Challenge #22 - Gimme 5

This week I want you to Gimme 5.

That's it. Just 5.

You could make a card with 5 of some embellishment. You could make 5 cards and send them to 5 people that make a difference in your life. You could take 5 minutes to reflect on your life and blog about it. You could make a 5 course meal (of course we want to see photos. We LOVE food.)

Jana here:

I chose to make a little album that lists the top 5 things in different categories.

I will add to the book, but for now I decided to list 5 favorite foods that I HAVE to have each time we go to DISNEY WORLD.

(Please excuse the crappy scan. I still can't find the battery charger to my camera. grrrrrr. So, I have to scan my things for now. I plan on posting more pics on my craft blog. I CARD WANNA. But it won't be for a week or so. Anywho, the words toward the bottom of this adorable flower page are blurry because the flowers are popped out and thus are distorting the scan.)

I mention the Disney Food page because

TOMORROW

WE ARE HEADING TO

DISNEY WORLD.

So, I won't be around until Thursday. That's right, I am NOT going to get on a computer for a whole week.

(and Rosemary is missing her so much already and will all week until she gets back - sigh wah sigh)

While I am gone, get

busy, busy, busy, busy, busy

and

GIMME 5.

Hi! Rosemary here - I got very contemplative with this challenge and so I'm sharing a scrapbook page without any photos but it is meaningful to me. It's my 5 spiritual resolutions for (20)10! I see September as a time when we are starting over - much more so than in January when we're all having a little turkey, eggnog, and cookie hangover! So why not get a head start on making some positive changes? That's what I'm doing for myself!

(if you are unable to read them - and I'm thinking you might the resolutions are: To pray more fervently and put my faith in God, to honor the gift of a healthy body and put effort into taking care of it, to be mindful that positive thoughts often lead to positive results, recognize that if I'm not healthy and happy that I'm not going to be useful to others, and accept that sometimes "no" is an appropriate response)

----------Let's take a look at our Gallery for Last Week's Theme----------

Last week, we had beautiful entries for our theme of Water - it was kind of fun wasn't it? It lends itself to all sorts of interpretations and we love what you came up with, you talented bunch you!

Our dear Meikoningin has found a ghost in the bathroom at Chapel Road 1 in Coneberry Village - and a glamorous one she is at that! I would much prefer to see her in the bath than some horror movie type!
Kristin took another lighthearted look by reminding us to drink our 8 glasses of water a day - but asking the question we all consider "Who does this? - well, we at least have to try right?

Dear Fran also participated and made a gorgeous card using a photograph of a swan on the lake near her home - and additionally a beautiful religious verse to accompany it. (she even got a visit from seven swans last Christmas season - how cool is that?) A home on a lake, that sounds lovely!

We have a new Opus Gluei participant - welcome Electra! She gets the tongue in cheek nature of our blog as well and provided us this clever layout with a very intense looking crocodile in the photo. I get a shiver just thinking about them in the water....yikes!

Also we got a great layout from Bobbi - who created art when she couldn't sleep - we've been there haven't we? Love that you refer to your room as your therapy room, that's the truth on my end as well! Turn the stress into something lovely!

So, now your challenge is to GIMME 5!!!!!!

Challenge #21 - Water

Water, a beautiful and natural element - pure, simple, and vital to our very existence. Our inspirational theme for you this week is to create something artistic using water!

Rosemary here - my submittal is a card using a photo I took several years ago in Florida while on vacation. I love this picture, I occasionally put it on my blog as the banner photo, I have it as the wallpaper on my work computer and it just makes me feel good to gaze upon it.



For the card, I have inserted (and it may not show as well as it does in real life) a quotation from Edna St. Vincent Millay that reads:

"The soul can split the sky in two and let the face of God shine through"

(I tried several times to photograph the finished card but it just isn't working - so I'm using the PaintShop file that I created it from - a digital bit of fun)

Jana here. I went a bit more whimsical. I made a card with an underwater theme.

You can't really tell, but the crab is popped out from the page.

I had to scan the card because I couldn't find the camera battery charger.

My youngest has decided that the camera is now hers.

So the battery is DEAD. Way dead.

And here's the inside. I really don't know what inspired me, but I love these fish.

So, let's see what you are inspired to create this week!

Where the Heck is the Opus-Gluei Theme? Recap of Recent Themes and Your Submissions

Hello! Rosemary here - If you are looking for the latest Order of the Opus-Gluei challenge and don't see it, well it is because I'd like to recap some of your recent projects for Themes 19 and 20 - Books and Elvis. Hey, that could be a catchy little tome of its own - Books and Elvis!

I will be posting our latest theme tomorrow (Monday) so there will be a theme this week. Hope you don't mind these delays - it's just that (and you all know how this is) things get hectic in your real life and sometimes you just don't get everything on the "to do" list "ta da done" - know what I mean?

So, Book 'Em brought out a lot of creativity in our loyal members and I loved visiting to see what you made - I highly recommend taking a moment to peruse your fellow Gluei-pies blogs and not only for the projects for our challenges but just to see the creativity on all sorts of projects! You collaged, cut, pasted, altered, sewed, blinged, and just plain had fun with this theme!

Meikoningin coined a title I'd never heard but love - bruised books - and here are two examples of her altered and collaged art. Really cool, I've always said I'm going to try altered books but haven't, but I'm getting more and more inspired and so I know I shall soon! Check out her Coneberry Village Chronicles as well; I love the wit, whimsy and cleverness she puts into each home and its inhabitants!

Our dear Phinny created an altered journal celebrating a lifelong love for books, and I can entirely relate to that! I find that quite often, crafters are bibliophiles from childhood and just adore reading. Phinny's use of masterpieces of art to me is a subtle homage to the classic and timeless nature of a good book to inspire and move us. Love that! Check out Phinny's blog for lots of beauty to look at and be inspired by!

Melisa is new to our challenge blog and already she gets us - YAY! Check out her journal that she made using a repurposed book, but made her own for a journal with collage and her own carved stamps. Another excellent blog to visit and poke around to see all the things she makes!

Casii also has made art for our challenge and it's beautiful and so meaningful. A handsewn book for her daughter's friend, isn't that cool? Casii has a fun blog, she puts up enjoyable music (and I'm not normally a music on the blog kind of gal, but hers changes so frequently and almost always has a running theme to it that you'll love it too), and has so many neat things that she's involved in that you're just enjoying the browse!

Now Bobbi is also back and I'm just amazed at how much she (and all of you) get accomplished in your lives! She made a poster to decorate her niece's bridal shower and check it out - what a keepsake for the couple's memory book! A storybook theme that is just so darn cute! I love it, it has color and bling and romance - who could ask for anything more? (and yes, I'm humming that as I type it!)

-----------------------------------

and now we have Theme 20 - (sigh swoon, ELVIS). I loved Jana's digital ATC for the King, it was really sweet to see the images of the King of Rock and Roll captured along with her memories of Elvis.

Me? I was such a goober and hemmed and hawwed to the point where I didn't get anything done until today. My contribution is a post (with photos) of Elvis and how I loved his wonderful, breezy, cheesy movies - and I say that with complete and unadulterated affection!

Marni made her own digital page in honor of Elvis that shows the handsome man with a hint of vulnerability, even in his fame. What a cool and fitting tribute to big E!

Here's another great Elvis project from our friend Fia! Love her homage to the "The King" - FOREVER! He did have a beautiful voice!

So, bear with me and we'll have a great theme posted on Monday to hopefully inspire you to make some great art as always!

Challenge #20 - Elvis

Elvis has left the building.

I was only 4, but I was caught up in the frenzy.

I wanted to marry the King. At 4.

I remember watching a movie, hugging one of his albums and crying over and over again, "Elvis, Elvis". I fell in "love" with the young, slender version. Something about that man.

At 12 I cried again. Because he had died. I was living in Guam. (my dad was stationed there). I was getting ready to go into one of the quanset huts for a gymnastics lesson when our neighbor came screaming into the parking lot that the Pelvis was dead. Do you remember where you were?

My husband has no idea how lucky he is that the King has moved onto Heaven...

I created this digital ATC to honor him.

And my fond memories of him.

And what could have been.

Create a tribute to the King.

Rest in peace Elvis.

(Note: Last weeks entries will be highlighted later this week.)

Challenge #19 - Book 'Em!

Hey there! So, do you enjoy reading? Do you look forward to a good book more than just about anything else? ME TOO!!! Do you have the dark circles to show for it from staying up too late to finish "just one more chapter?" ME TOO!!! There doesn't seem to be a bad time to curl up with a good book. Summer? Why, I have fond summer memories of books thrown into the pool bag to read during adult swim! In the teenage years, something trashy like Harold Robbins or Jackie Collins perhaps? Winter? Oh, long cold nights reading while cozied up in a quilt! These days, as a grownup, it can be anything from the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, bio of Alice Roosevelt, or perhaps a Sookie Stackhouse novel - I like to read everything that is interesting.

So, the theme this week is to incorporate "Books" that is, something book-related to your project. It can be a blog entry, a childhood book that inspired you or was cherished, a bookmark, a book cut-out for your card, a page from a book, etc. etc. Remember, the only limits to an Opus-Gluei challenge are those you impose on yourself - we love to see what creative endeavors you get into!

So, a while back I wanted to make ATCs for some of my favorite authors throughout my life - okay, weird, I know. Anyway, they are just for me as I don't think there are that many people who would find these ATCs that appealing and that's okay, I enjoy them!

My first group is childhood authors and I've had to narrow it to three - Beverly Cleary, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Carolyn Keene. I tried to find images of the authors and their work, and I also tried to use colors such as the yellow of the Carolyn Keene card to evoke the yellow spines of the classic Nancy Drew Books to tie each one to its subject). Personally, I'm really happy with these and am already thinking about what the next ones will be!

Jana here. I kind of cheated and am using a bookmark made a while ago. I got caught up in the Twilight craze. I made this bookmark from the DVD wrapper. I really couldn't throw it out and made a couple of postcards in an earlier challenge (Go Green). Well, I also made this bookmark. Yes, I know that this is a BOOK challenge, but let's face it. It was the book that started it all...

Our last challenge didn't have the recap for the "Music" theme so I put one in mid-week this past week, just to make sure you get your props!

For our last theme "Metal" we had several really great projects:

Elizabeth created a cool looking card that would be perfect for a guy and incorporates metal - the clean lines and style is really great!

Elizabeth was on a crafting spree this week and made a second card using a faux metal technique that she linked a tutorial too (love that). This another great card and would be fun for a young man. Really happy you loved this challenge!

Desislava made a beautiful card and used metallic gold accents for her contribution - beautiful!

Always clever Kristen made a funny card that not only met the criteria for our challenge but was very creative and green, love that!

Phinny made such an elegant and lovely card using several metal items, a very sophisticated contribution!

So, crack those books and let's see what YOU create! Have a great week!

Mid-week Recap - Who Made Beautiful Music?

We didn't recap the two projects that were submitted for the theme of "Music," so let's take a look!

Phinny was very crafty and used her project for two themes - excellent and click over to get more details on the card - she was quite thrifty too! Lovely!

Jeanie also played with us last week and made a really cool card with a retro feel (which I love love love) and it incorporated music to a T!

Can't wait to see what gets submitted as we test your "Metal"!

Challenge #19 - Put the Petal to the metal

Let metal inspire you this week.

Use metal.

Use something that looks like metal.

Use something that is metallic.

Use the color of metal.

Use something unique for extra credit.

Jana here. I used a tuna tin. I was wondering around Go Create Something and stumbled upon her tin art. She has a few tins decorated with a mermaid theme. Since my hubby and I are taking our girls to Disney World in a few weeks, I picked Ariel as my mermaid. I have a treasure chest full of gems.

What? Don't you?

Anyway, I decided to decorate the outside of the tin with gems and glitter. I used E6000 to adhere the gems. And then poured the glitter over everything to fill in the gaps. I am going to have glitter in places only my husband will see. I get this stuff everywhere. Then I painted the inside blue and printed out an underwater scene and trimmed it to fit. I still have details to add. You know some shells, Flounder, Sebastian, maybe some sand...

Now show us your metal.