MONDRIAN WANNABE

Did you, by any chance, miss me?

Normally I write and publish my blog posts for Paper Seedlings on Tuesdays and Saturdays without exception. Unless, of course, something occurs to prevent me from doing it.

Well, Tuesday morning I woke up to the dreaded blue screen on my computer. Oh no!! I tried everything that was recommended on the screen, such as diagnosing the problem, then fixing it automatically. I tried this and all that involved four times. Isn't that what they say the definition of insanity is? Doing the same thing over and over (and over), hoping for different results? Well, I proved that was true. I even restarted, rebooted (is that the same?), turned it off, unplugged it, everything my little nontechnical peabrain could think of. With no happy results whatsoever. I'd always been under the impression that the BLUE SCREEN is the KISS OF DEATH for a PC.

With that in mind, I ended up ordering a new computer, with my husband's blessing. When my husband came home from work (and I'd talked to him several times that day and he never mentioned this), and I had just completed the transaction for my new laptop, he mentioned that there was a guy in the next city that is supposed to be good at fixing computers. What?? Why didn't you mention that earlier? And what about the Kiss of Death?

So, I placed a call to this guy and explained my Blue Screen. He informed me that it isn't always the Kiss of Death and he'd look at it. Long story short, he was able to revive my three-year-old HP laptop. He told me I'd gotten a bad update. Huh? I thought updates were supposed to be improvements, not to make things worse. Anyway, I have my computer back and a new one slated to be delivered on Monday.

I'd had a card ready for my Tuesday blog post, but without a computer, it had to be pushed back until the Saturday post (my computer arrived back home yesterday). So, a few days late, here we go.

What do you think of the cool paper on the easel below?

This paper is part of the second release for the freebies from Sale-A-Bration. The Specialty Designer Series Paper is called Flowering Foils, and it is simply lovely. I'd shown you another card I made from this pack of DSP in this blog post, which is conveniently entitled Flowering Foils. 

I cut a portion of the above paper and took my Stampin' Blends to it. And, did I have a wonderful time! 

As I was busy coloring the paper, I had the thought that it sort of resembled the work of Piet Mondrian, a Dutch artist who worked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Considered one of the great artists of the 20th century, his work is fun to look at.

Below is a copy of Broadway Boogie Woogie, painted towards the end of Mondrian's life. If you're interested in checking out a little more about him and view more of his work, you can do that here. 

Are you reminded of his work at all when looking at how I treated this DSP?

When I took the photos for this post, the weather outside was crummy, and, no matter what I do, that crumminess is always portrayed in my photos. Very frustrating. 

I tried, unsuccessfully, to capture the beauty of the metallic foils on the paper. In the photo below, you can see a bit of the rose gold in the lines.

For my card, I used the following Stampin' Blends: Dark Calypso Coral, Dark Daffodil Delight, Dark Mint Macaron and Light Pretty Peacock.

The large label I used for my Smile sentiment is a die from the Stitched So Sweetly Dies, found on page 20 of the Mini Catalog. This set of dies is wonderful, so varied. I sincerely hope they show up in the new Annual Catalog. 

I colored in the word "smile" with the Light Pretty Peacock Stampin' Blend. 

To try to bring the composition together, I stamped some fluffy little things from a past Paper Pumpkin kit in matching colors, as well as adding a wider strip of Pretty Peacock cardstock topped by a thinner strip of Daffodil Delight cardstock.

This is a card that I don't plan to send to anyone for any occasion. I am going to add it to my growing collection of inspirational cards that I have in my computer room. Little reminders.

Sale-A-Bration ends in just three short days. This Specialty Designer Series Paper, Flowering Foils, is still available for free with a $50 purchase! Hurry!

Wannabe

Smiles.