To s t r e t c h and GROW!!!!!!

pink and green.......my two favorite colors! I thought this ATC should be a breeze.....NOT! I intantly had the basic idea I wanted to do for this ATC. It was cute. When it came time to do the background it just did not want to come together. I ended up with 4 different backgrounds, painted, patchworked, you name it, I tried it. At this point I needed to rethink my idea. I realized it was the cute part that I had planned out that was causing the hang ups, because it did not want to fit with the backgrounds that were not cute, or worse yet, because then it was sooooooo cute it was drippy and could have put a diabetic in a coma! The good thing is I played with dyes again! I decided to dye my own papers! Well, not everything turned out the way I wanted, but I knew I was heading in the right direction. I added texture to the paper by throwing salt on it straight out of the dye while the paper was soaking wet. I love what it does to the texture and the color! After I was done dying, I was off to Redlead to buy some really cool paper I had seen on my previous visit. I love the holes in the paper, the overall texture!

My favorite thing about doing the Pink and Green ATC is that I had a hard time with it! Sounds weird, huh? I do these swaps to push myself to stretch and grow. I love the challenge. I could have taken the easy way out and just thrown something together when I got frustrated, but I would not have been proud of it. I love coming up with an idea that excites me! An idea that excites me can make my day. An idea that I am proud of.....and that is what I ended up with. I have signed up for a couple of swaps that are not exactly my thing, but those will be the most exicting to work on!