is a picture of the same card, created by my cousin, using a similar color palette on Crumb Cake card stock:

For the next card I decided to do some simple stamping and cutting.

The flower stem was created by just inking the stem part of the leaf image from the stamp set with a Gumball Green marker.  I then stamped the leaves and the small flower onto a scrap piece of paper and cut them out.  The leaves were adhered with glue and the flower with dimensionals.  Finally, I stamped the sentiment from Delightful Dozen with Midnight Muse.

For this last card, I decided to use the small three-flower stamp to create a background.  I stamped with Crumb Cake ink onto Crumb Cake card stock.  Next I stamped the leaves and cut them out.  The flower was then inked up - first with Bashful Blue ink and then I tapped the Marina Mist ink pad onto the surface of the stamp before stamping the image onto Whisper White card stock.  I love the variegated look this creates!  I punched the flower out using the 2 3/8" scallop circle punch.  The flower and leaves were adhered to the card with a combo of dimensionals and glue.  A piece of taffeta ribbon (retired) was tied around the card (I created a small slit along the edge of the card with my paper snips) and knotted.  I then added the small punched tag with a greeting from Tiny Tags.
I hope you've enjoyed this week's Four Ways Friday!  Wishing you a wonderfully creative weekend!!!!!!

Elements Of Style Mini Book

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  A Storage Container Is Not The Answer To All Of My Problems!

After visiting my cousin last week and seeing her amazingly organized craft space (take a look at these pics of one of the closets in her craft room)

I cannot look at my own craft space with the same eyes.  Instead, I want my space to magically organize itself to look like her gorgeous closet.  So instead of cleaning up the mess on my craft table and the piles that are growing on the floors of my craft room (which, of course, must be due to tectonic plate shifts that are taking place beneath the subfloor of my craft room), I found myself on-line searching for paper storage units.  This was no lighthearted search mind you.  This was a search akin to the hunt for the Holy Grail!  Oh, if I could just find the perfect paper storage unit (which, I discovered, is also referred to as a mail sorter or a literature organizer...depending on where your search for the Holy Grail takes you).  I spent about 20 minutes on my quest until my logical, rational, parental side of my brain kicked in and said, "A storage container is not the answer to all of your problems!"  I hate it when that voice talks sense!  But, I had to listen.  Because deep down inside I know that a literature sorter is not the fix for all that ails me.  It is just a distraction from actually dealing with what ails me.  So, like any true artist, I decided to take myself and my ailment and head back into the mess of a craft room to create :)  This little booklet is what came out - a booklet to remind me that life is a matter of moments.  Moments of questing for the Holy Grail.  Moments of truth that a $70 purchase won't fix my life.  Moments of recognizing that me and my craft room mess can still collaborate and create some pretty special adventures all of our own :)

Out On A Whim Wednesday: Mini Book Mania!

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Even Tiny Ideas Need A Place Of Their Own :)

It's hard to tell from this photo, but this mini book is about 2 3/4" wide and only about 1" high!  At first I thought it was a bit silly to try to make such a mini book, but then I decided that tiny ideas need a place of their own too :)  Maybe this will end up being a book of just one inspiring word per page.  Or maybe I will be encouraged to create very short "to do" lists since the paper can only hold so much :)  I love that these little papers did not find their way into a recycling bin and instead that I went out on a whim and helped them become a tiny book for tiny writing :)  What would you write in this little book????

Sunflower Mini Book & Matching Card

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  My Nose Is Not Like Samantha's Nose On Bewitched
And, truth be told, I don't have Jeannie's gift of being able to cross my arms and nod my head and change the world like Barbara Eden did in I Dream Of Jeannie.  That didn't stop me from trying today - I wiggled by nose back and forth and crossed my arms and nodded my head - all in the hopes that in a blink, I could change everything in my house!  Coming back from a trip after being away is always happy and sad for me.  Happy that I am back with my family.  Sad since I walk into the house and see every home improvement project I've ever wanted to do, waiting for me, all at once!  I see the clutter in my craft room, the papers in my office, the piles I've made on the table in the kitchen nook.  Like a dandelion whose seeds have blown in the wind, my seeds find their way into the nooks and crannies of our house and seem to root there.  They become difficult to remove.  Maybe the finished porch is making it all too noticeable for me right now.  The porch is so beautiful - so peaceful - so clutter free.  Rising in me is the desire to figure out how to bring that same feeling into the spaces in our home and suddenly it keeps rising and makes me want to throw up!  Okay, maybe that's a bit extreme...I just get overwhelmed and paralyzed.  Maybe I need to look at the inside of the house as I did the porch - one post at a time, one section of paint at a time.  Little by little it will get done...unless I can figure out Samantha's trick!
Today's set is great for gift giving!  I used the Sunflower Background stamp (LOVE it!!!!) and stamped it onto the Whisper White card base.  I added the greeting from Pennant Parade with a flourish from Established Elegance.  The mini book was created by stamping the image onto Whisper White card stock and then adhering it to a white coaster.  I used a hobby blade to trim the edges and then sanded the edges to keep them from lifting up.  I then ran the cover through the Movers & Shapers die (retired) on the Big Shot to create the window.  I cut a stack of printer paper along with one piece of Whisper White card stock and added another coaster for the back of the book.  All the binding holes were made with my Bind-It-All.  Once I had the book together I stamped the sentiment from Office Accoutrement (retired).  I hope you like it :)

Punched Envelope

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Don't Underestimate The Power Of Your Choice!

Ahhhh...back in Denver.  It is really nice to be home.  This last week my trip was part business and part pleasure, so being away definitely had its perks too!  I flew to Connecticut to do some work and then drove to see my cousin in Southbury, CT.  My cousin Brenda is who got me involved in Stampin' Up! and it is always amazingly fun to get to hang out with her in person!!!!  And yes, we did spend some time in her craft room...more of that in a moment.  But back to today's lesson.  I flew home yesterday and we found ourselves sitting on the tarmac at the Hartford Airport after already experiencing a delay in the terminal.  The reason behind the delay?  Weather in Chicago (thunderstorms have a particular affinity for the Windy City this time of year).  What originally was to be a leisurely layover in Chicago started to turn into a bit of a tight connection.  Once we finally took off, it looked like we would make the connection...until we landed at O'Hare.  Instead of heading to a gate, we ended up being sent to a "parking lot" - the place they stick planes where there are no empty gates.  The minutes began to tick away and the man next to me began to get very antsy.  Turns out he was also trying to make the connecting flight to Denver.  I had already made a conscious choice in my mind that I was going to go with the flow.  A choice that whatever happened, it was out of my control and I was just going to go with it and continue to enjoy reading the book I had brought with me on the trip.  The man next to me had obviously made a different choice.  I could feel his blood pressure rising as the minutes ticked away!  He even called the airline as we were sitting there to see what they could do (no surprise...they could do nothing).  It was such a contrast - me in my happy little book world; him in his stressed out, blood pressure rising cage.  When we did finally get parked at a gate I ran right behind him through the terminal to see if we could still manage to catch our plane...it was 8:13 pm and our plane was departing at 8:15 pm.  When we got to the gate, guess what???  The plane had just started boarding!  Since so many flights had been delayed, they decided to board a bit late and then actually held the plane even longer so that other incoming passengers could make the flight since it was the last flight to Denver last night (Yeah United!!!!  A+ for caring for your customers).  So, once I am reminded not to underestimate the power of your choice in the moment.  You can choose to throw a tantrum, or you can choose to cozy up with a book and enjoy the ride.  The choice is yours...as is the impact.

Now, back to the visit with Brenda!  She decided to invite the ladies from her scrapbooking club over to meet me and to play in the craft room!  Totally fun!!!!  We ended up watching a video I had created on how to emboss and cut with framelits and then we played with the new In Colors and a few new stamp sets.  I also had a lot of fun exploring Brenda's craft space and came across an envelope that had been punched and stamped.  I decided to take the idea and share it with you!  I used the 1 1/4" circle punch to take a bite out of the envelope flap and then stamped the space with an image from Established Elegance using Always Artichoke ink.  Why hadn't I ever thought to do this before????  Now none of my envelopes will be safe! :)