The falling snow has turned to sleet and rain here in NJ.  I have been working on my cards today for my swap with the gals in Maine.  Our theme for this project was "things that have wings but don't breathe."  I thought that was a really great idea.  Things such as airplanes, helicopters, hot air balloons, zeplins---all of these would fit the bill for the assigned theme. The "wings" part of the project goes right along with my Brave Girls Art Club Class called "Wings 2" where we are making birds and butterflies.  I was very eager to tackle this assignment!

I found a set of stamps from Inkadinkadoo that had hot air balloons, etc.  It is called "Inspirational Lift" and is number "60-30379."  The decorative background paper I used is by Stampin' Up, and it is called "Welcome Neighbor Designer Series" Paper Pad.  This paper is really adorable and it has houses, clouds, and trees on it.  In keeping with ideas presented in my art class, I added some doodles to this card which I do not usually do.  I used a white Signo pigment ink pen from Stampin' Up for the doodling.  I wasn't going to doodle on the background paper but my hand slipped and left a big white blob on the orange decorative paper.  I had to make the blob into something beautiful so I tried doodling.  We are learning in our Wings 2 class that there are no mistakes in art.  Just cover it over with something else and keep working!  :)  I added some glitter to the clouds and parts of the balloon.  I used some brads from Stampin' Up to outline the borders.  I tried different color brads but liked the dark blue ones because they added some heft to the card.

I am not sure if I would doodle on the cards again.  It was fun for an experiment, but the pigment ink does not always flow out of the pen evenly which leaves some empty spots.  Once I started to try to color in these spots, the doodles became uneven.  Then, there was the process of making the lines appear more even, with more or less success.  Generally less. When my stamping friend Mary makes a mistake, she would call it an "Amish" card.   The Amish quilters believe that only God is perfect so therefore, they will put a mistake in every quilt they make.  Thank God for the Amish!  I hope you will enjoy my "Amish" card while you think of some wonderful friend who always cheers you up!