Creative Blog Hop

There is a new blog hop going around and I was tagged by my good  friend Beth Norman of  Sunflowers and Dragonflies to join in. Beth is the queen of card making and creates whimsical cards which are sure to bring a smile to your face. Also her coloring of stamped images is so fabulous it is sure to bring on a bout of coloring envy if you are like me and your coloring looks like a toddler did it.

My sincere apology for being late posting this as I was suppose to post this Monday. Alas when Beth asked me I did not realize I would be in the midst of vacation somewhere with no internet, no cell phone service, and limited electricity. I just got home this afternoon and am trying to get this up as soon as possible.

When Beth asked me to join the hop I was excited as I have never participated in a blog hop and thought it would be fun. Also since this is a "Creative" hop it is not just about paper crafting.By the way everyone is creative whether they realize it or not. It might be in the way a meal is presented that you cooked, The colors you use where you live, even the way you put together an outfit to wear.

This blog hop is a little different as there is no list to click through. It is an ongoing blog hop and so far doing a search for Creative Blog Hop I've found an entry Here from June. It is a great way to introduce readers to other bloggers who are creative in different ways as well as introduces to how other people approach the creative process.

Now for the question and answer part of this post. What am I working on? Well like usual I have several irons in the fire but some things I'm not too sure how I want to go with them right now. The ideas are going to have to percolate a little longer. Right now they are really weak coffee.

 Lately I've been playing with my gelli plate. Since I like creating my own papers and backgrounds for me it was a good investment. For someone else it might not be. They are a little expensive but if you take care of one it will last a long time. Definitely longer than the three months the gelatin plate I had made with Vodka lasted. It eventually went moldy on me.

Lately I've been playing with using dye ink pads,stencils, and stamps. In fact I spent an interesting day after this picture was taken later playing with my granddaughters and index cards. Their mother loved that we played with dye ink instead of paint. The girls had fun applying the ink pad directly to the plate and stamps.

 The card on the far right is what I used to clean off the brayer, The one in the middle was done using two different stencils. The one on the left and above were done using a square stencil. I inked the stencil and then placed the ink side down on the gelli plate. I found it worked great to place an index card under the plate to use as a guide for positioning. 

This is the front of an altered board book I'm working on. I keep changing my mind of how I'm going to use this. Right now I'm thinking of using it with some of my flower photos.

Here I've been sanding the inside pages to use. Before the book police come after me this was really a worn book with lots of stains on the pages. I bought it at a thrift store for a quarter.  If you have really worn board books you might want to consider using them as a mini album of some sort. 

This is what I worked on while on vacation. Although I used to knit all the time with needles I've come to love the idea of using a loom. This is a beaded hat I'm making for my "Diva" granddaughter. I'm thinking of putting a yarn flower with beads on the top. When I'm done on this hat I'll be making another one for the other granddaughter. 

I hope I have not bored you yet. Now to answer more of the questions.  For those who wonder how my work differs from others. I am an experimenter and love to use several different mediums when creating cards which is what I usually do. As well as using my tools in different ways..

This is one of my most favorite cards where I coated the inside of an embossing folder with colored glue. When the glue was dried I carefully took it off the folder and coated the crumpled foil with glue and glued my embossed glue panel to it. Then added a print and cut where I had cut out an extra butterfly and pop dotted it.

Some people ask me why I create. The answer is simple I create because it is fun and because I love to challenge myself. Also I love sending cards, or making gifts to give.

Now to answer the last question. What inspires me? Often I'm inspired by what I see around me. It may be a piece of fabric or an image. Often it is seeing random things scattered in the work area. In fact there may be an image I want to use but not sure how I'm going to use it until I see things on my work space and everything seems to come together. Of course a lot of my inspiration comes just from playing and seeing how different elements look together.

Although a couple of people who I invited to join this blog hop are not available to join this hop I encourage you to check out their blogs. Also if you would like to join in on this blog hop please leave a comment with a way to contact you and I'll send you the information.

First check out my dear friend Myrna's blog. Myrna is the queen of making simple but elegant cards using her Cameo cutting machine. Her blog is What was old is new again

The other blog is by Roni who plays with ink and mixed media. She does a lot of comparing different papers and media using them. She also is always experimenting with different medium and gives her honest opinion of them. As well as shows often different ways to use products.  Her blog is Inkstains with Roni.

Thank you for stopping by and do come again. Now I'm off to unpack and do laundry. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!