Scraps of Trim 'Tree'; Gift Bag

Howdy.  Whew.  I'm been busy.  Busy like everyone else!  This was a big week to cook; which I love!  I really do enjoy baking and cooking.  Creating beautiful, delicious food is one of my passions.  I think food should not only look great, but taste great!  Thanksgiving, is my husbands favorite holiday, because of the food.  Funny, huh?  

One of my other passions is crafting.  Mostly paper crafting.  I love to create beautiful things out of paper.  I made a 'tree' out of scraps of fabric, and totally loved how super cute they came out.  And while I was visiting some of my favorite challenge sites, I read the post of 'Lace' @ Shabby Chic .  It did give me an idea on making a 'tree' out of scrap pieces of lace, crochet trim, and ribbon.  I am pretty happy with they came out.  [they, I made two {smile}].

I am entering a few challenges today with my little creation:  Love to Scrap  , Die Cutting Divas , Scrap & Craft Inspiration , and Crafting By Designs.

The talented ladies over @ Love To Scrap! , will surely inspire you with they variety of creative styles.  Their current challenge:  Anything Goes.

The talented ladies over @ Die Cutting Divas, have a current challenge: Tag, Bag or Box.  You should see the great boxes, bags, and tags these ladies made.  Very inspiring.
The design team over @ Scrap & Craft Inspiration have a current challenge: Shabby Chic or Vintage.  These creative ladies are located in Europe.  and therefore, their styles of crafting is very layered, with lots of embellishing.  Very beautiful, very inspiring,  and very creative.
And finally, the lovely ladies over @ Crafting by Designs, have a current challenge: Get Ready for Christmas.  I strongly encourage you to take a look at this creative design team's entries.  Just lovely!

here is what I made:

I used crumb cake card stock for the 'bag'.  I used a gold card stock as my matt.  I think it adds a bit of  glamour to my bag.  I used shimmer white card stock for the main panel.  I stamped my three different size snowflakes in two different kraft colored inks: crumb cake classic ink, and classic kraft ink.  I used my sewing machine to add a 'homespun' look to my bag, by sewing a simple border.  

I collected my trims: crochet trims, cotton trims, ribbons, and thin tinsels, and tied them around a cinnamon stick.  I added a trio of buttons.  I tied them on to the cinnamon stick with a gold, silver, and cream twine.  And I added a Melissa Frances rhinestone button to the top of the cinnamon stick.

My sentiment is stamped and matted the same way I did the main panel of the bag.

close-up of the buttons:

Thank you for looking.  I hope you have been inspired to create something beautiful, too!  And join these two challenges.  

Sprite Mojo

my sprite in a jar

Welcome.  I have been a bit busy.  I have been asked to teach a class at a private retreat next week, and well, I have been making a few samples of a mini album I am teaching.  Anyways, along this journey to find some inspiration for my mini album, I stumbled upon this wonderfully creative challenge site.  And, so I have taken a break from creating mini albums to play along.   Sometimes, its good to change your focus, so you can get back on track.

I'm not quite sure how I stumbled upon this challenge blog: Aurora Wings, but I am certainly glad that I have.  This challenge site uses digital images.  I have embraced this new type of images lately.  And this challenge site, asks that you hand color your digital image.  I have to admit, I do love coloring.  There is a certain peace that goes with this activity.  You can't really focus on troubles, or worries.  You need to focus on the task at hand - coloring.  It gives your mind and soul a chance to take a break from the worries and busy-ness of everyday life.  A small retreat for your mind.

I needed a little direction for my creation, so I went to Mojo Monday, because they have some very easy-to-use sketches.  Here is this week's sketch:

Aurora Wings provided a free digital image this week, for the Sprite challenge.  I want to thank them for doing so.  Their generosity for providing everyone with a free image, is rather sweet {smile}.   I downloaded my free image, and set out to color my little sprite.  This is my first attempt at coloring a digital image.  I typically stamp an image in Staz-On, or heat emboss an image.  Because I typically love to water color.  I wasn't sure how the 'ink' from my printer would hold up to water, so I used my color pencils instead of watercolors.  It was really fun to sit and color.  Here is what I created:

The recipe:  The card base is Cream Cardstock from Paper Trey Ink.  I used Ocean Tides card stock (PTI) for the matt.  I used some scraps I had in my scrap box for the panels.  The yellow pattern paper is from My Minds' Eye and the polka dot pattern paper is from Heidi Swap.  I added a small open scallop trim border with whisper white card stock from Stampin' Up!.  I added some random machine stitching along the sides, and a zig zag stitch across the top of the scallop border.  I used a scrap piece of Melissa Frances pattern paper for the back drop of the jar.  I matted this piece to Ocean Tides card stock.  I added a simple single machine stitch to the piece.  (I repeated the ocean tides card stock matt and machine stitching to keep everything connected.)

I stamp and heat embossed the jar (Friendship Jar stamp set by Paper Trey Ink) onto Vellum Cardstock (Stampin' Up!).  I stamped and fussy cut the jar banner and adhered it to the vellum.  I stamped the bee in Staz-On and used my coloring pencils to color in his body.  The bee is adhered to the card front with foam tape.  

I printed my sprite onto shimmer white card stock by Stampin' Up!.  I adjusted the size of the image to 1 1/2" x 1 3/4".  To color my digital Sprite image, I used four different yellows, two greens, two browns and a black.  I fussy cut him out, and used foam tape to adhere him to the jar.  

I stamped my sentiment from the Garden Variety stamp set (PTI) onto a scrap piece of shimmer white card stock, inked the edges and cut a banner end.  I used hot glue to attach my sun flower and leaf.  I sponged linen ink on all of the edges of card stock and pattern paper.

Thank you for looking.  I hope you have been inspired to play along in either of these challenges, or both!  I have another post today of the second mini album I finished.  Please look for that.  But be aware, it is a photo heavy post.