It it's not one thing ...

"Well y'know, it's always something, if it's not one thin' then it's another." I quote from the character of Roseann Roseannadanna done by Gilda Radner of Saturday Night Live fame (late 70's, early 80's.) Gosh, she was one funny lady. But she's right.
Here I've been griping to myself (since there's nobody else around who cares) that I'd better get moving on several big projects and my creativity has been overpowered by gravity, as in laying around and watching tv. I'm not a tv addict, I swear (yes I am), but I do mark my programs in the tv guide in pink pen when the Sunday paper shows up. rofl. What a dork.rofl again. (can you say gravity) Anyhow, that's the "it's always something part."

But I do have interruptions in my schedule that I really like. Ya see, St Donald and I go to the nursing home every day to see a ninety year old friend who has no family. It's cool that she tells us stories of her life, like growing up without running water or electricity, and and outhouse out back. She cracks me up with her candor and expressions. The "fairies" as she calls the staff, have now started to call her Charlie, so that's what I use here. More about her another time.

Three big projects and a pant-load of gravity, just not in the stash and trash room. Okay, so I wanted to do something for the Compendium of Curiosities Challenge as chosen by the lovely Linda, alchohol ink splatter. Go check it out on her blog Studio L3 if you haven't already. And  look in your copy of Tim Holtz's book for the directions as I can't divulge the details according to the rules of the game. Here are my attempts, the befores (the one on the left reminds me of a blue dinosaur).....

And the afters...

See wha'd I tell ya? Kind cool how I had Tim Holtz's elephant stamp ;-) Almost looks like the dino is getting ready to eat his descendant! The second splats gave me fits about what to do with it. It just didn't speak to me (well duh.) It's always somethin'. Tada (add music here.) A potted flower in the purple sun.

Okay so now this last splat (I'm such an over achiever, 3 tags really? three???) I fell in love with the rivers and tributaries of ink. Again I didn't know what to do, but I was overjoyed (heh heh) at the effect of the ink.Whad'ya think? I've been dying to use the new Tim toys to make the ornament, too.

Okay, so now another thing...Today I will go to my LSS (local...well 21 miles is local) and meet with our 'card' club. There are officially 8 of us, me being the newbie. The others are highly experienced and have more patience for detail. So this fall we decided to do 4 techniques per month from Tim's Compendium of Curiosities, and for November we could choose a personal theme. Check your CC on pages 37-40 for the techs. Do ya know how hard it is to come up with a theme with 4 totally different approaches? Here is my attempt for the holidays with.inking grunge and double distress with Adirondack snowcap pigment ink.

And my third huge project...Thanksgiving cards for the fam in Indiana. I'll probably get to those on Saturday. So there you have it, an not in a nutshell. If it''s not one thin', it's another. But then again, it's always something. Until next time, make something fun even if it's a little somethin' for yourself!

WOYWW

Things have been busy around here and it's not even the holidays yet.  I work very slowly on my tags and projects and am very messy so I thought I would shame the devil and tell the truth. lol  Here's a peek at my stash space. It looks organized until you get a view from a distance ... here.  (note the sign on the far right "I'm not ready" rofl)

I took the pic this morning before I went to a class at my LSS to make a Christmas Configurations box. Boy is it cute! It took me lots longer than everyone else, so what else is new, art takes time and careful thought.  Here's my creation. (Notice the HO3 on the right side? Hope you can guess what it means, and no, it is not a chemical formula. teehee)

I love the little bird that Sharon, owner of the LSS (Buffalo Stamps and Stuff, Amherst NY) and today's instructor, found at Pottery Barn. (Did I say the name of the store out loud, for crying out loud?)
The bird goes so well with that darling little cage that gave me conniptions. No matter how hard I tried to attach the jump ring between the hook and the cage I couldn't do it. Fat fingers and bad nails. Thanks to Sharon's skill with tools and patience with teeny tiny little metal findings, the cage now hangs in it's proper place.
Here are the other gals who were in the class today... lovely Linda

sweet Alison

and the very happy Pam playing with the mica flakes.

While we worked we hummed along with the radio and played name that tune, munched on chocolate treats (but, of course) and got covered with glittering mica and other such sparkly goodness. Can you imagine 90 people doing this project at the same time with Tim at Absolutely Everything a few weeks back?! That's where Sharon made hers - and it is spectacular - in just 4 hours. I am awed by this feat.

Well, we enjoyed the creative process and the inspiration we got from sharing with one another. Personally, every time I read a blog I find inspiration and delight in the creations of others. Thanks to all who share and read this blog, and a big thanks to Sharon for her wonderful class. Until next time, enjoy the experience!

A Busy Weekend

Okay, okay, so I didn't blog for 3 days and I have no really good reason other than fun and fatigue.  Friday I went to the local high school and substituted in a Spanish class. It reminded me that 1) I still love teaching, 2) I miss my colleagues and 3) it is good to be retired, lol. After a day of subbing I was wiped out since I'm not used to getting up at the ungodly hour of 5:45 a.m.. Of course getting out at 2 pm is nice, but didn't leave any energy for much other than lying about like Cleopatra on the couch!

Saturday morning I went to my LSS for a class with the very talented Debby who taught us to use prismacolor pencils and Copic markers together. There is so much to learn. I am very good at coloring inside the lines, but I need to learn how to shade using both types of markers. After two and a half hours I was wiped out again, but this time out of sheer frustration. We were supposed to complete 3 cards and I only managed to finish 2. The third one will have to wait for another day. I don't know the maker of this stamp but wanted to share the results of my first attempt at these techniques. This little girl is a sweetie.

That afternoon I went to a gallery showing of this season's jewelry by Sheila Petrocy Green in East Aurora, NY. Her style is funky and chunky necklaces. Though I didn't buy anything this year (all my cash is invested in stash) I wanted to share a great piece that I bought last year. The large piece is a 2 inch bauble of carved coral. Each side is a slightly different shade, but I like this one the best. I wore it to the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Pops concert on Saturday evening and kept checking it to make sure this side was showing! When you select one of her creations you have to flaunt it or the fashion statement just won't work. As with everything else, I try to go with the flow.

Sunday the Buffalo Bills football game was blacked out here. Not surprising since the team was 0 and 8. Who wants to see the hometown team lose again? The stadium is less than 5 miles from our house. Not a traffic problem to speak of. We decided to watch any football game on tv with friends and eat some comfort food of sloppy joes, carrot & celery sticks and a delicious apple pie made by my dear friend Sue. It was an early evening since I was still tired from Friday and Saturday. This is for the birds! I'm supposed to have more energy than this!

Today is sunny so I'll get outside for some vitamin D and a bit of garden cleanup. The s-word is in the forecast for later this week, but that can easily change with the winds of Lake Erie. After time in the garden I'm headed to the atelier (French for stash room) to make a little something fun. Hope you do the same today. Enjoy!

CCC #21 - Country roads, yeehaw!

This week's Challenge technique #21 from Tim Holtz's Compendium of Curiosities has been fun. Check out the details at Studio L3, the lovely Linda will fill you in on the details. Also, go check out what Lori did with her tags, they are fabulous, totally awesome in every sense of the word!  Since this is my first attempt at the CCC it took me a few tries before I could get the result that I liked. It took me a while to get the hang of it

The background is inked with weathered wood distress ink. The farm and pick up truck stamps are from Artistic Outpost. I thought they were kind cool to use for fall. They were inked in my favorite DI aged mahogany. The small flowers are from Wendy Vecchi's Botanical Art and stamped in pine needle. Isn't this shimmer cool? It reallly turned out better than I could've hoped. The technique adds so much to the stamping. Next time I try this I'll add some embellishments, like maybe a cornstalk or a bale of hay! lol!

Thanks for stopping by today. Feel free to let me know what you think and what I could add to give it more dimension. Until later, go make something fun!

The plunge

Well, this is it. After holding my breath long enough, I've taken the plunge and started this blog. The idea has been percolating for little while now and after having followed other blogs over the past year I decided that I needed a place to share random thoughts and pictures of my *art* (read crafting). 

The title pretty much reflects that I have a little inkling about lots of things - gardening, travel, my former career (30 years of teaching HS French - more than just an inkling!), and my hobby of paper crafting. This pastime came about after I broke my ankle over a year ago and couldn't get out of the house for weeks. I needed to occupy myself with more than tv, books and magazines...so off I went to the computer and found some nifty blogs to follow. My favorites were Tim Holtz, Wendy Vecchi and I've been thinkin' 'bout inkin'. When I could finally get out first in a wheelchair and then on crutches to go to my LSS (Buffalo Stamps and Stuff) I happened upon Ranger's line of Tim's products. Little by little I started accumulating stash. The rest, as any rubber stamper/paper-holic knows all too well, is a commonly known truth: art. I swore I would never make this or that, but now I'm learning never to say never. Learning is the key word here since I'm stubborn and as life unfolds, I usually find out that I should never have said never!  When it comes to starting a blog I can honestly say Well, I never! as in i never thought I'd be doing this ;-)  

I know this sound hokey. So be it. I look forward to rambling on about stuff, to sharing what I do in my life and to showing off my latest attempt at art. A big thanks to those who have inspired me to blog - you don't know how much your examples means to me. I'll drop you a note and let you know who you are.

Thanks for stopping by my inaugural post! Enjoy the day,

Vicki