Blog Hop with a Difference - spreading the Creative Love

So my blog buddy (and sometimes taskmistress) Kathi has asked me to participate in this progressive blog hop. Basically, she "tagged" me last week, along with 2 other ladies. She was tagged the week before along with two other blogs, etc. etc. blah blah blah. I will be tagging three people below to post next Monday, and continue on. This helps us introduce people to other blogs and honor those of us who are inspirations. We are spreading the creative process.

Kathi is a great inspiration because she colors so many different types of images. She is the dominatrix of the Bombshell Team, and I also serve with her on the SCACD stamp team. I also love to read her blogs... I learn so much and she gives such good "instructions" on how she created her different projects!

First off - I am supposed to chat about myself and answer some questions:

1. What am I working on?

Hmmmmm.... well I am behind - LIKE REALLY behind. I have been travelling and getting my eldest daughter settled in her new apartment with her new job out of college (WHOOP WHOOP one child living as an adult), dealing with family emergencies, and also travelling a lot for work.  

I tend to do one project at a time. I just don't finish all of them LOL. I have some cross stitch projects I have been working on for well..... 24 years. SIGH. Right now I have a blog hop project coming up for Bombshell, more projects for SCACD and I have some new stamps in and a project I want to work on for this weekend for my brothers birthday (SHhhhhhh). 

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

This is a good question. My style is usually very balanced. I struggle with balancing with different elements, but I am REALLY good at ensuring that the cards are very symmetrical. LOL. I think I also am a bit of a Geeky person, and I like to do quirky sentiments, and dorky statements about my cards. I also love to use songs and movie quotes  (usually sci-fi) for my sentiments... just usually very silly ones. :-). So my work differs because I Am dorky. :-)

3. Why do I create what I do?

I color. Mainly because it gives me something to de-stress with. I have had my boss tell me to take some time and color at night LOL. Gee - I wonder if I was stressed out those days. I have about 200 cards in a basket - cuz I Never send them. I am also really bad sometimes about missing peoples birthdays, etc... because I forget to make a special card. I just make them. SIGH. 

I love to color, always have - Crayons when I was little - the tube huge pages when I was a kid that had like 8 markers with it. :-) I took my first Copic class and I WAS HOOKED. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeek. LOVE THEM. I associate everything with copic colors, and I Have considered trying to create my own colors when they haven't matched exactly. (I am a bit afraid of what muddy colors I would make). 

4. How does my creative process work?

HAHAHAHA.... ok. I don't think I have a process. It is usually more random dumb luck. A lot of people start with a sketch or a theme, or in many cases a specific paper. I usually start with - what Image do I want to color today. And then I choose my colors. Then I am screwed because I have to find design paper or themes or sketches that work with that image. UGH. Yeah - I use a lot of plain cardstock because do you know how freaking hard it is to match paper AFTER you have colored. LOL. 

I wanted to produce a card specifically for this hop, and for that I used the SCACD new release  image Hope.  I wanted to make her FANTASTICLY vivid... so I used some really basic shades of red blue and green copics (B2x, R2x, YG2x). AS an example of my randomness... I had chosen different paper, and when I was done, the colors didn't match... so I had to go dig through my paper and find something else. WHEW.... lucky me I found these that are close. :-)

I also wanted to add some stuff and I went a bit nutso with the gold dots that I placed on her wings, her armbands, her legbands, her outfit, her hair, her face....etc. etc. etc... you can see those a bit better down below. 

I have chosen three people to "tag" who I have known and respect for their artistic abilities. I hope they will share with you next week a little more about themselves. I met all of these for a start on the Bombshell Team, but I am very happy to call them a blogland friend (and I may have even met one of them in real life). So here - in no particular order...

Cheryl - Ok... she is my copic heroine - seriously. I LOVE how Cheryl colors. I have studied her stuff for hours just wanting to color half as well as she does. And she has been on so many wonderful design teams and shared her work with everyone for so many years.  And now she is torturing me with baking on Facebook. ACK. We also discovered that we grew up about an hour from each other, which lets us bond about some of our food love too. Cheryl publishes her work on the Ink Trap and I will visit her frequently when I am struggling with my coloring on a particular image. 

Alison - I so love to visit Alison's blog (21st Century Pillow Book) because it is DIFFERENT.  She uses images that are at turns wild and crazy or cute and sweet, but always has them being used with a twist. She is always about vibrancy and fun and happy even when the images are dark and dreary. She also posts a lot about food on her Facebook (hmmmm can you see a trend forming?). Alison is one of the most creative people I have ever met. I always look at her projects and drool and wish I could be so open and free with my creativity. She is who I watch to try to expand my horizons on how I can try new things.

Katie - Glittery Katie to be exact. Katie has been delightful to get to know, and I even got to meet her when I went on a business trip to Oxford England. YIPPEE.... it was so much fun and so cool. But one of the reasons I chose Katie was not because of her card work... or her scrapbook work (which are really great). See... it is her Amigurumi (is that how you spell it)stuff that is what has inspired me to start to learn to crochet. (I am still on my first thing of yarn and just learning how to make stitches that are even.) Katie however has made some REALLY cool stuff that I hope she will share on her blog more. Glittery Katie's blog is here! 

This was really fun, and thank you for stopping by and reading all about me. I really hope to see you again soon. 

Here are some oldies but goodies of my favorite projects: