Floral Cluster, Take Two...

I made today's card right alongside the card I shared yesterday.  When I was pulling embellishments and papers, I couldn't decide which card I wanted to make the floral cluster for - both color combos really appealed to me. Then I asked...who says I can't make both with the same kind of embellishment?  No one...so that's what I did!

I went "back to basics" with the patterned paper background design on this square card...two simple rectangles alternated over a square base.  Except for the lace trim beneath one of the pieces, the floral cluster is the point of interest here...

I pulled the teal and purple from the floral paper (which eventually became almost completely covered up...LOL) and added several different shades of green...along with an embellished leaf stick pin and more pearl clusters...

My favorite flourish die went to work again, this time cut in a pretty cinnamon color...

Supplies:

Patterned papers: MyMindsEye Miss Caroline/Fiddlestick collection

Dies: Memory Box Elegant Scrollwork; My Favorite Things Royal Leaves      Martha Stewart Medium Branch punch

Sentiment stamp: Hero Arts      Paper roses: Prima      Pearls: Recollections      Lace: TheFunkieJunkie.com

Thank you for visiting today...I hope you have a great weekend!

Shabby Autumn...

I have to keep reminding myself it's fall...with temps still in the 90's here, it still feels very much like summer.  But I'm having fun working with autumn colors lately, and this time, I wanted to stray from the traditional bright fall colors to go with some of my favorite alternates...muted shades of golden straw and dark teal.

I've intentionally left off any sentiment, so I have more options when I'm ready to use it...

                         

A couple die cut cardstock flourishes are layered beneath the cluster of paper roses, leaves, and cream cardstock "greenery."  I didn't have roses in the muted golden color I wanted, so I took a few bright yellow and white paper roses and spritzed them with my homemade mist of Tea Dye Distress Ink, distilled water, and a small bit of "Perfect Pearl" Perfect Pearl powder and they turned out just as I wanted.  A little bit of Pumpkin Spice Versamark ink around the edges of the cream cardstock leaves brought everything all together...

A couple handmade pearl wire spirals and a sprinkling of loose pearls here and there throughout the greenery added the touch of "bling" that I always feel the need to add to my cards...  :)

Supplies:

Patterned papers: My Minds Eye Miss Caroline/Dolled Up (gold & aqua); Miss Caroline/Dilly Dally (wood)

Dies: Memory Box Elegant Scrollwork; My Favorite Things Dizzy Border & Royal Leaves; Spellbinders

Classic Scallop Edgeabilities

Lace: TheFunkieJunkie.com      Pearls & paper roses: Prima      Punch: Martha Stewart Medium Branch

Thanks so much for visiting today!

It's That Time Again...

I've been working on a couple projects that will have to wait a bit before making their appearance here...but in the meantime, I have another masculine birthday card to share with you today. 

Just when I thought I finally had something going with the masculine cards and the handmade digi collages, I found myself realizing I had already sent a collage card to this particular member of the family...two, in fact.  So it was time to change it up a bit. 

I knew I wanted to use the pocket watch, but was drawing a blank as far as design. So I turned to a Card Positioning Systems sketch (#269) from earlier this year...

and then got the rest of my embellishment cluster planned and cut...die cut stars of various sizes, along with the Jolee's Boutique pocket watch.  But once I got the cluster roughly positioned, the three narrow banner strips didn't look right - so I changed them to two thicker strips and staggered the lengths.  Now I was getting somewhere! It still needed "something," so I added some texture with a small vertical strip of white burlap, and some twine wraps around some of the stars and the top grey strip.  But then it looked too "lightweight" over there on the left side, so I added a medium sized button threaded with more twine for balance.

The stars were backed with lightweight chipboard, and popped up to varying heights with foam squares...

I got that third banner strip back by punching a wedge in the end of the sentiment tag... :)

Here's a peek at the inside to show you how the outside sentiment ties into the birthday message. (If you're experiencing a bit of deja-vu, it's because I used this sentiment and message earlier this year on a different card that I shared here...but it worked so well with the pocket watch, that I had to use it again.)

Supplies:

Patterned papers: Glitz French Kiss collection; Echo Park For the Record 2/Documented collection (stars)

Dies: Sizzix Stars #2      Pocket Watch: Jolee's Boutique      Miscellaneous: twine, burlap, button

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Little Boxes...

Friendly warning: I'm about to stray a bit from my normal again...that happens when questions lead to ideas and then to creations. :) 

When small wooden printers' trays started appearing in craft and stamping stores a few years ago, I wanted some - not just one, but some - I was filled with ideas.  But I have a small crafting room, and I've already over-filled it with "stuff," so I restrained myself.  I'm still wondering if there's a place here in the Korner for one, but that will have to wait until the latest reorganization is completed - which may be a while yet.

In the meantime, I got to wondering one day last week if there was a way I could make a little printer's tray-like embellishment on the front of a standard sized card.  But, I'm not one of those lucky people who can take an abstract vision to a tangible product easily. In fact, it usually doesn't work at all and ends up being torn apart and/or scrapped.  But this time, I made myself finish it...and share it.

I found a way to make some cute boxes from patterned paper, but the height of the sides would have made it difficult to send the card in anything other than a box. I finally settled on "circle/squares" - punched circles with the sides folded up to form squares - and hoped they'd still look like little boxes after I "shabbied" them up a bit.

I punched nine 1-3/4" circles from some coordinating double-sided patterned papers, and folded the round sides up around a punched 1-1/4" square.  Then I folded the sides back one more time to make a shabbier-looking edge, and glued the 9 squares to the top of a 4" x 5-1/4" piece of cardstock...and it still left room for some trim and a sentiment beneath the boxes.

Here's how it looks after filling in the little boxes with small embellishments, and adding some lace trim and a stamped sentiment...

After bending the sides of the boxes back a second time, I added some dry-brushed white acrylic paint here and there for a shabby touch.  I dug through my button stash for a couple coordinating large buttons, and backed each one with a scalloped circle cardstock punch with some shabby inking around the edges. The flower sections have tea-dyed cheesecloth along with some die-cut leaves for greenery...

The upper right and lower left corner boxes have some leaves dropping in from adjoining boxes, and pearl clusters in the corners to finish them off...

And two squares are filled with punched, glittered, and pearled butterflies...

From the side view, you can see it's pretty dimensional, but no more than any of my other cards. :)

Supplies:

Patterned papers: Echo Park For The Record

Dies: Spellbinders Eyelet Circles; My Favorite Things Royal Leaves; Sizzix Flowers Branches & Leaves

Punches: Martha Stewart Classic Butterfly, Royal Butterfly, & Medium Branch      Paper roses: Prima

Lace: TheFunkieJunkie.com (tea-dyed)      Sentiment stamp: Paper Sweeties "So Sweet Of You" set 

Pearls: Recollections      Miscellaneous: cheesecloth (tea-dyed), buttons, crochet thread

Thanks so much for visiting today...have a wonderful weekend!

It Started With a Sketch...

I admire crafters who can craft according to a sketch, and stay true to course until the finish.  I've shared a couple sketch cards lately, where I stuck pretty closely to the original to get to my finished card. I don't know if I've ever admitted this here, but that's a rarity for me.  I usually start with a sketch, then my project takes a turn of its own, and by the time I'm finished, you can hardly find the original elements of the sketch in my finished card or layout.

That's what almost happened with this card...

which started out with this sketch from Mojo Monday as its inspiration...

You can still see some of the elements of the sketch in the finished card...the sizes of the pieces, and a bit of the orientation, got changed around just a bit...but I just went with the inspiration when it hit, and that's how it turned out.

Instead of a large flower and leaves, I chose a couple bows, some branch punches, and a paper rose...and added a bit of tea-dyed cheesecloth beneath them, a piece of heart lace to the side...

...a little pearl flourish, and a die-cut border to the left side of the large focal point image...which is a little different scale than the one on the starting sketch...and clean-and-graphic morphed into shabby-and-lacy...

Supplies:

Patterned papers: Graphic 45 A Ladies' Diary/"Picture Perfect" (background); "Afternoon Tea" (dot); "Ageless Beauty" (vintage image)

Dies: My Favorite Things Dizzy Border; Memory Box Whimsy Circle (2 dies stacked alternately)

Punches: Martha Stewart Eyelet Lace, Medium Branch      Heart lace: TheFunkieJunkie.com     Sentiment: Hero Arts

Pearls: Recollections      Miscellaneous: Hug Snug seam binding, Wilton doily, tea-dyed cheesecloth

So now you know one of my "challenges"...if I'm asked to follow a sketch, there's no telling how things will turn out in the end. :)

Thanks for visiting today!

Playing with Paper...

Sometimes the challenge when playing with paper is making the paper work for you, instead of the other way around. :)  There's a beautiful paper in the 6x6 pad of Prima's Zephyr collection that has a white circle in the center, surrounded by flowers across the top.  I love the paper, but didn't want to be forced to make a square card with a full circle in the middle.  I found another paper in the pad that has the same background pattern as the "circle paper" but with less florals.  Now the fun part...making those two pieces work together in an arrangement that's a little more interesting on a small canvas like a card.

So I used a piece of the circle paper on top, and a piece of the background print paper at the bottom...and fit some "chopped" oval pieces inside the top of the circle.  And it turned out like this...

It was a fun discovery that the floral oval diecut and the oval doily would fit inside the top portion of the circle, and that I could make it all work on a 5-1/4" square card and not lose the details of the florals over the top of the circle.  I cut two scrollwork die pieces, and layered flowers, ferns, and leaves over them to cover most of the left side of the card...

I popped the half-ovals up with foam tape, and used a double layer of scalloped lace across the bottom edge...one piece of lace on the ovals, the other on the card base above the stamped sentiment, matching up the scallops. This way, the lace itself formed another dimensional element to the bottom third of the card...this was a fun card to make!

Supplies:

Patterned papers: Prima Zephyr collection

Dies: My Favorite Things Dainty Doily, Elegant Scrollwork, & Royal Leaves; Spellbinders Floral Ovals

Scalloped lace: TheFunkieJunkie.com      Paper roses: Prima      Pearls: Recollections

Fabric rose: local craft store      Sentiment stamp: Papertrey Ink      Miscellaneous: fern punch

Thanks for visiting today!

Back to "Normal"...

Sometimes late at night, I get the urge to create something crafty...but it's late, and I don't want to stay up all night to do it.  So I reach for supplies and start assembling...and go with what comes naturally.  For me, that's a bit shabby, and with lots of layers and textures...using pieces that will practically layer themselves without much thought or effort.  After the time it took me to travel outside my usual box with the last card, this one brought me back to my "normal." :)

Once again, I've used the new Graphic 45 A Ladies' Diary collection. The papers are in such soft hues, and coordinate so easily together, it's fun and fast to layer patterns and colors.

I love these painted buttons by Bella Blvd...after adhering it over a piece of gathered lace, I placed it over a couple scraps of tea-dyed lace that I "painted" here and there with a water brush and diluted Worn Lipstick Distress Ink...

This fun corrugated cardboard butterfly came from Linda at The Funkie Junkie Boutique ...I dry-brushed some white paint around the edges, put a sprinkling of coarse clear glitter over that, and added some pearls to the center, for just a bit of glitz against the natural texture of the cardboard...

Supplies:

Patterned papers: Graphic 45 A Ladies' Diary/"timeless memoir"(background); "delicate details"(dot); "garden stroll"(blue); "focal point"(stripe); & "ageless beauty"(postcard)

Dies: Spellbinders Grand Labels 23, Classic Scallop Edgeabilities; My Favorite Things Royal Leaves

Painted button: Bella Blvd. "pink floral"     Corrgated butterfly: TheFunkieJunkie.com

Pearls: Prima      Stick pin: Maya Road crystal pin (embellished with pearls & space)

Hug Snug seam binding      Miscellaneous: lace scraps, tea-dyed cheesecloth

Thanks so much for visiting today...I hope your week starts off with a smile!

Home and Heart...

If you're a fan of mixing stamping with punched and die cut paper piecing, and you haven't yet visited Kittie Caracciolo's blog, you should...and be sure you've got a nice block of time to spend, because there's so much wonderful creativity there that time will fly by as you take it all in!  Our styles are not all that similar, but I think that may be the reason why I marvel at all the wonderful details in her cards, and wonder just how long it takes her to dream up and assemble the scenes she creates.

With a desire to do something outside my "normal," I attempted to channel Kittie's style, mainly to see if I could even do it! :)   I'd been asked to make a housewarming card, and I remembered a few cards that Kittie had made using the same Poppystamps Small Madison Window and Small Madison Window Shutter dies that were sitting in my die basket.  Then I remembered one she'd made adding a picket fence ... and I had a die for that, too (although not the same one as used on her card).

So I gathered up some supplies, made some die cuts, inked up an embossing folder...and here's the end result of my first attempt to make a card totally inspired by Kittie's work...

I recalled another card of Kittie's that had a valence and curtain side panels punched with a lacy trim, but I went for the window shade detail...and cut apart a small gold button to use part of it as a "shade pull" in the center of the shade...

I don't have a grass edger die, or grass/fringe scissors, (or let's be honest, the patience to hand-cut grass blades without them, LOL) so instead, I put some clear glue between the fence posts at the bottom, and sprinkled Sage Ultrafine Flower Soft to simulate short grass blades peeking through the fencing...then attached a little banner strung onto the fence with the sentiment...

Because I was adding a sentiment, rather than use flowers along or behind the fence, I chose to put a flowering bush in the corner.  Using lots and LOTS of punched branches in a couple different shades of green, I layered them until they looked like a little round bush, and then glued in a few tiny pink flowers (I couldn't resist...I need "bling" somewhere, so I added a tiny green crystal to the center of each of the flowers. :) )

Supplies:

Embossing folder: Sizzix Tim Holtz Bricked Texture Fade (inked with Pumice Stone Distress Ink)

Dies: Poppystamps Small Madison Window & Small Madison Window Shutter

Papertrey Ink Picket Fence & Heart Prints Dies

Punches: Martha Stewart Medium Branch, 3-in-1 Hydrangea, & Eyelet Lace edge punches

.      Patterned papers: Graphic 45  A Ladies' Diary (aqua); MyMindsEye Miss Caroline/All Dolled Up (pink gingham)

Green crystals: Queen & Co      Flower Soft Sage Ultra-Fine

Thanks for stopping by for a visit...have a wonderful weekend!

TSTR-Creative Candy...

I had a few hours of productive creative time in the last couple days...it doesn't always happen that when you have the time, you have the mojo...but I was luckier this time that they both came together!

Here's a card I was able to get all the way to the photo stage yesterday...a girly-girl shabby card to send with love...

And here's the beautiful photo inspiration for it, from this week's Creative Candy challenge at The Shabby Tea Room...the challenge was to use the colors in the photo, along with lace, fabric, and a button...

and here are some detail photos...the chipboard hanger was painted and distressed with sanding, and a piece of wide lace draped over it...then embellished with punched branches, pearls, a paper rose, and a canvas tag topped with a smaller jewelry tag with a computer-printed sentiment...

the little flower shaped button was added to the corner of the vintage image, and topped with a mini pearl and a bow of crochet thread...

the chipboard spool was also painted and distressed with sanding, the chipboard needle was painted with silver paint, and the crochet thread was wound around it all...the stitching through the top of the vintage image was done with this same pink thread, so it's supposed to look like I just did the stitching and laid the spool down... :)

the piece of burlap was "distressed" by running some Picket Fence Distress Stain around the edges after unraveling them just a bit...the cheesecloth pieces were tea-dyed, then scrunched under the corners of the vintage image...then the scalloped lace was tea-dyed to blend with the rest...

Supplies:

Patterned papers: Carta Bella Beautiful Moments/"Striped Paper" (b side); Melissa Frances 5th Avenue/"Essie"

Dies & punches: Spellbinders Ironwork Accents edge die; Martha Stewart Medium Branch punch

Vintage image: Graphic 45 A Ladies' Diary collection      Chipboard hanger, spool, needle, canvas tag: Maya Road

Pearls: Recollections      Paper rose: Prima      Scalloped lace & Distressed Stain: TheFunkieJunkie.com     

Miscellaneous: cheesecloth, burlap, crocheted lace, flower button, crochet thread

Thanks for visiting today!  

Thinking of Fall...

I know it's only September, but I'm ready for the cooler temps and color changes that fall brings with it...and I also know that around here, fall comes later...Mother Nature has her own timetable for these things. :)  So in the meantime, I'll be content to start incorporating some of fall's pretty colors in my projects, starting with today's.

Here's a shaped card to start the week off...using some pretty papers from Prima's Zephyr collection...

beneath the gathered lace is a diecut doily peeking out around the edges...

Supplies:

Patterned papers: Prima Zephyr collection

Dies: Spellbinders Grand Labels Four; Memory Box Quinn Flourish; My Favorite Things Royal Leaves

Punch: Martha Stewart medium branch     Paper roses: Prima     Cotton lace: The Funkie Junkie on Zibbet

Sentiment stamp: Hero Arts    Pearls: Recollections

Miscellaneous: cotton lace, eyelash fiber, handcrafted stick pin

Thanks for stopping in for a visit...I hope your week is starting off with a smile!

Mojo 257...

I sat in the Korner Friday afternoon...ready to make a card or two...and my mind went blank.  Creative mojo? gone...imagination? MIA.  So I turned to some sketch sites for inspiration...and when I found Mojo Monday's sketch for this week, I had a winner!  Lots of layers?...check...multiple opportunities for embellishments?...check.  After I had all the pieces cut and arranged, and ready for inking, sewing, and gluing, I realized it was a very familiar color palette that I had chosen...pink, tan, & cream - with touches of green. After spending so much time looking for design inspiration, I wasn't about to waste more time changing my color preferences, and I got right to work creating with the familiar.

So it's just a short post-and-run today...with one little pretty to share...

a few layers are adhered with foam tape for dimension (plus, it makes it easier to add little touches when you get a sudden inspiration after you've already attached pieces :) )

Supplies:

Patterned papers: Graphic 45 a Ladies' Diary      Sentiment stamp: Hero Arts     

Dies: Spellbinders Labels 8, Decorative Labels 8, Classic Scalloped Circles Small, Classic Scalloped Circles Large;

My Favorite Things Royal Leaves; Sizzix Flowers Branches and Leaves

Paper roses: Prima      Rosebuds: ViolaMahr on Etsy      Scalloped Lace: The Funkie Junkie on Zibbet

And here's the sketch that it's based on...

Thanks for stopping by today...hope you're having a fun weekend!