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,



Recent Cards

Today I would like to share some of the cards I have made recently.

As I am new to card making, I do not have the supplies and tools

that I would like to create with.

As with any hobby, the cost of those supplies and tools can add up

pretty quick.

 

I am very fortunate to own a Cricut Expression (love it!) which I will have

worn out by the end of the year if I don't stop using it so much.

It is the main tool that I use with my cards as I do not have a lot of

punches,stamps, inks, markers, etc.

I have purchased some distressing inks and a very limited

amount of embellishments (pearls, brads, etc) but for the most

part, I use what I already have on hand.

With that in mind, here are a few of my creations.

I made this card for my friends birthday.

It was made entirely out of white card stock from Walmart
except for the floral center picture.

I inked and embossed some of the layers to give dimension.

The ribbon I had in my craft stash and I used a few purchased pearls to jazz it up a bit.

 

Happy Birthday, Weenie!

The Cricut, ribbon from my stash and a few pearls and some 

designer paper that I picked up at a local discount surplus store

 was all it took to make this card for my great aunt.

I know my pictures aren't the best.

The energy saving bulbs in my house always makes my camera use the flash.

Will have to come up with some type of light box or something.

That's it for today!

Until next time,

This is where it all starts!

Today I have decided to take the plunge into the world of blogging.

I am starting with the idea of sharing my passion for crafting.
Card making, mini scrapbook albums and machine embroidery
are just a few of my favorites right now. 

We'll see where it leads.

So, without further ado, lets get started!

For the first post, why not start with another first?

I created my very first mini scrapbook album for this years family reunion.
To my surprise, it was raffled as one of the main prizes. 

Like everything else I do, I jumped in with great ambition.

I wanted my album to look all shabby chic, vintage and distressed,
like the ones I see on other blogs and drool over.

I watched enough You Tube video's on techniques to give me eye strain for a week.

Why do the authors make it look so easy?
They whip out a page in 10 minutes or less while
I sit for hours completing the same type of page.

I worked every spare moment of an entire week on this album.

The trip to the reunion was a 4 hour drive and we were to leave at 8 a.m.

I finished the album at 3 a.m. and had the alarm set to get up at 6 a.m.

 

I didn't put a lot of embellishments on it as I did not know to whom

it would be going and quite frankly, I just ran out of time.

In the end, even though it wasn't what I had envisioned,
 I was somewhat pleased with how it turned out.

The recipient was very happy she won the album as her hobby is photography.
She said she planned on filling it with photos of this years reunion
and bringing it back for everyone to see at next years gathering.

That's it for now.

Until next time,