Mother's Coupon

Howdy.  I hope you are well.  Me, I'm busy, tired, training, and still working.  I don't always get to craft as much as I want.  But, I did carve out some time, to get this card created, and in the mail.  It's a hand-made card I made my mom, for Mother's Day.  I used items I already had.  Because sometimes you just need to stop spending $, when your stash is overgrown.  {smile}

here is what I created:

an angled view:

The card base is made from Pink Pirouette card stock by Stampin' Up!.  I just love the heavy weight of their card stock.  Sturdy, and holds up to embellishing.  And the soft sweet color is perfect.

The plaid pattern paper is Chicken Scratch from Paper Trey Ink.  It's a River Rock or Fresh Linen color.  I thought it matched the leaved in the pattern paper almost perfect.  The floral Pattern Paper is from American Crafts.  

I took one paper doily and cut it in half and adhered it to opposite corners.  And then machine stitched the pattern papers together.  I just love the homespun look cards have with machine stitching.  I took a scrap piece of cotton trim and wrapped it around the pattern papers.  I added a piece of soft pale pink seam binding to the cotton trim, and machine stitched them to the card front.  

I hand-stamped the coupon onto a scrap piece of white linen card stock, in crumb cake classic ink.  I adhered the coupon onto the card front with foam tape.  I hand-stamped the 'Love You' onto a scrap piece of vellum card stock, in Versa Mark.  I used Early Espresso embossing powder, and heat embossed the sentiment.  I cut the the vellum card stock with scallop scissors.  (yeah, I still have several pairs of those scissors.)

I added two different, white, paper blossoms to the right side of the coupon.  I tucked in some leaves that I hand-punched from a green and mint card stock.  I tied a double bow with the same pale pink seam binding, and adhered it to the card front just under the paper blossoms.  I adhered a white glitter clay rose to the center of the bow.

Thank you for stopping by.  I mailed this card to my mom earlier this week, and super happy she received it before today {smile}.  I want to wish all the moms out there Happy Mother's Day!  Being a mom is hard work, but super rewarding!  

Rustic Love

Howdy.  I've been busy.  Busy with life.  But, I imagine you have, too.  I went out of town for several days (had a GREAT time) and then it was back to baking, crafting, cleaning, laundry, working, and taking care of my husband and dog.  See, life.

I took almost a week off from my normal chores and headed to Phoenix with 2 of my granddaughters and daughter.  It's dance competition time of year.  But, we headed out a few days early, to enjoy some fun activities, and some girl time {smile}.  We had a great time.  Spent sometime in the swimming pool, ate some great food, enjoyed some education spots (think Children's museum), and tried our hand at golf.  Yes, golf.  We spent that time laughing more than hitting hole in ones!  Ok, none of us hit a hole in one.  {smile}

Now, I have returned to reality.  The chores never stop, but moms know that.  Once back home, I had to get busy with a few cupcake orders and the never-ending chores.  I also wanted to get some crafts completed.  I am working on an altered art piece.  It's a wooden book-box.  But, I needed some direction, so I headed over to Mojo Monday to get a sketch going.  I loved their sketch so much so, that I actually used it for the cover of the box.  (this sketch is expired)  Here is what I made!

I am using some 'old' pattern paper.  I think, it may still be available at some on-line paper sources.  The Rustic Elegance collection, by Carta Bella, is a beautiful mix of mint, blush, green, and neutrals.  There are mixes of florals, chevrons, circles, text, and flourishes, with a country flair!  Mason jars, bicycles, floral wreaths, wooden plank backdrops, and so much more!

I used various pattern papers from this collection (Rustic Elegance) added a paper doily, some paper blossoms, and lace.  I added simple machine stitching around two of the main pieces, to give it a homespun look.  The sentiment 'love' is lifted off the piece with foam tape.  I haven't yet, but I am thinking of adding some sparkle to the paper blossoms.

I have added white wax to the wooden book box, and now I am adding my paper pieces.  Yes, I will photograph it once it's done.  Hopefully, I get a chance to work on it this week.  But, I have a few cupcake orders to work on late this week.  So, we will see how well I can manage my time.  {smile}

I hope you have a great week!  and Happy May Day!

Missing Mint

Howdy.  I hope your weekend was wonderful!  Productive!  Creative! and on track with your new year resolution.  Mine was.  {smile}

I am still loving my planner, and keeping my projects/tasks/chores organized.   I have also added my budget and menu, to my tasks.  It feels good to have those two chores organized.  {smile}

So, with my mind not on those items, I had some free time today to craft a little.  Gotta love that!

For starters, I stopped by Shabby Chic .  They have a color theme board.  The color theme is mint and their requirement is to craft in a shabby chic style.  And who doesn't love mint!  It is such a sweet, and refreshing color.  Mint pairs nicely with almost everything!

To help give me some direction, I stopped by a new-to-me challenge As You See It.  They have a sketch, as their current challenge.   I love working with sketches.  And this one is a good sketch.  easy to work with, and I did flip the sketch.

I stopped by my favorite challenge site:  Cupcake Inspiration.  This challenge site, always have some creative themes/inspirations.  Their current challenge is to use plaid.  Yep, plaid.  I just love their cupcake!  But, I wanted something a little more spring.  But those cupcakes look yummy!

And finally, I stopped by Brown Sugar Challenge.  Their current challenge is Anything Goes.  But please stop by to see what this creative design team has created!

All of these challenge sites, have very talented, creative folks on their design teams.  They will inspire you!

and here is what I created:

Recipe:  The card meausres 4 1/4" x 6 1/4".  The card base is made with a no name Kraft card stock.

The first matt is pool party card stock.  I matted the floral pattern paper with aqua mist card stock.  The mint & aqua plaid is actually a holiday pattern paper by My Mind's Eye.  Once these two pattern papers were adhered to the card front, I ran them thru my sewing machine to add a double border stitch, all the way around. I added a strip of mint lace, to cover the seam where the two pattern papers meet.  I machine stitched some aqua seam binding to the center of the lace.  I wrapped silver bakers twine around the middle.  I tied the seam binding into a double bow.  I also tied a simple bow with silver bakers twine. I added a trio of paper blossoms distressed with tea stain ink, and white acrylic paint.  They are adhered to the card front with my hot glue gun.  For the sentiment, I used a new-to-me stamp set by AlteNew: Label Love.  I stamped the sentiment in basic black classic ink,  and stamped on kraft card stock.  I used my scissors to cut out the sentiment piece, and adhered it to the card front with foam squares.  The final touch were these rain drops in mint.

Well, I hope you have a chance to play along with some (or all) of these challenge sites!

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!

Hold My Photo

Howdy!  Just a quick post.  My computer did some upgrades, and I spent too much time figuring out how to get some of my applications to do what I need them to do.  UGH!  Not too happy with the upgrades.  A tough learning curve for me.  {so much so, I missed the deadline for a challenge.  Yeah, not cool.}  Anyways, enough of my complaining.  Let's get to crafting!

The first challenge I am entering is Freetany Flowers.  They have an adorable inspirational challenge board for their current challenge.  

I just love the pinks, and green.  The softness and the feminine touches.  very pretty!  And I can work with this!  

The second challenge site I am entering is Scrap Therapy.  Their current challenge is a sketch.

I just love the simplicity and the elegance of this sketch.  Pretty elements, beautiful shapes.

The last challenge site I am entering is Crafting by Designs.  Their current challenge is flowers & lace.  How simply pretty!

and here is what I made:

photographed stuck to a refrigerator

I made a magnetic photo holder.  The inside of the frame measures 1 1/2" x 1 1/2".  So, a tiny photo.  Maybe one that has been cut from a wallet size photo.  But precious anyway you trim it!

Recipe:  I used a text pattern paper from the Heart Painted collection, by LemonCraft.  I just love the shade of green.  It looks like the color of leaves in the spring time. {smile}  I painted some white acrylic paint along the edges, to give it a shabby chic feel. 

I created a ruffle with the cream cotton trim.  The trim is 2" wide.  So, it has a lovely workable length. Then I machine stitched it to the chipboard.  I added a pale pink cotton ruffle piece across the seam.

I tied a multi-loop bow from a pale pink seam binding.  I tied a flat metal safety pin to the bow, and added some tiny rhinestones.  I thought the rhinestones added some sparkle, and love it! 

I sprayed two pink paper blossoms with a shimmer mist.  I adhered them to the right of the bow and at the right lower edge of the frame.  I distressed a digital rose ticket and tucked it under the paper blossoms and pink cotton ruffle.  I also added a white floral shape button between the paper blossoms.  (its hard to see, because it blends in so well.  But think of it as a surprise found treasure.)

To the right of the white resin frame, I folded a white crochet doily in half and adhered it next to the frame.  I added a fabric brad to the bottom left corner of the white resin frame.  It adds some softness,  and a pop of a darker pink, just like the paper blossoms.

I adhered the magnet to the back of this chipboard piece.  The magnet covers the machine stitching, to help the back look 'clean' and finished.

Thank you for looking.  I'm running out the door, to meet some friends.  Create something beautiful!

B - U - N - C - O

Howdy! and welcome to my little slice of heaven.  Yeah, crafting is what keeps me going!  I love the whole process.  I'm not too sure my husband loves 'my process'.  But, he doesn't have any household chores, so he doesn't get to vote.  [wow, that sounds kinda mean.]

I belong to a Bunco group.  If you don't know what that is, it is a group of 12 people [ladies in my group] who get together once a month to socialize and play a dice game.  We, each take turns hosting [so everyone comes to your house] and the hostess makes dinner, and provides the 'prizes'.  My turn to host is July 7th.  So, I have already started making stuff, and getting stuff organized.  I am also a theme party planner.  [once my daughter's children are all in school (in about 3 years), we are going to start our own party planning service.  It will be awesome!] I love themes for parties.  I think it helps keep the party organized and focused.  My theme this year, is 'vintage Paris hot air balloons'.  Yep, that is a theme.  Vintage, to help keep me focused as to the over-all look and feel of the decor.  Paris, because who don't love romance, sparkle, and great food!  Hot air balloons, to give the decor a little flair.  It all works.   I purchased my invites from Impressions Paperie @ Etsy, HERE. 

here are the invites I purchased from Etsy:

I selected my invite first.  That way I would have a more exact color scheme to go with, but you can always select the color theme first.  This is how my prices went.  I knew that I wanted hot air balloons, and I'm a super big fan of shabby chic,  and I love mint and pink, so this is what I decided on.  Super happy with my purchase.  

Since my invite has dictated my exact color scheme, I can proceed on!  So, I decorated some plain ugly letters to sit on the mantel: B, U, N, C, O.  Here they are:

I purchased the letters from one of those big box stores.  They were about $1.49 each.  But, if you shop during a sale, you can get them for 30% off.  Bargain!  and since I plan ahead, I waited for them to go on sale.  I used an opaque gold paint I had on hand (gold, because that is the accent color of the invites).  A quick coat of paint while I was watching TV with my husband.  And then, I grabbed some seam binding that went along with my color scheme (colors found in the invite).  I matched various paper and fabric blossoms I already had on hand.  And the final touch was to add a trio of various 'sparkle' pieces: flat back faux pearls, rhinestones, and enamel dots.  I simply hot glued the multi-loop bows and blossoms on to the letters.

Thank you for stopping by.  I'll share with you more of my Bunco items, soon.  I have a great dinner planned, and the prizes are precious!  Stay tuned!

Sweet Rustic Mother's Day Card

~ photo heavy post ~

Howdy!  and welcome back to my little slice of blog-land.  I've busy crafting, and I love it!  It is very good for my soul!  As many of you know, Mother's Day is right around the corner!  And I wanted to make something pretty, soft, vintage, country, and over all sweet!  So, while surfing the internet, I stumbled upon two (new to me) paper craft challenge sites, and I'm anxious to play along! So, without further ado, let's get to it! {smile}

I stopped by an old favorite challenge site to get a sketch:  Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge.  These folks have some of the most user-friendly sketches out there!  And the design team will inspire you if you need it.  {smile}  Oh, and it's prize week!

My next stop is a (new to me) challenge site:  Crafting When We Can Challenge.  Their current challenge is: add flowers.  Oh my, YES!  The design team varies in styles, so I am sure that you will be inspired to play along with this talented group.

My last stop, is another (new to me) challenge site:  Robyn's Fetish Challenge.   This challenge is: Mother's Day Cards.  Thank you ladies, that's right up my alley!  This lovely group of designers will certainly inspire you with their soft, tender style!

and here is what I have created:

and different view:

Recipe:  The card base is crumb cake card stock by Stampin' Up!  I just love this soft kraft color and heavy weight card stock.  The perfect card stock for your cards!
I used Ocean Tides card stock, by Paper Trey Ink, for the matts.  I just love this different shade of blue.  {smile}  The wood grain/floral 'pattern paper' is actually a digital paper.  I love the colors and the sweet rustic look.    The pale kraft star pattern paper is from Tilda.    Ok, we'll start from the top and work our way down the card.

The canvas banner piece is from Maya Road.  I adhered it to the card front with hot glue just at the top.  I wanted it to have some movement.
I added a trio of paper blossoms.  Each blossom was painted with white acrylic paint and then dunked in a tub a dazzling diamond glitter, by Stampin' Up!  I adhered the paper blossoms to the card front with more hot glue.
The large white blossom and the pale blue blossom are from a big box store, different Reflections collections.  The tiny white blossom is from Kaiser Krafts.  To help add a little bling, I added a trio of gold sequins to the top half of this card.  Yeah, they are tucked in, to reveal a sweet surprise.
I stamped the sentiment onto very vanilla card stock, by Stampin' Up!  I stamped the sentiment in Early Espresso classic ink.  I used a very retired stamp set:  Something to Celebrate.  I used a photo corner punch to create the banner ends.  I adhered the sentiment piece to the card front with foam tape.

For the lower half of the card, I layered a trio of different materials.  I cut a large scallop border out of a scrap piece of pale pink polka dot pattern paper with my Tasteful Trims die, by Stampin' Up!.  I added a strip of white cotton trim just above the pink polka dot pattern paper.  And then I wrapped a piece of this beautiful pale pink seam binding, that I purchased while junking in Phoenix.
I created a multi-loop bow with the seam binding.  I tied an altered wooden button* with kraft twine. (*white acrylic paint and glitter)  I created my own tag with the Tiny Tag stamp set by Paper Trey Ink.  I stamped the 'tag' in ocean tides ink.  (It is actually a second generation stamp) and I stamped the 'XOXO' in crumb cake classic ink.  I fussy cut the tag with a pair of small scissors.  I used sand paper to smooth out the rough edges of my hand cutting.  Strung the kraft twine through the tag and tied it to the multi-loop bow, and altered wooden button.  I cut a too long length of kraft twine, so I added a single loop of twine behind the seam binding bow.  I added a small piece of foam tape behind the tag, so it would be anchored to the card front.   I also added a pair of gold sequins around this beautiful bow.  {smile}
For those of you who are frequent visitors to my blog, you are probably wondering about the missing machine stitching.  And, all I can say, is me too!  I actually ran out of thread, and wasn't able to pick some up before creating this card.  So, I am trying to embrace this 'plain jane' card.
Thank you for stopping by.  I hope I have inspired you to play along with all or any of these challenges.  Hopefully your week is off to a great start!

Junking

While in Phoenix, this past week, I stopped by two very special, vintage, 'junking' shops:  Sweet Salvage and Melrose Vintage.  And oh my!  I just love both of these vintage, chippy paint, junking stores.  They are both very different, but very wonderful!

My first stop was @ Sweet Salvage.  This shop is on 7th Street.  And only open 4 days a month.  Yeah, you read that correctly.  4 days a month.  The third thursday thru that Sunday, this vintage, retro, 'junking' store opens its doors to an eager community.  I took my oldest granddaughter, and she loved it too!  We are now planning another trip.  {smile}

I picked up these bed springs.  Well, I also picked up a vintage skirt, some cheese graters, a window, and a few other little trinkets. {smile}  Now, when I brought these home, my husband was speechless.  Rusty bedsprings?  You paid cash?  Yes, I did!  I have plans for these bed springs.  I want to create a decor piece with them.  My current 'plan' is to distress a wooden frame, insert a burlap covered matt board.  I want to attach the bed springs to the burlap.  I'm thinking with a staple gun.  I also want to string lights through the bed springs.  I'll take pictures, during my process and share those with you, soon.  {smile}

And right down 7th street, is this charming, vintage shop: Melrose Vintage.  This little shop is open a few days a week, Wednesday thru Saturday.  This beautifully decorated shop has vintage, french furniture, antiques, decor items, Rachel Ashwell fabrics and paints, and a scrapbook section.

I picked up three different Rachel Ashwell fabrics at this vintage shop, along with a whole roll of this sweet pale pink seam binding.  I know, how super beautiful!  I don't have any 'real' plans for the fabric, but these beautiful, pink blossom fabrics, will add just the right amount of shabby chic-ness to any project.  {smile}

I also picked up some pattern papers, these paper blossoms, sequins, tins, and 2 rolls of this beautiful frayed-edge fabric.  The tins are pretty shallow, so those will make wonderful holiday ornaments.  The roll of fabric will be used for another fabric strip banner.

Thank you for stopping by.  I will be baking cupcakes tomorrow for a party.  I'll take a photo or two and share those with you, too!  Have a great weekend, and hopefully you get a chance to create something beautiful!

Sweet Blush Thank You; Card

Howdy! and welcome to my little piece of blog-land.  Here, is where I share my passion for card making, and sometimes cupcakes {smile}.  I really do find joy, and peace when I am creating.  And it doesn't matter if it is baking or paper crafting.  The joy is the same.  

I wanted to make another card to add to my Etsy shop, located HERE.  But I needed some inspiration, so I set out to a favorite challenge site, and stumbled upon a new (to me) challenge site {smile}.  

One of my favorite challenge site I visited, Just Us GirlS #333.  It's their 'word week', and this week's word is FLOWERS! On my! I love adding flowers to my paper crafts, so I am playing along with these beautifully creative ladies!

The last challenge I am entering is a 'new' challenge site for me.  I stumbled upon this challenge from visiting a fellow blogger that I follow.  This challenge site is eastern European.  They do not have a 'translate' button, so copy and paste the text into Google Translator.  Shabby Scrap - use rose(s). 

here is what I made:

Recipe:  I used Cream card stock by Paper Trey Ink for the card base.  This card stock is a heavy weight, and wonderful as a card base.   The card size is A6 (4 1/4" x 6").

The three pattern papers are digital papers.  I just fell in love with the pale pink, and blush colors!  I sponged the floral digital paper with crumb cake classic ink.  I trimmed and sponged the library card digital paper.  I rounded two of the corners for a different look, other than a right angle.  I adhered these two digital papers together before I added the machine stitching.  I also added dimensional glaze to the 'front' blue bird.  I loved the pop of color!

I added cream twine to the trio of blush vintage buttons, and adhered them to the card front with my glue gun.  

I used a leaf punch and some shimmer green textured card stock to create the leaves.  I tucked the leaves under the two pale pink paper blossoms.  The larger pink blossom is from Prima Marketing.  The smaller pink blossom is a 'carnation' from an on-line shop.

I trimmed the journalling piece into a tag.  I sponged the edges, and added a hole for the seam binding.  I did a simple loop of pale pink seam binding and tied a simple bow with a pale pink/blush colored thin tinsel.  I added a pale blush paper blossom to the bow.  The tag was adhered to the card front with foam tape.

I stamped the sentiment onto vellum card stock and adhered to the front of the tag.  (I added my adhesive where the lettering is, so that the adhesive wouldn't show through.) 

I used the Signature Greetings, by Amuse Studios.  I heat embossed the sentiment with antique gold embossing powder.

Thank you for looking!  I hope you have been inspired to play along with any or all of these challenges!  I will be adding this card to my Etsy shop in the next few days.  {smile}

Floral Friend; Card

Howdy!  I needed to get a few cards in the mail, and so I set out to find some inspiration.  Along the way, I stumbled upon a new (to me) challenge site, and visited two favorite challenge sites.  The inspiration was infectious!  I hope you agree!

Let's start with the new challenge site, that I 'found'.  This is an east European challenge site.  They don't have a 'translate' button, but google translator works pretty well.  [Just copy and paste the text.]  Shabby Scrap.  Their current challenge is to use rose(s) on your project.  And your project can be just about anything! A card, a page, an altered item, a tag, a book, etc.  (I'm sure you get the idea) You will be amazed at the creativity of their design team.  This challenge runs from Feb 25 - March 24.  And here is their photo:

Ok, so now on with another of my favorite challenge sites.  {smile}  This next one, is another challenge site from eastern Europe - Shabby Chic.  This challenge site does have a 'translate' button.  So it's super easy to play along with {smile}!  Their current challenge  is to use butterflies.  Or simply one butterfly.  A very creative and feminine work by their design team.  Their challenge runs through March 25.

And for the finally challenge, it's one that is truly dear to me:  Just Us GirlS #333.  I started playing along with their challenges when I first started blogging.  Their current challenge for 'Word Week' is Flowers!  How wonderful!  I love adding flowers to my cards and projects!  You will certainly be inspired by their design team!

So, I have combined the challenges, not too hard really,
and created a card for a very dear friend!

Recipe:  I created another A6 size card.  To create the card base, I used a heavy weight card stock: Soft Sky by Stampin' Up!.  I just love the soft, pale blue color.   

I added three different digital papers.  I printed my digital papers onto whisper white card stock by Stampin' Up!.  I just love how clean the images come out, and how true to color they print.  

Anyways, I used a pale blue, pink floral pattern paper for the main paper.  I just love how pretty this digital paper is, and the way the pale blue background really makes the pink roses pop!  I cut the paper down to 4 1/8" x 5 3/4".  I sponged crumb cake classic ink along the edges.

I printed a library card, digital paper and cut it down a bit.  I used my corner rounder punch on two of the corners, and sponged the edges.  I adhered these two papers together, and then added my machine stitching.  I wanted the butterfly on the library card to 'pop', so I added dimensional glaze to it.

For the tag, yes, it's another digital paper.  I used my tag punch to create the top piece.   I added some aqua blue crinkled seam binding and tied a simple bow with some thin blue tinsel.  (I just love how soft this tinsel is!)  I added some foam tape to the back of the 'tag' before adhering it.  

I tied some twine through the trio of aqua mist vintage buttons before adhering them to the card front with my glue gun.  I also adhered the trio of blossoms with my glue gun.  

For the sentiment, I used the Signature Greetings stamp set by Amuse Studios.  I stamped the words in versa mark onto some card stock vellum, and used an antique gold embossing powder and heated the embossing powder with my heat gun.   I hand cut the banner ends, and added adhesive where the words are, so you wouldn't see the adhesive through the vellum.

I stamped two butterflies onto a scrap piece of the same vellum with Archival Black ink by Stampin' Up! and used markers to color the backs of the butterflies.  I folded the wings together to give them a 3 dimensional look.  I adhered them to the card front with dimensional glaze.  

Thank you for looking!  I hope you have been inspired to play along with any (or all) of these great challenge sites!

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!