Christmas Giggles

So my sister and I have this on-going joke

about funny things, in general.

My family has a strange sense of humor, you could say.

We laugh at things out of the norm.

Ridiculous.

Awkward.

Strange.

Funny.

We also like to laugh at ourselves, 

and the mistakes that we make.

It eases the tension.

And breaks up a dismal mood,

making it happy, instead.

So this year for Christmas, I decided to get my sister something fabulous.

Something that her and I could joke about.

Over and

Over again.

I found some pretty hilarious pictures on Pinterest.

I chose my two favorites.

And I sent them away to be developed.

Well, later that day,

I picked them up,

put them in a lovely frame,

and wrapped it up for Christmas.

When it came time to open our gifts,

I sat by in giddy anticipation.

And the look

on her face

was priceless.

It made me happy,

and she laughed.

And we laughed,

together.

And now every time she looks at the picture

hanging up in her room,

she will remember

that Christmas present

that gave her more than just a tangible object,

but a happy thought, reoccurring.

And we can both laugh, together.

What will you do to brighten someone's life?

Writing {inspiration}

Sometimes, I get the urge to write.

And more often then not, I start writing, and find that I don't have much to write about.

Either that, or I have a really good idea,

but then don't know how to carry it through.

I'll forget about it.

And then find it later.

I'll read it,

And realize how much I've improved since then.

And then I'll forget about it all over again.

I have a feeling that I'm not going to be able to help you with the forgetfulness part,

But I sure am gonna help you get some good old fashioned in-spir-a-tion!

So, what does inspiration mean?

Well, according to dictionary.com, it means

1. an inspiring or activating action or influence

2. something inspired, as an idea

3. a result of inspired activity

4. a thing or person that inspires

But to me, inspiration just means

where all of your good ideas come from.

such as

nature

an author

a person

an event

etc.

Nature is a big inspiration in my life.

Since I live so close to the mountains, it's all around me,

every day

all day.

And I love it.

For inspiration, look to the leaves

trace your finger along the veins,

feel the papery texture of it's skin

break one open and smell it's scent.

and repeat.

Do this with other things, to get more ideas.

Authors and people can be a vast store of both

information, and inspiration.

Look to them for wisdom and ideas.

Events in your life is self explanatory enough.

Try twisting them in new ways,

just to make them more interesting.

And last of all,

write away!



Week 4 {using flowers on cards and how to make the swirly ones}

I have found no better tutorial on the web than this one.  And there is no way that I could explain it better.  

If you have not checked out littlebirdiesecrets.com, its a must read.

I like to use them on cards as a centerpiece.  Try experimenting around with them, you never know what you'll come up with!  Cards are fun because they always turn out different - no two cards are the same!

Week 3 {Paper flowers with inked edges}

Okay, so I'm a little behind.  But that's okay, because I promise to do better.

Here's the tutorial for week 3:

Materials:

Buttons

(patterned or not) paper

Ink pad

Hot glue gun

For the flowers, I have a tutorial on how to make torn paper flowers.  Go to my blog, and click on 'older posts' a few times, you should see it pop up.

Now for the inking part.  Make sure to roll up  your sleeves because you will probably get ink on you.
Cut out your individual circles, and ink them one by one. You can either use a sponge dipped in an ink pad, or rub the circles on the ink pad by themselves. 


Tips:
There is no certain method to doing this, just keep going until it looks right.
Try not to go too crazy with it -- a little ink on the edges seems to work just great.
When you get to this point, DO NOT PUT YOUR FLOWER TOGETHER.  The ink will rub off and get all over your fingers.
I recommend letting them dry overnight, and in the morning, assemble your flower to your hearts content.

Enjoy!



*I did not take these pictures -- they were taken from blogs on the web.

Card Making Tip

Hey y'all!  Sorry I haven't posted in a while....  Things have been pretty busy for me!  Well, I decided that an easy (but all important) tip for me to post would be a design tip.

This tip will be about choosing the right colors for your card.  Come back later for more tips on how to organize, cut, and assemble your card.  

I know how the story goes.   You go to look in your bin of scrap booking paper, and you decide that you don't want to pull everything out, because it will be nearly impossible to get it all back in, right?  Well, it's probably like that if you are a person like me. :)  I'm here to tell you that it's okay, you CAN dig through your drawers, because the end result will be worth it.  

A good basis for color combinations would be to consult a color wheel.  All you artists out there are probably familiar with one of these.  But if not, never fear, here's your introduction.  A color wheel consists of three different types of colors; primary, secondary, and complementary.  Although you can go deeper into a color wheel, we're just going to look at these three.  

Primary colors are the colors that all of the other colors are made of.  These colors are: blue, red and yellow. You mix red with yellow you get orange, you mix blue with yellow you get green, and so on.  The colors that these three make are: green, purple and orange.  These are called secondary colors.  Complementary colors are simply colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel.  They compliment each other, hence the name.  Complement colors are: orange/blue, purple/yellow, red/green, and all of the colors in between.

Sorry if you can't tell by looking at this.... but the complementary colors are colors OPPOSITE of each other on the color wheel, just as I stated.  You can use this as your base, but it's not entirely necessary to create good color combos.  Just a suggestion.  Another suggestion of colors would be to pick a neutral color, such as black, tan or grey, and pair it with a more vibrant color such as yellow, red or purple.  

For a card, I would choose about three colors, although you can use more or less, depending on how much you want, or what looks good.  I would suggest choosing one neutral, and one-two complementary colors, or just one color to use as a pop with the neutral.  Come back tomorrow for another tip on how to use patterns with cards!