Confessions of a paper hoarder - Part 1

We, crafters, are like magpies, attracted to shiny, beautiful things. The problem is when we start accumulating more beautiful things that we are able to use.

For the last couple of years, I haven't bought much - I cancelled my scrapbooking kit subscription and have been very economic with my purchases. But still, my pile of stuff doesn't seem to get any smaller, because I have a hoarder. I keep papers I don't like much (either I gone off them or it came in a kit), tiny paper scraps, letters stickers sheets when there's probably not enough letters to make a word out if it :-) the list is endless.

Ridiculous, I know.  I am trying to get my craft supplies to a manageable level by using what is usable and hopefully throwing away what is not.

I am hoping to have a regular "column" in my blog keeping track of the progress I am making in using or recycling my junk.  Like any addiction, it is a lifetime battle to keep the stash levels under control.

This month I started with my papers scraps. Paper scraps are great to make cards, because they are the right size and also because I can make cards much faster than scrapbook pages. (I am a slow scrapper).

What works for me is to make a kit, that is, put together a set of papers which goes together well and making cards using these papers. This is the kit I put together:

Yellow, orange and blues.

It is embarassing to show the size of scraps I keep...

Anyway, can I show you how many cards I made from these papers?

Paper candles - great way to use scraps!

For the candle body I rolled up a piece of paper around a pencil. The flame is a leaf punch which I inked or coloured with red. I think the inking looks best. The little framed buttons are the inspiration for my kit. Something i made for PaperPlay Challenges a while ago.

Then I got star struck:

Using paper strips in this one:

Even the Mami Doodles image was one I had printed ages ago and had half coloured it. So I finished it and used it.

By then I thought I was done, but there was this cute butterfly in the kit which deserved to be used so I made yet another one:

You probably can't see but I used the sewing machine in 4 or the cards, the stitching finished the cards really well.

Thanks for looking!

Portraits

Every week I decide that in the next one, I'll definitely take a photo a day. Then I get distracted and don't. It is very frustrating specially as it is completely under my control.
But as I sat down to look at last week's photos, I realised that at least I took some photos - and some of then are actually ok. Not perfect, but ok.

I like this spot in the kitchen, with a big window in front, but I noticed that the oposite side was dark so to remedy it I persuaded my son to hold a big white card to act as a reflector. Of course, being who he is, he wouldn't hold it right and it got in the photo and I had to edit it out.

Sigh. I have two children. One is cooperative and the other is not. Won't be the model and won't be the assistant either...

You are my Sun...

You are my sun, my moon, my guiding star,
my kind of wonderful, thats what you are...

Would someone please tell me where this come from so I can properly credit it?

As for the inspiration for the design, I can tell you where it comes from:

Source: wordsandeggs.squarespace.com via Elisa on Pinterest

Or at least parcially, the comment in pinterest says it is a vintage Russian children's book but i can't find the original source. It fascinated me straight away, with the big sun and the multicoloured stars.

I used the Silhouette to cut the stars and sun from black cardstock and used an old American Crafts scrapbook page for the background. Usually my attempts to translate something very graphic to a scrap book page doesn't work too well, but I am happy with this one.

Drawing + Photos

Last week I took photos 6 days out of 7. I tried to added my own drawings on the photos, inspired by Kari Herer's photos about which I posted last week.

Neither the drawing nor the photo is even close in quality to the originals, but it is an interesting concept and I am glad I tried.

One thing that always fascinates me is glass how it distorts the shapes, so I played with this here. More doodles...

I am loving drawing free hand, no sketching, just draw without thinking too much. Flowers are a forgiving subject, so they are ideal.  I'll scan a couple of my doodles for a freebie later this week.

This week I am working on photographing handmade stuff and/or portraits.

Pie Charts

I've seem a few pie-charts in scrapbooking layouts and kits lately. I loved this kit by Paislee Press and One Little Bird - the pie chart described my son almost perfectly. I only swapped mischievieous with adventurous, because my boy has plenty of mischief but is not very adventurous.

* Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye

* Pie Chart and Legend: For the Record by Paislee Press and One Little Bird @ oscraps.com

*Letter Stickers: Basic Grey

* Rubbons, Washi tape, Post it (orange)

* Die Cuts: my own, using the Silhouette Cameo

The top right hand side was looking a bit bare so I added a strip of washi tape. Then I covered some of the red hearts with orange handcut ones.

I am back in love with drawing

Since I closed Mami Doodles, I haven't been drawing much; in honesty not all at. I only started back in the last few weeks.

Now, instead of using pencil and paper, I am drawing on the iPad. I had a paid-for app which never felt natural to me. Instead I started using Autodesk SketchBook Express, a free app. It was so much fun that I ordered a Pogo Sketch Stylus because it is so much easier to draw with a "pen" than using my finger.

And today I made the big jump and bought Autodesk SketchBook Pro, which cost me the princely sum of €1.59 ($1.99)! Less than the price of an expresso here in Ireland.

If you like drawing and have an iPad, go and get SketchBook, you won't regret it.

I don't have anything decent to share yet, but if you look at the screenshots in iTunes you can see the amazing things it can do.

Amazing, yes? Having said that, it won't make me draw better, like no pencil will instantly make me draw better but all the tools are there. And I am loving working on it!

Still doing Photo A Day

Well, sort of, in fairness I should rename it "4 or more photos a week project".  I definitely take lots of photos most of the days, but there are days I couldn't be bothered.

If you look at my Shuttercal calendar, it is full of holes, but I''ll try to be more diligent. I found that my best photos come when I set some sort of target, so this week I am going for 2D/3D. That is, mixing dimensional object with photos/prints or drawing. That's something I've done in the past. In fact, my first photo of the 365 project is 2D/3D: ( cup and spoon over an old drawing of mine)

I like this one too: (buttons over a Dulux paint brochure)

And recently I came across this beauty in pinterest: (by Kari Herer)

Source: hannahdollerycreative.blogspot.ie via Elisa on Pinterest

I am trying to do something creative this week, but for the time being, I'll leave you last week's photo of my son who, after seeing her sister's crown, demanded one for him too.

March 2012

I am not doing too well in Project 12 this year. Seven months gone, two months completed...

* Banners: Paislee Press

* Title: Shimelle Laine @ Two Peas in a Bucket (digital)

* Embossing Powder: American Crafts

* Sketch: October Afternoon

I used a sketch this time, and I literaly copied all the photo shapes exactly. I hardly ever use different sized photos and this helped me to make something different without having to do any design work!

Here's the originak sketch from the October Afternoon blog:

Source: octoberafternoon.typepad.com via Elisa on Pinterest

10 years

Wednesday was a special day because 10 years before this girl joined our family. Lucky us.

Happy Adoption Day, L!