Life is Sweet

Hello everyone! I told myself I would do a better job of blogging, and it helps that I have had moments of inspiration hit me here and there. I have one to share today that I really love, and I take a lot of comfort in the sentiment. Especially so, given the events in Boston on Monday.

I used, The Sweet Life, a multi-step floral set from Papertrey Ink. It builds the most wonderful cabbage roses. Next to hydrangea, roses happen to be my favorite flowers. The more hues of ink in ones arsenal, the more possible combinations. Personally, I like to make mine look as realistic as possible. I mean, I doubt you’ll see neon roses here. I guess it could be fun if you’re into that kind of thing.

Because I can’t be satisfied with less, I went back in with some paisley stamps from a Recollections cling mount set that I just love. And, I filled in the pattern further with the strawberry flower from Strawberry Patch. The dots are from Polka Dot Basics I. I used my Envelope Pattern backgrounder to add a little texture.

I stamped my sentiment on a strip of vellum and heat embossed it with some detail gold embossing powder from Recollections. I used the envelope pattern on the back of the sentiment strip because I felt it needed a little bit of color, and because, I just can’t leave well enough alone.

The panel was sewn to a Kraft base embossed with my Squared Lattice folder. And, to finish it off, I added some buttons threaded with Rustic Cream twine, and silk ribbon.

Alrighty, that is it for me! I hope everyone has a wonderful week. Keep the people of Boston in your thoughts. I thank you all for visiting, and I wish you a very blessed day!

Birthday Wishes

Hello crafty people! I hope everyone is having a good week! I’m popping up today to share a number that I made for my mother’s birthday a few weeks ago.  I got to use some new to me goodies on it!

Okay, so there’s a lot going on here, as you can see. I would like to think that it’s organized and well put together, but I will let you all be the judge!

The base of the card is Kraft. However, I did something that I rarely do – I covered the entire base with a piece of patterned paper from My Mind’s Eye. For this card, I used paper from the Miss Caroline Dilly Dally 6” x 6” pad. I did quite a bit of inking. I used Antique Linen, Tea Dye, and just the tiniest bit of Walnut Stain Distress Inks throughout the card. I sewed the patterned paper front directly to the Kraft base with a perimeter zig-zag stitch.

Next, I cut a 3.75” x 5” piece of Kraft and embossed it with my Sizzix Square Lattice folder from Stampin’ Up. I’ve had this for a while, and just never got around to using it. I bought it during my style transformation, so it kind of sat in my little embossing folder crate. Anyway, I *think* I used the debossed side, and I sewed another piece of patterned paper to it. I then used my edge distresser to rough up the edges. This was adhered directly to the card base.

For my stamping, I used Teeny Tags from My Creative Time, and the Strawberry Patch dies and a Mat Stack 4 diecut from Papertrey Ink. The stamps I used were Strawberry Patch and Teeny Tag Greetings. The Strawberry Patch stamp set is kind of a double use set, it has stamps for those that like to color, and stamps for those that just like to stamp. Personally, I’m kind of in the middle. I would like to attend a Copic class, but they seem to avoid the South! Anyway, I used the leaf outline stamps, and stamped it on the diecut with Always Artichoke ink. I went back in with the large flower and stamped it with Paper White Fresh Ink. I colored in the center of the flower with my Spanish Orange Prismacolor Marker. After all of that, I used my Woodgrain Impression Plate to give it something a little extra.

This is where I am going to digress and let you all know why I tend to not video myself making cards. More often than note, they are very involved! But, I do have plans to make more tutorials! Back to your regular scheduled programming . . .

I diecut the the strawberries from Kraft and stamped them with Real Red and Always Artichoke inks. Then I adhered them to the Mat Stack with dimensional adhesive.

Now, putting it all together! I pulled out a doily and inked it really good with Baja Breeze ink. I did this to pull out the blue from my pattered paper. I adhered the mat with my strawberries with more dimensional adhesive. It wouldn’t be a card from me if I didn’t tie a bow. For that, I used some May Arts Chevron Twill ribbon. And, I secured my sentiment to it with a vintage button from Papertrey Ink, and Maraschino twine from The Twinery. Lastly, I added some Lime Green Stickles, cause you know I loves me some glitter.

Before I go, I have a little announcement. I have decided to step down from the My Creative Time Design Team. It was a really hard decision, but it was something that I thought over for a while. I sincerely love Emma and the ladies on the DT more than I can express. There aren’t many guys in this craft of ours, but they welcomed me with open arms. This doesn’t mean that I will stop using My Creative Time. A lot of my most favorite sentiment sets have a special place on my craft table.

As always, I thank you for stopping by, and I wish you a blessed day!

Papertrey Ink July Blog Hop

Okay, so I haven’t posted a card in ages. Basically, I’ve been quite the worker bee and I also might have had a fire in the backyard during the first week of the month that burned my cable lines. So yeah, but no matter, I have a card I quickly made once I got home from work today!!

I was finally able to order the dies that coordinate with Pretty Peonies, and I cannot be happier. I have said this before, but I am not a good fussy cutter. I also ordered like 4 new stamp sets! Might not sound like a lot, but homeboy here is on a budget and I can’t drop major dollars at Papertrey every month. I digress!

I trimmed a piece of Rustic Cream, which I am in love with, I cannot stress that enough, to 3.75” x 5.” I started off by stamping the solid peony from Pretty Peonies with Cameo Coral and Calypso Coral inks from Stampin’ Up. The yellow peony was stamped with Chamomile Fresh Ink from Impress.

Next, I stamped the largest leaf cluster from The Sweet Life with Lucky Limeade ink. I then went back in with the small cluster to fill in, but I did some stamping off and generational stamping to give my pattern more dimension and depth.

My third step was to use the medallion building stamps from Lovely Layers. I guess I should have mentioned this earlier, but I was kind of going for a vintage fabric kind of look. Anyway, I stamped the medallion with Mango and Chamomile from Impress, and Calypso Coral. After that I used the two small flower images from the Strawberry Patch set to fill in.

I don’t know if this shows up in the pictures, but my the last thing I did was stamp the entire background with my Stampin’ Up Just Jeans background stamp. I inked it with Antique Linen Distress ink just to give it the slightest bit of texture, and to again, bring out that fabric look. I inked the edges with more Antique Linen and a little Tea Dye. I used my edge distresser tool to roughen up the edges and then I crumpled it up into a ball a few times. It’s all about texture people!

The rest of the card came together pretty easily. I attached my stamped background to a Kraft card base. I took it to my sewing machine and by the Grace of God, I had brown thread in my machine, so I went with it.

I diecut the frame from Lemon Tart cardstock and the butterfly from Kraft. I then ran the butterfly back through my machine with the woodgrain impression plate. I tied a bow with some Berry Sorbet grosgrain and adhered the frame and butterfly with dimensional adhesive. I embellished the butterfly with my Melissa Frances pearls, because I just can’t help myself, and that is was it.

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you all a blessed day!