Happy Birthday Charlotte

Howdy, and welcome.  I've been a bit busy.  I have three parties in the planning: an afternoon Friendship Tea in just over a week,  a Dinner @ my house in 3 weeks, and a huge surprise birthday party for 100 guests in August.  So, if I say, that I feel that I am being pulled in a hundred directions, that's true!  Between invites, floor plans, menus, and party favors, my head feels like its swimming and I'm not making any ground.  Oh, and 4 birthday parties for grandchildren.  Whew!  I'm still working full time, taking care of a husband an ex-large dog (159#), cleaning house, cooking dinner every night, laundry, taking call at the hospital, oh yeah, working out at the gym and running.  Prioritizing tasks have now become my homework for the next day.  The cupcakes and cake I made for a friends daughter's wedding over the past weekend were a hit!  So much so, I have a new customer who would like to place an order for a party in July!  Yahoo!  All this hard work is paying off!

But don't fret, I am still here, making beautiful things out of paper!  You know me, a die hard crafter.  {smile}

A special girl friend is having a birthday today, so I decided to make her a card.  (It was mailed yesterday, so it should arrive in her mailbox today!)  I don't care what marketing says, hand made sweetness that arrives in your snail-mail, mail-box is happy mail!  And I still believe that folks LOVE it!

I stopped my a few different favorite challenge sites and decided to play along with the super talented ladies over @ Retro Sketches, with their sketch challenge.  Typically, these ladies do CAS (Clean And Simple) cards, and so my style typically doesn't go with their themes.  But today, I hope I have nailed it.  Maybe it's because I didn't have 2hours to make a card, or maybe I just wanted to do something a bit different.  Anyways, my card isn't my typical shabby chic, vintage-style, extra layers and embellishments.  But, I still like it {smile}!

here is what I made:

Recipe:  I used a Crisp Cantaloupe (retired) card stock by Stampin' Up! for the base.  I love the softer color version of Calypso Coral.  The pattern paper is Charlotte by Close To My Heart.  I love the colors and the different patterns.  It was very easy to work with.  And that's a huge plus in my book.

The black pattern paper is cut to fit the front of the card (4" x 5 1/4").  I simply cut a white floral pattern paper 3" x 5 1/4" and adhered it right on top of the black pattern paper.  I used my Tasteful Trims die (retired) from Stampin' Up! to cut the rick rack piece of silver glitter paper by Stampin' Up!.  I adhered the rick rack to the left side of the card.   For the scallop shaped piece at the top, I used the Tasteful Trims die to cut that piece as well, from a creamy taupe pattern paper.  I adhered that piece to the top, and wrapped some grey seam binding around the top piece.  I tied the seam binding into a simple bow.  

For my sentiment piece, I stamped the greeting in basic black classic ink, onto a scrap piece of shimmer white card stock, all my Stampin' Up! and matted it with a scrap piece of Crisp Cantaloupe card stock.  I cut this piece the same measurements as the floral pattern paper.  It is tucked under the rick rack.  I thought it looked more 'finished' that way.

I did sew my trio of buttons to the card front.  The black button is retired from Stampin' Up!.  The coral color button is from Amuse Studios.  And finally, the grey button is from an old paper collection by My Mind's Eye.

My card didn't look 'done' to me, so I added a flair button to the top of the card, just under the bow.  Its a light grayish blue flourish pattern, that I thought looked very similar to the over all look of the card.  

Well, I hope my friend loves her card.  And I hope you have been inspired to play along with this current sketch challenge.  I'm off to work my day job.  Have a great day, and make something beautiful for someone, even if that someone is YOU!

Love: card-gfit box

If this is your first visit for this day (04/12/2015) Welcome!  I have an earlier post (today) that kinda helps explain my crafting.  If you stop by that post you can read my rantings here.  Now, lets get started with this post! {smile}

I created a few of these little gems.  I call them 'card gift combo boxes'.  Here is why:  You open them like a book, but there is a box inside to hold a gift (3" x 5 1/4" x 3/4").  Super sweet, right!  So the inside flap of the 'book' holds your hand-written message, just like a card.  The ribbon holds the 'book' closed.  Pretty sweet.

I needed some direction for the cover, so I stopped by a favorite sketch challenge site:  Mojo Monday.  For 2 reasons; 1) there sketches are easy to work with, 2) the design team is very inspirational!  These ladies are very talented, so if you need to get those creative juices flowing, just take a sneak peak at their work.  

here is the current sketch:

and here is what I made:

Now, before you say a word, I know that this is not my typical vintage country chic style, per say.  Sometimes its good to change things up.  And, I have the whole collection of this pattern paper and embellishments.  And I need to start using what I have.  But, lets take a closer look!

Recipe:  I used Real Red card stock by Stampin' Up! for the base.  LOVE their card stock.  The blue solid card stock is Taken with Teal (retired) by Stampin' Up!, too.

The pattern papers are from the Heart Strings collection by CTMH.

The embellishments, oh my there are lots, and from everyone.  The teal blue brad at the spine is from MME, the Nostalgia collection.  The white doily is from Martha Stewart.  The red fabric blossom is from a big box craft store (J).  The teal blue heart stick pin is from a big box store (J).  The teal blue velvet ribbon is from Stampin' Up! (retired, probably 10yrs).  The blue polka dot paper blossom is from a big box store, dollar bin (M), I also added silver super fine glitter on the petals.  The super fine glitter is from Martha Stewart.  The ticket is actually a painted wood ticket, from the dollar bin, at a big box store (M).  I added the letters, they are rub-ons from a different big box store (HL). I painted some mod podge over the rub-ons to help seal them to the wooden ticket.  The heart is Heidi Swap, I used silver metallic ink on this resist chipboard piece.   

The sentiment is stamped in basic black classic ink right onto the text pattern paper, using the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set by Stampin' Up!.  I also used the fancy label punch to create the decorative piece.

The grosgrain ribbon to hold this little gem closed is Real Red ribbon (retired), by Stampin' Up!.
My little card-box combo was selected as a 'winner' @ Mojo Monday sketch challenge.

different view

This will be for sale at the Spring Craft Fair @ La Cueva High School, in Albuquerque, NM, on Saturday May 2, 2015.  If you are in the area, please stop by my booth.  I'd love to meet you,  and show you what I have crafted!