Paper Sweeties March Release Party!

Paper Sweeties Release Party is here! Whoo Hoo! Now you can get your hands on the newest Paper Sweeties stamps and Sweet Cuts dies, too! Here's another card I made using the new Stitched Tags #1 stamps and dies, as well as the Bloom & Grow stamp set

I went all shabby chic for this card, with lots of feminine layers, texture, and distressing. I made the heart with the Stitched Tags #1 heart stamp and Sweet Cuts die, then added the sentiment and little leaves from the Bloom & Grow stamp set. Sequins from the Sweetheart Mix made for cute little flowers, with a drop of gold Pearl Pen in the center of each one. I also have two more tags from the the Sweet Cuts Stitched Tags #1 die set on the card, cut from designer paper. You can see the floral tag with the button, and there is a typewriter text tag just beside it. You can't see the tags too well because I got carried away with the yummy Bubblegum Seam Binding and Cotton Candy Twine bow, but hey, can you blame me? ;)

You might have noticed that the white doily has a pinkish stain on it, but in my supply list below I've listed Dylusions Melted Chocolate Ink Spray. I added just a small amount of Ink Spray to a small water spritzer and it came out a nice shade of Victorian pink.

Now, you seriously have to check out the my Paper Sweeties Teamies creations. They have amazing talent and creativity! 

Cheryl Lea (that's me)

Debbie Marcinkiewicz – Paper Sweeties
Jill Norwood 

Julie Tucker-Wolek
Kathy Schweinfurth

Larissa Heskett
Lysa Rohrer 
Mackie Robertson

Maria Patrick

Michelle Bala
Mynnette Kitchen

Nancy Penir

What's New

I Pick You

Stitched Tags #1

Stitched Tags #1 Sweet Cuts

Thanks for stopping by! We'll be back tomorrow with our March Release Rewind, where we mix new and older releases. You won't want to miss it!

And, don't forget, there's still time to enter the Paper Sweeties Inspiration Challenge--Waiting for Spring!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
The Shabby Tea Room Week #247: Pop of Pink
Viva la Verve March 2015 Week 1 Sketch Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: B is for... (Bloom & Bow)
Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge #113: Flower and Ribbon or Trim
Your Next Stamp Color Challenge #9
Corrosive Challenge #219: Follow Your Heart
Fresh Brewed Designs March 11-17 Challenge--Flowers
Paper Issues: Enamored with Enamel with Paper Camellia

~Hugs,

Supplies Used:

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Crazy for you

Hello Friends, and TGIF! Do people even say "TGIF" anymore? Am I dating myself? LOL!

My card today is for three challenges: Viva la Verve September 2011 Week 3 Sketch Challenge, Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #136 Challenge--"All Dolled Up," and Lily Pad's Bling Challenge--use any kind of bling.

I had more fun making this card today than any card I've ever made. It's as different as is possible from the last card I made that was inkless, crisp, bright, and clean. I'm not sure if you'd call this card grunge, shabby, or vintage, but whatever it is, I believe I've finally found my "style." Maybe I should call this "Kitchen Sink" style. On this card, I distressed with ink and a Distrezz-it-all, used my sewing machine, embossed and inked the raised areas, made a ribbon ruffle, used twine, paper pierced, used Liquid Pearls, Enamel Accents, eyelets, half pearls, and a metal charm, and made a "metallic" hinge out of cardstock and Perfect Pearls Mist. Here are a few close ups before I show you the whole card.

I used a page from an old dictionary for my sentiment stamp. First I aged it with Walnut Stain and Tea Dye Distress Inks and Distrezzed the edges. If you look closely, you can see the paper piercing. It's a little hard to see because the paper is so busy, but it's there. Then I used Black Soot Distress Ink and a Quietfire stamp for the word, "Love." To distress it even further, I spritzed the stamped image with water to make the ink run. I drew the swirl by hand and put the half pearls on one at a time (I don't have ready-made swirls yet). I adhered this to a Beaded Circle die cut which I had inked while still in the die. I used Liquid Pearls in each of the "beads." I finally learned how to use the stuff, and all my dots actually turned out round this time instead of blobby. 8~D

In this picture you can see the embossed strip. I used three different color Distress Inks to ink the raised areas, starting with the darkest color on the outside and working to the lightest on the inside. I attached four large copper-colored eyelets to the top of the strip and tied a metal charm to it by running twine through two of the eyelets. You can only see a smidgen of the ruffle that is sewn to the bottom of the embossed strip. I made it by folding a length of ribbon in half lengthwise and gathering it with basting, then sewing it to the cardstock.

You can see the edge of the faux metal hinge in this photo in the lower left corner. I misted it heavily with Perfect Pearls Mist and dried it with my heat gun, then added four dots of black Enamel Accents. See that loose thread at the top of the photo? I did that on purpose. I stopped sewing there, pulled the thread out of my sewing machine and continued stitching to the end of that edge so that it would look like the stitching had come loose. The top of those panels are distressed the heaviest, so it made sense to me to have loose threads there.

And, here's the finished card. See the stitching on the outer edges? I kept changing from a straight stitch to a zig zag and back to straight as I went around the card, and when zig zagging, I randomly changed the length and width of the stitches to add just a little more shabbiness. 

On the inside of the card, I layered up different papers from the front of the card. If they look a little crooked, it's because they are. I purposely tilted the two middle panels just a tiny bit. The bottom and top panels are both straight and fairly centered (I seldom measure--I just eyeball things. I figure if it looks right to me, it will look right to anyone else, unless, of course, they are going to get a ruler out to check).  ;D I'm not sure why I couldn't bring myself to make all the panels be straight. I fiddled around with it for quite a while and just was not liking it all proper looking.

So just what IS this style? I don't have a clue. But, I sure had a blast making it!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you've got a wonderful weekend ahead of you.

~Hugs,
 

Stamps: Quietfire
Paper: Once Upon a Time (DCWV); Que Sera Sera (K&Co); old dictionary page
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Inks
Dies: Beaded Circles, Std Circles Large, Lattice Pendant, Lattice Rectangles, Curved Rectangles (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Tropical Paisley embossing folder (Sizzix); ribbon (Michael's); embossed metal charm (Making Memories); Enamel Accents (Inkssentials); Liquid Pearls; half pearls; large eyelets; household twine; Perfect Pearls Mist; sewing thread; foam dots; Distrezz-it-all
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Shabby chic for you

Good morning! First of all, if you are looking for my Flourishes Customer Appreciation Blog Hop post, go here. There is some great blog candy to be had, so don't miss it. You have until September 1st to enter. If you've already entered the hop, Good Luck! That's an awesome prize!

Now, on to this week's Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge #144. Pastels are not my "thing," but I love how this card turned out. I stamped the bicycle onto lavender cardstock with Teal Colorbox ink, then using cotton swabs, I dabbed distress ink on the gifts, flowers, and seat. With sponge daubers, I streaked Wild Honey, Worn Lipstick, and Concord Grape distress ink diagonally across the entire rectangle. I did try to avoid going over the places I'd already colored, but I didn't worry too much about it. I inked the edges with Vintage Photo distress ink.

For the sentiment, I used a Verve stamp from the Sweet Treats set. I cut it out with a Blossom Spellbinders die, distressed the edges, and used a stylus and foam pad to soften and curl the edges a bit. I cut another blossom, one size larger than the sentiment, and snipped about half an inch into it between each petal, then softened and curled it like I did the first one, but it turned out to be too big for this card, so I trimmed about 3/8" from the edges and it fit fine. Before I inked the edges of both blossoms with distress ink, I misted them lightly with water, crumpled them up, and dried them with a heat tool. After I glued them together, I added Crystal Stickles to the edges of the sentiment blossom. I think every card needs a little sparkle somewhere on it, don't you? ;)

 

On the inside, I messed up when I picked up the wrong sponge dauber. I intended to use Antique Linen inside the edges of the Labels Sixteen die, but I had already used the dauber in the Broken China ink. Oops! I went ahead with it, even though the blue was causing the Antique Linen to look sort of green. Turns out I liked it after all. Hope you do, too.

Thanks for stopping by. I so appreciate all my visitors!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

 

Stamps: Bicycle (Heidi Grace Designs); Sweet Treats (Verve)
Paper: Watercolor Bouquet (K&Co); Life's Journey (K&Co); Best of K&Co; DCWV Neutral Stack Textured; Plentiful (Digital paper-Shabby Princess); Recollections
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink; Colorbox
Dies: Labels Large, Labels Small, Blossom, Labels Sixteen (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Scallop Dot Edge Punch & Classic Butterfly Punch (Martha Stewart); Crop-a-Dile Corner Chomper; Liquid Pearls; half-pearls; twine (The Twinery); Stickles; foam dots
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Just because

Hi friends! Hope you enjoyed your weekend. I was looking back through the handful of posts I've written so far and I noticed that all my cards have been fairly intense with color, so for the Viva la Verve Week 2 challenge, I went with a more subdued vintage/shabby/grunge card. Actually, I'm not sure how to categorize it. Help me out, if you can.

Heads-up here--this gets a little sentimental.

When I think of vintage, I always think of my great-grandmother, Laura Bell (Ninny, to us kids). Not because she was a delicate, prim and proper lady, although I do remember her as a tiny thing. No, I think of her as timeless, strong, adventurous, artistic, and, well...cool. You know--vintage. You would have liked her. She would have been 113 years old next month. This card is a sort of snapshot of my Ninny:

For her femininity: the blue flower print paper and cotton lace
For her tough spirit: the brown and white plaid paper
For her humor and playfulness: the Swiss dot embossing
For her natural artistic talent: the embossed leaves on the blue panel
For her inner beauty: the flower and pearls
For the way I remember always seeing her--smiling and happy: the "smile" brad
For the hardships she endured: the dark ink spots
For the dignity and strength with which she wore every single wrinkle and scar: the grunge look
For her positive attitude: the sentiment

She's been gone from this earth for 38 years, and she's still missed.

Thanks for your visit. Come back soon!

 
Stamps: Sweet Treats (Verve)
Paper: Watercolor Bouquet (K&Co); Sweet Threads (Basic Grey); Recollections; Darice
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink
Accessories: Swiss Dots & Leafy Branch embossing folders (Cuttlebug); Classy Label Die (Verve); lace; Mini Rose (Recollections); pin; beads; pearls; metal brad (Studio K); Perfect Pearls Mist; dimensionals
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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