Contest entry

 So what are all these bits of paper for?  There's a Provocraft monthly challenge that ends April 30.  The challenge is to use 3 items, & a minimum of 3 cricut cuts.  There is a chance to win a Cricut Cake Mini machine, a Martha Stewart All Occasions Cartridge, or $50 credit on cricut.com.  I had Baby Bug cricut machine already plugged in ready to go, so I used it.  

 So I had these pretty shimmering Recollections brand scraps of paper and some security envelopes. An old Elmers glue stick, really old, it was gross & stringy, sticky but not dried up yet. A 6x12 cricut mat that I wrecked with a low heat iron trying to flatten out the curling edges whilst sandwiched between parchment paper.  Considering I only wrecked two & flattened five, that was a successful experiment.  I reused a really old piece of patterned paper as the base, smeared it with glue & used the old mat to catch over-gluing.  I tore up the strips of paper & covered that old paper.  Once it was covered I trimmed it square again.

I used my gypsy to weld the letters for the words "reduce, repurpose, recycle" from the "Elegant Cakes" cartridge font.  That green was 2 sided paper so I tore it in half & cut them out once from each side.  The security envelopes became those vertical bumpy vine details in the background, from "Accent Essentials" cartridge.   The security envelopes caused the blade to skip a little so be prepared for that if you try it.  I really hope that using all these things counts towards the challenge criteria.  I had the idea to use security envelopes for awhile now from Julie Fei Fan Balzer's blog, she knows how to play with her supplies & push her learning boundaries.  I really like her lesson to not be afraid to mess things up, wreck them & just get in there & try something.  Gluing the scraps onto ugly paper was an idea I read about making your own paper from scraps from a recent artist magazine, "Cloth Paper Scissors." 

The pictures are proof of my mini gardening last spring.  I sprouted tomatoes & various flowers in a plastic clamshell that came with some asian pears.  There's some other plastic containers being reused there.  Incidentally I reused my old yucky teflon pans to keep the mess off the carpet.  No more non-stick ovenware for me.  They only last 3 years & then they're landfill when the finish comes off since I refuse to cook with them with peeling finish.  I don't care if they're cheaper, I won't spend any more money that way.  Learning to be  environmentally conscious is all about making better choices.  Did you know that if non-stick ovenware is overheated they are known to release gasses that are toxic to cage birds!  Kinda reminds me of the old time minors keeping a live bird in the mines, if the bird died, everyone had to get out in a hurry or they were next.  

The tomatoes were transplanted to eggshells that I saved & dyed after the Easter eggs were dyed, less dye for the sewer system.  Tomatoes are reputed to need lots of calcuim to grow.  They were really pretty Mothers day gifts & neighbor gifts.  The ones I kept got black spots on the leaves, but my friends yielded some tomatoes.  The pictures really don't do them justice, but my home printer was running out of ink & I used what I had, so they're kinda grey looking.  They do stand out against the background & are complemented by the security papers.  I love it when things tie together the way I had intended. 

 Lastly I didn't like how the layout was sort-of floating on the paper.  I used a black sharpie marker to skim around the photos, then to rough scratch lines to box them in more, and around the entire layout as well. I figured there is still bits of black peeking through the scrap papers so why not tie it together.  The layout is composed with "the rule of thirds," three elements clustered together. I think it works even though there is four bubble vines and one heart in the middle.

I'll let you know if I win anything.

 I couldn't find the third picture to show the difference in colours but you get the idea.

May 2 came & went, no prize won.  Oh well, I had fun making it!