Affirmation Inspiration Strikes!

Good morning!  Marilyn here saying Hello from sunny, warm South Louisiana.  Today I have an amazing project to share with you from Alchemist Jo, one of our magnificent designers.  So, without further ado, here she is.  Jo, take it away……..

Inspiration strikes at the strangest times, don’t you find?  Not necessarily when I need it to and usually when I haven’t got a pen or scrap of paper to note it down.  By the time I get home the idea has often gone only to be replaced by a totally useless fact about the number of polar bears left in the world or what type of milk can be put in the freezer  😮  My brain has only so much room and as one thought goes in another gets shoved out!  Anyway, inspiration struck for me when I was paying for my groceries and handed over my loyalty card (loyalty card? Who am I kidding?  I’m loyal to no one hence I’ve got a stack of the darned things stuffed in my handbag).  I keep my loyalty cards on a ring (sent to me by the lovely Suzanne from Privet and Holly).  Keeping the ring in my hand until I got home ensured the idea stayed in my head!

I knew I wanted to have some fun with paint, sprays, punchinella, rubber stamps and collage (who doesn’t, eh?!) and decided to create a few different backgrounds on credit card sized cards.

I drew round a loyalty card onto watercolour paper (140lb) because the paper is strong and less prone to buckling.  Once I’d cut them out I smooshed, sprayed, stuck, stamped and painted!  I used loads of different punchinella patterns to create great effects with acrylic paint and sprays.  Gauche Alchemy offer a great punchinella variety pack  to play with.  It’s such FUN!

Note to self: do not use dribbly spray ink bottle when going out for a romantic meal with husband in an hour’s time.  It won’t wash off and apparently having a wife with blue hands is rather a passion killer ;D

Paper napkin is an easy and effective background, and can be further painted, rubber stamped etc.  The Paper Napkin Art Kit  offers a brilliant variety of colours and styles.

Once I’d finished the backgrounds I added affirmations for me to focus on – some I rubber stamped, others I wrote by hand.  Affirmations allow you to consciously harness the power of positive thinking and direct it to whatever part of your life, body or spirit that needs attention.  I have yet to find one about blue hands.

A couple of coats of Mod Podge or similar will seal and protect the cards.

I used both sides of the cards, so having made 11 cards I ended up with 22 different backgrounds and 22 different affirmations.  I added eyelets and put them on a large book ring, along with a little charm.  You could add ribbons and more charms.  The beauty of this little project is that I can go back and add more cards as I learn new techniques so it’s a techniques sample ring too.

I had a blast putting this together but I’d better try and get that blue ink off my hands now……..!

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Awesome Jo!  Now we know what to do with those pocket-full of cards we all carry around. What a wonderful way to make something so useful and life-affirming.

Smiles~
Marilyn