What's new at The Loft - Episode 25

TOO HOT!!!

I know I shouldn't complain, but it's already too hot here in Florida.  I really don't care for the heat and humidity of Florida, but I'd rather have that then living up north again during winter.  So we endure what we must, but that doesn't mean I don't have the right to complain about it.  As I am writing this (at 11:50 am) it's currently 84 degrees, but feels like 87 degrees, with 65% humidity.  Today's high temp is supposed to reach 92 degrees.  Goodbye spring, hello air conditioning!

Weekends are a time when most of us part time creative type people with a "real world" job get most of our fun stuff done.  At least that's the theory anyway!  I wish I could say my life works that way but for me its not even close.  With the undertaking of the ATC 3.6.5. Challenge, I find I have almost no time during the week to work on any other projects, which leaves me hopeful that on the weekend I can make up for lost time and get to my projects.  Sadly that doesn't really happen either.  Weekends I usually end up running errands or doing my supply shopping for a project, which for me takes entirely too long.  I have too much of a tendancy to browse and wander .  This especially creates a problem when I go grocery shopping as I have a bad habit of putting the frozen foods in my cart first. 

Procrastination and perfectionism and follow through are my other very bad habits.  I get really good ideas but getting started on them for me is the equivalent of a mental block at times.  And then once I do start on something getting it finished it becomes the next chore, as I spend so much time trying to get it just right that I tend to leave a lot of half completed projects lying around, to which my husband can attest to.  I have so many mini books started in the numerous classes I've taken in the last 2 years class, but almost none of them are completed.  One of my other goals for this year is to try and actually complete some of these. 
Home projects of course fit into this as well.  For those of you that read my blog regularly, you may remember that some months back we were working on Daughter #1's room redecoration project.  As of the last blog post on the subject, which was back in early March, we had finished the painting and were ready to move into the fun part of the redecoration, namely the new furniture and bling to complete the transformation, but sadly the project came to a standstill to search for a new bed and furniture.

Hubby then declared we couldn't start any new home projects until we finished the Daughter #1's room, which has left us in limbo for a while.  We are in serious need of some weeding and shrub maintenance in our backyard  and I really wanted to repaint the kitchen.  Landscaping for us is a job we tend to procrastinate over, since it generally means a really big job.  We re-landscaped the entire front and backyard several years ago and were very happy with the results, but sadly we have neglected it and it's turned into a gangly mess. 
Plus did I mention I really don't care for the heat!  So the new around the house projects once again have been put on hold.

I'm happy to report thought that we did make some progress on Daughter #1's room though, as her new bed has arrived and her room has been put back together, now only the new furniture has to be picked out and the rest of the decoration can begin.

ATC 3.6.5. Challenge

5/6 "Lover Boy" - What can I say I love recoloring black and white photos of silent movie stars.  I find it's one of my go to inspirations for cards when I'm tired or lacking in inspiration from other sources.  For this card I started with a mixed media type paper given as a free sample from Somerset Studio's magazine.  The photo is of Rudolph Valentino and Agnes Ayres from "The Sheik".  For this card I recolored the card using my Stencil Collection chalk pastels and my watercolor wheel watercolor paints.  I added a little extra bling by glueing some purple rhinestones to the Sheik's necklace and printed the title on my computer at home and loosely cut it out and inked the edges with Tsukineko chalk ink in turquoise.

5/7 "Follow Your Bliss" - The main inspiration for Today's card was MOTW - "Made on the Way" as I knew I wouldn't not have time in the evening to make my card so I made one on my lunch break with materials I found around my office.  I cut the background from a political commentary magazine I had in my desk and adhered it to the card.  I then used my white Uniball pen to hand draw the heart and decorate one side.  I also used a black Zig marker and a red Pentel pilot pen I had on my desk to ebellish the heart more.  I cut the title from a back issue of Cloth Paper Scissors magazine I  had in my purse.

5/8 "The Things We Do For Love"  I started today's card by cutting a piece of paper that looked like old parchment for the background.  Next I cut the image of the couple on the bike from my Tweety Jill "Vintage Photographs" collage pack.  I adhered the photo to the card at an angle for more visual interest.  I then found this Rub-on from KC &  Company and affixed it over both the photography and background.  The title was cut from some Theresa Collins paper.

5/9 "Mother's Day" - Not to be selfish but I sacrificed a little art so I could enjoy the day with my family.  So I made a simple card to honor all mom's, since there is nothing like a mother's love.  The background was cut from stock parchment looking paper, and the image was from the Tweety Jill's "Vintage Photographs" collage pack.  I added a stamp at the bottom and some clear backed letter stickers to the side.  Not the most of artistic of cards, but conveys the message I wanted to send.

5/10 "Love U"  For those who saw my last post you may recognize this Prima paintable paper that I used to make a Mother's Day card for my mom.  I love this paper which is textured like a heavier stock watercolor paper, and as the name conveys, it really does hold up well to paint.  I painted the card using Neo II watercolor paints, Liquitex "Basics" acrylic paint, Zig markers, and a white Uniball pen.  For the title I simply made small boxes around the letters for the title Love U that are printed on the paper.

5/11 "Can You See Who I Really Am" - My inspiration for todays card came from my Grafitti Chic class I've been taking with Alisa Burke.  For the lesson I was reviewing that day Alisa taught us how to make handmade stencils from photographs.  I found a photo on the internet and cut my stencil.  I then cut a background from a free sample of paper I got in a Sommerset Studios magazine and adhered it to the background.  I then placed the stencil on the background and using Tsukineko chalk ink in black, dabbed and smeared the ink on until I filled in all the cut out areas on the stencil.  I then hand wrote the title in a black Zig marker.  For those of you who are good with faces the photograph that I used to cut the stencil was one of Jessica Alba.

5/12 "Tres Chic" - My inspiration for today's card was a dress mask I cut a long time ago for a birthday card I made.  I kept the mask thinking I would use it again at some point.  I started the card by choosing a background with some text in it and laying down some yellow paint from my Adirondack paint dabbers  Once dried I used the dress mask to cover an area of yellow, and using a red Adirondack paint dabber covered the yellow area not hidden by the mask.  Once the red was dry I used a black zig marker to outline the dress.  From some scrap paper (manufacturer unknown) I cut the title, and little pink flowers.  I added some bling to the flowers in the form of purple rhinestones, and glued all of this down next to the dress.  Lastly using a black Zig marker I doodled some designs on the card.

5/13 "The Pirates Treasure"  Thanks to Johnny Depp, who doesn't like a pirate!.  The Tampa Bay Scrapbook Treasure Hunt is a big deal every year here, and one local scrapbook store "Scraporium" knows how to do the event up right, complete with their very own Captain Jack Sparrow.  As a thank you to the participants of the hunt and their regular shoppers (myself included) they offered a pirate themed make and take.  Sadly I didn't have time to do the make and take at the store so I took my kit home and promptly forgot about it until I was going through some of my stash the other day and found it.  I can't really tell you about the manufacturers of the items in the card, as it was a premade kit, but I can tell you that I distressed the red paper with a sanding block before gluing it down to the back, and that I used a black Zig maker to make the map, and used a gold metalic Gelly Roll pen to highlight the treasure chest. Sorry I don't have more information on this one.


Well that's all I have for today.   Please feel free to leave your comments and don't forget to come back soon.  Thanks for stopping by!