Fairy Inspiration

As I've mentioned, I adore the digital stamp images by Tammy at A Day for Daisies.  I used another of her stamps for some office decor.  A few years ago, I had a very busy year.  I was working a lot of hours.  It happens but it usually happens in spurts.  This particular year though, there was no break.  It was a sustained level of activity and it was running me down.

I forget where I saw it, but I found an awesome quote from Franklin. D. Roosevelt: "When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on!"  I had a soccer ball with an alligator clip as a promo item from BMO in my office (meant to hold a picture).  I wrote out this quote and kept it right in front of my computer monitor.  (Yes, once upon a time, I had *a* computer monitor.  Now I have three!!)

Anyhow, it is LONG since overdue to make this quote in to something beautiful.  (I don't even follow soccer!)  Plus, I found another quote to display so this one had to be bumped from the soccer ball.

Enter, my fairy friend!

(Click picture for larger view.)

Isn't this image darling?  It's called Dandelion Delivery.  I originally bought it for cardmaking for something like "Special Delivery" or even "Enjoy the Ride".  Instead, it lends it self really well for this quote.

(Click picture for larger view.)

I coloured them with copics and promarkers and a little bit of sparkle gel pens.  If I knew how to colour with distress inks, I think this image would work beautifully with those.  While I used it for an inspirational encouragement quote, I think this image would make fantastic nursery decor too!

I hope these images bring you a smile as they do for me.  Look for them soon in my shops!

My Grammie, the Cover Girl!

(Well... sort of)

My grandmother turned 90 this past April.  We are only celebrating now because it's hard to get the whole family together at once and June is better weather than early April.  My grandmother is an elegant lady.  She is graceful and calm. (Come to think of it, I have never seen her angry in all my life!).  She always looks for the positive side of things.  I'm convinced her steady positivity is a major factor in the longevity of her life.

I saw some pictures of her back in Jamaica on a dock in the beautiful sunshine.  She is a beautiful woman and, despite being short, seemed quite leggy in that photo!  It sure looked cover girl quality to me!  I wanted to make a card that would be elegant like Grammie.

Here's what I came up with:

These papers are all from Die Cuts with a View.  The two end pieces are glitter paper and the clock is fully glittered too.  I like the patchwork effect of this card, seeming to transition through many patterns the way life transitions through many stages and many memories.

Although the colours are neutral enough to be masculine, the glitter is what makes this card upscale enough for Grammie in my mind!

(Click photo for enlarged version to see glitter.)

I have to admit, though.  It wasn't entirely my idea.  These papers (even the clock) came from a paper stack.  The stack shows a smattering of all the papers on the front cover.  I thought it looked pretty neat that way and so I picked a few that I liked in combination.  After all, most papers in a stack are meant to co-ordinate with each other anyway!

So that's why this is a "Cover" Girl card!  Why not take your cues from the manufacturer's themselves?  They have a whole army of designers who come up with this stuff!

My Grammie is such a wonderful person.  She could grace the cover of anything anytime in my book!

Quick Tip: Faux Chipboard

Chipboard has long been all the rage with Scrapbookers. I've shied away because it always seemed like so much work: either paint it, or trace it on to paper, cover it and then sand down all the edges.

The one thing I do like about chipboard, though, is the dimension. It's a great way to achieve depth on a page but still with a flat surface (non-bulbous, unlike a pearl or rhinestone). For the lazy, like me, there are pre-made, pre-decorated chipboard embellishments. However, I don't like to waste anything. I hate buying a package of embellishments because I like 70% of them and then I get stuck hoarding the other 30% because I can't bring myself to throw money away yet I have no desire to use them!

Somewhere along my creative travels, I picked up this tip on how to make faux chipboard. If you have a die cutter, you can just cut multiples of the same image out of cardstock and stack them! I find 4 or 5 stacks works best. Plus, you can cut the top layer from your favourite patterned paper and - PRESTO - instantly decorated faux chipboard. No fuss, no waste! The best part is, you can make them from your paper scraps!

(click to enlarge to see dimension of stacked tag)

These fairy tags were made entirely with Quickutz dies (now Lifestyles Crafts).  I used one of their tags, dragonfly wings, the Leprechaun's arms and belt buckle for the head, and a decorative photo corner for the dress.  Easy peasy!

Citrus Butterfly Magnet

Continuing on my magnet making kick, I have made another butterfly magnet. This one meets two different challenges too:

Flutterby Wednesday - open so long as you use a fairy, butterfly or angel

PaperPlay - Summer Citrus Splash: greens, yellows and oranges

Unfortunately, I was a tad too late to enter the Flutterby one.  No matter, it still inspired a part of my creation!

I love the width of the butterfly on this stamp.  I also love how the red pops against the more muted yellow and the orange.  Hooray for colour challenges!  I am not normally drawn to citrus colours, so I am pleased with how this turned out.  On this design, I used a Stampin' Up word stamp on the bottom half and then sponged more ink over it to make it appear faded.  Then I used a darker ink to stamp the scroll.

Generations rubbing elbows in the workplace

I read another great article in CA Magazine.  It is about how different generations behave in the workplace and also how the signals from one generation can be misinterpreted by another.  It has some fabulous insights as to how to engage each generation or what motivates each generation.

I remember Psych101 had a brief stint on behaviour and the enormity of the shift from dictatorship workplaces to participative workplaces that the boomers were able to create from the traditionals.  (Traditionals, to me, are the workers in the industrial age hayday.)

GenX (that's me!), further moved the participative workplace to a collaborative one, elevating the status of the worker and turning the pyramid on its head.  Boss' jobs became whatever made the workers' jobs better, because happy wokers are good workers and who better to come up with innovation than those on the front line.

Now, being GenX, I completely do not understand GenY.  Believe me, my family has listened to me on many occasions ranting at the dinner table about it.  This article helped me to see, "OoooOH..... so THAT'S why they do that."  It helped me to understand what they think they are doing versus what I see them doing.  I agree with most of the article but there are a few points I strongly protest!

It's really quite a good read!  The full article is here: Talkin' 'bout my generation.

Have a read then come back and tell me what you think of it.  Did you learn anything?