The Creative Cap

“Kismet” Chorus Member!

ashleyfaus — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 00:49:54 +0000

Well, after a monologue, song AND dance audition, I am proud to join the chorus of Lyric’s presentation of the Arabian musical “Kismet”. This show features romance, trickery, and the madness that ensues when those two themes are joined! I am almost finished with the first week of rehearsal, and it’s been pretty intense. Unlike traditional Western music, the music of Arabia features dissonant harmonies, half steps, and 8+ voice parts and soloists. We’ll be creating the sounds of an Indian Bazaar as seemingly random people come in on random notes for random amounts of time! This particular song switches between keys and time signatures every measure…. a bit intimidating for our pianist, to say the least. I’m very excited to really learn the music and start staging, and I’m VERY interested to see what we have in store for the dance portion of the musical.

I’ll have more updates, I’m sure, but for now, I’m gearing up for “another opnin’ of another show”!

The Christmas Mouse

ashleyfaus — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:37:45 +0000

I planned to take a break after “Cinderella”, but Santa Clara Players invited me back to audition for The Storyteller in this original children’s show by Michael Antonucci. This role is very similar to the one I played in “The Fisherman and His Wife”, and I was pretty excited to receive the part. The cast is a really strong group of actors, and we have a lot of fun at rehearsals.

“The Christmas Mouse” tells the story of Christmas Mouse and the Robinson family. After Mrs. Robinson finishes her entry for the gingerbread house competition, Christmas Mouse helps himself to the roof, walls, windows, and a giant tummy ache. His parents scold him and tell him that the Mouse family must move out of the house due to his appalling appetite. Fortunately, Christmas Mouse repairs the house, and Mrs. Robinson wins the gingerbread competition. The show is full of cute children’s songs by composer Linda Arnold, audience interaction, and of course, mischief I really enjoyed my role, and it’s always a fun growing experience to work with an audience full of kids!

When Less is More

ashleyfaus — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:36:05 +0000

I’ve been in a card-making mood lately, so I had to post some of my latest creations. These cards are super simple, but they turned out super sweet! Sometimes, less is more, so let’s celebrate the simplicity of these cards.

I made this as a “Thank You” card for our coreographer during “Cinderella”. The shoe sticker was left over from a pack of wedding stickers, and it was the perfect color for this card base. I put the shoe on dimensionals to give it some depth, and simply stamped the words onto white cardstock. I think the sentiment encompasses the show and the coreographer’s role in making it all come together. So, “If the slipper fits!”

This card was made for the director of the show. The inside says that she made the magic happen. I wanted some easy “magic”, so I used an oval cut-out to showcase the silver sparkly letters on the inside of the card. I added the paper flowers to dress it up a little, but the peek-a-boo feature is so fun.

This sentiment was too perfect to pass up for the stage manager in “Cinderella”. It reads, “There can only be one Queen, and I’m it!” I used some circles and embellishments to add a little punch to the front of the card, but I wanted to let it speak for itself

I love fancy cards, but sometimes it’s nice to make a simple, catchy card. These are incredibly easy to make, so “normal” people don’t feel so intimidated by them. Do you have any “less is more” cards to share? Let me know!

Mosaic Madness

ashleyfaus — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 03:49:58 +0000

Well, after much procrastination, and no further ado, I give you…. The Mosaic! Now, let’s discuss this little jewel, shall we? I have been promising pictures of this project on Twitter for about 3 weeks, so I have to build it up. My sister moved into her college dorm room, and I felt that it needed a touch of sisterly creativity I happened upon a similar project while browsing online, and decided to scale it down into a cute framed work of art.

I bought 1″ cubes from Michael’s, and used several different paper packs to create designs on each side. I used a 1″ punch to create uniform paper squares to be glued onto the cubes. I chose simple designs that would work if they were broken into several pieces. I did run into one problem, and I’m not quite sure how it occurred or how to fix it next time. After leaving the paper to dry for a few hours, it started to buble up. I’m not sure if the glue was unevenly distributed or the temperature changed, but several bubbles appeared. Unfortunately, this makes some of the designs mis-aligned, so I need to find a way to deal with this issue.

I tried to make a side for each season, including everyday fun! Please enjoy some photos of this multi-sided project

This “Happy Birthday” has slotted squares on the bottom. I stamped alphabet letters to spell my sister’s name and her roommate’s name. The letters can be inserted into the squares on the bottom so that it will wish a happy birthday to each girl!

Happy Halloween, Happy Thanksgiving, and Merry Christmas to add a festive touch!

Fun pendants to brighten the room!

You can see the bubble effect in some of the photos, so please let me know if you have a solution!

The Everyday Scrapper Contributor

ashleyfaus — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 03:33:34 +0000

I’m excited to report that I am now a contributor for The Everyday Scrapper! I will be doing featured cards and projects 2 Thursdays each month, and I’ll be posting links here as well. The ladies do such fun work, so I’m excited to join the team. Also, they’ve recently started a Twitter feed. Please check them out @EverdayScrap! My tri-shutter card “Thinking of You” was posted about a week ago.

Another Op’nin’ of Another Show!

ashleyfaus — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 01:26:33 +0000

Well, my apologies for an extended absence, but I we just opened “Cinderella”! Opening weekend was a great success, with full houses on Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon. We had a bunch of little girls attend, all dressed up in their princess outfits, so that was cute. Also, we’re supporting “The Princess Project” by encouraging attendees to bring a prom dress to donate to this charity. We should be able to give about 100 dresses by the end of the show!

I only had one mishap on opening night…. and it wasn’t THAT bad. I am holding a tray with fake pastries on it, and I end up on the front edge of the stage. During the announcement that the Prince is giving a ball, I am trying to get another girl on stage to pay attention to the announcement. Somehow, my pastry tray goes flying into the orchestra pit, with fake buns scattering as it bounced off the stage. The music director said it nearly killed the viola section…. so, yes, I will never live that one down at Lyric. However, I only used that prop in the first scene, and the buns were collected by intermission, so it all worked out What can you expect with live theatre?

I’m so excited to continue the performances this weekend, and I insist that you join me if you are in the Bay Area!

Another Tri-Shutter

ashleyfaus — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:54:32 +0000

Can I just say how much I really enjoy this card? It’s really fun to design, make, and send, so I decided to send one to my Mom. I didn’t want to post it until after she had received it, so behold, Tri-Shutter, take #2! I was at Michael’s and saw this huge pad of paper on sale for about $11, so I decided that I had to have it. It’s Slab XI from Provo Craft, with lots of fun patterns in blue, green, pink, purple, brown and yellow. They are deeper shades, and less true to an actual blue, pink, etc., but it’s really nice looking paper. I saw it and decided that I had to use it in a Tri-Shutter card for my Mom, and she loved it So much, in fact, that she sat down with the tutorial from an earlier post to create one herself. She’ll be in town for my birthday, and I’m definitely planning some craft time for us! Also, embellishments on this card are from Recollections.

Sympathy Card by Mom

ashleyfaus — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:32:46 +0000

Here’s another sweet card made by my creative Mom! She used the Stampin’ Up! products to make this sympathy card. I always have trouble making these, so any ideas are always appreciated!

I’m gonna put on my dancin’ shoes!

ashleyfaus — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 06:39:43 +0000

I’ve been doing a lot of dancing at rehearsal recently! “Cinderella” has several town scenes and ballroom scenes that require some ballet, Govatte, and Waltz steps, so I’ve had to pull out my old character shoes and rehearsal skirt. However, I think my skills are a bit misleading. I know how to move my body, and I have a strong sense of rhythm… but learning and performing coreography can be a bit of a challenge for me. Especially since I haven’t danced in a long time. However, I feel like with enough practice, I will be able to do well! The Govatte is a new dance for me, but it’s basically really formal and really boring by design. We’re all having some trouble keeping straight faces as we march about the stage! Tonight was a 3 hour rehearsal for the Govatte, and we were all a little brain-dead by the end.

If you’re in the Bay Area, I HIGHLY recommend coming to see the show! We’re partnering with “The Princess Project” to help donate prom dresses and accessories, so you get a good show and a good cause in one fell swoop!

Tri-Shutter Card

ashleyfaus — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:01:12 +0000

I found this card tutorial (complete with video!) on the Fun and Fresh blog. I immediately fell in love with it, and decided I had to find an occasion to make one… easy enough, since it’s wedding season! I also wanted to use a 40% off receipt coupon from Michael’s, so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to get some fun new items. It turns out that Michael’s was (and probably still is) having a sale on brads, paper and stickers! So, as usual, I bought more than I intended. I decided to use some of new paper from Provo Craft, new ribbon by Premium ribbon, and flower/brad embellishments from Recollections. I used the Cocoa pen from Creative Memories for the sentiment and dot detail. Once you get the hang of it, this card is really simple to make. It’s sure to impress and offers a ton of possibilities!