This weekend I had the pleasure to attend my nieces' dance recital and really wanted to be able to give her a keepsake that she would remember...having just finished my own daughters' dance season...I wish I had thought of this before now... I decided to create a bouquet of roses in her favorite colors...and mine as well...lol!
I started by cutting out the flowers using the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge at 5.5" so I used 3 pieces of cardstock in Lagoon, Pear and a sheet of Dotty For You paper... I used the wavy rose shape and set out to form them into roses...
I spritzed them all with a pearl mist to add a little shimmer and detail to the roses... I pierced each center and placed a floral wire through the center, hot glued it into place and sprinkled some glitter into the center.
I also decided that roses need leaves so I cut out some leaves and spritzed them with Eucalyptus Walnut Ink and Gold Smooch Spritz Spray. I used my dry embossing stylus and formed some veins into the leaves to add some texture and Voila!
Add some washi tape to hold the bouquet together and tie a bow. I stamped a tag using the Aspire Stamp set and tied it onto the bouquet. Hope you enjoy this quick blog post!
It is no secret that I have not used all the paper packs that I have bought...Which is alot! I did however get asked to create a wedding card for a friend as she was attending a wedding and the colors were purple...Well, perfect reason to use Sonoma!
I love the Die Cut cards that CTMH has released...Especially the 6" x 6" Kraft Cards...
I started with one of the Kraft cards and picked my papers out... I decided that I wanted to have the colors co ordinate with silver embossing and ribbon...So I used some grey cardstock to tie it all together...
I added several layers of paper to the front {6 to be exact!} and 3 Bitty Pearls to add a little glamor to the muted tones of this card... I had it so that the flap on the card opened on the left side to make the card unique and lefty friendly...Just my little oversight at first... Being a south paw I had never really paid close attention to things like this until the card was finished and it opened on the left...hmmm, I wonder if anyone noticed?!?
Anyways...
On the flap I tied a 1" thick silver satin ribbon, folded in half, and a full bow tied... I used a pewter brad and adhered a jewel from the Heirloom Assortment to the know of the bow for a little more glam...
Here is a close-up of the bow and jewel...
I recently have been trying to really challenge myself and I added the zip strip to the top and bottom of the interior of the card. Embossed two hearts with Silver Pearl Embossing Powder to the inside as well and sat back and with a sense of completion and pride, delivered the card to my friend.
I hope that you have enjoyed this overview of the card.
I have loved the Close To My Heart Mini Banners since I set eyes on them but until recently I had not touched my package...and then we had Dotty paper...My creative juices were flowing again and I had an idea...
I wanted to make two banners that were very different from one another so I set out to find two words that would fit within the 10 pieces... Baby and Family... perfect!
Here is a great video from Close To My Heart featuring the mini banner...Enjoy and check out my projects below.
Are you inspired yet?
I will start with the Baby Mini Banner...
Although the days of babies is over for me...until I have grandchildren or more friends and family have them... I love making items for babies because they are so pretty and you have so much room to interpret and embellish...(my favorite thing...lol!)
So here it goes...I used the Dotty For You paper so I will be adding this to my projects for the Heart 2 Heart Challenge ~ Polka Dots and Stripes...
I picked two patterns of chipboard pendents to use and kept the other 6 pieces for the other banner. I selected to use the polka dotted sides of the paper and opted to use the Lagoon and Pear sheets.
I started with cutting out the pendants (without the use of my cricut...how I never thought of that...lol!) and adhered it to the chipboard piece. I stamped the BABY using the {Token Alphabet} and added some cute little bugs from {A Little Buzz} I used my water color pencils and colored the dragonfly. I used Liquid Glass to add dimension and shine to the tail... and 3 Bitty Pearls to the B...
I cut out and adhered the pear dotty piece and stamped my A...added the Bitty Pearls. I colored the owls and button, added Liquid Glass to the Button and the owls' beaks and eyes...I love the dimension that Liquid Glass gives to a project and the shine is fabulous...
One this banner I added this super cute lady bug and now I thought about adding the Liquid Glass to the lady bug's dots but instead decided to add it to the shell omitting the dots to give her a beautiful shell that would make any lady bug out there jealous...
I fell in love with this cute little dotty butterfly... Completely colored and Liquid Glass added to the dots gives these wings some great texture and shine. I added a button again and Liquid Glass to it and you can see the great shine it gets...
Well now we have seen all the parts alone, now on to the complete project!
I strung it together using some White Daisy Grosgrain Ribbon and it is perfect for a door hanger or to decorate some nursery wall...
I had said that I wanted to make two and so here is the next one...
I used the Florentine paper and the remaining pendant pieces...
I decided to use the more muted sided of the Pemberley paper to give this banner a rustic feel. I used the {Posterboard Alphabet} for the title and used Brown Bag cardstock for the title. I stamped them out in Cocoa Ink and misted them with the Tsukineko Walnut Ink Antiquing sprays in Java and Eucalyptus. I used a sponge and gently rubbed the inks into the cardstock to create a beautiful deep and leather-like look to the letters...With a few Mocha Opaque Pearls to each letter and a added a beautiful resin flower from the Bouquet Assortment.
I distressed each of the pendants using my Close To My Heart Distressing Kit and gently sanded each of the edges. I think it just added a little more of a rustic feel and look to the project. Now you may have noticed that this banner comes with jump rings and I have not used any of them on either of these projects...let me explain why...
I find them to bend easily and slip open easily so I opt not to use them on many projects. This being my 4th time creating banners (I will post the other two in the future...) I have tried the jump rings and found that when transporting the banners and displaying them my banners would sometimes fall apart, so I have tried to find creative ways to form these banners...For this one I opted to use some brown satin ribbon I purchased from Michaels and ties some bows and this is the finished project...
Well I hope that you have enjoyed this blog post and that you will look at the other projects over at Heart 2 Heart Challenges...
For all those who have read through my 5 post series on how you can create layouts that use the same pattern but look different, I have a special treat for you...Call it a bonus or maybe a sneak at an upcoming post (or series of posts...leave your input in the comments of your preference)
I have been busy creating lately and really trying to try to create a variety of items. I decided to try the CTMH 12 Month Calendar. I didn't think it would be what it has become...lol!
With the special Dotty For You Paper, I decided to create a calendar using the dotty paper and sticking to a rather non themed calendar... So I got my How To Books and started picking my layouts...I thought that would be the best route for the calendar...
Well... not really... Hindsight being 20-20 I quickly realized that a calendar of layouts was not exactly what I wanted and didn't work well for my main concept for the calendar...So I went another way with the general design...
I really went my own way with this and here is a sneak peek of the calendar...
Behold...April...
Look familiar?!?
I stitched the squares with baker's twine and just a word of advice...It was not as easy for some reason to stitch with the twine as it was with the embroidery thread, but it was a unique way to utilize baker's twine into a page.
Once I decided what I was going to do for embellishments I added them to the page and really kept it simple on this page. I used the Keepsake Alphabet for my title and that was enough to anchor your eye to it. No need for any banners or ribbon...a few pearls might have been acceptable but ultimately, I really liked how this page came out.
Well that definitely concludes this series...{1 Layout, 5 Ways}
I took a little sunny break today and enjoyed a little sun and relaxation... OK really I did some laundry and dishes and the general housekeeping stuff that takes away your crafting time...But one can dream...
Well while crafting the other day I created 3 cards for the Heart 2 Heart Challenge and Gallery Idol Contest over at Paper Crafts Connection. I have posted the first two and now onto the third...
You Make The World A Better Place
I started with a 5 x 7 white card base and decided to use the Dotty For You paper with the large polka dots design... I liked that it was so simple without looking plain. I stamped my sentiment onto one of the dots, inked the edges of the patterned paper and sat back and decided it was not enough...
I would pop up one of the large dots...NOPE!
So I decided to get my Xacto knife out and carefully cut out the circle with the sentiment stamped onto it...
Once I had it cut out I struggled to get the circle placed properly onto the inside of the card and adhered...I sat back and realized that it was perfect!
One card can quickly lead to a wonderful wave of inspiration. I definitely hit that wave and surfed onto create two more cards...
These cards have been created to be entered into two challenges, Heart 2 Heart Challenges and Gallery Idol over at Paper Crafts Connection. I decided to continue using the CTMH Dotty For You paper and I had this surge of inspiration to keep the cards very simple and clean...Not something that has been my general style as of late... Definitely a challenge but one that came out beautifully...
Just Be!
I started with a 5 x 7 white card base and layered Ocean (retired) Cardstock and then a layer of the bold chevron patterned paper in the Dotty For You paper. I then added a bold cube of Ocean and topped it all off by popping it up off the base and adding the title...
I stamped the title in Sunset and after adding the ink to the stamp I took a sponge and swiped it across the image to add some definition and texture to the stamp before stamping it onto the paper. I love the resulting image. Kinda reminds me of a distressed painting...
Going into the inside of the card I cut out some of the chevron patterned and added it onto the inside with the word 'Yourself' How much more inspirational can a card be. Being a mother of three girls I strive to teach them to "Just Be Yourself!" I love how this card turned out...
I have really enjoyed playing along with the Heart 2 Heart Challenges and making cards again...It has given me a chance to challenge myself to create some great cards...something I have not being doing recently opting to complete layouts instead...
I got craft today with a friend and we played with the Dotty For You paper today and created cards for two challenges today. The Heart 2 Heart Challenge and Gallery Idol over at Paper Crafts Connections. I have created several cards and will post them each separately. I encourage all to participate in these fun challenges as I think it really allows you to focus and create some fabulous projects!
So I had to create a card that fits the theme of "Encouragement" I kinda struggled with this as I was unsure of what one would consider encouraging... Would a 'Congrats!' or 'Way To Go' be considered encouraging or maybe something related to Sympathy or Positive Words... well here was one of my interpretations of "Encouraging"
Soar
I started with a white base (5" x 7"). I added Sunny Yellow dotty paper and a layer of Lagoon dotty paper...Added a 2" strip of Sunny Yellow dotty paper to add a stripe, Placed a strip of white and thin strip of Lagoon dotty paper. I then placed my 'Soar' and adhered it to form two gentle ripples in the placement of the word. I wanted it to look unique and have some dimension...
Inside I added the text { Follow your dreams... for as you dream you shall become.}
I added strips of Sunny Yellow and Lagoon dotty paper to form various sized stripes of color and to add some interest to the inside of the card... Nothing like trying to cover all my bases...
Well I hope that you liked the card and that it has sparked some inspiration for you...
