Here's a Challenge to Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag, and Smile, Smile, Smile

I used to think that I had to create everything from scratch. I either had to draw it, make the stamp for it, sometimes I even made the paper for it. As you can imagine, I did not have a lot of completed projects from this period of time. I've come to have a more Marcel Duchamp view of my creativity. To paraphrase, I've come to see that Creativity can be in the selection.

Now I am head over heels in love with kits. With a kit all of those pesky, overwhelming choices that I need to make about every single thing are put aside and I can focus on making something. I can learn a new technique. I can shift my focus and take my mind off my troubles with the joy of a new project, the smell of paper, the beauty of a new stamp or beads or whatever the kit contains. If I'm feeling stumped, working on a kit can prime the pump of inspiration, I start thinking ... "Ohhhhh, what if I used this kind of paper, what if I made a stamp with something I can't find a stamp for or a stamp in a different size." I keep my notebook nearby so I can write down the ideas, and try them later.

I also have participated in some challenges. And from this I have learned to use materials differently, make a lot of something (or at least a few lol). I have the joy that I made something creative, but also the joy that I made something quickly, perhaps even that I made multiples of things.

I'm also learning to make things that aren't perfect. Okay, I'm actually learning to be happy with things that aren't perfect lol. I've always been ABLE to make things that weren't perfect, but I'd usually stop working on it if the flaw couldn't be fixed and throw them away. Unless it was a sweater with a dropped stitch. In high school I would say, "how are they going to know it's homemade if it doesn't have a hole in it" and keep on knitting. So now I have the joy of continuing to work on something, and a chance to make lemonade out of all those lemons.

And now for those of you who like a picture-rich post, and you know who you are lol, here are some pictures of cards I made from the Greetings to Go Castaway kit from Club Scrap.

The coconut anatomy and Big Thanks are stamped images.  The splatter is made with a wet brush colored with a watercolor crayon.

In real life the mat looks more graduated than it does in this picture. The I love to sea that smile sentiment is a stamp, the cut-apart is inked with light blue and green. The image under the cut-apart was rescued for future use : ).

The two white cut-a-parts I inked the edges with a pale blue and a light green Martha Stewart cat-eye ink pad. The chartreuse mat had a lovely dolphin in the middle so I cut it out before mounting the starfish in it. I'll use it for something later. This time I remembered to set the brads before I had put everything on the card. But, if you forget, you can always cover them with a lovely stamped image lol. I'm thinking about adding some heat embossing to the starfish and the happy anniversary, or maybe some diamond glaze.

Teal ribbon wrapped around the mat, ends held in place with brads (remembered before I glued down the mat lol). I inked the cut-apart with a little light green and light blue ink.

The sentiment and the turtles were hand stamped. The turtles were colored in with some garden green and some blue Stampin' Up watercolor crayons. The ink was water base so it looked more water-colored when the crayons were blended. It's one of my favorites.

Same coconut stamp, brown ink, watercolor crayons in coconuts and border. This is another favorite of mine.

The dolphin, whale and swordfish are stamped. The whale and big thanks are part of a cut-apart that came with the kit. The edges are inked.

The mat and the two cut-aparts were inked with a soft blue ink pad.

I tore the cut-a-part, then colored it with a water color crayon then blended it with a wet brush. I tore a piece of handmade teal paper and glued it around the mat. Three brads which I also remembered to set before I glued the mat on the card (yay!).

I inked this one along the edges of the mat with light blue and green. I loaded the stamp with ink and then just kept stamping above and below the original stamp and then down the mat.

The white printed cut-apart was inked with light blue and light green inks which matched the printed colors remarkably well. The graduated mat had an image, which I saved for future use. The teal mat is the most beautiful paper. It looks like water, if water was paper lol.

Torn strips of handmade teal paper, topped by a swordfish cut-apart edged with blue and green ink. The teal paper was a bit resistant to being glued, so I used Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive and put it under a box of watercolor crayons and some colored pencils until it had dried.

The clams were stamped on the card. The white cut-apart was edged with light blue ink.

Jelly fish were stamped on the background. The cut-apart was inked and attached with dimensional dots.

Everything was inked with Versamark Ocean.

Traffic Cone Stamp

I used a very very thin thin thin piece of fun foam (I mentioned it was thin didn't I?) to cut the two parts of this traffic cone stamp. This is the super inexpensive fun foam sold in a pack with cardboard in the middle to make keep the stack from going limp in the wrapping. It's barely thicker than the Cricut Stamp sheet and much less dense.

I used the Deep Cut Blade (set at 6), a very new mat to cut the base and layer of the traffic cone in the Disney/Pixar Cars cart. The beauty is with the Mount-It glue you can make stamps that will work with the clear acrylic blocks and store on page protectors, in cd cases, on zip lock bags, etc.

"It's not a party until somone puts a traffic cone on his head" sentiment from Club Scrap Jubilee. The Giant Clam and "party" are from Club Scrap Castaway.

Plaid to the Bone

Daa da da da daaaa ... from the day I was born... daa da da da da... I've loved Plaid and since the time I went to first my Gasparilla Day Parade (I think I was 5 so we're talking wayyyyyyy back), I've loved Pirates.

It's a pretty simple card. Two types of plaid paper, white cardstock for the shadow, black paper for the mat, the Hello Kitty Font cart and the Indie Art solutions cart for the Skull and Crossbones.

Gypsy File Sharing Update and a Note for Design Studio Users

It came to my attention that some files I thought I had previously shared, were in fact, not shared. I think I have it all straightened out now.

Just for the record, to cut these files as is, you'll need to have a Gypsy and the Provo Craft Cricut cartridges that were used in each file. If you have the full version of Cricut Design Studio (also known in the Cricut World as DS), you can convert all gypsy files into .cut files. As long as you have the carts, you can make the cuts unless the Gypsy carts were used. But if Gypsy files were used, you should be able to swap out similar designs. These files are free for personal use.

The Gravity Set file as it looks on the Gypsy. The carts used are Indie Art, Doodletype and George and Basic Shapes. The lettering on the larger image is reversed because I used it to cut a vinyl stencil for etching the bottom of a glass plate. See Christmas present for a Teenager for the original post.

Gypsy Files Finally Used in Actual Layouts! lol

The completed January layout for my 2010 Calendar Scrapbook (except for journaling). The mats are for journaling stories and a couple of photographs. The numbers and days of the week are all welded onto a calendar grid. The mats are cut by hand. The mitten string is from Calligraphy Collection, and everything else is from Designer's Calendar. I've made 3 files available for January. The whole enchilada layout including somethings that are just there for reference, like the border strips at the top and bottom of the page and the photo and journal mats, it's very important to separate the layers before you cut using this file or it will be one hot mess. The decorative layers separated out from each other. The January 2010 Calendar Grid is the third.

I also finished the Cute as a Button Layout (I posted the original cut and gypsy file in 2009). I'm really happy with the Layout. I have a picture of DD when she was tiny and I'm cropping it in a circle to go in the Cute as a Button mat. The buttons with glitter in them are from a 3 Birds Embellishment set. The brads holding down the vellum journal mat are shaped like tiny buttons. The cute as a button gypsy file is available here.

Unmounted Stamps Solution

After wrestling with cushioned unmounted stamp foam backing with "cling" for several years I found Mount-It Glue at Club Scrap for a little more than the cost of a single sheet of that other technique. You just brush it on and let it dry.

Club Scrap has a video demonstrating how to make a glue box. It's so easy to make one and all you need is a bottle of the Mount-It Glue and a never-had-pizza-in-it pizza box. Most pizza places will sell one to you for a low cost; some will even give you one.

You spread a little glue over the top and bottom of the inside of the pizza box and wait for it to turn transparent. Put the cut pieces of the unmounted stamps face down in the box. This holds them in place while you spread the glue on the back of the stamps.

When the glue is transparent, I like to check the edges and rub off any glue that is on the sides of the stamp. Then they are good to go. Best of all, no cutting through foam sheets that coat my scissors, even my teflon scissors, with goo and no dangerous encounters with scissors afterwards trying to clean off the foam sheet glue goo lol. If this was a black and white TV commercial, this is where I'd hold up the glue and say, "Mount-It, the Safety Stamp Mounting System" with one of those teeth sparkling smiles lol.

Time Flies Like the Wind, Fruit Flies Like Bananas

I made this card with nothing but a pre-made card and 4 stamps (from the Club Scrap's Fossils unmounted stamp sheet). I am easily amused, so the sentiment makes me giggle every time.