Vintage Paris Canvas

So I hopped out of my box again yesterday and created another canvas.  Actually, it's an "un-canvas" - an "artist's panel" that claims to be "better than canvas."  Whatever.... its un-canvas properties actually made it very easy to adhere paper to, so I went with it, LOL!

This project was inspired by two challenges...... at The Shabby Tea Room this week, there is this gorgeous photo and the word "reflections" to inspire us.  Oh, how I loooooove the look of this mantel arrangement.  I want it in my house this very second.  Inspiration abounds.....

And, a fairly new challenge at a blog called More Paper Than Shoes.  Why, oh why, didn't I think of that blog name first??? It describes my life in four easy words.  Anyway, this challenge gives a little list of rules - actually, items and techniques that must be incorporated into the challenge. So for this month, the theme/items/techniques are:

Vintage Paris

Metal

Acrylic Paint

Fabric

Crackle

Any surface

The design team over at MPTS is amazing - all of them.  But before I show you my close-ups and tell you all the yada yada, I have to show you the DT project that made my jaw drop... here is the pic - and if you love it, run, don't walk, over to DT member Megan Bean's blog to see the rest of this amazing little album of hers on THIS post. Oh, but DO come back, will you????

Okay, so for my little project, I started with Bon Voyage Paris paper from Gartner Studios.  Next came paint around the edges of the canvas, which was Distress Crackle in Antique Linen, distressed with Walnut Stain.  I added a few pieces of vintage text from an old French school primer after that.  The beautiful little lady is a stamp from The Fairest Flower plate from Oxford Impressions, stamped in Ancient Page ink and distressed with Antique Linen.  Surrounding her is a Tattered Angels frame with silver Vintage Art Glass Glitter.  Oh my, I love that stuff!  I splurged, I hoarded for a long time, but now that I've used it I can see the difference - the sparkle IRL is amazing, and I can't wait for the patina to gently tarnish.  This is the "reflections" part for the Shabby Tea Room challenge, too.

For the metal, I used some of T!m's flowers, which I bent a little with jewelry pliers to give them a little more depth.

For the fabric, I stamped images from The Fairest Flower, Paris Exposition (Artistic Outpost), and Stampin' Up! onto some muslin, frayed the edges, and adhered it to the not-so-pretty sides of my un-canvas.

One last little photo to show you how well I'm coming along with my hoarding problem.. this is a vintage crochet covered button, which I have only one of... and I put it on this un-canvas.  (Eeeeeee, I'm breaking into a cold sweat just typing it... okay, deep breaths.... fine.)  See?  Pretty good, eh? LOL!

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you're all having a happy week.  Tomorrow I'll have a little card for the next Gingersnap Creations challenge... see ya then. :)

CASE a CAS at Gingersnap Creations

There are so many fun challenges going on over at Gingersnap Creations.  Today I decided to play along with the Once in a Blue Moon challenge, which is to CASE (copy and share everything) a CAS (clean and simple) card designed by Ali.  Are ya with me? So, the cards I chose to CASE were these CAS Cards with Ephemera.  I loved this post because it shows how vintage doesn't have to be fussy.  For my ephemera, I chose an ink pen nib. I have a lovely vintage box with about 80 of them, and it seemed a good choice to pair with this sentiment from the On the Desk set by Cornish Heritage Farms.  I attached the nib with some waxed twine from 7 Gypsies, and there ya have it - clean and simple vintage.  Thanks for the inspiration, Ali!

If you'd like to play along, you can see all of Ali's CAS posts by going to the Gingersnap Creations blog, then scrolling waaaaaay down (yep, keep going), until you see a list of "Tags" listed alphabetically on the left hand side. Click "clean and simple" and all of the inspirational posts for the Blue Moon Challenge should appear.

Have fun, and be sure to link up your work at Gingersnap so we can all be inspired!

Vintage Heart for Tag Tuesday

Good gracious, it's been a long time since I've posted!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and that you are enjoying some rest and relaxation between Christmas and New Year's.  We spent 7 days in Disney (plus two days travel), so I've been completely torn away from crafting.  I'm jumping back in with a little tag for Tag Tuesday.  I originally thought I would be doing a Christmas tag for this challenge, which was to do a shaped tag.  Oh well, let a few days slip by, and it's on to the next holiday, LOL!  This tag uses ruched paper from Paper Temptress (I am soooo addicted to this stuff!), stamps from Stampington, and some tags from Making Memories Vintage Findings.  The music and button are vintage, and the rest is from my considerable stash of "stuff."  Thanks again to Louise at Kard Krazy for always inspiring me (even if I don't always get to play along, :). )

Here are a couple of pics from our Disney trip.  I am totally OBSESSED with the castle, and probably take as many pictures of IT as I do of anything else, including the family, LOL!  But I'll leave you with one pic of each.  Have a happy rest-of-the-weekend!

Vintage Christmas Stars - An Ornament Swap

This month our ATC club decided to swap ornaments instead of ATCs!  Since I can never settle on one favorite image, I made four each of three different designs.  I found the plain wooden star ornaments at JoAnne's (only 60 cents), sanded them, painted them ivory, and distressed the edges with some Ranger Distress Ink in brown corduroy.  For the center, I scanned the music for Silent Night taken from a vintage hymnal, cut it into stars, stamped a flourish (from Stampington) onto them, and glued them inside the inset portion of the star.  The Christmas images I used are from Crafty Secrets and Dover Designs.  Then I used one of my new favorite products - glow-in-the-dark glitter from Martha Stewart!  I glued it all around the raised outside border of the star - it will look so pretty once all the lights are turned off for the evening!  I embellished each star with some cuttings from Christmas floral picks, vintage buttons, ribbon, etc.  This was such a fun project, and in the end I don't think it took me any longer than ATCs would have taken.  I'm sooooo looking forward to seeing what the other ladies came up with!

Have a happy Monday - and remember, crafting is the only remedy for a Monday! :)

Sweet Baby - Sneak Peek

A short post tonight to give you another sneak peek of Cornish Heritage Farms' "Baby Dear" and "Vintage Baby Expressions" sets, which will be available on November 17.  Once again I've paired these sweet images with Cosmo Cricket's Everafter Crafting Kit... it's supposed to be a wedding kit, but the wonderful soft colors are a perfect fit for baby cards as well. (There are even some darling vintage children images in the kit- go figure!)  I've done a soft take on a red-white-and-blue color scheme, coloring the image with Copics.

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

Haute Couture

A couple of cards today from a fantastic new release from Cornish Heritage Farms - it's Haute Couture from the All Things Considered line.  This set is pure heaven for a vintage-loving girl like me, I tell ya!  It is sure to be one of my forever-favorites.  For both of my cards today I used the image of the two "fashionistas" as my focal point.  (I used the Eiffel tower image in my Paris themed card in THIS post.)   Another thing I love about this set is the many wonderful ornamental elements, which are great for creating your own patterned papers and borders. I used one to make the green and white border in the card above, and also for the border across the top.

For this card, I used another one of the ornamental elements to stamp over the top of a pale blue patterned paper to give it a bolder feel.  I thought that little flapper girl button from JoAnne's went perfectly, so I gave her hat a little bit of bling and attached her to the card over a flower and some velvet ribbon.  I had so much fun playing, LOL!

The "recipes" for the cards are below.... thanks for visiting and have a wonderful day.

Sources:
All stamped images for both cards are from the Haute Couture set from Cornish Heritage Farms

Pink and Green Card:
Papers
-Simply Smooth Vanilla (CHF)
-Bazzill Basics cs
-My Mind’s Eye Bella Bella 12x12 paper pad
-Basic Grey June Bug 6x6 paper pad
Ink
-Memento Tuxedo Black
-Memories Apple
Other
-Flower (Martha Stewart)
-Velvet ribbon (Dashes, Dots, and Checks from Michaels)
-Copic markers
Technique
-Paper piecing

Powder Blue Card
Papers
-Simply Smooth Vanilla (CHF)
-Bazzill Basics cs
-My Mind’s Eye Bella Bella 12x12 paper pad
Ink
-Memento Tuxedo Black
Other
-Hero Arts Art Flower, colored with Copics
-Velvet ribbon (Dashes, Dots, and Checks from Michaels)
-Button from JHB (from JoAnnes)
-Rhinestones (Kaiser Scrapbook)
-Copic markers

Postcards from Paris

It's time for another sneak peek... this one is a peek at a new All Things Considered set coming from Cornish Heritage Farms, called "Haute Couture," available next week (October 6).   Oh, boy, do I looooove this one!  For this card, I combined some new images from the set with some of my other faves, like On the Desk and French Script backgrounder.  Vintage heaven, I tell ya!   If you see something you like, my "recipe" is below.

Hope you have a wonderful Friday!  It's the start of hockey season for us tonight, so I'll be at the Carolina Hurricanes game, being very LOUD!  Let's go CANES!

Sources:
Stamps:
-Haute Couture (ATC line) - Cornish Heritage Farms - available Tuesday, October 6!
-On the Desk (The Rummage Bin) - Cornish Heritage Farms
-French Script Backgrounder - Cornish Heritage Farms

Papers:
-Bazzill cardstock
-Cosmo Cricket Storytime Line “Chicken Little” patterned paper
-Graphic 45 Renaissance Faire Collection “Triumphant” patterned paper

Ink:
-Memento Tuxedo Black
-Versafine Vintage Sepia
-Ranger Distress Ink in Vintage Photo and Brushed Corduroy

Other:
-Making Memories Vintage Findings Stamps
-Vintage ribbon

Vintage Sewing Card

One last card before the debut of Sew Special (The Rummage Bin line) tomorrow at Cornish Heritage Farms. This one uses a wonderful vintage sewing machine image from Sew Special, along with a journaling box/label stamp from On The Desk. Some Graphics 45 papers, vintage buttons tied with twine, and a fun measuring tape twill ribbon (from JoAnne's) finish this off.

Tomorrow I'll give you a look at a new Scrapblock... there's a peek on the Cornish Heritage Farms website already, on the intro page. :) Have a wonderful day!

Vintage Bluebird ATCs

A tiny little piece for you today. I was making my ATCs yesterday for my club swap tonight and wanted to go vintage and blue. Our "theme" was to use paint somewhere on our cards, so here's what I did. I covered a piece of cardstock entirely with Ranger's Distress Crackle Paint in Picket Fence, and set it aside to let it dry. Now, if you try this, DON'T BE ALARMED when you come back and find your cardstock all curled up! It's okay - this paint is wonderfully bendable when dry, and won't flake off no matter how much you bend it to make it flat. I cut out a bunch of ovals using my old Creative Memories oval cutters. After that, I stamped the Tree Swallows Silhouette image from Cornish Heritage Farms with StazOn ink in Midnight Blue. (Okay, so technically they're not bluebirds, but if I stamp them in blue and call them bluebirds, then they're bluebirds! Right? Right? LOL!) I then distressed the image with Ranger Distress Inks in Antique Linen and Faded Jeans. For the card base, I used some Bazzill cardstock, some beautiful K and Company patterned paper from the Blue Awning line, and some pages from a vintage French school reader that I found in an antique store. I adhered the image, then had a little fun with some copper embossing powder. I took my Versamark pen and dabbled the edges of the card, then heat embossed with the copper. I was going for a worn gilded look.

Something was missing, though. I slept on it, waiting for inspiration to strike. Luckily, I got up this morning and saw Julia's Ways to Use It Challenge over on SCS. It came to me....add MORE vintage ephemera!! So I got out my vintage buttons and some tiny, rusted vintage keys (plus some newer key charms), and tied them on with some hemp cord. I think that's just what they needed. A tiny dot of K and Company craft glue keeps that knot from untying. I hope the ladies in my group like it tonight. :) Have a wonderful day!

Winter Wonderland Week 9 - Christmas Tree Decorations

Here's my little paper ornament for Winter Wonderland's challenge this week, which is Christmas Tree Decorations. (Sorry for the bad pic, since the ornament is mostly white, I had a hard time coming up with a good way to photograph it.) I am woefully behind on these challenges (I've missed three!) but hopefully now that the summer is winding down for us, I'll get back in the groove.

I used a little Victorian clip art angel as the focal point, and added some platinum Stickles around the edge. The "wings" are some vintage velvet leaves that I got on Etsy (Paper Tales). I added a little crepe paper, some dangling snowflakes, a Grungeboard star with pewter Distress Crackle paint, and a Peace sticker. Very quick and easy, and very fun. Thanks to all the ladies over in Wonderland for another fabulous challenge!!

Secrets

Yesterday's Inspiration Challenge over at SCS was the amazing work of Sarah Collier. I chose as my inspiration this piece, entitled Frozen Custard. How amazing is her work?!?! I started by ripping out a page of old text (I liked that the chapter heading was "Secrets" - perhaps those shared by a boy and his dad) and painting it with ivory craft paint. While that dried, I stamped text with StazOn on a piece of acetate (stamps by Hero Arts and Limited Edition). I stamped the main image (Tin Can Mail) on the dry paint with ColorBox Chestnut Roan pigment ink. I stamped it another time on scrap paper and cut out just the sentiment. I then layered the image, the acetate, and the sentiment, and fixed them together with brads. I added a ticket (from Tim Holtz Idea-ology) to the top with a little paper fastener from 7 Gypsies. I then layered this whole thing onto a card base made with Basic Grey and K and Co. patterned papers. Fairly quick-n-easy.

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend - thanks for stopping by!

Butterfly ATCs for Saturday Surprise, plus a little French Flavor ATC

A couple of little ATCs for the Saturday Surprise challenge, which is Butterflies.

This first one is actually a shaker card that I made a few months ago. The clipart butterfly and the stamped green foliage and text are on the back panel, and the blue floral image is stamped with StazOn on the acetate covering. Inside (as the things that actually move when shaken) are blue and green microbeads, blue butterfly confetti (which is sort of sparkling in the pic), and a punched butterfly with the word "dream" cut from an old book.

For this next one, I stamped the butterfly images first, then overlayed a K and Co. sticker. I penned in some additional text around the stamped butterfly, then mounted the panel onto text. I used inks, acrylic paints, and markers to distress and color, then added some picture fasteners.

One last ATC, a late addition for the Created Byhand challenge this week, which was "French." I used Ranger's distress embossing powder for the Eiffel Tower... this stuff is interesting, in that it gives a sandy finish, rather than a glossy one. The little plane is from Limited Edition.

Wow, thanks for sticking with me! I've got some family in town, so I'd better go socialize!! Have a great weekend!

Winter Wonderland - Blue Christmas (and a Catch-Up)

Another fun challenge week from the ladies over at Winter Wonderland. The challenge for Week 4 is Blue Christmas.... anything so long as it's blue (my fave color!). For this challenge, I picked the cool, icy blue of frost, ice on a frozen lake, icicles hanging from the porch... aaah, I feel cooler already :). One of my family's favorite activities is skating, so I dug out one of my vintage trade cards that has ice skaters on it. The chipboard ice skates, icicles, and snowflakes are all from Tattered Angels, distressed and dusted with mica. The skates also have some Ranger Crackle Paint in pewter. I used some SU felt snowflakes around the edges, a K and Co. snowflake brad, Martha pearls, Basic Grey paper, and some ribbons and lace from my stash. Here's a close-up of that fun image:


Since I want to make a banner from all the theme challenges, I decided I'd better try to play catch-up with the two challenges I missed. The Week 1 theme was Oh, Christmas Tree, so here's my take on that one: Nothing too fancy on this one.... I used a print-out of sheet music for the base, and added some patterned paper from Basic Grey. The sticker is from Melissa Francis, and the swirly at the top is Tim Holtz grungeboard (love it!) painted green. Not sure if it needs something around the edges... gathered crepe paper, perhaps? I'll have to mull that over (I've got some time before I need it :). Hopefully next week I'll have time to work up a Christmas Carol pennant (Week 2's challenge). Here are my three pennants so far:
Well, I hope you're staying cool... it's a heat wave in many parts of this country, and I for one am looking forward to a little coolness! Have a great day!

Happy Father's Day

Hug a Dad today... your dad, your kids' dad, your best friend's dad....

My dad died 13 years ago of cancer. I so very much wish that my kids could have met him, played with him, listened to his stories (yes, the ones I found so boring long ago!) He would have been the World's Best Granddad! But you know, it's almost like I see a little piece of him every day in my son. They don' look at all alike, but my son's personality could only have come from my father.... he is unlike my husband or me in his outgoing personality, his ability to take life by the horns, his athleticism... lots of little things that skipped a generation, for sure :)

My card is for my husband, so I tried not to fuss too much (he wouldn't know the difference between a card that took 10 minutes and one that took 10 hours.... aaah, men!) The vintage card image is from Cornish Heritage Farms, stamped in SU's Blue Bayou. The patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye. The DAD chipboard was from a pack that was on wicked clearance at Target. The letters were originally kind of shiny (like magazine pages), so I got out the sand paper and distressed away... then added some Ranger Distress Ink in vintage photo to tone them down. Popped the pieces up, and done.

Hope you have a wonderful, relaxing Sunday.

Winter Wonderland Challenge - Let It Snow!

Don't ya just love a new challenge?! I am new to the Winter Wonderland Christmas Blog Challenge, which is now in it's third week. I've been wanting to play along, but needed to get my Christmas supplies together and organized first. I've decided it would be fun make a Christmas banner, with a single flag representing the theme for each week. When I'm done, I can tie them all together and use the banner as a Christmas decoration. This week's theme is LET IT SNOW! - one of my favorite things :) The image is from a free clip art sampler sent out by Dover Publications. (If you'd like to get their free weekly clip art sampler via email, you can sign up HERE.) I added some white flocking mixed with glitter to the furry parts of the children's coats, hats, and muff (can't really see it in the photo). I then encircled the image with a sparkly pipecleaner. The base is Basic Grey paper, with pom pom trim glued around the edges. I cut the "Let It Snow" from a journaling block, and added some mica flakes as snow. The little felt snowflakes are from Stampin' Up, and the buttons are vintage mother-of-pearl from my stash. I added some tape measure twill ribbon, cuz where I grew up in Pennsylvania, everyone wants to know how many inches of snow each little town got... quite the competition! I tea-dyed some seam binding and glued it to the top, leaving enough on either side to be able to tie it to the next flag. This was such a fun project; I'm so looking forward to what the ladies have in store for us next week!

Vintage Wedding - Something Old

The current challenge over at Moxie Fab World is to use vintage items in a card. I am always scouting for inexpensive vintage books and music that are falling apart, so that 1) it's cheap, and 2) I won't feel guilty when I cut it apart to use in papercrafting projects. I've had a falling-apart 1955 edition of Little Women that I've been using the text from, but finally decided to use one of the chapter heading images for this challenge. It's actually amazing how everything old is new again... the line-drawing doves and scalloped hearts could be stamp images from right now! And the color.... Kiwi Kiss :). So for the challenge, I used the gorgeous image to make a wedding card. The sentiment is from Stampington. I added an ampersand (from a My Sentiments Exactly alphabet) in Kiwi Kiss. The background paper is K and Company, and the leaf ribbon is PTI. As an extra vintage touch, I used six mother-of-pearl buttons from a stash that was my grandmother's. If I manage to get this card to the happy couple a little ahead of time, the bride could even remove these gorgeous buttons and tie them into her dress or bouquet as her "something old." Thanks for visiting and have a wonderful day!

TGIF - Dreams

My very late creation for the TGIF challenge this week, which is dreams. Thanks so much, ladies, for such a fun topic! In my lateness, I've had so much fun looking at the other submissions, and I'm still not done!

My main image of the lady in the shell is from Just for Fun stamps. I got it on ebay, along with the Poe quote, which unfortunately doesn't have a manufacturer's identification on it (perhaps someone's homemade creation?). The clock is from SU's Sense of Time, the scroll is from Stampington, and the birds are from Oxford Impressions and the $1 bin at Michael's. I used Anna Griffin and Fancy Pants patterned papers, along with some vintage French text. There's a Prima flower with a Flower Soft center, some Papertrey Ink leaf ribbon, and a Tim Holtz spinner. I colored the image with Prismacolor pencils and Distress inks. Thanks so much for looking and have a great day.

Buttons and Lace ATCs

An ATC that I made for our local swap tonight in Apex, NC.
I just love this Botticelli clipart image (I've used her before) and this Cornish Heritage Farms stamp set (Ornamental Beauty) designed by Julia Stainton. Our theme was to use buttons and lace, so I raided my mom's stash of vintage mother-of-pearl buttons and old lace - what fun! I had the cards done yesterday, then noticed that today's Ways to Use It challenge over at SCS is buttons. Now that's a great piece of luck LOL! If you'd like, check out the rest of the gallery here. Thanks for looking and have a wonderful day!

Lavendar and Cream

This card was made using this week's Sketch Challenge over on SCS.

I thought I'd try something a little more involved, with chipboard, paint, glitter, lots of embellies.... all my fav's on one card LOL! I just love these vintage-looking papers from My Mind's Eye - I'm really into the purple-cream-brown color scheme right now. The tag was made by first stamping the music background from Anna Griffin for All Night Media. I then adhered some patterned paper to the chipboard medallion (from Maya Road), sanded, distressed, and added a rub-on from My Mind's Eye. I stamped the butterfly stamp from Martha Stewart, then ran it through my Xyron stamped side down, and added some glassy glitter. I then tied it with some Martha Stewart ribbon, a button and flower from my stash, and some waxy twine. The chipboard corners are from 7 Gypsies, and the "thank you" sentiment is from Stampin' Up's Elegant notes. Thanks for your visit and have a great day!

An unhurried sense of time.....

....is in itself a form of wealth. I love this sentiment from Stampin' Up's Sense of Time set. I created this card for this week's Saturday Surprise challenge. What a fun theme! I just had to do a project with this sentiment where I removed the hands from all the clocks.... don't you wish you could really stop time that way? LOL :) Thanks for looking and have a great Sunday!