Monday, February 29, 2016

Linking Up At SILVER MESS: Boxed In


Today, I am linking up at SILVER MESS.  Rachel's prompt (is that what you call it?)(and by the way it's here) is "boxed in."  I was trying to come up with something along those lines, but was having a fair bit of trouble.  WHEN - it hit me!  I am boxed in by clutter!

That's how this post was going to begin, but now Rachel is not doing the link-up because she has other things to attend to, and that is completely understandable!  However, I had this post almost all ready to publish, so I'm not just going to delete it, or even change it to a non-link-up post, because then you wouldn't have the opportunity to check out Rachel's blog!  That would be a shame, wouldn't it?  So I'm just going to proceed as if she is still doing a link-up.  Go!

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My desk is cluttered.  Beside my bed is cluttered.  My inbox is cluttered.  My brain is cluttered.

So today* I'm going to make a card inspired by clutter, or rather, the absence of clutter, since I can't in good conscience make a card inspired by clutter.  The idea sort of makes my brain hurt.  And of course, since the prompt is "boxed in," I have to include a cute little box in the design.

*let's be honest here.  I didn't make this card today.  I made it on Thursday, but I'm posting on it now.

Because this card is inspired by the absence of clutter, I definitely wanted to make sure this card stayed super simple and had a lot of white space.
I knew I wanted to include a box, so I got out my nice brown paper, and lightly sketched an open box.
 When I got it the way I liked, I outlined it with black sharpie.  I used a brand new sharpie (meaning, this is the first time I've used it, even though I got it months ago), which is why the lines are so thick.
After I outlined the box, I cut it out.
Observe: these are two different types of pens here.  The toppest is a black sharpie pen, which I used to outline the box, and the other, a really nice pen that I love which came from my neighbor's car (no, I did not steal it.  He let me have it).  It writes really nicely, and the stroke is nice and thin - the way I like it!  It does not have any indication anywhere on it though, that tells what the brand is or anything, so I guess I need to keep it extra safe so I can keep it foreveeer.






I have a few graph paper scraps on my desk, so I practiced writing the sentiment on one of those before finally getting it right.  Fun fact: I didn't know I was only practicing when I tried the first two times.  I thought I was going to get it perfect the first time, but no.  I didn't.  Oh well.  It happens.

The last time, when I at last became victorious, I decided to use the thin-stroke pen for the bottom part of he sentiment, and I'm happy to say it worked splendidly!  Before, I had used my sharpie for the top and bottom, but didn't like the thick lines that the sharpie made.  So I switched it out for the other, and this is what happened!
Now, for this last easy peasy step, gluing the sentiment and box to the card, I used my sticker maker instead of liquid glue, because liquid glue would make the paper warp, which I did not want.  It worked well for the graph paper, but for some reason the sticky stuff didn't adhere to the brown paper as well, though it wasn't too bad (I did end up using a teeny bit of glue on the section that the sticky stuff came off of).  Just something to keep in mind if you try it.







This is actually sort of a strange card...like, why would I send this to someone?  But I will, and I shall explain!
Do you find it ironic that perhaps boxed in is my style?  No, I certainly hope it's not.  It shouldn't be!  Creativity is about breaking those barriers, and that is what I aim to do!

How are YOU boxed in?  What do you do to break out of that box?  Do you think my card depicts well what it's like to break out of the box?

P.S.  Don't forget to stop by Rachel's duper cool blog and leave her a nice comment!

25 comments:

  1. This is so cool, Maggie! Thanks so much for participating!

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  2. WHAT YOU ARE SO CREATIVE AND THIS IS SO CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!
    I love this so much

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    1. AAAWWWW, thank you Olivia! I love clean and simple.

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  3. Your handwriting is so pretty!
    ~Katie

    http://concealedfoundation.com/

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    1. Thank you Katie! I really like my handwriting. :) But, this post didn't even show the way I usually write! I don't like to write in cursive usually, just when I need to for a card. And the non-cursive is just typography, not my real handwriting! But thank you anyway!

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    3. I nominated you for an award on my blog if your interested!😃

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    4. Whoa, thank you so much Katie! I checked it out, and will hopefully do it sometime, though I can't guarantee it will be soon. Thank you for nominating me!

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  4. UM YES I AGREE WITH KATIE. Your handwriting is so pretty. *insert weeping emojis* Seriously I wish my handwriting was better ugh ugh. BUT HEY SHARPIE PENNSSS. SHARPIE PENS MAKE THE WORLD GO ROUND. k? k. they do. x) LOVE THISSS.

    abbiee @ the music blog

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    1. Well thank you again! I guess it's because I'm an artist. :P Sometimes my handwriting is really bad though. Like, you should see it then. Then you might feel better about your own. And oh man, my handwriting when I was younger...that was bad. But I've worked to improve it, and I'm happy with the result! (Not that you can call that work.) YES SHARPIE PENS ARE GREAT. Seriously I use them ALL the time. EEP THANK YOU.

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  5. I love this idea! I totally understand feeling boxed in, especially when it comes to piles of school work and endless to-do's. Blogging is my gateway to feeling free. I also find it so ironic how you cut a cardboard box out of cardboard (if that makes sense...I love it!) Anyway, your blog has really inspired me. I post about DIY and creative things too, hehe.

    xx, https://misscaly.wordpress.com

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    1. Oh man, I knooow! School really gets on my nerves sometimes! I love blogging, but it actually is a little hard to keep up with sometimes, which is why this, my last post, was almost a month ago!

      Haha, yep. It's actually just paper, not cardboard, but yes, I wanted to make it look as close to a box as I could! I am SO happy to read that I've inspire you! It really means a lot! I found your blog a little while ago through SILVER MESS (oh! that's where this post came from!), and I love your crafty style! That's why I followed you on Pinterest! (Which I'm guessing is how you found me?) It's so fun to meet other crafty people, especially when they're into the same types of crafts! Have a great weekend Caly (should I call you Miss Caly?), and thank you so much for your comment!

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  6. YOU ARE SO ARTISTIC LIKE WUT.
    and that post you did a while back like that happy birthday card??? GOALS GIRL. you are an awesome artist, just saying. i can't really draw for anything ^_^
    haha, though, i do love making cards too. there's this family that i'm pretty close to, and they run a farm and have a produce stand that sell their produce and meat at, and anyways, a couple years back i tried making cards and selling it there. *ahem* OK yeah, that went rather interesting. so, the stand is closed on sundays, and one sunday, they come home from church, and there's this customer, who's walking out to her car with something rather suspicious in her hand. Turns out, it was my cards. UGH ACK WHAT LIKE AGHHHHH

    haha, anyways, yeah, life. :)) awesome post!

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    1. Aww, you're so sweet Autumn! Seriously, this comment is great. My family is really artistic so I guess I take it for granted sometimes. But yeah, I just LOVE ART SO MUCH. It is my life. I mean, ots of things are my life, haha!
      That's so cool! It's such a nice feeling when people like what you made, isn't it?

      Thank you for you comment, Autumn! It makes me happy. :) And happy Easter!

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  7. I am so late in commenting on this that it's not funny! However, better late than never right? :)
    I love this card! Super simple AND super cute! And I agree with Katie, you have very nice handwriting. It looks like it could be a font! :)

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    1. That's okay Lydia! I agree - better late than never! But who's really the late one here? I haven't written a post in literally a month!
      I like how simple and cute it is too! And thanks! I do like my handwriting, and many people ave complimented me on it, but no one has said before that it looks like it could be a font! That's exciting since fonts are so interesting to me!

      Thank you for your comment Lydia, no matter the lateness! :)

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  8. I just read pieces of your 'gay marriage' post. I am pro-life and against homosexuality-THANK YOU SO MUCH for sharing this-people need to see what the Bible actually says :D :D :D I appreciate you sharing that so, so much when so many people won't stand up. *applause*
    By the way, I'm a total fan of red hair, yours is so pretty!
    -Mic

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    1. Oh Michaila! Yet another person who has said that they agree with me! I've gotten many, and it never gets old! It is so good to know that there are others out there that care about the truth and spreading it. Thank YOU!

      Thank you also for the compliment on my red hair! I like it too. :)

      Thank you so much for commenting Michaila!

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  9. I'm commenting again--and also giving you an award again! I thought I would try and do it properly this time. :D Besides that, you haven't posted in a quite a while so I thought I might give you some incentive.

    If you want to do the tag here's the link!
    http://createdbythecreated.blogspot.com/2016/04/australians-pizza-and-quirks-liebster.html

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    1. Aah, Lydia! I seriously wish we could meet. You're one of my loyalest followers, and you are so nice! Another award? Hmm! I will definitely tuck it away as a draft to do sometimes. I would love to do it soon, buuut...I really don't like or want to to do so many un-artsy posts in without artsy posts to balance them out. You know what I mean? I have at least 3 tags/nominations I COULD do now, but I don't want to just yet, for the afore mentioned reason. Haha, I"ve got the incentive, for sure, though! Thanks! And thanks for nominating me!

      P.S. Don't tell, but I'm publishing a post tomorrow! Yay! Though it may not really count as a "real" post or whatever. You'll know what I mean when you read it...

      Thanks for commenting Lydia! It means a lot!

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  10. This is so pretty!!!! I love the little box

    //Hannah
    Furiouseverafters.blogspot.com

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