I’m having one of those weeks where things just don’t seem to go right.  I have been playing with things, and they just keep ending up on the trash pile.  I have forced and pushed and frankly yelled, and still the art just isn’t in me. 

To my credit, I’ve had a crazy, busy week plus a migraine, so I guess this is to be expected, but it is still discouraging.  I just hate when the ‘art’ doesn’t go the way I want it to.  Even the stuff that has been remotely successful still aren’t flowing in their usual ways.

Case and point, this little gem, which never really found its way.  This really annoys me, especially since I spent way too much time masking off pumpkins to get this lay out.

The good news is that tomorrow is Friday, I have a literal break scheduled for myself, and I am going to pull out my art journals and make a bunch of ugly art till I re-find myself.

I did find a a few cards that I did like in the end to share this week, so enjoy them as much as you can.

The gals over at The Paper Players have a great clean and simple challenge this week looking for the theme of leaves.  The great Halloween card push is coming to an end, so I was excited to get a start on my fall/thanksgiving cards.

I pulled out some Brusho and watercolor paper and sprinkled some orange, yellow, brown and a touch of red onto a dry surface.  Then I spritzed out some water, trying to keep the paper free of puddles.  Then I pulled out a My Favorite Things dienamic foliage die and traced it onto the paper.  I die cut out the image as well, and tied a bit of peach ribbon onto the steam of the leaf.  I grabbed some off white and brown printed paper and trimmed it up, and adhered the watercolor paper to it.  I add some dimensional tape behind the leaf and adhered that as well.  Finally I added a bit of white card stock die cut with a Sizzix die and trimmed with some brown satin ribbon.  I thought long and hard about adding a sentiment, but in the end, I thought the card said enough without words.

This week the little holiday elves over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown have a fun little theme challenge this week looking for Christmas Critters.  Ironically, I don’t have a ton of non-reindeer stamps, so I was pretty excited when  I remembers I had had a few penguins laying around.

I pulled out two separate Penny Black stamp sets that coordinated with each other and pulled the penguin images.  I masked when I needed to and stamped out the two different images.  Then, using some creative stamping added a whole bunch more snow drops around everything.  I colored the images in with my copics and trimmed out the paper.  I added some pretty Christmas printed paper and added it to the bottom of an A2 card.  Then feeling the need to over design things, I pulled out some card stock and embossed it with a Darice embossing folder.  I pulled out some blue Perfect Pearls and an embossing pen and highlighted the snowflakes and snow flakes.  Then have an awesome shimmer when the card moves.  I added some satin pale green ribbon to the bottom of the focal image, and then applied the stamped portion with some dimensional tape.  I think in the end the card worked, but yes, it was over designed.

The singled layered CAS crew over at Less Is More is having a theme challenge as well this week looking for spiders or insects.  Having an awesome little boy in my world, I have my fair share of spider and insect cards.

I pulled out a Heidi Swapp stencil and blended some antique linen and tea dyed Distress ink on a A2 card.  Then using a bunch of Distress ink colors (weathered wood, pumice stone, frayed burlap, gathered twigs and old paper) I stamped out a bunch of insects and spiders from an Inkadinkadoo stamp set.  Using another Inkadinkadoo stamp set black widow, I embossed the image onto the card frame with some black embossing powder.  I added a sentiment from Riley and Company, Funny Bones, only using only the second part of the sentiment.  Finally, I splatted some water onto the card so it looked old and worn.  I might have been struggling this week with the little bits of art, but I love how this card came out.  It is perfect from my preteen boy, or maybe even my husband who secretly loves to find cards tucked into his lunch box.

Finally today, the design team over at Always Playing with Paper‘s The Challenge have a cool inspiration challenge.  For me, the colors in the photo was what really inspired me for this one.

I pulled out some student grade watercolor paper and sprinkled out some brusho onto dry paper.  I used two shades of blue, and some light green.  I pulled out a Deep Red stamp with a pretty feather design and sprayed the rubber with some water.  I then stamped the water over the brusho powder and let the powder pool there.  I did it again and let the paper dry.  Then using some Archival cobalt ink, I stamped the image over where the color feel.  I pulled out some pretty, graphic printed paper and trimmed it up.  I added some pale blue satin ribbon to the watercolor paper and stamped out a Fiskars over-sized sentiment onto the card.  Finally, I added a pale green gem, and called it a day.  I know the card is pretty simple, but isn’t it pretty.

Okay, that’s all for tonight.  I am off to bed, since I am up way too late.  Till next time, don’t let the ugly work hold you back from creating.