An Unplanned Break and a Bunch of Challenges

I'm finally back today with some cards to share.  We have had computer issue after computer issue and finally decided on replacement rather than repair.  Hubby finished the set up and data transferring last night, so hopefully we are now good to go!  I've missed the deadline for uploading to last week's Mojo Monday gallery on the Mojo website and The Shabby Tea Room's Fresh Living challenge, but I am still able to enter VLV, SNTODBD18, and Cute Card Thursday.

My first card uses the Mojo Monday sketch from last week (number 156), and I combined it with an ODBD sentiment (Psalm 47:2) from the Scripture Collection 3 set.  The dp are from "Summer Song" by Zoe Pearn.  I found that paper stack at Hobby Lobby when they had their 50% off paper sale a couple of weeks ago.  Aren't they fun?  There's a little bit of glitter on the papers, but it doesn't show up very well in the photo.  The "lace" on my card comes from a MS doily lace punch.  I tried a whole bunch of actual lace trims on this card but nothing was working for me, so I went with my favorite punch instead.  The organza ribbon is sparkly, and I tied it using my Bow Easy. I added a little rose on the top to finish it off.  The butterfly is from Michael's, and it is glittery all around the edges.  Love it!

I made this card for the current Stamping in Time challenge at ODBD to use ribbon and lace (or lacey punch), and the butterfly I used qualifies it for the current Cute Card Thursday challenge, Tweet and Flutter.  I had intended to enter my card at The Shabby Tea Room's Fresh Living challenge as well, but that deadline has come and gone.

My second card is for the VLV September Week 4 challenge.  I browsed the House to Home website and found this fabulous vintage living room to use as the inspiration.  I loved the white with the pops of fuchsia flowers and the greenery, so I tried to create that feel in my card.  A white sofa would never work in my home, but I just love the look of this room!

The white embossed panel is one of the SU! Sizzix folders, and the dp is by MME, the "Quite Contrary" collection.  I used a bunch of Prima roses and a MS leaf punch.  The sentiment is from Verve's set Kind Words.  I stamped the medium leafy stamp around the edge and then offset the stamp and stamped again without reinking to create some depth.  The edges of the sentiment panel are sponged with Vintage Photo Distress Ink to give an aged feel.

I've had this big flower for just ages, and it was just right for this card.

I had the card done, and then it seemed so bare in the corners so I decided to add some paper piercing using an Ornare template.  Let me just say that I should have thought of that before I had it all adhered and glued together as it was not an easy task to align the piercing pattern around that big flower and try to keep it straight!  I used sections of the template as intended and then I used a few of the smaller swirls to fill in as needed.  I'm pretty sure that I got my template from ODBD a couple of years ago, but I didn't see that particular template in their current Ornare listings (there were a number of other ones that I would really like to buy though!)

Before I go today, I wanted to post a picture of Ariel.  We were fortunate to take a vacation at Walt Disney World this summer and had a fabulous time.  Ariel had her hair done at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.  The brown hairpiece matched her natural color so perfectly.   One of our favorite pictures is this one of Ariel and Belle.  She had a ball being a princess for a day.

Ariel and I would also like to say thank you for the comments on her butterfly card.  She was thrilled that you enjoyed her art.  It really made her day, so thank you!  : D

Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed day!
Sarah

Dream Big

All week I wanted to make a card for The Shabby Tea Room's week 25 challenge to use something old and something new.  So I finally sat down Saturday to start my VLV week 2 card based on the following sketch and thought I'd also be able to work it into TSTR's challenge guidelines.  This week, Amber let us pick anything from the At Home section of Anthropologie, and there sure was a lot of great stuff to use as inspiration!  I finally decided to use the rosy knobs as I thought they looked like Primas.  The actual knobs are 2.25 inches according to the description.  I bet they are beautiful in real life!

This card just gave me fits to make.  I struggled with the layout, the embellishments, and the color scheme.  I'll admit that I got up and walked away a couple of times before this one was finished!  I knew I was using the Prima roses, but I just couldn't decide on a color scheme.  Finally, I forced myself to just go with Basic Grey "Capella" as I had some left over strips that I thought I'd be able to use up on the 2 panels.  Then I couldn't decide on which of my new Verve stamps I wanted to use.  I eventually decided to use the frame from Fabulous You and the sentiment from Dream Big.   I used kraft as the center panel just to try something different and to incorporate some of the browns in the dp.

Then I just added my primas and some MS leaf punches along with a recycled corsage pin on which I added a few beads.  The kraft strip was punched with a MS doily lace punch.  That strip was supposed to go on top of the center panel in the sketch, but I just couldn't make it work (sorry for deviating from the sketch!).  I put a little bit of satin ivory ribbon on top to tie it into the big May Arts silk bow on the side.  The button is one I had in my stash that I got from my grandmother's button bin.  I've been waiting for the chance to use this button for a looooong time.  So after all of that, I'm pretty happy with the final result, but wondering if maybe I should have either distressed the edges or done some stitching? 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great evening!
Sarah

Edited to add:  A big thank you to Andrea Ewen for pointing out Amy's photography tutorial on SCS.  I'm so much happier with this picture.

"The Delicate Cottage Rose"

I discovered a new (to me) challenge at a blog called The Shabby Tea Room this weekend.  Just take a look at this gorgeous inspiration room!  Wow!  If anyone hadn't already noticed from my use of flowers on nearly every card I make, I have a passion for flowers.  My favorites are pink roses and stargazer lilies. 

So I set out to try to make a shabby chic card worthy of this inspiration room.  At first I thought I'd use a dp background that would imitate the wallpaper in the picture, but then I remembered that I wanted to try a scored background card sometime.  There have been lots of beautiful cards that I've seen that use this really easy technique, and if anyone is not familiar, there is a great tutorial with lots of pictures on how to execute this technique at the Our Daily Bread Designs blog. 

So, here's my card for the challenge.

I scored my center panel at 1/2" intervals.  The center panel is 5" square and the finished card is 6" square.  I added various mats that are 1/16" in width to provide some depth.  I decided to use pearls rather than rhinestones as I wanted the card to be more serene.  I took the strips of pearls I found at Michael's, cut them apart so I had individual pieces rather than a long strip, and placed the smallest pearls on all of the scoring mark intersections using tweezers.  I placed the flowers first and then added the pearls, so the pearls are not all the way under the flowers.  I used medium sized pearls for the sides.  I think it helps to frame the panel.

The sentiment is part of the new Verve release, a Plain Jane called "Psalm 46:1."  I really like this verse as it is so versatile and could be used for get well, thinking of you, or sympathy cards.  The font is also very pleasing to the eye.  I stamped the image in Versafine Onyx Black.  I recently discovered this ink and love it for sentiments.  It gives a crisp outline even for finely detailed stamps.  Then I used Nestabilites to cut out the 2 panels and embossed them.  On the inner panel, while the die was still around my panel, I sponged the edges with SU! Pretty in Pink.  The inner panel is directly adhered to the larger one.  I mounted the larger panel on foam tape.

Then the final touches were of course some roses!  I just found some new flowers at Michael's on Friday.  They had tins of these gorgeous large pink and white roses that are a new item.  The leaves are punched with my MS leaf punch and inked with Vintage Photo distress ink.  I used to just leave my leaves uninked, but I have found that the addition of the brown ink really lends a more realistic appearance to the leaves.  The biggest leaf came in the package with the new roses, and it already had the brown edges.

Finally, I'd like to say thank you to everyone who has stopped by my blog over my first two weeks of blogging and left such kind comments.  Also, a huge thank you to those of you who have signed up to be followers!  I hope you'll continue to enjoy my creations.

Have a blessed Sunday!  Thanks for visiting!
Sarah