TSTR Challenge #148 - Elegance

Hello and good morning!
 
Today's card was made for the lovely challenge over at The Shabby Tea Room whose theme this week is "Elegance."  I'll say.  Check this photo out.  It's a cake, and it makes me hungry to look at it.  There are only two colors, but what a beautiful, elegant effect.  We were to use the colors plus ribbon/bow and a flower.  

 

And here's my card.

I thoroughly enjoyed making this card.  The roses are so "wedding cake-y" and look almost good enough to eat.  The three panels are from the K & Co. Watercolor Bouquet stack, and while this paper already had mottled colors and water droplet effects, I stamped it with SU En Francais and Medallion stamps as well before cutting the panels.  This gave a very subtle bit of extra depth to the paper. 

You can see the additional stamping a bit better here and in the other closeup pictures.  The roses are made with the SB Rose Creations die, then glittered with CI Resplendence Angel Dust which gives them a gorgeous sparkle.  The tiny flowers are SU Boho Blossoms.

I added teeny, tiny pearls to the light blue doily around the edge, and larger pearls to the insides of the Boho Blossoms flowers as well as to the baby booties.

 I stamped the image in Versafine Smokey Grey as black would have been too harsh, then colored it with the Copics that Santa brought me for Christmas.  I LOVE them, and this time I used the proper paper for them and couldn't believe the difference.  Flourishes Classic White Cardstock will be my go-to paper for coloring with Copics from now on.

I added one of my smaller custom-made stick pins to the bow.  

The sentiment was inked around the edges after being cut out with the cutest little Dienamics Mini Wavy Pennants die.

This picture shows the depth I gained by popping up both doilies on dimensionals.  You can also barely see the silver leaves next to the bottom rose.  They don't jump out and shout at you, but they add a nice finishing touch to the rose.  Here's another picture of the centerpiece.

I hope you've enjoyed another picture-heavy post.  Simpler cards need fewer pictures, but the all-out cards need to be 'splained, Lucy.  Thank you for taking the time to join me today.  Here's wishing you a lovely day!

Happy crafting!

Supplies:

Stamps: Hello Baby (Flourishes), En Francais, Medallion (SU)
Paper: K & Co. Watercolor Bouquet, Whisper White, Marina Mist (SU), Classic White, Color Made Easy True Blue (Flourishes)
Ink: Versafine Smokey Gray, Marina Mist, Bashful Blue
Extras:  Dienamics Mini Wavy Pennants, Decorative Doily, Dainty Doily and Circle Stax 1 and 2 dies, SB Rose Creations die, CI Resplendence Angel Dust, SU pearls, Boho Blossoms punch, ribbon, sponges (for inking edges of cs), Copics.

Challenges entered:

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #202 - "NEW" (New Copics!)
Alota Rubberstamps Challenge #98 - Newborn
The Shabby Tea Room Week #148 - Elegance
Incy Wincy Designs - Happy New Year and Something New
The Pink Elephant TPE181 - Celebrate (new baby!)
Tuesday Throwdown #129 - Shiny and New (new Copics)
Really Reasonable Ribbon #63 - My New Toys (& Ribbon) 
CCEE #1301 - Baby Card
Crafty Ribbons #36 - New Beginnings
Divas by Design - Anything Goes
3 Girl JAM #9 - Anything Goes + Ribbon
Drunken Stampers #112 - All That Glitters
A Gem of a Challenge #62 - New Beginnings



Friday Sketch Challenge #34 - by Marie

More bling

Hello and good morning!

I wanted to get one more card in before the holiday because I'll be spending time with family over the next few days.  My stepson is coming to visit from Denver, so the house will be full of football action, which means my DD and I will be spending time at her place before and after Thanksgiving Day so as to allow them some major father/son macho bonding, plus I won't feel like I'm getting in the way going from my craft room to my office and back, which cuts right in front of the tv.  Three whole days with my DD is something I've been looking forward to for a long time.  She has taken a couple of days off from work, and tomorrow we're crafting all day the way we usually do every Friday.  Thursday is Thanksgiving, and Friday she and I will go to a sweet "little" (it used to be) town here in North Texas that gets all done up for this time of year.  McKinney, Texas, will be doing its 32nd annual Dickens of a Christmas - Home for the Holidays, and many of the shopkeepers will be dressed in period clothing from the era of A Christmas Carol.  It is lovely.  The streets right off of the town square are closed to vehicle traffic and there is always a festive holiday air about the square.  We may even stay for the lighting of the Christmas tree this year!

Then Saturday and Sunday will be spent here at home with DH and DSS (Darling StepSon) and we will celebrate his 21st birthday on Sunday, though his actual birthdate was the 9th, but we couldn't be there for it (he lives in Denver).  I will, however, be back in the craft room on Saturday.

My card today is not my usual style, but I loved making it because I pulled out all the stops.  I always see such highly decorated cards on various blogs and have aspired to be able to make them myself, so today I gave it my best shot.  As I told my DD, "this is what over the top looks like."

And how.

I had such a nice response to my little piggy stick pin yesterday that I decided to make another one and incorporate him into a card.  I'm not saying who's getting it, but I have made it for a specific person.  And that's all I have to say about that.

 I've colored the image with Copics and thought about doing something other than coloring the centers, but since the card has a wee bit of other interest going on, I figured fluffy centers would be just a tad too busy.  Gee, ya think?

Here's my little piggy stick pin custom made specifically for this card.  If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you'll notice the little angel wing charm that is attached.  You can barely see it in the first picture - underneath the bottom of the bow, there is also a point protector so that this pin may be removed and either worn as a lapel pin or used in some other decorative fashion. 

You may be thinking that these are unusual colors to put together, and you'd be right.  SCS is having a fun color challenge using plum, navy and white, and thankfully I had the barest bit of navy left in my stash.  Must place an order TODAY.

The rose was made with SB Rose Creations die, and the smaller blossoms were made with the SU Boho Blossoms punch using plum, navy and white for the various layers of petals.  I spread a bit of glue on the petals afterwards and sprinkled them with superfine glitter.  

Have you noticed the stitching?  Isn't that a hoot??  At last I can use the lovely embroidery machine my DH bought for me two birthdays ago!  I'm not doing any sewing of late, but at least now I can use the machine AND the zillion colors of embroidery thread I've collected.  And fancy schmancy stitches that I never used, too!

I've put one of the tiny blossoms on the ribbon bow and attached a couple of tiny tags from SU's what else, Tiny Tags stamp set.

And that, dear friends, is my purplelicious, over the top card.  Thank you for joining me as I detailed it, and I hope you have a fantastic, happy and SAFE Thanksgiving.  Happy Thanksgiving, and happy crafting!

Ingredients:

Paper (all SU): Perfect Plum, Night of Navy, Whisper White, Subtles DSP Stack and a tiny bit of Elegant Eggplant.
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Elegant Eggplant
Stamps: SU Tiny Tags, Flourishes With Gratitude
Accessories: SB Rose Creations, Oval and Floral Oval Nesties, SU large oval punch, ribbon, custom stick pin, Boho Blossoms punch, pearls, rhinestone swirls, Copics, glitter, embroidery thread, dimensionals, Scor-Tape.

Challenges entered:

SCS CC402 - A Perfect White Night 
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Thank You Challenge
Paper Playtime #89 - Anything Goes
Incy Wincy Designs - Hip To Be Square 
The Pink Elephant TPE175 - Giving Thanks
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #196 - Whatever Makes You Happy (my friend, the color purple, and the piggy stick pin make me happy!)
Anything Goes Challenge #80 - Stitching Real or Faux
Creative Card Crew Challenge 24 - Anything Goes
Simon Says...Thanksgiving/Thank You!
Pause Dream Enjoy Challenge #46 - Thank You Projects
Crazy 4 Challenges C4C163 - Create a Tag!
Speedy Fox and Friends Challenge #134 - Pop It Up!
Drunken Stampers #106 - Cut, Crop and Die
CI Paints - Thankful For You


Alota Rubberstamps #95 - Sketch



 

Lunch and a butterfly

  

Hello and good morning!  

Did you remember to turn your clocks back an hour?

Today I am having a friend over for lunch and an afternoon of crafting.  She and I used to work together and she left 7 years ago to have twin boys, but we've kept in touch and talk regularly, though we don't see each other as often as we'd like.  Twins will keep you busy.  So she and I are having a "girls' day in" with lunch, then afternoon tea, and crafting throughout, just like my DD and I do every Friday.

I managed to fit a card in today between other things (laundry, making tomorrow's pound cake, etc.).  It's for several challenges, among them the color challenge over at The Shabby Tearoom, which is to make a card using peach, green, yellow AND a flower (or two). 

These aren't colors I normally work with, so this was a rather tough card for me.  You wouldn't know it to look at it because it's simple and not loaded with the embellishments with which I usually tend to cover a card.

I can't even tell you why it took so long except that I kept trying a stamp-with-glue method that refused to work, causing much CS murder in the process.  And of a color (So Saffron) that I have in small supply, no less.  So I eventually wound up inking the Rubber Cafe's Large Swirled Butterfly with Versamark and rubbing dark and light peach chalks onto the resulting image.  I was trying to go for a peachy glittery look, but I guess that will have to wait until I get the proper glue.  Believe me, I tried.

The butterfly reminds me of an Asian line art pattern I bought last year that I've embroidered onto a t-shirt.  I did get a bit of luster by tracing over some of the lines and filling in the circles with a Gelly Roll sparkle pen which appeased my need for sparkle, however subtle.  Hey, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.  I also spritzed the center panel with a bit of glimmer mist, though sadly it doesn't show up in the pic. 

The other papers used are Very Vanilla, Peach Parfait and a green print from my stash.  

The lace border was punched using a MS border punch, and the gingham ribbon was from my ever-expanding ribbon stash.  I believe this one came from my daughter from a gift-with-purchase somewhere.  The sentiment was cut with a SB Ribbon Banners die and I applied a tiny bit of peach chalk in the areas exposed by the die.  The ink used is SU Old Olive (inkpad) and Pumpkin Pie (marker).

 The Very Vanilla flowers were made using SU's Boho Blossoms punch.  I misted the pieces with water, scrunched them up as tightly as possible, then flattened them out, stacked and glued them, and brushed them with some Ivory Creative Inspirations paints.  Pearls there and on the bow finished the card.  

Simple, yet oddly time-consuming.  I have decided that I just can't "whip up" a card, no matter how simple, and am probably destined to agonize over each and every one.  But I'm ok with that.  

Thank you for joining me, and I hope you have a fab day today!  

Happy Crafting!!

Challenges entered:

The Shabby Tearoom Week #138 - Color Challenge "Hey Pumpkin"
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Just Add Pearl
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #193 - Focal Image Falls Off Page (mine's hiding, does that count?)
Anything Goes Challenge 79 - Anything Goes
Fussy and Fancy Challenge 75 - Pearls and Flowers
SCS Inspiration Challenge 361 - Artful Home
Drunken Stampers Challenge 104 - Memoirs of a Geisha

and last but not least,

The Craft's Meow - November sketch