Onward and upward

Today is Day 15 for my self-imposed Card A Day Challenge. It hasn’t been easy, I’ve been unwell with a cold/cough that I haven’t been able to shake, but I’ve still managed to find time to create each day, even if only for a few minutes at a time. And it does help, the actual doing of the creation, and seeing the finished card does lift my spirits. When I look at the cards below, they are all so different. I start with a sketch, a stamp set, a photo, a paper pack, or a technique, and go from there. I love doing different things and using different mediums.

P.S. I am still working on my photography, sometimes it works beautifully, other times it’s more of a challenge 🙂

Here are Days 4 to 12.

And so it’s begun!

On 1st October I began the second round of A Card a Day, this time for the month of October. Life has again been very challenging for us, and I have not been spending as much time in my happy place, so this challenge is to get me into that mindful place of being creative. After only a few minutes I can feel my mind clearing and my mood lifting.

If you’d like to follow along with me here is the link to A Card a Day Take II.

Here are the first three days…

A Card A Day Take II

Last year in March, I set myself a challenge to do something to help my mental health. I was encouraged to do something that I used to love to get myself out of the slump of depression I was in, and off the couch! So I decided to make a card a day for the whole month of March. I got to Day 15, and my life changed, and my challenge came to a full stop.

You can view those cards here

Today, I thought it is time to do this again, as I my mental health is taking a hit again. I find when I am creating a card my mind is not on all the things that I have to deal with every day, it has an opportunity to take a break, to focus on something different. I might start out in a state of stress and overwhelm, but after a little while I realise I am feeling better, less stressed and anxious. It has become my happy place.

It’s not always easy to get started. I have to push myself to get off the couch, to sit at my craft table. Sometimes I don’t even know where to begin. I love working with sketches, so I might find a sketch. Or pull out a pack of patterned paper, or a favourite stamp set. Which is what I did here, I found a sketch I like that I hadn’t used before, and pulled out some paper packs. I have found the key is to simply start.

So my challenge begins on October 1… A Card A Day for October 2022. Watch this space 🙂

P.S. Why not join me?

Why challenges

Hi, as part of Paper Craft Secrets Design Team, I just posted another card for the Odd Colour Challenge, just one of the challenges for September, the other one being the Stencil Background. This is using the same three colours I’ve been using for this challenge, Red, Orange, and Blue. What colours would you not normally use together? You may be pleasantly surprised like I am. Challenges are a fun way to inspire us to use a technique, or in this case a colour combination that would seem ‘odd’ to us. They are a great way to s-t-r-e-t-c-h us out of our comfort zone, to learn something new and exciting and enhance our innate creativity.

We are ALL creative! We have a very creative God, who has put into us his own creativity. And as we are all unique, so is our expression of that creativity, hence my description of this blog, create your own kind of beautiful!

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Stencilled background

I really love doing these mixed media projects! This card is for the second September challenge for Paper Craft Secrets, Stencilled Background. I love blending different colours, and using embossing paste with the stencils to give a lovely textured effect.

An odd challenge

I recently designed these cards for a challenge at Paper Craft Secrets, the challenge was an Odd Challenge, the idea was to create something that was odd for me, as in a colour I don’t usually use, or a colour combination that is a bit out of the ordinary. I usually go for purples, pinks and reds, and not much blue. Choosing the colours was more difficult than I thought, in the end I found an old Stampin’ Up! colour swatch, and I am really happy with how these cards came together.

Life has changed

Life has changed! It’s the sentiment on this card, but true nonetheless. I am getting ready for an upcoming workshop, and have been browsing Google and Pinterest for ideas for using the Stampin’ Up! Elegantly Said stamp set along with the last of the Simply Elegant Designer Series Paper pack. I love Pinterest for the ideas I find, and give credit to those who create them, and that we encourage CASE’ing… Copy And Share Everything, and this time I give kudos to Kristie Strum of The Tygress Den for her design. When I CASE a card it very rarely is an exact replica of the original design.

Mixing old and new

We all know this in relation to weddings, something old to go with the beautiful new dress. I have been looking through old cards, stamps and pictures, and feeling quite nostalgic so decided to use some of the old stamps with some new papers. This set, Baroque Motif, was always a favourite of mine. The paper I used is from the Abigail DSP collection.

Happy Birthday Cluster

I wanted to create a design to highlight the new beautiful Wonderful World DSP currently being offered in Stampin’ Up!’s Sale-a-bration this season. I also used the Happy Birthday stamp from the Calming Camellia set, and fussy cut the flower cluster from the DSP.