We’re right in the middle of the month. Not quite to the middle of the year. I (May) am right in the middle of a creative space re-do! Are you stuck in the middle of creative chaos? I suppose what we’re in the middle of will vary greatly, but I’m still inspired by the idea of being in the middle. Whether you craft something where your focal point is in the middle, you journal about what you’re in the middle of, or perhaps select a stamp or sticker from the middle of the set this week we’re all about being in the middle of things!

Suzz decided to focus on a spotlight in the middle on her card.

I decided that most designs on my card have a focal point that is in the middle. My design this week starts from a focal point place slightly off center and I continued my design from the middle flowing outward. The Stampers Anonymous 2015 garden flowers haven’t left my desk since they arrived and were the perfect choice for my tag. I accented with a few tiny bees from the Time to Flourish set.

These crazy birds were made the centre of attention on Emma’s fun card.

I love, love, LOVE these Crazy Bird stamps from Tim Holtz and wanted to create a fun card using 3 of the images which I stamped onto watercolor card using the masking technique. I coloured each of the birds with Distress Marker Pens and then added a background using the Rays Layering Stencil. As a finishing touch, I stamped and die cut the cute little hat from the Simon Says Stamp Make A Splash stamp and die set, so that the bird in the centre would stand out in the middle of the crowd!

Ashli is putting home front and center this week…

I am loving little doodled houses lately. So, this week, I decided to put them front and center on this mixed media collage! I used lots of my favorite mixed media supplies, including… Gelatos, Watercolors, and NeoColor Crayons. And a finishing touch of some “home sweet home” words complete this whimsical piece!

Sandra knew immediately which stamp she wanted to use for this challenge.

This big Botanical Sketch stamp came directly to mind as soon as I heard about this challenge! I think it’s a gorgeous stamp and is so versatile. I rarely use White Embossing Powder with such a graphic stamp. I thought it would be perfect for a soft look. I colored the stamp in with lots of Distress Markers and a Water Brush.

Anna-Karin has many new cute photos and made a layout this week.

A grid design is always fun to do and especially so if you have new Tim Holtz idea-ology papers and embellishments to play with. The background paper was toned down with some gesso. Tim’s new Pocket Cards are perfect for a grid layout, and even though they are meant for pocket style projects, that doesn’t mean you have to only use them for that. My page was embellished with die cut hearts, stamping, die cut words and ephemera pieces.

Mona created lots of texture right in the middle of her card.

I recently added the fun Waves stencil to my collection which made for the perfect background right across the middle of my card. I created an underwater scene featuring a die cut mini seahorse and sand dollar. I completed the card with additional texture and interest using the Bubble stencil.

Meihsia used her new stamp in the middle of her art journal page.

I loved this Tim Holtz 2015 Fashion Stamp model and had to put her in the middle of the at journal page as her stage. Her wings were stamped with Prima Flowers Butterfly Wings. There were many flowers stamped using Simon Says Stamp Artful Flowers clear stamps and Clearsnap ColorBox Fluid Chalk Ink Pad.

Michelle stepped away from the middle by trying different compositions.

Here I tried to not use the middle. With the Tag Hole Reinforcer, I can place the hole wherever I please. I placed the focal image off-center too. The mixed media Planted Succulent was created with Prismacolor Colored Pencils as well as inks and old book pages to create a tag that’s off-centered, but not off-putting.

Andrea paid homage to some of the TV shows she enjoys, such as The Middle.

When I feel like vegging out, there’s nothing I enjoy more than an entertaining TV show. Some of my favorites have been Leverage, The Middle, and Food Network challenges. I wanted to create a board with a space for funny TV quotes that I could switch in and out. The TV die from My Favorite Things worked as the perfect frame and I used two paper collections that I adore: Kaiser’s Kaleidoscope and Prima’s Epiphany.

For more inspiration click on our design team’s blog links so you can see more photos (and full supply lists) for their projects. Leave them a little comment love while you’re there so they know how they’ve inspired you too, if you’re so inclined.

As always, Simon Says Stamp is giving away a $50 gift voucher that will go to a random entry chosen by random generator. To qualify all you need to do is create a new project that ties in (in any way!) with our theme and post it, along with a link back to this challenge, and add a link here. This challenge will end at 11:59pm on Sunday April 12th Eastern time. We will also be choosing some of our entries to put in the spotlight – a special honor where we talk about why we loved that entry in particular and award a special badge too! For the full rules, read the “challenge rules” posted in the side-bar here on our blog.

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