It's not that I haven't been creating...

it's just that I haven't been creating as much, and when I am creating, well, I want to create!
One of my absolute favorite things to do to keep my creative mojo working is to visit estate sales, antique stores, etc. to spark my excitement. Somehow, old well loved things really get my thoughts rolling. Of course I never seem to catch up with all of the ideas, but visiting a cool shop or sale is almost exactly like opening a new box of crayons...so inspiring...so full of potential!
So I have to show you something I picked up that really set me on a burst of creativity. Here it is!


I can't tell you how much this ribbon made me do a little dance when I found it. I drooled over the retro silver squiggle and well, for heaven's sake it's pink! So this beauty (yes I have a half-full roll of it. Yippee!) has spurred me to work on a special mini book. I really had no theme, plan, or end result in mind. But, boy, have I been playing and it's been messy! You can tell how messy by the state of the paper I taped to my work table in the ribbon pic...that was the cleanest spot! Here's a sneak peak of the inside of my little project.


I would totally be lost without gel medium. Here's another peak.


I am not ready to show more...it definitely isn't finished yet. Somehow I'll just know when it's right. If you haven't ever played with paint, vintage things, gel medium, or gesso...what are you waiting for?
I initially started this project thinking it could be a class for our upcoming Scrap for Survival fundraiser for the Young Survival Coalition. (Check our our crop blog for more information.) Unfortunately, the ideas just kept coming and this became way bigger than one class. But I'm still hoping it might lead me to some manageable, vintage messy project everyone can have fun with. In fact, it will most likely involve these little treasures:


Don't you just LOVE them? They're milk bottle caps...a whole tube full, in fact! This was a sweet bonanza at a recent estate sale. Seriously, these babies are HOT in the scrapping/crafting world right now. I have to come up with a way to share the fun with everyone who comes to the crop. Hmmmm...I just love the tube printing that reads "National Caps are Tops!" They sure are!