CASE the Designer

I found a new-to-me challenge blog, Global Design Project a short while ago. This week their challenge was to CASE one of their designers, Steffi Helmschrott. Her card was so pretty, I just had to play.

The day I made this, I wanted to do something mixed media, but I couldn’t decide what to make. When I saw this challenge, it was so perfect! I started with white cardstock on a kraft base. But I didn’t want to just stamp or stencil ink on the background so I added some gold crackle paste (Prima) through a stencil (Tim Holtz). Then I added a postmark like you can see on her card but went a bit further and added a few more as well as some cancellation stamps.

For the green I added some leafy die cuts (PTI) and instead of the butterfly, I added a lovely lacy flower (Prima). For finishing touches, I sponged some ink on both the card base and on the focal panel. I added a gold embossed sentiment on vellum and some sequins. The button in the middle of the flower was originally plain wood so I coloured it with a gold paint pen so it would match better. I had so much fun playing with this challenge. I can’t wait to see what’s next!

Enjoy, Rebecca

Entered in: Global Design Project #44

Glitter Wreath Winter Card

Welcome to another The Shabby Tea Room Challenge! WE have a FABULOUS inspiration photo for you this week! I know it’s a busy time for most people but I hope you can join us!

I stamped the background with some tone-on-tone sketchy snowflakes. I’m afraid it’s very hard to see. Then I swiped the edges across my Versamark ink pad and sprinkled on some white embossing powder. It looks like that snow stuff stores spray on the corners of their windows in the winter. The card base was sponged with tone-on-tone ink as well using a diagonal stripes stencil. The sentiment was heat embossed with platinum embossing powder.

The wreath was formed from pine branch die cuts covered in silver and aqua glitter. I added lots of pink star confetti die cuts the two deer and lots of sequins. Last but not least I added the silver string. You can see the sparkle somewhat but it’s so amazing IRL!

Isn’t this photo lovely? I wish I’d had a ballerina to use for mine! So head on over to TSTR and take a look at the super talented gals projects! So much wonderful inspiration! You can post any kind of crafty project in any style! Be inspired by the tree, the holidays, the colours, the lace or the ballerina! Or something else I missed! Be sure to leave the design team some love while you are over there!

Enjoy, Rebecca

Entered in:
CAS-ual Chic 06 Snowflakes
Friday Mashup – Use Dies
Sparkle and Shine Challenge
Simon Says Wednesday “Let it Snow”

RECIPE
Stamps: SSS (sentiment) and unknown snowflakes
Ink: blush, aqua-PTI, Versamark
Paper: blush, aqua, hibiscus-PTI, white scraps, teal-Bazzill
Accessories: white pine bough-ELizabeth Crafts, Deer-Impression obsession, Fun-Fetti stars-CAS-ual Fridays, ModPodge, flower sequins-Paper Sweeties, platinum sequins-Theresa Collins, clear sequins-Lucy’s Cards, Platinum and white Embossing powder-Hero Arts, stencil-MFT, string-SU!,  clear wink of Stella pen, Martha Stewart glitter

Belated Shabby Tea Room Card

Hi to all my readers! I apologize for posting this so late but I’ve been sick and so has my entire family! But good news, there is still time to work on our challenge!

I didn’t see a tree in the inspiration photo, I saw a cake! These babies are so cute right? Thank you to Bugaboo Stamps for the image I used. It’s very hard to tell but the rain drops (baby shower, get it??) on the background are texture paste sprinkles with very fine glitter.

I know there isn’t much time for crafting over the holidays but this one is worth it! I hope you will visit The Shabby Tea Room and play our challenge!We love to get comments on the blog so be sure to leave some love!

Enjoy, Rebecca

Autumn Bouquet Thanks

I have to admit it is autumn here. The air is crisp and I really need the alpaca scarf/shawl my sister brought  me from Peru.

I used last year’s Simon Says kit for the paper and some new dies for the bouquet. I was playing a clean and simple challenge so I didn’t doll up the card like I might usually. I’ll be sending this to my sister to thank her for the scarf.

Enjoy, Rebecca

Entered in:

RECIPE
Stamps: SSS
Ink: archival brown-Ranger, various Distress inks
Paper: SSS kit, various SU! CS
Accessories: dies-Marianne and Elizabeth Craft, WRMK cork

Fall Mixed Media Canvas

Wow, it went from almost summery to SNOW in less than a week! Seriously? Gotta love southern Ontario ‘autumn’. So with a chill in the air, I made this super shabby fall decor piece for The Shabby Tea Room this week.

I started with a plain white canvas-covered board. I prefer the look of a wood frame canvas but boards are not only easier to work on but it was all I had in this size! I applied strips of music, text and scrapbook papers along with washi tape and lace with gel medium. Then I went over it all with a light coating of gesso. Next I added watercolour in long thin streaks.  Some overlapped the lace but most was on the canvas itself. For the foliage, I die cut plain ivory cardstock and coloured it in with gilder’s paste using both antique gold and patina which is the mint colour you also see on the canvas.

The chevrons, which I added to help reflect the inspiration photo, were coloured with watercolour then covered in Crackle Accents. Next I went to town embellishing the canvas using Prima flowers, gold berry clusters, buttons, sequins and a big reclaimed sari silk bow. I found quite a few sequins that matched perfectly and I was happy to find I had brown buttons in the perfect sizes for the ‘dotted’ effect I was looking for. I thought they helped by bring in the dots from the inspiration photo.

I really hadn’t planned to bring in the mint colour but I accidentally grabbed the patina (mint) colour of Gilder’s Paste before the antique gold one and I realized it brought a fresh pop to the autumn colours. So I added even more with the buttons! I die cut the ‘blessings’ letters in a more whimsical font but it didn’t work well so I tried this one. It’s way old, from Quickutz back when they had the Squeeze tool! Anyone been die cutting long enough to remember those? Ugh, I can’t tell you how many incomplete cuts I got with that thing; I have weak hands. I really like this font because its like a typewriter font but with some added whimsy. Last but no least I added a bit more texture using some brown ink and a script stamp.

I hope you like the inspiration photo and join us this week! Remember, our name is shabby, you project doesn’t have to be! We accept any type of project and any style! You know you waaaaaanna! But even if you only visit, be sure to leave the girls some love! We all thrive when we get great comments.

Enjoy, Rebecca

Freesia Sympathy Card for The Shabby Tea Room

Once again I used the colour combo from this week’s The Shabby Tea Room sketch. There’s ivory, white, black and the little tidbits of purple on top of the hat.

I recently bought this freesia stamp set and coloured it with the no-line colouring technique. I used a very light green Memento ink so it wouldn’t show once I finished. Then I watercoloured it with my Kuretake watercolour set. Those colours are amazing! I also have the Derwent Inktense Pencils and honestly, I am not a huge fan of them. Save your money for the Kuretake!

Our sponsor this week is Paper Sweeties! The owner is also the owner of The Shabby Tea Room so I’m sure she would love it if you checked out her little store. She has great stamps, dies and embellies. I got the sweet little flower sequins and the seam binding from Paper Sweeties.  So head on over to the challenge blog or the store to see what is on offer!

I’m also entering this in the Winnie & Walter watercolour challenge.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: freesia-Altenew, sentiment-SSS
Ink: archival black-Ranger, pea sprout-Memento
Paper: Windsor & Newton watercolour paper, vanilla, eggplant CS-SU!, DP-Echo Park
Accessories: sequins, seam binding-Paper Sweeties, foam dots-The Sticky Stuff Store, Kuretake watercolour

Shabby Clock Music Card

I’ve always loved fancy clocks. The more ornate the better! This makes this stamp/die set one of my faves.

It’s a bit hard to see but on the right is ivory cardstock with clear embossed script with soft Distress inks added overtop. I love embossed resist! So easy and looks fabulous. The clock die cut was embossed with gold. Although the stamp is only a partial stamp, I managed to use my MISTI tool to stamp the entire thing. Although so much is tucked behind the flowers, you would never know but I thought I’d tell you in case you own this stamp set.

For the clock hands, I used a red Metallic Krylon marker. I covered the brad in eh same marker. They call it red but it is really more of a very red/pink copper colour. Someone gave it to me, I have no idea if you can still get it.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: SU! script, clock-PTI
Ink: Versamark, spun sugar, Victorian velvet, scattered straw Distress, moss-PTI
Paper: vanilla CS-SU!, vintage music paper, DP-My Minds Eye
Accessories: leaf die-Sizzix, other dies-PTI, flowers-Prima, Really Reasonable Ribbon, Michaels, Etsy, lace, ribbon-stash, gold EP-SU!, clear EP-Hero Arts, thread-Gutterman, brad-stash, Krylon metallic red, gold marker

Entered In:

Simon Says Stamp Monday: use stamps
CAS-ual Chic a layered card with music theme
a sketch challenge I missed entering :(

Pastel Hearts for Runway Challenge

I really liked this week’s Runways challenge. The dress reminded me of a mix between Valentine conversation hearts and modern art!

I used a Memory Box die for the trailing hearts border. I filled it in with various pastel cardstock pieces. Then for the pop of bright colour from the dress, I added the red sentiment panel with white embossing.

Enjoy, Rebecca

Entered in:

Runway Challenge 91

RECIPE
Stamps: PTI
Ink: versamark
Paper: SU!, PTI and hero arts pastel CS, white, red CS-PTI
Accessories: Memory box die. white EP-Hero Arts

Shabby Muffin Tin

I LOVE the papers our sponsor for The Shabby Tea Room gave us this week! They are fabulous. Kuddos to Digital Papers by Janet!

I looked at the page I had just printed out and I noticed they perfectly matched this muffin tin I thrifted and spray painted. Awesome! So I spent the better part of three days finding little odds and ends to add to this. I finished it with lots of sequins and rhinestones.

I just love vintage cameras! Especially this type with the accordion sides.

The camera circles and the tags are the digi papers. You can link to them directly from the links above my project on The Shabby Tea Room or the link above to Janet’s store. Other camera themed die cuts were found on a die cut pack by Maggie Holmes. I’m not sure which collection it’s from.

Please let me know if you are wondering about a specific product. I’d be here all night if I tried to list everything. I hope you will play along with our challenge this week! I love cameras but you can also be inspired by wreaths, autumn colours or anything else you see in the photo! We love shabby projects but we accept any style! Be sure to visit the blog to see all the fabulous creations and leave the gals some LOVE!

Enjoy, Rebecca

SAF Runway Inspired Challenge

Again, Melissa astonishes me with the gorgeous things she comes up with!

The dress she chose with it’s vintage flair and soft colours was perfect. I also loved another dress for this challenge but I couldn’t find any papers to match.

This one was easy to find things for; most of my stash could be used to make a card like this!

Enjoy, Rebecca

Stamp-a-Faire Bridal Challenge

One of my favourite parts of Project Runway is when they have a bridal challenge.

I know the photo is kind of dark but I had to take it that way to show the detail.

I hope you are also enjoying SAF. I have lots more to post so I am going to be brief. Please email me for a supply list.

Enjoy, Rebecca

Back to School Card for The Shabby Tea Room

Hi crafty friends! I have another edition of The Shabby Tea Room for you today! This week we were inspire by a lovely back to school photo with yummy fall colours in it.

Aren’t shaker cards fun? Keep in mind that you can add things other than just beads, sequins, micro beads and glitter! There are lots of  new dies out there that make shaped confetti (though you may already have some small dies for flowers hearts and stars) AND you can use some larger 3-D items if you add some extra foam! I used some shaped buttons and brads, I just cut the backs off! I glued the school bus in place as I felt it would look weird upside down being so large. But everything else moves!

This week we were sponsored by Paper Temptress. I received quite a few different papers as part of my design team sample. My favourite was the Antique gold paper I used for the frame of my shaker. It’s such a deep rich gold! The links to all the papers I used are on The Shabby Tea Room website just under my name. Just a note: The Cryogen White is my card base. I sponged it to a rich brown to better match my card front.

I hope you will visit our challenge blog! Maybe you can be our next Top Three or our Winner! And even if you don’t enter, you can take in all the gorgeous projects by The Shabby Girls and leave comments! Thanks so much for joining me today!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Graphic 45 An ABC Primer
Ink: Archival Brown, Vintage Photo, Fired Brick, Scattered Straw, Walnut Stain-Distress, Memento black
Paper: All Paper Temptress except Patterned papers by Graphic 45 and green leaf-old olive CS-SU!
Accessories: Jesse James buttons (inside shaker), sequins-various, red button-Basic Grey, hardware-SU!, flowers-Really Reasonable Ribbon, measuring tape twill, lace-stash

See You Soon for The Shabby Tea Room

Hi there! Welcome to another week’s challenge at The Shabby Tea Room! This week’s inspiration photo is a fabulous cake!

I have to tell you, I am NOT a fan of orange, usually… But isn’t this amazing? All that piping? WOW! That’s a real talent. So I guess the orange was OK just his time… ha ha!

Now after all that, I couldn’t show you a bright orange card could I? So I used a SOFT orange by using corals and apricots. This fabulous image is from Crafty Secrets called See You Soon. It comes with ‘see you soon’ and ‘saying hello’ sentiments. Crafty Secrets is our amazing sponsor for this month! I hope you will check out their store. They have so many lovely vintage images.

I have to apologize for the weird, bent stick pin! Looks odd huh? it’s actually a jewellery head pin and I bent it in such a way that it would stick out from between the flowers. The bend was hidden in the ribbon but I pulled it out a bit as I wanted more to show and for the beads to stick it out more. But it must have flipped around after I finished and now it looks very weird. Ha ha!

I hope you visit the Shabby Tea Room challenge blog to see all the GORGEOUS creations of our AMAZING design team! (Little Secret: I get to see them ahead and they are FAB!)

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Craft Secrets
Ink: memento black
Paper: apricot CS-SU! White CS-Georgia Pacific, doilies-Wilton
Accessories: lacy circle die-Memory Box, stick pin items-stash, flowers-Really Reasonable Ribbon, ribbon-hand-dyed Hug Snug Seam Binding Ribbon, sequins-Pretty Pink Posh, Copic Markers, trim-LFS (local fabric store)

Paper Sweeties is Turning Three!

The owner of The Shabby Tea Room, Debbie M. also owns the Paper Sweeties Store which is having it’s 3rd Anniversary today!

This is the inspiration photo for this week’s challenge. Cute cupcakes right? Click on the photo to visit the challenge blog.

I have to start by saying I CASEd this from a card by Monika Davis. I think I changed it enough to make it my own though. I am a bit disappointed with the Glossy Accents that I spread over the balloons. They seem to have yellowed the colour of the paper underneath. It did end up being a thick layer which I think added to the yellowness but maybe my Glossy Accents has been in the sun too long? I never though about keeping it in the dark. Hmmm…

The background was stencilled with transparent embossing paste and a tiny bit of white glitter was sprinkled over while it was still wet. I think it made for a subtle but sparkly background with some textural interest.

I hope you will join in the celebrations at Paper Sweeties this month.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: circle-SU!
Ink: Versamark
Paper: pink, aqua CS, vellum-PTI, mint CS-MFT, white-Georgia Pacific
Accessories: Balloon dies-MFT, word, star dies-SSS, glitter-Art Institute, warm highlights white glitter-?, stick it-Ken Oliver, twine-Divine Twine, glossy accents-Ranger, transparent embossing paste-Wendy Vecchi, gold embossing powder-SU!

My First Post for TSTR! Celebrate with Cake!

I am so excited to be part of the amazingly talented team who designs for The Shabby Tea Room! I love the photo we were given to work with this week!

I added some aqua and pink to help make the yellow pop! The chipboard pieces are from Maggie Holmes. Her products are shabby but modern at the same time. I don’t know how she does it!

The cake was ivory before I Copic Airbrushed it. I overdid it a bit so I wiped most of the ink off with an alcohol-soaked cloth. I was very nervous that I was about to ruin my chipboard piece but it worked out really well. I also added the glitter to the cake plate. TIP! In case you were wondering, I carved out all but the top layer of paper on the cake plate on the left so it would overlap the balloon strings nicely. It is simple but go slow and easy so you don’t cut through the front layer of paper.

I also added some bling to the balloon. I started with embossing powder but either it doesn’t work well with chipboard or I overheated it slightly. It just looked a bit flat and icky. Have you ever overheated EP before? It gets an almost oily looking halo and flattens out. So that didn’t work out like I hoped :( To try and fix it I added some opaque glitter overtop. I didn’t have to cover the whole area, just some was enough. It matches well with the gold already on the balloon.

Please join us at The Shabby Tea Room this week! I’d love to see some of my reader’s join along! We have a photo to inspire you each week so be sure to check back often. GO, visit now! See what the other gals have made for you! I am also entering this in the Curtain call-July1 Celebrate.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: sentiment-Say It Loud WMS, triangle border-Sparkle and Shine-SSS
Ink: hibiscus burst, harvest gold, Hawaiian shores-PTI, Versamark
Paper: vanilla CS-SU! doily-Wilton
Accessories: chipboard-Crate Paper Maggie Holmes, EP-SU! Glitter-Art Institute, ribbon, gold glitter sticker paper (hearts)-stash, stencil-MFT, heart die-SSS, Copic Y21 and airbrush system

Last but not Least, TSTR DT Application 4!

I went all out on this one. Shabby but bold!

I started with a rather painstaking process of learning how to use foil. My first three attempts failed miserably despite following directions from several different prominent crafter’s blogs! Grrr… But I finally got results I could use even if I didn’t love it. I applied Versamark through a stencil and clear embossed it. Then I added foil and ran my paper through my laminator. It melts the embossing powder so the foil can stick. Unfortunately, it also flattened the melted embossing powder causing it to spread out. So my pattern is a bit more messy than I had hoped for but hopefully that just enhances the shabby chic-ness.

I made the small white flowers, I realized that I hadn’t use the baby’s breath as inspiration at all so I made the closest flowers I could! I think they softened an otherwise quite bold card. I used the yarrow die set from Susan’s Garden. Sizzix used to manufacture them but now I believe you can get them from Elizabeth Crafts. I used the Paper Players sketch 225. and of course The Shabby Tear Room DT call.

Enjoy, Rebecca

The Shabby Tea Room Design Team Application 3

Can I just tell you how much I love My Mind’s Eye? Their shabby chic paper packs are just amazing!

I added some gold to this card which is seen in photo in the macaron and the tea cup; you can just see that it has a gold edge. I’ve always loved to work with gold, it’s the only embossing powder I’ve every used up except white and clear! It’s awesome that it’s finally trendy again! I don’t personally care but it’s nice to see more products being made in gold!

I’m also making this for Retro Sketches 170. And of course The Shabby Tear Room DT call.

Enjoy, Rebecca

The Shabby Tea Room Design Team Application 2

For this card, I was inspired by the colours, flowers and overall look of the photo. For The Shabby Tear Room DT call.

I also used a sketch challenge but it’s over now :(. I coloured the mid-tone flower with Copic markers. It’s a shame I didn’t have time to colour an image for this application but I for sure will do so in the future. That’s if I make the team of course! ;)

Enjoy, Rebecca

The Shabby Tea Room Design Team Application 1

I have loved this challenge blog for years now. I’m so excited to see if I am chosen as a Design Team member!

The inspiration photo is below.

I love the tea theme and colour combination found in the inspiration photo. I paper-pieced and Copic-coloured the tea pot and cups.

Isn’t this gorgeous? I had such fun working on cards for this DT call. I am posting 4, yes four! cards tonight so please forgive me for not posting a RECIPE like I normally do. Feel free to email me if you have any questions regarding the supplies I used.

Enjoy, Rebecca

Bold Butterflies

One last teacher thank you card. My 14 yo son didn’t want anything too frilly or teacher-ish this year so I went with a bolder approach.

This was inspired by The most recent FUSION challenge.

The sketch really threw me at first! Only one small shape in the corner? Well, I’m not too much of a CAS gal so I had to expand and embellish that one small shape!

I ended up going with some embellies that came with the paper. I was actually lucky enough to win this paper along with some 12x12 paper and two packs of embellies! The tag and clip were in one pack and the other was all die cuts including the butterfly and small banner. I took the reinforcement sticker off, covered the tag in music paper and reapplied the sticker. Then I layered on the butterfly die cut and the messy gold thread. Last I inked the banner (it was tan), stamped the sentiment and added it to the tag along with the tiny strip of black cardstock.

I’m also entering this in the SSS Wednesday Anything Goes challenge.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Simple Labels-Avery Elle
Ink: archival black-Ranger, Lipstick red-SSS
Paper: harvest gold-PTI, butterflies-SEI Field Notes
Accessories: die cut butterfly, banner, tag and clip-SEI