Ruffles & Ribbons

Ruffles are a girl's best friend!  Welcome.  I am creating for the Shabby Tea Room today.  I have won a guest designer spot with these fabulously ladies this week, for my win, posted here.   I have been a fan of this challenge team for quite a few years.   I have played along with them from time to time.  But this year has been a wonderful year for me.  I have found direction in my paper crafting.  I have also found more time to craft.  Which has allowed me to express my passion in this craft.  I truly love the whole process of paper crafting.  And it gives me pleasure, when I see my final product.  Which, I'm sure alot of you can relate to.  

This week, over @ the Shabby Tea Room the ladies have a wonderfully inspiring photo and challenge.

they also ask that you use: pink, green, ruffles and ribbon.  Sounds easy, sounds pretty, and I hope it is delightful {smile}.  So, use this gorgeous inspirational photo, the requirements, and CREATE!

Using pink, green, ribbon, and ruffles, this is what I created.  I hope you find it beautiful.  I'm pretty happy with this card.  At first glance, you can see, this card is 'clean and simple' for me.  I love layers, I love lots of embellishments.  So, when I saw this inspirational photo, I knew that I wanted to keep it 'simple'.  

To start, I used a lovely pink polka dot floral pattern paper and a vintage green houndstooth pattern paper.  To help add some interest and requirement, I created a box pleat with the text paper.  But I wanted to add some softness.  So, I did a quick rouching with a cream grosgrain ribbon.  Then wrapped some pale pink crinkled seam binding around the card front.  I'm a super fan of multi-loop bow, so I added one, and I distressed a floral button to the center of the bow.

I love shabby/vintage type paper prints, embellishments and trim.  To keep with the whole over-all look, I added a strip of vintage floral tickets to the side of the card front.  I fussy cut this strip of tickets and sponged crumb cake classic ink along all the cut edges. 

Personally, I cherish family and friends, and at times I think I'm a hopeless romantic.  So, this great stamp set, Love Lives Here, from Paper Trey Ink, is a wonderful collection of sentiment stamps.  The sentiment stamp that I used on the label, is one of my favorite.  To stay with the theme and sentiment, I added a resin heart, from Melissa Frances.

I machine stitched a border around the whole card.  I think this little addition adds some home-made character.  

At a quick glance, this card looks simple.  But with a second look, you'll see the added feminine touches, the touches of softness, and the sweetness of a home-spun quality.  I know that I, along with this fabulous design team, over @ the Shabby Tea Room would love to  see what you create!

love this card? you can purchase it, in my Etsy shop, here

Mixing Pattern Papers

Thank you for stopping by today.  I've been a bit busy behind the scenes.  (that translates to me creating stuff that I can't share yet.)  and well, it has put a kink in my routine.

I am the sketch creator over @ Sketch Frenzy Friday this week.  And, I based my sketch on a card I had created several weeks ago.  I just didn't post it.  I'm kinda weird about posting photos of my grandkids on my blog, and the card has a photo of my oldest granddaughter at last years ballet recital.

Anyways, here is the sketch:

I think it's easy to work with.  But, maybe it's because I created it?  The circle can be changed to any shape.  Make it match your theme.  The rectangle can be a large stamped piece, or pattern paper.  You can add more to the sketch, too.  Maybe add a scallop trim border just under your ribbon/seam binding.

I just love mixing pattern papers.  I used paper from two different packages.  The houndstooth and the advertisement paper are both from the new Ectetera DSP and the white text on the black background is from the Modern Medley DSP.  I love how they work so wonderfully together.  I also used a new vanilla button.  I love this collection of buttons.

I matted the light blue pattern paper on very vanilla card stock.  I machine stitched around the whole piece.  I added crumb cake seam binding, and yes, added  multi-loop bow.

I matted the advertisement pattern paper onto a scrap piece of old olive cardstock.  The stacked circle is tucked under this piece.  I tied some linen thread through the button and adhered it to the text circle.

I inked the sentiment in basic black classic ink, and stamped right on the pattern paper.  This is a new hostess stamp set: express yourself.

Thank you for looking.  I hope that you have been inspired to play along with us this week over @ SFF.  Remember, you can use whatever products you have on hand.  The design team uses Stampin' Up! products {smile}.

this card is available for purchase, in my Etsy shop, here

Shabby Sweets

I'm not usually fond of Mondays.  It's basically bitter-sweet for me.  You see, I don't work weekends or Tuesdays.  So, Monday, is basically a lone work day.  But this Monday, is especially wonderful to me! No, I don't have the day off.  I am a guest Designer @ the Shabby Tea Room {smile}!  How fabulous is that?  I know!

Well, over this past year, a few design teams I was on, changed owners or shut down, which opened some of my free time.  And as a paper crafter, if you have extra 'free' time, that just means you make more stuff for family, friends, and yourself.  So, I have been doing more paper crafting, and it has given me 'time' to actually play along with some of the challenge sights that I use to just visit.  

I earned the guest designer spot this week @ the Shabby Tea Room, from my win in their Challenge #164, found here.  That inspiration board had beautiful spring flowers and some canning jars.  I made my mom's Mother's Day card using their inspiration photo.   That card was alot of fun to create.  I was super excited when I found out that I won, and then I was even more excited to be asked to be a guest designer.  I have to admit, I mostly paper craft for myself.  I truly find joy in the whole process of creating.  But, when someone loves your stuff/work so much that they comment, purchase, and/or ask you to create something for them, well, it's pretty intoxicating.

Ok, enough of my blah, blah, blah.  Let's get to this weeks challenge, over @ the Shabby Tea Room! The super talented ladies, have come up with this great inspirational photo.  They ask that you use: blue, pink, white, and flowers.  

Sweet As Sugar

This has got to be the cutest cupcake ever!  (And yes, I bake, too!)  The colors are soft and sweet.  I just love the polka dot paper, the pink sanding sugar on the pillow of frosting, and that delicate pink rose. Yum!  I hope you get inspired! I sure did!

I didn't have any restrictions as to what products/companies I can use.  So, I basically used stuff from everyone.  This card, is basically a mish mosh of the collection of products I have. All the paper pieces (pattern and solid) came from scrap box.  (It's a box that originally held a case of printer paper reams.)

The card base is crumb cake cardstock from Stampin' Up!.  I love this stuff.  The paper is basically kraft.  But the weight and coloration is excellent.  I used whisper white card stock to matt the main panel on.  I really wanted to accentuate the white pattern in the main panel.  The main aqua blue panel is Be Amazing from Mind Mind's Eye.  I just adore the softness of the aqua -blue shade and the pattern is easy to coordinate.  The bold pink polka dot pattern paper, is from Lost & Found 2 Blush collection, is cut to 1 1/2" wide and flagged at the end with a square punch.  

For the middle panel, I used pink pirouette cardstock, from Stampin' Up! as my base for this.  I matted a piece of that beautiful floral print pattern paper from Lost & Found 2 Blush collection to it.  I just adore this floral paper.  It has pink roses on it, in various shades of pink, everything from light to dark pink.  The aqua leaves on the pattern paper is just gorgeous.  The white lace trim I added, has an unfinished side, so I machine stitched that, so it would be all gross, with jagged pieces poking through.  Then, I machine stitched a strip of Aqua Mist satin ribbon, from Paper Trey Ink, to the card front.  This aqua color goes so well with the aqua-blues in the card.  I created a bow through a rhinestone buckle and adhered that to the card front.  I really loved the sparkle from the sanding sugar in the inspirational photo, so I really wanted to add some sparkle to my card.  I tied a white Paper Trey Ink vintage button with some pool party bakers twine from Stampin' Up!, and added it to the other end of the satin ribbon.  I love how this little addition really balances the card.  To create the tiny tag on the button, I used a sentiment from the fancy flexible phrases stamp set and jewelry tag punch, both from Stampin' Up! 

For the collection of tickets/tags, I used two different digital downloads: vintage tickets and shabby tickets, found here.  I fussy cut them out and layered them on top of each other.  I used foam tape behind the cupcake ticket to lift it off the card front.

The paper blossoms were hand-made.  I used three colors of cardstock to create the progression of blossom's color: whisper white, pink pirouette and rose red, from Stampin' Up!  I used the vintage floret dies from Heartfelt Creations.  I used my foam pad and stylis to create depth to the petals.  The petals are held together with a pale aqua-blue brad.  Once assembled, I sponged blushing bride classic ink to the tips of the petals.  Then, all the petals received a brushing of picket fence distressing paint, from Ranger, and a dunk into my tub of dazzling diamond glitter, from Stampin' Up!.  I created the leaves with aqua mist card stock, from Paper Trey Ink, and sponged Juniper classic ink, from Close To My Heart, over the leaf tips.

And finally I added a lone half pearl from Melissa Frances to each of the corners.  I thought this little addition would help soften the whole look of the card, and help pull some of the whites forward.

Thank you so much for stopping by today.  I hope the design team has inspired you to play along this week over @ TSTR.  I know the ladies would love to see what you create with this week's fabulously yummy inspirational photo!

this card is for sale in my Etsy shop

Pennant Baby

Have I mentioned that I love the new in colors from Stampin' Up!?  I just love the soft and pretty colors.  I used some of the new colors earlier this week, and continued with today's card.  The talented Robbie, over @ Sketch Frenzy Friday has a wonderful sketch for you to try this week.

I love how versatile these sketches are.  I remember how overwhelmed I would feel, when I looked at sketches.  I didn't always know where to start.  So, I always feel some sort of obligation to help you 'see' the sketch.  Thank you for your patience.   For the 'star' see an object, like a blossom, a butterfly, or a star.  For the 'banner' piece think a sentiment piece.  As for the three lines across the card front, think of ribbon, scallop trims, ruffles, a torn edge, or any other type of divide.

The card base is crumb cake card stock.  The main panel is soft sky and natural ivory cardstock.  I didn't have any new pattern paper, so I made my own, so to speak.  I used the ledger stamp from The Open Sea stamp set, to create a little visual interest to the soft sky cardstock.  I also used some white embossing powder to heat emboss the flourish from the Everything Eleanor stamp set.  I used the Needlepoint Embossing folder to create the faux stitching and scallop trim border.

I made my own pennants.  I used the polka dot embossing folder and the houndstooth embossing folder, floral stamp, music notes wheel, and the text wheel, to create the different pieces.  I matted the pennant in crumb cake and used the natural ivory scallop pennant.  I used calypso coral bakers twine to hang the pennants across the card front.

I stamped a polka dot frame in soft sky.  I love how soft this blue is.  I stamped the flower onto crisp cantaloupe cardstock and heat embossed it.  I used foam tape to lift the blossom off the card.  

I stamped the banner with the itsy bitty banners stamp set, in soft suede classic ink.  I fussy cut the banner out.  I matted it onto a scrap piece of soft sky card stock.  

I hope we have inspired you to play along with us @ SFF.  We all have different styles, but that doesn't mean one is wrong or right.  Just different, and hopefully inspiring.  Play along, use our sketch, and lets see what you create!

with Love

The summer is off to a quick pace again.  I hope you get a chance to slow down and relax.  Me, it has been a whirlwind of weddings, graduation parties, baby showers, and cocktail parties.  Whew, I'm tired just thinking about what all I had to attend last week {smile}!

And you know I carved out some crafting time.  Some days its harder to get my mojo moving, and it only gets worse, if I'm tired.  But the talented ladies over @ Nacho Average Challenge have a sketch for you to try your hand at.

here is the sketch:

Before you get frustrated or lost, just take the sketch apart.  Sometimes its easier to see it in pieces and not a 'whole'.  For the orange half circle, think a large shape, like a top note.  Or a decorative edge with a creative cut.  Then for the teal label, think 'label'.  A sentiment 'box', a tag, some place to add a sentiment or a decorative piece.  Don't forget, you can also rotate the sketch.  Now, let your creativity soar, and let's see what you create.

here is what I made:

First things first, I rotated the sketch 90 degrees.  Crumb cake cardstock, goes with anything.  Have I mentioned that I love this color!  The card base is crumb cake.  The main panel is very vanilla cardstock.  I stamped the Ex Libris background stamp in coastal cabana classic ink.  I love how this panel gives you some visual interest without distracting.  I wanted to add some text paper, and I just now realized that first edition dsp was retired.  A bit shocking to me.  So, I made my own text paper.  I used very vanilla cardstock.  I stamped en francias in basic black classic ink.  I did the 'tap' technique so some of the words would be faint and/or missing.  I matted the text onto crisp cantaloupe cardstock.  

For my half circle piece, I added a doily.  I just love these things.  So feminine and a beautiful addition. I just love the seam binding, and really wanted to add this beautiful 'ribbon'.  So, I wrapped a piece of very vanilla seam binding around the card front, and tied it into a multi-loop bow.  I just love the new clay molds that Stampin' Up! has come out with.  So, I made the button with some clay, and tied it to the center of the bow with some linen thread.

I wanted to add some flowers, but I don't want my followers/readers to get bored with my hand made paper blossoms.  I stamped the blossoms from the Fabulous Florets stamp set in versa mark ink.  I did some masking, heat embossed some blossoms onto shimmer card stock and color washed the flowers.  I used crisp cantaloupe re inker for the 'paint'.  I then set them a side to dry.  Once dry, I fussy cut them out.  I used some foam tape to pop them off the card front.  

For my 'label' piece, I did a sentiment piece.  I stamped a frame from four frames stamp set in basic black classic ink, onto a scrap piece of very vanilla cardstock.  I used a sentiment from the Field Flowers stamp set, and tucked this 'label' into my multi-loop bow.

Thank you for stopping by.  I hope that we have inspired you to play along with us @ NAC.  The design team uses Stampin' Up! products, but remember, you can use what you have on hand.  But, if you see something you just love, you can shop at my Stampin' Up! store 24/7!  A link is on the right hand side of my blog.

love this card? purchase it here

Gingham

I just wanted to share a card I made this morning.  I used some of the new products in the Stampin' Up! Big Idea & Catalog.  I was surprised when so many wonderful stamp supplies retired.  But, after looking through the new catalog, I know room was created for more wonderful stamping supplies.

I held a class this morning to show some of these new products off, and to give some of my hints and tips.

Here is the card we made:

I just LOVE the new incolors.  They are soft, sweet shades of some of the prettiest colors.  So, that just makes them super easy to work with.  The new stamp set I used is very versatile.  Easy to work with.  And then there are some of my favorites: a wheel, and a gorgeous new button!

I used some of my favorite products that are still current.  I just love the kraft colored cardstock, called Crumb Cake.  The color goes with jsut about everything!  So, I used the cardstock as the card's base and again as a matt for the polka dot embossed piece.  I really wanted to help tie the color in, so I also used the same color in classic ink for the polka dot frame.
Two new in colors that I also used are: Baked Brown Sugar and Crisp Cantaloupe. 
I used two different label-type stamps: four frames and label love and layered them.
The polka dot frame was stamped in crumb cake classic ink.  A large oval was punched from baked brown sugar cardstock, to create the center of the frame.  I stamped the label love in crisp cantaloupe and stamped the same stamp in the baked brown sugar.  I fussy cut the sentiment bar and adhered it to the center of the label with foam tape.
The gingham strip is actually a wheel stamp.  I inked the wheel in baked brown sugar classic ink, and stamped on a strip of very vanilla cardstock.  I used a square punch to create the banner end.
I used my favorite crochet trim across the middle.  I tied one of these new buttons onto the card front with some calypso coral bakers twine. 

Thank you for stopping by!  I am adding two more crafting classes to my calendar.  So, if you are in the Albuquerque area, and are interested, please attend a class!  Stop by tomorrow, to see a list of new classes during the summer.