The Shabby Tea Room Challenge - Part Deux

The Shabby Tea Room is hosting a totally cute challenge this week which I have already played this week :0) However, through this challenge I discovered the "No Time to Stamp" site - which I have been haunting a bit this weekend! I am so enjoying Sharon Johnson's card making style - I love the way she uses patterned paper and I LOVE her gorgeous bows.

So using the inspiration from the Shabby Tea Room - I wanted to try and make a card inspired by the challenge - and Sharon Johnson, just because I have enjoyed her inspiration so much ...

I need to practise some more :0) But I enjoyed doing this for something a little different!

A touch of prisma glitter to accent the rose ... and a patterned paper shabby-style card!

Thanks to the wonderful ladies who inspire - and make challenges and fun times possible! It is so sincerely appreciated!

Thanks for stopping in! Have a truly wonderful day!

P.S. This is my second post for today (gasp!) I played the Moxie Fab Fabric Challenge and posted that one earlier ... :0)

I also just discovered that I was chosen as an honourable mention for my previous submission to The Shabby Tea Room - I just want to say thank you so much to the ladies at the Tea Room for that, I am truly honoured!

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Materials: Designer Paper - K & Co, Pearls - Kaiser; Stamps - (Dots - Papertrey, Flourish - Fancy Pants); Ribbon - Unknown

Baby Blankie - Moxie Fab Fabric Challenge

Hi everyone! The Moxie Fab blog has been holding a challenge this month, to use fabric on a card or other project in an innovative way. Kim Kesti came up with all sorts of scrumptious ideas for us to play with!

I have been enjoying the last issue of PaperCrafts "Go to Sketches" magazine. On page 18 there is a cute little sketch created by Teri Anderson that every time I see, I think of a little baby with a bow in her hair peeking out from under a blankie ... so that's where the challenge took me :0)

The little baby slides out - using her barette ...

so you can see her little dolly face :0) And on the back she has a sentiment for the new parents ...

I had lots of fun trying to think outside the box on this one - and appreciated the challenge! Thank you!

Thanks for stopping in! I hope your day is full of love and inspiration -

Best wishes :0)

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Materials List: Cardstock, Ink, Buttons, Stamps (Fanciful Flourishes, Beautiful Blooms II, Baby Button Bits, Signature Greetings) - Papetrey Ink; Designer Paper - Basic Grey (Attractive from the Sugared Collection); Flourish Die Cut - Provo Craft; Oval and Circular Nestabilities - Spellbinders; Pearls - Kaiser; Sun, Heart, Circle Punches - Marvy Uchida and Unknown; Versamark Ink; Embossing Powder - Stampendous; Inksentials White Pen - Ranger; Vintage Rose Ink - Ranger; Chalk Ink - Clearsnap, Chalks - Craf-T Products; Copic Marker; White and Pink Satin and Sheer Ribbon - Offray; Fabric; Lace and Thread

Red, White (& Green?)

Hellooooo Peeps! First off - thank you to Lori who is filling in to post a challenge for the Peeps this week :0) Great challenge Lori!

I also wanted to play in another challenge - hosted by Sharon Johnson at "No Time To Stamp" (Who are also sponsoring the Shabby Tea Room Challenge this week!) And I'm so glad they are because that's how I found the No Time to Stamp site - with all that delicious yummy ribbon and beautiful DP! Inspiring!

Lori challenged us to use Red and Green in a non-Christmas card. Sharon challenged her players to use the colours of their country's flag - I'm in Canada, which limits me to red and white only (so my card cheats a tiny bit!).

I originally had a glorious confection in mind and headed into my craft room - only to find that the patterned papers I thought I had weren't there?! So weird. Did I dream them? See them on someone else's blog-o? I really don't know. LOL anyway - all was not lost and here is the rather-different-than-planned CAS card that came out of my dilemma in the end!

As you can see I added in some smokey shadow and black ink too (but they're neutrals - so they're allowed right ? ;0)

I always love adding in a 'detail' shot - but I don't know that this one adds a lot to what you can and can't see :0) It has been really overcast here for 3 days - so I'm glad to see the shine on those pearls anyway :0)

I hope you're all having a super Friday - and that you have a beautiful weekend planned!

Happy Memorial Day to all of those Peeps in the U.S.A.!

(Materials - Stamps, Cardstock, Ink - Papertrey Ink; Ribbon - Offray; Pearls - Kaiser)

Pink Polka Dotty Tea Party

I have seen so many people playing along at the Shabby Tea Room - and I just LOVE the name of that site. I truly appreciate Rachel Ashwell's contribution to interior decorating - and I'm passionate about tea. A match made in heaven :0)

Although the site doesn't require Shabby Chic style cards, I wanted to try and create one. This week (challenge 11) the theme was a  Polka Dot Tea Party - isn't that fun?

So I pulled out my PTI and a couple of stamp sets from Hero Arts and went to work :0)

I started with a vine image on my base layer - followed by the polka dots and a text stamp on the upper layer. The teapot is spritzed with Glimmer Mist for a little extra dimension, the vellum flowers have silk embroidered roses as centres, the butterflies have a sprinkle of glitter and I used sheer ribbon, to keep things light.

Materials: Cardstock, Ink, Flourish, Tin Types, Polka Dot, Vine, Teapot, Leaf and Butterfly Stamps, Button, Flower Dies - Papertrey Ink; Label Stamp - Waltzingmouse Stamps; Sentiment and Text Stamp - Hero Arts; Label Die - Spellbinders; Punch - Martha Stewart; Glimmer Mist - Tattered Angels; Chalk Ink - Clearsnap; Vintage Ink - Ranger; Rhinestones and Pearls - Kaiser; Ribbon - Offray; Glitter - Stampendous; Other - Thread; Silk Ribbon - Source Unknown

I overstamped the sentiment with a flourish and a hint of the Tin Types background as well. Some rhinestones and pearls rounded off the design :0)

This was a REAL challenge. I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to play along and stretch my comfort zone! A big Thank You to the ladies who make this possible.

Thanks to everyone for popping in! I hope you are being blessed by a wonderful day :0)

Papertrey May Blog Hop Challenge

Hi Everyone! Time for another round of shared Blog-land inspiration :0) As you know our challenge this month was to use felt - and it was left wide open as to how, where and on what!

I had so many ideas - napkin rings, vintage Christmas ornaments, tea cosies and cushions ... but ended up pulling out a project which isn't actually new.

I made this Activity Book for my children about 12 years ago and it lived in their bag of  assorted 'things to play with and do' for about 5 years. It has travelled extensively and has been well-loved, and well washed - so you may notice a few frayed ends :0)

The felt pieces were either appliqued, or applied with velcro - depending on the activity...

The book followed an alphabetic theme as well .... (This braiding page was one of my favourites to make :0)

Notice the eyelets - more crafting supplies coming to the rescue!

Oh to have had my PTI Beautiful Blooms dies when this page was made! The flowers come off and are meant to be matched with the outlines below ....

Although this page doesn't contain a lot of felt, I popped it in - all those buttons - anyone else out there have tons of buttons :0) ??

All of her facial features are mounted onto velcro and are removable, so are her earrings. The writing was created with liquid paint. The book contains many more activities - tying a ribbon, doing buttons, zippers and buckles, an unbreakable mirror, a clock with moveable hands, textures, opposites and shape matching....etc.

On a smaller scale does anyone else remember "Fuzzy Felt"? I notice that they are now carrying a card line - interactive cards for little people. Some PTI dies and some felt - and a card with a 'moveable picture' for the smaller folk is quite manageable with our supplies too!

I'm a terrible hoarder of bits and pieces and thought I needed to create one current project for this hop - so I made a card. The felt flower on this card is made from left over scraps from this self same book project, all these many, many years later :0) (Maybe I shouldn't admit that!!)

This card is CASE'd from a Betsy Veldman card in the last issue of Papercrafts Mag's  "Go To Sketches". The sketch was created by Jessica Witty. I really loved Betsy's card so much and enjoyed making my own version of it.

The damask designs have been 'kissed' with text to give them a more vintage appearance.

Materials: Cardstock, Button, Stamps, Patterned Paper, Ink - All Papertrey Ink; Labels Die - Spellbinders; Adhesive - Aleene's Tacky Glue; Pearls - Kaiser; Vintage Text Paper

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop in! Sorry this post has soooooo many pics and is so long. I know that Hop Nights are always overwhelming with so many gorgeous places to go to!

Have a totally fabulous evening - with TONS of inspiration :0)! See you there!

Masculine Card

Well, here is another shot at the dreaded 'guy card' thing. Somehow or another with all of the luverly goodies available to put onto cards, trying to leave them OFF for the guys is another kind of talent altogether! I must admit that this was inspired by Ted Mattos again - who just keeps his guy inspiration comin'. Thanks Ted!

I'm really enjoying cutting out leaves for some odd reason at the moment. (Yeah, I have another card on the burner - with more cropped leaves to debut here shortly :0)

I stuck the large leaf spray to the base cardstock, but popped the smaller spray up on pop dots for some dimension. I do like the way that it turned out.

Materials: Cardstock, Leaf, Sentiment, Text Stamps, Buttons, Twine, Green Ink - Papertrey Ink; Woodgrain Stamp - Hero Arts; Distress Ink - Ranger, Brads - Making Memories; Ribbon - Offray; Dimensional Dots - EK Success

I stamped a little bit of Text Style over my woodgrain background for some added interest and added a couple of brads for more dimension and interest in the top right hand corner.

Thanks for the thoughts from those people who sent them regarding my husband's potential business partner. We spent a few really wonderful days with this man and his wife and made 2 new friends - whom we hope we will see as a more regular part of our lives - business wise. But whom we will go and visit no matter what they decide to do in the future - we just enjoyed them so much :0) We have had a truly blessed time.

Hope your weekend is progressing well. Counting down days to the PTI bloghop here - are your projects ready :0)!!??

Best wishes to you all!

Blue Butterflies...

Hello Peeps!

We are waiting for someone to arrive - who may be interested in working as a business partner with my hunkadorus - which would be a REAL answer to prayer for us here! Sorry not to have visited with you at your blog yet - I'll be there soon!

Here is another card I made while we were away - all with Hero Arts Stamps.

The large butterfly image was originally brought out as a digi stamp (I posted a pic of a card using the digi image here. (That was before PTI cardstock and inks - ooooh, I don't miss those days at all :0)!!! Now the image has been incorporated into a set of clear, etching style stamps - all quite delicious! Yummo!

I coloured the image using a combo of chalks and Prismacolors. It was then heat embossed with a kaleidoscope embossing powder - the end result yielded an image that is almost holographic - quite cool! Don't you love it when an experiment turns out well?!

Materials: Cardstock, Ink, Buttons - Papertrey Ink; Stamps - Hero Arts; Ribbon - Offray; Chalks - Craf-t products; Pencils - Prismacolors; Embossing Powder - Stampendous

The small butterflies and vine images are also stamped. I stitched everything together to try and add a little texture to the design - which is quite geometric.

Thanks for popping in! Hope you have a very goodly kind of day :0)

Happy Tuesday :0)

Helloooo Peeps! We're back - safe and sound (I never take that blessing for granted!) Also, my hunkadorus got himself a fish - and I made a few cards ... life is good!! :0)

Back to the vellum flowers as you can see (heeee!)

Materials - Cardstock, Ink Floral, Label and Leaf Stamps, Button, Ink - Papertrey Ink, Sentiment - Hero Arts; Ribbon - Offray, Dies - Spellbinders; Distress Ink - Ranger

Some trimmed leaves, a bit of stitching and ribbon ... I enjoyed making this one!

And I also re-visited a card, which I thought I'd share if it's interesting to anyone -

The last time I made this one - I made it without the leaves - but actually, I think I may prefer it with the 'leaves on'??!

What do you think??

I can't believe what my fellow Peeps have been up to while I've been away - Carol was featured on the Moxie Fab blog - as one of their "Trigger Targets" - Peggysue has been chosen as a DT member for "Mark's Finest Papers" :0)

So much can happen in a week!! Well done ladies - I'm thrilled for you and so proud to be part of such a talented group!!

Thanks for stopping in - I hope that you're being blessed by a beautiful day today!

Dogwood Thank You (Scheduled Post)

Hi Peeps! How is the PTI countdown going?? Have you seen the new colour yet? I can't believe I'm missing the whole thing :0(

Here is a quickie that I thought I'd share, using a Hero Arts stamp. Really simple one.

 

I stamped the image once onto green and once onto white cardstock. The image on the green, I added colouring to the leaves, on the white I added some pink to the flowers and cut them out.

The flowers are popped up on 3D dots and the centres are accented with micro beads.

The sentiment is also Hero Arts and the card is finished off with a row of 'rick rack' peeking out of the bottom edge - cut with a PTI die.

Thanks for popping in! I'm so looking forward to being back in 'real time' :0)

P.S. I snuck in and had a peek just before leaving and caught the first reveal post on a few blogs - so I do know that the new colour is green :0) I was hoping for lime - wooohoooo!

I'm Here For You (Scheduled Post)

I made this card with the Papertrey Ink Anniversary set for 2009. I can't believe how many wonderful sentiments were included with this one! I love it when you have what you need to say, right at your fingertips.

I kept the colours on this one very subtle.

Curving the sentiment around the focal point was an idea I got from Diane Jaquay. (Thanks Diane!)

I'm away until the 17th.

Hope you're having a great day! I'll see you then! :0)

Masculine Get Well

A very dear friend of our family's was suddenly taken very ill and hospitalised recently. He is now back home again and doing very well. He has a fabulous sense of humour and I wanted to give him a 'get well with a grin' - and turned to this great stamp set by Lisa Johnson.

As it turns out Moxie Fab World is hosting a chair challenge at the moment called "Three Cheers for Chairs" - to use chairs in a creative way.

Well, I think Lisa did the thinking for me - but here is my take :0)

I tried to keep the card fairly simple and masculine - our friend is a real manly guy. I used a scor-bug on the background, embossed the white writing and used a row of buttons threaded with jute as the only decoration.

I wanted the sofa to look a little shabby - so made hatch marks on it. It's also not meant to look as inviting and comfy as a sofa can be. In fact - it's downright BORING! It is popped up on 3D dots to help highlight it - but only outlined in a grey Copic, to give it some shape. All this so it contrasts with the sofa and message......

Materials: Cardstock, Stamps, Ink, Twine - Papertrey Ink; Deckle and Rectangle Dies - Spellbinders; Alphabet Dies - Provo Craft; Scor-Tool and Scor-Bug; Versamark; Embossing Powder - Stampendous; Pearls - Kaiser; Corner Rounder and 3D Dots  - EK Success; Copic Marker

.....on the inside. Which was the funkiest image of the sofa included in the set :0) The decorative pillow has also been stamped with a woodgrain pattern that gives it a bit of a corduroy feel to it!

I'm hoping that he'll catch the play on words - we all think about a couch day as a day of relaxing. We're hoping he'll do that - but also 'make like a couch' and 're-cover' too :0)

Thanks for stopping in! (And thanks to Ted Mattos for all of his advice in the PTI forum and his blog about what men do and don't like on their cards So far on his blog he has Part 1 and Part 2 :0)

Hope you have some lovely weekend plans on the go - and a Very Happy Mother's Day for tomorrow, to all you Mums out there!

Moxie Fab Trigger Tuesday

This week's Tuesday Trigger really was a funny experience for me. I have had a little piece of green paper - stamped with polka dots, sitting in my craft room for 2 weeks. It was meant to go onto a project I had in mind ... but then things changed (like they sometimes do :0) and I sat with this pretty spring moss rectangle that just made me feel good when I looked at it - but with no place to call home!

So when I saw this gorgeous, HAPPY, purse picture (above) submitted by Nina Brackett for the Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger, I thought the little green rectangle could have a card to call it's own...(its the one on the top :0)

(Incidentally, don't you find Spring Moss and Hibiscus Burst the two most difficult colours to photograph? Aaaaagh!)

Anyhoo ... The Spring Moss is stamped with Versamark, the Ripe Avocado initially with white and then with Spring Moss to give a more green hue to the spots. The flowers were punched with a daisy punch and the petals were snipped in half to try and make them more dainty. 

Materials: Cardstock, Polk Dot Stamps, Ink, Ribbon - Papertrey Ink; Clear Tile Stickers - EK Success; Sentiment Stamp - Hero Arts; Flourish Stamp - Fancy Pants; Large Daisy Punch - Marvy Uchida; Small Daisy - Family Treasures; Glossy Accents - Ranger; Versamark

The zig zag flower centres were stamped with an image from PTI's Beautiful Blooms. The centres were punched with circle punches and then covered with tile stickers. 

I stamped the sentiment onto the ribbon with Versamark and heat embossed the image to keep the focus on the flowers and added a swirl in Versamark ink to the base of the card.

It was important to Nina, that the bag which she had chosen as the Trigger, was handmade. The stitching around the edge of my card was in tribute to this sentiment.

Thank you so much for popping around! I hope you are having a delicious Friday - the weekend is coming up Peeps!! Woohoooo! :0)

Mother's Day Card

Hello Everyone! How is this week treating you?

This weekend celebrates that wonderful day known as Mother's Day - I hope for all of you Mums out there that you will be spoiled rotten :0)

I was so taken by this card, which Anya made the other day. It inspired me to make something completely different for a Mother's Day card, which I wanted to share with you....

I really liked the stamp set which Anya was showcasing - but my craft money this month went to the tax man (booohoooo!) so I turned to the "Take a Bough" stamp set from PTI to do my interpretation.

The flowers are stamped with a little blossom from "Honey Bee" (also an oldie) and I then set about embellishing the card with little French Knots.

Cardstock, Ribbon, Ink, Stamps, Scallop Die - Papertrey Ink; Floss - DMC

I finished off the stitching with a few dots done with a Pale Olive Copic marker, to add a bit of life to the card, and a handwritten style sentiment - that to me is what it is all meant to be about :0)

Hoping you're having a good one, and enjoying the lovely days around you!

My heart and thoughts out to those people who have been affected by the terrible flooding in the United States. I'm absolutely awed at the volume of water that you are dealing with and truly hope that you and your loved ones are safe!

Avocado and Turquoise

My last post ended with this picture...which I found so gorgeously yummy!

This photo was posted on "A Creative Mint" and was found in the 1 June 2009 blog post.

I hadn't originally planned on creating a card for this picture - but ended up finding it soooooo inspiring, and posting in on my blog in the last post, felt like the last straw - it just HAD to be played with.....

So here is my interpretation:

This was a LOT of fun! I ended up applying sequins to the scalloped edge - and filling the holes with Platinum Stickles for some real blingy-bling-bling :0) The spring moss flourishes are also glittered! I know this has yet ANOTHER vellum flower on it - it seems to be a phase I'm going through. (Maybe I'll grow out of it one day .... or just run out of vellum :0) Heee!

Materials: Cardstock, Scallop and Flower Dies, Damask  and Flourish Stamp, Ink - Papertrey Ink; Gold Leafing Pen - Marvy Uchida; Glitter - Stampendous; Ribbon - Michaels; Brad - Making Memories; Label Die - Spellbinders; Sentiment Stamp - Hero Arts; Stickles - Ranger

There is a bit of detail added with a gold leafing pen to tie in with the gold embossing around the flower.

Thanks for stopping in! I love sharing the fun and the joy of this creative process with you!

Have a happy day! :0)

An Inspiring Life...

Hello!! I'm hosting the Papertrey Peeps Challenge over on the Peeps blog this week. No surprises that I have chosen to use photographs from "A Creative Mint". I find Leslie's photographs - things from our real world - (much of which we see in our regular lives) so incredibly beautiful and inspiring!

The challenge gives you the choice of going to the blog site, or chosing from one of the 4 photos which I have posted on the Peeps blog for your inspiration.

I have chosen 2 pictures - from the same ones I showed in the challenge on the blog, and made a card for each of them.

This utterly beautiful photograph was taken from the 25 September 2009 post. I absolutely LOVE the fluffy texture of the petals, the fresh contrast between the yellow, white and green and the unexpected flash of blue in the tablecloth....

Here is what I was inspired to make:

All Materials Papertrey Ink

I stamped the leaves with polka dots, used a gold leaf pen for the lines and popped up the background with 3D dots for some added interest -

I felt completely inspired by this photograph too:

As you can see flowers are on my mind at the mo - maybe it's spring?? :0) These flowers are found in the 17 January 2010 post.

Materials: Cardstock, Buttons, Flower Dies; Ink, Leaf Stamp - Papertrey Ink, Flourish Stamp and Sentiment - Hero Arts; Patterned Paper - K&Co; Pearls - Kaiser

I added pearls to the buttons, around the flowers and stamped on vintage text paper for the sentiment:

(This card was also inspired by the Sketch posted at the "Papertrey Paper Dolls" at the moment ... )

Why not take a peek at the Creative Mint post for 15 June 2009 - Titled "Peach, Pink, Gold and Orange"? (Gorgeous colour mix there - one of the pictures made me think of you, Carol!!) Or if you're feeling really creative in a different way, how about looking in at 25 January 2010 - for "Inspired by Oranges and Lavender" ?!! :0)

One last thought before I go -

This was posted on 1 June 2009 - "Playing with Avocado and Turquoise" .... and look at the patterned fabric in the background and the bling in the foreground..... mmmmmmm!!

WOW - I think I feel a card coming on :0)

Have a truly inspired day - and MANY thanks to "A Creative Mint" from where the inspiration has flowed!!

2S4Y Challenge (Another Get Well!)

This is my entry for the 2S4Y challenge this week (I'm squeaking in at the 11th hour!)

As other people have mentioned - it's so easy to love the new PTI dies! Cut and stamp and you're ready to go - really alleviates the 'fussy cutting' :0)

Materials : Cardstock, Stamps, Butterfly Die, Ink, Ribbon - Papertrey Ink; Labels 8 Die - Spellbinders; Glossy Accents and Stickles - Ranger; Pearls and Rhinestones - Kaiser; Scallop Punch - Fiskers; Other - Thread

I applied a little Glossy Accents to the wings for a dab of interest and a smidge of black Stickles to the bodies for a little shimmer.

This week was a sad one at 2S4Y as three of their DT members are saying goodbye - and they have been amazing! So much inspiration to thank them for in the months they have worked there!

Thanks for popping around! Hope you're having a good weekend! We have the hummingbirds whizzing by outside and the chipmunks are coming around for extra food - because they're having babies! :0)