Pumpkins, Gourds and Squash clip art

Soon there will be a crispness in the air

and time to celebrate Autumn!

I loved painting these beautiful

pumpkins, gourds and squash

and then playing around with them digitally

to create some high quality,

handsome digital clip art for you!

They're on sale now

so grab them for INSTANT download!

Just $3 at my Etsy shoppe! 

Welcome Fall printable made from clip art by I Gotta Create!

See how you can pair it up

with other clip art packages I offer?

You can create beautiful, one of a kind

printables, cards, scrapbook pages,

and more!

For personal use only or contact me

if you'd like a commercial license.

Visit my Etsy and grab it for

INSTANT DOWNLOAD now!

Mood Boards: First Step for Room Design

Where do you start when you approach 

a room makeover?

I start by thinking about how I want myself

and others to feel while in the space.

This, of course, takes into account

the function of the room.

Do you need the space predominantly to feel and to be....

10 Techniques for Handcrafted Cards

Handcrafted Holiday Cards become keepsakes for the special people on your list.

They can enjoy them this year and frame them as future holiday decor. Here are 10 techniques that take your handcrafted cards over the top... 

Make Handcrafted Card Knock-offs

Everyone loves the look of original, detailed, handcrafted cards. But unless they are very simple, it's impractical for most of us to replicate all the steps to make a card for everyone on our Holiday list.  So here's a solution:

Cupid-In-The-Box

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Here's a Valentine "card" that will pop out and grab your heart! 

Made to fit in a party favor tin {you could use any tin you have on hand}, this little sentiment packs a lot of punch!

Primitive Vintage Christmas Gift Bags

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I love the primitive collage look of these holiday gift bags: frayed edges, unfinished seams, rustic elements. Their charm rests in the vintage holiday photos and layers upon layers of fabrics, ribbon, yarn, and thread. 

Work Your Imagination

Summer bliss has me imagining how to incorporate more of that playfulness into my work days throughout the year.  I decided to inspire myself by altering a little notebook.

 I saw a card similar to this once and loved the idea of the child riding a fish - so whimsical! And it reminds us to 'go with the flow.' The wings whisper of our beauty. They show how our ideas and ideals elevate us and allow us to take flight. Of course, there has to be a magic wand! If we remember to pay attention to life's synchronicities and serendipities, we stay tuned in to the magic. 

 Tying the spine with colorful ribbon provides a final soft touch to what can otherwise be a hard-driving work day.

This little notebook makes it a joy to create your 'to do' list!






Q: If your "To Do's" start feeling like "have to's," what strategies do you use to shift that and see them as opportunities to express creativity? 

Summer Bliss (ter)

Suntans, swimming, vacations, grilling out, fresh fruits and vegetables, summer reading, lazy days… although the bliss of summer has given way to a bliss-tering heat wave, see it as an excuse to hibernate in the air conditioning and create some bling!

This little charm is an experiment with a crackle paint technique using elmer’s glue. Super, super simple; super, super cheap. A small bottle of acrylic paint costs less than $2 and comes in a rainbow of colors, and you’ve probably got the glue in your junk drawer right now. You can re-purpose just about anything around your house for this project. The results will surprise you. What about decorating an old journal or photo album cover? Give new life to that empty, round cardboard oatmeal container you’re about to throw away. Jazz up an old picture frame. A previous post (4/11/11) showed this technique on a little cardboard box. 

Here we have a little wooden heart. Here’s what you do: Paint a base coat and let dry (I  used dark brown). Then brush on a layer of elmer's glue over that. Immediately on top of that, brush on a coat of paint in a contrasting color (I used silver). It will take awhile to dry, but as it does it produces a crackle finish. You can lay the glue on thick for large cracks spaced apart, or a thinner layer of glue and top coat for finer cracks.  Once dry, just adhere photos, trinkets, buttons, stickers, stamped images, words, etc. to create a simple collage.

That’s it. Easy summer bling that beats the heat! Kids will love it, too.

       

Q:  What do you do to jazz things up?


You might also like: 

Easter Box

Valentine Ornaments: Wooden You Be Mine?

Puzzle Magnets

Summer Reading Accessories

Wild West Bookmarks

Did anyone else spend some of their youthful hot summer days in the air conditioned local library, wandering through the aisles of books, fingering the glossy spines and inhaling that soothing bookish library scent? Finding a cool private corner in which to read and daydream? Choosing just the right book, checking it out, selecting a bookmark and putting the story on pause so you could walk back out in the sizzling furnace of summer to secure a Frosty at Wendy’s and resignedly make your way to your comparatively hot home? Forbidding your siblings from entering your room while you finished reading that captivating book, feeling slightly sad late that night or the next morning when the story ended? Anyone?

Times have changed. Over more recent years I have listened to hundreds of audiobooks on my commutes, and I’m thankful for them because I’d never have enough time to read everything. For example, right now I’m listening to Pulitzer Prize winning Ron Chernow’s amazing biography of George Washington on 33 CDs! Recently my dear hubby purchased for me a Kindle and I do love its convenience—especially when traveling by plane (which has been much lately; thus the hiatus in the blog). Compared to computers, laptops, ipads, etc., the Kindle is much easier on the eye and more like a book to me.

But audiobooks, Kindles—these ‘virtual realities’—do lack the smell, the feel, the cover, the literalness and luxury of holding a book. It makes one realize how much complexity, nuance and enjoyment there is in 4D living! Furthermore, there is much to be said of what the medium itself invites from you. There is a charm to listening to excellent storytelling while driving, and a convenience in being able to access virtually a whole library of books while on a plane, but for both mediums there is that subtly sterile feeling of multi-tasking and ‘fitting in’ an enjoyment rather than relaxing and ‘settling in’ to a good book. 

So for those of us who do still read from actual books, I present to you some bookmarks to celebrate that great medium.  Some are strong and dignified, some are snarky. It would be fun to make bookmarks for every genre!

Meanwhile, lets agree to—yes—take our children, our nieces and nephews, our grandchildren, our friends, ourselves to the library for the full 4D adventure before summer’s end!

Q: What were your favorite childhood books and library stories?

Perfectly Puzzled

If the old puzzle has lost some pieces, use it as an opportunity for art!

These magnets were created from those larger children’s puzzle pieces, which I coated with a layer of acrylic paint. 

Raised textured images and words are created by stamping the image and dusting it with embossing powder. Heating the powder melts it, leaving raised images that pop! 

Puzzle edges are inked to create extra depth. Vintage images, beads, wire, buttons, and ribbon lend interest and charm. 

Glue a magnet to the back and you've just recycled and given new meaning to an old object.

Q: What do you create when you’re puzzled with life?


You might also like:

Valentine Ornaments: Wooden You Be Mine?

Celebrate With Style

When I was in 2^nd grade, our teacher had us make crowns with glitter and color paper to wear on our birthday.  I LOVED those crowns. 

Sewing project: birthday crown made of fleece

Unfortunately, I shared my birth date with a boy and we were teased all day for being ‘married’ as ‘king and queen.’ A little older and that would’ve been fun; at the time it was just embarrassing. Oh well.  

she's too cute to show!

I still loved the crown and just had to make a fabric version for a dear wee one in my life who turned one year old this week!  I wanted to bling this baby up. But, worrying about choking hazards, I consoled myself with the thought of another chance when she’s older.

A few years ago, I made a grown-up version to celebrate a friend who had helped found a fabulous program. For this one, I recycled a pizza box, cutting it to shape, adding layers of fancy papers, varnish, and doodads until it became a regal ‘sculpture.’

3D Collage: papers, stickers, ribbon, foil, stamps, doodads

     I think a crown every now and then is a mandatory accoutrement—don’t you?


     Speaking of 2^nd grade: remember when we had no fear and knew ourselves as creative artists? That was wisdom!


   Glitter, crayons, glue, daisy chains… okay, some of us ate the glue, but I think those were budding gourmands.

Q:  Share with us: when’s the last time you created fearlessly like a second-grader? What would help you do that again?