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!

Monday's Smile...

Happy Monday, all...I hope you had a great weekend!

One thing I love about this hobby is that I can create according to my moods and whims...one day it's light and lacy, and the next, I'm playing with darker and more muted shades (but still definitely shabby). And believe it or not, there's *no* flower cluster on this card.  Well, no dimensional one, that is.  I did some fussy cutting of one of the patterned papers...so that's serving as the flower cluster on today's card. :)

Two little Hug Snug bows are topped with a piece of looped hemp trim glued into a circle...topped with a small felt flower from the dollar store, and a tiny cameo button...and let's not forget the jeweled stick pin...

Just a light dusting of clear coarse glitter over parts of the roses that were fussy-cut from one of the patterned papers to overlap the pink paper above and leave room to stamp the sentiment...and even the stamp font is shabby and distressed...just right for this card!

Supplies:

Patterned papers:  Prima Almanac and Tea Thyme collections      Dies:  Spellbinders Classic Scallop Edgeabilities

Sentiment stamp:  Technique Tuesday/Ali Edwards      Lace:  TheFunkieJunkie.com

Pearls:  Recollections      Miscellaneous:  cheesecloth, hemp loop trim, felt flower, cameo, handcrafted stick pin

Thanks for visiting today!

A Sweet Little "Twofer"...

I haven't participated in any challenges since before Christmas, so it felt good that I could actually participate in a couple current challenges this week, and even better, that I could combine both challenges in one card.  The first is Lenet's  "Happy Birthday in Pink and Blue" challenge over at The Shabby Tea Room , and the second is the weekly sketch over at Mojo Monday . The perfect way to end the week!

I was able to get some good use from my new printer with the background patterned paper used on this card.  It began as the aqua paper from Karen's  Lattice Collection at The Graphics Fairy.  I did a little recoloring in Photoshop Elements to make it less aqua and more blue, and to darken it a bit to fit with the colors in the challenge. After a little bit of tinkering, I got just the color I was going for, along with reducing the size of the pattern to better fit the size of the card. I turned the sketch on it's side to fit on this portrait-orientation card...

Here are the challenge photos I was working from for this card (direct links are up above):

  

After turning the sketch, I substituted the scalloped oval with the floral cluster...gotta have a floral cluster to be a Korner card, right? :)  You can see why it was impossible for me to ignore that inspiration photo...right up my alley with that cluster of roses! 

Supplies:

Patterned papers:  The Graphics Fairy (digital paper);  Echo Park Be Mine collection (pink pattern)

Cuttlebug Textile Texture Embossing folder         EK Success Dotted Scallop edge punch

My Favorite Things Royal Leaves die         Lace:  TheFunkieJunkie.com      

Pearls:  Recollections         Mini paper rose:  Wild Orchid Crafts  

Miscellaneous:  craft store fabric flowers and stamen;  handcrafted pearl wire spiral;  pink ribbon

Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit.  I can't believe it's Friday already...another week has flown by way too fast. Have a great weekend!

Light and Lacy...

At night around here you know it's still winter with temps in the low 30's, but during the day, you'd think it was spring...warm, sunny, and high 60's.  So that put me in the mood to use some bright and cheerful colors this week - at least until the rain comes back for a visit in a day or so.

Here's a light and lacy birthday card...white scalloped lace and a piece of a white doily form the base for a floral cluster made up of tulle, cheesecloth, a soft and shabby yellow fabric flower, some gathered cotton lace, three tiny yellow and white roses, and an embellished memo pin holding the sentiment tag...

The large crystal is from Maya Road (Vintage Alterable Trinkets-Large)...it starts as a smooth clear crystal.  But you know me by now...I can't leave it that way. :)  I coated it with Glossy Accents and sprinkled on some clear coarse glitter.  When dry, it's now slightly sparkly, with a pretty prism effect. I put a small jump ring through the top, and tied it to the center knot of the small dyed Hug Snug bows beneath the flowers at the center of the card...

Here's a closeup view of the center of the flower cluster...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:  Sassafras (aqua background print);  Echo Park Dots & Stripes/Metropolitan (black dot);

MyMindsEye/Dilly Dally collection (yellow);  Prima/IOD Rue 88 collection (floral stripe)

Dies:  Sizzix Flowers Branches and Leaves      Scalloped lace:  TheFunkieJunkie.com      Pearls:  Recollections

Fabric flower:  Frogfeathers on Etsy      Mini paper roses:  Wild Orchid Crafts

Large crystal:  Maya Road      Paper doily:  Wilton      Memo pin:  Tim Holtz      Hug Snug seam binding

Miscellaneous:  tulle, cheesecloth, cotton lace, clear coarse glitter

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

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!

Just In C.A.S.E....

I may have mentioned that crafting time isn't happening much here lately.  In addition to the "great computer conversion," I had some relatively minor oral surgery last week that has really slowed me down....well, that, or I'm being a very impatient patient again. :)   I'm not bouncing back as quickly as I thought I would, and my mojo is showing the effect of it.

So I had this simple digital collage that I made up...and I had some more digital papers from Janet's ByDigitalPaper shop on Etsy...but things weren't quite coming together.  I put the digi collage on a background of a die cut frame, and added some lace to the bottom, and then I got stuck.  Until, that is, I remembered a wonderful card Rebecca had made a few months ago when she used a little banner across the top of a card...and I realized I could stamp a sentiment onto the small banner.  It wasn't until I went back to find the link to Rebecca's card for this post that I realized we had used digital paper from the same Antique Paper set from Janet's shop on our cards. So, in the end, I did what the scrapbooking world calls "Copy And Scraplift Everything" (C.A.S.E. for short)...I CASE'd Rebecca's card...and it's one of my favorites now...very shabby and vintage, with lots of feminine touches.

I matted the mini collage to a piece of lightweight chipboard just a tiny bit smaller than the image, before distressing and inking the edges, then glued it directly to the diecut frame, leaving room at the bottom for lace to peek out...the frame was then attached to the card with foam tape...

Taking a cue from Rebecca's card, I ran the little banner partly across the top, using mini roses and buttons dusted with clear glitter to surround the tiny banner stamped with the sentiment...

Supplies:

Patterned paper:  ByDigitalPaper on Etsy/ Antique Paper 7       Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Squares die

Digital collage elements:  Grungy Texture background: AlteredBits.com;  Iron fence & gate:  AntiqueImages.blogspot.com;

 Text:  FreeVintageDigistamps.blogspot.com;  Tulips  GreenPaper.typepad.com

Pearls:  Recollections      Lace:  TheFunkieJunkie.com      Sentiment stamp:  Papertrey Ink

Paper roses:  Wild Orchid Crafts      Hug Snug seam binding

Miscellaneous:  buttons, clear coarse glitter, hemp twine

Thank you for visiting today...I hope you're having a fun (or relaxing) weekend!  It's the last football weekend of the season here...Superbowl weekend...and we're BIG 49'er fans in this house.  So we'll be firmly planted in front of the tv tomorrow, snacks close by...cheering on our favorite team! :)