Pansies

Hello!

Today's card is the 4th in the 5-card series on friendship.  This one is a thinking of you card that is loaded with color and pattern.  I don't mix a lot of printed papers on my cards and wanted to step out of my comfort zone a little bit, so I pulled some coordinating papers from K & Co.'s "Sweet Nectar" paper stack and started playing.  I normally don't do bright colors either, preferring the vintage and shabby chic look, so again, this is fairly uncharted territory for me.

I started off with a black base, a white mat and a hot pink layer which I stenciled in a swirly pattern using black distress ink.  Then, following a sketch, I added two of the prints from the paper stack, matting them both with black for added definition.  I embossed the gingham layer with a swirl design to echo the stenciled swirls.

The image of pansies is from Flourishes, a stamp company that sells wonderful stamp sets that are perfect for coloring with Copics, which I did here.  I layered it onto a lacy die cut and embellished it with tiny rhinestones.

The sentiment flag has also been embellished with even tinier rhinestones.

The inside has been layered with contrasting card stock and stenciled with a few more swirls.

Thank you so much for joining me, and I hope your day is full of spring loveliness!

Happy crafting!


This card is for sale in my Etsy shop.

Nothing is Impossible

Hello!

Today's card, second in the week long series of friendship and/or inspirational cards, features one of my favorite quotes:

She sure had it right.

I've used one of my favorite shabby color combinations, pink and brown, on this one starting with a kraft base and layering plaid and floral prints with dark brown mats for definition.  I distressed the edges of the floral print and turned one of the corners down.

The quote was heat embossed with copper metallic embossing powder, the edges were inked, and then I layered it onto a dark brown shadow mat with the edges also embossed in metallic copper.

Of course this kind of card called for a shabby bow, so I tied one of my favorite kind, a "messy" bow, using caramel colored seam binding.  Then I added a couple of loops of string pearls and centered it with a tiny pink posy that I painted with caramel shimmer paint to tone the pinkness down a bit.  An additional posy adorns the opposite corner.

A bit of stitching completes the front.

The inside was finished with contrasting layers of card stock stamped with faint flourishes.  I keep designs like this very light so that a personal message can be written over them.

Thank you so much for joining me, and I wish you a lovely day full of delightful possibilities.  Because NOTHING is impossible.

Happy crafting!

This card is for sale in my Etsy shop.

The Queen of Ever'thang

Hello and Happy Mother's Day!

I hope you are all taking good care of yourselves today and being taken good care of whether you're a mother to children, pets, your plants, whatever.  It's YOUR day!

As is our custom, my daughter and I are spending the weekend at my mother's house (remember the wonderful English cottage garden?  You can see it here.) and are having a wonderful time.  We went "thrifting" and antiquing yesterday (jackpot!), and then last night we saw Johnny Rodriguez in concert.  This little town sure has some big names coming through.  Granted, he's from a different era (my generation as opposed to the NOW generation), but nevertheless, he's one of the biggies.

And now to the project at hand, the one I couldn't share any earlier because my mother reads my blog every day.  Sorry, Mom.  :)

What do you think?  It's the second time I've painted on a mixed media canvas (the first time was here), and I'm quite enjoying it.  It is my goal to paint roses in a decorative fashion (as opposed to a realistic fashion), and I'm starting to feel more comfortable doing so.  

There is a lot of symbolism on this piece, starting with the music notes I stamped onto the colored base layer (I used Neocolors this time).  They're ever so faint, but music is a big part of my mother's life.  Country music from the good old days, not that modern stuff that passes for "country" nowadays.  It plays all day in her house. 

Flowers are another biggie as evidenced by her fabulous garden.  She grows so many kinds of roses, both modern hybrid teas and fragrant antiques.  I have normally given her plants every year for Mother's Day - it was a big tradition for me while she was building her garden.  Roses, hostas, you name it, I probably gave it to her; however, she doesn't do the heavy, hard planting anymore and instead is directing her attentions towards her art, so this year will be the first without a live plant.  Instead, she gets the painted rose which will bloom forever.

 As a side note, I used to grow a very similar rose.  It was a modern hybrid tea and I don't remember the name, but here is a picture which looks exactly like it.  Alas, it was too finicky and no longer resides in my garden.

Two of the digital stamps are from Gecko Galz, and I honestly can't link directly to them because I think they were freebies that Leanne gave to us at the retreat (referenced here), but you could always contact Leanne through the Gecko Galz site (here) to see if she does have them for sale.  I LOVE these images, especially the woman's face, both of which are perfect for Mother's Day.  The "Mother" word has a crown on it because, as today's title states, my mother is the queen of everything.

I added a bit of blush and lipstick with Copics as my mother never EVER leaves the house without her makeup on.  I should be so dedicated.  And the wooden butterfly was painted with shimmer paints to match the rose.  Butterflies are thick as thieves in her gardens.

This soft, vintage image is part of a free collage set that you can obtain over at The Graphics Fairy.  It was designed by my friend Heather Hudson and is featured on her painted canvas blog post here.  It's perfect because my mother had two children, me and my sister.  

By the way, all images were printed onto tissue paper for that soft, see-through effect.  I love how you can see some of the background stamping through them. Card stock is just too thick and heavy for my purposes.

The words "my friend" were printed from my computer, also on tissue paper, and edged with Stickles.

When I had all of the painting done and the images decoupaged, I knew this piece needed something else, something 3-D, and definitely something dangly.  My mother almost never makes a piece of art that something isn't dangling from it somewhere.  So Mom, here are some danglies for you.  At first I thought I'd do a "necklace" but I didn't want to cover the lady's face with it, so then I played around with the vintage chain and it struck me - a charm bracelet!  The first charm is a frog because my mother used to collect frogs, but some years ago she said, "NO MORE FROGS."  Sorry Mom, just one more.  The flower charm of course symbolizes her extensive flower gardens.

Next come the scissors for the woman who sewed nearly all of my clothes as a child.  She also made some of the most fabulous quilts you've ever seen, many of which grace my home.

And of course a heart.  She puts at least one heart on every single project she makes, whether it's quilts, mosaics, paintings, etc.  I don't think I've ever seen her make something that didn't contain at least one heart, if not more.  Because of her, I ♥ hearts.

I made the centerpiece and in-between charms with my various pearls and beads.  The little key (another heart!) was silver but I colored it with a copper Copic marker.  I rarely use silver, and copper looked better.  My mother has always collected keys ever since I was knee high to a grasshopper.  And last but certainly not least, the flamingo.  Why?  Because a few years ago I said I was going to put a flamingo in my front yard for a little bit of tacky fun, and being who she is, my mother made me a huge one, mosaiced in pink and sporting a stylish ceramic bow on her neck.  You can visit Fanny the Flamingo here.  I am now known as "the house on the corner with the flamingo in the front yard."  I truly think this is the ONLY cool yard flamingo out there - nothing tacky about this one.

I will be entering this piece in the Gecko Galz challenge which is all about Mother's Day, and also in the Frilly and Funky challenge which is to use a single word as a focal point.  Hopefully this one qualifies!

So thank you for joining me today - it was long but, well, that's how I roll.  I'm chatty.  And I like lots of pictures.  Here's wishing all you moms out there the most wonderful day that's focused on YOU!  And for my own mother?

I ♥ you, Mom.

Happy Mother's Day!

P.S.  I was on a rose painting roll, and I had a tiny 1" wooden heart, so I painted it for my daughter.  It looked fine until I saw the close up photo.  Clearly I need to work on my vine painting.  I know she'll love it regardless.

Tea & Roses

Hello!

Today's card was made for the latest challenge over at The Shabby Tea Room.  The theme is "Let's Have Tea," and the photo inspiration is this:

One must use the colors in the photo plus have a tea theme and flowers.  I actually have china that looks like those pieces, though not the porch OR those big, blowsy roses.  Divine.

My image is a stamp I've used a few times before from IO called "Simple Pleasures."  I usually stamp the butterfly a second time so that I may pop it up on dimensionals...

...like so.

I've colored the image with Copics.  It was the second image as I tried to color it the first time in a pink that came out way too coarse and bright.  I tore it up so I wouldn't be tempted to use it later.  I don't have any cups that are that bright.  On my second attempt I tried a soft blue green because I have a blue green cup like this in my extensive tea cup collection, and I was happier with it.

I even trimmed the edge and flourishes with gold glitter pen as many of my teacups are rimmed and trimmed with gold.

I used a wood grain paper under the ribbon and placed some crochet trim underneath it as per the sketch I followed (shown below).  Then I tied a double bow using some silky ribbon from my stash and added a teeny rose and some Tiny Tags, some gold braided thread and a pearl to complete the look.

Thank you for joining me today, and I hope you'll find some quiet time for a spot of tea.  I know I will, I just don't know which cup I'll be using.  Decisions, decisions.

Happy crafting!

Challenges entered:

The Shabby Tea Room #169 - Let's Have Tea
Crafty Ribbons #46 - Anything Goes w/Ribbon
3 Girl JAM #19 - Anything Goes w/Ribbon
Frosted Designs - Punches (Tiny Tags Jewel Punch by SU)
Allsorts #209 - Here Come the Girls (girlie card)
Eclectic Ellapu - Anything w/Wings

Sketch 'N' Stash #115 - (Newest: WOC Roses/Neglected - ribbon. Have had it for nearly a year and this is the first time using it.)

Simple Pleasures

Hello and good morning.

I've been hard at work on projects that will be posted next week for upcoming challenges and as such do not have a brand new card to show you today; however, it's new to you!  It's a card made with a stamp that I just love called "Simple Pleasures" by IO.  It's a breeze to color and is such a dainty image that I felt it needed dainty papers underneath. 

Teacups, specifically antique or vintage teacups, are a personal weakness of mine.  I've been collecting them since 1996 when I spied my first Homer Laughlin Eggshell Nautilus in a local antiques shop.  Ever since then, I've picked them up at flea markets, antiques shops, thrift stores, eBay, wherever I find one that strikes my fancy and is priced right.  My collection finally grew large enough to warrant their own storage space, which I made last summer out of shelves from the hardware store, acrylic paints, and elbow grease.  I painted them in pastel colors and hung them in otherwise wasted space between the kitchen and dining room.  If you look closely, you'll notice the brackets are not placed under the shelves in their corresponding colors as I preferred the "mixed basket" effect.  (Click on the picture to enlarge.)

As you can see, I collect teapots, too.  Chintz, Brown Betties, "Red Betties"...

But I digress. Regarding the card, I had issued a personal color challenge to use the somewhat odd color Summer Starfruit by SU, and turns out I had some papers that went with it perfectly.  I colored it with SU inks and a Blender Pen.  The roses were an experiment - I made them out of vellum that I first colored with chalks.  Makes a nice, crisp flower and the colors come out so soft and rose-like.  The sentiment was also stamped on vellum and I used a pearl to cover the adhesive that shows through underneath.  (I have yet to find an adhesive that doesn't.)

So that, dear friends, is today's card.  Perhaps I will make a pot of tea today instead of my all-too-frequent "bag in a mug" and take a few minutes to enjoy a bit of history in my hands.  Thank you for joining me and I wish you a day of peace and calm too.

Happy crafting!

Supplies:

Stamps: Simple Pleasures (IO)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Various SU inks
Paper: Summer Starfruit, Garden Green (SU), floral scraps, vellum
Extras: Blender Pen (SU), chalks, pearls.