#dailycreating JULY

As many of you already know, I belong to a Facebook group called Daily Creating. Led by visual artist and creative encourager Terry Runyan, those of us in the group are treated to a list of prompts each Sunday that will last us the next seven days. Prompts are optional, but many of us follow them, including me. The real purpose of the group is to encourage us to create something every day. 

Since I wanted to hone my drawing skills -- in addition to my papercrafting -- I hopped on board the group a year ago in August. I have only missed drawing for two daily prompts in all that time. I feel that by following each day's prompt -- whether I "like" it or not -- forces me at times to work outside -- sometimes WAY outside -- my comfort zone, thus strengthening my skills as an artist.

I have shared drawings from each of the months so far since I started. Today I am going to share with you a handful from my July drawings. As always, I will put the prompt above each of the pictures.

#aliceinwonderland

Mad Hatter

 #bikini

#reflection

 

#lanterns

 #thingonthing

 #dogurday

#treehugger

#thingonthing

#fightyourfears 

(I am terrified of moths.)

#poodle

#thingonthing

As you peruse the prompts above each of these drawings, I am sure you may have a few questions. 

Terry has designated each Saturday as either Caturday or Dogurday. Since I'm not wonderful at drawing cats, I tend to gravitate towards drawing dogs.

Also, every Wednesday is #thingonthing day. I usually interpret that prompt somewhat loosely. For example, in my drawings, I have "snail on grass" and "koala on tree". 

Many of the days show multiple prompts. That is the case in the koala -- #thingonthing and #treehugger. Often, it is possible to make a drawing that fits more than one of the day's prompts. 

As I mentioned, the daily prompts are simply suggestions and following them is not at all mandatory. Many of the people in the group follow their own muse, which is great. At least, they are creating!

I post most of my drawings, as well as cards and photography, on my Instagram account. I would be honored if you would follow me along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/paperseedlings/

Thanks for putting up with my gallery of drawings instead of a papercrafting project about once a month!

The small print: Please be cognizant of the fact that this is my personal artwork and not to be used by anyone other than myself without my express permission. Thank you for this respect.

Drawn

Smiles.

PEEKABOO LEAF

Although Mother Nature must not have gotten the email, it really is still autumn. Really.

Another leaf card for you! 

At my monthly Stamp-In this past Monday, this is a card my girls made as one of their four projects. It's a good way to use up some fall feeling retired Designer Series Paper. 

An easy card to create, it still is markedly handsome.

Popping up the diecut leaf panel with Stampin' Dimensionals is a great way to create the feel of dimension. Notice the shadows at the edges of the leaf. 

The beautiful diecut label encasing the sentiment is done with a die from the Ornate Frames dies, found on page 53 of the Holiday Catalog. I sincerely hope that Stampin' Up! decides to keep this die set in the next Annual Catalog! Even though it was touted for Halloween in the catalog, the frames, both fairly plain and extravagantly ornate, are wonderful for use any time of the year.

Following are the directions and supplies list needed to make a card similar to this.

SUPPLIES:

Mossy Meadow cardstock

Cream cardstock

Fall colored Designer Series Paper

Retired sentiment

Gorgeous Grunge

Mossy Meadow ink

Big Shot

Stitched Shapes dies (page 196, Annual Catalog)

Ornate Frames Dies (page 53, Holiday Catalog)

Seasonal Layers dies (page 195, Annual Catalog)

Stampin' Dimensionals

3/16" Braided Linen Trim (page 174, Annual Catalog)

Glue Dots

INSTRUCTIONS:

Fold a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece of Mossy Meadow cardstock in half, creasing it well with a bone folder.

Adhere a 3 1/4" square piece of autumnal Designer Series Paper to a 3 1/2" square of cream cardstock.

From a 3" square piece of the cream cardstock, die cut a maple leaf in the center with the leaf die and the Big Shot. Once again, run the piece through the Big Shot, but this time centering the diecut leaf with the Stitched Shapes square die that measures about 2 5/8" square.

Adhere the diecut square centered over the DSP with Stampin' Dimensionals.

From the 3/16" Braided Linen Trim, tie a bow and attach it with a Glue Dot to the stem of the diecut leaf.

Adhere this finished piece to the card front, leaving even margins at the top and sides.

Stamp the multi-lined stamp from Gorgeous Grunge in about the center of the remaining green space on the card in Mossy Meadow ink.

On coordinating cream cardstock, stamp the sentiment in Mossy Meadow ink. Cut the sentiment out with the long die from the Ornate Frames Dies. Adhere this over the stamped lines with Stampin' Dimensionals.

Autumnal

Smiles.

PINECONE JOY

Before I get started with my regularly scheduled blog post, I must make an exciting announcement. 

I am honored to have been chosen as the Papercraft Superstar on the crafty website Cut Out & Keep this week, Monday through Sunday.

Throughout the week, a new tutorial from me will be added each day. There is also an interview about me. The link to this honor is Papercraft Superstar. 

The team at Cut Out & Keep have been having trouble linking up my social media accounts, with the exception of Twitter, to the post. So, if you'd like to follow me on any of the social media platforms, you can link up through my blog. 

If you are interested, please take a few minutes to check out the post. And, be sure to come back each day to keep up-to-date on the tutorials. 

Thanks, Cat, for naming me Papercraft Superstar!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Today, while spending time in my Creation Station, I couldn't resist doing a resist card. I just couldn't resist typing that sentence. Irresistible, eh? What a dork.

Following is the seasonal card I ended up with:

I started the process with a quarter sheet of Old Olive cardstock, rubbing my Embossing Buddy over the entire surface, then stamping in VersaMark ink the lovely evergreen branches from a long retired stamp set that I still love dearly.

As always, I started my stamping in the center and worked outward to the edges. I covered the stamping with clear embossing powder and then used the Heat Tool to set the embossing.

The photo below shows how it looked after this step. Notice that after the embossing, even though the embossing is clear on Old Olive, the branches appear much darker than the cardstock.

Once the embossing was cooled, I started sponging Old Olive ink over the embossing, leaving some places lighter, some darker, for variety. I followed that with some Soft Suede ink. The photo below shows the start of the brown coming in.

After I finished the sponging, I set the piece aside to work on the rest of the card.

Before I proceeded with the rest of the card, I cut the embossed piece down to 3 3/4" x 5" so as to allow a mat and the card base.

I knew I wanted to use the evergreen branch again in my focal point. But, I also wanted to add the pinecone that came in the set to the branch.I stamped the bough in Old Olive onto a cream colored cardstock. I first inked up the pinecone stamp with VersaMark ink and followed with Soft Suede ink. This way, even though I don't actually have Soft Suede embossing powder, I can still emboss my pinecone and have it be brown. After stamping the pinecone, I covered it with clear embossing powder and heat set it. 

My next step was to fussy cut the pinecone. I tried to cut as close to the stamping as I could but still leave a sliver of the cardstock showing. After cutting it out, I attached it to the branch with a Stampin' Dimensional in an attempt to make it look a bit more realistic.

Wait a minute! Before attaching the pinecone permanently, I laid it in place to see how I would die cut the oval. To tie a little more of the green into the composition, I softly sponged the edges of the oval in Old Olive ink. THEN I attached the pinecone to the branch, leaving it to extend beyond the oval.

To continue with a little more of the extending, I stamped the word "joy" from another retired set and fussy cut that also, gluing it flat to the oval, but letting a bit of it join the pinecone outside the oval.

The card still looked too bare for my liking. After searching through my Stampin' Up! ribbons, I came across this really old striped ribbon. Even though it is actually retired Chocolate Chip, it coordinated well enough with the Soft Suede to be pleasing.

Since, at this point I'd already adhered the resist background to the card base, it was too late to wrap the ends of the ribbon to the back of that piece. Instead, I cut it to the exact length I needed for the space and fringed both ends. I know the fringing doesn't show up too well in the photos.

Do you enjoy doing the many variations on the resist technique? I really love the rich look it gives to a card's background. Give it a try!

Before you go, don't forget to check out my Papercraft Superstar page!

Irresistible

Smiles.

SENDING PRAYERS

The other day my husband posed a great question, one that is quite thought-provoking and quite FRUSTRATING. He wondered why we get winter weather six weeks before winter actually begins, while we never get an early spring. Winter just continues to linger. Hmmm. The best answer that I could come up with was "Wisconsin?"

With that said, as long as a few leaves are lingering here and there in our neighborhood -- not many though! -- I thought I'd share with you one more autumn leaf card.

A very simple card, I think it provides exactly what the occasion calls for. Sending Prayers. As simple as that. 

To color my single maple leaf, stamped from the beautiful Colorful Seasons set (page 56), I chose a selection of autumn-flavored Stampin' Blends. Although I really must admit that I've never actually seen a true purple leaf. Oh well. It works.

After I colored in my leaf, I used the coordinating die from the Seasonal Layers dies on page 195. I also cut from Early Espresso paper the bare branch from the same set of dies.

Since Old Olive was one of the colors I used in my leaf, I matted part of the card in the same color cardstock. I do like the way the leaf falls outside the boundaries that contain the branch.

The panel that holds the branch, as well as the leaf were popped up with Stampin' Dimensionals, giving the card a modest amount of dimension.

I don't mind making sympathy cards; I just mind needing to send them out. 

If you're in the Midwest as we are, I hope you are experiencing fall weather instead of all the snow some of us are already enduring. Take care.

Prayerful

Smiles.

GINGERBREAD HOUSE

Being a huge fan of our Stampin' Blends and coloring with them, I was immediately smitten with the <really inexpensive> stamp set, Yummy Christmas, found on page 23 of the Holiday Catalog. It features 11 stamps, four of which are used on my card: the peppermint candies in the corners, the cute gingerbread house, the Christmas tree, and the cool hand drawn scalloped edge all around the card.

This is the card the girls at my October Stamp-In workshop created. Before they started, however, I warned them that, of the four projects they would be making that day, this one would be the most time consuming, although I reassured them that they could put as much or as little effort into their card to suit their taste and ambition.

It was wonderful to watch the girls working so hard on their Christmas scenes. Just like little elves!

Only a few Stampin' Dimensionals give the card a little lift here and there:

A closeup of the gingerbread house with the wreath popped up 

to look more "realistic":

To create a snowy look to the sky, 

I had the girls brayer on White Pigment Ink through a dotty stencil.

Just another view of the dotty snowflakes, as well as a few "real" ones:

Following is a tutorial on how to create your own little winter scene.

SUPPLIES:

Balmy Blue cardstock

Whisper White cardstock

Yummy Christmas (page 23, Holiday Catalog)

Itty Bitty Greetings (page 30, Annual Catalog)

Whisper White Craft Ink (page 180, Annual Catalog)

Memento Tuxedo Black ink

Stampin' Blends in assorted colors

Sponge Brayer (page 181, Annual Catalog)

1/2" Circle Punch

Paper Snips

Stampin' Dimensionals

Basic Patterns Decorative Masks (page 35, Holiday Catalog)

Snowflake Sequins (page 43, Holiday Catalog)

DIRECTIONS

Fold a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece of Balmy Blue cardstock in half, creasing it well with a bone folder.

Stamp the edging about 1/8" from all the edges of a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Whisper White cardstock. Adhere this to the card base.

You will be working next on a 3 1/4" x 4 1/2" piece of Balmy Blue cardstock. Lay the polka dot stencil over this piece, using tape to hold it in place. Ink the sponge brayer with Whisper White Craft Ink by rolling it in one direction over the ink pad several times. Once you have enough ink picked up, brayer it across the stencil a few times, reinking each time. There! You just made snowflakes! Gently peel the tape away and adhere this piece over the edged white piece.

On a scrap of Whisper White cardstock, stamp the peppermint candy four times. Color them with red and punch them out with the 1/2" circle punch. Add one candy to each of the four corners. These will cover up where the edging looks a little funkyy at the corners.

On Whisper White cardstock, stamp the house in Memento Tuxedo Black ink, as well as the Christmas tree. If you choose to pop up the wreath, also stamp an extra wreath. Using the Stampin' Blend markers in the colors of your choice, color in all the components. You can do as much or as little in this area as you'd like.

When finished coloring, fussy cut the house, the tree and the extra wreath if needed. Using Stampin' Dimensionals, adhere all the pieces to the card front.

On a 1/2" x 1 1/2" piece of Whisper White cardstock, stamp the sentiment in black ink. Add it to the background with a few Stampin' Dimensionals.

Add some snowflake sequins to the snowy sky.

After the workshop, I made another of these cards for my mom to use as a little sit-around Christmas decoration. I made it exactly the same as this one, with one exception. I re-stamped and colored the gingerbread man, fussy cut him and popped him up over the original gingery guy. 

Gingery

Smiles.