It's Time to Lipsynch....For....Your..............LIFE!

I am, of course, quoting the Queen of the Glamazons, Ru Paul for the title of this post. As I intimated in my last, I have been watching and obsessing with the fabulous Drag Race over which she presides.

As you may have noted, there has been an absence of crafting going on around here. I've been drawing and doing small household projects but I've largely left my craft room untouched. There is a reason and it's something I've talked about on here before. The ebb and flow around creativity. And I've been in the Ebb mode recently. I'm okay about that. There comes a point when it's good for me to take a break and go look for inspiration instead. And strangely enough, this time around, I've found it in Ru Paul.

But before I go on, here's a teaser...

Now when I find a source I love, I really go full out and dig deep into it. I've been reading Ru's books, including his autobiography. I've been listening to his fortnightly podcasts, "What's The Tee". I've been watching his shows. And I've been learning a heck of a lot about creativity, authenticity and determination.

The TV show is a competition starting with 14 drag queens who are whittled down episode by episode until three remain. There is a grande finale show and from the top three, a winner is crowned Drag Superstar.

Now bear with me, there's a reason I'm going into this. You see, to the mainstream, this is what drag looks like...

Roxxy Andrews from Season 5.

These are the Pageant Queens.

But in Season 4, right from start, I was bewitched by Sharon Needles (Geddit?), whose look was more like this...

And she was forever having to defend her unique aesthetic. Then, in Season 5, I routed for Jinkx Monsoon....

She was another who had an original look, creating characters of a vintage era and was given a difficult time because of her oeuvre.

SPOILER ALERT: Guess what....

They both won in their respective seasons.

The outsider, in a community of outsiders, walked away with the title and crown. They stayed true to themselves against some harsh bullying from the Pageant queens. They had their own style and authenticity and kept at it when the competing queens were constantly putting them down.

Are you beginning to see why I instantly loved them both and cried buckets when the underdog won? Add to that, the story of Ru Paul's life and all the other queens, winners or not and I've been swept away in the tide of resilience, irreverence and creativity.

Now everyone has their own different preferred places to go seek some inspiration. The courage and convictions of drag superstars has been mine this summer.

Okay you've got this far...shall I post a card to show that the ebb is giving way to flow?

Okay...

It's my cliched homage to the world of drag

Now with that out of my system, it's time to grab my supplies and start crafting again

Love You Card

I'm back with another card. Told you the muse was upon me. I'm not even supposed to be making cards at the moment. I have another project or two I should be finishing off first. Oh well, I go where the muse takes me.

It's mainly a die job. I used Lil Inkers stitched rectangles to cut out the multi colour cards. I stuck these down onto a scrap of card and ran the whole thing through a large square Lil Inker's die. I backed onto black card which was run through the largest stitched square die and backed the whole lot onto red cardstock using foam mount. I stamped the sentiment and backed onto more black card which I die cut using Spellbinders scalloped square.

Now if this doesn't brighten up someone's shelf and add a touch of fabulousness, I don't know what will!

POW!!!

You know what? I didn't think I'd be making anything in June, nor have the time to post if I did. Looks like I was wrong.

I was busy scribbling up some notes last night when I thought sod it and downed tools. I cleared my desk and pulled out a new die set which arrived in the post this week.  Bam Bubble by Paper Smooches.

Okay, so I didn't do something wildly innovative with it. In my defence, I had to get this idea out of my system. I'm afraid that the moment I saw this shape, this is what it said to me. And you know how much I love a simple, punchy design.

The word was die cut with a lettering set, out of felt. I was trying to think of a way to make them pop from background and I remembered seeing felt used by other cardmakers online in their designs and thought I'd give it a go.

Ahhh! It feels good to make something again :)

Intense Just For You

Hello there lovely readers

I've gone a bit wild with my colours again. It wasn't intentional. It started out by having a pink die cut piece just hanging around on my table which I thought should be used somehow.

I bought a new stencil from Dutch Doobadoo and dabbed the pattern over the scrap of card with versamark ink. I sprinkled black embossing powder over it and heat set. It's given it a really funky effect which you cant really see so well in the photo below. You'll have to take my word for it :)

Once I had my pink and black cut-out, I looked in my card stash and instantly thought I'd try it against it's complimentary colour, a yellow green. It was intense and in-your-face and just perfect. I stamped the sentiment, punched it out and added another die cut, this time using a subtler blue-green card.

I am just loving these happy colours. My head may be pounding but surrounding myself with rich colour is bringing a smile to my face.

A Rainbow of Ink

Hello there my lovely readers

It's been a while since I posted or indeed made anything which could be posted. Truth be told, I'm feeling a bit dicky at the moment. I pulled a muscle in my back over the Easter break. It healed very quickly but then other ailments followed. It didn't stop me from attending boxing lessons with Nick though. I felt sore from using muscles that have never, ever had to be used before, which was to be expected. However, the nausea and headaches have persisted.

So I really haven't felt like being creative this week. Until today. Today I thought I'd try an experiment with inks.

In the online world of card making, watercolour is the current trend that's been around for a few months. And indeed, having seen so many beautiful examples, it can't help but to rub off and inspire me eventually.

So I grabbed some white card, a pot of water and a brush. I didn't reach for my watercolour paints though. Instead, I grabbed my bottles of acrylic ink (you may recall I used them to produce some beautifully vibrant backgrounds for art journal pages). They are gorgeously intense in  their saturation and it only took a few droplets of each colour which I swiped at with my brush.

I didn't take a "before" photo of the colour sheet but the scrap left behind after I ran it through the die machine should give you a good enough idea.

I stuck the die cut to a piece of black card and stamped a sentiment in the bottom right hand corner and added white embossing powder. And that's as easy as it can be. And I love the vibrant rainbow of colour against the black.

Right, off to rest my weary head. Hopefully I'll be back in full creative force soon

And for those of you in the UK, hope you have a fabulous bank holiday weekend!!!

Happy Birthday Rosette Card

Hello my sweet lovelies

Another card to round the week off. I was inspired by this idea I found on Pinterest which used Washi Tape with a rosette embellishment.

I used Tim Holtz Rosette die and blue card to cut the concertina strip. I added the black washi tape and then glue the rosette together before attaching a decorative brad to the centre.

I die cut a scalloped circle from further blue card and mounted onto the red card with foam mounts. I die cut the banner and stamped the sentiment before again using foam mounts to attach.

Thinking of You in Pink

Hello my dahlings

Thought I'd have a play with my Washi Tapes this time around. I sit staring at them on my shelf on a daily basis and as deliciously designed as they are, I never rip into them. So I thought I'd change that.

And it couldn't be any easier. I just cut down some white card and wrapped a few strips of the tape around it. I didn't cover the whole card as you can see, however the white seemed too stark and i wanted more colour. I trimmed a piece of fuchsia card and stuck this on instead.

I stamped the sentiment (in black - I know - not ready to loosen the chain on that one yet) onto pink card and die cut it. I mounted it onto the fuchsia card and trimmed by hand, to create a border. I tried the design against the black background and it felt like it needed another pop of colour. The hint of orange as a matting layer just gave it that extra oomph I was looking for.

Let's hope that I am tempted to use my Washi Tape again, before it gathers dust on my shelf as I really love the effect it gives.

Diamond Shapes & Enamel Dots

Hello again my dahlings

I've been a bit absent online lately.  Partly due to the usual excuse of "being busy" and also because in my spare time, I haven't sat down and made anything. I've been catching up on a backlog of TV series plus I've been reading and meditating. It all eats into crafting time.

However, last night I decided to relax with stamps, scissors and coloured card.

I dug out a sheet of red card and my Clearly Besotted Geometric Style Stamps. I tried a couple of other ink colours before settling on my default when it comes to red, black. It's design-wise, my comfort zone. Must try and make a red card with another colour combo next time.

The black enamel dots are Sprinkles by Doodlebug Design Inc and are absolutely gorgeous as an embellishment, I just love the sleekness of them and the perfect glossy sheen.

Right, well the weather is perfect for a day out. Blue skies and fluffy white clouds. I'm off on a little adventure. One of my Word for the Year trips. I'll hopefully come back with photos to share in the next post

Until then, have a great weekend

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

Not that I'll be sending out any cards, flowers or chocolates myself. Nor, to the best of my knowledge, will I be in receipt of any. Not because I'm alone and loveless. If you've followed my blog, you know that's not true. Nick & I simply don't bother with it. By mutual agreement I may add too. If I want chocolates or roses, on any day of the year, I know Nick would oblige. Anyway, Nick & I celebrate our Anniversary only 10 days earlier. So it just seems too soon to go through the whole rigmarole once again.

I'm happy for the other suckers, romantic souls out there to fly arrows from cupid's bow and book dinners, buy flowers and send confectionary gooiness to their bunnikins and baby bears. It's a day for fun and silliness and who can begrudge it?

I say it every year but for new readers, today is also my parents' wedding anniversary. Which may partially explain my own reluctance to celebrate the 14th. Yes, I do give them a card.

So the card above is my contribution to the lovesick everywhere.  My valentine to the blogosphere. It's a cut and paste job using Spellbinders Square Nesting Dies. I sellotaped the dies together to form one & ran them through four colours of card. I cut two of the largest square shapes out of more card and stuck the various sized frames together onto them. I trimmed both squares on the diagonal and swapped them about. One of those squares is used here, the other for another time. The heart was die cut from velvet paper.

And if the Postie does happen to drop a little something on my doormat today, I'll let you know

Trying out Embossing Paste

I treated myself to a couple of pots of Wendy Vecchi's Embossing paste the other day. It was good fun to play around with and I lost all sense of time. However, as lovely as the results are, it took a few trials and several errors before I began to have success. The white paste was pretty easy to master. The translucent one took a bit longer. There's a fine line between spreading on a layer which is too thick or too thin.

And given that there's a fairly long drying time, I didn't know if my technique had improved until several hours later. However, I stuck with it and came away with a couple of samples which I used in making cards.

Not easy to photograph either as the light here was quite dull but I think you can see the gist of the effect you have.

I shall continue to play with the pastes and dig out some more stencils. I'm determined to master it. If only it wasn't so darned messy.

Washi Tape Play

Finally I understand the lure of Washi tape. I admit I didn't see what the fuss was about when it started filtering through to the craft community. However, I'm now hooked. I've ordered a collection of rainbow coloured tapes but they haven't arrived yet. I do have my stash of black and white tapes though.

I saw a few examples of Washi tape which mitred the corners and I fancied trying it out. Not as easy as it looks. I cut a piece of plastic with a mitred edge and stuck my washi tape pieces onto it, so that I could accurately trim of the corners. Being plastic, it was easy to peel the washi tape away, once I had cut to shape.

Sticking the tape down onto the card was the trickiest part as it has a tendency to curl back on itself, making accurate piecing difficult. With patience and a few hits and misses, I finally stuck it all down.

CAS(E) this Sketch # 62

Great design over at CAS(E) This Sketch this week. Simple, clean, graphic and ready to interpret in any style.

Me, I wanted to maintain the clean lines and include a bold colour palette. This time, my hands hovered over some purple cardstock.

And to give it extra dimension, once I had trimmed the purple card down to size, I cut away the two triangles. I adhered the centre piece to the black card first. Then I added back the two triangles but using foam pads to raise them. 

The stripes were created by laying a strip of Washi tape over some pink card and then trimming in half, lengthways on a guillotine. The sentiment is die cut from black card.

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Supplies

Dies: Cherry Lynn - Love

Poster Inspiration for a Graphic Style Card

Pinterest has a lot to answer for. It's just too deliciously tempting. I try not to venture on it very often because I know I'll be sucked in, clicking on hundreds of beautiful designs and websites. I really can spend hour upon hour, tapping on photos, completely unaware of my surroundings.

I normally save these clips to my account in Evernote. Okay, it's a bit more of a faff but I like my inspiration all in one place, so I'm not having to hunt it down.

Anyway, it was on one of these forays into Pinterest that I came across Swiss Ted. There are numerous poster designs on the website, all of which can be used to inspire card projects. Like this one for example.

And when I say inspire...well in this case, I actually should say copy.

I hardly changed anything in the design. Then again, it was an experiment at first. I wasn't intending to make a completed card. I was just curious to see if I could easily imitate the overlapping circles effect, using dies.

As you can see, I could. I used one of the Spellbinders nested circle dies to cut out five circles in different colours. I then placed the die over one of the circles to trim away a section. I made a couple of marks on the die with a pencil to show where to line it up next time. I then cut through all the circles, using the pencil marks as a guide.

It was then simply a case of piecing it all together and fixing them down. By this time, I thought, why not stamp a sentiment and have it as a card, rather than an experiment to file away.

However, as I started to clear my desk away, I noticed all the offcuts lying there. I'd seen stacked cut-out designs on other people's cards and had thought about trying it myself one day. Well, now seemed as good a time as any. So with my leftovers came this...

It's not perfect but it was useful in working out how to piece a card like this together. And, just like with Pinterest, the time just flew right by.

Thanks for dropping by, my lovelies and for all the wonderful comments you have been leaving recently. :)

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Supplies

Stamps: Hero Arts - Thanks Sentiments

Dies: Spellbinders - Circles, Die-Namics - Staggered Hearts, Cheery Lynn - Love Set 2

Clean & Graphic Embossed Card

I'm still adding to my stack of birthday cards and wanted to make a black and white card, accented with a small amount of one other colour. Looking through my stash of card, I decided to go with pink. It's one of those colours that I love to set against black.

I first cut through the white card, about a third of the way down, with a die. I then ran it through an embossing folder. After placing a strip of pink onto the black card, I added the embossed card, leaving a gap for the pink to be seen.

I die cut the circles and stamped the border and sentiment with a freebie from Craft Stamper Magazine.

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Supplies

Stamps: Craft Stamper Magazine - Time To Celebrate

Dies: Spellbinders - Labels 17 & Circles,  L'il Inkers - Stitched Circles

Embossing Folder - Cuttlebug - Damask

Sketch Challenge Part 1

I sat and made two cards for two challenges and I thought I'd separate them out, as in one per post. The first is for CAS(E) This Sketch. I fancied something bold and red this time around. And yes, my graphic styled leanings had to pair it with black. I had toyed with making it all in red except the stamping but I'm in a high contrast mood.

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Supplies

Stamps: Mama Elephant - Basic Borders, Kanban - Spring Silhouettes, Hero Arts - Be Happy

Dies: Spellbinders - Blossom

It May Be Grey Outside But I'm Cracking Out The Sunny Yellow

It may be grey and wet outside but it only serves to motivate me to start bringing colour into the house. In this respect, I bow down to the glorious advocate of bold hues, Jonathan Adler. He's not as well known in the UK as he is in America but his presence is gradually gaining momentum.

I love his wit and take-no-prisoners attitude. Irreverent, confident, acid-tongued and intelligent. Is it a wonder I love him. It's on dank days like these that I'll pull my copy of his book, Anti depressive Living, off the shelf to have a flick through.

Juiced up on bright, in-your-face colour, I turned to Mojo Monday for this week's sketch.

I pulled out my collection of card and pulled out a couple of orange-yellow shades and set about cutting, pasting and stamping.

Now doesn't that just make you feel bright and warm inside? I can easily ignore the saturated grey outside my window, when I'm playing around with happy colours like these.

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Supplies

Stamps: WPLUS9 - Love Birds, Impression Obsession - Square Frames, Clearly Besotted - Simply Chevrons

Dies: Spellbinders - Circles