(Pretty in) Pink Thank-Yous...

Happy Friday!  I have a fun photo-heavy post to end the week on, so I invite you to pull up a chair and visit for a few minutes while you sip on a favorite beverage, and maybe sneak in a snack or two. :)

I mentioned last week that my crafting had gone on a "pink streak" lately...it seemed that no matter what color I started with, pink worked its way into the design.  Sometimes I wonder if I should buy Core'dinations Lotus Flower cardstock in bulk, because it seems to be the perfect shade of pink to work its way onto so many of my card projects!

The first thank you card for today is French-themed, with a fun digi collage as the focal point, and lots of lacy accents...

Soft pink, cream, and neutral paper roses and pearls are clustered to the right of the collage and the strip of tea-dyed crocheted lace that's also accented with small pearls...

The sentiment was stamped on a small tab to the left of the collage, and accented with pearls...I put the sentiment to this side so I could bring the tan color back to the left side to counter all the tan on the right side...

And if you know me, you know glitter has to work its way onto the collage somehow :)...just a light touch...around the petals of the roses at the top of the boot...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:  Graphic 45 A Ladies Diary collection/Timeless Memoir & Delicate Details

Die:  My Favorite Things Royal Leaves      Punch:  Martha Stewart Doily Lace       Lace:  TheFunkieJunkie.com

Pearls:  Recollections       Roses:  Wild Orchid Crafts       Sentiment stamp:  Papertrey Ink

Digital Collage Elements:   Boot/flowers, Rose cluster:  VintageImages.org;    French label:  TheGraphicsFairy.com;

French postmark:  SKrieger/French Laundry Frames;    Background paper:  Samantha Walker Cuckoo Melon Dot

Next up, a sweet pair of Thank-You minis...3-1/2" x 5" cards that pack a big punch for their smaller size...

The portrait-oriented card is done in soft shades of pink, cream, and taupe. Hopefully you can see this detail, but on both cards, the tulle bunched under a corner of the flower has a light dusting of clear coarse glitter...it adds a beautiful sparkle to the shabby details of the flowers...

The lace on this card is tea-dyed, then touched up with some Spun Sugar Distress Ink on a watercolor pen for a little extra blush of color next to the taupe shabby flower...

The landscape-oriented card is all pink and bright white, for a livelier feel...

And lastly, a peek at the insides, that have been "shabbied up," too...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:  Glitz French Kiss collection;  Basic Grey Cream Basics and White Basics collections;  Bo Bunny Chiffon Dot;  Echo Park Dots & Stripes/Candy Shoppe collection

Shabby fabric roses:  Frogfeathers on Etsy       Punches:  Martha Stewart Cherish;  EK Success Dotted Scallop

Dies:  My Favorite Things Royal Leaves       Laces:  TheFunkieJunkie.com

Sentiment stamps:  Fiskars       Pearls:  Recollections       Paper flowers:  Prima and Wild Orchid Crafts

Miscellaneous:  tulle, clear coarse glitter

Thanks for visiting today...have a great weekend!

Sending Smiles...

Good Wednesday morning, all!  With today's card, I got my "crafty" on. :)  I put together another digital paper with a fun torn paper edge detail, then got out the paints and dies for the window...shabbiness everywhere on this one!

I like this sentiment, because it's appropriate for several different card-sending reasons...friendship/have a nice day...get well...so sorry you're going through tough times...and maybe a few more.  I always like to keep a few of this type of card handy...you never know when you'll need one quickly.

I wanted this card to be feminine with a definite spring/summer feel, so there had to be lots of flowers along with the shabby crocheted laces...

The old and worn looking window was fun to make.  I started by die cutting the window from white chipboard, then coated it with a medium-thick coating of Ranger Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint.  When that had dried and crackled (with a little assist from my heat gun...have I mentioned that patience is not really one of my virtues? LOL), I brushed on a coating of white acrylic paint, wiping some of it away here and there.  The final step to making it look very old and worn was to take the tip of my craft knife, and actually chip away some of the paint all the way down to the chipboard base...

Here's a better view of the bottom of the window...

A side view, with a peek to the inside...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:  Digi paper (blue):  KPertiet/Designer Digitals/Color Challenge 92009-1;  Playing With Brushes Torn Paper;    Prima Almanac collection (pink)

Dies:  Poppystamps Small Madison Window;  Sizzix Flowers Branches and Leaves

Embossing folder:  Cuttlebug Dots       Flowers:  Prima, Wild Orchid Crafts, local craft store       Pearls:  Recollections

Laces:  local craft stores      Hug Snug seam binding      Handcrafted stick pin

Thanks for visiting today...I hope your week is a fun one so far!

Pretty Little All-Occasion Card...

Happy Monday, everyone!  I hope your weekend was a happy one.

Today's card is a little square card filled with soft springtime colors and lots of layering for dimension...and of course, pretty flowers! This time, simple layering with some foam tape gives the illusion that the card is even deeper than it really is IRL. The layers with the dotted and mini rose pattern papers are adhered together...then as one, are attached to the base of the card with a layer of foam tape...

and then the die cut frame is adhered with another layer of foam tape...this allows some of the flowers to nestle down inside the frame and add the illusion of more height than there really is...

In the lower corner, the flowers and a sprig of stamens are highlighted with only a small piece of the end of a pearl flourish...

but in the upper corner, there's a piece of tea-dyed cheesecloth beneath the flowers, along with a loopy cardstock flourish topped with a couple more pieces of pearl flourish...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:  Prima Romantique collection

Dies:  Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Squares & Classic Squares Small;  Memory Box Elegant Scrollwork;  

My Favorite Things Royal Leaves

Punch:  Martha Stewart Medium Branch      Flowers:  Wild Orchid Crafts, local craft stores      Pearls:  Recollections

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

Thanks (Again)...

Hurray for Friday...it's still my favorite day of the week...and I don't even work in an office anymore. (Old habits die hard, right? LOL)

Today I have another thank you card to share...this one is light and bright, and even though the paper placements are similar to cards done in the past, the embellishment placement strays a little from my norm. Sometimes it's fun to do something different and resist the urge to change it back to what's "comfortable"...

Off to the right, a  few assorted heart dies and some layering with a piece of a flourish die and a few paper roses on top of a piece of white burlap and strips of tea-dyed embroidered sheer ribbon...

The sentiment's on a tiny tag up in the left corner with three little banners, a trio of mini roses, and hemp and white twine bows...

And a side view with a peek to the inside...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:  Prima Divine collection (pennants, green dot, floral print);  

Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden collection (green and white text)

White burlap, embroidered sheer ribbon, tiny tag:  TheFunkieJunkie.com       Sentiment stamp:  Paper Sweeties

Dies:  Papertrey Ink "Heart Prints";  Xyron Shapez/"Heart";  Sizzix "Flowers Branches and Leaves";

Memory Box  "Elegant Scrollwork"

Pearls:  Recollections        Miscellaneous:  Hemp and white cotton twines;  clear coarse glitter

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

     

Mojo Monday 287 - Feel Better Soon...

Before I share today's card, I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge and thank you for the sweet comments and emails I've received on my posts.  I started the new year with the desire to answer and acknowledge each comment left on my blog posts, but I've already let myself down on that promise.  Please know I do read them and they make me smile...and I hope to do better! :)

One question I received last week is one that I've already answered a few emails on in the past...but it was asked again, so I'm thinking maybe it's time to answer it here on the blog.  The question is about how I do the edge treatments on the patterned papers - most specifically the white edges. I almost always ink around the outer edges of the patterned papers I use...no matter what other treatments I plan to apply...usually with VersaMagic Gingerbread or VersaColor Cocoa, which are both rich, golden-brown colors.

For white edges, I use a dry-brush technique with white acrylic craft paint...put a little bit of paint on a small flat-edge brush, wipe a bit off on your mat, then LIGHTLY apply the paint to the edges, letting the uneven bristle marks show. I like to use the brown ink even underneath the white acrylic paint dry-brushed around the edges, because the light brown makes the white stand out even more.

Today's card is a good example of how I use all three techniques that I favor...inking, dry brushing, and distressing with an edge distresser.  I still use an old Making Memories edge distresser that came in a goodie bag at a CKU back in 2005, but when it disappeared for a while, I purchased a Tonic edge distresser, and now that the missing tool is found and back in the supply drawer, I just use whichever of the two jumps into my hand first...LOL.

It's been a while since my time to create has jived with current challenges...I had some time last evening, and decided it was high time I worked on a current sketch, so I chose this week's Mojo Monday  inspiration and got to work.

When I send "get well" cards, I like them to be bright, colorful, and filled with flowers.  I've been on a bit of a "pink" streak lately (and you'll see some of the results of this "streak" throughout the next couple of weeks), so this time I decidedly went after a different color combo...blue and orange...(well, there's a tiny bit of hot pink thrown in for good measure...wink).  So this card happened...

based on this inspiration sketch...

There's a cluster of colorful mini roses and leaves on top of a large, shabby white fabric rose, with loose pearls scattered here and there, a bright orange Hug Snug bow off to the side, and a "jeweled up" and painted memo pin to hold the little sentiment tag...

Beneath the shabby rose cluster is a piece of cheesecloth, and a piece of cardstock flourish pointing up to a small corner cluster of pearls...off to the side is a snippet of scalloped crocheted lace and the paper doily peeking out...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:   Kaisercraft Miss Nelly collection (blue dot);   Crate Paper On Trend collection (yellow); 

Prima Zephyr collection (floral)

Dies:   My Favorite Things Royal Leaves;  Memory Box Elegant Scrollwork       Doily:  Wilton

White shabby rose:   Frogfeathers on Etsy      Paper roses:  Wild Orchid Crafts       Pearls:  Recollections

Scalloped Lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com       Hug Snug seam binding       Tim Holtz memo pin       Cheesecloth

I hope your week is going well so far...thank you so much for dropping by for a visit!

So Very Thoughtful...

Happy Monday everyone...and happy April Fool's Day!  No practical jokes or hijinx here on the blog...though I'm sure one or two will happen around the house today...just this funny feeling I have. :)

Today's post is short and sweet, with a flowery and shabby thank you card...in soft spring colors of pale yellow, green and pink... with lots of layers, and plenty of pearl accents...

The cluster of mini pink roses sits in the center of a shabby pale yellow fabric rose, with a base of a piece of tea-dyed cheesecloth...

And on the other side, a small piece of tea-dyed scalloped crocheted lace topped with a pearl cluster...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:  Prima Divine Collection       Punches:  EK Success Diamond Lace;  Ash Leaf by Punch Bunch

Dies:  Cheery Lynn Designs Italian Flourish       Sentiment stamp:  Hero Arts

Yellow fabric rose:  local craft store       Mini paper roses:  Wild Orchid Crafts       Pearls:  Recollections and Prima

Scalloped crocheted lace:  TheFunkieJunkie.com        Miscellaneous:  Tea dyed cheesecloth

Thanks for visiting today...I hope your week is starting with a smile...and if it started with April Fool's prank(s), I hope they were fun ones! :)