Pretty Thank You: Card

Welcome.  I took an hour this morning to make a card for a very special friend.  She has been my rock when I needed it the most.  She is always available when I need her.  And always helps me see the bright side to life.  I really do love her, and I know I am truly blessed to have her in my life.

a sneak peak

I needed some inspiration and direction, so I went to a few of my favorite challenge sites:

I started @ Shabby Chic.  Because let's face it, that is my easiest style to craft {smile}.

Their challenge is two parts: include an apple(s) or/and use the required colors: soft pink, pale green and white.   Also, your craft must be in Chebbi or Provence style.  Easy for me!

I next stopped by I Love Scrap.  They have sketches that are so easy to work with, and the design team really can get your creative juices flowing with their creativity and clever use of embellishments {smile}.   

I always love the layers in the sketches, and the design team will sure to inspire you.  They have various styles of crafting, but all of them are beautiful!  You just might find a new blog to follow.  {smile}

And finally, I stopped by another creative challenge site:  Brown Sugar Challenge.  Their current challenge theme is: make the sentiment BIG!  I have noticed that several crafting companies have started creating large sentiment stamps and chipboard words.  This is your perfect opportunity to use those large sentiments.  

and here is what I created:

and a slightly different view:

the Recipe:  I used kraft card stock from Paper Trey Ink for the card base.  I love the weight of this card stock, and I really wanted a 'light' kraft color.  

The text matt is a pattern paper from Melissa Frances.  I love the dark grey text on white paper.  It's very beautiful!  The cream floral pattern paper, is from Tilda: Happiness is Homemade.  I used a thread cutter to distress the edges.  I also added some machine stitching along one corner (upper right corner).

I machine stitched a strip of this beautiful gold lace trim to the pale green tiny star pattern paper.  This is also from Happiness is Homemade.  I adhered this piece to the left side of the card.

For my large circle piece, I cut an embroidery hoop out of a thin wood sheet.  I sponged white ink on the edges to help give the hoop some dimension.  I adhered the same dark grey text pattern paper to the inside of the hoop.  I felt that the repeating of this pattern paper would tie the large matt into the over all look of the card.  [I thought that a different pattern paper would look too random and possible out of place.]

I tied a multi-loop bow out of a pale pink seam binding.  And tied a button to the bow, and tied the whole piece to the hoop with some kraft twine.  I made sure my twine had a double wide loop bow, too.

I added a trio of paper blossoms to the lower right of the embroidery hoop.  I selected pale, soft colors that matched the required colors of the Shabby Chic challenge.  I stuck a button stick pin into the floral cluster.

For my sentiment, I could find the right font, the right words, the right shape.  And then, I decided to use vellum as my 'paper', and use embossing powder as my 'ink'.  It sounds relatively simple, but I did stamp several different sentiments in various colored inks, on various shaped papers, before I thought of using vellum.  I selected gold embossing powder, because gold is the accent color on the lace trim.  I used the Hand Scripted stamp set by Amuse Studios, the sentiments are big and 'hand written' style.

I also added a scrap piece of gold washi tape to the bottom right corner on the inside of the card.  And yeah, I added some machine stitching, to tie it all together. {smile}

Thank you for looking.  I'll post some photos of my advent calendar tree soon.  It's super cute!

Love, Miss You Card

~ photo heavy post ~

This post is  l o n g  and has several images.  So, grab a latte, tea, or any other beverage of choice. {smile}  Lately, I have been surfing the internet.  Love the internet! and Pinterest!  With this 'free' time, I wanted to create something pretty.  Only because I don't feel so 'pretty' today {frown}.  Ugh.  So, let the crafting begin!  I stopped by a favorite sketch challenge site:  Mojo Monday: #382 - tall & skinny.  If you aren't a fan of 'tall & skinny', you are free to adapt the sketch to whatever length/width that fits your fancy*.

I also stopped by a favorite color challenge: Creative Color Challenge: #28 - photo inspiration

use pink, green, pattern papers and laces

And then, finally, I went to a challenge site I frequently visit: Craft Hoarders Challenge:  choose your challenge.  For this month's challenge, there is a grid of different crafting elements, and you are to select at least one option from the list in each category (coloring medium, fiber, technique, texture, and embellishments).

ok, so that you have an idea as what I need to craft, let's just get to it!  

Here is my card:

So. let me explain my card, and how it fits these challenges.   Let's start with the sketch - I turned it upside down!  How clever, right?  For my circle element, I used a large fabric blossom.  The green polka dot pattern piece is the 'grey' rectangle piece. The 'green' rectangle is actually a layered element.  I used a wide, silk ribbon.  Then sewn a piece of layered, ruffled tulle, and sewn a piece of crochet trim on top of the tulle.  And finally, the thin banner piece was created with two elements to create a line: the 'love' bulb, and the green seam binding bow.

The creative color - I used two pattern papers.  The largest pattern paper has pink blossoms, and pink stripes over a sheet of music.  The large blossom and large sequin are both pink.  The small, green pattern paper has green polka dots.  There is a green seam binding bow, and a pair of green sequins.   The lace portion, is a bit of a stretch.  I have a piece of layered, ruffled tulle, along with a piece of crochet trim.

And finally, the craft hoarders challenge -  the coloring medium: ink and paint.  The 'miss you' sentiment is stamped, and the edges of pattern papers are sponged.  I painted the edge of the pink button and white resin frame, with white paint before dunking them in glitter.  The fiber choice: twine, ribbon, and seam binding.  The twine was tied through the distressed button.  Pink silk ribbon, cram tulle, and crochet trim across the card front.  Green seam binding tied into a bow.  The technique I used was stamping.  I stamped the sentiment.  The texture I selected was distressing tool.  I distressed the edges of the pattern papers with a thread cutter.  The embellishments I selected were flower, button, and bling.  Bling was defined as glitter, pearls, and sequins.

Ok, now for the recipe:  Whew!  Never thought that we would get to this part!  The card base is blushing bride by Stampin' Up!.  Love their heavy weight card stock.  Just wonderful to work with.  The two pattern papers I used are both digital papers, and from the same collection.  I used a thread cutter to distress the edges, and sponged crumb cake classic ink.  I ran a simple stitch along the edges of the pattern papers.  I also did a little zig zag stitching to add some pizzazz!  

I wrapped a wide strip of pale pink silk ribbon around the card front.  I did some sewing to hold the layered, ruffled tulle to the silk ribbon, and then one more layer of sewing - the crochet trim on top of that!  I think it adds a sweet, soft, delicate, shabby chic-ness to the card {smile}.

For the blossom, it's a Prima pink, felt-like flower.  I painted the edges of the petals with glue and then sprinkled some fine gold glitter from Martha Stewart, onto the blossom.  I just love how pretty gold and pink are together!  I used my hot glue gun to adhere it to the card front.

I tucked in a Prima treasure 'love' light bulb.  I just adore these little treasures {smile}.  To give my blossom some foliage, I added a light green multi-loop bow, made with 'Ocean Front' colored seam binding.  I tucked in a white distressed, tiny pink button tied with cream twine, just below the seam binding bow.

I stamped my sentiment with baked brown sugar classic ink, from the Mixed Messages stamp set by Paper Trey Ink.  I adhered a tiny white resin frame, from Melissa Frances, around the sentiment piece.  I painted some glue on the edges of the tiny frame, and added more fine, gold glitter. I also tucked this piece in between the blossom and green bow.

To add a little bling, and continue with my shabby-chic look, I added two faux pearl swirls, and a pair of faux pearls at the bottom right corner.  And finally, I added a trio of sequins: a pair of small green sequins near the top right corner, and a lone large pink sequin above the bulb.  I thought these little touches help create a home-made, shabby chic card {smile}.

Whew! a lengthly write-up.  But, I like to give you info on what I used, so you have the information.    And as always, if you have any questions, please let me know {smile}.  Thank you so much for stopping by!  I sure do love the company.  I also hope that I have inspired you to participate in any or all of these challenges!  And remember, whatever you do, do it from the heart {love}.

Paper Gift Bag

This weekend had a very nice start!  I caught up with two of the most lovely ladies, to craft it up!  We get together a few different times of the year, and paper craft. We talk about what's going on in our lives, laugh, and truly enjoy each others company.  So, when The Hen House, hosted another stamp retreat this fall, we all signed up to attend, and requested to sit together.  

One of the paper crafting traditions, is to craft something for your table mates. Yes, there is such a term, and yes, that is what we are!  Since I have been making some holiday gift bags, I thought why not make a paper gift bag, to hold some treats for these ladies.  So, here is what I made!

I used paper that I already had on hand, and mix and matched different stamp companies.  The long text stamp is from Tim Holtz.  It says, 'imagination is more important than knowledge. for while knowledge defines all we already know and understand. imagination leads us to all we might yet discover and create.'   The initials and 'my friend' are from Stampin' Up!.  The tag at the top of the bag, 'just for you' is from Paper Trey Ink.  I adhered the same pattern paper to small clothes pins to help hold the bag closed.  The ribbons are from my stash, and the vintage buttons from Paper Trey Ink.

I hope this weekend finds time for you to do what you love!  And spend some time with those who are important to you. 

Well, I am off to bed.  I will share a photo of the cupcakes I need to finish tomorrow.  3 dozen white cake and 3 dozen chocolate cake, with a sweet cream filling, topped with a whipped pink butter cream frosting, and a light dusting of edible glitter.