Hello there my friends. Today I made a flower card. I can't find the stamp set I used either, but I know it's by Mama Elephant. Now I'm going to get obsessed with trying to find it since it's not in my usual extremely large pile of stuff to put away. Ah, found it by my Vagabond. I just finished this yesterday and then went to work on my art journal – and a half bottle of Pistachio Distress Paint that's still on my nails – messy stuff I tell ya! Art journaling is not for sissies either. I will make a separate blog post about that this weekend showing you my progress – or lack thereof. It's interesting, to say the least. So glad I did not get the mani-pedi that I desperately need.
So today Bernie Sanders is here politicking downtown. So much for the Thursday Night Farmer's Market. It will be just a different kind of farmer's market; one with a lot of donkeys instead! It's also 108 here and dry. I haven't gone out all day. Tomorrow he will be in my home town of Fairfield. Awful timing with graduations, the heat, Friday Bay Area traffic. His campaign is more important than the communities that he wants votes from. That's a real positive sign of what's to come.
Now that I found the stamp set by Mama Elephant, it's called Organic Blooms and it's crazy popular and oh so fun to color! I've been meaning to get my hands on a good flower image for a long time and gold heat emboss it and then color it in. I used Tim Holtz Distress Inks to watercolor the image in on his watercolor paper by Ranger. For the baby leaves, I used Bundled Sage. For the larger leaves, I used Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint. For my flowers, I chose Carved Pumpkin, Spiced Marmalade and Ripe Persimmon. I used a super light wash of Pumice Stone with Weathered Wood all around the image dirtying it up a bit to settle down the white starkness of the watercolor paper and scattered various sizes of Pretty Pink Posh clear sequins from 4mm to 8mm. I stamped the sentiment in black using my card-size MISTI. I love that tool so much! This card is going to my GF Catherine. She is always so generous and kind to me, and takes care of me after back procedures – not to mention that I almost died at her house for 5 days in late April/early May, due to allergies. They were horrible. Just horrible. I have never felt that sick in my life unless I was in kidney failure. I think my blends turned out very well and I also used the new Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pens and they rock. I scribbled the colors that coordinated with my card onto my craft sheet, gave them a quick mist of water so the ink on my image would not move around since Distress reacts with water. I gave everything a quick shine, let it dry, and then die-cut out the image with My Favorite Things Blueprints 15 frame – what else? I adhered the image panel with fun foam behind it to a Grout Gray card stock by MFT too.
I'm really starting to enjoy making new things and expanding myself artistically now that my stress level decreased about 1000% on Tuesday.
To celebrate, I've been playing with graphics a little bit and I'm going to give my blog a long overdue makeover to something more sophisticated and classy. That's where I am right now in my life. I'm hoping to be done in no less than a month. There are so many wonderful changes in my life from de-cluttering to a new blog look, trying out new craft techniques and getting my confidence level back up. It's all good. Be sure to stay tuned to my blog for many more updates, such as affiliate links, changing my SU catalogs to reflect the new annual catalog that just came out yesterday, being bombarded with projects from that. I'm really looking forward to using the fabulous new In-Colors and everything else! I will also have more details on my new Product Shares, online card classes and Kit of the Month Club. It's time to get back on top of my game without all of the insane drama I've been going through for the past 4-1/2 years. I'm not starting a new chapter in my life. I'm starting a new book!
Don't forget to stop back by this weekend to see the beginnings of my very first art journaling page. I'm pretty excited about it and hope that you are too! I also want to open up some of the stamp sets and kits that my generous manufacturers send to me to express my gratitude and appreciation.
I've received a lot of questions about my name. I have made the very conscious and proud decision to go back to my maiden name, which is Blancett. Cindy B is just fine and I've been changing my social media to reflect that as well. The name change is not legal yet in the sense that I can go and change my driver's license, but when I got married, I dropped my middle birth name and used Blancett instead. I'm just basically dropping the last name. I'm kicking around a middle name and have a few in mind or I just might stick with my first and last name. Who knows?
With so many Stampin' Up! products retiring and other stamps that I have not used in years with paper, embellishments and various coloring mediums, down to the kitchen sink, it's time to clean house. I will be working very diligent on getting items up for sale. If there is something in particular that you are looking for right now, please email me and request it. Chances are I have it. Trust me. We all know how the bills have a tendency to pile up and of course, those very expensive unexpected surprises. Recently, I've had to change out my entire network due to an inside extensive invasion with an awful avalanche affect, down to having my bank card compromised. It's been a terrible experience and worst of all, I know who did it and why. According to the federal agency that I've been working with, this was an intentional and premeditated felonious crime – better make that plural. It goes way deeper than the obvious.
So what do you think about me starting up my monthly challenges again? I've always had a positive response in the past and it has been years. It's the first Saturday of every month and that would be tomorrow.
I hope you enjoy today's card and my future projects to come. Thank you so very much for stopping by to visit me today and have a great weekend! God bless.
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