NAC #40

Welcome.  I hope your week is off to a good start.  Mine, light speed.  But then again, what's new?  This is a short week at work for me.  If you live in or near Albuquerque, then you know that the Hen House Stamp retreat is this weekend.  And what does that mean?  Well, if you're a paper crafter (like me) than you are welcome to spend the weekend with others with the same passion.  A whole weekend of uninterrupted time to paper craft.  Nirvana.

But, before I head out the door with a purpose, lets play along with the lovely and talented ladies @ Nacho Average Challenge.  This week, there is a color challenge.  And they are beautiful colors!

If you are a frequent visitor/follower, you know that these colors speak volumes to me.  I love soft, pretty colors.  And these colors scream feminine.  Let's inspire you!

Once I saw the color challenge, I instantly knew what I was going to do!  Use the perfect plum for a blossom.  Use the lucky limeade for folage.  Use the pool party for butterflies, and to ground the whole card add some crumb cake and first edition dsp.  Let's face it.  In my book, Pool Party is only second to Pink Pirouette, for me.  I also knew that I wanted to add some of that gorgeous floral lace trim from the Artisan Emellishment kit.  Add a little machine sewing, to help add charm.  If I could figure out where to add some pearls, you know you would see some.  But, I really couldn't get them to work.  I also really, really wanted to add a bow.   But the card doesn't have a bow or pearls.

Here is what I did.  

I cut twelve 1 1/4" squares of very vanilla card stock.  I placed them in the vintage wallpaper embossing folder, to give this neutral card stock some texture and a feminine feel.  I sponged crumb cake classic ink on all four sides of each square.  

I cut a piece of crumb cake card stock to 4" x 5 1/4".  I then adhered the sponged very vanilla embossed squares to the crumb cake cardstock.  This gave me my crumb cake fix!

I cut a strip of the floral lace trim to go across the card front.  I wrapped a piece of pool party seam binding.  I didn't crinkle the seam binding.  I felt that if I crinkled the seam binding, it would give this card a 'sloppy' look.  I wanted to keep the look clean, soft, and spring-y!  

Then, I added some machine stitching.  I first machine stitched the seam binding and lace.  Then, I started machine stitching the whole parameter of the card, roughly a 1/4" from the edge.  

Now, it's time to build the blossom, that will be the focal point of this card.  This blossom was built with three whole blossoms that were stamped, heat embossed, color washed, punched, cut, bent, stacked, glittered, distressed, and sponged.  Whew.  I used the same floral stamp to stamp on the first edition dsp, and used the build a blossom punch to punch the leaf shapes.  And of course, I distressed the edges of the leaves with crumb cake classic ink.

The butterflies were equally as much fun to create.  I used the kindness matters stamp set.  I stamped the butterflies in jet black staz-on ink, onto white shimmer cardstock.  I color washed the butterflies with pool party re-inker.  I used my detail scissors to fussy cut them out.  Then I sponged perfect plum classic ink on the forward wing tips, sponged pool party classic ink on the back wing tips, and then used a tiny paint brush to add some lucky limeade to the center of the butterflies bodies.  I outlined each butterfly with my 2-way glue pen and then dunked each butterfly into my tub of dazzling diamond glitter.  I used foam tape to adhere the butterflies to the card front.

I hope you have been inspired to create a paper craft item for our color challenge over @ NAC {smile}.

 

I belong to a RAK group.  That sounds almost 'wrong', doesn't it?  Because if the premiss is to do these act of kindness out of the goodness of your heart and not because you have to, then, can you have assignments?  Anyway.  I needed to get a card done, and sometimes my creativity needs a little jump start.  Between working full time, and taking care of my husband and dog, my crafting time is very limited.  I'd love to work part time, and have more time to play in my craft room.  But,  like the rest of you, and I have bills to pay, a mortgage and the other costs of living.  So, now for my inspiration.

The Stampin' Queens Sketch Challenge have a very creative sketch this week.  The elements in this sketch, are very easy to work with, and very fun!

Here is the sketch for week #25:

The decorative square was fun to work with.  But, you could add an oval, a rectangle, a frame lit, pretty much any shape that gives you some real estate to work with.  The double white vertical lines made me think of ribbon.  But, they could easily be decorate strips of paper, or a decorative trim piece.  I didn't see a 'sentiment' so I added mine to the lower left side.  But I imagine that you could add yours anywhere.  A tag hanging off the bow.  The place the SQSC25 is located.  Or even somewhere on your decorative square.  See, a lot of options!

Here is what I created:

I just love the way crumb cake and basic black look together.  So refined.  So elegant.   So, that is where I started with my card.  I cut a scrap piece of crumb cake card stock and matt it with a scrap piece of basic black card stock.  I took out two stamp sets that haven't been inked in awhile; Delicate Doilies and Kindness Matters.  The doilies were stamped in basic black and crumb cake classic inks, and versa mark.  I took a scrap piece of very vanilla card stock and cut it down to the size of the embossed rectangle.  I stamped the butterflies in basic black and then dry embossed them.  I re-stamped the butterflies onto vellum card stock.  I colored the back side of the vellum with a lucky limeade marker.  I wrapped a piece of crochet trim the length of the card.  I then wrapped lucky limeade 1/8" sheer ribbon.  I made a multi-loop bow and used a new SAB brad to hold the bow onto the card.

This is the card that I have sent out for my RAK assignment.  Shannon lives in Texas, so hopefully she will receive this card any day now.  I love how this card came together.  Not a lot of anything, just simply beautiful!  Thank you for stopping by today.  Leave some blog love :)

Monochromatic & MoJo 198

Happy Saturday! It's time for another challenge over @ Our Creative Corner and what a wonderful challenge they have this week.  It's monochromatic!  And not just any one color, but WHITE!  Now, before you pull your hair out, take a breath.  And take a look at the inspiration board.  And now take a look at what the design team have come up with, to help get you inspired!

As you can tell from the inspiration board, there are alot of different shades of white.  And look how great they look together.  There are soft, rough, and mixed textures of white.  And all the different shades of white!  Everything from snow white to cream white.  Now, mix them, give the different shades of white a different texture, to help keep your card visually interesting.

Here's my card, and here is a close-up of the stamped panel.  I used a white craft ink and a cream craft ink for the heat embossing.  I added white EP and clear EP to the different inks to create a different texture and give the card some visual interest.  I also added some smooth and texture cardstocks.  I used silver glass glitter to the butterfly center: heart.  I added some white crochet trim to the card, for a different texture.  I used a new stamp set from SU!: Kindness Matters.

Thank you for stopping by to take a look.  Now, go craft something and enter our white monochromatic color challenge @ Our Creative Corner.