Come On Get Crafty: Christmas Card?

I needed to mail a friend something in a larger envelope.  But I was worried that it would get bent in the mail, so I wanted to include a card.  But one can't include a card without decorating it!  So I did a simple design, inspired by this idea. 

I chose a yellow card so that my writing on the back would show up easily.  I chose red as my primary scrap color because it is almost Christmas!

Merry Christmas friend!

Come On Get Crafty: Blow Winds Blow Waves

I did this during the summer with colored pencils on watercolor paper.  I'm not sure drawing in pencil on watercolor paper works so great.  It was fun to play around with all the hues of blue though.

Now that the weather is turning cold and wintery and stormy, it seems fitting to post this one now!

Come on Get Crafty: Coffee Rings?

A couple weeks ago I started fooling around with card making again.  I had this sort of idea of circles colliding but also being undefined, so that's what I was pondering while making this one.

Once again I think I over embellished it.  I think the shading on the edges pulls focus from the circles and reduces their prominence, when really I wanted them to stand more starkly alone in space, like planets.  I have got to stop second guessing myself.

Come on Get Crafty: Spring Pastels and Stars

I did this one earlier, messing around with paint and magazines.  It's a bit sloppy but whatever.

Come on Get Crafty: Ring around

The stamps have been at it again!  I think this one turned out rather well! (Although my scanner seems to have added some grid lines that are not actually there.  Technology is an ever-changing mystery.)

Come on Get Crafty: Blue & Roses

It has been a while since I've done a crafty post, but I've been tinkering around with some card making and cannibalizing my fashion mags and catalogs again.

I originally wanted to do red nail polish drops but I couldn't find my red nail polish (I think I gave it away actually).  But I'm rather pleased with how the red paint came out instead.

Come On Get Crafty: Between, Among the Lines

I recently found this when I was cleaning my desk.  I don't know if it is done.  I might want to fill in some more lines near the left border.

I haven't done any cards in a while.  Looking back through some of my crafty posts makes me want to get back into it again.

Come on Get Crafty: Small Square Magnet 3

Here is the third magnet that I made!  I want to make four, so only one more to go!



I often tell myself that less is more.  I orignially didn't have the triangles at the bottom or the leaf border or the two lines one the bottom of the big central flower shape.  I really liked the simple geometry.  But I was worried that if I didn't add more it wouldn't match the other two magnets I had already doodled, so I added more.  I think that the border works well, but I'm not too sure I really needed to add everything that I added.

Come on Get Crafty: Small Square Magnet 2

I made another magnet while catching up on Once Upon A Time.

The end.

Come On Get Crafty: Small Square Magnet

My mom never has enough magnets on the fridge to hold everything on.  So I made her another.

I doodled on a 2 in x 2 in mini canvas and then applied an adhesive magnet to the back.

Let's hope it lasts!

Come On Get Crafty: Do Do Doodling

I realized I haven't made any cards in a really long time.  So I got out some card stock and did some doodling while watching tv on netflix.

I bought some new pens, but unfortunately got the wrong kind, so wasn't used to the way these one bled, which was a little frustrating.

Not sure if the green one above is really done yet.  It's not my favorite thing ever so I don't know if I'll bother revisiting it.  I don't really like how the curvy things in the center turned out, althought I really like the dot-triangles!

Come On Get Crafty: Card by Gran

I've mentioned in the previous post that my grandmother paints and makes cards.  I've posted one of the cards she's made for me (see here), but I wanted to share one of her watercolors and another of my favorites.

I believe that she copied the design from an image she saw in a magazine.  It is so beautiful, and makes me really want to learn to paint!

Come On Get Crafty: Home in the Desert

Here is the final card from my weekend crafting exploits.  Like the cards from the previous post, I'd started this card a while ago but only got around to finishing it recently.

If I remember correctly, I cut this picture from a NY Times article about a desert homestead.  The man being featured in the article basically made this awesome living place from repurposed shipping containers in the Texas desert.  It sounds like such a fascinated place, and his story of developing the off-grid back-to-the-land home was so creative and inspiring.

I wanted the card to reflect the cheerfulness and positivity I felt from the story and in the photographs, and the somewhat whimsical elements of the homestead's design.  I liked the colors of the green and blue, keeping the image fresh and relaxing, countered with the more desert-y colors of the butterflies (also in keeping with the whimsy), but the solid colors made it too stark.  The little house looked too alone and got too intense a stare.

It took me a while to come up with the pattern for the background, but I think I found a good balance keeping with the natural theme and the cheerfulness (although I think my hand-drawn butterflies are a little sloppy).

Come On Get Crafty: Blue, Polar Ice

I got a lot of cards off my plate this weekend.  I started these two eons ago and finally vowed to finish them!

First, an experiment in blue (and testing out an old set of stamps that I never used):

Second, for some reason the icebergs and the skin tone in Cate Blanchett seemed to match, so more experiments with blue, and with some green, some white, and some polka dots too!:

Come On Get Crafty: Wilderness! a convertable card

I had some fun with brads and snazzy clothing tags.

In one case, you get to contemplate some lovely, picturesque images.

But then, surprise! There is a lovely landscape underneath!

I also had the chance to test my $1 alphabet stamps.  They were a little bit sloppy and very much worth only $1.

Come on Get Crafty: Bottle Red Silhouette

My latest in messing around with make-up.

I've always like the simplicity of a lot of fashion drawing that feature a simple silhouette, a flourish of a garment or gown, usually with a cloudy splashes of color.  It is simultaneously simplistic, almost bare-bones, yet beautiful, glamourous and ornate!  So I tried the simple silhouette of the face, with some bright (brighter than this scan allows) red hair.

Come on Get Crafty: the Gala

I cut this out out of the newspaper.  I think it was part of an ad for the McQueen exhibit at the Costume Institute and the Met Ball.  I've always been a little taken with the Met Ball.  It seems so classy and highbrow--- and combined with the McQueen exhibit, the whole thing rather fascinated me that year.

But despite the beautiful simplicity of the dress which the ad let speak for itself, I couldn't help but jazz it up a bit.  I like to think it's just an expression of the excitment and frivolity of such a fancy party!

P.S.  I also think one of the shapes looks just like a roster's head.  Can you find it?

Come On Get Crafty: Twinings of Yellow

Originally, I was simply admiring the Twinings tag, which clearly involved gluing it to a yellow card.  Sometimes it takes gluing to a yellow card to put into perspective how picturesque everyday items andimages can be.

And then I started doodling.

I don't love what's going on in the top half so much, but I think overall it turned out ok.

Come On Get Crafty: Spackle & Shine

I was messing around with some nail polish and it reminded me of the way decaying walls in old, abandonded houses look.  Residue from wallpaper, plaster crumbling.

But the bright, flamboyant silver reminded me of decadence, flashy music, and glamourous black and white movies, so I added the magazine cut out and the rhinestones.

I just wish it was one of those cards that played music, so it could play a creepy, faint, echo of Puttin' On the Ritz.

Come On Get Crafty: Strawberry Spring Explosion

I finally made a new card last week!  I haven't had time to do much creativity lately, but I got a new lipstick last weekend which got me goofing around with silly colors.

The scan doesn't really do the colors justice (there is definitely some blue going on that you can't see at all), but here's the latest: