Magical Spring

Hello, and welcome back. After a month since my last post, I'm glad to be posting again.
Spring is officially here, and it has beautifully springy (great adjective, huh?) here the last few days with warm sunny days,  blooming rhodendrons, blossoming daffodils and violets, singing birds and frogs.

The magical beauty of nature is so often captured in the images of lovely ethereal fairies.

The Shabby Tea Room has a challenge this week that is a little different--a bingo challenge. Using this inspiration board, you must choose three embellishments in a row.

I used embossing -the Parisian doily, die cut-again the Parisain doily die plus a Spellbinder's die cut, and ribbon.

Wishing you a magical spring!

Summer Fun

I found some time to play along with  this week's The Shabby Tea Room Challenge--summer fun. I've had this sweet image of children playing from Vintage Printable printed for awhile, and I thought it would be perfect for this challenge.

I started with  an Aqua Mist (PTI) card base. I stitched a strip of dotted paper from Webster's Pages  to a piece of Road Show (Fancy Pants) paper, which I'm loving. (Why did I only buy one sheet?)   I cut the image with Spellbinders deckled rectangle die and mounted it on a doily that I  lightly aged with Antique Linen Distress Ink. I die cut the scalloped circle and covered with  Martha Stewart glitter. The small die cut label is stamped with "summer" from Flourishes Wreaths of All Seasons stamp set and is anchored with an Aqua Mist button (PTI). The seam binding  ribbon is from Deb's Simple Treasures Etsy Shop which happens to be the sponsor of this week's challenge. A flower, pearl, and  Jenni Bowlin stick pin complete the card.

Wishing you some summer fun this weekend,

Tea Party

Yesterday afternoon as I was cleaning my crafting area, I picked up A Child's Year Cricut cartridge and flipped through the booklet. There was the image of the little girl serving tea--a perfect image for this weeks's The Shabby Tea Room Challenge--Polka Dot Tea Party, so a tea-themed card was in my mind last night and this morning when I woke up.

I used Basic Grey's Capella paper pad for the image,the shadow image, and for the floral background. I cut cream cardstock with  Labels 8 and stamped with Fancy Flourishes in Sweet Blush while the paper was still in the die.  I mounted the die cut image onto the Labels 8. I added some Baby Pink Berry vintage seam binding from Deb's Simple Treasures and a flower that I had spritzed with Glimmer Mist.  I stitched the floral background before mounting to the Sweet Blush card base because I prefer not to have my stitching showing inside the card.
I mounted the Labels 8 die cut  onto the floral paper. The final touch--a tiny pearl on the tea pot's lid.
This post is rather rushed as hubby has started dinner, and I'm feeling a little guilty not helping.

Grandbabies are Grand

Just a quick post this morning. This card along with a journal for grandmothers is for Sharon,who was one of my best  and dearest friends for over 25 years and is about to become a  first-time grandmother. Her daughter Laurel is expecting a baby boy any day now.

I used Webster's Pages Petite Papers and had the pefect matching ribbon that has just been waiting to be used.  Because I used polka dots ,this card qualifies for this week's The Shabby Tea Room challenge --Polkda Dot Tea Party. You must create a tea themed card or used polka dots.
Here's a look at the inside of the card.

I love this quote and know Sharon will also; we have teared up together over Winnie-the-Pooh quotes. This quotation is actually a stamp in PTI's Inside&Out-Baby stamp set. However, I don't own this set, so I printed it from my computer. I had to add this paper inside also because Sharon is a lover of fairies.
Thanks for stopping by,

Supplies:
Stamps: Baby Love (Flourishes)
Ink: Rich Cocoa(Memento),Antique Linen(Ranger)
Paper: Aqua Mist, Dark Chocolate (PTI); Petite Papers-Collection Combo Pack-Lullaby Lane  & Life's Portrait
Other: Border punch(Fiskars); Berry Sorbet & Aqua Mist buttons,cream jute twine(PTI); ribbon,pearls (Hobby Lobby);Oval and scalloped oval Nestabilities;computer; sewing machine

The Shabby Tea Room Challenge #10

With Memorial Day fast approaching, The Shabby Tea Room's latest challenge is "Stars and Stripes".
We are to use red, white, and blue and/or stars and stripes. Since I just used some striped  paper from Webster's Pages Petite Papers for my last posted card, I knew exactly the paper I wanted to use for this card.

I found the image for the focal point at Vintage Holiday Crafts. The focal point is attached to the Webster's Pages papers. (Two cards in a row using these beautiful papers--does that mean my hoarding of them has officially ended?) I separated the two patterned papers with  a scalloped border of Enchanted Evening. I used a running stitch to gather and ruffle the gingham ribbon. I cut two stars in Pure Poppy using my Cricut, glued them together, and coated with garnet glitter.After adding the flower and star, a little more weight was needed at the bottom, so I added the buttons to the bottom stars and then for more balance added the third button to the glittered star. The card front is attached to a base of Aqua Mist  to pick up the aqua background of the focal point.  

Thanks for stopping by,

Supplies:
Paper: Petite Papers: Postcards from Paris & Sweet as Cherry Pie(Webster's Pages); Aqua Mist, Enchanted Evening,Pure Poppy(PTI)
Other: Ribbon (Hobby Lobby);  Border Punch (Fiskars);Tag,Bags,Boxes, and More cartridge(ProvoCraft);garnet glitter(Martha Stewart);Enchanted Evening Vintage Buttons(PTI)

Comforts of Home

Laughter
A favorite throw for naps
Tears
Sun streaming through windows with tiny cat nose prints
The accomplishment and beauty of cleaning
Shared secrets, fears, frustrations, dreams
Baking cookies
A sad movie or funny sitcom
No make-up
A cat curled up in a lap
Memories of a mother's love

These thoughts were prompted by The Shabby Tea Room's Challenge: " Using this photo for inspiration, create a card or project that shows us what your 'Comforts of Home' are! "

I think the vintage image  on this card captures the comfort of home---- happiness and love.

Unfortunately, I did not record the source for this image. But the patterned papers are from K and Company. The card base  and tag are PTI's Vintage Cream.  The sentiment stamped in Versafine Vintage Sepia is from Tags for Spring(PTI). The ribbon is from Deb's Simple Treasures.

Come Party and See Rock City

With the warm spring weather, singing birds, and blooming flowers and trees, party time here means a casual outdoor party.  A red and white color scheme would be cheery and so easy to accomplish with red a white checked tablecloths easy to find and red bandanas as inexpensive napkins. These ideas along with several challenges are the inspiration for this invitation and party favor. The bird house is a template by Nichole Heady found here.

I know guests here would be delighted with this favor with a few chocolates nestled inside. I'm not sure if their delight would result from the chocolates or the reference to the tourist attraction  Rock City near Chattanooga, Tennessee, which is about two hours away. You can read about the history of Rock City here. When Rock City opened in the early 30s, the advertising campaign was quite simple--farmers' barns were painted with the simple message--See Rock City. From Michigan to Florida and Texas, one man, painted the barns to promote Rock City. You can read more about the history of these barns here. Many of these painted barns are still around today.

While not everyone can have a barn painted, anyone can have a souvenir bird house such as these.

And if you come to my party, you can have a tiny bird house with a treat inside.
So are you ready to come party or visit Rock City? If you visit Rock City, let me know what you think because I have never been.  I've seen the barns. I 've seen the birdhouses. But I've never seen Rock City.

This card and favor are linked to these challenges:
*Papertrey Peeps
*Embellish Magazine
*Compose a Card Challenge #9
*The Shabby Tea Room

Supplies:
Stamps: Background Basics-Botanicals,Bird Watching(PTI); sentiment- Mouse Party(Crafty Secrets)
Ink: Pure Poppy (PTI), Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: Kraft, True Black, Pure Poppy(PTI)
Other:  Rutstic Jute Twine(PTI), Ribbon (Hobby Lobby), Plantin School Book Cricut Cartridge

Best Wishes

This week's The Shabby Tea Room challenge is "Embrace the White"---"create a card or project using mainly white or cream and one other subtle color." Here is the inspiration photo.

Although I don't decorate in this style (picture black cat fur on that white sofa), I've always loved the idea of decorating in shades of cream and white. What a calm atmosphere those rooms project!
It is important when decorating this way to use different shades and textures to give the room warmth, so  I applied this principle to my card.

I used a white card base with layer of cream cs I ran through the Cuttlebug with PTI's Picninc impression plate. The white doily was stamped with a vintage script in Tea Dye ink, and the edges inked. I also added a couple of butterflies in Spring Moss. The sentiment from Crafty Secrets Card Sentiments was cut with a ribbon label die . I would have loved to have used some of the trendy crinkled seam binding ribbon or some  wide satin ribbon for more elegance, but since I had neither, I decided to add a more rustic element with cream twill.  I used the Peony Spellbinders die  and Dawn McVey's video for the flower. After putting the flower together, I added a little glue and glitter to the edges.
I like the mixing of different elements--yep, I'm the one wearing strings of pearls  and multiple lockets with her t-shirt and  jeans!


Supplies:
Stamps:Card Sentiments(Crafty Secrets);Notary, Garden Gate(Prima)
Ink: Tea Dye Distressed Ink(Ranger), Spring Moss(PTI)
Paper: Vintage Cream(PTI), white(Georgia Pacific)
Other: Peony Nestabilities, Ribbon Labels(Spellbinders);Picnic Impression plate(PTI);twill ribbon(Wrights); glitter(Martha Stewart)