background

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Experimenting

I've been experimenting a lot with color lately. I'm beginning to wonder about this whole "be adventurous" thing, cause it doesn't always work out well. Maybe that's the point, you take a risk and sometimes you end up with something beautiful and other times... eh... not so much. I've taken a few of my experiments apart and changed cardstock colors because I just couldn't stand it. The past two days have been full of experimentation.

I had something in mind when I started playing around with inking an embossing folder. In my head it looked elegant and simple. In real life, I didn't have that color of paper. I needed crumb cake from Stampin' Up, but used what I had and it looked drab. Not at all like it did in my head, so I went through my cache of decorative paper looking for blacks and tans. I added it as a background and liked it better. I'm still not sure if I want to add a sentiment or not. The embossing folder is from Paper Studio, and the stamp image is from Magenta.
I was going to repeat the same color scheme with this one, but I didn't have enough of the same paper. I saw the black in the decorative paper and thought perhaps double matting would look pleasing and provide a little pizazz too. I love the way this one turned out:) This stamp image is from Magenta and one of my absolute all-time favorites. I use it a lot. In fact, I've used it so much I'm surprised it hasn't worn out!
 This was one was disappointing. Purple and green are supposed to go together, according to my color guide. Maybe it's just my particular taste, but I'm not using this combination again. It seems kind of jarring to me. It feels upsetting, just not right. The ink is Crushed Olive Distress, and looks more yellow than green but I still don't like the Wild Wasabi and Perfect Plun together. The stamped image is from Stamper's Anonymous. For the sentiment, I was inspired by one of Longfellows' poems and came up with what you see.
I discovered something about my level of creativity this week. Reading. I haven't been reading in the last month or so. I picked up a Nora Roberts novel this weekend and wow! Between that and listening to music while I work, I just felt more... in touch or sensitive. Colors were brighter and my senses were more alive. I had a high school writing teacher who really encouraged me to write and actually told me that I was good. He's the only K-12 teacher who ever told me I was good at something. Over the years I've toyed with the idea of writing a book. I even put together a children's book once but I just didn't like it. When I bought a book on how to get published, it was so daunting that I became discouraged. A few years later, I tried a love story. I did some research and had the story line worked out, but again I just thought I didn't have enough talent. Plus the fact that I was teaching didn't provide me with enough time to write. I sure have enough time now. I've had lots of stories in my head. Since I was a little girl, I'd make up stories to try and occupy my mind. I suffered from ADHD and I just couldn't seem to get enough stimulation, so I'd make my own! I may try again to write. Geeze I'm 55 years old and this would be my first attempt at writing a book...who does that? Plus I don't think I could write steamy love scenes. I would be so totally embarrassed. What publisher would look twice at a book without steamy love scenes now days?