Let the Sunshine In

Hello friends!  I've had such fun getting together with family this past week.  My brother and his wife have been staying with us.  Days have been filled with dinners, shopping, the new Harry Potter movie, visiting with family ... it's been just wonderful.  Shirley is a fabulous fabric and clay sculpture artist.  Her pieces are fun, whimsical, and make me smile.  Plus she has just started her own shop on ETSY that you can see - HERE!

I know I'm late posting and am just getting in under the wire.  The City Crafter Challenge Blog has an exciting event planned this week.  As usual, the Design Team has once again "out done themselves" and not only is the image gorgeous, but the prize is to be a guest designer on their blog!  Can you image that?!?!  Here's the beauty of their inspiration ...

I started with So Saffron card stock and layered on print paper from my scrap drawer in shades of yellows and orange.  Along the top is another print cut with the Scallop Edge Border Punch.  It brings a bit of interest to an otherwise simple shaped card.  The chipboard board frame (thank you Stella!) and the tag heart were painted with acrylics in shades of burnt orange and red.  Bits of lace made a bed for my handmade flower to rest.  I used the 5 Petal Flower Punch and the Fancy Flower Punch to create the petal shapes - dampened and crinkled each layer then stacked them ... adding a pearl bead on top.  A touch of Dazzling Diamonds Glitter makes this bloom even more special and creates my "shimmery sun".  The sentiment is stamped in Chocolate Chip Classic Ink and is from the Happy Greetings stamp set.

The bow is seam binding dyed with So Saffron Classic Ink and embellished with an adorable orange button from the Designer Buttons Brights Collection along with Cherry Cobbler Bakers Twine.  The tag is stamped with Chocolate Chip ink and a cheery "hello" from Pennant Parade.  Very Vanilla card stock edged with the Scallop Trim Border Punch made my little tag more interesting.

Thank you for stopping by ... it's always a pleasure to see you here!

Thinking of Spring ....

 

Hello again.  I bet you didn't expect me back so soon but I have so much to catch up on!

Dear, sweet, and oh so wonderful Kirsty sent me a package of gorgeous papers!  What a kind soul she is .... I am blessed to call her my friend.  Filled with the softest of colors and the most beautiful floral prints ... they make me smile and have me thinking of spring.

The dot and small pink flower print are from my scraps.  The deliciously gorgeous flower print is from Kirsty ... isn't it wonderful?  I'm in love...sigh.  The rub-on is the perfect message and the Basic Pearl Jewels add to the vintage look.  I dyed some seam binding with water colored with drops from a Certainly Celery re-inker then added a Pretty-In-Pink corduroy button (still available in a variety of colors in our Clearance Rack.)

The flower is hand-made with a small 5 petal die and cardstock scraps.  Slightly dampening each layer will make curling the petals upward around the center easier.  I added a soft pink acrylic paint on edges and "glitterfied" it with Dazzling Diamonds.  More patterned paper scraps along with our Scallop Punch and our Beautiful Wings Embossed Die creates a lovely layered embellishment.

Thanks for stopping by ...


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Pink and Purple goodness ...

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Hello friends.  I have a busy schedule packed with lots of fun so I hope you don't mind a quick post today!  The skies are overcast so my project photo's are a bit darker than normal.

If you haven't seen our new catalog you are missing out on a treat!  You can email me or visit my website to get a copy for yourself (see my links on the left sidebar).  We can start shopping these yummy products beginning July 1st and I am so excited!  Today's card features a couple products I was able to pre-order.

The ladies at The City Crafter came up with the lovely color combination of pink and purple for their challenge this week.  Isn't this photo gorgeous?  And to put a cherry on top they added the need for pearls too!  I couldn't resist.

Printed or patterned ribbon was the theme at Your Next Stamp.  Isn't the the BEST name for a blog?  I used my hand dyed pink seam binding.  It's so easy to make and you can custom color it to any shade.  I love it!  My sketch came from Friday Sketchers.  I haven't made a square card in weeks and was looking forward to the challenge..thanks for inspiring me!  Here's my project ...

I used Elegant Eggplant and Pretty in Pink as my color combination.  The pattern papers are from the Razzleberry Lemonade collection.  Delicious!  Don't miss this paper - it's retiring on June 30th!  I used it for my vertical stripes and to cover my chipboard bird ... you can tell that's a bird, can't you?  The wonderful newspaper print is from our upcoming catalog - only a couple more days!  The greeting and hydrangea flower is too.  JOY!  The courdroy button is Pretty in Pink and tied on with white string.  I sewed stacked crepe paper together for the top.  It holds they layers together and makes punching an edge with my Scallop Punch easier.  See the sweet little pearls?  They are from our Pretties Kit and I used Glue Dots to adhere them.

My thanks to all the challenge blogs that inspired me to create!  I hope you enjoyed your visit today.


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Day Two - Klompenstampers Blog Hop

Good Evening!  I know I am posting the night before the day I'm suppose to (does that make sense?).  I am so excited to be participating in the Hop that I just can't help myself!  I just have to post early!  And ... since it is so late in the day here in Michigan I figure no one will see this post until tomorrow anyway.  (The fact that this reaches different time zones around the world goes un-noticed.  LOL.)

Here's my second posting to share with you!  I just recieved my Stampin' Up Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die and I had to play with it.  Doesn't it make beautiful butterflies?  The die actually cuts four gorgeous winged friends and I used two on this project.  The papers are from  ... yep, you guessed it - Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper.  You can order a package for yourself on my website, just click on the link to the left.  It's filled with gorgeous papers and colors.  On this card I used Pretty In Pink cardstock and ribbon.  Update:  I did put an extra length of ribbon folded over on itself on top of the ribbon befreo i tied it.  That makes the ribbon look fuller.   And it makes four "tails" instead of two.  Notice the Whisper White card stock border?  That was created with the cutest Pinking Hearts Border punch (along with the DSP this is also in the Occassions Mini Catalog).  The polka dot leaves are from our Extra Large Two-Step Bird punch. 

The gorgeous circular filagree (LOVE IT) is from our Vintage Labels set.  I got that set FREE through our Sale-A-Bration event.  WOOT!  I punched it out with our Scallop Circle Punch.  I also punched out three more scalloped circles to create the "flower" from scraps of DSP.  A button sewn in the center holds them together.  I just LOVE making these flowers.  You can add more layers to make them "poofier" (that's a word, right?) or you can use a few layers to make them less poofy.  Like I did here!  I didn't want my flower to detract from the butterflies!  To see a poofy flower ... click here!  My sewing machine was used to stitch around the outside of the card front.  And I've included a couple detailed photographs which I hope will show your some of beauty of this paper collection. 

Thanks for visiting today and please stop by tomorrow.  You can leave me a comment below if you'd like.  Now it's time to see what Edna has created for you to enjoy!  Click here for Edna's Blog!

Ah, Vintage!

I think I understand "vintage" a bit better now.  Soft pinks, blues, a host of buttons and pearls, some taffeta  ribbon, and voila ... Vintage!  This time I stayed on task and didn't stray.  I hope you like it!

I used up some retired background paper on this project.  The checked blue/white is from ... well, honestly I'm not sure.  I had a sheet of it laying around and it just seemed right for this card.  The pinks are from our Sweet Pea collection.  The herringbone pattern was trimmed top and bottom with our Scallop Punch.  You would think with as many times as I use the Sweet Pea collection it's a wonder I have any left.  I guess the package is bigger than I thought - which is a good thing since it's so gorgeous!

The stamped squares are actually a combination of two stamps.  I used a solid square inked it up in River Rock (remember that color?) and before I stamped it on the Whisper White cardstock I stamped some of the ink off on scrap paper.  That gave me a square that was one shade lighter than true River Rock.  I then inked up a leaf stamp in Old Olive and stamped it on top of the River Rock square.  Taking scissors, I cut the square out and used our Corner Rounder on all four corners.  If you don't have a solid square stamp - the square with the flowers in our For All You Do stamp set would be a perfect substitute.  I've included the images in that set here ....

The rest of the card was created using River Rock and Very Vanilla cardstock.  Buttons were threaded with pink floss and mounted with Dimensionals.  The half pearl is from our Pretties Kit and was adhered with a Glue Dot.  The ribbon is Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon.  Greetings are from Trendy Trees and God's Blessings which were stamped in Old Olive ink.
I'm sure you recognize our Butterfly Punch!

Thanks for visiting and if you have a moment leave me a comment to let me know what you think of today's project!