I Have a Purple Thumb!

No, I haven't slammed my appendage in a door!  My purple thumb is a good thing.  A purple thumb to an artist is like a green thumb to a gardener.  (And yes, I made that up myself, but I kinda like it.)

You see, I'm a teacher, and each team at our school is responsible for donating a silent auction item for our district's annual gala.  Our teams donation is a "gift card tree".  Since it was my idea, naturally, I was in charge of making the tree.  (Fun, fun, fun!!! and that's not sarcasm)

Here's what I managed to create:

I think it turned out cute.

So what does this have to do with a purple thumb?  Well, I'm a very messy paper artist.  And to make matters worse, I like being messy.  Just like a gardener doesn't mind getting dirt under her fingernails...I have no problem getting glue and ink all over my hands.

After stamping the flowers that I glued to the branches of my tree onto Melon Mambo card stock with Rich Razzleberry ink.....er.....you guessed it....my thumb was pretty much Rich Razzleberry colored.  AND I WAS SO EXCITED ABOUT IT!!

Like I said in my last post, I'm a "Born Again Stamper".  And when I noticed my thumb and fingers were stained in Rich beautiful purply Razzleberry, I knew I was back!  
Ink stained hands, glue smeared jeans, a couple of those Dimensions paper thingies that you peel off stuck in my hair, and I'm a paper artist again!!  

HALLELUJAH!

I think the Rich Razzleberry and Melon Mambo made a great combination.  I love the Flower Shop stamp with the matching punch.  It made the flowers so easy.  I added rhinestones, because......well..... they're shiny.....and I like shiny things.  Then to dress up the (Dollar General shhhhh, don't tell) bucket, I made a quick banner with my Perfect Pennants Bigz L die.

Does anyone remember when we used to make flowers from egg cartons?  

We've come a long way baby!!!

When I was going through my embellishments I found some old Earth Elements buttons in my stash from back before I "strayed" from stamping.  I had forgotten about those colors.  I think they were replaced with Neutrals.  I definitely need to order some new buttons. Oh darn.  (snicker snicker)

I'm a "Born Again" Stamper!

I used to always have a "stash" of beautiful hand stamped cards.  Giving a store bought card was BLASPHEMY!  Oh the horror!  If anyone in my family needed a card, they'd call me or just drop by and rummage through my stash.  I had stamping classes and get togethers with my friends and we would have so much fun!!  They would bug me to death until I would plan the next one.

I LOVED MY STAMPING THERAPY!!  

But life happened.  And I don't even know how it happened, or when it happened, but somehow I was separated from the Paper World that I loved so much.  I became ordinary.  I didn't give cards, because I still couldn't bare to buy the ugly, cold, store bought ones.  I would just give a gift without a card.  During holidays my coworkers received little, unembellished, bags of sweets, or plain candles instead of the colorful, imaginative, smile inducing, hand made creations I had once been "famous" for.  Woe Was Me.  I was a lost sheep and didn't even know it.

Well something snapped.  Maybe it was going through old stamps.  Maybe it was my sister's death reminding me that life is short and we better embrace it.  Maybe it was my inner creative self finally screaming loud enough for me to hear......but I'm so happy that I'm back!

I spent 6 hours in a paper crafting/ stamping class yesterday and I left exhausted and wonderfully fulfilled!  It was 6 hours of the best paper therapy I've had in years.  We made a 3D flower arrangement with hand made paper flowers, a wonderful card, and a special quick and easy gift that is inexpensive to give when you just want to show someone you care or appreciate them.  Here is the 3D flower basket:

The flowers were made with Core' dinations card stock (I think mine were Rose Red) and the Big Shot Spiral Flower die (129379).  The crate is made with Baked Brown Sugar and stamped with the Hardwood background stamp (133032).  The grass is Gumball Green (126840), one of my favorite colors.  The design is by Erica Cerwin (she sells directions on her website) and I took the class with Gail Beezley.  I'm placing an order today so I can make more and offer a class too!  

This class totally inspired me!  My mind is going crazy with ideas!  Yay!

Thinlits

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