I'll will figure this out!

OK, I'm having some problems getting this settled right but I will figure this out. There has to be a way to delete that sideways photo. (which I later figured out)

In the meantime, these cards were motivated by a desire to use the scraps of Memory Box papers. Most come in 6x6 sheets and as you make A2 cards, you end up with strips of these beautiful papers. Plus, these papers generally sell out and you can't get more. You know what that means? I can't throw away the strips. So I intentionally made cards motivated to use the strips, like the hearts. The photos can't do justice to these beautiful papers.

More Memory Box

Memory Box Samples

I'm in love with the simple elegance of Memory Box rubber stamps and their beautiful artistic papers. Here are some quick and easy cards featuring their product.

The first card features Tattered Angels shimmer spray in olive green, peach and gold. I like using cards with unusual folds because I make so many basic A 2 size cards. The second card features a beautiful swirl/bird paper from Stampin' Up! and swarovski crystals. There is some glittering Stickles on the cards but they didn't show up well in the photo. I love both of these stamps.

DeNami Color Challenge

DeNami Designs has posted their first color challenge. This was a fun challenge and several great designs were submitted. I hope you enjoy my first ever published pieces.

For the first card, I was fortunate to find this lime citrus paper from Stampington & Co in the current issue of Take Ten.

Stamp the butterfly border stamp with Versafine Vintage Sepia on lime green papered paper. Color the butterflies with a Tombow magenta marker and top with a pink gelly roll glitter pen. Color the flowers with a green gelly roll glitter pen. Add clear Stickles to the dots in the border. Adhere magenta rick rack across the top. Add a strip of A Muse shimmer brown paper decorated with a Fiskars paper trimmer. This is my favorite of the three cards I designed with this color scheme.

For the floral card, top a kraft card with a white layer and then a magenta shimmer vellum layer. The magenta layer is trimmed with a Fiskars paper trimmer and has a white sheer ribbon run between the slots and tied into a bow.

Stamp the flower trio with Versafine Vintage Sepia on a lime layer and adher to a white layer. Color with magenta and lime Tombow markers. Add A Muse brown pearls in the center of the flowers. Add lime dew drops to the side of the flower panel.

Stamp the birdhouse trio on white cardstock with Versafine Vintage Sepia and roughly cut. Color the birdhouses with brown tone Tombow markers. Color the hearts and grass with gelly roll glitter magenta and green markers. Add A Muse brown pearls to the birdhouses. Stamp the birdhouses again on a textured magenta paper. Cut the hearts of the birdhouses and glue to the white layer.

Adhered the piece to a layer of magenta textured paper which had the corners punched with a corner rounder. Add a strip of shimmer brown card stock that has two corners punched with the corner rounder is adhered to one side. Adhere the entire piece to a lime green card. Tie white sheer ribbon across the top and tie into a bow.

Great colors; great choice Nami. Thanks for the challenge.

How art feeds my soul

Three things combined to bring about this blog.

First, I'm in the process of applying to be part of a design team, or instructor for, a rubber stamp company. The application process includes submitting original artwork and posting artwork on a blog. Whatever happens, 2010 will include sharing my original artwork in some form.

Second, my favorite stamp store is changing from a store front business to an e-business and I've been fortunate enough to bring some of the shop into my home. I'm redesigning my art space which I'm officially renaming 'my studio' instead of 'my art room'. (I like the sound of that better) That's definitely going to result in more creative play.

Third, I just attended a fabulous art journaling class with two terrific friends and artists: Kerri Posson and Marilyn Rock. I follow their art through their blogs and today I committed myself to creating an art centered blog. It's such a convenient way for my artsy friends to share information and projects.

For now, you'll primarily see posting of cards featuring Memory Box and DeNami products and my mixed media projects and art journal from Kerri and Marilyn's class.

So by day I'll remain a nutritionist/public health administrator trying to help feed healthy food to hungry children in New York and by night I'll be working to feed my soul through art, and along the way do a little less over feeding my own body.

Here we go......