LOTV - A Time For Giving...

Good Wednesday morning, everyone! Before I share today's card, there are a couple sale offers going on over at Lili of the Valley on the new stamps...and there's still time for you to take advantage of them!

One lasts until tomorrow midnight (UK time)...

And one ends Friday, August 8, midnight (UK time)...

The card I'm sharing today uses one of the sentiments in the new Set 75, Christmas Wishes (the same one pictured in the graphic above), only I've used some of the beautiful new papers from the new Enchantment paper pad and an accent dark purple paper from the new Snow Princess Solids paper pad to make a card geared toward autumn and the season of Thanksgiving...

The clock peeking out behind the floral cluster is a stamp from Set 66, Grunge Elements, watercolored with Distress Inks...

The florals include a larger rust-colored fabric flower from Petaloo, topped with mulberry roses and asters in brown, cream, and purple, accented with golden pearls...

The little frame was created with air-dry clay, then rubbed with brown ink, and finally topped with Frayed Burlap Distress Stickles, for just a bit of vintage sparkle...

Next, the sentiment from the new Christmas Wishes set, stamped onto a banner and inked around the edges for a vintage feel..

The little tag tucked in at the top of the card pulls out to display a second sentiment from Set 58, Pretty Grungy/Good Times...the tag is topped with a spray of raffia with purple twine accents...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:  LOTV Enchantment, and Snow Princess Solids

Stamps:   LOTV Set 75, Christmas Wishes;   Set 66, Grunge Elements;   Set 58, Pretty Grungy/Good Times

Dies:   Sizzix Flowers Branches & Leaves;   Tim Holtz Tattered Banners

Edge punch:   Martha Stewart Swirling Lace          Frame:   Martha Stewart mold & air dry clay

Mulberry flowers:   Wild Orchid Crafts          Fabric flower:  Petaloo            Pearls:  Recollections

Purple twine:   The Twinery

Miscellaneous:   hemp twine, Distress Stickles, Distress Inks, raffia

Thanks for visiting today!

Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful...

Happy Monday, all! Today I'm sharing a shabby-chic little number with a sentiment that could be appropriate for any occasion when you want to send a little pick-me-up message. :)

I always find it a bit difficult to photograph cards using the colors used here...a very pale taupe - not white or cream, just very muted - with a dusty grey-green, and a dusty pink.  And I always wonder how it looks on different monitors...LOL  So here it is...

Inside the white clay frame I added a piece from another patterned paper with basically the same colors, and put a cluster of pearls in the corner...

The flower cluster is also made up of dusty pastels...pink, grey, green...with just a couple brighter pink roses for fun...

The sentiment is stamped onto a small piece of the mauve patterned paper, treated with a punched edge...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:   Maja Designs Vintage Summer Basics

Die:   My Favorite Things Royal Leaves            Frame:   Martha Stewart mold & air dry clay

Flowers & stamens:   Wild Orchid Crafts            Pearls:   Recollections

Twine:   The Twinery/Natural Solid            Punch:   Martha Stewart Beaded Ruffle

Sentiment stamp:   Unity Stamp Co. / Imperfection is Beauty

Miscellaneous:   Wilton doily, ribbon

Thanks for stopping by today...I hope your week is starting with a smile!

Cardabilities Sketch #104 - Thanks For All You Do...

TGIF! This week I had one of those "it's late at night, but the idea is hot and I'm going for it!" nights. While cruising some of the blogs in my feed yesterday afternoon, I came across the new Cardabilities sketch challenge, and I had a few ideas I jotted down. Last night, I changed my mind on a couple of those ideas, and decided to get to work on them before I lost momentum. Needless to say, it was late when I finished (drying time accounted for much of the time spent into the wee hours...that's my story and I'm sticking to it! heehee). Here's the finished card....

Here's the new sketch challenge that the design is based on...

For the background, I started with a piece of solid colored paper, and used matte medium to paste it to a base of 140 lb. watercolor paper. I knew I'd be using wet mediums on top of the paper, and wanted it to have a heavy base that could absorb the wet mediums without buckling. Then I gesso'd on several pieces of cheesecloth as the start of the textured base. 

Once the gesso was dry, I used a combination of sprays and Distress Inks applied with foam applicators to add spots of color over some of the gesso'd areas, leaving the rest of the gesso spots white. The final step was to fingerpaint (yep...I fingerpainted it on...it was fun! LOL)  Distress Stickles in Spun Sugar, Broken China, and Frayed Burlap over the front, to add more spots of color and texture, and just a subtle hint of sparkle.

Here's a closeup of a piece of the front that shows all the ingredients in one place...

There's a diecut doily under the sentiment block, and a twine wreath in addition that sits on top of the horizontal sentiment block. Each on their own didn't look substantial enough, but together, they counter the weight of the heavily textured background and the wider sentiment block...

The sentiment itself is stamped onto a piece of a diecut tattered banner...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:   Maja Designs Vintage Summer Basics

Dies:   Spellbinders Scalloped Borders One;   Sizzix Flowers Branches & Leaves;   Lifestyle Crafts Antique Doily;

Tim Holtz Tattered Banners

Lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com          Punch:   EK Success Round Binding Edge

Flowers:   Wild Orchid Crafts          Sentiment stamp:   Simon Says Stamp/Friendship Messages

Pearls:   Recollections          Miscellaneous:   cheesecloth, gesso, Distress Inks, Distress Stickles

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today...have a wonderful weekend!

LOTV - It's a Christmas Blog Hop!

Good morning, everyone. Things have been a little too quiet here on my blog, but rest assured, work is going on behind the scenes and new projects to share are happening!

Today's the day for Lili of the Valley's Christmas blog hop to celebrate the launch of wonderful new Christmas products. This is a big release - 22 new character stamps - vintage boys & girls, snowmen, penguins, and angels;  4 new beautiful Christmas paper pads; new clear Christmas sentiments; clear Christmas carols and recipe stamps; and some new mini images. Sharpen up that list-making pencil - I have a strong feeling you're going to need it! :)

The new stamps and papers will be available on the LOTV website starting at midnight Friday, August 1 (UK time) (that's late afternoon Thursday for most of us in the US, except for Hawaii where it's earlier in the afternoon LOL).

As before with the hops, there are fabulous prizes up for grabs, with winners to be drawn at random from the comments of the participating blogs. Even we don't know whose blogs are the "lucky" ones, so to increase your chances of winning in the drawing from comments, hop from one blog to the next and leave a comment on each one!

This time there's one prize drawing for the 12 angel, penguin, and snowmen stamps. The second drawing is for the 10 vintage children stamps. Both winners will be drawn at random from all the comments left on the lucky blogs, and winners will be announced Thursday evening on the Ideas To Inspire blog.

Here's a linked list of all the blogs taking part...

Ideas to Inspire

Anne

Becky

Dawny

Dena

Elise

Fleur

Gretha

Jen

Kathy (you're here!)
Lou

Mary J

Mindy

And here's my card. I used patterned papers from the new Festive Trimmings paper pad, and one of the sentiments from the new clear Christmas wishes sentiment sheet, along with lots of fun holiday dies for a frosty winter scene:

In the corner, a large die cut poinsettia, sprinkled with clear coarse glitter and with tiny bells to simulate the yellow stamen center...

The new LOTV Christmas sentiment stamp is in a straight line on the stamp sheet, but one of the reasons I love clear sentiment stamps is the versatility of being able to shape them the way you want. I "waved" this one on the stamp block, and stamped it onto a tattered banner die cut (that I tattered just a bit more and edged with clear glitter)...

I used lots of foam tape for dimension on this card...the green star Festive Trimmings paper is the only one adhered directly to the card front. The white frame layer is popped up from the green star paper, the trees are adhered with foam tape, the deer and the green dotted Festive Trimmings paper are popped up from the white frame, and finally the banner is popped up from the green frame paper. It all forms natural shadows and interest to the overall scene...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:  LOTV *new* Festive Trimmings

Sentiment stamp:   LOTV *new* A5 Christmas Wishes clear stamp

Dies:   Spellbinders Labels Two and Layered Poinsettia;   Impression Obsession Birch Trees,

Deer Trio, and Pine Branch;   Tim Holtz Tattered Banners

Twine:   The Twinery / Red Shimmer      

Miscellaneous:   Glistening Snow-Tex;   Shabby Blue Frantage embossing powder

Your next stop is Crafty Lou's blog to see the beauty she has for you.  And don't forget to stop by the Ideas to Inspire blog Thursday to see if you're one of the lucky winners of the two prizes.

Enjoy the hop, and good luck everyone!

LOTV - We Are All Special...

Happy Monday, everyone! I'm starting this week off with the "twin" to last week's LOTV card. Both are watercolored roses, both done in pretty much the same colors, but with just a slight twist to make them individual in nature. Today's card uses the single rose from Set 66, Grunge Elements (along with just the top of the leafy branch in the same set) and pairs it with one of the quotes from  Inspirational Sentiments ...

I used patterned papers from several different LOTV paper pads...the black dot is from Father Knows Best, the green solid from Pressed in Time, and the pretty pink is from Heartfelt.

Here are a few detail shots around the front...

The small sentiment stamped and embossed onto a strip of vellum over the crocheted lace is from LOTV's Set 25, Handwritten Phrases ...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:   LOTV Father Knows Best, Pressed in Time, and Heartfelt

Stamps:   LOTV Set 66/Grunge Elements,  Set 25/Handwritten Phrases,  and Inspirational Sentiments

Flowers:   Wild Orchid Crafts           Pink stamens:   ChocolateLetters on Etsy

Die:   Sizzix Flowers Branches & Leaves            Pearls:   Recollections            Crocheted Lace:   local craft store

Miscellaneous:   Sakura Koi watercolors, twine, clear embossing powder, vellum

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

Bliss...

Good morning, all! Things are moving a little slowly here in the craftroom this week...well, at least things I can post right now. I'm working on a few projects for posting at later dates, trying to get ahead of when they're due so I'm not scrambling at the end. I'm not happy when I have to create under pressure, and I think it shows in the finished project, so I do my best not to put myself in that position. :)

Today's project is this week's mixed-media-meets-shabby-chic card (I'm loving the process of making these, so there may be one weekly from now on!). Once again, I used Spectra Bleeding Art tissues to color the background, but this time, I covered the whole piece with a light coating of gesso after the tissues dried, which left me with a beautiful, soft, pastel background. That way, I could use inks and stamps in places where I wanted bolder colors.

Another technique I added this time was to mix Perfect Pearls powder with translucent embossing paste. I applied this using the chevron stencil. In trying to get a closeup for you to see the slight sheen this added, I realized the best photo of it was the full-on photo of the card. If you click on the card pic to enlarge it, you can see the shimmer it adds...it really dresses up the card!

And that's what led me to make all the embellishments monochromatic - all in cream, and very feminine, starting with the large lace rose in the center...

The die cut beneath the flowers in the upper left corner is cut from black cardstock...I dry-brushed it with gesso to lighten it just a bit, but still keep it from blending into the background too much...

I used Aquamarine and Magenta Hue Archival inks with a couple of the Tim Holtz Grunge stamps to bring pops of strong, bright color to some of the corners...

The cream Prima charm was the perfect blend with the flowers and lace...

This lace flower came from the same Etsy shop as the colored shabby roses I'm so fond of using...this time, there's a clear Prima button in the center to dress it up even more...

Supplies:

Stamps:   Tim Holtz Ultimate Grunge

Stencil:   Tim Holtz Chevron

Dies:    Memory Box Queen of Hearts;    Poppy Stamps Massa Leaf Background

Lace rose:   Frogfeathers on Etsy

Bliss charm and large button:   Prima              Flowers:   Wild Orchid Crafts

Pearls:   Recollections            Crocheted lace:   local craft store

Hug Snug seam binding

Mixed media supplies:   Spectra Bleeding Art tissue, gesso, Archival inks, gel medium, 

Studio 490 translucent embossing paste, "Mint" Perfect Pearls powder

Thanks so much for stopping by today!