Sent With Love

Hello friends.  I spent some time yesterday with my new goodies - it's such fun to sneak away and play.  I'm loving the Washi Tape and completely understand what the excitement is all about!  In different colors, patterns, and what could be easier to apply?!  A tin of crystal buttons have sat on my shelf for ages ... I was very happy to discover them "again".  I also added a doily, paint and glitter for the chipboard shapes, a sweet little flocked flower and pearl plus my usual dyed seam binding bow, decorative pins, and message tag.  I don't think I'll ever tire of that "shabby" feel.

Lots of new embellishments in our latest catalog.  There's a link on the left if you want to take a peek!

Thanks for letting me share today!

It's been too long ...

It feels good to be back!  I've missed you all so much.  Our sharing of ideas, loving and kind words, and inspiration for living life.  Not just talk about our common love of paper crafts ... no, our friendship reaches beyond the talk of ribbon, buttons, and stamps.  I am touched by your emails of concern and am happy to say that all is well here.  Everyone is happy and healthy and I wish the same for you!

What better way to return to my studio than to "celebrate" with glitter, pins, buttons, and more?  I have a sweet July Holiday arrangement to share with you today.  Red, White, and Blue is so cheery ... layered with a paper doily, dyed seam binding, decorative pins and a star (or two) make for a festive greeting!  Do you have plans for the 4th of July?

Thanks for stopping by ... so happy to hear from you!

Crocheted Christmas

Don't you love this crocheted pattern?  It makes such a sweet little tree and the perfect size too.  I was also pretty excited to get my silver glimmer paper order from Stampin' Up this week.  You'll notice I've been playing with it a lot lately.  Paired up with the red glimmer paper ... it's twice as wonderful.  Also in my box of new toys was our mini button stamp set.  I've stamped them and then applied a light coat of spray adhesive and glitter.  Yep, another new love!  I promised a crocheted Christmas tree and here it is (along with a few other goodies) ...

If I don't get back here before Thursday, let me take this opportunity to wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving.  I am so blessed to have you all as my creative friends ... thank you for visiting!

Glittery Pink Crown ...

It's so nice to be blogging again.  I know I have so much to catch up on and I do apologize if it seems I've fallen off the edge of the earth.  I had to take a break for a while as life itself was overwhelming.  Too many things to do ... at home, with family, and at the office.  It's been a crazy month but I do believe I'm over the worst of the scheduling nightmares.  What a relief.

Here's a little something to share ... created for my good friend Sheryl  You can never go wrong with a glittery pink crown, right?

Thanks for stopping by!

Farm Fresh ....

   

Happy Saturday evening everyone!  We're having a "sleep-over" at our house tonight.  The boys are engrossed in a video game...their hands leaving the controls only long enough to grab some popcorn.  Can you hear the hootin' and hollerin'?  My sweet girl has her nose in a book ... reminds me of myself when I was her age - reading morning, noon, and night. 

It's been a long time since I've joined in on a Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World.  I still visit the blog daily ... Cath always keeps us up to date with the newest products.  And the featured artists are sooo talented - I make a point to stop in to see the wonderful works on their blogs.  The inspirational photos that Cath posts are beyond words ... she never fails to get our attention with fabulous colors, textures, and dimension.  This image is no exception.  Titled "Farm Fresh" ... a sheet of pure white with a splash of turquoise and a row of bright tangerine lined up like links of a chain.  It's fabulous, isn't it?!  Moxie Fab, actually!

Beginning with Very Vanilla cardstock, I layered an old world map print from the Newsprint collection with turquoise patterns from the scrap drawer.  The lace is held in place with a row of fun shades of orange taken from the Brights and Sweet Stitches button collections.  Some Natural Hemp Twine ties them together.  A fabulous rub-on is used for the sentiment....I couldn't say it better myself.

I dyed seam binding with  Tempting Turquoise ink for the bow.  Layered turquoise, white felt, and tangerine flowers help to embellish a crystal topped stick pin.  I added a little pearl too - can you see it peaking out from beneath the petals?

I enjoyed creating this for you today ... thank you Cath for the inspiration ... and thank you, my friends, for stopping by!

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Challenges ...

Good Sunday morning to you!  The sun is shining and it's going to be a very warm day for us here in Michigan.  Yesterday we visited one of our favorite nurseries.  My son selected Maltese Cross plants and they are the brightest orange flowers you have ever seen.  He loves them.  Since we were shopping for his garden, he gets to choose the plants.  I can tell you his space looks like a patchwork quilt ... and he couldn't be prouder.  It makes me smile.

I'll be busy creating cards over the next week to celebrate teachers.  They do so much for our children and our world.  Thankfully, there are only two male teachers for my children and I say that with the best of intentions ... I struggle with cards for men.  I tend to lean toward soft colors, flowers, and butterflies.  So one place I turn when in need of inspiration is Pile It On.  There you can find blog challenges listed by the day of the week.  By visiting the sites of many talented ladies, I was able to find a sketch, a theme, and a color combination.  Here is the card for my daughter's Algebra teacher.  Let me tell you what I did ...

Inspired by the gorgeous photograph on The Play Date Cafe , my colors are Lovely Lilac, Soft Suede, Certainly Celery, and Almost Amethyst.  It wouldn't be appropriate if I didn't have some numbers for this card and I found a scrap of some very old paper with a number pattern.  Since it's Algebra, "x and y" variables had to take center stage.  You can see more "numerical projects" on The Sisterhood of Scrap.  Isn't that the cutest name?  Tea Party and Patterns Designer Series Paper (in Certainly Celery and Almost Amethyst) brought in the greens and purples I needed.  My layout was provided by the ladies at Friday Sketchers.  Simple and not too fussy ... perfect for a man's gift.

Other thoughts and ideas came from Dutch Dare who challenged us all to use 2 papers, 3 colors, and 4 buttons.  Delightful Sketches and Easy Craft Project suggested texture and buttons.  The soft satin ribbon and the glittery letters (Violet Fine Cosmo Glitter on Lots of Letters chipboard) added texture and ... well, the buttons are self evident.

I hope that I've given you something to enjoy today.  I encourage you to take the time to visit the blog links I've provided above.  There are wonderful works of art to see and I'm sure they will inspire you too.  You can find many of my supplies on my website ... that link is on the sidebar.  Thanks so much for visiting.

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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!