Sweet Rose, Book

Welcome.  If you stopped by yesterday, then you know that I really enjoyed myself with the current sketch from Mojo Monday.  I layered strips of trim with strips of paper to create  'rectangle' shape.   And, I did it again!  This time I used only trim.  

The lovely ladies over @ the Shabby Tea Room have this great inspirational photo, to guide your creativity.  And I just love it!

This photo is very inspirational.  I just love the weathered wooden structure, and the bike.  It's so sweet.  The banner and flowers really add a softness.  So, I set out, back into my craft room I went, and crafted another piece.  {smile}

So, this sweet little piece isn't a card.  I altered a mini composition notebook.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  Because this item will most likely travel along with you, I kept the front cover as 'flat' as possible.  But you know me, I'm no good at CAS (clean and simple).  This is about as much as CAS as I get. (smile).

Recipe:  Well, like so many (ok, 95%) of my crafts, I started with the beautiful heavy weight card stock from Stampin' Up!.  This sweet, soft, grey-ish green, is actually called Moss.  It is a retired color from several years ago, and yeah, I still have a few large scraps!  Anyways, I used this color of card stock for the spine of the notebook, as well as the matt for my sentiment.

The worn wood, botanical pattern paper is from a new purchase, by Our Daily Bread, Shabby Rose.  The paper 'pad' is 6" x 6", so I only used two sheets.  Yahoo!  One sheet for the front and back covers and then another for the lining inside the covers. {smile}

I added three different lace trims to the right front cover.  The strips of lace I had on hand were a bit too long, so I did a fussy ruffle machine stitch to help shorten their lengths.  There is a cream lace trim on the bottom, then a white lace trim over that.  And finally, a thin cream crochet trim on top.  

I hand stitched a trio of pearls onto the lace.  Two at the top and one at the bottom of this lace strip.

For my sentiment, I stamped this definition 'original' in going gray classic ink (slate, is the new name for this color), by Stampin' Up!.  I stamped the sentiment onto very vanilla card stock.  I wanted some  softer than stark white.  I used my small scallop rectangle die to create the shape.  I matted in onto a scrap piece of moss card stock, and then onto rose red card stock.  I wanted a pop of color that is in the roses.

To help give my piece a rustic look, I did a simple criss cross stitch with cream twine at opposite corners of the sentiment piece.

Then to finish off my notebook, I added a pen nib.   But the metal pen nib looked to plain, so I tied on a multi-loop bow made from some strawberry bakers twine, and hot glued this piece to the front of the notebook.  [I used hot glue, to give this embellishment a bit more 'staying' power.]

I used some cream twill ribbon, to hold the notebook closed.  I think this textured ribbon helps give a rustic softness to the notebook.  And finally, I had to include a pen.  I had a scrap piece of a blue pattern paper laying on my craft table, that really 'matches' the blue in the main pattern paper.  So, I rolled up a piece and stuck it into the barrel of the pen.  Now, who ever carries this little notebook, along with them, will have a place to jot things down, and an instrument to do so.  {smile}

This little treasure will be for sale at this years Spring Craft Fair @ La Cueva High School, in Albuquerque, NM.  On the first Saturday in May, 2015.  Hope to see you there! 

Shabby Rose Birthday

Howdy, I hope this post find you well.  Me, yeah.  It really feels good to have less stress, less madness, less anger, less yucky stuff going on in my life.  Life is too short, to obsess over stupid, thoughtless, ignorant, and plain selfish people.  So, I have taken a vow, to choose happiness, choose love, choose friendship, and leave all that non-sense behind me.  I need laughter, love, companionship, and a place to express my creativity.  So here we are!  

I woke this morning around 3a with Mojo Monday's current layout rolling around in my mind.  I did resist the fierce urge to get up and creep into my craft room.  Instead, I went back to sleep, to give my body a change to rest, and to re charge.  And well, I bet you can guess what I did this morning!  Yeah, I headed into my craft room, and executed the 'idea' I had earlier this morning {smile}

If you haven't headed over to Mojo Monday this week, here is their current sketch.

here is what I created:

I have to admit, when I first saw this sketch, I didn't really like the circle piece so high from the banner piece.  But, after playing around with a few different arrangements, I'm embracing the height.

Recipe:  I started with Lagoon card stock by Stampin' Up!.  Love their heavy weight card stock.  The pattern papers (all three) are from a new collection I picked up a few weeks ago: Shabby Rose, by Our Daily Bread.  Love the soft colors, and the beautiful graphics.

I used my thread cutter to distress (rough -up) the edges of the pattern paper.  I sponged the edges with crumb cake classic ink, by Stampin' Up!.  I took two simple, polka dot-ish pattern papers, and torn thin strips.  Each strip is roughly 3/4" wide.  I also sponged the edges with crumb cake classic ink.

I had a short strip of this beautiful white cotton trim sitting on my craft table, so I add this wide strip first.  Then I layered the two pattern paper strips.  I added a short cream crochet trim, by Stampin' Up! and then a shorter strip of white crochet trim.  I did a zig zag stitch over the white crochet trim to hold all these layers together. {smile}  I hand stitched the pearls to the front panel.  I used brown thread, to give it some contrast.  But, now, I'm not too sure if I like the contrast.  I took an extra pink paper blossom sitting on my craft table and added some silver glitter to the edges.  Set the glitter with Aqua Net hair spray.  I used hot glue to add the pink paper blossom.  I really wanted to emphasize the pretty blue tone in the main panel, so I added an aqua blue multi-loop bow tied with seam binding.  I tucked the seam binding bow in under the paper blossom.

For my sentiment piece, it is actually an extra Birthday banner I created last week.  I originally wasn't sure what color I wanted this sentiment, so I stamped and heat embossed this sentiment in a few different colors.  {smile}.

And as always, this card remains blank on the inside.  That way, you can add your own hand-written message.   And this card is created for the craft fair coming soon!  May 2, @ La Cueva High School, in Albuquerque, NM.

I hope you have been inspired to play along with this challenge.  I'm sure you will create something wonderful! Have a great day!