Interactive and Beautiful

Howdy!  Well, this year has started just as busy as last year ended.  I was so hoping this year, I'd have a better grip on my time.  And, as you can tell by the tardiness of this post, that hasn't happened yet. {:( }

I am the hostess over @ Our Creative Corner this week.  (super excited about that).  And well, I have known for a  l o n g  time what I wanted to do.  I already had the papers picked out, and the template laying on my craft table.  And well, life got in the way, so I had to push that project aside and tackle some other pressing matters.  But, I stuck in there, and finished it early this morning.

So, the challenge for this week over @ OCC, is super easy and hopefully you have a grand time crafting!   "I thought it would be fun to start off the new year with a gorgeous paper craft item, made with some pretty colors!  The challenge this week, is to use 2 specific colors and a specific object.   The main colors to use for your paper craft item (3-D item, a scrapbook page, a card, a tag, etc.) must be aqua and pink - and any shade will do!  All neutral colors are welcome: white, cream, brown, black, and grey.  And you must include a flower, any kind of flower.  The flower can be hand-made, a stamp, a picture, a digital download, an accent, etc."

To help get you inspired, I created an 'Inspiration Board' that has some very pretty photos in it, with Aqua and Pink, and flowers!

Inspiration Board:

(photos courtesy of Pinterest)

Here is what I created:

For this challenge, I decided to make a Card-Gift combo.  Well, that's what I call them.  They are a combination of a card and gift box.  So, the front of this contraption is the front of your 'card', but when you open it, you reveal the 'gift box'!  I just love making these!   

inside:

outside:

So, on this one, you slide the 'box bottom' out.  How super cute is that?   I have made one that had a flap at the top of the box, here.   This is how I did it:

I used Aqua Mist cardstock (Paper Trey Ink) as my base.  I just love this color.  The blue is cool, light, and easy to pair with.  I then put matts of Blush card stock (Amuse Studio) on all three sides.  I love this color of pink, because it is so soft in its color.  I used one of my all time pattern papers as the main panel, Blush (Lost & Found 2).  I then added a white cotton trim to a dark aqua polka dot pattern paper to the bottom third of the front.  The pink checkered piece is the back side of the floral piece.  I also matted the pink checkered with Blush cardstock.  

The white doily is actually a stamp: Gossamer Lace (Stampin' Up!).  I stamped this image in Versa Mark ink, onto a piece of Latte cardstock (Amuse Studio).  I used ultra detail white glacier embossing powder and heat set the image.  I used my detail scissors and cut it out.  

The 'Cherish' piece is a stamp: Cherish the Moment (Close To My Heart).  I stamped  this image in basic black classic ink (Stampin' Up!), onto a piece of very vanilla card stock (Stampin' Up!) and then hand-cut this piece out.  I matted it onto a scrap piece of Aqua Mist cardstock.  

I added little pieces here and there.  I added 2 trios of faux pearls at opposite corners.   I tied and added a multi-loop bow with Pool Party seam binding (Stampin' Up!).  I added a soft pink paper blossom.  I die-cut a tiny tag (Paper Trey Ink) from very vanilla card stock, and hand-stamped the 'for you' at an angle.  I used a heart-shaped pearl brad (Reflections) to hold the tiny tag to the front of this little cutie.  Finally, I added a round glass 'gem' (Jolee's Boutique) to the bottom right corner of my 'cherish' piece.

I used a Spellbinders die to cut the 'window' out of the box holder.  The 'positive' piece it used as my 'note' area.  I added a scrap piece of the same floral pattern paper to the bottom.  I used my Lots of Tags die (Stampin' Up!) to cut the label piece.  I hand-stamped the simple sentiment from a 'Winter' stamp set (Close To My Heart) in Soft Suede classic ink (Stampin' Up!).  I added a little heart cut from the main floral pattern paper.  I used some First Edition DSP (Stampin' Up!) and a vintage white button (Paper Trey Ink) to create the 'button flower'.

These little 'Card-Gift' Combo's are actually very fun to create.  I purchased a template for this creation @ Creations by AR.

I hope you have been inspired by our design team, and you get a chance to sit down and create something pretty using Aqua, Pink, and a flower!  I hope you join us @ OCC.  

Happy Crafting!  hugs, Sharon W.