Saving Myself From Myself

As most of you know by now, I stamp without a net. That means I don't always plan out a card, and what I start with usually morphs into something completely different. Or I paint myself into a corner, which is what happened today.

I thought I'd take this opportunity to show you how I squirmed out of that corner. I might also need a very large glass of wine.

First, here is one of the two finished cards:

This is a shaker card, and there are two layers of fun foam behind the front panel. Unfortunately, I stuck the acetate to the back of the panels (I made two) before I cut the foam layers, and since I needed to cut a hole in each of the foam pieces, I pretty much sat there and stared at my predicament for a few minutes. I should have used the aperture in the card front to mark the foam so I knew where to cut, but the acetate prevented that. What to do, what to do ...

The MISTI to the rescue! I don't know what that tool can't do!

Here is my attempt to show you what I did to save myself.

First, I lined up the card front in the corner of the MISTI, and then lined up the die over it:

Sorry about the glare and the worse-than-usual lighting. And yeah, my MISTI is hanging off the table. It's a little crowded in my world.

I put some adhesive on the back of the die, then picked it up with the MISTI lid, like you'd pick up a stamp:

Then, one at a time (I had four), I placed a piece of foam in the corner where the card front used to be:

Then closed the lid and pressed the die into the foam. This left an impression that I could later use to align the die and cut the circle in the foam. You can almost see part of the impression here:

If you click to embiggen, you can see it.

Warning if you ever try this yourself: The impression doesn't last very long. It's like self-healing foam. By the time I got to the fourth one to die-cut, I could barely see the impression. But it worked!

All I needed to do was trim the openings in the foam a bit so the aperture was larger than the one in the card stock (the better to not see the foam), stuck it all together, then proceeded to fill the opening with sequins (I probably should have used more sequins -- it's a big opening).

For the backing, I used another of my Gelli plate backgrounds from my UFO pile. I cut two, and here is the second card with the other half of the Gelli plate piece:

This one has less yellow. At first I thought I liked it more than the other one, but then I decided the yellow gives more contrast. I'm still kindof pleased the card stock matches the colors pretty well. It's Bazzill Sea Glass, and I almost forgot I had it, mixed in with all my other blue/green cache of card stock. It's textured, too, so I had to stamp the sentiment more than once with Delicata Gold using my MISTI so it stamped thoroughly into all the tiny crevices. Then I heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.

Speaking of the sentiment, it's part of a stamp set that will be released Nov 1st. I am such a tease. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Remember SYFY?

Some of my longer-term readers may remember my SYFY feature. SYFY is Save Yourself From Yourself. It's my way of recovering from a boo-boo and not losing all my hard work.

Sometimes I'll make a background I don't like, and it goes into the UFO box. It may not be pretty, but I could always die-cut something from it later.

Sometimes I try a technique that just doesn't work the first few times, and those pieces get tossed. Not worth it. Some pieces that get saved are piled up next to my work space. The pile is getting out of control ... might be time to purge.

This time, though, I was making backgrounds ala this Faux Textured Metal Paper video by  Jennifer McGuire. I was bad and didn't pay attention, and managed to rip two sides of the background. RUINED! GAH! But nooooo, my SYFY kicked in and I immediately went into salvage mode. Who said the piece needed to be A2 sized? No one, that's who! 

Here's my card, then the blathering shall continue:

Oh, look, it's crooked ...

Since I knew I could only use the center of the piece, I chose an embossing folder that focused more on the center than an all-over pattern. Then I trimmed it down past the boo-boos and ended up with a piece about 3x4. 

I dug out a piece of mystery orange paper and created a layer. I was following the current Nacho Average Challenge sketch:

which I turned 90 degrees. I added a piece of skinny gold washi tape to the bottom of the orange piece for that sketch element, and added a Paper Smooches die-cut for the sentiment. 

So that boo-boo was saved, and went to live on in a different configuration. It also shows that you can use just part of the background if you want to. So many possibilities.

Enough blathering. Thanks for stopping by!

Stuff I used: SU black card stock, misc. orange card stock, gold washi tape (it's really skinny, so maybe Little B?), sunburst embossing folder, and the following:

InLinkz.com

Quicky Thanks

I actually sold some stamps last week (thank you!), and being a stamper, I felt compelled to include a quick Thank You card in the boxes. The other night I used some remnants and made two of these:

I just cut a 1/2 sheet of card stock into two strips and then proceeded to not score them in half. I missed. Lookie:

See that score line under the twine? Yeah, that's a boo-boo. In another SYFY trick, I just scored another line where it was supposed to be, then added the twine between the two to make it look like I meant to do that. I notched the edges of the card to keep the twine from slipping off.

All I added to the white card stock was a piece of remnant paper and my standard stamped Thanks, this time in Navy ink to match the navy twine that was still out on my desk. :)

Easy, peasy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Countdown to Saturday (4 days)

The countdown to show day continues. Tonight, I'd planned to work on some Fall-themed cards, so I made some Thank You cards that have nothing to do with Fall. What ... you're not following my train of thought? Imagine that.

I had stamped and die-cut 8 of these flowers to use on book marks, but they were too small, so this could be considered a UFO project. A badly-timed UFO project, but that's not my point.

Okay - here' the card:

The flowers are from a Heartfelt Creations stamp set and coordinated Heartfelt Creations dies that I picked up at Angela's while still under the influence of a major enablement session, the result of a Jennifer McGuire class. They were stamped with SU Pomegranate ink on Vanilla card stock. I also managed to use some Pomegranate paper and a few inches of my hoarded Pomegranate ribbon. I added some teeny pearls from my stash to the center of the flowers. I liked it, so I wanted to make another one.

Then this happened:

The stamp had THE NERVE to fall off the acrylic block and onto my card front. Grrrrrr. Fortunately it didn't bounce. I immediately went into SYFY mode, so I bring you SYFY Tip #14. I made up that number since I've lost track, but it's close, so I'm going with it.

Here is how I executed this evening's save: I stamped the "thanks" on a scrap of Vanilla, then punched it out with the new teeny oval punch from the Holiday Mini:

That one schmeared, so I did another one and covered up the boo-boo thus(ly):

Here are the two finished cards, side-by-each:

Does the one on the left look like I meant to do that? Well, does it?

Okay, so I have about another hour left before bed time, and so far I've only made two Thank You cards. I am not making very good progress, am I? Sigh. I think I need to make something with leaves. Or ghosts. I got some new Tim Holtz tapes I need to check out. Or I could make some not-round Peppermint Patty things. Or not. Sigh...

Hey, thanks for stopping by!

Mojo 150

Wow, two weeks of Mojo sketches in a row! I am on a roll, man!

This week's sketch is Mojo 150:

and here is my card:

Actually, I think I got it pretty close! When I walked into the Captain's Quarters and pondered this sketch, I decided I was going to use ALL NEW STUFF, and I did! The papers are from one of my 6x6 Basic Grey paper pads - Kioshi, and the stamped bird is from a Hero Arts set I bought in an "OMG more cute birds" moment.

I didn't intend to pick the three busiest papers in the pack, and actually, I didn't, but maybe there is too much going on here. Whatever, it's green and it's done.

You know how famous stampy people do a close-up of their creations to show you the magnificence of it all? Not me. Nope. My close-up is to show you I had two - not one, but two - SYFY moments on ONE CARD! BONUS! Let's have a look:

First, I cut the bottom layer too short, and since I only had two pieces of this paper, and both were cut too short (I know, measure twice, cut once ... shaddup), I opted to scallop a scrap remnant that went in the right direction and just make it look like I meant to do that.

Second, I amputated one of the bird's legs (the right one) and the only way to save him was to glue all the tail and leg parts to the card. I had intended for them to be free and floppy, but in the end, I think glued down was the better option anyway.

That's it, peeps (heh heh). That's all I have in me for tonight. Thanks for stopping by!

Market Update (long) and a Card

Today was HOT HOT HOT! Who ordered August weather in early June?! I need to talk with them!!!!!! I had to freeze partially-filled bottles of water last night so I could have something cold today to keep me from expiring from heat prostration. OMG.

Apparently the veggies and fruits are as confused about the weather as we are, since Farmer Mike said some of his offerings aren't supposed to be here yet, but they have a mind of their own. Ready for the produce parade? Let's go!

Green beans:
I grabbed some of these today.

Kohlrabi:

LOVE this stuff! And people who don't know what it is just ask, and then they try it, and then next week they get some more! I love adventurous people!

Basil:

This was the overflow bucket under the table. All the basil on top of the table AND this were sold. I set up on the other side of this table, so every time someone picked up a bunch, I got a whiff of it. So good!

Mater plants with teeny tiny maters:

Most of these went home with customers.

Maters:


Surprise guest - Blackberries:
These are way ahead of their usual season. The heat must have confused them.

Raspberries:

My box of the raspberries and the blackberries managed to dump over inside my market bag, so I have mush. I think I see a frozen fruity beverage in my future! :)

Squash:

And remember that kids' game: Which one of these is not like the other one? Well:

See that light squash? It's a Mexican squash. Farmer Mike will grow just about anything. Keeps us on our toes.

Enough with the veggies. I wanted to show you a common occurrence at the market, specifically at the bakery booth:

A parent with one or more kids in tow, with kids nose-high to the cookies and donuts. Kids are generally very good when there is a cookie waiting for them when the 'rents are done shopping. ;)

The Rock Lady had a few new offerings. Here's Nemo:

... and two monkeys:

They are presented sitting on padded chairs. So cute!

The cut flower people told me my vase was too tall for today's bouquets, so they suggested Mint:

This smelled good ALL day!

Before I get to the doggie portion of today's show, look who stopped by for the first time this season:

Tweety!!!!! We hear him before we see him. He is the loudest bird ever! TWEET! TWEET! Once he arrived and my table was identified, he put the bird down:

From there, I got to pick him up:

One of the neighborhood kids hangs out at the market all day, and she ran over to see the bird. After we managed to dispel her initial fears, she picked up the bird, too:

So fun! After this, she went back to helping the bakery people. She was working for churros. Win-win! ;)

Okay, NOW for some dogs. Again, I was in stealth mode for part of the time, but you'll at least get an idea of the pooches that visited us today. First up - you guessed it:

Then this guy appeared:

He was not very cooperative, and this was the best I could do, even with the owner helping. The dog did NOT want to stand still! Love his coloring!

Good dog:

The Bouvier from afar (zoomed in):

Here he looks like a horse. We'll see him again here in a sec.

Another handsome fellow:

And this is the best I could get of this guy:

Ah, here's the Bouvier again with two Shepherds:


... and by his lonesome (Yes, it was HOT today.):

He was sitting like a puppy!

Another handsome fellow:

And a 3-dog shot:

Why, oh why, is EVERYONE in line at the bakery?!??!?! :P

Just to show you ALL of the dogs were not nose-high to the tables:

... and that one on the right looks like a puppy, non? Either that or an old man:

Then this guy showed up for a sip of cold water:

... and he would NOT stand still. What is it with dogs and not standing still? I think it's all the people and the other dogs, and they are in sensory overload. Yeah, that must be it.

Towards the end of the day, this little guy showed up:

He's 8 weeks old, and all ears! TOO CUTE!

End of doggie parade. I did want to show you that when I say it's hot, I mean it. Look at this:

This is the hook for one of my card racks. That red fuzzy stuff? That's where it stuck to my red Olympics mittens that are, um, still in my car. It melted to it! I had to peel it off yesterday afternoon to set up at my Friday market. HOT, I tell you - HOT!

Okay, lastly I bring you - gasp - a card! I made this today after I woke up from my after-market, after-shower, OMG-I'm-tired nap, and my body temperature had returned to the normal range:

This is one of the two remaining cards I had staged from that initial stamping effort last week. Anyway, that sentiment says: "Ring bell for service. If no one answers, do it yourself. " HAHAHAHAHA! How many Moms out there have said this? "Do I look like your maid?" "Are your arms broken?"

It is also a SYFY entry ... what number am I up to now? 47.5? I'm not sure you can tell, but I popped that bell image up on Dimensionals so I could run ribbon under it. However, my OCD kicked in and I put Dimensionals on symmetrically (I was so proud, if only for a moment) right in the middle so no ribbon will feed through. DOH! I saved myself by utilizing the nice grid of the background paper and added brads (symmetrically, of course) instead. Sigh ...

In other news, I got a fat package of foam-mounted stamps in yesterday's mail, and I inked them all to create an index so I know what I've got. They are mostly irreverent sentiments (from River City Rubber Works) and ideas are churning in the back of my brain - the part that didn't fry today ... plotting for the next wave of cards to be made.

For now, though, I need sleep. I hope to get stampy again tomorrow so I'll have something else to share with you.


Thanks for stopping by!