Sweet Hearts Revisited!

This is my second card for TSTR challenge this week which is Sweet Hearts.

I am soooooo very pleased with the finished result.

Ain't she pretty?

I am in love with the crochet edging I did on the vintage valentine image!

This close up shots show the detail a little better.

I just adore the crochet flowers so decided to make a rosette and add it to my creation.

My main background paper is covered in the prettiest little pink and green

butterflies so I had to add some of my own for dimension.

I cut them on my expression, distressed the edges, painted them with sparkly nail polish

and glued on some little pink pearls.

 

This card was very time consuming to make but

I think the end results were worth the effort.  

As usual, I am running behind so gotta run!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Until next time, 

Sweet Heart

TSTR's challenge this week is Sweet Hearts.

... please create a card or project using HEARTS and any additional inspiration from the photo -- colors of pink, green, brown & neutral, doilies, polka dots, flowers, lace, ribbons ... OR ALL!

I wanted my card to be soft and feminine and I think I have accomplished that.

I had intented my card to be pink but, when printing out my paper for the background frame

of the scrollwork, it came out looking more of a mute shade of purple.

As I am low on ink for my printer I went with that color.

Once I had finished my layout it looked rather void of color so I added some lavender lace

I had in my stash and lightly dusted the white ribbon rosettes with a lavender chalk ink.

It's a shame it doesn't show up better in the pictures but, the background paper and the ribbon

I used have a glittery effect. The card is so much prettier in person.

Thanks for taking a peek today!

Until next time, 

Winter Wonderland

Just sneaking in under the wire to post my submission to this weeks

Shabby Tea Room challenge.

Cathy chose the most beautiful winter scene as an inspiration photo

and asked that we create a project with a winter theme.

Isn't it just so lovely and peaceful?

If winter looked like this all the time I wouldn't mind it at all.

I was inspired by the beautiful colors of the photo

and made my card to reflect them.

Again, the pictures are not the best.  I must have moved this card around to

every room in the house trying to get decent lighting and these are

the best I could come up with.

I started off by using Penny Duncan's Nestie snowflake file.  Just love it! 

I then used another of her Nesties to make a backdrop for the

snowflake which is mounted with pop dots.

Satin ribbon was run through some slits I added to the Nestie.

I then mounted it all to some wonderful digital snowflake paper and then

again to digital newsprint. I zigzag stitched around the snowflake paper

in the exact shade of blue as the papers and ribbon.

I just fell in love with this trim when I saw it at Joann's. It kind of reminded

me of snow and icicles so I added it to my card along the bottom after

running some blue satin ribbon through the top part.

I added some pins and some of my homemade roses in a shade

that matches the red in the little vintage girls photo.

Then to finish it off I added a ticket with the saying "Warm and Cozy Winter Wishes".

It was secured with hemp twine and a button.

Almost forgot! I wanted some sparkle so before mounting everything, I brushed

my blue Nestie with sparkly fingernail polish. I came out awesome.

I sure hope the sparkle shows up in the above picture.

I have found so many uses for this new shade of nail polish.

I believe it is made by Wet and Wild.

I had fun with this challenge and am quite please with my card.

Hope you enjoyed viewing it also.

I am entering my creation in the

Tuesday Throwdown: Distressing challenge.

Before I go, I would like to thank the DT at TSTR for the honorable mention

on the card I created for last weeks challenge. Just thrilling to be mentioned

with the same group of ladies who's work I admire so much each week!

Until next time, 

You've got the cutest little baby face!

Today I have created a card for the Shabby Tea Room challenge "White and Bright".

I adore the inspiration photo as my favorite color is yellow.

We are asked to create a card/project using white and/or cream and one other color.

I kept with the inspiration photo colors using cream and yellow to make my card.

I really like the way this card finished up.

I used a couple techniques I had never tried before, first being the gathered satin ribbon.

I like the soft, feminine look it gives.

The next "new to me" technique was the kiss stamping of the background.

I will be using it again but hope I get better at it.

Next I tried my hand at wrapping the circle I cut for the picture frame in satin ribbon.

I love this look!  It gives texture and dimension without overpowering the picture.

To add more dimension, I used foam strips to raise the frame and also behind the layer

with the lace added.  To bad the camera makes the card look so flat as it is actually quite lofty.

Some dry embossing, pearls and inked edges finished it up nicely.

It's all ready to send to my nephew, Randy.

The picture is of his beautiful baby girl, Ava Belle.

Randy is in the Navy, stationed in Hawaii (poor kid).

Ava was born while he was in boot camp.

He has only seen her twice since her birth, once when he finished camp

and then right before he was shipped out.

Randy calls almost every day and speaks with Ava from his video phone.

It is so amazing to watch her respond to him. 

There is no doubt that, although they are far so far apart, she knows who her daddy is.

She is always mesmerized by his voice and doesn't take her eyes off the phone.

And lastly, here is the full picture that I used for my card.

Ava's maternal grandmother is a beginning photographer and she made these hats to use in her studio.

Okay, I lied!  Here are a couple more pix of our beautiful baby girl.

Thank's for taking a peek today!

Hope you liked the card and didn't mind my rambling about Ava.

'Sketch This'!

Good morning! 

It has been a long while since my last post. 

Just couldn't find the spare time during December to get into the craft room and play but today I made time!

I love following sketches and this week at The Shabby Tea Room there is a great one posted by host Pattie Goldman.

Here is my interpretation of the sketch.

I love the color combination of pink and green, it's just so fresh looking.

I was debating whether or not to distress my papers but in the end decided to go for the crisp, clean edges.

I had fun playing along this week and I hope you have enjoyed
taking a peek at my card.

Cause and Effect

Good day everyone!

This week I am the guest designer at The Shabby Tea Room.

The Week #37 challenge is "Pick a Cause"...create a card or project in honor of your favorite cause/charity.

Boy did I have a hard time choosing just one as 

I have several that are near and dear to my heart.

Organ Donation (Mom received a kidney after being on dialysis for 3 years), 

The American Heart Association (This year Dad had two open heart surgeries within 3 months of each other),

Diabetes Awareness (runs on both sides of my family and I was diagnosed in May),

and the list goes on.

In the end, I chose to make a card to promote pet adoption.

At work I see many animals that are turned into the city kennels for one reason or another.  Maybe they are lost with no identification tags, the owners found that their pet was more than they could handle or they were abused and removed from their owners.
Whatever the reason, these souls deserve a second chance at finding a loving home.

With so many to choose from, why not consider checking out your

local shelter/kennel for your next pet.

Also, don't forget to have your dog or cat spayed or neutered!

Now, without further ado, here is my creation.

"Second hand animals make first class pets"

As I am new to making cards, I like to try different techniques with each one I create.

This particular one is a frame card.  I really love the dimension that it has but

unfortunately it does not show up well when photographed.

The background is recessed, the dogs were then added with pop dots, as was the banner

at the top and then the roses were adhered to the frame.

In person it actually looks like a mini shadow box.

  It may be hard to see but, the cat has his legs/paws wrapped around the dogs shoulders.

I just loved the picture and thought it was perfect for this card.

Kind of like the cat is saying "We're all in this together".

I adore the soft watercolor look of the papers I used.

They are from Raspberry Road.

The roses are all handmade by me to match the colors of the papers.

I dyed them using Marvy LePlume markers and hairspray.

I really love making the roses and watching them come to "life" with each

layer of petals that are added.

Well, that's all for now!

Until next time, 

Autumn Greetings

Just a short posting as I am running behind today with all that

I have to do before going into work this afternoon.

This week at The Shabby Tea Room this photo was provided as inspiration for our creations.

The colors are just lovely and can imagine the smell of the freshly baked cakes.

I decided to use the colors as I already have my Thanksgiving cards made and mailed.

This card will be sent to a distant relative along with some snapshots

taken at a recent family gathering.

Again, I am having difficulty with my photography.

I made myself a light box but I think I chose the wrong bulbs for my lamps.

I must have taken 20 pictures and they all came out with a yellow hue.

Going to have to do a little more research into the light sources to use.

That's all for now.

Until next time, 

Vintage Halloween

Hello!  Today I would like to start off by thanking everyone that left a comment on my "Pearls and Pastel" card.  To say I was ecstatic, when I found out I had won  the Week #29 challenge at The Shabby Tea Room, would be an understatement. I had come home from an exhausting 12 hour day at work and just wanted to enjoy the new entries that were submitted since I had last checked.  Well, by the time I played with the pups and griped to my DH about what a bad day I had endured, it had passed midnight and Debbie had already posted the winners.  I started giggling like a school girl and my 22 year old daughter thought I had lost it! Oh, I should mention that it was my first win ever! As a matter of fact, it was only the second challenge that I had submitted a card to (the first was Week #28 at TSTR).

Your comments made my good fortune even more special and, for that,

I thank you sincerely!

Now onto the Week #30 challenge at TSTR.  This one was very difficult for me.  I couldn't seem to wrap my brain around an idea for my card.  I spent all week fiddling and fooling with various papers and embellishments. In the end, I made practically everything on the card from scratch.

Here is the inspiration photo we were provided for the challenge. 

 

Our cards were to use the colors from the photo and have a vintage style.

I loved the 3D cut outs of the candelabras so I knew I wanted to use one in my card.

Once I got my candelabra cut out on my Cricut and embossed with gold powder,

I got stuck for any further ideas.  It took a few days of mulling it over to come up with my final design and here it is.

I printed out the inspiration photo and carried it with me all the time and looked at it often.

I decided the room looked like a room in a witches house.

Then I thought she wasn't such a bad witch because she likes beautiful accessories.

I didn't want a witch on my card so I made the "spell book" to represent her presence.

  I roughed up the edges of all the pages, distressed and curled them then put it together.  You can't see it in this photo but the top two pages are arced and secured in place.  I added the little black bookmark made out of black ribbon.

If you can't tell from the photo, the black thing on the book is a feather. 

It's supposed to be a quilling pen but lacked something in the translation

when the card was photographed.

Do the roses look out of place on this card?

I debated if I should put them on but decided to go for it as the photo made me think the witch has a softer, feminine side to her.

I made the roses out of FIMO and inked the edges black. 

When the ink dried, it turned out to be a more brown color but still looked okay.

The following two pictures were taken in direct sunlight

as the one above (taken in my homemade light box) looked very flat. 

These pictures are a more accurate representation of my finished project as you can see the dimensional elements and the gold embossing of the candelabra.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I made the paper behind the candelabra.

I wanted the background to look like the candles were giving off a glow

and I didn't have anything like that on hand so I sat down and made it myself.

The cheese cloth was originally white and I stained it with Ranger Vintage Photo Distress ink.

 In the above photo you can somewhat see the glimmer of the gold embossing

on the candelabra.

This photo is an over exposed close up of the corner roses.

I wanted to show that I used a natural element on my card.

This is the dropping from one of the trees at work.

I stepped on the thing and twisted my ankle. 

After a few choice words to it, I decided it looked all spooky and creepy

and would me a nice addition to my card.

Whatever it's called, it's as hard as a rock and has all these

spikey, pointy things sticking off it.

So, to sum it up, it wasn't an easy challenge for me but

I am so glad I decided to participate.

 Until next time, 

Pearls and Pastels

I think I actually gasped when I saw the inspiration photo for this weeks challenge at

The Shabby Tea Room.

Isn't it just to die for?

This is my style to a capital letter T.

Oh! And the colors! I'm in love!

Even though it has been a hectic week at work with a lot of overtime hours,

how could I not join in!

It's now 4 a.m. and I just finished my card and photographing it.

Here is what I came up with.

The beautiful background paper I got from Raspberry Road Designs.

She has some of the most BEAUTIFUL digital papers I have seen.

The off white paper is actually glitter embossed although it doesn't show up well in the photo.

I scored it at a local discount outlet store nearby,  24 sheets for $2.99!

I believe it is from Memory Makers and it is just lovely.

All the beads came from a kit I picked up at Joann, Etc. a while back

and was just waiting for the right project to use them on.

I think my absolute favorite embellishment on this card is the acrylic butterfly.

Again, at a local discount store, this butterfly was attached to a tape dispenser.

I loved the dispenser as it is all vintage shabby but the butterfly was just the cherry on top.

My dispenser looks a little naked now but I can live with that.

I couldn't decide where to put the wording on the card so I used a technique I saw where you print on a transparency and transfer the wording to your project.

It worked perfectly on my satin ribbon.

I just love how my card came out and I hope you enjoy it too.

Thanks for looking!

Until next time,



The Shabby Tea Room Challenge - Week #28 Entry

Today I have decided to enter my first card challenge.

I absolutely love all the yummy cards the gals submit

to the challenges at The Shabby Tea Room.

I could sit for hours and just keep looking at all of them.

Such wonderfully talented ladies.

Each day I visit I get so much inspiration and decided to join in.

Although my skills are not up to par with the others, we all have to

start somewhere, right?

This is the inspiration photo.

Cathy, the host of the challenge, asked that a card be created using this photo as inspiration.

The cards are to have a school theme and use the colors in the photo.

Here is my submission.

As I stated before, my photography skills leave a lot to be desired. 

The picture of the school children is actually a much deeper blue and resembles

the slate chalkboard in the inspiration photo as does the blue

DP in the background of the card.

I inked and distressed the edges of the card and elements to mimic the

khaki coloring in the map and rulers.

The green was pulled from the map also.

I added brads to represent the lunch pail and eyeglasses.

The wording on the card states:

"No one has fully realized the wealth of sympathy, kindness and

generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true

education should be to unlock that treasure." ~ Emma Golmam

I thought this quote fit the graphic of the vintage school children perfectly.

It was also my inspiration for the use of the key.

Speaking of the key, I made it using a technique called "cracked glass".

I cut the key shape out on my Expression and went from there.

Instead of using clear embossing powder I used gold then antiqued the

cracks with Tim Holtz distress ink.

It doesn't show up very well in my photo but it looks really cool.

That's all for now!

Until next time,