love u

Howdy!  I hope everyone had a fabulous holiday! and that you were able to share it with family & friends.  We did!  We had a wonderful Christmas.  My mom came into town, and as always it is wonderful to spend some time with her {smile}.  We got to spend sometime at our daughters house.  Her children are just so precious.   Anyways, one of my new years resolutions (typically every new years) is to spend less on crafting supplies, use what I have, and get my supplies in order.  So, before I head into my craft room to clean up the clutter of holiday crafting these past several months, I want to share a card I made this morning.

The wonderful ladies over @ Divas by Design have a final challenge: anything goes!  

And here is what I made:

I didn't purposefully set out to make a valentines card.  It just kinda happened.  So, lets get started with the recipe and a few close ups {smile}.

The card base is aqua mist card stock from Paper Trey Ink.  I just love the weight of their card stock - heavy, yet workable.

The matt is lagoon from stampin' up!.  I just love this new color.  The floral pattern paper is a digital paper I recently purchased.  Love the polka dots and the colors.    The middle panel is also a recent digital purchase, also.  I thought the blue 'love' piece matched the blue in the floral pattern paper.  i also loved the flowers on this piece.

I matted that piece onto a textured pool party card stock by Stampin' Up!.  

I did a little machine stitching.  I just love the look.  The top banner piece is actually a christmas pattern paper that I had a scrap of, so I just flagged the end.  I did a sloppy machine stitch.

I tied a blush button by Amuse Studios with a thin silver cord.  I added a white tag that I had laying around my crafting space.  I die cut the 'U' from silver glitter paper, by Stampin' Up!.  

I added a scrap piece of white lace trim piece I had left over from holiday card making.  I also added some pink pirouette seam binding, by Stampin' Up!. I tied the seam binding into a multi-loop bow, and added a vintage kraft button by PTI.  I hot glued a Melissa Frances key hole.  And I added a pink heart stick pin.  To finish off the card, I added several white faceted sequins.

All the edges of the different papers were sponged with crumb cake classic ink, by Stampin' Up!

Thank you for stopping by.  Now, I must head into my craft room, and clean up the mess I created from my crafting for the past holiday craft shows.  See ya soon!

Watercolor Wreath

~ photo heavy post ~

Howdy!  and welcome to my little piece of blog-land.  A place where I craft, cook, and share.  Ok, I share more crafts than baked goods here, but I do both!  (I post more food photos on Instagram.  Don't really know why, but I do.)

Anyways, I want to share with you a card I made.  It's a Christmas/Holiday card.  I know, you aren't really surprised, are you?  I wanted to try a technique I saw on Michelle Wooderson's blog: Mish Mash.  She calls it 'embossing + watercoloring'.  I think it's beautiful in a eclectic way.  It's basically emboss resist but instead of sponging color (ink) onto your paper, you use water colors.  Now, how gorgeous and fun does that sound?  So, I wanted to give it a try.  But first, I need a challenge to play along with.  So, I set out into the vast 'land' of the blog world and found TWO great challenges to play along with:  Just Us GirlS and Divas by Design .

So, the lovely ladies over @ JUGS, have a wonderful holiday theme challenge:  Wreaths!  Oh boy! right up my alley!  Here is there inspiration board:

For those of you who have not been to the JUGS site, they have changed their challenges.  So, this week, it is a word challenge.  I love the different format they have adopted.  It keeps their site fresh and new!  So, join them this week.  Make something with a wreath.  Have fun.  Craft.  and share!

The wonderful ladies over @ Divas by Design, have a fun and easy challenge: anything goes.  So, craft something that makes your heart happy! and share it with us!

Ok, here is what I made!

Recipe:  I used Aqua Mist cardstock for the card base.  I used the pattern papers from the Library Ledger paper pack, by Paper Trey Ink.  I used the Tasteful Trims die by Stampin' Up! to cut the scallop trim.  I did some machine stitching along the edges of the top panels.  I tied some gold bakers twine from Stampin' Up!, around the middle of the card.  I used a vintage button to add a little something to the bow.  (Aqua Mist button by Paper Trey Ink)

The ticket at the top is a digital download.  Love those little things: tickets and digital downloads. {smile}  The sentiment was hand stamped in Soft Suede classic ink by Stampin' Up!.  It paired very nicely with the rich chocolate browns in the ledger paper.

I stamped the wreath in versa mark ink onto the pattern paper.  I heat embossed antique gold embossing powder, for the wreath.  Love the subtle shine.  I used my aqua painter for the water coloring.  First, I just 'painted' plain water over the embossed areas.  It's like prepping your work surface.  This allows the paint to 'move' over the area.  For the 'paint' I used a few drops of the Pool Party classic re-inker by Stampin' Up!.  I dipped the tip of the brush into the 'color' and simply washed the embossed wreath with paint (aka: re-inker).  To add a little more depth, I splattered some more color onto the painted wreath.  I used crumb cake and pool party for the splattered colors.

I had some much fun making this card, I made some gift card holders with the same technique:

I had a lot of fun making these.  But as you can tell, once I start something it kinda becomes what I do.  And I want a variety of items at my craft fairs, so I stopped at 4 gift cards.  I don't want everything to look the same.  {smile}  Making these gift card holders really allows me to use my scraps in a fun, and festive way!  

Sidetone:  I had so much fun with this technique that I didn't (couldn't) stop to take a photo.  That's why these gift card holders are already packaged for sale.  Sorry for the glare of the clear bag.

Thank you for looking.  I hope I have inspired you to create something new, and challenging!  Why not try emboss resist but with watercolors!