What's New?

A while ago, a sweet friend surprised me with a gift package containing a few rolls of washi tape...and not surprisingly, all of them were in colors and prints that are "just my style."  So of course, I immediately wanted to use one on a card specifically with her in mind, and use it in a way other than as a stripe, or a banner...fun ways, but ones I've already seen done several times. I decided to try covering a small chipboard frame with one of them...a bit of a challenge since I'd have to match the print up somehow.

After successfully covering the frame with the pieces of tape (yay!), I sanded off the edges to the stamp shape of the frame (this was the time-consuming part of the process), and coated it with Matte Accents.  It gave the frame a more finished look, and ensured all the tape edges would stay secured to the frame for a nice long time.

When I added the half-doily to the left of the frame, I felt the edge looked too "raw," in spite of the stitching to the side, so I added a piece of tea-dyed scalloped lace and put a few loose pearls at the tops of the scallops.

With the card all cream and black, I decided to put an assortment of colors in the flower cluster to brighten things up for spring...dark aqua, red, pink, yellow, lilac and purple, along with cream and palest yellow...

The frame is adhered to the card front with thin strips of foam tape to not only add dimension, but to make more of a "well" for the flowers to nestle in and around...

Here's a side view with a peek to the inside. This is a 4"x 6" card, a little thinner and taller than the usual A2 sized cards I usually make. This size left me more height to "play" with the design using the frame...

Supplies:

Patterned paper:   K&Company Maison collection       Chipboard frame:   Tattered Angels

Lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com       Flowers:   Wild Orchid Crafts       Pearls:   Recollections

Die:   Memory Box Elegant Scrollwork         Punch:   Martha Stewart Medium Branch

Tim Holtz Memo Pin       Hug Snug seam binding

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

      

Just Because (it's Spring)...

A happy Monday to you!  Today's card is a soft, pastel, shabby little spring number, for no reason other than to send something pretty with a short note inside. :)

After I had embossed the pale pink and yellow patterned paper, I decided I like the subtlety of the back side better than the deep detail of the front, so I ran a second sheet of the same paper through the embossing folder so the right side of the paper showed the wrong side of the embossing.  (There's no rule you have to do things "the right way," right? LOL)

Here's the end result...

Because the digital collage has a basket of flowers and roses beneath it, I keep the floral decoration on the card to a single pink rose on top of a couple pink bows...used a pearl spray in lieu of the usual pearl flourish...and tucked a tiny sentiment tag into a painted and embellished memo pin...

The frame around the digital collage is adhered to the card with foam tape...the collage itself is popped up again from the frame for even more dimension...

I couldn't find the right wider lace to run across the front, so I "made" one by running two lengths of narrow scalloped lace with the straight edges meeting in the middle, and ran a double row of pearls across the "seam" to hide it...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:   Melissa Frances Pearl (pink);    Prima Divine collection (green dot)

Punches:   Martha Stewart Eyelet Lace and Medium Branch

Dies:   Spellbinders Opulent Ovals      Embossing folder:   Cuttlebug Geometric Rings 

Lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com       Paper rose & pearl spray:  local craft store       Pearls:  Recollections

Tim Holtz Memo Pin       Hug snug seam binding

Digital collage elements:

Music paper:  FreeVintageDigiStamps.blogspot.com

Hexagon grid:  PrintablePaper.net

Pink paper:   Memory Makers Wild Sorbet

Flower basket and roses:   VintageImages.org

Tree:   TheGraphicsFairy.com

Ticket:  AstridsArtisticEfforts.blogspot.com

Thank you for visiting today...I hope your week is starting with a smile!

Hybrid Happy - Take Three...

And another happy Friday is upon us...the last one in April...this month has flown by so fast for me!

Today's card features the same digital paper used as the background for the card front and for the small digital collage that's the focal point.  Backgrounds of soft blue and yellow, with a touch of kraft around the edges, and tea-dyed lace, are contrasted by the bright colors in the teacup and bouquet of roses in it.  It uses one of my favorite sentiment stamps - it's such a wonderful sentiment for a friendship card, or as a thank you note...

There's such a light coating of clear coarse glitter scattered around the roses in the teacup that it hardly shows up in the photos - but it's there...

One single red rose centered between two pale yellow roses mimics the rose bouquet in the teacup...

And lastly, a view of the inside that also shows the dimension on the card front...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:  Designer Digitals/KPertiet Color Challenge 92009-1 (blue); 

 Playing with Brushes Torn Paper (distressed edges)

Digital Collage Elements:

Flowers and Grapes:  VintageImages.org     

French sign, teacup, spoon:  TheGraphicsFairy.com

Ticket:  AstridsArtisticEfforts.blogspot.com

Butterfly:  Dover Publications

Cuttlebug Textile Textures Embossing Folder      Lace:  TheFunkieJunkie.com       Sentiment stamp:  Technique Tuesday

Roses:   Wild Orchid Crafts       Pearls:  Recollections

Thanks for taking the time to visit today...I hope you have a great weekend!

Damask and Dots...

It all started when I opened the drawer of 12x12 patterned papers again (a drawer that's been a little bit ignored lately since I've been obsessively using my 6x6 pads of papers).   :)

I had decided to put some of my "older" papers to use...when I came across a wonderful soft aqua damask with corners fading to black and white polka dots.  Then I remembered I had another paper that was only black and white dots...and lo and behold, the dots were the same shades and the same size, even though they were different manufacturer's papers...and I was off and running with the design of today's card.

Small two-tone roses of white and aqua were the perfect fit here, as were two tiny pink rosebuds for just a touch of the unexpected color...

The shabby fabric rose started out white...I used a few different colors of watered down Distress Inks to get the soft aqua shade I was going for, and dyed some Hug Snug seam binding to match while I was at it...

A pearl corsage pin was embellished with a pink gem spacer, pearls in different sizes and shades, and an antique gold spacer...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:   Kaisercraft Sublime/Majesty (dot);   Glitz Hoopla Pipework (teal damask & dot)

Dies:   Spellbinders Classic Scallop Edgeabilities;   My Favorite Things Royal Leaves

Lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com        Paper  Flowers:   Wild Orchid Crafts         Shabby rose:   Frogfeathers on Etsy

Pearls:   Recollections and Prima       Hug Snug seam binding       Handcrafted stick pin

Thanks so much for visiting today!

TSTR - Spring Bliss...

It's the start of a new week, and  I'm tickled pink to have been invited to be a Guest Designer at The Shabby Tea Room . With the theme "Spring Bliss," you know it's going to be another fun challenge!  Debbie's our host, and our challenge is to use yellow, green, and white, and include a flower and polka dots.

Here's my card for this week's challenge...

based on this pretty photo:

Yes, I can guess what you're probably thinking. When I first saw this photo, I pulled daisies out of my flower stash to use on my card.  But then I remembered that I had some cherry blossoms in there, too...and cherry blossoms are one of the first signs of spring...so white cherry blossoms it was...just for the fun of it. :) 

As you can see, there was a lot of die-cutting done for this card.  The outside finished dimensions are 4" x 6", and the largest die on the front is backed with lightweight white chipboard to support the edges while the card is standing upright.  The inside die cut topped with the yellow polka dot paper is adhered with foam tape for just a bit of dimension.

Then the spray of cherry blossoms, leaves, pearls, and a small yellow seam binding bow were added...

and just a snippet of pretty white lace topped with a double line of white pearls...

and lastly, a peek at the inside...

Supplies:

Patterned paper:   Echo Park Dots & Stripes/Candy Shoppe collection

Dies:   Spellbinders Timeless Rectangles;  Memory Box Elegant Scrollwork;  My Favorite Things Royal Leaves

Cherry blossoms:  Wild Orchid Crafts       Lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com       Pearls:   Recollections

Sentiment stamp:   Inkadinkado       Hug Snug seam binding

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

Squaring Off (From A Different Angle)...

Happy Friday, everyone!  I'm ending the week with a short post of a happy little card.

I was playing with another new die set the other day, and one of the pieces is a large "corner" die. I've seen dies similar to this used on square cards, but they were smaller dies than this one, so my new toy required a little bit more imagination on my part to make it work on the size cards I tend to make.  But I think I was successful! :)

Once I decided on the background paper, and placed the die on the diagonal, it took a bit of shuffling the pieces around to decide where I wanted to place the flower cluster and lace.  Once again, it meant I had to keep myself from going with familiar placements and just let the embellishments "go with the flow" of the design...

By running the tea-dyed lace up the diagonal line between the die cut and paper, it almost forced the cluster to the top corner...putting it there keeps the design balanced now, but also leaves me the option to add a sentiment on the lower right if I decide to do so later...

I cut one of my handcrafted pearl wire spirals in two, putting the shorter piece on the top of the cluster, and the longer piece at the bottom over the small seam binding bow...

Supplies:

Patterned paper:  Prima IOD Rue 88 Coordinates 3 (digital)

Dies:   Spellbinders Gold Elements One;   My Favorite Things Royal Leaves;   Sizzix Flowers Branches & Leaves

Punch:  EK Success Double Crochet Lace       Scalloped lace:  TheFunkieJunkie.com

Flowers:   Wild Orchid Crafts       Pearls:  Recollections       Handcrafted pearl wire spiral       Hug Snug Seam Binding

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