Let them drink Tea - Screen Divider Card

I was inspired (again) by the Screen Divider card challenge at CCEE Stampers & the Ugly Paper challenge at the Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers. This time, I made a 3-panel Birthday Card for my husband.

click photos to enlarge

Apart from the shiny yellow & white papers, all the DPs are from Graphic 45. I feel guilty calling Designer paper "ugly" but for me that's not necessarily a bad thing. This "Gilded Lily" collection by Graphic 45 certainly captures the style of the era, but basing a paper pack on a history that ended in infamous bloodshed seems a little much...looking forward to their "Perfectly Pitchfork" collection, ha (sorry, too soon?)!

Anyhoo, I had tons of fun making this! The fancy cake was cut in 3 layers on my Cricut. The teapot is a die, as is the scalloped label I used for the bottom. The top is cut with a punch. I used a Sharpie to color the adhesive gemstone flourish. My husband definitely got a kick out of it!

Inspiration/Challenges:
CCEE Stampers: Screen Divider card / 2nd entry
Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers: Ugly Paper / 3rd entry

Thank you for visiting & for inspiring my crafting,

Vineyard Screen Divider card

I was intrigued by the Screen Divider card challenge at CCEE Stampers, so I used the tutorial at Splitcoaststampers to make my own version:

click photos to enlarge

I was also inspired (again) by the Ugly Paper challenge at the Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers. If you shop at Michaels, you might remember this DP...it was a deal from Recollections a few years back. A friend of mine once described it as "hideous...who would buy this?!" and me & another friend raised our hands...hey, it was on sale! And Michaels gave away a pack of the same paper at a crop we attended, and you know that me & my crafty friend grabbed it up, ha! She used it for Thanksgiving decorations, which were beautiful, but I'm still struggling to use mine up! And my other friend still hates it & says so, ha again!

Inspiration/Challenges:
CCEE Stampers: Screen Divider card

Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers: Ugly Paper / 2nd entry

Update: This was chosen as a favorite for the Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers' Ugly Paper Challenge!

Thank you for visiting & for inspiring my crafting,

A little, shy, fun guy - The Great Outdoors at Crafter's Cafe Challenge

The Crafter's Cafe Challenge this week is The Great Outdoors. We're sponsored by Karleigh Sue Digi's, and I used their adorable Toadstool Elf to create this scene:

The shy elf was colored with with Sharpies, fussy-cut, and backed with a shiny white paper edged with deckle scissors. It's popped up with foam tape. I made the sentiment myself, printed it on a shiny white paper, and threaded it through a die-cut fence.

The little wooden mushroom was painted with yellow Liquid Pearls and heat-embossed with a glitter powder. The inside message section was cut with a die, and embellished by hand with a blue marker.

Inspiration/Challenges:

Crafting Musketeers #28: Sketch
Dragonfly Journeys #18: Men/Boys
Fairy Tale #123: Boys + Men
Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers: Ugly Paper (Although this snow-covered mushroom, glittered, woodgrain-patterned paper is definitely unique, I certainly haven't used it like I thought I would!)

Thank you for visiting & hope you'll join us at The Crafter's Cafe,

Pilin' on the Historical Puns

The theme this week at Pile It On is Not Cute. You can interpret that however you like, as long as the project doesn't feel cutesy. Our sponsor, SLS Lines, has lots of funky images, and I used this unique Marie Antoinette with Cupcakes to make this rather macabre birthday card:

I couldn't resist using this sentiment! Come on, all I know about Marie Antoinette is that she liked cake, met with a bad end, and bragged to have inspired the champagne glass. I feel a bit guilty about making light of it all, but I'm certainly not the first! I used the Zapfino font for the sentiment, printed it on white paper, and cut/embossed them with a Spellbinders die.

I used a glue pen to cover her hair with white flocking, cutting small slits in which to place the cupcakes and glasses. I printed the image twice, fussy-cutting the cupcakes out, but leaving some paper so that I could fit them into the slits. I added die-cut champagne glasses (from a Memory Box set) to her beehive to add to the decadence. The images are colored with Copics, and I used a Pearl Pen on her earrings.

The frame is a Silhouette cut file. I cut both layers from the same shiny gold paper, but I heat-embossed the top piece with gold powder. The crown-patterned paper is a DP from my stash.

Challenges/Inspiration:

1. Crafting for all Seasons: Birthday + 4 of something (4 metal champagne glasses)
2. Crafts for Eternity #226: Wood (wood veneer bird embellishments)
3. Creative Card Crew #87: Embossing (Wet embossing on outer frame)
4. DoubleClick Skittles #22: Happy Birthday
5. DRS Designs: Birds and/or Bees (wood veneer bird embellishments)
6. Ike's World Challenge: Naughty or Nice (pun is naughty in a macabre way)
7. Loves Rubber Stamps #151: Add a Sentiment
8. Red Rubber Inspirational #220: Sassy Women
9. Ruby's Rainbow: Humor
10. Snarky Stampers: Cake

Update: This was chosen as an Inspiration Project from Red Rubber's "Sassy Women" Inspirational Challenge!

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting! Hope you'll join us at Pile It On,

Clothespin Dragonfly

One of my favorite things about being on the Crafting with Dragonflies Design Team is that their challenges are truly creative challenges. Our theme for the next 2 weeks is Pegs (that's Clothespins to us Yankees!) -- the old-timey kind and springy ones are allowed. Use your imagination, and be sure to check out the creative projects by the Crafting with Dragonflies Design Team.

All I had were mini wooden clothespins, and after trying several ideas and even looking up some ideas online, I decided to use them to make a cute little dragonfly. I colored them with Copics and heat-embossed the pieces with a glittery powder. I used the spring from the body clothespin to make the antennae. I used Glossy Accents to adhere some tiny gemstones on the wings.

I came up with this quote myself: "O! to be as the dragonfly ... adrift with purpose." My best friend is traveling and has been reading a lot of Walt Whitman...I think his many texts with beautiful Whitman quotations inspired me too! The font is Pea Melody Shay from Fonts for Peas.

This month's Sweet Stamps Technique Challenge is Dryer Sheet Flowers, and I just had to try it. I used dies from the same set as the large shape (Shapez/Spellbinders). The used dryer sheets cut well, sandwiched between the die and a piece of cardstock. I used a brad to put the flower together, and topped it with a spiral made from a twisty-tie. The "leaves" were made with the hinges from a recently-replaced doorknob lock and an extra clothespin spring.

The background is a shiny iridescent plastic that I embossed with a Cuttlebug folder and sanded. It's much more striking in person. The corners were punched with a two-sided Fiskars punch. The card base is a shiny Recollections paper. I used the same large die to make a message section inside.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Alphabet Challenge: H for Handmade Embellishments
Polkadoodles: Things with Wings
Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers: C is for Crap / 2nd entry (So glad I didn't trash those dryer sheets and springs)
Sweet Stamps May Technique Challenge: Dryer Sheet Flower

Update: This was the winner for Sweet Stamps' May Technique Challenge! I really enjoyed learning the dryer sheet flower technique.

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us at Crafting with Dragonflies,

Friendly Chic

click images to enlarge

You have 2 more days to join the "Shabby Chic" Pile It On! Challenge.

We're sponsored by Paper Sweeties and their owner, our former PIO teamie Debbie M, offered the DT a coupon so I couldn't resist splurging on some of her gorgeous seam binding! I really enjoyed using it for by Teapot Card, so I made a matching card.

I had a couple of crafting friends over the other day, and one of them gifted me these monogram wood stickers. I made these cards for them, and even include their monogram initial on their card, in adhesive pearls. Can you see the "S" on the teapot card and the "L" on this one? I know they'll get a laugh out of it.

I made the bow using a fork, following the Delicate Bow Tutorial at Useful DIY. The seam binding from Paper Sweeties is sold in 4-yard packs, which is perfect for this usage because I used an entire yard for this bow!

I created the phrase très chic using alphabet stamps from the "Happy Day" set that came free with a magazine (Future Publishing Ltd). The letters were stamped with Peeled Paint distress ink. I colored the banner parts of the wood piece with VersaMagic chalk ink.

I cut some Idea-Ology glassine paper with the Lace Medallion Sizzix die, scrunched it up, flattened in my BigShot, and inked it with Tea Dye distress ink. I used some commercial doilies for the background, inking one with green.

The banner was made with with recycled packaging. I used the printed packaging that came with this Cuttlebug embossing folder and matched up the embossing to the print version as best as I could. I cut the little banner pieces, sanded them a bit, and inked them with Peeled Paint distress ink.

I cut some of the mint seam binding into thirds, and made a braid to "hang" the banners on.

The cream background is pre-embossed with a tiny dotted pattern, and I used my sewing machine and light green thread for the border.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Card and Scrap #76: Shabby Chic
Craft-Dee BowZ May Challenge: Anything Goes with a Handmade Bow (2nd entry)
Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers: C is for Crap (I've kept the Cuttlebug packaging I used for the banners for probably at least 3 years, maybe longer...I knew I'd use it someday! Also, the white doilies are actually two scraps from a previous project. It's not hoarding if you use it eventually!)

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us this week at Pile It On,