Tea (Thyme) for Two...

A crafter's dilemma:  when you find a set of papers you really like, you have to resist the urge to use them on everything you make and ending up with projects that all start to look the same.  My most recent favorite is Prima's Tea Thyme collection. But instead of resisting, I went with it, and did my best to coordinate one of my favorite papers from the Tea Thyme collection with different colors to add some variety.  To be honest, because I let myself go with the flow during the design process, the two most recent cards still look a lot alike. LOL

The first one is made up in pink and dark cream, with green as the accent color...

Tea-dyed wide crocheted lace sends your eye down to the large floral cluster in the corner, made up of tea-dyed white craft-store flowers and a pretty green Prima flower in the center of it all...all surrounded with lots of mini dark cream pearls.  The diecut cardstock flourish is dusted with clear glitter, but it's a little difficult to see that detail in the photos...

Supplies:

Patterned Papers:   Prima Tea Thyme collection (floral);  Crate Paper On Trend collection (background)

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

Punch:   Martha Stewart Medium Branch      Lace:  TheFunkieJunkie.com      Green fabric flower:  Prima

Pearls:  Recollections      Miscellaneous:   white fabric flowers

For the second card, I used blue as the accent color.  In these photos, the blue looks more intense than it does to the naked eye. (I think that might be the effect of the Ott light creating contrast against the white backdrop.)  In real life, it's a dusty, subdued blue.  The differences between this and the pink card?  A smaller square card, a smaller floral cluster, more rounded lines with the corners and scalloped lace and paper edge...and, ummmmm.....ok...they're basically the same card made on different days...LOL.

In keeping with the theme of more rounded edges, I used a Spellbinders die shape as the sentiment block, and stamped the sentiment using a coordinating rose colored ink...

The floral cluster sits atop a tea-dyed craft store flower, using mini roses and branch punches to make the cluster.  I used cheesecloth again beneath the floral base, but this time I pulled some of the pieces of the cheesecloth up between the flower petals to add even more shabby dimension...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:   Prima Tea Thyme collection (floral);  Echo Park Note To Self collection (blue and music patterns)

Punches:   EK Success Diamond Lace;  Martha Stewart Medium Branch

Scalloped lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com      Paper roses:  Wild Orchid Crafts      Pearls:  Recollection

Sentiment block:   Spellbinders Labels 20 die      Sentiment stamp:   Pebbles

Miscellaneous:   cheesecloth,  fabric flower (tea-dyed)

Thanks for visiting today...I hope your week started with a smile!

Old-Fashioned Fun...

I have a short-and-sweet post today with one more card to show you from last week (but yesterday was a very productive day in the Korner, too...I'll have several new projects to share with you next week!).

When I made up this card, I was in the mood for something old-fashioned and almost Victorian in style.  So I pulled papers in muted but strong shades of aqua and purple, added lots of pearls and faux-pearl accents, and used dark ink and cream paint to give an aged and distressed effect around the edges.

I punched the vintage rose image into a small oval shape, then layered a couple more oval die cuts beneath it...adding some lilac faux-pearl trim with a Viva Decor Pearl Pen...

After tea-dying the scalloped lace, I cut it into a couple different pieces to layer beneath the vintage image, adding some Kaisercraft mini pearls to the flower centers along the top of the lace...

Supplies:

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

Dies:   Spellbinders Floral Ovals, Classic Ovals Large, Ironwork Accents border;  My Favorite Things Royal Leaves

Vintage rose image:  Dover Publications      Lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com      Paper rose:   Wild Orchid Crafts

Lilac mini pearls:   Kaisercraft      Viva Decor Pearl Pen-lilac

Thanks so much for visiting today!  I hope your weekend is turning into a fun one...it's a football weekend in this house, so lots of at-home things are happening while the games are on. :)

Soft Coral and Floral...Winter Style

It's often a challenge to take my favorite soft colors for cards, and work them into more seasonal uses.  I love pinks and corals, but like to craft in the theme of the current season...it's one of the reasons I have a difficult time getting "in the mood" for Christmas cards when the temps outside are still in the 80 degree range. :)  But this experiment seemed to work out in my favor...I mixed gray and pinks together, and got what I was aiming for...soft pinks and corals, winter style.

I had been watching a home-decorating show on tv where they made a wall arrangement of empty square picture frames...and it got me thinking to do the same on a card.  I've used oval open frames often on my cards, but I can't recall ever using a square one...until now...

It was fun putting the floral spray together inside the frame...all layered atop some more scrunched tea-dyed cheesecloth (it's fast becoming a new "staple" in my card making supply list!).  A light dusting of clear glitter on the embossed border around the open square adds just a touch of glimmer to the kraft-backed coral cardstock that was lightly sanded to distress and let some of the kraft show through.

A pearl stick pin with gray and white pearls contrasts with the tiny dark cream seed pearls scattered on the leafy branch die cuts...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:  Prima Almanac collection; Prima Tea Thyme collection

Dies:   Spellbinders Classic Squares Small, Fleur de Lis Squares;  Sizzix Flowers Branches & Leaves;  

My Favorite Things Royal Leaves

Edge Punch:   Martha Stewart Eyelet Lace      Paper roses:  Wild Orchid Crafts

Pearls:  Recollections      Hug Snug seam binding    

Miscellaneous:  cheesecloth, crocheted lace, handcrafted stick pin, coarse clear glitter

Crafting is still a bit sporadic these days, and that means the blog posts are, too. Hopefully things will be back on a more normal "schedule" soon!   Thanks so much for stopping by today!

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!

Warm Winter Wishes...

Happy New Year, everyone! The weather here lately is bright and sunny...but brrrrrr...cold. (I realize for those of you who live in snowy climates that my definition of cold is probably different than yours...LOL. For us, freezing/32 degress F means "brrrrr....COLD!" )  But to be truthful, I like the cold weather, because it's a reminder that we actually have something called winter here....and because summer seems to go on forever.

So today I have just one new card to show...and it's a result of our "brrrrr....cold" weather lately that I was inspired to make this up in grey, tan, and white with some sparkly thrown into the mix...the colors of "cold."

I gathered up some burlap ribbon to form the base of the flower, then topped it with paper leaves, mini white craft store fabric flowers, some floral wires dipped in white Flower Soft, a Hug Snug bow, and a pretty white organza flower with a pearl cluster center...

A couple punched snowflakes were covered with clear coarse glitter, a cluster of pearls was added to the center of each one, and they were popped off the page with foam tape...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:  Basic Grey Capella collection; Carta Bella Winter Fun collection

Punches:  Martha Stewart Arctic Snowflake and Eyelet Lace edge

Die:  Papertrey Ink Victorian Lace Border      Mulberry paper leaves and flower:  Prima

Pearls:  Recollections      Memo pin:  Tim Holtz      Hug Snug seam binding

Miscellaneous:  cheesecloth, burlap ribbon, fabric flowers, coarse clear glitter

Thanks for visiting today...I hope your week started with a smile!