Ornate Heart Love Card

Whew! This summer has been so busy! I’ve taken a break from Crazy 4 Challenges for a couple of weeks but I’m back with a fun new theme. This week we were asked to make a love or thank you card for a family member. This card will likely be my sister’s anniversary card next year.

I took inspiration from Jennifer McGuire who has shown a couple of variations on the gate fold card on her blog in the past few weeks. I’m used to gatefold cards being made from just one piece of 5.5x8.5” paper but her way uses two sheets that size. So I tried it out for this card. For the background, I used a piece of paper from My Mind’s Eye. The ornate heart came from a Hero Arts kit from a while back. Isn’t it lovely? I stacked 5 die cuts together to make the die cut sturdy enough then covered it in Versamark and WOW Vanilla sparkle embossing powder twice. Last I added some Caramel Cream Nuvo Drops to some spots.

On the inside, I added a layered Love sentiment. I used Avery Elle rose gold embossing powder for the bottom layer. I added three layers until it was nice and shiny and smooth. Then the next layer was stamped with Versamark then embossed with WOW vanilla champagne powder which has gold glitter in it. It didn’t show up very well because the gold glitter made it look splotchy. So I added some SSS Pale Blush Pink ink right on top of the embossing. It helped fill in the flourish part of the stamping.

I hope you love my card because I was very proud of it! I’d love it if you would play along with us over at the C4C blog. All you have to do is make a love or thank you card for someone in your family!

Enjoy, Rebecca

Eiffel Tower Tea Set Card

I’ve got to admit, I’ve been holding out on you guys. I often post my cards to Instagram and forget to post them here. Sometimes I don’t even remember to take a photo of them with my good camera and all I have is an iPhone pic! So this summer, I am resolved to find all the cards I’ve made in the last while, about 6 months I think and post them all! We shall see how long this particular resolution lasts!

This card was for the spring Coffee Lovers Bloghop. The Eiffel Tower is by Hero Arts, (I’m so used to Instagram that I almost typed #heroarts!) which I airbrushed in tan to get as close to the colour of the real tower as possible. Did you know that it is painted in an ombre of tan? But metallic tan of course. To save time, I die cut the tea pot and cup (dies by Poppy Stamps) with coaster board so I wouldn’t have to layer so many die cuts. Just snag a few every time you go out to a restaurant or bar! Most die cutters will get through it in just a couple of passes with a shim.

The background is text paper from PTI but it looked too plain so I airbrushed some of the colours from the patterned paper on it. At the bottom I added a fabric doily; sadly most of it was covered by the flowers.  I finished the card with some crystals, silk and paper flowers along with some die cut flourishes.

I wonder if some of you are curious as to why so few of my cards are my usual shabby chic style. There are a couple of reasons. First, many of the stamps I get in my Hero Arts and Simon Says Stamp kits don’t lend themselves to shabby designs. I wish I was like Melissa Philips and I could make a shabby card out of nearly any stamp set! But alas, I lack that particular talent. Also, I’ve been trying to sell my cards and the over-the-top shabby ones I love to make don’t sell very well. I will always be a shabby and elegant designer at heart but I have been enjoying making some cards that aren’t as ornate and girlie. Oh, I guess there is another reason. I’ve been colouring a lot and not finishing those cards! Especially since I’ve participated in the last couple of Kathy Rascoosin’s 30 day colouring challenges. That’s another goal of mine, to turn those coloured panels and backgrounds into cards!

Enjoy, Rebecca

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

Baby Girl Carriage Card

Since I made a couple boy baby cards last week, I had to balance my stash out with a girl card!

I started with some baby paper but I couldn’t find a pink ink to match so I started looking through some other papers. Wow do I have a lot, LOT of paper! Stuff I’d totally forgotten about. It was like shopping without paying anything! This paper isn’t baby at all but so soft and pretty.

Enjoy, Rebecca

Entered In: As You See It Sketch, Simon Says Stamp Monday and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday-Use Felt, Craft Rocket Challenge-Use Flowers

White Flower Cards

So, apparently, the flower for this month is Lily of the Valley. So our Crazy 4 Challenges theme this week is white flowers! Right up my alley! I love adding flowers of all kinds to my cards.

This week I went all out for my first card making the flowers myself. It takes a long time to cut, shade, shape and glue them all then add the tiny centers! To start this card, I looked through my flower dies and settled on white lilacs with subtle pink and purple centers. I used Sizzix dies that are retired for the lilac and a cool lace die by Creative Expressions. (Elizabeth Craft now sells similar flower dies.)

The flowers were cut from white cardstock and shaded with Pan Pastels. The flower centers are made with a yellow Paper Pen from Viva Decor. I added some dots to the back panel with a Sizzix embossing folder and used some old SU! ribbon for the bow. All cardstock is by PTI except the green which is from SU!

Next up is a cool interactive card using stamps and dies by PTI. Sadly, I think this set is now in the vault meaning it costs double to buy it! I got it just in time. It resembles the very first instant camera and where the photo would come out, there is a pull tab where you can write or stamp your message. The paper is by MME. The cardstock and leaf die are by PTI as well.

I hope you will also enjoy this challenge. It’s so nice and easy and any style you chose is perfect! I was thinking about using some vellum for a flower so maybe that’s an idea for someone. We, the design team, are always so encouraged to see you play along!

Enjoy, Rebecca

Entered In: Simon Says Stamp Monday to use embossing, Simon Says Stamp Wednesday to add flowers

Fall Thank You Card and Candle

We have another fabulous inspiration photo this week at The Shabby Tea Room. I love the softness of the photo and the fall colours.

I decided to make a card and a candle as a gift. It will probably be a hostess gift at some point. I added lots of sparkle using gold glimmer mist and a Wink of Stella pen. The ribbon on the card is sari silk ribbon I bought from eBay. It’s so lovely to work with.

The background was stencilled with ink then I stamped over it before I removed the stencil. Then I sprayed it with gold glimmer mist. I also added some to the card base.

The candle is one from the dollar store in such a cute little tin. I added paper to the bottom and wrapped gold twine around the lid. On top I added layers of paper, seam binding ribbon and a cute little apple die cut. If you die cut corrugated cardboard and it flattens too much, use a fine tipped embossing stylus to pull up the bumps.

I love having small gifts on hand to use in a pinch. Do you create items to have in your stash besides cards?

We’d love to have you join us this week at the The Shabby Tea Room. You don’t have to make a card, make anything you like! We love to have as many participants as we can get, new friends or old.

Enjoy, Rebecca

Entered in:

CAS-ual Fridays Chic Challenge: Tic Tac Toe (closed)

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Throwback – Autumn

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday: Anything Goes

Paper Players Fall Thank You Cards

Graphic have embedded links to challenges.

RECIPE
Stamps: French script-SU!
Ink: Antique linen, vintage photo distress, kraft-PTI
Paper: chocolate CS-PTI, vanilla, olive, various browns CS-SU!
Accessories: fall dies-Echo Park, leaves-Elizabeth Craft, sentiment-Mama Elephant

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

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 :(

Pumpkin Treat Box

Hello and I’m glad you are joining me for another week at The Shabby Tea Room! This week, we had a yummy inspiration photo.

I don’t celebrate Halloween so I made some fall decor instead. I plan to put coffee beans and a faux tea light in there. I took the colours from the photo and decided to use the black plus white and one other colour scheme. I just substituted ivory for the white and dark red for the yellow/orange combo. The cute little treat box is from The Cutting Cafe who is our sponsor this week. It was a breeze to print out and construct; I highly recommend you check them out!

So, I kinda wish I could have a do over on the glass glitter I added to the burgundy roses. I was a bit too much for such small flowers and while I scraped a lot of excess away, I still regret it. But it wasn’t bad enough to bother wasting the flowers and starting again especially since I attached them with E6000 glue! It’s a fabulous glue for bulky 3-D items but no way are those coming off with out major tearing.

I do hope you will play with us this week! We have fabulous prizes for the top winners. Be sure to visit the blog to see the FABULOUS creations by our awesomely talented designers and leave em some love!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: damask-Gel-a-Tins
Ink: Archival black-Ranger, Peeled Paint Distress
Paper: vanilla, celery CS-SU!, black CS-PTI
Accessories: roses- Really Reasonable Ribbon, lace-stash (from my wedding favours from almost 18 years ago!), silver gel pen-Pentel, leaf die-Spellbinders, sequins-Theresa Collins and Ellen Hutson, Glass Glitter- Recollections, Art Institute, Glitter Ritz

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

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)

The Shabby Tea Room Rose Thanks Card

Hello and welcome to another Shabby Tea Room challenge. This week we have the loveliest photo and a great company sponsored us. DiesRUs.com has TONS of amazing dies!

I used an older Spellbinders die called Vintage Ovals (I think). Sadly it's retired so they don't stock it anymore but in trying to find it, I searched for ovals and vintage and I found so many fabulous dies I'd love to have. They even have the Elizabeth Craft series of Susan's Garden dies that make lovely 3-D flowers. There are a few I've been wanting to try!

Isn't this the best inspiration photo? I love all the white and soft pink with so many flowers. I wished I'd had a cameo in soft pink to add to this card but in the end, I decided to keep this flat so I could mail it. I used some Maggie Holmes die cuts and they are amazing. So many pieces in a pack! I used Retro Sketches #172 but sadly it ended on Saturday and this card had to be kept secret until now so I didn't get a chance to link it up. Oh well, half the time I forget anyway! :)

Please be sure to visit The Shabby Tea Room to see the other fabulous designers cards based on this photo and don't forget to drop by Dies R Us!

Enjoy, Rebecca

Vintage Alphabet Card

These new papers (to me) by Theresa Collins were calling my name. I got one of those huge paper and embellie packs from ScrapbookSteals.com and just HAD to take them for a spin!

Especially when a paper pack has unusual colours in it, it’s great to have lots of die cuts and embellies that match the paper. I now have an ink pad from SSS that should match the next time I use it but I also like the collagey style I got here. I like having cards without sentiments so I can use them for anything I like. Great when you are in a pinch.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE:
Stamps: Postmarks (I know, they look like they are part of the paper right?)-unknown rubber from AGES ago
Ink: night of navy-SU!, antique linen distress
Paper: Theresa Collins
Accessories: all TC except: roses-Really Reasonable Ribbon, sequins-stash, gold thread-Guttermann, lace-vintage

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

Bird and Nest Bathroom Sign

I’ve been wanting to make a bathroom sign for a long time. We have two doors close together and even when we direct someone to the washroom, they aren’t sure which door to open.

We had a nasty computer paper printed sign in the ugliest font ever since our annual BBQ last summer. I was so sick of looking at it! So I pulled out a plaque that hubby brought home from work. Ya know those ‘employee of the month’ type cheapie plaques?  Yep, one of those. It’s not real wood so I sanded it down enough to let gesso stick and covered it in 4 coats.

Then I covered part of it in the damask stencil using molding paste. I allowed that to dry then added white crackle paste in a fairly thick layer to the unstencilled areas. After that dried, I added the roses stencil over the crackle. So much glorious texture! (check out the area under the BATH letters in the above photo) Then I added some mists over top. I added a mist to the bottom too but I didn’t like the colour so I over coloured it in Copic airbrushing. That was much better, a warmer colour.

Next I started to work on the nest and branch. The nest was premade but I had to cut it in half first. Before cutting it, I applied some gel medium to the area where I planned to cut it. Not such a good idea. It didn’t dry completely clear so I had to colour it and cover it up with some raffia. What a pain! I’d recommend white glue if you ever need to do something similar. To make the branch, I used some wire covered in some sort of natural twine type stuff. I twisted 5 pieces together, shaped them and glued on the leaves and buds.

The bird was made from 5 layered ivory die cuts coloured with Copic airbrushing. I used a black rhinestone for the eye. I added 3 beads to the nest for eggs. Then last but not least, I added the copper Perfect Pearls, the letters and the rhinestone and ribbon bundle along with some bling. The rhinestone already had a loop on it and that’s how I tied on the ribbons. I really wish you could see this in person; it’s soooo much prettier! I’ll try to add some closeups later.

I made this for the Monthly Mixed Media Challenge. This month’s theme was Birds of a Feather. Click the graphic to visit the challenge.

Enjoy, Rebecca

Lace and Roses Mini Pail

This is for the Shabby Tea Room Challenge this week.

I took a basic pail I got from either a dollar store of the Dollar Spot in Target and added some metallic rub-on to the outside. I quickly realized that, even with heat setting, it wasn’t going to set. Bummer. So I added some workable fixatif. Bad idea. It seemed to work but if rubbed to hard, it came off. Then I tried adding some red line tape to attach the lace. The first piece of tape wouldn’t stick at all and removed the rub on and fixativ from the area I was taping and a bit beyond. Seriously? I decided to embrace the uneven nature figuring it lent to the distressed look I was going for.  At least the second piece of tape stuck.

Next I added a Spellbinders fancy label which I stamped and distressed with more rub-on. I used ribbon to attach the label and added some pearls. I didn't have quite the right colour of roses so I added some Copic airbrushing to them. Perfect! These were adhered over top of some mini ivy die cuts. I used Copic markers on white paper to get just the right colour. Click on the photo to link to the challenge.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: SU! french script
Ink: Cup o joe-HA, melon berry-PTI
Paper: ivory-PTI
Accessories: vintage lace, raspberry rickrack-stash, roses-Really Reasonable Ribbon, pearls-Dollarama, pail-dollar store or dollar spot, ivy die-Memory Box, rub-on metallic paste-stash, Krylon workable fixatif, label die- Spellbinders

Shabby Chic Tag

I am in LOVE with these Julie Nutting doll stamps. They take a while to either colour or paper piece but the results are really worth it.

I love how the hair turned out on this one. I think I used E53,55,57 and maybe E49 for the very darkest areas. It’s hard to see the very fine detail but the legs are also paper pieced which is why the colour is different from the skin I usually colour. I added Copics for shading that matched the paper’s tone. In case you are wondering, yes, this is a very large stamp. I handmade the tag but it is close to a large standard tag, about 6.5” x 3”.

The paper is from an older Webster’s Pages; background (made of several papers), lobster paper (distressed and covered with Rock Candy crackle paint) and the paper piecing papers all come from the paper pack. I carefully cut out the paper around the tag reinforcer so it would show through. The little boats were coloured with Copics too.

I messed up the stamping of the feet, I got a double line, so I made the shoes slightly higher to cover that up. The stars are covered with a Wink Of Stella pen. The sand is a product called Mudd Puddles; it’s basically sand in glue in a small jar so you can apply it like molding paste. It doesn’t apply as smoothly but it is fun.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Prima
Ink: Distress Frayed Burlap, Memento black
Paper: Webster’s Pages, vanilla CS-?, small premade tag
Accessories: star-Jesse James buttons, sand-Mudd Puddles, twine-reused from packaging, Copics, seam binding-Masterstroke Ribbon, lace-Fabricland, ticket-?, Rock Candy Crackle paint, tiny twinkles-TE, star, boat veneers-Studio Calico, foam squares-Sticky Stuff Store