Shabby Cottage

Hey there! I hope everyone is doing well and had a wonderful Easter holiday. I am here with a little shabby number that I made for no reason at all, but to please my creative spirit. I think those that we make just for ourselves tend to be the best of them all.

Warning, this may be a bit photo heavy.

Everything about this just makes my heart happy. I know it looks like this took me forever, but it really did not. I think gluing the buttons on was the most time consuming part. It’s kind of a puzzle to fit them all in and make sure the colors flow. And, since glitter is my crafty crack, I felt it was more than necessary to give the button covered roof a generous coating.

Anyway, I am going to keep this short and sweet. Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a blessed day!

My Creative Time Designer Challenge

Happy Thursday everyone! September is off to a great start, and I am here with a really sparkly Christmas card to share as part of our new Designer Challenge.

Emma has decided to replace Throwback Thursday in favor challenges that members of the Design Team come up with. This week, Veronica, from VK Create, challenged us to recycle or reuse a product that wasn’t intentionally made to craft with. I decided to incorporate wrapping paper into my card (thanks to the lovely Shar!).

Okay! The really cute paper that you see on the bottom portion of the card is actually wrapping paper. I bought it at Hob Lob . . .  2 season’s ago, I think. I love their paper, it’s really thick and the rolls have so much paper on them.

The top portion of the card is covered in patterned paper from the original My Mind’s Eye Lost & Found collection.  It has glitter, and y’all know how I lurve my glitter! I did a perimeter zig-zag stitch around the top of the card with my sewing machine. I then diecut a border using my Super Star dies with Aqua Mist felt. I sewed that directly to the card (VERY SLOWLY!) where my to papers met.

I used Expression to diecut some snowflakes using the Christmas/Noel Solutions Cartridge. The red snowflake was cut at 2.59” x 2.18,” the aqua and vellum ones were cut at, 1.79” x 2.18.” I used the base snowflake for the red, and the other two are actually the shifted image. I used my spray adhesive to coat them, and I covered them with Martha Stewart Glitter in Garnet & Blue Topaz. SPARKLES, yeah!!!!

For my sentiment, I used one of last new releases, Warm Holiday Fun. The sentiment is what actually inspired the card. Personally, I fell like sentiments should fit in with the design of the card. It’s an integral part, so that’s where the glitter and shiny paper come in.  Anyway, I stamped the sentiment onto a strip of vellum with Versamark Dazzle in Frost, and I embossed it with Pewter Zing embossing Powder from American Crafts. Cut a notch in the end, and adhered it with red line adhesive. I put a glittered brad from Hob Lob through the snowflakes, and adhered it to the card with red line dimensional adhesive. Super cute right?!

Anyway, thanks for coming by. I adore you lovely people. I wish you all a blessed day! Oh, a while back someone wished I would do a layout . . . Monday!!! I’m not a scrapper so wish me luck!

Edited to add: If you want Warm Holiday Fun, I would suggest you order it now, because I talked with Emma, and she mentioned that they keep selling out!

Vintage Halloween Tags & Bow Tutorial

Hello everyone! I cannot believe it’s already September. Before you know it, the Holidays will creep up on us. I was at work yesterday and I saw that the company is sending the first part of our Holiday collection at the end of this month. Eeek!

Today’s project was planned during the week I guest designed on Everyday Cricut. I wanted to revisit the tags I made, and change them up a bit.

Yes, I finally made another video! And, one thing I discovered when I was editing is that I’m not as uncomfortable as I thought. I’m trying to branch out and grow, so I know that one of the next steps for me is sharing more of my creative process.

I did not film the entire process of making these because the video would have been way too long. So, I wanted to mention that for these tags, I backed the window with vellum that I stamped and embossed a pattern on . Then I basically adhered the card so that it simply became a tag.

Before I leave, I wanted to let you all know about something new that the MCT team is doing every Tuesday. We’re showcasing different techniques. So, please stop by My Creative Time today to hop along.

As always, I thank you all for stopping by. I wish you a very blessed day!

Tree-mendous Wishes

It’s beginning to look a lot like . . . summer. Cause I live in Alabama and it’s hotter than a box of firecrackers on the Fourth of July. Anyway, I welcome you on this great Wednesday!

I have a quick Christmas card to share with you today. I was trying to make it vintage, yet fun.

For today’s card, I wanted to incorporate a little more stamping –because that’s what I mainly consider myself to be these days, a stamper. And, one of my favorite things to do is stamp onto die cuts. In this case, Cricut cuts. I stamped on the lighter green cut with my Just Jeans stamp from Stampin’ Up.

I totally winged this card. With the exception of the Kraft base an the Christmas tree cut from Winter Frolic, the rest just kind of came to me as I was creating. Just to let you all know where I was going, the Christmas tree is basically a vintage pin. At least that’s what I’m telling myself. When I cut the tree, the little circle that are meant to be balls were incredibly tiny. But no matter, I grabbed my Melissa Frances pearls and colored a few with my markers, problem solved. A little Crystal Stickles and my little tree was complete. The button card stamp is from Button Boutique and I stamped it with Real Red ink.

Standard card base, no need for reinventing the wheel today. Continuing the theme, of the week, my pattern papers are from the Echo Park Merry Christmas Collection. The green polka dot measured 4” x 3,” and the stripe is 4” x 2.25.” Adhered them with a small amount of ATG – just enough in the center so they won’t shift while sewing. By the way, I use Coats & Clark thread for all of my sewing. While I had my machine out, I stitched some lace over the seam where the papers met.

Once I added the lace, I figured I might as well keep with the fabric/texture theme, so I stitched some burlap with Liz’s Boutique onto a scrap of Vintage Cream cardstock. Initially, I was going to distress the edges, but I decided to trim it with my pinking shears to match the little paper sack I used. Which reminds me . . .  Before I stitched the burlap, I used Background Basics: Houndstooth to stamp on a Canvas Corp bag. I used Stampin’ Up’s Soft Suede ink. Words cannot describe how much I love that color. Love it. I know some of you are thinking, Trell, it’s just brown. Errr, no it’s not, so there!

From there I tied a bow with some red seam binding, because everything is better with a bow. I adhered the bag and the button card to the card with red line tape. I have found that I like to use it because it has such a strong hold. Anyway, I stamped my sentiment from My Creative Time’s newest sets, It’s a Magical Season, onto a negative from a frame that I kept. I know it’s on Elegant Edges. The main cut is a postage note frame.

To finish it off, I inserted a corsage pin into the bow, and inked around the card with Antique Linen Distress ink and a little Soft Suede.

Thanks for stopping by and leaving such wonderful comments. Have a blessed day!

Best Witches

Hello beautiful people! I hope your week is off to a great start. Mine definitely is, thank you the the awesome comments yesterday, I really appreciate them!

How about a little vintage Halloween number today? What’s that? Yes? Well, I will surely oblige!

Believe it or not, I don’t really celebrate Halloween. I do love Thanksgiving and Christmas though. Anyway, this came together better than I could have ever imagined. I am in love with silhouettes. I think they are classy and elegant, and when I was planning my projects, I knew I wanted to cover the witch with some Martha Stewart glitter.

I was shopping around for vintage/shabby crafting supplies and I came across some crepe paper trim. So, a light bulb went off and I thought, I bet I could make my own. And that I did. Super economical. I bought five colors for $6.45 – a total deal. I do regret not picking up the purple though. But, I will be making a trip back to Hob Lob this week so I might pick it up then. I used my sewing machine to stitch six strips of crepe paper together, and then I just cut it with my scissors. Really easy.

So, my card is a standard A2 – True Black from Papertrey. I adhered some of that star paper that I printed from the Teresa Collins Black & White Pattern cart to the bottom. It measured about 4.25” x 2.25” – the width matters more than the height because it will be covered. The top portion of the card is a piece of Stampin’ Up! Wisteria Wonder that I stamped with my acanthus background stamp. I inked up with Versamark Dazzle in Frost and embossed with clear embossing powder. It measures 3.75” x 2.25.” I cut a 4.25” x ,” strip from a diagonal stripe I found in the My Mind’s Eye Mischievous pad. And the vintage bingo card is a printable that I purchased on Etsy. It comes as a 8.5” x 11,” sheet and I trimmed them out. I inked it with Wild Honey & Black Soot Distress inks. I should mention that everything is sewed to the card, with the exception of the bingo card, I used some red liner tape to adhere it.

I tied a bow with some seam binding that I purchased from Liz’s Paperloft Boutique. I like mine crinkled. I found the frame and silhouette on the Happy Haunting Art Cartridge. Again, I tend to use my Gypsy whenever I cut, so shoot me a line if you want the file, but they were cut at 3.75.” I sprayed them with adhesive and covered them with Onyx and Sterling glitter from Martha Stewart.

Confession, I made a bit of an oopsie when I was sewing, so that is why there are buttons on the card. They are Papertrey and are stitched directly to the card with orange embroidery floss.

My sentiment is from My Creative Time’s new Treats For My Sweet stamp set. I stamped with Onyx Black Versafine ink. I stamped it on one of my favorite Cricut cuts from Plantin Schoolbook. I just love the shape of that tag. The pointed end helps it tuck nicely under the button when I secured them. Last touch was a little inking with my Slate inkpad from Impress.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a blessed day!

MCT August Release Blog Hop!

Hello again crafty peeps! I want to welcome you from wherever you came, but I hope you hopped here from Tracy’s wonderful blog. If not, start here.

I was assigned the 3” x 3” card and envelope for the hop, and I decided that instead of reinventing the wheel, I would keep it short and sweet. I think that is the point of a note card anyway. And, once again, I used vellum for my envelope, but I like it, so there! (Imagine me sticking my tongue out like a little kid . . .)

I know that we all get really busy during the last few months of the year, and most of us are cardmakers, right? So, I figure, take a few hours and diecut a few of these little beauties and have them on hand for the upcoming holiday season.

Now, I will admit that I might have went a bit overboard with the bling and pearls, but they were cheap coughdollarbincoughcough. And just because I love the Melissa Frances pearls, I couldn’t stop at one!

The snowflakes are element stickers from the old Echo Park Merry Christmas collection. Confession, I haven’t purchased Christmas paper for the year yet. But, I like to use what I have, and what better way, that to embellish a quick card?

Before I forget, I diecut the card from Rustic Cream cardstock. My personal advice is to keep these light, you don’t want to have to put a layer on the inside. I feel like the Rustic Cream satisfies my need to give it a homespun feel without using Kraft cardstock.

My sentiment is from Gift Card Sentiments. If you don’t have this one, you need it. I use it all the time – it has a special place on my work table, along with a few other sets. I stamped it with my favorite red ink, Stampin’ Up’s Real Red. I opted to finish it with a silk ribbon bow, but I don’t think it is absolutely necessary.

BLOG HOP GIVEWAY ALERT

For our Blog hop giveaway, there will be 2 winners chosen from ALL the comments combined!  The 1st prize is: A guest design spot for our next release in Sept & the 2nd prize is you can pick $50 worth of products from the "My Creative Time" store! All you have to do is leave a comment here along w/the rest of the design team's blogs AND also leave a way for us to contact you!  Emma will use random.org to pick the lucky winners!  All you have to do is leave a comment on all blogs in this hop for more chances to win! The deadline is Sunday, August 19th at midnight! EASY PEASY!!! GOOD LUCK!:)

Blog Hop Line Up

Emma

Amy

Cassandra

Cathryn

Cindy B.

Glora

Jeanne

Katie

Kim

Leanne

Liz

Micia

Nancy

Nikki

Ruthie

Shar

Tracy

Trell (You’re here!)

Veronica

Before I let you go, I want to invite you all back next week. I’ll have more Holiday (both Halloween & Christmas) themed projects that you don’t want to miss! I even have a 3D project!

Thanks for you coming by and leaving such awesome comments, I love reading them. Have a blessed weekend!

Patterned Paper Valentine’s Card

Hello crafty people! I am starting the week with a card and a video showing the process! I’m really trying to keep my commitment to go outside of my box and try new things this year. Videos are hard for me, but it gets easier with each one. So, I am definitely going to keep trying.

Thanks for coming by! I hope everyone has a super blessed week. I will see you here tomorrow for Monday Madness . . . Imagine That!

Rosie’s Rocking 45th Birthday Blog Hop!

Hello everyone! Me along with five wonderful ladies are hopping to help Rosie from Scrap Loving Mini’s celebrate her 45th birthday! If you didn’t start with Rosie’s blog, I made her blog title into a link to to get you to the right place.

Here is the card I made for Rosie. I bought this Echo Park collection earlier this month and I was saving it for today. I really hope that Rosie likes it!

The card is a standard A2 and is True Black from Papertrey Ink. The floral pattern and the black polka dot are from the Echo Park For the Record Collection. I used a flourish stamp set that I’ve had for a while now and Bermuda Bay ink to give a backdrop for the sentiment. I use Think Big Favorites #12 for the sentiment. If you can’t tell, it’s embossed with black Zing embossing powder and I realize now that I used regular VersaMark instead of my normal Dazzle in Frost. It makes a difference!

To embellish the card, I tied a double bow with some red sating ribbon and used a variety of yellow and red roses from Recollections and I Am Roses.

Blog Candy

I’ve decided to give the winner a choice of three things for my blog candy! And here are the choices:

1. $10.00 Gift Card to Jo-Ann
2. $10.00 Gift Card to Hobby Lobby
3. A stamp set of your choice from My Creative Time

The only requirement is that you leave a comment here with a way for me to contact you AND leave a comment on Rosie’s blog wishing her a happy birthday. You don’t have to follow me or anything of that nature.

Hop Line Up

1. Rosie - http://www.scraplovingminis.blogspot.com

2. Kari - http://purplefuntastickcreations.blogspot.com/

3. Zeni - http://www.scrappyzeni.com

4. Trell - http://polkadotsandpaint.blogspot.com (you’re here)

5. Rosa – http://craftsbyrosa.blogspot.com (next stop)

6. Lena - http://lenascreations.blogspot.com

7. Gloria – http://www.omascrafts.blogspot.com

That’s all for me today. I wish everyone a blessed weekend, and Rosie I hope you have a wonderfully blessed birthday!

Happy Graduation–MCT Sneak Peaks Day #2

Happy Tuesday everyone and welcome to day two of the My Creative Time January release sneaks. Emma has put together another great release this month. Getting right into it, I have a card to share with you all using More Gift Card Sentiments.

I knew I wanted to make a card with a fresh color combination. I’ve been really feeling yellow and blue as of late, and I didn’t want to make another vintage looking card. I used patterned paper from the A Walk in the Park collection from Echo Park as the starting point, and from there, I decided that I wanted to use a butterfly somewhere. The orange scalloped border strip is from the collection’s element sticker sheet. and I purchased the felt butterflies from the Spring seasonal isle at Hobby Lobby last year.

My card base is your standard A2. It’s Recollections Kraft. I trimmed the blue patterned mat to 4” x 5.25.” The yellow label die cut is a stock image from my Cricut Imagine. It’s Lemon Tart from Papertrey Ink. I’ve had that color for quite a while, but I’ve been reluctant to use it because I wanted the ribbon to coordinate with the cardstock. I ordered the ribbon on Sunday night and I can’t wait until it comes in. The green mat is from the Echo Park collection and the labels are cut at 3” and 2.8” respectively. I stamped my sentiment with Chicken Feed dye ink from Jenni Bowlin. I love her inks, the cover great and the colors are amazing. I used my Crop-a-Dile to punch a hole on the left side of the sentiment banner and I tied a bow with some yellow gingham Offray ribbon.

Since cash is a normal gift for graduates, I thought it would be a great idea to use the Embossed Gift Card Holder as a pocket to keep the bills secure. Unfortunately, I don’t have any cash on my person to demonstrate this. I‘m 100% committed to using my debit card and pretty much the only time I get cash is when I get my hair cut. My mom fusses at me all the time about it. Anyway, I digress! I used Gift Card Sentiments to stamp on the gift card holder, and I used more of the scalloped border sticker and a flower to dress it up a little.

Sneak Peek Giveaway Time!
With all of our Sneak Peek weeks, Emma likes to do some FUN giveaways!

All you have to do is leave comments on our blogs! You do NOT have to comment on every blog, BUT if you do, you will just have more chances to win!

SPREAD THE WORD TO THE WORLD ON FACEBOOK about this release & whatever connections you may have! Let us know on "My Creative Time's" FB page here http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/My-Creative-Time/364568506334 that you did so! OR you can just tag me in your post!

Emma will randomly pick & announce all winners on Friday, January 21st during this AWESOME release happening @ 12:01am PST in her video! GOOD LUCK!

Log onto to your Facebook now & let start spreading word!;)

That’s all for me, but I will be back on Thursday. Have a blessed day!

Celebrate the Occasion Challenge #44

Happy Tuesday and welcome to the last CTO challenge for the year! CTO is having a design team call that ends today, so if you haven’t applied yet, get busy! With that said, while I have enjoyed my time on the CTO Design Team I decided not to reapply. I wanted to give others a chance to be on a DT. And, the second reason was because I made it to the 2nd round of the Spellbinders Design Team Competition. Which brings me back to reason number one, had I not been on the CTO Design Team, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have had the confidence to try for My Creative Time or Spellbinders. So, everyone needs a chance and I’ve learned that you really never know unless you try. I’ve been making cards for only one year, so I feel really blessed and thankful to have come this far.

Now, the challenge for this week is to make a shaped Christmas card. I’ve had this card planned since the summer! Can you believe that? I think this is my third card with a snowflake, so I guess that means I have a things for them. This is a Gypsy designed card. The snowflake is on the Christmas/Noel Cartridge. The base of the card and the top layer are Aqua Mist from Papertrey Ink. The second layer is Kraft from PTI as well.

Now, here is the deal, I have a stamp that says. “Seasons Greetings.” It’s not a photopolymer stamp – it’s acrylic and I think when I pulled it off of the acetate, it stretched. Long story short, it doesn’t stamp straight and since I really wanted to use that sentiment, I decided I would just write it myself. I highly doubt that you will see me writing my sentiments like you see here. I got a new computer and I haven’t purchased the newest version of Microsoft Word, or transferred the files from my old computer, so I have a serious lack of fonts.

The card itself is simple. I will say that just so it wouldn’t look flat, I adhered the top cut with dimensional adhesive. When I want a little dimension, I highly prefer the Stampin’ Dimensionals, when I want more, I used the Sticky Doos from Hobby Lobby. To finish my card, I took some adhesive gems and adhered them to the points of the snowflake. Really simple to make.

That is it for me. I am so thankful you took the time to visit my blog. I hope everyone has a super blessed day and just incase I don’t post again before Sunday, a very Merry Christmas. I work retail and I’ve been super busy lately.

Celebrate the Occasion Challenge # 42

If you’re looking for Day #6 of MCT 12 Days of Christmas Hop, click here!

Welcome! This is my second of two projects for today and it’s a card for Celebrate the Occasion. But, before I get into the card, I’d like to announce that CTO is having a Design Team call!! The call will run from today until December 20th. I’ve had an amazing time on the DT, so I definitely encourage everyone to apply. Good luck!

We’re celebrating Christmas this week and the requirement is to not use ANY green! I’ve known for a while that I wanted to do a Christmas card with navy, and this is the first one I came up with. I might try again and add a little red or green, we shall see. It’s a standard A2 card. The base is Papertrey Ink Enchanted Evening. I used a TPC Studio stamp set appropriately titled, “Snowflake,” and my trusty VersaMark Dazzle to stamp the background. Love the embossed snowflakes! For the sentiment, I cut two mats from my Imagine – one in DCWV Silver Shimmer cardstock and the other in my regular white cardstock. I took the same stamps, inked them in VersaMark first and then into Bashful Blue ink from Stampin’ Up. I then took the, “Peace,” stamp and followed the same steps, except I used Night of Navy ink. Because I couldn’t help myself, I decided to use clear embossing powder on them as well.

To finish the card, I tied a knot with some grosgrain and added two rhinestones to the center of the Bashful Blue snowflakes. Used the .5” setting on my corner rounder and it was a done deal. Super simple. Does not have to be a snowflake – just an image that works well in the background.

Thanks for coming by! Don’t forget to stop by the CTO blog to get the scoop on applying for the Design Team. Have a blessed day!

Holy Adhesive Batman!

 

This week at Celebrate the Occasion we’re doing birthday cards (using a sketch), and it just so happens that yesterday was  my mom’s birthday.  And the card that I made was for her. So, I bet you’re wondering what adhesive has to to with my mom’s birthday. Well, I used 4 different adhesives on this card. And I burned my finger with hot glue. More on that later.

I used Flower Shoppe to make the flower.

The stamp that I used has very fine details, got to love Versamark ink.

I left the inside blank because I wrote my mom a message.

The flourish is from Prima – Say It in Crystals in clear.

Starting with the flower. I have to say I love it. And, knowing myself, I think I might use this cartridge way more than I should. So, I’m just going to put that out there right now. It’s found on page 16 and it’s called Fun4. I cut out six layers starting at 3.25” and ending at 2”. I used the red patterned paper because my mother’s favorite color is red. Actually, that pattern paper was one of the very first sheets that I bought when I got started last year. And, I am so happy that I finally got to use it. I still have an entire sheet, and I’m thinking that I’m going to either use it on something for Valentine’s Day or fancy Halloween layout. Who knows?! And, I digress!

If you end up buying Flower Shoppe, I high recommend that you invest in a glue gun with a fine tip. This is the one that I bought, here. I had been using my trusty orange glue gun from way back, but it produces a lot of strings and the nozzle deposited a bit too much glue, therefore burning my fingers.  I will go a bit further and say that you only need the glue gun when you’re dealing with thicker paper and cardstock. The red pattered paper was lightweight so I used Scotch Quick Dry for those.

Here are the details:

• 5.5” x 5.5” Card Base, Papertrey Ink True Black
• Mat I, Papertrey Ink Scarlet Jewel
• Mat II, DCWV All Dressed Up Dancing Polka Dot
• Flower: Flower Shoppe Cricut Project Cartridge
• Fun4 page 16
• All Dressed Up Dancing Polka Dot
• Colorbok Red Roses (Jo-Ann Open Stock)
• Darice Rhinestone
• Black 5/8” Offray Double-faced Satin Ribbon
• Embellishment: Prima Say It in Crystals Clear
• Black Colorbox Pigment Ink (Flower inking)
• Versamark Dazzle in Frost
• Black Zing Embossing Powder
• Fiskars, “Make a Wish Quotes,” Stamp Set
• Inkadinkado, “Artistic Flourish,” Stamp Set
• Inside Mats: Colorbok Red Roses and Paper Company Cream
• Zots (to keep the ribbon down as I don’t have a sewing machine)

Happy Birthday to my wonderful mother! Thanks for coming by. Have a blessed day.