Lots of Love...

Happy Friday! I'm back to end the week with a pink and grey card that, as I went along with the making of it, realized it might make an appropriate Valentine for a mom, or daughter, or sister, or aunt...hmmmm.

It's definitely *full* of embellishments, but it was made for fun, so I just let my long-lost "mojo" take me along for the ride...

A couple small tags were large enough for the start of the sentiment, and they're nestled in among the flower and stamen clusters...

"Love" is diecut from two different shades of pink cardstock, offset before glued together to give a shadowed effect. I adhered the little pearls to the heart-shaped "o" before sprinkling clear glitter over the other letters...

The little heart shaped center of the "o" in the "love" diecut was colored to deep red with a Marvy pen, a little pearl added to the center, and more clear glitter applied, before nestling it at the top of the leafy stem...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:  Echo Park Be Mine collection (grey solid);   My Minds Eye Bramble Rose collection (grey damask)

Dies:   Sizzix Flowers Branches & Leaves;   Papertrey Ink Wonderful Words Love;   Papertrey Ink Tiny Tags

Sentiment stamp:   Papertrey Ink Wonderful Words Love

Flowers:   LayoutsFromTheHeart on Etsy (grey roses);   Wild Orchid Crafts  (sweetheart blossoms, red roses, 

white stamen cluster)

Pearls:   Recollections        Hug Snug seam binding          Miscellaneous:   Wilton doily, cheesecloth, clear coarse glitter

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

The Deconstructed Sketch 99 - Simply the Best...

Happy Friday to you!  I'm closing out the week with a card based on the current sketch from The Deconstructed Sketch.  The summertime heat that has been hanging around this week has me thinking in summer colors. I like to call this orange "50-50 bar orange"...it always reminds me of my favorite summertime ice cream treat. (For those of you not in the U.S., or those of you much younger than I,  it's what used to be the name of a vanilla ice cream popsicle covered with orange sherbet. No matter what you call it, I call it refreshing!)

This is the sketch I based the design on...

The large 6-petal mulberry flower started as an all-white Prima flower (it's the larger size, but like these 5-petal flowers)...

before I coated it randomly with light modeling paste to add some texture, then started spraying with yellow, orange, and green homemade mists.  (I first sprayed the flower directly, textured/right side up, with a light yellow mist.  Then I sprayed orange mist *onto the craft mat*, and holding the flower so only portions touched the mat, lightly dipped the *back* side of the flower into the mist.  The last color, green, was done the same way, randomly dipping the back side of the flower into the mist on the craft mat.) 

The final treatment, after the mists were dry, was to lightly and randomly brush on some Glossy Accents and dust with clear coarse glitter.  The modeling paste and glue/glitter combo stiffens the petals a bit and makes it easier to "fluff" them so the flower is no longer flat...

Smaller colorful flowers, branch punches, leaf die cuts, and loose pearls all around the large flower form the floral cluster (there's a scrunched piece of cheesecloth beneath it all to add some textural interest)...

Scalloped crocheted lace and more tiny pearls add the finishing touches to the center of the card...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:   Echo Park For the Record 2 collection

Dies:   My Favorite Things Faux Crochet Border and Royal Leaves;   Memory Box Elegant Scrollwork

Punch:   Martha Stewart Medium Branch        Lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com

Large mulberry flower:   Prima        Paper roses:   Wild Orchid Crafts        Pearls:   Recollections

Sentiment stamp:   Technique Tuesday/Ali Edwards       Miscellaneous:   Wilton doily, cheesecloth

Thank you so much for visiting today...have a wonderful weekend!

Kraft-y All Occasion...

I love kraft colored cardstock...I'm not sure why, because on its own it's pretty bland.  Maybe it's the challenge to see how I can turn that bland into something fun, or elegant, or when I'm in a monochromatic mood, peaceful and calm.

With this card, I wanted to brighten it up, and make it purely feminine and frilly.  I started by die cutting scalloped edges on all the layers, and adding some white to the background...and that seemed to snowball as I added embellishments, including a beautiful wide white crocheted lace...until I ended up with this as a final result...

I found a package of small wooden clock faces at the local craft store, and discovered that the smallest one fit perfectly in the center of the shabby cabbage roses I'm so fond of using.  I surrounded it top and bottom with sprays of assorted small flowers, punched branches, and leaves...and scattered small pearls here and there, including on top of the cardstock flourish...

Supplies:

Patterned papers: Echo Park Be Mine collection (pink);  Echo Park For The Record collection (blue & kraft text)

Wide Crocheted Lace:  TheFunkieJunkie.com      Pearl strip:  SuhaFuha on Etsy

Shabby fabric rose:  Frogfeathers on Etsy      Mini wooden clock face:  Recollections

Dies:  Spellbinders Classic Scallop Edgeabilities;   Memory Box Elegant Scrollwork;  My Favorite Things Royal Leaves      

Martha Stewart Medium Branch punch          Pearls:  Recollections      

Mini roses:  Wild Orchid Crafts and LayoutsFromTheHeart on Etsy

Thanks for visiting today!

Best Wishes...

Today's wedding themed card isn't quite as elaborate as Wednesday's, but it's just as elegant. It would make a wonderful anniversary card, too, don't you think?  The colors are more subdued, but the details are all there.  I used a large rectangular label die, but cut only the bottom edge with it...it made a fun and different detail on the bottom edge...

A simple trio of paper roses sitting on a couple white seam binding bows and white paper leaves are highlighted with a pearl and silver stick pin.  They're all sitting on top of a white felt doily...

...and the simple sentiment block accented with pearl trios...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:  Echo Park Melody of Life collection      Crocheted lace:  Venus Ribbon/Jay Co.

Dies:  Spellbinders Grand Labels 23 (bottom edge), Labels 10;  My Favorite Things Decorative Doily Duo

Edge Punch:  Fiskars Threading Water      Sentiment stamp  Papertrey Ink

Pearls:  Recollections      Leaves:  Prima      Roses:  Wild Orchid Crafts  

Handcrafted stick pin      Hug Snug seam binding

Thanks for stopping in for a visit today...I hope you have a wonderful weekend. (And for my U.S. friends in states that participate in Daylight Savings Time...don't forget to turn your clocks ahead one hour Saturday night!)

A Simple Hello from the Heart...

I'm not really in a "black" mood lately as illustrated by its appearance on this week's cards so far. :)  Today's card is a bit brighter than Monday's...it's light cream (although it looks more white than cream in the photos) with black, and just a touch of soft pink to break it up...with a simple and sincere sentiment...

No lace on this card...the lacy bottom edge detail takes it's place.  But of course, there must be flowers and bows...so they all cluster together at the bottom of the heart...

The heart dies were stacked to form a frame, and the edges enhanced with clear coarse glitter...

And here's a peek at the inside...

Supplies:

Patterned paper:  Echo Park Be Mine collection      Edge Punch:  Martha Stewart Double Arches

Dies:  Memory Box Elegant Scrollwork;  Xyron Shapez/Heart;  My Favorite Things Royal Leaves

Fabric rose:  local craft store      Paper roses:  Wild Orchid Crafts      Pearls:  Recollections

I'm including a picture of the inside because I received an inquiry asking how I handle inserting sentiments on my cards when I've made them up in advance and already stitched a plain piece of cardstock inside.  I do the inside this way for the cards I sell, so that personal sentiments can be written inside...and that's often what I do with the cards that are in my "stash" with finished insides.  But often, I want to do a more formal sentiment in addition to a handwritten note, so here's a photo of a card sent recently that shows how I handle that. 

I type up a sentiment (in Photoshop Elements or Word, for example) to fit the size of the area I have available, and print it onto cardstock to match the one already stitched in.  Then die cut a fun shape, either one that matches a design on the outside of the card (as with the card below), or one that complements it, and adhere that right over the stitched piece.  In this way, the stitched inside pieces form a finished "frame" for the new piece added...and it still leaves room for me to write a short personal note...and looks like this...

Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit!

Song in My Heart...Take Two...

Happy Monday, all...I hope you had a great weekend!  Thank you for your kind get-well wishes...and I'm feeling a whole lot better now that I've had more time to heal...almost back to eating more than the soft foods and liquids I've been on the last week or so. Yay!

I have one more card from last week to show you...and then I have to get busy in the Korner again and get my mojo workin'!  I used this sentiment on a card last year, but nothing about the card was the same except the sentiment tag.  This time I played up the "heart" portion of the sentiment...I think it will make a fun Valentine, as well as a great anniversary card...

The mid-sized heart is covered with a basket of flowers image from Dover Publications...and the tiny one is covered with a scrap of patterned paper (Basic Grey, I think)...both are topped with a spray of mini roses with one dark blue rose bud in the center...all atop a couple dyed Hug Snug bows...

The larger chipboard heart frame is painted, inked, and coated with clear coarse glitter...and a couple handmade pearl wire spirals accent the inside of the heart and flower spray...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:  Echo Park Melody of Life collection (grey text), Be Mine collection (music), 

Dots & Striped/Candy Shoppe collection (dot)

Dies:  Spellbinders Classic Ovals Small, Classic Ovals Large;  Papertrey Ink Heart Prints

Large chipboard heart frame:  Maya Road      Floral image:  Dover Publications

Flowers:  Wild Orchid Crafts      Mini pearls:  Recollections      Hug Snug seam binding

Miscellaneous:  Handcrafted pearl wire spirals

Thank you so much for visiting today...I hope you week starts with a smile!

Going Back In Time...

Happy Friday!  Am I the only one thinking that January is buzzing by so fast it's hard to keep up? January usually drags a bit for me after the hectic pace of the Christmas and New Year holidays...but not this year!

I haven't had a lot of time to participate in current sketch challenges lately, but that doesn't mean I don't use sketches anymore...as with the card on last Friday's post.  Today's card uses another older sketch...a  Mojo Monday  sketch from a little more than a year ago (better late than never, hmmm? ).

Shades of deep pink and bright red are accented with green, white, and complementary purple...total shabby fun on this upbeat card...

Here's the sketch it's based on...I followed this sketch almost to the letter...

A couple handmade pearl wires are looped though the flower cluster ...I'm so glad I held on to those spools of colored wire from years ago when I used it on my scrapbook pages ...

On the other side, a twisted piece of pink wire from the larger flower, and a pearl flourish to offset the pearl loops on the opposite side...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:  Echo Park This & That Graceful      Flowers:  Wild Orchid Crafts & local craft store

Dies:  My Favorite Things Decorative Doily Duo and Royal Leaves;  Spellbinders Standard Circles Large 

and  Fancy Framed Tags Two

Pearls:  Recollections      Sentiment stamp:  Papertrey Ink      Hug Snug seam binding

Miscellaneous:  cheesecloth, handcrafted pearl wires

Thank you for visiting today...have a wonderful weekend!

Bright and Sassy...

I'm ending the week with a bright and sassy card.  It's still pretty cold here at night (below freezing) but lately the sun's been shining brightly during the day, and that makes me turn to brighter colors.

This was also a fun card to make because a little experiment turned out the way I'd hoped...yay!

Here's the finished card, that was based on The Deconstructed Sketch #72 , from October, 2012...

You might have to click on the card photo to enlarge it to see what I'm talking about, but see that scrunched lace beneath the bright red bow?  It didn't start that color.  Look as I  might through my sometimes embarrassingly large stash of laces, I didn't have a yellow or yellow-green lace, and even though the card base is white, white lace just didn't work for me.  But I did find this lace:

Obviously, not what I was hoping to find.  But after I realized this was cotton lace, I pulled out a plastic bowl, added some warm water and some bleach, cut a piece of this green lace, plopped it into the bowl of bleach water, crossed my fingers, and left it there in the laundry room sink for about 15 minutes.  When I returned...success!  The green lace had bleached down to the perfect yellow-green shade to complement the colors in the papers I wanted to use.  Gotta love it when that happens!

Then all I did was gather it through the center (the lace is 2" wide), and hot glue it down. 

I added the black cardstock flourish, scrunched seam binding bow, and a few pearls and crystals to the center, along with a tiny sentiment tag...and now I had a bright and cheery finished card!

Supplies:

Patterned papers:   Echo Park For The Record collection      Digital image:   CherryPinkPrints on Etsy

Die:   Memory Box Elegant Scrollwork      Pearls & crystals:   Recollections

Lace:   local craft store      Hug Snug seam binding

Thanks so much for stopping by today...have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Halloween!

In the spirit of the fun of the day...

(Image: The Graphics Fairy  )

If we don't have rain, we'll be having our usual Halloween Block Party tonight. We block off the end of the street, and gather in the center with tables of pot-luck desserts and beverages, and buckets of treats from each house on the street. The local children have a blast visiting with us, showing off their costumes, and "going down the line" of treat buckets without having to walk both sides of the street. The adult chaperones enjoy watching the tv that's been set out in the street with us all, which is usually surrounded with a group of neighbors and visitors alike, watching with one eye whichever sports game is tuned in on it. The plan was to have the World Series tuned in this year, but the Giants swept it in four games, so who knows what we'll be watching tonight!

But for now, we return to our regularly scheduled programming...:)

Today's card has nothing to do with Halloween...or fall...or anything specific.  I felt like making something light, airy, and shabby, so that's what we have today...an all-occasion card in light grey and white, with a sprinkling of pink...

I ran out of pink mulberry roses, so I had to make my own using white ones. (I sprayed them with a mist of Spun Sugar Distress Ink refill ink and distilled water.)  They're nestled inside a chipboard heart that's been painted, inked, stitched, and sprinkled with clear German glass glitter, and sits on top of a piece of scrunched cheesecloth...

The large leaf was hand-cut from a piece of corrugated cardboard, dry-brushed with white paint, and tucked under the heart...

Instead of using a flourish of pearls as I usually do, I used the craft store (wedding section) pearl spray just the way it came out of the bag...it looks lighter and "airier" than a flourish of gems...

Supplies:

Patterned papers: Echo Park/Victoria Gardens (grey); Echo Park/Dots & Stripes Candy Shoppe (pink)

Chipboard heart: Maya Road      Pearls: Recollections       Punch: Martha Stewart Medium Branch    

Paper roses: LayoutsFromTheHeart.etsy.com      Die: My Favorite Things Royal Leaves

Miscellaneous: cheesecloth, corrugated cardboard, pearl spray, clear German glass glitter

Thanks so much for stopping in for a visit today...have a safe and fun Halloween night! I'll be back tomorrow with a long post and a card that uses a technique I haven't used in a couple years...it was fun to play with it again. :)

A Sunshiny Heart...

I love the sentiment in the vintage image on this card. I had printed it out a while back in anticipation of the fall holidays, and realized yesterday...that's now! So here's the first of probably several Thanksgiving cards you'll see here in the next few weeks...

Even the ruler paper had the word "happy" on it...the fact that it still showed after I adhered the image was a "happy" accident...

After painting the chipboard heart frame, I added a coating of clear German glass glitter...I love the texture and slight sparkle this glitter gives to things...

After tucking a few mini banners behind the image, I thought it needed a softer edge, so I crumpled up a small piece of tea-dyed cheesecloth between the image and the banners...

Supplies:

Patterned papers: Echo Park This & That Charming collection; Echo Park Dots & Stripes

Candy Shoppe collection (brown stripe)

Vintage image: Dover Publications      Chipboard heart: Maya Road      Pearls: Recollections

Scalloped lace: TheFunkieJunkie.com (tea-dyed)      Cream paper roses: CathieFilian on Etsy      Hug Snug seam binding

Miscellaneous: clear German glass glitter, button, crochet thread, cheesecloth

Thanks so much for visiting today. I hope you're having a great week so far!