Challenge #11 - Sun/Sunshine

Before we get to this week's challenge, let's see who participated last week -

the theme was "Off Color" - which meant to make something using colors you don't really care for or rarely use.

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Kristen - An official Green Horn here at Opus Gluei - submitted this wonderful prose to color. We love her take on last weeks challenge and applaud her talent.

love all the colors
each and every one
except the orangey hue my brown hair gets while sitting in the sun
i love ever color
all across the land
except for shirts, or shoes or pants, in any shade of tan
each and every color
can make me sing a tune
except i really, really hat that awful one maroon
of all the colors in the world
there's not one i'd shy away
except a gloomy, dreary, dark shade of muddy grey
the thing is with color
is there are a few i do not like
but when they're mixed with others my hatred takes a hike.

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Connie submitted this gorgeous little piece of art. I love how she took her least fav color and used it as the dominant color for this great layout.

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Elizabeth used her least fav color, coral, in this wonderful card. I really love how she also used a rarely seen embellishment from her stash. Way to go.

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Kathy used some "weird" (her word) color varigated yarn to make this lovely creation. These came together to make a very pretty piece. We sometimes like to pretend we can crochet, but have never made anything this great. Maybe we should start pretending more often. Practice makes perfect...

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Fran used some of her off colors to make this adorable card and created a really vibrant and fun submittal!

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Chat Noir - This is really cute - you wouldn't know that green isn't her favorite color (it's not mine either, sayeth the Rosemary) - it will be fun to see when you do it in your favorite black and white combo though! (Green IS my fav color, and I LOVE THIS CARD. Says Jana)

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Smilyn Stef (love that name) - made a great colorful card - love the pop of color! The primary colors are terrific on this card. Love the owl.

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Ivolina made a really classic and elegant black and white card!

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Phinny made two cards for this challenge. She stays away from the dreaded pastels. (Like Jana does. Rosemary doesn't have this particular aversion to pastels. Oil & Water there.)

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Okay, so the theme this week is going to be simple because shoot, it is already JUNE - what the heck?

SUN / SUNSHINE

Time and life and everything is going a million miles an hour and well, who needs complications? Besides, the air is starting to get warm here in the Northern Hemisphere and the pool just opened and well, it is time for fun in the sun - so our theme is "SUN/SUNSHINE" - and all we're asking is that you use a sun or sunshine in your submittal - like always, any form is applauded. A photo of a beautiful sunrise (EXCELLENT), a postcard you made with a sun on it (PERFECT), stamped suns all over a card (AWESOME) - you get the drift!

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Jana - I made a layout for my ALL ABOUT ME album. I have decided that I want to leave a bit of information for my children and their children about what makes me tick. I used the rays of the sun to list things that make me SHINE right now. No pictures. Just what makes me tick.

The writing on the sun says:
"Just as the sun brings flowers to life, these things help me to Shine."

And here's a detail shot. I love plumerias. Couldn't help but add them to this page.

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Rosemary here - this is a continuation of last week's album for this summer's adventures. This is going to be the title of the mini-album and I was inspired by a Sam's Club flyer that had this sun on it (still going to try and use it sometime on an ATC, but that's another story). Anyway, here it is with Stickles, QK diecuts, ribbons, Prima flowers, and the kitchen sink is in there somewhere!

This is another page because Sunshine is actually my husband's nickname for me (aw, I love that fella) He is the sunshine in my life - he makes me happy when skies are gray - but he will know and does know how much I love him!



This is Rosemary still, Mr. Linky is giving me fits and starts (Mr. Linky doesn't listen to a thing I tell him to do, he's very stubborn). So, I'm going to ignore him for a week. Please just link your submittal in the comments. Sorry about the Mr. Linky "issue," we'll go and get some counseling. Maybe it will help.
Also, we're now a Sunday to Sunday blog - makes things easier!

Anyway - HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK! As always, Adhevium Funnum!

YAY - Another Greenhorn!

All hail the newest greenhorn - Kristen!!!

Our First Greenhorn

This is Kathy (aka Craftola), a frequent contributor to our challenges. We have made her our first Greenhorn, a high honor here at the Order of the Opus-Gluei! (oops, first time I posted this I spelled Kathy's name with a C - that's how my sister spells it and doggone it, the first time I got it wrong over here) (Rosemary needs a drink! Pronto! - what you hear now is the sound of Rosemary toddling off toward blender)



If you too would like to have the honor of being a Greenhorn, all you have to do is participate in a couple of challenges with us and then send us a JPEG format photo for us to use!

Adhevium funnum!

Challenge #10 - Off Color

I love green. I love orange. I love red. Blue, yellow, purple, aqua, etc....When I choose most anything I am immediately drawn to the bright obnoxious colors. My challenge to you this week is to work with colors that you normally DON’T choose. Take those poor neglected colors and create a beautiful work of art. If you shy away from a color, this week, embrace that color. Show it off. Present it to us as though you have always LOVED it. Make us want to use that color in our next projects.

As you can tell, I LOVE colors. I was going to use pastels, because I am normally drawn to the brightest colors I can get my hands on. But then I realized that I LOVE colors. ALL of them. So, the natural choice for me to challenge myself was BLACK and WHITE. I made myself use ONLY black and white. Void of any bright and vibrant color. AGGGGGGG. It was SOOOOOO difficult for me to NOT use any other color. I even had to put a couple of sheets of cardstock on my work space so I wouldn't hyperventilate. (Sad part here, is that this is only a slight exaggeration. Really.) Anyway, I did it. I am glad I did. But I didn't go overboard. I made a card. Period. Nothing more.












I made this card without realizing how dimentional it is. I just started throwing things around and arranging until I liked it. I don't think I will mail this one. Someone close by will be the recipient. Or I'll include it in a box. But not an envelope. (Rosemary here - I love this and I am fine with it being in a box - wink wink - no, just go ahead and put it in there with lots of candy and crafty goodness and then mail it to me)









That's it for me this week. Now onto Rosemary!

This would be Rosemary (didn't even hear me sneaking in did you? It's my mad ninja prowess - I'm cool like that)

Good gosh, Jana and I are like chalk and cheese when it comes to color preferences. I admit that I am the biggest fan of the stereotypical GIRLY colors - those pastels that Jana is less fond of for her projects- although I've been known to enjoy a retina-scorching pink too. What I don't care for are the really intense/saturated colors you see lately in scrapbooking papers - the bright greens, the oranges, and so forth. Maybe it is the fact that they are used in patterns that remind me of the late '60s and 70's. Not sure why! That said, there are times when I see other people use strong colors and I love them. But it never seems to work out for me. Let's see if I can change that.

Here is an album I'm starting. It's actually just a piece of a larger album I'm planning so you may see it evolve here over the next few months.

As you can see, there's lots of color happening here and I'm just including some of the embellishments I'm going to use as it goes along. Have to let it happen along the way and then figure out how to jazz it up. (In case you are wondering, this is Lime Rickey paper line from Basic Grey)

Okay, now let's recap this past week! Getaway was our theme for the week that was. I felt for Chat Noir when she made that lovely exotic travel card for the theme "In Reach". But then I realized how talented she is and I knew she would make something equally cool for this week.

Kristen was first to the Mr. Linky with another witty card - Take Off! http://kardsandklay.blogspot.com/2009/05/take-off-its-beauty-way-to-go.html
And it's beauty eh?

Our Fortunate Stamper, Elizabeth, made us a card that just makes you smile and feel better already - like you are a little closer to tootsies-in-the-sand time!

http://thefortunatestamper.blogspot.com/2009/05/relax-and-some-kittens.html



Ivolina told us in the comments that she likes to get away from things by reading and that's a wonderful way to escape - Jana and I are big reading fans and nothing is as fun as getting engrossed in a wonderful story! (IVOLINA - please send us a mailing address for you so we can send you some a little something from the Opus-Gluei poobahs)

Our theme inspired Casii to make an album for a Hawaiian getaway that she took with her family. Love love love the paper and flip flop embellishment!

http://grannypantychic.blogspot.com/

I knew Chat Noir would come up with another great project for this theme and I'm right! Check out her getaway inspired bookmarks - I love how she has them for different "occasions"!

http://blackcatsmiaow.blogspot.com/2009/05/opus-gluei-challenge-9-getaway.html

Crafty Kathy submitted a beautiful altered book "By the Sea." Take a look at just one piece of it - so beautiful!
http://craftola.blogspot.com/2009/05/opus-gluei-challenge-9-getaway.html

And now a brief SOAPBOX MOMENT (PLEASE)

If a challenge doesn't immediately appeal to you then allow yourself to think about it for a little while. Please remember and I know that we put this in nearly every post - we're all about fun here.

We're not a solely card making, scrapbooking, fabric, or any other specific type of challenge blog. You can blog about the theme and what it means to you or take a photograph pertinent to it. Write a song, a poem, a haiku, blog entry, etc. Make an inchie, twinchie, mini, moo, ATC, layout, card, whatever you want.

It's all about making something arty in your life! Which can be in all sorts of forms. That's all - NO STRESS....seriously, we're not kidding. do I look like I'm kidding - I'm wearing Viking horns in my blog photo - not what you would call an elegant and high falutin' look.

JUST PLAY - that's all!

ONE LAST THING - I will upgrade Mr. Linky. But, if in the meantime, you have trouble linking through that - just leave us a comment with the link and I'll grab that for the weekly roundup! Thanks!

ADHEVIUM FUNNUM!

We have a winner folks. We have another winner folks.

Yup. We finally woke up and smelled something burning. Yikes. Sorry everyone. We kinda got so wrapped up in the challenges we almost forgot about the fabulous drawing. (Who are we kidding? We did forget.)

Anyhow, I have tallied the numbers, entered the 89 different entries into the random generator and the two grand prize winners are:

Scrap4fun

and

Casii

email us and let us know your addresses.

So we can pop your goodies into the mail.

And as for everyone else that:

1) Follows us (as of the May 20)

2) Blogged about our candy (as of May 20)

3) Linked to the blog about our candy (as of May)

4) Entered 1 or more challenges (as of May 20)

5) Told us 2 silly facts about your self (as of May 20)

We want your mailing addresses too. We are going to send you a little something to celebrate your participation with us.

Send us an email.

jdeegs @ cox.net (without the spaces)

or opusglueipoobahs@live.com

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE BLOG CANDY GIVEAWAY WINNERS!!!

Challenge #9 - Getaway

This week's theme is "Getaway." It can mean taking a vacation, taking a break, playing in your craft room, just escaping from the routine. Express this in whatever form appeals to you - anything goes! Maybe you'll want to create a frame for a special vacation photo, a bon voyage card, a card to a friend to take a break, you get the drift!

I made a card to give to my sister for her cruise this summer and I'll be tucking a memory card on the inside for her digital camera to give her even more room for lots of photos.

Now, let's see what Jana's created!

Jana here. I went on a cruise in the beginning of February with a very dear friend of mine. I just now got around to making an album to remember our time together. The weather wasn't the best and we didn't get to put our bathing suits on at all. But we did have a very good time.

Here are a few pictures of my album:

The original album only had 9 pages on which I could put photos. I needed more space so I made a mini-mini-album and adhered it to one of the pages. As it turned out, I probably should have made another one to glue inside. I have more photos.

(Rosemary sneaking in here - I love this project - this is a gorgeous album)

We're both really pleased that more and more people are trying out our challenges, we hope you find them fun and different from the norm. We're going to switch from the Saturday to Saturday challenge time and post our challenges on Sundays, it seems to offer a little more weekend time to get a challenge entry completed. Let us know what you think about this change in our comments.

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Now, who entered last week's challenge "In Reach"? Wasn't that a great theme from Jana? I loved it and I absolutely loved everybody's submittals. It's nice to know that we're not the only ones with lots of clutter er...inspiration on our work tables. Oh my gosh, visiting your blogs and seeing what you did was a lot of fun and I'm learning new techniques and fun projects to inspire! I hope you go and visit each other too, so much good fun!

Kathy at Craftola made a beautiful black/white box with an intricate folded flower on top - hard to believe this started as a simple paper mache box! It's gonna look perfect with the toile.

Chat Noir made an exotic and beautiful card with her items in reach - what a cool card - even if someone isn't going away, this is a lovely card to have near your craft area just to inspire you!

Elizabeth made a beautiful baby card for some lucky mom in soft gentle shades - you ought to stop by and see her lovely cards. They're so creative and inspirational!

Ivolina made an ATC with cute touches - love the ribbon and pacifier! Ivolina is fantastic with her choices of colors and papers for her projects!

Lauren, a paperholic after our own hearts, used her imagination and what was in reach to make all sorts of projects - love that monsta ATC!

Kristen who cracked us up last week with her sassy Mother's Day card brings another great card to Opus-Gluei. That fella in the tea cup just makes you smile! If you visit Kristen, prepare to be blown away by how many great cards she creates!

And for May Day we have a sweet project from Casii - it's pretty in the photo but I got to see it in real life and it is super cute! Fringe and glitter and ribbons - OH MY!!!

Well, let's hope you feel inspired by this week's theme as well as last week's. Feel free to leave us comments and don't forget to use Mr. Linky to show us what NEW creations you've made!

Challenge #8 - In Reach

Use what is visible at this moment. Don’t reach into any drawers or cabinets. Just turn and look around you at this moment in time. Reach out and grab what you see. Use it in this week’s project.

Jana here. I have a freakishly cluttered craft space. And as such, I have LOTS of "stuff" just laying about. I looked up and "found" a little wooden bird house. Hmmmm. I'll take that. AND I was just making cards and had some paper on my table. So, I'll use that too. And I won't even make a dent in my eyelets and the new Skittle thingies I just got. I think I ordered somewhere around a million.

Here's that birdhouse that I altered. I like the way it turned out. Makes me smile.

(I have a confession. I had my middle daughter bring me the chick. They were an after Easter purchase that she took possesion of and had stashed in her room. But, that is the only thing I had to get off my lazy butt to get. Oh wait, I didn't even get up for that. L-A-Z-Y. My middle name. Today anyway.)

Hi! It's Rosemary and I too have a cluttered work area - let's call it my inspiration area shall we? Well, I had an idea to use a wooden frame and make a Mother's day gift for my Mom from it, but that didn't work out so she got a gardenia and a Netflix subscription (I'd say she scored wouldn't you?)

I got inspired by this challenge to take the frame and the stack of retina-scorching pink papers of all types that I'd been stacking (yet ANOTHER project) and some paint, some decoupage, lots of punching butterfly shapes, gluing, and VOILA! A frame that (to me) screams happy and fun! I don't know if I'll put an inspirational word in the frame, a quote, or maybe a photo that I'll change out. But it makes ME happy and I like it! And I actually used stuff I could reach from where I was perched.

Amazingly, no carpal tunnel from punching all of these little butterflies!
My other project, using items nearby is my "Love Cat" ATC. I had the stamp sitting there since the Cinema Saturday challenge for "To Catch a Thief" and I'd put the stamp aside - it just wasn't inspiring me for the challenge. But with all the hot pink scraps and the ribbon and punches there, it was easy to put together a cute little ATC.

Now, show us what you are surrounded by.

What can you reach out and grab?

(Keep it clean, ladies, we're a generally

PG-13 blog here - hee hee)

Remember, make whatever you like - a card, inchie, twinchie, ATC, photo, fresco, sculpture, bronze, postcard, fabric piece, fireworks, light display, etc.

You know, things you can reach!

You're only limitations are your imagination!

Thank you for your projects from last week - they were great (you are all so talented and we get inspired by your creations!)

We had items from the following ladies, and we have a little treat for each of you to say thank you for playing!

So please email us at opusglueipoobahs@live.com with your mailing address information and we'll get a little something special in the mail to you immediately!

Now, let's see what you submitted last week:

FIA - a beautiful card in with some of my favorite colors! Love this!

Elizabeth - one of our newest participants and get a look at her pretty card!

Kathy (that Crafty Craftola) - a beautiful and happy card that just sings Spring!

Ivolina - you always make beautiful cards full of texture and color!

Kristin - this made us laugh out loud! A fun, sassy card and now that you've participated in one of our themes - you're just gonna have to keep playing over here!