Guest Designer

Now, for the most exciting news:  I am the Guest Designer @ Word Art Wednesday!  How super fabulous is that?  I know I am blessed to have this opportunity to share my paper crafting with all of you, and I hope I don't disappoint you!   My crafting style is vintage, shabby-chic, with a little country flair thrown in.  Let me explain.  Vintage, because I like everything to look worn, used, old, but not grungey.  Think peeling paint, scruff marks, weathered.  Shabby-chic, because I like to add buttons, seam binding, machine stitching, pinks, blues (or any soft hue), and a splash of elegance/bling.  Country flair, because I like 'farmland' imagery: milk caps, chicken wire, vintage scales, mason jars, burlap, chickens (birds), and some recycled items.  I hope that makes my 'style' a little easier to understand/translate. {smile}

The lovely, and super talented ladies over @ Word Art Wednesday, have an Anything Goes - Family Friendly challenge for you to participate in.  The challenge runs for two weeks, to help give you time to play along.  They provide you with a piece of scripture that you are welcome to include in your paper craft, but it is NOT required.  The design team has a wonderful collection of different style of crafters, so I am sure at least one of these creative ladies will inspire you to play along!

Here is the current challenge scripture:

and here is what I made:

Recipe:  I used vintage cream card stock as my card base.  I just love this heavy weight card stock.  It's thick, so it will stand up, even with all my layers and embellishments {smile}.

I used pattern paper from Prima Marketing.  It's not holiday themed paper, but this paper is easy to work with!  

I added a paper doily peaking out of the bottom of the top layer.  Then added some machine stitching.  

I wrapped some pale pink seam binding around the card front and tied a multi-loop bow.  I then tied a pink button to the center of the bow.  I also added a trio of sweet buttons along the bottom left corner.

I printed the scripture onto very vanilla card stock and adhered it over the seam binding.

I cut out a snowflake using champagne glitter paper.  I tucked it in under the sentiment piece.  I then stamped some pine braces using light grey and light pink ink.  I added glitter to the paper blossom, and then adhered it over the pine branches and snowflake.  To give my card a bit more sparkle, I added some sequins around the blossom.

Thank you for stopping by!  I hope you visit again! 

My Planner

Howdy, and good morning.  One of my new years resolutions, is to be more organized.  Can someone be 'more' organized? or is it simply 'organized'?  Well, I feel that I am pretty organized, per say.  But, I  also believe that there is always room for improvement.  So, I am working on being 'more' organized.  And to help me conquer this task, I purchased a planner to keep everything together at my finger tips.  {smile}

If you do a search for 'planner' on the internet, you will be bombarded with images, tutorials, and various manufacturers products.  A lot of eye candy!  So, during the last week of December, I headed to a local craft store, and picked up a few items.  And I finally did a little bit of crafting, and decorated the cover of my planner, and the inside cover of my planner.  {smile}

My planner is striped in a rose gold metallic and cream.  I really liked how these two colors looked together.  I started with a paper lace doily from Stampin' Up!.  I layered a scrap piece of cream and gold metallic lace, towards the bottom of the doily.  Then I added a piece of pink polka dot washi tape.  I purchased that big beautiful fabric blossom in the clearance isle of a craft store.  So, I hot glued the blossom, to the cover.  I die cut two leaf pieces and my initials from a scrap piece of glitter paper, that is pretty similar in 'gold' color on the cover.  I adhered the two leaf pieces to the upper left of the blossom, and adhered my initials to the right of the blossom.   I adhered the rose gold and rhinestone charm just under the blossom.  And the final touch was adding a trio of blush sequins, and a trio of flat-back 'pearls'.

I am pretty happy with how the cover is decorated.  I didn't want too much on the cover, as I use my planner daily.  It's kind of a ritual now a days.  I open it, and look at my various sections each morning, while I am drinking my coffee.  It helps me stay on track for projects, and I get to review my calendar, and make notes of different items of interest.  I am truly loving this whole process! {smile}  I also wanted to make a few additions for my planner, and to make the inside just as pretty!

I trimmed a Project Life card and re-rounded the corners to this beautiful metallic card:  'By being YOURSELF you put something WONDERFUL into the world that was not there before'.  I think all of us need reminders how special each of us are.  And that we should celebrate not being carbon copies of each other.  

I made 4 different but equally beautiful 'clips'.  I took large paper clips and simply added things I love!  Three are made out of paper, and one is another beautiful blossom.  {smile}  The sign, coffee cup, and mason jar are made from paper.  I added a little foam adhesive between the front and back piece of heavy card stock.  And hot glued the paper clip in place.  For the blossom, I simple tied a double bow to the paper clip and hot glued the pink paper blossom to the bow.  I backed it with a scrap piece of pink felt.  I added some small gold accent post-its, and two magnetic closures: a tiffany blue flag, and a gold metallic diamond shape.  I printed a calendar year onto heavy card stock and slipped that in the large pocket.  So, I can see the whole year in one view.  I also made a few notes for each month.  That is where I jot down large projects.  

Well, thank you for looking, and spending a little time with me, to see what I have been doing.  I hope you are still on track with your new years resolution(s), too.  Changing how you do things, and creating 'good' habits are hard.  It does take work, and discipline.  But, I know that I am happy with the changes I have made this year.  I am still exercising 3 times a week.  Running 2 days a week.  Making better, healthier choices of food.  And having time on my calendar to craft, really takes the stress away.  I don't fret about deadlines anymore, and I can get so many more things done in the day.  It makes me believe that my stress is reduced, which is good for my heart, and my family. {smile}  And I continue to work on my 'problem' areas each day.  So there are strides there.  And feeling like I am in control of those areas, is empowering!  Have a great day!

Frame This

Howdy.  I've been busy with everything in life, except creating.  {frown}  and I simply couldn't take anymore days without paper, fabric, or bling.   I purchased some frames a few months ago, and decided I needed to get busy creating something sweet, something pretty, and something shabby!  A spoiler alert, these are not done.  {frown}  But, it is a start!

here is what I have been up to:

The top two white frames are not for anyone specific, or any specific occasion.  Just something pretty.  {smile}  The bottom gold frame is for someone special!  I will take more photos when I am done.  I just wanted to share some photos of what i have been working on.  Now, I haven't completed decided on painting or not painting the white frames.  The creative process wasn't stopped!

Enjoy your day!

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!

Cream & Gold Fabric Strip Banner

Howdy!  I'm having a lot of fun, and excited to share with you another fabric strip banner.  This one is a little more elegant.  I used all neutral colors: cream, vanilla, white, beige, taupe, brown, and gold.
I also used a variety of textures: linen, cotton, satin, sequin, and chiffons.

The particulars:  I used five different, but beautifully coordinated fabrics: taupe polka dot, beige diamond pattern, gold foil polka dot, cream, and gold sequin fabric.  I just love how pretty and elegant these look together!  This hand-tied fabric strip banner is 4feet wide.  There is 18 inches of twine at each end to make it easy to secure this banner.  The strips measure approximately 10 inches long.
So, I added some pretty trims {smile}.  I added a brown natural cotton wired ribbon.  I just love the texture that it adds.  I also added three different but beautiful laces: antique gold, cream floral, and white lace.  For the ribbons, I added two different satin ribbons: beige and vanilla striped.  I also added gold sequin trim and white rosette trim.  I love how the stripes and polka dots work so well together.  {smile}

Use this hand-made, homespun banner to dress-up a window, a headboard, a wall, or crib, etc.  You can also use this decorative piece to decorate your next party!  Hang this banner at the edge of a cake/gift table, use as a backdrop for the cake table, or photo booth!  Let the pinks and purples add that special girl-y touch to your next birthday party/tea!
This banner has been added to my Etsy shop, HERE.  This beautifully hand-tied fabric banner is ready to ship, but if it doesn't sell soon, you can see it in person at this year's Trash to Treasure Trunk Show @ Nativo Lodge in Albuquerque, NM on Jan 23, 2016.

Just a Note, Invite

Howdy!  I have been busy creating stuff for another party, next month.  I am hosting a Bunco night with my Bunco Ladies.  We each take a turn hosting, so no one person becomes overwhelmed, and we each get an opportunity to add our own spin on it.

I am sending our reminder cards for June, and need a sketch to get my creative juices flowing.  I stopped by Scrap Africa.  Here is their current sketch:

Now, how awesome is this sketch?  So many fun elements!  I got started right away!

I need to craft 14 invites.  One of the ladies in our group will not be able to attend, so she needs a sub.  I always mail a reminder card to everyone in the group and any subs we need.  That way, no one is left out.  {smile}  Yeah, even to the ladies who I already know can't make it.  It is always wonderful to receive 'happy mail'!
This particular card is going in the mail, to a wonderful lady, and friend.  {smile}

I didn't have enough pattern paper on hand to create so many same cards.  So, I went digital!  The main panel, the tag, the ticket(s) and the focal circle are all digital patten papers I purchased from Etsy.  The cards are all a mish mash of various colors and patterns.

11 cards

Recipe:  For the card base, I used kraft card stock from a big box store - HL.  The main panels are from various digital pattern papers (3 different collections, all together).
I added two different cream laces, and machine stitched them to the main panel.  Then I began layering.  I created the 'tags' from digital bookmarks.  I simply cut them down and mitered the top corners.  I strung some scrap pieces of seam binding through the top hole.  For this one card I did tie on a vintage button with kraft twine to the seam binding from the 'tag'.
I fussy cut some digital tickets, and sponged the edges.  Some tickets were layered over the 'tags' and some under.
The tea themed circles, originally, were digital 2 1/2" circles.  But I don't have a circle punch that big, so I printed them at 70%, which created the 1 3/4" circles.  I sponged the edges of them also, and adhered them to the front of the card with foam tape.
The paper blossoms are from the dollar bin at a different big box store - M.
And finally, the sentiment.  I stamped the sentiment, 'Just a note' onto the bottoms of the cards with Versa Mark ink, and used antique gold embossing powder.  I heat embossed all the cards with the same sentiment in the same color.  {smile}
I just need to add the reminder card to the inside, and they are ready to mail.  I wanted to keep them as flat as possible, so the postage would be more reasonable.
Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have been inspired, and you should stop by the Scrap Africa challenge blog, and see what these talented ladies have created!