The Pace of Nature

I've been wanting to play along with the CAS Mix Up challenge all month - and finally sat myself down to create a card before it was too late!

I used:  Stamping, heat embossing in gold and stenciling

This One with Nature stamp set from Simon Says Stamp is my favorite set to use lately - it has such great sentiments along with the trees.  I gold embossed the trees on a panel of Arches Watercolor paper, stamped the sentiment and then randomly stenciled over the panel in the areas of the trees with WV Archival Leaf Green ink and Tim Holtz' Burlap Stencil.

I also posted my card with today's Inspiration Challenge over at Splitcoaststampers.  Audrie had a wonderful Wall Plates on Line web site to inspire us -  I was inspired by this fern switchplate cover - obviously using trees instead of ferns.

You have until May 24th to link up your CAS Mix Up Card!

Stamps: One with Nature - Simon Says Stamp
Paper: Arches Watercolor paper, Vintage Cream - PTI
Paper Size: 4 1/4" x 5 1/2"
Ink: Versamark, Archival Jet Black, WV Archival Leaf Green
Accessories: Gold embossing powder, heat tool, Burlap Stencil - Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous

Simply a Sentiment

Two more cards to share that I made while I was on the Dirty Dozen Design Team over at Splitcoaststampers.   These are both great examples of how you can create a wonderful design simply by using some pretty patterned paper and one perfectly placed, stand out sentiment.

Both cards were made for the Fan Club February Central Theme - Songs from the Heart.  

This sentiment is Listen from Impression Obsession.

I used the same designer paper for both cards -  from PTI - Petite Places Patterned Paper Collection.

I simply stamped the verse from the Beautiful Blessings set by Papertrey Ink right on the equally awesome DP  to create this very CAS but powerful card. I layered the panel over a white card base with foam dots and added 3 blue sequins.

A wonderful song written in the 1950's by Pete Seeger and made famous by the Byrds in 1965 Turn, Turn, Turn . Using the inspiring words from Ecclesiastes.

Symphony
Stamps: Listen - Impression Obsession
Paper: white, Petite Places Patterned Paper Collection - PTI
Ink: Archival Jet Black
Accessories: foam dots, Sequins - Shaker Mix Vanilla Frost - Waltzingmouse 

Ecclesiastes
Stamps: Beautiful Blessings - PTI
Paper: white, Petite Places Patterned Paper - PTI 
Ink: True Black - PTI
Accessories: foam dots, Caribbean Sequins - Avery Elle

Two for Coffee

Today I'm sharing two coffee theme cards I made during my Dirty Dozen DT stint over at Splitcoaststampers.  

My first design was based on an inspiration photo for the November challenges. It had bright colors and fun background designs that made me think of this cool intersecting bricks stencil I had from StencilGirl. I sponged it in three colors using Distress Inks on a white panel.

Then I used Wendy Vecchi Black Embossing Paste on the coffee cup stencil from Stamplorations over the sponging. I thought the cup might not show up too well over the colorful stenciling - but being black it really popped off the background! I stamped the 'warm thoughts' sentiment from the Coffee Set by Waltzingmouse onto a scrap of white and punched it with an oval punch from SU. I layered it onto the card with foam dots.

My second card was made for the challenge theme "Bucket List" and one of the things on my bucket list is to have more time to visit friends over a cup of tea or coffee!
 (which will probably not happen until I retire in a year and a quarter - but who's counting the months!?!)

I just love the technique I learned from Wendy Vecchi that I used on my cups - the Faux Guilded Technique. You can find Wendy's tutorial on youtube here.

First I rubbed a thin coat of Wendy Vecchi Metallic Gold Embossing Paste over the white cardstock die cut cups and saucers not covering the whole surface. After that was dry, I sponged either Cornflower Blue or Potting Soil Archival inks over the pieces - and the result is this gorgeous faux guilded patina!

I sponged and distressed the edges of my patterned paper and adhered the cups and saucers using foam dots. I made my own little sentiment flag by punching one end with the corner of a square punch. I also sponged the flag with blue and brown ink. The sentiment is from Coffee Set by Waltzingmouse. To finish my card I added 3 sequins.

Sending Warm Thoughts
Stamps: The Coffee Set - Waltzingmouse Paper: white, true black - PTI
Ink: Ranger Distress Cracked Pistachio, Abandoned Coral, Mermaid Lagoon, True Black - PTI
Accessories: Wendy Vecchi Black Embossing Paste, Intersecting Brick Circles Stencil - StencilGirl, Coffee Cup Stencil - Stamplorations, oval punch - SU, blending Tool - Ranger.

Catch Up over Coffee
Stamps:  Coffee Set - Waltzingmouse
Paper: white, Rustic Cream - PTI, Idea-ology Paperstash/Correspondence
Ink: True Black, PTI, Wendy Vecchi Archival - Cornflower Blue and Potting soil
Accessories: Metallic Gold Embossing Paste - Wendy Vecchi Studio 490, Tea Cups Die - Tim Holtz/Alterations, foam dots, sequins

Under the Dome - A Little House and a Garden Shed

I was thrilled to be a member of the Dirty Dozen (design team) over at Splitcoaststampers from Oct 2015 through March 2016 making 6 projects each month and I wanted to start sharing them here on the blog.

Today I have two miniature projects that I made using Petite Places stamps and dies from Papertrey Ink.

I love miniatures - and PTI came out with a whole series of little buildings with accessories called Petite Places. For my house and garden scene I used Home and Garden stamps and dies and Walk in the Park dies and stamps.

The house measures approximately 1 1/8" x 1" and everything else is smaller than that - see the pretty rows of flowers, the swing hanging from a tree branch, the little fence and lamp post?

I added another row of flowers on the side of the house.

There's another tree shading the backyard.

Here is the garden with the flowers all in a row.

I placed my little house scene in a glass dish with a dome that I got at Michaels for half price!

I stamped the sentiment from the set onto a tag and tied it to the loop on the dome.  The dome and dish measure about 4 1/4" high.

You make the garden shed by using just the front entrance piece to the house with a different roof - how clever is that?!  See the little wheel barrow on the stone walk in front of the shed all ready for the gardener? And there is a swing hanging from the tree branches.

The garden shed measures approximately 1" x 3/8" and everything else is smaller than that. Below you'll see 3 tools are hanging on the other side of the shed.

  There's a pretty wreath hung on the back of the shed.  .

A little watering can sits on this side of the shed.

The dome and dish are about 3" high.

I used another sentiment from the stamp set on a tag and tied it on top of the dome.

 Betsy Veldman designed these lovely stamps and dies for Papertrey Ink - she has a great video on how to use them on her blog post here.

 

House dome
Stamps: Petite Places Home and Garden, Petite Places Walk in the Park - PTI
Paper: white, Limeaide Ice - PTI
Ink: Classic Kraft, Stormy Sea, Aqua Mist, Simply Chartreuse, Hibiscus Burst, Harvest Gold, Orange Zest, True Black - PTI
Accessories: Dies - Scene It - Basic Backer Die, Petite Places Home and Garden, Petite Places Walk in the Park, Jar Labels 2 - PTI, glass dish and dome - Joann's, ScorTape, Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive, Ranger Distress Marker - Shabby Shutters,

Garden Shed Dome
Stamps: Petite Places Home and Garden, Petite Places Walk in the Park - PTI
Paper: white, Simply Chartreuse - PTI
Ink: SImply Chartreuse, Hibiscus Burst, Classic Kraft, Blueberry Sky, Pure Poppy, True Black, Harvest Gold, Stormy Sea - PTI
Accessories: Dies - Petite Places Home and Garden, Jar Labels 2, Circle Nestability, Petite Places Walk in the Park, glass dish and dome - Joanns, pink sorbet twine - the Twinery, 1/8" scortape, Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive

Puffin Sympathy

Hello friends -  It's good to be back stamping -  many of you know from my Face Book Page- that my dear sister, Marcia,  passed away on April 26th, suddenly and unexpectedly after a fall.  She was just 66 (her birthday was the day before she passed) and in good health - so it was quite a shock.    I want to thank you for all of your kind thoughts and prayers during this difficult time for me.  I received many beautiful sympathy cards from you and it has meant so much.  
I have had a few posts here on the blog but they were all pre-posts - done before I lost Marcia.  For the past two weeks I just haven't had the concentration or inspiration to create - but today I was finally able to make a card -  and oddly enough - it became a sympathy card!

I made the card for the Inspiration Challenge over at Splitcoaststampers where we were to choose a color palette from a Pinterest page.  I was inspired by this Puffin panel.

Three shades of gray, a green and a peachy/pink.  I used stamps from Spring Woods from PTI with the coordinating Dies.  The panels are cut with Wonky Stitches dies from Avery Elle.  
(I won a $50 gift certificate from Ellen Hutson from the Spring Coffee Lovers Blog Hop and the Wonky dies are one of the things I purchased!)

This photo of my sister was taken at Easter this year -  who would have thought she would be gone a few weeks later.   Love you Marcia - and I'll miss you forever!

Stamps: Spring Woods - PTI
Paper: white, soft stone - PTI
Ink: Sweet Blush, Smokey Shadow, Soft Stone, Simply Chartreuse - PTI
Accessories: Dies - Spring Woods/PTI, Wonky Stitches/Avery Elle, foam dots, Lucky Blend Sequins - Avery Elle, Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive

Fusion Card Challenge - May 12 - Port O'Call Polaroid

We're getting close to Memorial Day here in the USA so today's Fusion Card Challenge photo may inspire you in that direction!

I was inspired by the colors and the nautical theme in the photo this week.  I adhered two strips of different Washi tape along the bottom.  The rope frame, anchor and ships wheel are all layered with foam dots.

The sweet silver stars and blue sequins are from a package called Nautical Sparkle from Neat and Tangled.

 So please come and join us over at the Fusion Card Challenge - be inspired by the photo or the sketch - or do a FUSION and combine the two!   You'll find the challenge details and some pretty awesome inspiration from the Design Team here! 

Stamps:  Ocean Bound - Waltzingmouse
Paper:  White, Enchanted Evening - PTI
Ink:  True Black, Enchanted Evening, Pure Poppy - PTI
Accessories:  Nautical Sparkle - Lucy Cards, Dies - Ocean Bound/Ship - Waltzingmouse, washi tape, Foam dots.

A Vintage Journey - May Challenge - Sew Special

The May challenge is up at A Vintage Journey.  Jenny is our hostess this month and this is her challenge: Sew Special  "Add fabric to your entry in some way, be it felt, burlap, ribbon or cloth and if you're really being brave maybe include a touch of real or faux stitching!  We are looking forward to seeing what ideas you have to incorporate this sew special theme in your vintage; shabby; mixed media; art journaling; industrial or steampunk projects."  

 I decided to make my project in an actual sewing theme.  I made a Needle Book.

I used ribbon, lace, felt and I hand sewed a stitch to adhere the button! 

I die cut the inside page piece of Eileen Hull's Sizzix Passport Die (the section on the left of the die), once out of  the new Sizzix Black Paper Leather and once out of tan felt for the inside page.

I embossed the Paper Leather piece with Tim's Springtime Background embossing folder.  Embossing the front and the back of the cover.  Then I sponged over the embossing to highlight it with Ranger Distress Paint in Picket Fence and Cracked Pistachio. I took a photo with one side not sponged yet so you could see how the embossing looks before I added the paint.

To decorate the cover of the Needle Book, I stamped a sentiment from Quilter's Sampler set by PTI onto a Pocket Card that I trimmed down to fit the sentiment.  I sponged the edges with Ranger Distress Ground Espresso.  I cut a piece of Lace Trimmings to fit along the top of the cover and sponged that in Ground Espresso as well.  I wanted to make a tab of some sort to close my Needle Book and thought this Half and Half die from PTI would work well (I've hardly used it until now!).  I cut it out of the Paper Leather and left it plain to contrast with the cover.  I found a sweet little dragonfly button in my button box that I thought would look perfect on the tab.

 I found this little scissors charm in my stash and embossed it using Wendy Vecchi Archival Tree Branch Ink and Watering Can Embossing Powder.

Here's a close up of the scissors on the Needle Book.  I tied a piece of wrinkled seam tape through the loop on the scissors and glued it to the Pocket Card.  I added a strip of Sketch Book Tissue Tape behind the Pocket Card.

I trimmed down the length of the tab, measuring how much I wanted to fold up onto the front -  and stapled the straight edge onto the back of the Needle Book to be sure it would be held on nice and strong.  I stamped TO: and FROM: on a Vial Label and stuck it onto the tab.

I put sticky backed Velcro on the tab and Needle Book to hold it closed. 

Here's how the tab looks closed.  I stitched the button onto the Paper Leather to hold it in place securely through openings and closing of the Needle Book!

 And finally -  here is the felt piece bound inside the cover with a piece of wrinkled seam tape tied in a bow along the outside seam - holding some safety pins, a threaded needle and some hemming pins with lots of space for more items!  The felt nicely hides the staples I used on the back of the tab too!

This is the first time I've used the new Sizzix Paper Leather - I purchased a sample back of black, white and tan to try it out - and it really worked well for this project.  It makes my little Needle Book feel soft and supple - it would have been quite stiff with plain cardstock.  And it took the embossing quite nicely! The book measures 4 3/4" x 3 1/4"

So - what inspires you with our Sew Special theme this month??  I can't wait to see what you link up over at the A Vintage Journey blog.  You also must check out what the rest of the Creative Guides have 'sewn up' for your inspiration as well!

I'm also linking my project to:
Anything But Cute - Celebrate Your Style

Stamps:  Quilter's sampler - Papertrey Ink, To and From: from Season of Love - Tags - Waltzingmouse.
Paper:  Black Paper Leather Sheet - Sizzix
Ink:  Ranger Distress Ground Espresso, Wendy Vecchi Archival Tree Branch, True Black - PTI
Accessories:  Springtime Background and Borders Embossing Folder - Tim Holtz/Sizzix, tan felt - Joann, Ranger Distress Paint Picket Fence and Cracked Pistachio, Idea-ology Pocket Cards, Trimmings-Lace, Sketchbook Tissue Tape, Vial Labels,  Small Attacher - Ranger, Book/Passport Die - Eileen Hull/Sizzix, Half and Half Die - PTI, scissors charm - Karen Foster, Velcro - Scotch,  Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive, heat tool, sponge, wrinkled seam tape - Prairie Bird Boutique Etsy shop.