Homemade Fancy Christmas

I had so much fun making my last gift bag, that I decided to continue working with the latest sketch from Mojo Monday.

I also stopped by the Merry Monday Christmas Challenge site.  Because let's face it, I'm working on Christmas crafts, so why not let them help inspire me to create something beautiful!

The folks over @ Merry Monday Christmas Challenge,  have a inspiration photo, and a color challenge: pink, green, and white.  I can do that!

here is what I made:

I rotated the sketch.  I also changed the circle element for another square element.  I used ribbon and trim for the long banner piece.  I did add a floral element but I tied on an ice skate!  I used a holiday image and sentiment.  Both of which are heat embossed with early espresso embossing powder, on shimmer white card stock.  

close-up

For the 'panels' I matted each of the pattern papers with kraft card stock.  I also added some machine stitching to these pieces.  I think this adds a homespun look and feel.  I used Happiness is Homemade pattern paper from Tilda.  The large pink blossom is a Melissa Frances item.  I used a light champagne shimmer textured card stock for the base of the bag.  

Thank you for looking.  I hope you have been inspired.  Now, I'm headed back into my craft room, to finish some jar toppers, desk top calendars, and some magnetic monograms.  Oh, and my trophy cups, and some altered salt shakers.  Whew, sounds like a lot, but once I get started, it moves along quickly.

Sew Sweet Treasure Tin

Howdy!  I finished another altered Altoid size tin.  I painted it with two contrasting colors of chalk paint: cotton (white) and mint (pale green).  I used pattern papers from Tilda: Happiness is Homemade.  I just love this collection.

I added some machine stitching and various beautiful embellishments.

This treasure tin, is for sale in my Etsy shop, HERE.  There are also a few more photos of just how beautiful this little tin is!  The tin measures approximate 3 3/4" x 2 1/4".

Thank you for looking.  Remember, if you see anything you love, but want something a bit different, just message me.  Let me know if you want a different color, or theme, and allow me the opportunity to create something unique and beautiful for you {smile}.  I do custom orders at my Etsy shop.  

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!

Kitten & Buttons Notebook

Howdy!  I had an urge to make a few more altered notebooks last night.  I don't know if it the fact that I had a few hours alone at home (aka: craft room) or that I got to work with a wonderful lady yesterday {smile}!  Either way, no matter the spark, I took advantage of the creative push!

I noticed that the wonderful ladies over @ Paper Ladybirds have a beautiful color challenge.  This challenge site is from Russia, but don't let that stop you!  This design team is very talented and inspirational!  Here is the color challenge board:

and here is what I made:

Beautiful, right?!  So, I selected papers from Tilda: Happiness is Homemade.  This pattern paper collection is just so gorgeous!  It reminds me of vintage wallpaper, and fabrics prints.  Just so calming, pretty, and very easy to use!  The button card is from Tilda, also.  The buttons are from Paper Trey Ink: vintage buttons: ripe avecado and sweet blush.   The buttons are actually stitched to the cover of the mini notebook.  I just love their button collections.  You get 150 buttons of a particular color in various sizes.  The saddle stitch ribbon is from Paper Trey Ink: sweet blush.  I just love the pale, sweet pink color, with the contrasting white stitching.  Just so sweet!  I also added a scrap of the pattern paper to the inside of the pen barrel, so that the pen 'belongs'.  

I added a neutral paper doily from Recollections under the button card.  I thought the open loop design added a feminine touch to the cover.  I also added a Junk Bow to the top of the button card.  I used some scrap pieces of lace, fabric, seam binding, and crochet trim to create the junk bow.  I added a single mini paper blossom to the top of the junk bow, to add a little more sweetness.  {smile}

Thank you for looking.  I hope you get a chance to play along with this current color challenge.  It's quite beautiful!

Elegant Birthday Wishes

~ photo heavy post ~

I am having a GREAT weekend!  I have had time to craft, and my husband and I went out on a date last night {smile}.  I am working on getting my crafts completed for the holiday arts and crafts fairs that I am participating in, this year.  So, I have been making Holiday and non-holiday crafts.  

One of the non holiday crafts that seem to sell fairly well, are Birthday cards.  So, I have created another one!

To help give me some guidance, I stopped by a new favorite challenge, and an old favorite challenge {smile}.

To give me a starting point, I stopped by Retro Sketches to see what they have this week.  And I LOVE it!

This will be a sketch I use more than once this week!  You can replace the 'tag' piece with a gift card holder, or add a small envelope holding confetti, or faux snow - just ALOT of possibilities!  And I am a sucker for sweet banners. {smile}

But I also wanted more direction.  A color combination.  An embellishment requirement.  Something.    I went searching the web for something, and I stumbled upon a color challenge I haven't seen before. The challenge blog is Creative Colors.  They provide an inspirational photo and some requirements.  Sounds fun!  Here is this weeks inspirational photo:

use pink, blue, and green.  include a pink banner/bow.

Oh my goodness!  The colors are just so shabby pretty! {smile}  I think I can do this!  So, here is what I created with the retro sketch and the creative color challenges:

For starters, I switched the tag for a thread card.  I added my bow to the bottom of my 'tag' shape.  I also added one more banner piece.  (So I have three banners instead of two.)  As for the colors, they are in the floral pattern paper.  The card base is blue.  The seam binding is pink, with a pink bow!
Recipe:  The card base is Rain by Paper Trey Ink.  The pattern paper is Camilla Collection by Anna Griffin.  Gorgeous, huh?
I used a scallop floral lace trim from Stampin' Up!.  It's retired for a few years now.  But I still had 6 inches.  I used pink pirouette seam binding (stampin' up!).  I machine stitched the seam binding and the lace trim to the front of the card.  I tied a white vintage button (paper trey ink) to the center of the bow with gold bakers twine (stampin up).  The bow is attached to the card front with hot glue.
For my banners I used a pink pattern paper and a gray pattern paper from the AG collection.   The gold/vellum stripe paper is from Stampin' Up!.  I used a photo corner punch to create my flag ends.
The sentiment is stamped in basic black classic ink by Stampin' Up!.  And the stamp set is Occasional Quotes stamp set.  It was a hostess stamp set, but has also been retired for a few years.
The thread card is an embellishment from Tilda, the Happiness is Homemade collection.   I added a white paper blossom from my stash, and added some glitter to the petal tips.  I cut 2 leaf branches from green card stock.  I sponged kraft ink to the tips of the leaves and then added glitter.
I added a single plastic bead to the white paper blossom/leaves cluster, to add a sparkley surprise {smile}.  I have some gold sequins, but they aren't faceted, they are flat.  (ugh).  So I adhered 5 gold sequins to the card front randomly.  Then added a faceted clear sequin on top of the flat gold sequins.

This card won't fit in an A2 envelope.  So, I decorated a large glassine bag.  I folded a white paper doily in half.  I cut three different lengths and widths of the pattern paper I used for the card.  I flagged the ends.  Adhered them together in a staggered pattern.  I cut two banner pieces: one pink and one gold/vellum.  I stamped the same sentiment on the pink pattern paper.  I stapled the banners into their position.  I glittered the tips of another white paper blossom, and adhered it to the collection with my glue gun.  I wanted to add a little more sparkle, so I wrapped a generous length of gold bakers twine around the glassine bag.
Thank you for stopping by!  I hope you get a chance to play along with your favorite challenge, or try a new one {wink}!

Happiness in Psalm

Welcome to my little slice of blog-land.  I hope this finds you well, and crafting!  I have a very sweet card I want to share with you today.  I had another package come in the mail recently, and just had to 'play'.  Another pattern paper collection from Tilda, a company in Sweden.  This pattern paper isn't 'Christmas' in theme, but rather has a sewing theme:  Happiness is Homemade.  

I needed a little focus, so I went to an industry staple:  Mojo Monday, to see this week's sketch:

Clean lines, nice size element pieces, easy to embellish.

But, I also wanted something very special.  So, I went to another favorite challenge blog:  Word Art Wednesday.  I have been stalking visiting their challenge site for sometime.  But only recently have I started playing.  Don't really know why, it just 'came upon me'.  My friend Christina says that the Lord is guiding me to share my talent.  All I know, is that I have become very fond of their challenge.  They provide a scripture each week.  They also explain what it means, and how to use the scripture in your life.  For the challenge, they want you to use the scripture as your inspiration.  You don't even have to use the scripture in your paper craft.  

This wonderful group of talented ladies is just a blessing.   Here is this weeks:

So, I combined the three.  Some beautiful pattern paper that just called to be cut, a wonderfully designed sketch, and some beautiful scripture.  Here is what I made:

Recipe:  The card base is crumb cake card stock by Stampin' Up!.  I just love the weight!  Nice and heavy to hold up an embellished card {smile}.  The matts are ripe avocado by Paper Trey Ink.  The largest piece of pattern paper isn't polka dots, its actually stars!  (Happiness is Homemade from Tilda.) Love the pale mint green color.  I did a 'sloppy' double border machine stitch.  I really wanted it to look homemade {smile}.  No pun intended.  The tiny script pattern paper is a scrap left over from a paper project I created in April.  I believe the company is My Mind's Eye.  And the beautiful floral pattern paper is also Tilda Happiness is Homemade.

I printed the scripture onto whisper white card stock by Stampin' Up!  I love using their white card stock for all my printing; either digital paper or word documents.  The card stock is a printer friendly weight, and for digital work the colors come out clean and crisp.

I took a piece of this pink crinkle satin ribbon I purchase while in Phoenix, and a piece of a beautiful white crochet trim and did a zig zag machine stitch across the front of the card.  The floral paper piece is adhered to the front of the card with foam tape to lift it off the front of the card, due to the crochet trim.

I made a multi-loop box out of the same crinkle satin ribbon.  I tied a pink vintage button to the center of the bow with some kraft twine (both items from Paper Trey Ink).  I adhered the bow to the front of the card with hot glue.  I then tied some kraft twine to the trio of tiny vintage buttons (Paper Trey Ink), and adhered those to the upper corner of the floral pattern paper with hot glue, too.

For the final touch, I added 5 half faux pearls to the front of the card.  (Ok, 4 are on the card, and one is on the kraft twine bow on the button.) I wanted something pretty, feminine, and soft.  So I chose the pearls over rhinestone/sequins.

Thank you for looking.  I hope I have inspired you to create something beautiful! and to get back into your craft space and play along with these wonderful challenge sites:  Mojo Monday and Word Art Wednesday.  Both challenge sites have supper talented crafters who are sure to inspire you!