I used to decorate for Valentine's Day and put up lots of hearts and doilies. But not any more. I am getting old and lazy lol. But I still make cards....or try too. I am way off track this year and just finished my parent's card today. And since it is Sunday, I can't mail it until tomorrow which means they probably will not get it until the 15th. Oh well, can we really only tell people we love them on the 14th?
I made a shaker card! I used Anna Griffin's shaker card dies. And Cuttlebug's confetti dies for the 'filling'.
The patterned card stock came from a new Recollections paper pad called Girlsquad. It has lots of cute Valentine papers.
I struggled with this one. Not in the making but in the 'do I really like this?' stage. The die set is really nice as it gives you dies to cut the window in your card base, the window in your card front and lots of embellishments. But I just wasn't feeling it until I got all the embellishment in place. I think the rose finally did it for me. That came from some freebie I got with an Anna Griffin order lol And it had all kinds of swirls and stuff with it that I had to cut off. But I think it was worth it. I hope my parents like it.
In my last post I said I had just received my Dina Wakely Media journal. The 8x10 version came out last year (at least I think it was just last year and not earlier than that). What is cool and different about it is that it has 4 different substraights in it.....watercolor paper, canvas, kraft paper and burlap....all in one journal!
She brought out a larger version this year at Creativation but there is no way I would have space for it or comfortably be able to fill such a large work space. (I tend to work small so the 8x10 is already going to push me outside my comfort zone)
I jumped right in with burlap! I have never worked on burlap before. I tend to avoid it at all costs due to the smell and that fact that something in it (maybe all those fibers) makes me sneeze. So, with tissues at the ready, I dove right in. I used acrylic paints in reds, oranges and yellows to create a sunset background with white and pale yellow for the sun.
I then used Dina's Scribble Sticks in black to draw a giraffe. It is tough to get a straight line on burlap! So I have a stylized giraffe lol
I then used Scribble Sticks for the patterns around the sides but it still needed something.
I googled African postage stamps and found some I liked. I printed them on regular printer paper so they would feel more like the real thing. I cut them out and glued them down with Aleene's Tacky Glue.
So now I need to decide my next step. I am thinking of washing a medium to dark color over the stamps, or at least part of them, to help settle them into the background a bit. But it is a work in progress so I will mull it over for a bit.
Here is a page on the watercolor paper. I watched one of Dina Wakely's YouTube videos on drawing faces. Faces are not my forte. If I spend long enough on them (like hours and hours drawing) they turn out fairly well. This was a fun way to create a face in a short amount of time.
I tend to be very rigid in my drawing and painting. I see people all the time that freely slap paint on canvas without any obvious direction and they just let the colors and forms guide them. I have never been one of those people. I have to see it all in my mind before I can even start. I want to see if I can be more loose and free in this journal. I don't think there is anything wrong with my creative style...it's worked for me for over 50 years....but there are days lately where I desperately want to create something but don't have the time to think it all out in advance. I want to be able to open to a page and just brush on some color and then be able to walk away and come back later and apply something else...no pre-planned ideas.
Wish me luck! lol
So that is all I have for this week. I still need to make a Valentine for hubby (not much time left for that one!). And my brother has a birthday next week so I need to get that done as well. My bullet journal did not keep me on track this week! lol
If your weather is even remotely like mine....stay warm! And Happy Crafting!
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