April 25, 2012

Double Challenge Quilted Friendship Card

This card is for the PTI Blog Hop and Mojo Monday this week.

PTI blog hop logo

The inspiration photo this month (see below) was so pretty and I was inspired by the mixy matchy fabric patterns. So I also chose  floral, stripe and polka dot patterns.

quilted friendship card

I cut the paper with the die from Button Boutique. I love that little guy! It wasn’t quite as hard as I thought to keep the papers lined up. I just used a clear ruler to guide me as I laid them down. The spool was stamped on kraft paper and cut out. I thinned out the middle section of the spool to allow for the thickness of the floss. Wouldn’t this be cute paper pieced too?

PTI april BH insp

And last but not least, this week’s Mojo Sketch. Click on sketch to visit Mojo site.

Mojo238Sketch

I hope you enjoy the rest of the Blog Hop. Be sure to visit again. I have RSS and email subscription thingies on my side bar!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps:
PTI
Ink: Antique Linen, Vintage Photo Distress inks
Paper: Cosmo Cricket Odds and Ends, October Afternoon Thrift Shop, vanilla, kraft CS-SU!, aqua mist, spring moss CS-PTI
Accessories: Button Boutique die, button twine-PTI, foam dots-Jody Morrow, scalloped rectangles Nesties, PTI and Basic Grey buttons, Prima rose, DMC floss, Mettler thread

April 22, 2012

Cherry Blossom Anniversary Card

I recently bought the coolest flower die. It makes gorgeous cherry blossoms. I made them in an unusual colour combo but I love that I can personalize them!

grimble ann 12 card

The colours of this card are epecially unusual to anyone who knows me well. Orange is one of my least favourite colours but I have been know to use it under the right circumstances like as an accent, when I love the paper pack or when the person I am making the card for loves bright colours! The latter is the case this time. Oh, and my blonde little guys look awesome in orange so you might see it on a scrap  page at some point!

grimble ann 12 card cherry blossom closeup

Making the blossoms is easy. Die cut all the pieces. I cut all of mine from ivory card stock. Then I coloured the star shaped piece with an apricot marker. Same for the center of the sunburst shaped piece. The little ‘sticks’ I coloured in blush and the tips are pumpkin. The sticks and tips are coloured on both sides. The flowers are sponged with blush ink.

memory box cherry blossom die graphic

To make the flower 3-D, you glue the tab to the back of the next petal. However, I found it was hard to get the tab to stay glued as it is tiny, less than 1/8” long! When I make it again, I won’t glue the tab first. To prepare the center, use an embossing tool and a foam or embossing mat to cup the star piece. Repeat for the sunburst. Then adhere the sunburst to the inside of the star. Now you want to curve the petals and squeeze the flower into a cup shape. Then add adhesive to the outside of the cupped center and the tab and add the center to the flower. While holding down the flower center with the embossing tool, make sure the tab is touching and hold until it is dry. All done!

apr2012SFYTT

I’m entering this in the Joan’s Gardens challenge this week and this April’s SFYTT (turned 90 degrees). Joan is offering 6 guest designer spots for participants! I’m really hoping I get a chance!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamp:
PSX
Ink: memento black, Apricot, blush, celery-SU!
Paper: Picadilly-Basic Grey, saffron, vanilla, punpkin-SU!
Accessories: foam dots-Jody Morrow, lace-WMS, die-Memory box, markers: apricot, pumpkin, blush-SU!, ribbon-Masterstroke Ribbon, Kaisercraft rhinestones

April 14, 2012

CPS 161 Guest Designer–French Inspired Collage Pocket Card

I am thrilled to be a Guest Designer for CPS today! I won CPS 158 a couple weeks ago, Yeeeaaaah!, and playing along with their DT is the best reward! (Read to the end for a link to the winning card.) Be sure to check out the challenge if you’d like to play along with CPS 161. I’ll admit I was taken aback by the diagonal line on the sketch as I am not a huge fan of diagonal lines. But this is called a ‘challenge’ after all! So…

CPS 161 GDT card wo tags

… I made a pocket card! For me, it was a perfect way to make the diagonal line work! This card actually has two pockets. You can find the tutorial here: SCS  Diagonal Double Pocket Card. My paper started to tear at the ‘spine’ so I punched some holes in the side and turned it into a mini book style card. I would have tied a bow but the tulle was too short. I really like this and I think I’ll keep it so I may add another sheet of paper, the same design but folded with the yellow out and make it an actual mini book. For each pocket, I made a tag which I collaged.

CPS 161 GDT tag1

The base was actually a sticker so I adhered it to some of the leftover DP from cutting a 12x12” sheet down to the 8.5x11” sheet required for the tutorial. Although I removed the bulky plastic bits from inside the flowers, they still are a bit thicker than is ideal for the pocket. Oh well…

CPS 161 GDT tag2

The base of this one is a plain white tag. Quite a few of the items I used for this project were given to me in swaps so if something isn’t in my recipe list at the bottom, that’s why. I have no idea of the origin. Sorry. In fact, on this tag, the only thing I can list is the metal clip and the ribbon.

CPS 161 GDT card w tags

Here is the card with everything. It is quite busy so that is why I decided to photograph everything separately first. I hope you will play the challenge today.

CPS161

I want to thank the CPS judges so much for honouring the card I won with (You can see it here: Happy Anniversary Double Challenge Card) and for choosing me to Guest Design today. I really appreciate it! I’d love to join your team in the future, once my baby is a bit older. You can see photos of him HERE.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps:
PTI Vintage Labels (gold stamping along pocket edge)
Ink: Faded Jeans, Antique Linen, Vintage Photo Distress inks, Encore Gold ink
Paper: Vintage Blue-Glitz Designs, vintage music paper, Cologne and France stickers-Cavallini Papers & Co., vanilla CS-SU!
Accessories: seam binding ribbon- Masterstroke Ribbon, Silk ribbon-May Arts, bling strip-Recollections, tulle, sentiment sticker-Glitz Designs, mini clothespins-Pebbles Inc., pearls-Dollarama, Kaisercraft, vintage lace, metal clip-Making Memories, film strip, staples-Tim Holtz, flowers-Michaels, gold shimmer mist-LuminArte (clothespin colouring), foam dots-Jody Morrow
(Anything not listed is unknown)

April 08, 2012

Beach Retirement Card

Hubby gave me exactly 1.5 days to make this card for a colleague’s retirement! Fabulous right? Yeesh… At least I was happy with how it turned out!

beach retirement

I used the Mojo Monday sketch from this week. Click on the sketch below to link to their blog. I haven’t managed to play a contest week for a while so I am excited! Especially since I won the CPS 158 last week! AND I was one of the Terrific Top Three Winners at the Shabby Tea Room 107! Wahoo!

Mojo235SketchCONTESTWEEK

I wasn’t thrilled with my Copic colouring on this one, I think it lacks a bit of depth but it’s ok. I was making it between 1 and 3am so I might have spent more time on it normally. I just noticed that I should have made the sand closest to the water darker to make it look wet and the sand under the chair should have been darker too. Ooops! I used a Spica pen to make the waves and sand look a bit glittery. Here’s a close up of the fish netting and shells I used to embellish it. I got the real fish net in Ocean City (the family version of Atlantic City) and I much prefer it to net ribbon or cheesecloth.

beach retirement bellie closeup

See the bird at the top of the oval panel… well, I have to admit, mistakes are the mother of embellishment. I was using a very new Copic marker, Y26 I think, and I noticed it was getting very juicy. Normally I might have clued in to what was about to happen but this was about 1:30 am so nope. You guess it, my marker blobbed all over my work. And did I blot it immediately? No (honestly…)! I just waited for it to dry! It was so saturated that I couldn’t get it all out with the colourless blender. So it became embellished! note to all of you who have Copics. When you get new ones, take off both caps to allow the pressures inside to equalize. That’s what makes is blob, usually anyways. Rarely it can blob because it is overfilled but that doesn’t happen often straight from the factory.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps:
sentiment-Say It Loud WMS, beach scene-JustRite Stamps
Ink: Memento Cocoa, Colourbox chalk ink, Baja-SU!, Vintage Photo Distress
Paper: MME DP, kraft, vanilla, moss CS-SU!, white CS-XPress It, Ocean Tides CS-PTI,
Accessories: EK Success punch, Oval Nesties, Shells, bird-Jesse James buttons, seam binding-Masterstroke ribbon, fish net-Ocean City boardwalk, foam dots-Jody Morrow, pearls-Dollarama, Copics-Y21,26, YR61,YG61,63,67,G24. BG10,72,75,99 B91,93, BV02, E08,31,33,71,74,77, C1,3,5, W3,5,7, Spica sand, clear, gold metallic paste (distress shells)

April 01, 2012

Shabby Tea Room Spring Challenge Shadow Box

egg shadow box

I am entering the Spring Shabby Tea Room Blog Challenge to use a butterfly with yellow, blue, lilac and kraft. This is a shadow box I am going to use as a wall hanging. I’m not sure when the Tea Room judges look at the projects but I am off to make a matching card shortly.

egg shadow box closeup front

Here’s a close up of the floral cluster. The greyish flower actually looks more bluish IRL. But there is blue in the DP and the eggs are bluish right?

egg shadow box inside

I cut the paper carefully so most of the eggs would show and the piece I trimmed off the top is now the strip at the bottom. I placed some vintage gathered lace around the base of the nest. I LOVE how this looks!

egg shadow box closeup inside

Aren’t those little eggs cute? Believe it or not, they are off of an Easter sprig from my local dollar store! Cool right?

egg shadow box side

I custom dyed the lace trim seen here so it would match the papers better. I used Copic Various inks. This is going to hang on my wall so I constructed the ribbon tab so I can replace the ribbon if it gets too gross. I am fine for it aging vintage-y but I have young kids so who knows what might end up on it! I punched two holes with my Crop-a-dile (easy-peasy) and actually sewed the button on through the ribbon and the box and into another button on the other side for strength. When it came to tying it, that got tricky so the ends were hidden but I managed!

I’ll be back with my card soon.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Paper:
7 Gypsies
Ink: Antique Linen, Faded Jeans, Vintage Photo Distress inks
Accessories: mini scalloped punch-EK Success, brown acrylic paint, vintage buttons and laces, Hug Snug seam binding ribbon, Kaisercraft pearls, nest, eggs and branches, pearls-Dollarama, Box-Basic Grey, silk ribbon-May Arts, silk flowers (coloured with Copics)-Michaels, paper flowers-Recollections, Copic markers and Various inks