To be creative, one has to take time out and break away from normal daily routines, and yesterday was exactly that. I spent a wonderful 10 hours playing with fabrics and card making with my best friend, Liz of www.heartfeltbyliz.com. We used our Sizzix Big shot and slice fabrique cutting machines to make some beautiful fabric animal mobiles. These are a few of the shapes we cut out.
fabric stuck to card and cut with the sizzix Big shot.
They can also be used to decorate clothing with appliqué.
We had ordered these machines a while ago, but hadn’t allowed ourselves the time to play with them without guilt. So we booked this day as a reward to ourselves for completing our March tasks.
In the afternoon we experimented with card embossing. I hadn’t done it before and thoroughly enjoyed the finished results. It was a fairly simple technique with beautiful results. These are some of our finished pieces.
card decorated with embossing paste and embossing powders
How lovely to see some of the ways that other people become inspired for new things. I think that getting new “toys” is an excellent way to get creative juices flowing. So exciting!!
-Sarah
http://www.familybugs.net
Thank you Sarah, New toys of any description definitely get you fired up don’t they? I had to be frog marched out of a craft shop today by my Mother-in-law as she deemed it a very dangerous place to be!
Those cards are so cute! I love the colours.
Thank you very much Shayla. x
Those look nice. I especially like the embossed cards. I have the ShapeBoss embossing thing but I haven’t tried yet to color those embossed shapes. I will have to try it out :) Thanks for sharing!
Armi
Hi Armi, I have the shapeboss embossing board too. I used it lots when making my wedding invitations (for that added handmade detail you can’t buy in shops). My husband borrowed it one time to make my Birthday card, but he hadn’t appreciated the words needed to be done backwards. It made me smile as there’s always something a little quirky with the cards he makes me.
Oh I bet you had a great time. Isn’t it good to do something fun for yourself and also to be with friends? Good job on your projects! Nice!
I had a lovely time thank you Rhonda. It was difficult to start with, knowing where to start and I was so excited, but it was a great day.x
I love the soft gradient background colors for the bird, bunny, butterfly and heart. They are very soothing, and blend well. It’s very easy on the eyes.
I, too, think it’s important to take time away from work to do something fun. I admit to being a work-aholic, but I know my mind needs some rest, too.
One thing I do is keep things on my desk to help me if I get stuck in the thought process. I have a Mr. Potato Head, a Rubik’s cube and a Slinky. They make me smile, give me something to do with my hands while my brain backs up and regroups.
Teresa
Thank you Teresa, I love Slinkys. definitely a great desk object. It’s very important to have me time x
You’ve inspired me to pull out some of my toys as well. I will take a day off and give my brain a rest.
Your cards are beautiful.
Gwen
Go for it Gwen. I hope you have a great day, and make sure you show us what you’ve made xx
Your post makes me want to go play. Cool ideas!
Definitely go and play Linda, there’s nothing like losing yourself in creative experimenting. x