LLLC - Love Everything About You...

Happy La-La Land Crafts Wednesday, everyone. This week, the team's inspiration challenge is "Valentine"...just a few days away!

I wanted all the embellishments to stand out from the background, so I went with very subtle base patterned papers. It's a bit hard to see in the photo, but in the upper right corner and on the far right of the sentiment banner, I've added some heart-shaped texturing with modeling paste and a stencil.

The large diecut heart over on the left side is the inside of the Heart Doily Die, and I cut a second piece in black to serve as a shadow.  The "Love" word from the Hanging Hearts & Love Word Set was cut three times in black cardstock, and stacked together to give a bit of thickness. The inside of the heart piece is stacked 6 layers deep to make it higher than the black outline...

The textured diecut  Wrought Iron Fence behind the Hanging Hearts is the fence I made in the Tutorial Thursday post here on the La-La Land Crafts Inspiration blog last month.  The hanging hearts were cut once from coral cardstock, once from patterned papers to use on the heart shapes, and once from black cardstock for a shadow layer. There's a bit of Diamond Stickles decorating the little bows at the top, behind the cream colored pearls...

I needed some bitty flowers to accent the sides of the fence, so I turned to one of my older hydrangea punches to assemble some little purple flowers to decorate the corners of the fence, and accented the centers with Liquid Pearls...

Supplies:

LLLC Dies:  Hanging Hearts & Love Word Set,  Wrought Iron Fence,  Heart Doily

Patterned papers:  My Minds Eye "Heirloom" collection'   Prima "Vintage Vanity" collection (large heart)

Sentiment stamp:   Simon Says Stamp "Handwritten Borders"

Punch:   Martha Stewart 3-in-1 Hydrangea          Pearls:   Recollections         

Stencil:   The Crafters Workshop  "Mini Confetti"

Miscellaneous:   twine,  Bisque Liquid Pearls. Golden modeling paste

Thank you for visiting today.  I hope you'll take a few moments to pop over to the La-La Land Crafts Inspiration Blog to enjoy the projects my teammates have made up for this week's inspiration challenge!

LOTV - Be Mine...

TGIF...happy Friday, everyone!

Today's card is filled with the spirit of Valentine love, but made up in a colorway that's just short of ordinary.

Lili of the Valley has a beautiful new paper pad out called Mr. & Mrs. and as beautiful as these papers are for wedding and anniversary cards, I thought they'd be just as special on a Valentine, using a monochromatic white/grey/black combo with just a touch of pink...so that's just what I used it for...

The floral cluster is one large dusty pink rose made using Spellbinders' Rose Creation dies, surrounded with smaller mulberry paper roses, grey pearl stick pins, and a small pearl flourish...

To the right, a piece of white lace colored with Distress Inks to complement the paper colors, and highlighted with a couple Valentine stamps from Set 22, Love Sentiments, shabbily stamped in Watering Can grey ink just above the lace trim...

And the main sentiment, also from Love Sentiments, sitting atop a little cluster in the lower right corner...

Inside, I used a die cut and a sweet little sentiment from the  A5 Verses set...

Supplies:

LOTV Patterned Papers:  Mr. & Mrs. 

LOTV Stamps:   Set 22, Love Sentiments;   Set 10, A5 Verses

Dies:   Spellbinders Lace Hearts, and Rose Creations;   My Favorite Things Royal Leaves;  

La-La Land Crafts Honeycomb and Heart Doily Border

Lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com          Small roses:   Wild Orchid Crafts          

Pearl flourishes:   Prima            Pearl stick pins:   Maya Road

Miscellaneous:   Pumice Stone and Spun Sugar Distress Inks;  twine;  white craft paint

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

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!

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!

Two By Two...

Happy Monday!  I hope I didn't mislead you with that title and put visions of Noah's ark in your head. :)  Today I'm showing cards that were made in pairs....not something I do a lot, but it was fun to do things differently this past weekend. I had been playing with some blank tags, stamping and "shabby-ing" them up around the edges...and when I was finished, I wanted to find a way to incorporate them onto cards instead of just setting them aside in the "extras" bag until later.

Then I found some fun heart doilies in my stash, and decided to make up a Valentine card.  I couldn't decide if I wanted to make it up with the pink heart doily, or the red...so I made up both, and used my newly-shabbied tags, too. I like them both, each in their own way.

The pink version...soft and shabby...

Instead of putting a layer of lace just under the floral cluster, I scrunched up a piece about 4" long (after spritizing and inking it), and hot-glued it to the front across the tag, putting the floral cluster to one side, and the pearl cluster to the other...

I cut apart one of the longer phrases of my sentiment stamps to make the shorter sentiment, inked and distressed the edges, and set it to the side of the tag, over a small piece of cheesecloth...

The red version came out bright and cheery and shabby...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:  Prima Almanac collection      Sentiment stamps:  Hero Arts; Papertrey Ink

Pearls:  Recollections      Mini Roses:  Wild Orchid Crafts      Tags:  American Tag Company

Text Stamp:  Prima      Flower Stamp:  Dawn Houser/Uptown Rubber Stamps-Floral Tapestry

Miscellaneous:  heart doilies, crocheted lace

Next up is another set of the mini cards  (3-1/2"w x 5"h)  that I love to make in pairs. Die cut frames and sentiment labels form the focal point on the fronts, and the floral clusters and bows add a definite feminine flair. 

I diecut frames and labels once from cardstock, and once from lightweight chipboard, and glue the two together with liquid glue when I'm using them on cards where the edges extend over the background a bit, or when I'm popping them up with foam tape for dimension.  It doesn't add that much more weight to the card, and helps keep the edges stable.  You can see what I mean in the pic below...

This time, the bases for the rose clusters are each formed by a single fabric flower.  These were part of a "stem" of flowers purchased at a local big-box craft store.  I took the flowers off the stems, spritzed them with Tea Dye Distressed Ink and distilled water, and put the floral clusters in the centers after gluing them down on the frames...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:  Echo Park Victoria Gardens collection      Edge Punch:  Martha Stewart Cherish PATP

Dies:  Spellbinders Floral Ovals, Classic Ovals Large, Fancy Framed Tags Two

Sentiment Stamps:  Papertrey Ink      Paper Roses:  Wild Orchid Crafts      Mini Pearls:  Recollections

Hug Snug seam binding      Miscellaneous:  cheesecloth, craft store fabric flowers

Thanks so much for visiting today.  I hope your week is starting with a smile!

Love is in the Air...

Like many of you, I'm primarily a card maker these days, and I'm always thinking about the next card-sending holiday and *trying* (note the asterisks around that word...I'm not always successful at that "trying" thing -  LOL) to get ahead of the game and have some cards ready early (i.e., not do what I did for this past Christmas season and change tactics because I started so late...oops). And that means Valentine's Day...and that means, love is in the air!

And these two cards are proof that, at least, I made a good first effort at that early start. :)

First up, a card that I felt didn't need a sentiment (but one could easily be added with a small tag near the flower if I changed my mind later on). I used lots of scalloped elements to contrast the strong rectangular shape of the card and the pieces of patterned papers...the punched scallops down the sides, the scalloped lace, the round loops in the paper doily, and the rounded edges of the open heart...

On top a base of tea-dyed cheesecloth, one loopy diecut doily topped with a large felt rolled rose, diecut leaves, golden-cream pearls, and a large open chipboard heart shabbily inked and glittered, all together form the focal point of the card...

Along with the scalloped lace down the side, I had to tuck a tiny piece of gathered lace between the flower and the heart...I thought it needed a little bit more dimension and texture between those two elements...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:   Prima Tea Thyme collection;  Prima Almanac collection;  Crate Paper On Trend collection

Punch:   EK Success Double Crochet Lace      Dies:  My Favorite Things Rolled Rose;  Memory Box Quinn Flourish

Pearls:   Recollections      Scalloped crocheted lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com      Chipboard heart:   Maya Road

Miscellaneous:   cheesecloth, gathered cotton lace, clear coarse glitter

Next up is a fun, and very shabby, Valentine, with lots of distressed and painted edges, and more glittered elements...

The cluster at the bottoms of the two glittered chipboard hearts starts with another piece of scrunched cheesecloth, topped with a large pink button that's been "sugared" with clear coarse glitter and surrounded with a cluster of mini roses and leaves, with a few tiny pearls scattered here and there...

The sentiment stamps were placed in the two corners surrounding the cluster...one at the top, and the other in the lower corner...no way to miss the sentiment on this card!

Supplies:

Patterned papers:   Crate Paper On Trend collection      Chipboard hearts:  Maya Road

Sentiment stamps:  Technique Tuesday/Ali Edwards      Paper roses:  Wild Orchid Crafts    

 Dies:   My Favorite Things Royal Leaves

Miscellaneous:  cheesecloth, clear coarse glitter, twine, button, pearl wire spiral

Thanks so much for visiting today.  I hope the first week of 2013 was a good one for you, with the promise of more good days to come.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Valentine's Day is not too far away...

I had a pretty productive week in the Korner...then had to wait for the rain go away to photograph them!  I do have a homemade "light box" for photographing my cards and small projects, but even though I use an Ott light, I still prefer the natural daylight at the back of the house.  Since the weather here has finally turned to winter (i.e., *wet*) and I missed the few hours of sun peeking through on Saturday, I had to wait until earlier today to catch enough natural light for the newest batch of flowery goodies.

I guess I had Valentine's Day on the mind when I made these first two. :)

Supplies:

Patterned Papers: Basic Grey Olivia collection (large floral), Basic Grey Sweet Things collection (small floral),

BoBunny dot (on large heart)

Fabric flower: Frogfeathers on Etsy      Felt rose: My Favorite Things Large Rolled Rose die

Fabric leaves: Prima      Felt doily: My Favorite Things Decorative Doily Duo die

LOVE ticket: Tim Holtz idea-ology      Pearl flourish: Prima      Cotton lace: LittleRedCottage on Etsy     

Spellbinders Dies: Classic Triple Scallop and  Classic Petal Edgeabilities

I added some pink rosebuds and put a pink scalloped border around the vintage heart image on this next card, and another Valentine was born....

A shot of what the insides look like...

Supplies:

Patterned papers: Basic Grey Out of Print collection (green & black),

 Echo Park For the Record collection (tan)

Vintage rose image: The Graphics Fairy      Mulberry leaves: Prima      Hug Snug seam binding

Scalloped cotton lace: Fields of Dreams on Etsy      Pearl:  Recollections

Sentiment stamp: Hero Arts      Rose buds: Viola Mahr on Etsy

Hope you're having a great start to your week...back soon with more photos!



Soft and Shabby...

Sometimes, when making cards, I pull embellishments first, then pull papers and punches to show off the embellishments.  This makes the process pretty quick, since it's then just a matter of arranging the decorations on the card fronts, then cutting papers to fit beneath them.

Instead, last week, I reversed the process, and pulled sets of patterned papers first...then went on the hunt through the Korner to find embellishments to go with the papers. When I was done, I realized I'd pulled all soft-and-shabby papers - guess I'd set my style right there.  But there's where the card-making process can slow down...because sometimes I don't already have the embellishments on hand that I have "in my head."  That means I need to get busy and get creative with my crafting supplies and make what I want.  So out come the die cutting machines, the glitters, the boxes of beads, and chipboard, and inks, and paints, and glues...and hours later I might be ready to start the construction of the cards - but I sure have lots of messy fun in the meantime! 

To start, here's a little pretty for no particular reason...just to say "Hello"...

Supplies:

Patterned Papers: Echo Park Victoria Gardens collection      Chipboard Frame: Tattered Angels

Fabric Rolled Flower: Creative Imaginations      Doily: Wilton      Pearls: Recollections

Jute Fringe Trim: Frogfeathers on Etsy       Braided Cotton Lace: LittleRedCottage on Etsy 

Hug Snug seam binding      Grey Crochet Trim: Maya Road      Jute twine: Darice

Finally, for today, a fun little number using a Crafty Secrets vintage image...another "non-traditional" Valentine, perhaps?  The chipboard frame was made using Spellbinders Labels 20 dies.

Supplies:

Patterned Papers: MyMindsEye  A Beautiful Life collection (floral and dotted),

Pink Paislee Nantucket collection (green)

Dies: Spellbinders Labels 20      Punches: EK Success (abstract flower) edge punch, Fiskars corner rounder

German Glass Glitter: GlitterandKitsch on Etsy      Vintage Image: Crafty Secrets     

Hug Snug seam binding      Fabric Leaf & White Lace/Pearl piece: Prima      

Mini Roses: Prima from LayoutsFromTheHeart on Etsy      Copper Heart: stash     

Lace: May Arts (tea dyed after purchase)      Handcrafted Stick Pin

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend...is football tuned on all tv's in your home, too? I'll admit to being glued to the tv yesterday while the 49'ers were playing!   We're supposed to get a bit of welcome rain here this week after a *very* dry holiday season. (Just another reason to "hole up" in my little Korner for some crafting fun!)