Sweet Shabby Home

I know that I am blessed.  Thank you to everyone who has touched my life.  And thank you to all of my dear, wonderfully supportive friends.  You all mean so much to me, and I do truly appreciate you all!  Today, is a wonderful day!

Wow! I have been asked to be the guest designer over @ the Shabby Tea Room, for my third week in a row.  Thank you, to the lovely, and super talented design team, for their kindness and generosity.  I earned this guest designer spot with a win, on their #167 challenge, found here.

This week, the Shabby Tea Room, has a beautiful inspiration photo, along with a wonderful creative challenge.

here is the inspiration photo:

use the colors in the photo, along with a fabric embellishment

Ok, when I saw this inspiration photo, I fell in love with the quilts!  I don't know why, but, they look, so soft, and the colors are just so beautiful!  There are patterns of florals with pinks and blues, and it is just gorgeous!  It reminds me of my great-grandmother.  She made quilts for everyone!  They were all hand-stitched, and made of these beautiful materials.  They are all treasures!

and, here is what I made:

I started with a blushing bride cardstock for the card base.  I love this soft, tan-ish pink.  It looks a little dusty, if that makes sense.  I had a piece of this mixed pattern digital paper, that really shows the colors of the inspirational photo.  There are six squares and they all have pinks, blues, florals, and text.  A lovely match.  So, I matted this piece to vanilla cardstock, and ran a border with some machine stitching.  I thought the stitching would help translate the stitching from the quilts.

The sentiment is quite large, but very appropriate.  I imagine if it were smaller, it might loose some of the impact of the meaning.  This stamp set, Home Sweet Home, comes from Close To My Heart.  It was an exclusive, that could only be purchased for a short time.  Once I saw it, I was in love.  I cut the decorative shape out with the label collection die from Stampin' Up!.  I wanted a label/frame that was unique and pretty to the eye.  I stamped the sentiment in soft suede classic ink, and sponged the edges with crumb cake classic ink.  But the label looked too plain, so I adhered it to a scrap piece of blush blossom card stock and fussy cut it to match the curves of the label.  I adhered the sentiment label to the card front with some foam tape.

I added two different trims.  A vintage inspired tea-stained twill tape, and a cream crochet trim.  I just love the softness of these two pieces, and the over-all vintage home-made feel of them.  And yes, i did machine stitch the tea-stained twill tape to the front of the card {smile}.  I made a multi-loop bow with the twill. (The staining of this twill tape really softened it, and made it very easy to work with.) But it really needed some 'jazzing-up', so I added some trinkets to the bow.  I made a tag, stamped 'LOVE' on it.  Punched out a heart shape from a piece of cardboard and distressed the edges.  I found this cute little button, and the color was spot-on, so it was added.  I gathered up this little trio of trinkets, and attached them to the bow, with a tiny vintage clothes pin.  I love the contrast of the metal with the cardboard.

But, my card was still missing something.  I wanted to add a blossom to the bow, but nothing looked right.  You know how that goes.  You spend more time fiddling then creating.  I found this tiny paper blossom in a stash I had, and i loved the color.  But it wasn't right.  UGH!

When I think of home, the word, I immediately think of a nest.  Don't know why.  Maybe its because I love birds.  Maybe its because the whole idea of a family living in close quarters seems cozy to me.  So, that's what I made.  A nest, so to speak.  I had a scrap piece of this beautiful brown netting, so I made a stitch along the edge and gathered it.  Glued it in a circle, add the blue paper blossom to the center, and viola!  I think the netting adds a softness, and the blue blossom goes well with the tea stained twill tape, and contrasts the pink button beautifully.

I hope that you have found some inspiration to play along with this fabulously talented ladies over @ the Shabby Tea Room.  I know you will have fun creating something gorgeous and cozy!

Thank you for taking a moment out of your busy life, to see what I have created!  Come again, soon {smile}!

hello baby

As I mentioned yesterday, I have made another baby card.  But this card is Clean And Simple.   I used the sketch from the Stampin' Queens Sketch Challenge.  This is a super group of ladies.  They are all so talented.  If you have a chance to play along, you should!

Here is this weeks sketch:

I used my Stampin' Up! supplies to create this card:

I just love how soft and sweet this card turned-out.  I used pattern paper from the same package: Domestic Goddess DSP.  The card base and the only matt is pool party card stock.  The fancy shape of the main image was created using the labels collection die.  I love how this shape looks like a cloud.  The stamp is an ala carte stamp:  Bringing Baby.  The sentiment is from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set.   I thought the font of this sentiment really worked well with the image.  The crocheted flower is from the fleurettes II package.  The pool party brad is from the printed designer brads collection.   Did you notice the scalloped edge of the scallop trim?  That was created with the adorning accents die.  I think it adds some softness and whimsy.

Thank you for looking, and I hope that you can play along with us @ Stampin' Queens Sketch Challenge.