WOYWW #12 (101) - Creative CHAOS

It's almost here! What's On Your Work desk Wednesday's 104th post...so excited! My post today is pretty short and to the point. Lots of 'stuff' coming up in the near future and lots to do to prepare...so first...

I was gifted with a wonderful box of crafty goodies from Paula Wessells during her giveaway week when she moved her blog! It's on my desk...so take a look...

Ribbons, rub ons, felt embellies, metal (LOVE the doorknob and lock piece) vintage papers and ephemera, stickers...(this is important...pay attention...) Paula was sooooo generous (I really felt the 'so' should be followed by a few more 'o's  lol), I decided to include some of these goodies in my PIF (pay it forward) for WOYWW's 104th post! (click HERE to see the PIF details...) Share the wealth, right?

If you haven't been by Paula's blog, take a moment and do so. She's fresh, witty and a wonderful photographer! Her articles include living healthy, marriage, handmade, cooking, fashion...quite frankly, she includes a little of everything and is never what I consider long winded in her posts. I have been stalking reading her blog for...gosh, I think...it's been about 3 years! Totally recommend reading (following, subscribing!...) Don't forget to leave her a little comment love!

One more photo...I've had to do some major reorganizing and purging of my studio...has been a bit painful, but I really just started, so I suppose this is the BEFORE picture:

Yikes, right?! This is really after I decided to start reorganizing and had started moving things around. About 20 minutes into it I remembered WOYWW and thought I should get a few pics. Then I decided one would be enough! LOL

Have fun peeking into the other WOYWW posts!

[ETA: Almost forgot...CHAOS is an acronym for Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome. I first heard Marla Cilley aka The Flylady use this.]

Inky hugs,

Angi

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WOYWW #11 (100) - The Aftermath

On the desk there are remnants of April's card exchange at work, leftovers from my card class 2 weeks ago, bits and pieces of my planner pages, parts for my upcoming class at Simple Pleasures... There is quite a lot of creative herstory (yes, I know I spelled 'her' story...well, it is what it is, right?) over my desks and tables.

It has been a crazy couple of weeks. Really month. Lots of deadlines. Kids, work, school...most of my creative time has been scheduled, late at night with very little time for clean up in between.

I'm barely making WOYWW tonight. I'm just determined to stay on track here and make it to the 104th edition: 2nd Anniversary! So looking forward to participating in the PIF... (click HERE to see What's On Your Work desk Wednesday is about and leave Julia a 'hello!' when you do!) And, of course, continuing as long as Julia does.

Last week I was able to post, but never got around to commenting or even replying to the comments on my post! Remedying that this evening and tomorrow evening. (Thank you, if you commented last week...I didn't forget and appreciated you taking the time to let me know you stopped by! See you soon...)

I better get back to those chores...the laundry mountain needs tending to (it's clean - thank Goodness!) but wanted to share a little bit of fun (don't want you to think my life has been one drudgery after another...) Here's one of the cards - it's a shaped easel card. It's only a little over 4" in diameter.

She's a little reminder that sometimes things are not what they seem...hoping for brighter (and warmer!) days.

Inky hugs,

Angi

Challenges:
Magnolia Stamp Lovers Challenge (Flowers)

Postcard Swap [3] - The Finished Postcards

Wow. iHanna's 2011 Postcard Swap was great fun! It was just what I needed to help me out of my creative rut and get moving to more creative endeavors. This is a picture heavy post! (click on any of the pictures to see the postcards in detail)

The Group Shot

I thought about doing a couple of photos today, tomorrow and so on until I showed them all, but I've already been working on other projects to share, so here they are - all my postcards (and a few extras!)

The Addressees (finished the postcards with a kraft cardstock backing)

So true.

It's always the first steps that seem the hardest!

Love this quote.

Mini staples make the 'silver lining'

This one might just be my favorite...colors, texture, the quote.

Had been looking for a project to use this stamp on for awhile. Glad to have found one. If I hadn't needed to mail this, I would have left the flower whole (I was worried it would get ripped off in transit.)

I made a batch of these stamped, embossed butterflies on white cardstock & color with inks/shimmer/colorwashes when needed.

 LOVE LOVE LOVE this quote.

Picture definitely didn't do this one justice. The shimmer and color

are so much more rich and vibrant IRL.

This one spoke to me. Almost kept it!

Thinking I will recreate something similar on canvas.

The heart is crinkled and ironed vellum...the heat caused the raised (crinkled) parts of the vellum to melt and puff, when it cooled and settled it was almost like embossing.

This was an extra background. Loved the 'fire' in this one.

Another extra. Was playing around with a few more techniques. Fun colors!

Now that I have a better idea what the Post Office is willing to accept, I'll be more daring in next year's swap! I hope they all arrived a little travel worn, but still in intact!

Inky hugs,

Angi

WOYWW #10 (99) - Happy Hour

Happy Wednesday! This is it. The last Wednesday in April. I can't believe that in just a few short weeks the kiddos will be out of school. Sigh. My how time flies. Seeing as it's early 0149 here, this is going to be a short post. Processing postcard photos, so they will get posted no later than this weekend. Promise.

Haven't gotten a picture of the desk from today, but here's a recent photo (last Friday):

This was the night I was prepping for my card class at Simple Pleasures...making Magnolia cards. I was spritzing flowers for one of the cards. Love using glass. Pretty. Easy to clean. Useful...for more than drinking! I use this margarita glass and votive holder for dipping and drying my flowers among other creative tasks.

The well in the margarita glass is perfect for holding water. I dip the flowers in here first...then...

here. I spray the color into the votive glass, swirl wired flowers around in the glass and then hang them to dry on the glass edges.

Lovely, wouldn't you say?

Here are a couple of pics of the pups. Maverick has been his usual charming self and Box of Rocks is still queen. No competition here! These were taken shortly after they had been outside...in the snow! I don't usually equate snow with Spring. I'm dreaming of warmer weather and sunshine!

Well, if you've enjoyed the peek into my studio, make sure to stop by Julia's for more What's On Your Work desk Wednesday!

Inky hugs,

Angi

Postcard Swap [2] - More Layers

Busy week. So many things on the 'to do' list and not enough time to get them done. This post, however late, will be checked off the list! (note: picture heavy post! click the pictures to get a better view) In case you missed it, click HERE for my first 2011 ihanna postcard swap post.

Okay, so here's where we left off...layers of gesso and newspaper... I had no real plan as I was making these. I had an idea of what I wanted the finished piece to look like, but wasn't sure how I was going to get there. 'The Plan' evolved as I tried techniques, played with product and drank lots of hot chocolate with whipped cream (needed the caffeine - my excuse, anyway!)

I wanted more color, so out came my Adirondack Colorwashes. Sprayed a few times...loved the color, but somehow it wasn't enough. (using Eggplant) After a a bit of consideration, I had decided that my postcards would be different colors. (At this time I had 12 colorwashes. I only needed to complete 10 postcards, but hey, what's 2 more?!)

Thought it needed more texture. White acrylic paint...put a bit on the craft sheet and sprayed it with the colorwash. (I didn't mix it.)

Used cut up sponges dipped in the paint/colorwash mix and dabbed it over the entire card. (using Wild Plum) Don't forget you can pick up what's left on the craft sheet with a  manila tag, cardstock panel or even fabric and build up your stash of papers, tags and fabric for that next project!

I did forget to take a picture when I started to apply the shimmer sprays! After I applied the paint/colorwashes, I waited for them to dry overnight. (I could have used the heat gun to speed up the dry time, but I didn't want the paint to bubble, if it got too hot.) I sprayed each of the cards using a coordinating color of some kind of shimmer spray : Glimmer Mists and Perfect Pearls Mists. This added more colors and a wonderful depth and richness to the backgrounds!

The mists dry so quickly, so I hit them with the heat gun. Next, I got out the water and spritzed a piece of bubblewrap and 'stamped' it over a section on the card. Wetting the colorwash reactivates it and the color in the wet areas began to migrate, leaving the bubblewrap images. I left it for about 5-10 seconds (until I liked what I saw) and then dried it with my heat gun to stop the process and leave the imprint. (If you leave it to air dry, you will lose some of the definition as wet color tends to blend outward and will become softer in appearance - sometimes desirable!)

By not cleaning the bubblewrap between postcards, I was able to introduce more color onto the next postcard without much fuss. Notice the clean craft sheet? (check out the above photos, if you didn't...)

Bonus Picture! I've been asked many times just how easy is it to clean a teflon craft sheet...

You won't believe how easy!

Have a trash can nearby. Liberally spray the sheet with water. Give it a sec or two and then grab that used iTunes, gift or credit card and simply (gently) scrape off the mess! You won't need much elbow grease to move off whatever was on the mat.

Seriously. Melted embossing powder, glue, acrylic paint, adhesive...just scrape it off the mat into the can! Give it one more spray of water and wipe clean. (I use bar mop-type towels. Washable (in their own load) and reusable. I love using my artsy towels - they just add color to my studio!)

I was really liking how these were turning out! Tried a little more texture on a few postcards using gesso and some found items (that plastic ring is what's left when you finish off a roll of clear tape. And yes, that is a crayola...ahem...borrowed from my kids paintbrush...) but for the most part I was pretty pleased!

Another night to dry well. More texture. I was getting down to the wire on time, so I made the decision to finish off the cards in similar ways while making each one unique. Here I stamped the Paris collage, turning it various ways, not being careful to ink the entire stamp so that it left gaps and lighter text in some areas. (stamped in black Archival Ink) I only stamped over a portion of each postcard.

The Archival Ink is waterproof, so I was able to use a few more techniques on the cards before I called them done. I swiped some of the edges with extra spray, paint or gesso. Even added some drippage with the colorwashes...I flicked water or color onto some...basically just played around with each postcard until I loved what I saw.

Whew. Still with me? It's 0025. That's as in a.m. I'll get my finished postcards on here soon. And the rest of the postcards I received, too!

If you have any questions, let me know!

Inky hugs,

Angi

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