Sweet Blessings

Whew!  I just love this Sweet Christmas pattern paper that I purchased!  It's so beautiful and romantic!  But, I wanted to see more potential for this pattern paper.  So, I set out to create a non Christmas card with this Christmas paper.  And I am super happy with my results!

The talented ladies over @ Retro Sketches have a wonderfully creative challenge this week.  Use any sketch from their archives!  and so I did!

I used a sketch from a few years back.  But just look at it!  Very sweet, and I love the curves and bow!  And yeah, I used my Sweet Christmas pattern paper from Tilda.

Recipe:  I used crumb cake card stock from Stampin' Up! as the card base.  They make this wonderful heavy weight card stock.  I cut a piece of the grey background busy pattern paper.  (This is two sided pattern paper.)  I matted it onto a piece of whisper white card stock, and did a simply border stitch.  I think if the sewn lines aren't straight it adds some character.  (Ok, I really can't sew a straight line. {frown})  

The other side of the ballerinas, and polar bears, is that sweet tiny floral pattern.  So, I used my Top Note die, and cut a strip of the tiny floral pattern paper.  

I took a strip of pink pirouette seam binding and a piece of white crochet trim and machine stitched them to the front of the card.  I did another simple stitch line for the top of the seam binding.  I thought it looked more tailored.

I cut the tag from one of the sheets of pattern paper.  Yeah, a whole sheet of different sizes of tags.  I inked my sentiment in Basic Gray classic ink and stamped on the tag.  I used Signature Greetings stamp set from Paper Trey Ink.  I just love the mix of fonts.  I really love that one word looks like hand writing.  (I know, I'm such a dork. {smile})

I tied a simple bow with more of the pink pirouette seam binding, and added a half pearl brad by Recollections, to the center of the bow and attached the bow to the tag.  I used a strip of foam tape to fill in the gap between the top of the seam binding/crochet trim and the card front.  So that the tag is flat and not caddy whom-pass.  (I hope that makes sense.)

For the final touch I added a trio of half faux pearls along the upper left corner.

Now, this Christmas paper doesn't look so holiday-ish.  That translates to more uses, and doesn't paint me in a corner, so to speak.  

I am happy you stopped by!  But, now I need to get back into my craft room and get some post cards made for my upcoming holiday arts and craft fairs.  I want to keep the postage on these 'post cards' to the minimum, and not have to put the cards in plastic sleeves.  So, we'll see how that goes.  Keep your fingers crossed!  And yeah, I'll post those, too!  

the Little Things

Happy Saturday!  I hope you are all well.  I'm busy just like usual.  But, I did carve out some quality crafting time.  The talented Paula over @ Our Creative Corner, have a creative sketch for you to play with this week.  When I first saw the sketch, I was a little intimidated.  But, hey, it's called a challenge, so here it goes:

Here is what I came up with:

I started working on this card, with the thought of creating a sweet card, that had a shabby chic feel to it.  I also wanted to add my own touches, without over doing it.  Here is the card recipe:

I used some of my favorite pattern papers.  The green pattern paper is Rose Garden by EP.  The two pink pattern papers are from the Lovely collection by Authentique.  The two different shades of pink paper is actually the opposite side of the two pink pattern papers.  I used my Top Note die from Stampin' Up! to cut the dark pink paper.  I used my Tasteful Trim die from Stampin' Up! to cut the light pink paper.  I ran my card through my sewing machine, and stitched along both edges of the pink floral pattern paper.

For the label piece, I used the decorative label die from the Lots of Tags die set, to cut the dark pink label piece.   The inner label piece is very vanilla card stock.   I stamped the flourish in crumb cake classic ink.  The flourish stamp came from the Established Elegance stamp set.  I then stamped the sentiment in basic black classic ink.  The sentiment is from the Little Things stamp set by Unity Stamps. 

I tied some cream twine from Paper Trey Ink, through a vintage button by Paper Trey Ink.

I had a scrap piece of cream dyed crochet trim along the lower edge.  I hand-dyed some seam binding with my Blush re-inker, by Paper Trey Ink.  I machine stitched these two trims together.  Then, I tied a multi-loop bow with the Blush seam binding.  I added a pearl brad by Recollections to the center of the bow.  I added a 'hand-crafted' tag to the trim.  

I hope the design team has inspired you, and you have a chance to play along with us @ OCC.

love it? This card can be purchased here

Bye-Bye Flower

I hope this Wednesday finds you well.  Me, I had a very productive day off.  So, I feel this new energy and I have found my creative spirit.  I need a day off from work, here and there to re-charge my batteries and get a chance to play 'catch-up' with chores.  So, I started my day-off, by creating this card.  I made some Candied Mix-Nut clusters, and several Pumpkin Cranberry Bread, for a Bake Sale at work, today.  I got some laundry done.  The kitchen is cleaned, as well as other house work.  I made a delicious home-cooked dinner.  And relaxed  during the evening, and watched some TV.  See, a day, to re-charge and take care of some chores!

Now, for a little creativity!  The Design Team, over @ Stampin' Queens Sketch Challenge, have been busy creating some very inspirational cards for you!  So, why don't you join us in another wonderful week of creativity!

Here is this weeks sketch:

Here is my card:

It's May, and so there are quite a few products that are retiring from Stampin' Up!.  I just love this DSP!  We all had an opportunity to purchase the Everyday Enchantment DSP.  The stamp set that I used for this card, Notably Ornate, is on the retiring list, too.   I used the Top Note die to create the fancy rectangle piece.  I used the scallop circle die to create the 'flower'.  I used Pure Poppy card stock for the largest scallop circle.  I made an accordion flower using the First Edition DSP.  The smaller scallop circle was created with the Everyday Enchantment DSP.  I stamped the bird in Pool Party classic ink and fussy cut.  I punched two tiny flowers and added them to the bird, using a brown brad.  The sentiment was stamped in Soft Suede classic ink onto a piece of very vanilla card stock cut into a banner shape.

Thank you for looking.  I hope you have found some inspiration, and join us this week, in our sketch challenge @ Stampin' Queens Sketch Challenge.

My friend

Happy Friday!  And that means that its time for another blog hop!  The wonderfully talented Tammy B. has designed this weeks sketch @ Sketch Frenzy Friday,  and we would love for you to play along with us.

Here is the sketch:

One of the things that I love about SFF, is that they want you to use your Stampin' Up! supplies.  And I think that its good when we are encouraged to use what we have.

Here is my card:

As you can see, I have used some of my favorite SU! supplies.  Crumb Cake is the card base.  I took a piece of very Vanilla cardstock and ran it through my vintage wall paper embossing folder.  I like how it gives the cardstock some dimension and depth.  The pattern paper is new.   I used the top note die to create the shape.  I wrapped a piece of the vanilla velvet ribbon around the card.  I created a bow with the same ribbon and attached it to the card front with a vintage brad.  The stamped piece was created with the perfect punches stamp set.  It was stamped in Pure Poppy classic ink and then the shape was created with a hand held punch: curly label.  I used foam tape on the back of the punched piece and viola!  Easy Peasy, and Beautiful!

Thank you for looking, now the next design team member is Tammy B. so don't forget to hop on over to her blog!  And don't forget to play along with us!

The Wonder of Weaving @ OCC

Jen, from Our Change of Art, is our hostess this week @ Our Creative Corner challenge blog.  Jen, has challenged us, to add some type of weaving to our card/project.  I tell ya, these girls are super creative! and they challenge me every week.  So, here is what I came up with:

I wanted to use some 'different' colors this time.  Alot of folks are using pinks, and yellows, and bright colors.  I guess everyone is pretty tired of the snow and cold weather.  Anyways, I chose a neutral color palette.  The black and cream pattern paper is a scrap, but I think its a paper studio piece, from one of those big box craft stores.  The rest of the supplies are from Stampin' Up!: 

Stamp set:  Water Color Trio

Cardstock: Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, and Old Olive. and First Edition DSP.

Classic Ink: Basic Black, Marina Mist, and Old Olive

Tools: leaves die, beautiful wings die, top note die,  2 step bird punch, scallop circle punch, and the 1 1/4" circle punch.

I used a shaped die to cut-out the 'window', which was placed crooked on purpose (but now you can't see).  I then punched out some leaves, and put them into the weaved lattice I made with strips of Very Vanilla card stock.  I punched my flowers out with the scallop circle punch and circle punch, and rolled the flowers.  I sponged the tips of the 'petals' with Old Olive classic ink.  I was going to use a pink color, but then I changed my mind, and decided to go with the green.  I added some half pearl jewels to the center of the flowers.   I used a stylus to create the 'vein' in the leaves. (those didn't photograph very well.)  I sponged some Marina Mist classic ink on the wings of the butterflies to give them definition.   Here is a close-up of my weaved card stock pieces:

Well, thank you for looking!  And if you have a few free moments this weekend, you should play along with our new challenge over at Our Creative Corner challenge blog.  We would love to see what you made!  And don't forget to stop by Jen's wonderfully creative blog Our Change of Art.  You'll be glad that you did!