I've Been Nominated - Creative Crew Blog Hop!

How fun and exciting for me to be nominated by Tandra Boyer over at A Little Inkalicious for the creative Crew Blog Hop! It's an honor to be nominated, and has a few simple rules. First I have to create a project exclusively for the hop, answer a few questions, and then nominate two other stampers whose work I admire!

For my project, I chose to do some watercoloring on Shimmery White cardstock. After seeing the stamping demonstrations from Leadership a couple days ago, I was inspired to try several things they demonstrated. (And a big THANK YOU to Stampin' Up! for making it available via live streaming for those of us that couldn't make the trip to Florida!)

I chose the branch of blossoms in Indescribable Gift, because it is perfect for coloring, whether using watercolor or Blendabilities alcohol ink markers. It's easy to pick up just the amount of color you want when using the Aqua Painters, and really creates such a lovely effect. The ribbon was cut in half lengthwise to make it narrower, and not so overpowering on the card. These were the supplies used:

STAMPS: Indescribable Gift, Simply Wonderful
CARDSTOCK: Whisper White, Shimmery White, Coastal Canana, Best Year Ever DSP
INK: StazOn Jet Black, Blushing Bride, Pear Pizzazz, Soft Suede, Calypso Coral, Crushed Curry marker
ACCESSORIES: Best Year Ever Accessory Pack, Gold Baker's Twine, Aqua Painters

I ended up giving this card to a dear friend who cooked yummy chicken enchiladas for dinner and brought it over for me and my husband. She said she wanted to practice her cooking skills, so inside the card I told her we would be willing guinea pigs any time!

Okay, enough about the card. These questions were the hardest part of this whole process for me, so here goes.
1. What are you working on? This weekend I spent some time creating the projects for my upcoming classes this month. And in between creating (and creating a mess), I'm trying to purge "unloved" craft supplies and make my craft room more organized. Wish me luck!
2. How does your work differ from others in your genre? I don't really think my work is all that different. My creations range from simple, classic cards to elaborate how-much-more-can-I-add cards that generally need extra postage. I do tend to favor cardmaking over other papercrafts, though I have been known to make boxes and home decor.
3. Why do you create what you do? I'd say it's to keep my sanity, but we all know THAT'S not true, haha. I think the main reason is to give my creativity an outlet, and cardmaking is pretty much instant gratification. You sit down with a few supplies, get the creative juices going, and in time (sometimes 20 minutes, sometimes 4 hours) you have something that will put a smile on someone else's face, or give them a virtual hug that they need. I love sending cards to friends and family. There's a lot of power in that little piece of paper!
4. How does your creative process work? That was a tough one to answer. It usually comes out all willy-nilly. Sometimes I get a vision of something in my head and it translates to paper just the way I envisioned it. Other times I'll draw a complete blank, and waste spend a lot of time looking for my mojo inspiration online. And occasionally, I'll be out running errands and see a particular pattern or color combination and it sparks inspiration. I usually start with a color combination, sometimes derived from our Designer Series Paper, then choose the stamp set based on the occasion, and then try different layouts, moving elements around until it looks right. Sometimes it never looks right....you'd be surprised how much ends up in the recycle bin!

For my nominations for next week's Creative Crew Blog Hop, I'd like to nominate these two very talented gals: Krystal Van de Leeuw at Krystal's Cards and More and Janice Adams at Perfectly Paper by Janice. They should have their blog hop posts up on Monday, February 9th. Thanks for stopping by!