My Friend Sue

I have a friend, her name is Sue F.  Our husbands work together.  (You know how that is.)  We live in different states, but we see each other  4-5 times a year.  Our husbands talk on the phone at least once a week.  And we have gotten together on quite a few different occassions.  And through our joint meetings, we (Sue and I) have become pretty good friends.  She is a very nice person.  I know that I am blessed to have her in my life.  Since we don't live close,  we text more than we talk on the phone.

Anyways, I saw this small trinket the other day that made me think of her.  And we are going to visit them this weekend, so I just had to pick it up.  And well, I'm a paper crafter, so I decorated the box and made her a card.  Her are some photos:

I wrapped the box with a 2" wide strip of pattern paper.  I added some bakers twine.  The flower is from a faux floral stem.  I tied the button with the same bakers twine and added it to the center of the flower.  I stamped the vintage tag with 'friends' and attached it to the box with a tiny clothes pin.  To give the clothes pin some visual interest, I dabbed on some paint and dipped it in some glitter.  Quick, easy, and looks pretty fabulous!

The card was created with pattern paper from the same line.  The scallop trim was created with two of the pattern papers and a die.  I added some of my favorite crochet trim to the cardstock scallops.  I used a steel template to create the small notebook page.  I hand stamped the sentiment.  I wrapped the same bakers twine around the bottom of the 'page' and tied on a small brown button.  The tiny tag was stamped with the same 'friends' sentiment and adhered under the button.  I created the corsage pin with a rhinestone ring and a glass bead.  I stuck the pin behind a fabric flower.

I don't have an envelope template, so I'm not quite sure how to 'line' my envelopes, so I added some pattern paper to the outside of the envelope flap.  Thank you for looking.  I hope my friend Sue likes her little gift.

Sweet Birthday

We are celebrating one of my 'sister's birthday on Tuesday!  I can't wait!  There are 6 of us, and we all are the bestest friends!  We all get together as often as we can, and we ALWAYS have the greatest time!  We meet for dinner, and laugh, and eat, and talk, and laugh!  We are not blood related, but you wouldn't be able to tell by how much we get along; like sisters!  So, this month we are getting together for Ronda's birthday.  Ronda's favorite paper crafting company is Basic Grey.  

Her hand-made card

Ronda, loves shabby chic, and girlie.  So, this is what I made her.  I loved creating this card.  I found this wonderful sketch on the Waltzing Mouse challenge blog.  I don't own any of their stamps, so I didn't enter this card into their challenge.  But, I just loved the sketch.  I made the white flower out of clay.  I purchased a mold from a store @ Etsy: MoldMuse.  I used a white polymer clay that has sparkles in it.  How pretty, huh?  It was fun and super easy to make.  I added a small scallop sticker trim to the brown panel.  I found a lone faux half-pearl swirl in my bling drawer, and it worked sooo well, I attached it.  

The fabric and paper flowers were purchased.  I thought the colors really worked with the colors in the card.  The trim is both crochet and seam binding.  The multi-loop bow I made myself.  That sparkley button, is out of my million dollar stash.  (I call it that, because they are $11 for 2 buttons.) Yikes, right? But, Ronda is a 'sister', and she's worth it!  I attached that pricey button with my hot glue gun.
The the 'Happy Birthday', I used one of my ALL time favorite Stampin' Up! stamp sets: Vintage Labels.  I love the swirls!  I hope that she does too!

I added a corsage pin, as a last touch.  I have these clear crystal corsage pins, so I added a small pink button and a cream pearl.  I keep the whole decorative pieces in place with my hot glue gun!  I love that thing.  The oval HB tag is attached with foam tape.  So, I stuck the corsage pin thru the foam.
Thank you for stopping by today.  I hope that you have seen something that inspires you to create your own pretty paper craft item!  I haven't quite decided if I'm going to make a matching 'bag' or not.  So, check back before Wednesday, to see what I've decided.  And don't forget, Wednesday, is another Blog-iversary Question!

Congrats Friend

Well, I have certainly made my paper-crafting dollar stretch today!  I made a card for a dear friend, and it qualifies to be entered into not one, not two, but THREE challenges!  Yahoo!

I met this super lady thru a friend, while paper crafting.  Her name is Dorian.  She is the kindest person you could know.  Anyways, she has this boyfriend that she has been with, for a awhile.  And on Sunday, he asked her to marry him!  How exciting is that?  Well, since she is such a wonderful person I HAD to make her a wonderful card!  But lately my mojo has needed a little push to get going.  So, I went to the internet to find to inspiration.  And I did!

Mona, over @ Cupcake's Creations had a delightful color challenge, #29: light plum, plum, and kraft  (and their inspiration board has a wedding theme!).  The folks over @ Card Patterns has a super user-friendly sketch challenge this week, #116.  And the creative folks over @ {Lawn}scaping have a polka-dot challenge, #10.  Ok, now I have my focus.  Lets create!  

And so I did.  Here is my card: 

the sponsers:

Ok, so about the card.  I used Crumb Cake card stock as the base.  I had two purple scraps from a paper that is easily 6/+ yrs old, and so I don't know the name of the paper or company.  So, I added those to the card.  I cut one scrap with my largest scallop circle die and then cut it in half to the create the half-moon top and bottom.  I had just enough scrap crochet trim to wrap around the bottom third of the card.  I used Crumb Cake and Crumb Cake DSP to create the fancy shaped piece in the center.  I trimmed off the border of the polka dot piece and added some dimensional foam tape to 'lift' it off the solid piece.  I found this wonderful purple texture scrap and cut a butterfly out of it.  I sponged the edges, spritz with some home-made shimmer paint and added some gold ink to the edges.  I had two purple paper daisys that I stacked for the floral center.  I added some different beads from my 'jar o' beads' to a corsage stick pin.  I put a glue dot just under the last bead and tied some thin sheer ribbon around the pin and put it behind the paper daisy.  For the cameo, this was the fun part.  I made it!  Isn't it the greatest!  I bought some polymer clay from one of the big box craft stores, and a mold from MoldMuse.  (Its a virtual shop on Etsy).  Molded the clay and baked it.  Used my handy-dandy glue gun to attach it to the paper daisy and viola!  For my sentiment, I stamped 'Congratulations' in Perfect Plum classic ink onto a scrap of Very Vanilla cardstock and cut out the banner shape.  I edged that piece with some gold ink, as well.  I added three faux half-pearls to the bottom of the greeting, just to give it a little 'class'.

So, my card is now off to the mail box, to be sent to my dear friend Dorian.  I hope she likes it.  And I hope you enjoyed getting a sneak peak!  I encourage you to stop by the different challenge blogs and post your creation.  You never know, you could have an honorable mention, or be in the top three picks,  or be the winner! You'll be amazed how big your smile becomes when you see your card and name posted!  Happy paper-crafting!

Vintage Valentine

St. Valentine's Day, is my favorite holiday. I love everything about it! I'm a romantic, what can I say? I wanted to make a 'pretty' card to celebrate this event, and this is what I came up with. I used products from everyone, so if you have a questions about a specific product, please post in comments, and I will get that information to you. I wanted a card, that looked and felt 'romantic', vintage, unique. The main image on my card, is actually a label. And yes, its from the most romantic city in the world: Paris, France! I added little touches to give this card some punch. I threaded some beads onto my corsage pin, and tucked it in the flower, and added a half-pearl to the flower center. I adhered some glass glitter on a heart shape to give the card some sparkle. I tied a key onto a button with some linen thread, for a rustic look. I added some crochet trim to a scrap piece of pattern paper, that I used an eyelet border punch on, to help soften the card. All pieces were sponged with a light tan ink, to give everything a distressed look.

Thank you for looking! Let me know what's your favorite holiday.