Pretty Bees Card for Mojo Monday

I liked the sketch for this week’s Mojo Monday so much, I decided to make a second card using it!

I just bought this stamp set second hand and I was thrilled that it went so well with some new paper too! The yellow hexagons just screamed bee to me! I  LOVE the shape of this bee; it is realistic without being creepily so. I have a huge bug phobia but it looks sweet stamped right? And no icky, overly detailed eyes (I find totally realistic eyes especially creepy). The stamp set includes a body stamp to make the bee yellow but I have no ink that even approaches a colour that would coordinate with or match this paper. So I paper pieced it instead which also gave it a sweet yellow halo! I LOVE how it looks. Can you tell this card is going to be hard to part with? {{ GRIN }}

Did you notice what I stamped directly on the patterned paper? They already had ‘be.’ on the paper; I added the ‘Bee’. I thought it made for a cute play on words! Then I added a little ribbon tab in place of the flag in the sketch. If you ever like to enter the M0jo Monday contest, be warned that I’ve found the judges are particular about seeing you not deviate from the sketch too much. Sure you can swap out the shapes and add a layer or two as matting but they really like to see all the elements and in the same places and relative proportions. I won in July and made sure every element was on there! I added a bit of washi tape sticking out from under the largest panel for a bit of interest.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: PTI
Paper: MME DP, kraft, rustic white-PTI, vintage music paper
Ink: Archival black-Ranger, London Fog Memento, Bordering blue-SU!, Old Paper, Vintage photo Distress
Accessories: roses-Prima, button card die-PTI, lacey circles, circles dies-Spellbinders, WRMK corner rounder, EK Success mini scallop punch

Gift Set for a Friend

I’ve mentioned before that I have a friend who is battling cancer. I made her a gift basket a while back and I posted the card I made for her. I didn’t have time to make everything I had intended to add to the basket so I finally finished it this week. I am entering this in the Moxie Fab Around the House Challenge to use something from around the house. I used coffee filters.

I made her a notepad, a sticky note pad, a bookmark…

… a decorated composition notebook, a decorated pencil, a clip and a pencil holder. I made the flowers with dyed crinoline, tulle and coffee filter layers. They were cut with a 5 petal flower dies by Heartfelt Creations. They are just like Spellbinders dies and come in a set of 7! I dyed and scrunched the layers before they dried. The crinoline in particular scrunches really small so I had to flatten the layers a bit before using them. I stamped and dyed the book binding tape. I was surprised how well the adhesive held, I highly recommend this product!

The pencil holder is a simple folded ribbon. I folded the ribbon and sewed it to make a pocket; the top front edge folded over so it was sewn in to finish it. The upper area is also folded over and the end tucked in when I sewed the rest which leaves a large loop at the top. It looks decorated but what you see is the top of the pencil with a large flower on it. The pencil also has pink ribbon wrapped around the top half. I wrapped the clip in patterned paper and decorated it with a matching chipboard bird and a coffee filter flower. I kept the sticky note holder very simple and flat in case she wants to put it in the book.

The notebook uses a doily cut with a PTI doily die layered with more handmade flowers, buttons, pearls and a silk ribbon bow. The leaves are also made from coffee filter. To get the variegation on the leaves, I pressed celery and olive ink pads on my non-stick craft mat. I spritzed with pearlized water and pressed the leaves into the celery ink. Then I dragged the edges in the olive ink. The lace was made on my mom’s sewing machine with her embroidery hoop. It was made using wash out stabilizer so really all it is is thread in the end. Pretty nice huh? For some reason she didn’t use it so passed it on to me! Yeah!

Next is the notebook. The colours aren’t very accurate in this photo. The green cardstock cover isn’t quite as yellowish and neither is the flower; it looks way too peachy. IRL it is slightly corally but definitely pink. Sigh…

There is more lace peeking out from under the flower and I stamped the ‘note to self’ stamp all over the blush coloured paper at the top in different directions making it look like patterned paper. I CASEd a notebook design by Mish Wooderson of Mish Mash; credit where credit is due. I LOVE her notepad layouts.

This bookmark is so simple that I don’t think it needs much explaining. I have no idea what colour the mist is as I made it ages ago and since I didn’t use it up, I just saved it. Maybe regal rose with a bit of burgundy thrown in seems to ring a bell?? I was happy with the collagey feel I ended up with as I really try hard for this style often and don’t usually manage to get something I like. The butterfly was coloured with Copics.

This last photo shows a box I made ages ago along with some of the new things I’ve made.  I was going to add the box to the gift basket I made but it wouldn’t fit. So when I designed this gift set, I decided to use the same DP pack, Botanique by American Crafts, to make everything.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: script-Hero Arts, all from bookmark except tiny flourish and script-American Crafts, all from notepad plus tiny flourish-Take Note-PTI,
Ink: memento brown, Chocolate, blush, celery, apricot, olive-SU!, soft rose-Hero Arts, Stazon brown
Paper: Spring moss CS-PTI, DP-American Crafts, bookmark base-Hero Arts, doily-Wilton, bird die cuts and chipboard-American Crafts,
Accessories: Metal edged tag, hardware, brads-SU!, crinoline-Etsy, coffee filter, buttons, doily die, notepad, button die-PTI, silk ribbon-May Arts, Perfect Pearls, flourish die-Marianne, Divine Twine, ribbons (sticky note pad and pencil holder) unknown,  ribbon on book-American Crafts, foam dots-Jody Morrow, binder clip, Composition notebook-Dollarama, EK Success mini scallop punch, Copic markers-R11, 32, 24, Copic refill R20 (dyeing flowers),  Labels 14 (I think) die, leaf dies-Spellbinders, book binding tape-Prima

Ribbon Flower Gift Box for the OCC Challenge

This week was a fun challenge! Sharon challenged us to create a card, 3-D project, scrapbook page, etc. on the theme of Girl Power. Let's show our feminine side and make something girly!  There are requirements: include a hand-made paper flower, ribbon and some bling.  Doll it up!

Well, I got the paper flower part, sort of, I am ashamed to admit that I missed the handmade part of the paper flower. I mean, I started with the handmade part. I made the base and then made some really pretty handmade, scrunchie, scalloped circle flowers. Only problem is they looked too drab for my project even though I made them from paper that matches the colours in the DP. Funny thing is, I have no idea why. I made one peach and one yellow but they looked the same colour and much too boring to match the project.

After that, the paper flower idea got stuck in my head as I searched for a substitute, only as I type this am I realizing I forgot the handmade part. I decided to use a chipboard flower and cut the petals off, covering them in my favourite green ombre ribbon to make them look like leaves. They are handmade I guess, they are a type of paper and they used to be flowers. Do you think that counts?? LOL!

I really like this template. I love how the paper you use for the flap shows at the back! And since I used pretty DP, it makes it that much better! It is by Lauren Meader of My Time Made Easy; I’ve been somewhat critical of some of her templates in the past, loving the shape and design but not loving the imperfections and occasional asymmetry. This one is pretty much perfect! YEAH! I didn’t change a thing AND I will make it the same way next time so I was very happy constructing it.

I made the flower from ribbon (a la Monica Geller, “I KNOW!”) but I can’t tell you how yet as that will be my video tutorial for my May Arts Design Team application. I used Distress Crackle Paint on the Maya Road flourishes.

I’d love to see your name over at the OCC blog! This one is pretty easy so there are no excuses! And of course, when you visit, you can see the other AWESOME gal’s work! I’ve seen it, it is TOTALLY worth surfing by!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Paper: American Crafts Botanique, natural white CS-SU!
Accessories: May Arts ribbon, tulle, beads chipboard flower-stash, chipboard flourishes-Maya Road, pearls-Dollarama, labels 14 Nestabilities, Velcro-Wal-mart, Crackle paint-Ranger