Thoughts of Spring

 

Well, this started out as a card inspired by this week's Play Date Cafe color challenge.  However, as you can see, I couldn't restrain myself from adding a touch of red, so I guess I blew the whole color challenge thing, LOL!!! But hey, they're meant as inspiration, first and foremost, and that's what I got.  The gorgeous image is called Spring in Provence from Serendipity Stamps, and it's colored in Copics and cut out with Nesties.  I used some tiny vintage posies that I found on Etsy (Papertales).  The paper is from my stash (just tryin' to make a dent... not workin'!).

Serendipity Stamps was our sponsor at Gingersnaps Creations for the month of January, and there are still lots of challenges running that have some beautiful Serendipity stamp sets as blog candy!  Check out the Embossing Powder, Metallics, and Numbers challenges.  And if that weren't enough to get ya going, February's sponsor is The Artistic Stamper..... check out Gingersnap Creations for some fabulous inspiration for the newest challenge, Romance, with some yummy blog candy from The Artistic Stamper as well.  So much goodness to be had.  Have fun and good luck!

Romance - Tag Tuesday and Lilybean Style

 

Yesterday I had the luxury of surfing around some of my very favorite blogs and soaking up tons of inspiration.  I also sneaked away to my craft room for a while in the wee hours and had some fun.  My inspiration came from many sources: the Chestnut Challenge at Gingersnap Creations is "Romance" - some fabulous artwork is posted over there, featuring some wonderful stamps from The Artistic Stamper (blog candy, anyone?).  I'll have some creations using their luscious new sets in the coming days.
  

At Kard Krazy this week, the Tag Tuesday challenge is "A Touch of Red."  I am just loving the color combo of cream, brown, and red, so I had a go at that one.
 

And finally, Melissa at Lilybean Paperie posted this fabulous photo as an inspiration challenge. I was off and running!

For the Lilybean inspir- ation challenge, I made a postcard using my favorite Cornish Heritage Farms single, Tree Swallows.  I added some Making Memories vintage findings, some old K and Co. rub-ons, a vintage button, a Stampin' Up! stamp.  I sanded the red heart in the background to make it more shabby.

For the Tag Tuesday Touch of Red Challenge, I used the same Tree Swallows stamp, this time on a tag that had been stamped first with Vintage Chintz in Tattered Rose Distress Ink, then with the French Script backgrounder in red. For the script, I lightly tapped a Memento Rhubarb Stalk dew drop ink pad over the backgrounder, making sure I did NOT have full coverage of the stamp. I then placed the tag face down onto the stamp, and pressed it with my fingers in random spots (again, not all over). This gave the script a very faded and shabby appearance. I added some vintage buttons, a LOVE stamp from Stampington, a label from Making Memories, and a tiny chipboard heart.

The kids are home from school again tomorrow.... it's going to be 51 degrees outside, but the district is afraid there might be some ice.  I tell ya, things are just so different here in the south!  It wouldn't be so bad, but my kids go to a year-round calendar school, which means we are now looking at 3 Saturdays of make-up days.  That is NOT fun.... we miss so many activities.  Ah well.  They're happy, for now. :)

Reasons to Stamp in February

 

Perhaps you were expecting a Valentine, LOL??  Okay, so we've all probably got a few reasons to stamp in February already, but how about going a little unconventional?  Gingersnap Creations has posted a whole list of Reasons to Stamp in the shortest month of the year.  I love February 9th's claim to fame .... Read in the Bathtub Day!  I'm thinking I'll be celebrating that one!  It will be fun to send a little card, with a bookmark inside, to remind a friend or loved one to take a little R&R for herself (or himself!).  This great image is from Cornish Heritage Farms' Common Cold set from the Saturday Evening Post line.  The background is stamped with the Vintage Text Scrapblock, with some ancient vellum bubble stickers from my stash randomly dispersed throughout.  I also added a little scrap of washcloth to add a tactile experience, LOL!

Now, let's face it, not everyone loves Valentine's Day every year.  While I'm happily married to my hubby of almost 18 years, I'm sure we all know a few people who cringe at the thought of all this romance happening at a time when maybe they just want to forgeddaboutit for a while.  So how about a little un-Valentine?  February 11th is Satistified Staying Single Day!  A card for that.....

  

The image and the "there are times when....." sentiment for this one are from Cornish Heritage Farms' Domestic Love set from the ATC Collection.  I computer-generated the "Satisfied Staying Single Day!" since that particular sentiment does not appear to be mainstream enough to warrant a stamp set, LOL!!  The paper frame is from my Melody Ross Homespun Chic winnings of a few days ago.

Check out Gingersnap Creations for lots more reasons to stamp, AND some really great contests and posts.  The Artistic Stamper has generously agreed to be our sponsor this month, so there will be blog candy to be had!  AND, Shar and Ali have beautifully organized all of the Gingersnap tutorials and projects into a clickable list on THIS POST.  Lots of inspiration, I tell ya!  Oh, and Gingersnaps is having an Art Exchange, too!  Way too much for me to talk about... you'll just have to blurf on over and check it all out for yourself.

I've gotten waaaay behind on my crafting.  Even though, in my opinion, our "major storm" was a bit of a bust (about 4 inches of snow, sleet, and freezing rain), it was enough to cancel EVERYTHING here, including school and work.  My daughter sprained her knuckle sledding, so we had to have that taken care of (nothing serious, thank goodness!).  And the family is still all at home, which is not conducive to my crafting!  I'm just going to have to sneak away up to my little craft room......  shhhhhhh ;)

Victorian ATCs

 

Some Victorian ATCs for my swap club.  The little children are all from a sheet of scrap that I had purchased years ago.  The background papers are from Webster's Pages and 7Gypsies.  We're bracing for a "major" winter storm to come through central North Carolina ("major" for us.... barely a sneeze for all you far northern folks)... but they tell us we are likely to lose power.  So..... if you don't see any new posts from me for a few days, that's why!!  Hopefully I'll get some time to craft in the daylight hours. :)  For all of you who have already experienced this storm sweeping the country - stay warm!! :)

Another Vintage Chintz Peek

A sweet little shabby chic Valentine using Cornish Heritage Farms' new backgrounder, Vintage Chintz, which will be released Friday.  I stamped the backgrounder in green for the background, and in pale pink behind the sentiment, which is from the Love Scrapblock.  I inked up only the word "sweet" using a Memento marker.  The frame is from Tattered Angels, painted in Ranger's Tattered Rose Crackle paint and adorned with some vintage mother of pearl buttons.  To make the little flower-and-bow embellishment, I first slipped the wired ends of three Prima flowers through the holes in a vintage button, like so:

 

Then, I took a scrap of pink ribbon, folded it to look like a bow (you don't actually have to tie it... creates too much bulk), and secured it behind the button by twisting the flower wires around it:

 

 After that, I twisted the wire around a length of pink CHF tulle ribbon, then snipped off the excess wire:

I then wrapped the tulle around the chintz-stamped panel, adhered it to an ivory card base, and sewed around all of the sides to keep it nice and secure.  I finished it off by distressing the edges of the green panel to shabby it up.

Hope you're having a great week!  I'm off to make some Victorian ATCs for my club tomorrow night.

Some Big Thank Yous

I got to have some fun playing with new goodies today.  The sweet image and sentiment used above are from Serendipity Stamps, our sponsor of the month over at Gingersnap Creations.  This set is a cling set called Three Dresses, and I just loved it the moment I saw it.  So I'm sending out a big "thank you" to Mary at Serendipity for setting us all up with some fabulous sets!!  You can get your hands on some, too, 'cuz there's Serendipity blog candy to be had at Gingersnap Creations.  Just head on over and check out this month's challenges - "Time," "Embossing Powder," and "Metallics," and some Serendipity goodness could be yours!

For this card, I stamped the dresses image on three different patterned papers - all with tiny patterns to them - and then shaded them with Copics.  I cut them out and popped them up on the image that I had stamped on plain white cardstock and shaded with Memento dye ink.  I added some coordinating cardstocks for the background, cut a large rose from a 12-inch border strip from the same collection, then added a fabric brad to set off the sentiment.  All of the products used in this card are from the new Melody Ross Homespun Chic collection from GCD Studios, which I won as a fabulous blog candy from Julie's Open Window.  This was a blog candy to beat all candies, I tell ya, and I want to express my huge appreciation once again to Julie Murray for this wonderful prize.  Take a look below at what I got:

 

Wowzers!  See what I mean?  It will take me 10 years to use this all up, LOL!!  And I'm NOT, repeat NOT, going to hoard it!  Seriously.  Really.  Not.

A Cornish Heritage Farms Sneak Peek and Some Enabling

Happy Saturday, everyone!  I've got a little sneak peek of a new backgrounder from Cornish Heritage Farms called Vintage Chintz, which will be released next Friday, January 29.  This one has a small, delicate damask pattern that won't overwhelm whatever you put on top of it, so we all had lots of fun with it.  For my card, I stamped it on the new Simply Linen natural cardstock, and it came out wonderfully textured and looking like fabric.  I combined it with a little faux-vintage "ephemera" - actually stamped with images from the Botanical Bliss (poppy, script, and sentiment) and Haute Couture (the frame and 505) sets from the ATC All Things Considered line, and the Vintage Text Scrapblock.

So how about a little "enablement"??  This weekend only, January 23rd and 24th,  ALL RUBBER at Cornish Heritage Farms is 15% off!!!!  This excludes only the Stamp of the Month, which of course is already on sale.  So if you've had your eye on any of their fabulous stamps..... there's nuthin' like a SALE!!  Have fun :)

Tag Tuesday Tag Doll Challenge

Here's my entry for Kard Krazy's Tag Tuesday challenge, which for this week was to make a Tag Doll.  I don't have a lot of stamps that have large enough faces for a tag, so I decided to make a Botanical Contessa fantasy lady.  The base tag is a 7 Gypsies tag that I distressed with Ranger's Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint inks, and the head and arms are from Stampington's Blooming Contessa and Botanical Countess, respectively.  I added some flower die cuts from Anna Griffin that I have been hoarding since my daughter was born (she's 10!), some Prima flowers, some Webster's pages ribbon.  The leaf stamps are from Close to My Heart.  The whole thing is colored with Copics. This was so fun, I just couldn't stop.... laundry is piling up.  Gotta go!  Have fun looking at all of the inspiring tags linked up in THIS post.

Baby Bingo

A little baby bingo card today.  Just having some fun playing with some gorgeous Jenni Bowlin mini papers and mini bingo cards - just love those bingo cards!  The sentiment is from the Vintage Baby Expressions set from Cornish Heritage Farms, AND I used some of the Vintage Findings from those little Making Memories packets.  Not gonna hoard 'em, nope, not me. ;)

Another papercrafting resolution I have is to sit down one day with nothing but my box of scraps, and make, at the very least, tags (totally possible with my Christmas stuff), and maybe even cards (hmmmm... will be hard to resist cutting into new stuff).  But seriously, if I'm going to obsessively save every teensy weensy piece of patterned paper....  I should USE them.  Got some deadlines, though, so will have to wait a bit.  I'll let ya know when I've gotten around to this one.  Sayin' it here, to keep me honest, LOL!

Have a great weekend!