Hello Friend

I've got a Pebbles share for you today, a card I created with their brand new From Me to You collection! Can you believe this line has Polaroid accents?!?! Oh my! I can't get enough Polaroids lately so I'm pretty stoked! 

(Buy Now - $2.99)

I also adore text patterns so this newspaper print is right up my alley! Goes perfectly with this typewriter, don't you think? 

Did you notice the 'Buy Now' link under the last photo? I've decided to sell my cards on Etsy. I have so many! Too many for my own use! At $2.99, they're a bargain, don't you think? Why so low? Well, as a design team member for several manufacturers I get my supplies free and I really just want to make sure they get into the hands of people like you who will use them! Etsy listings run for four months before they expire and when the cards come up for expiration I'll mark them half off...even a better deal! :) My store is stocked with a lot of older cards too, for just $1! Hope you find some you want. Thanks for your support! :)

Dearest Friend

Hi!

Yesterday's leap day Doodlebug blog hop was a great big success all because of you! I really enjoyed reading all of your comments and hopping along together! Thank you! :) Remember, you have until the end of tomorrow, Friday, March 2nd to complete the hop and possibly win one of five brand new Hello Spring collections! If you would like to participate, click here for details.

Today I have a card to share with you. If you've been checking my blog recently, you have probably noticed I've been doing a bunch of projects for the sake of playing around. This is another one.

I've been trying to step out of my comfort zone and try some fun things like this washi tape and stitch work.

Additionally, I'm attempting to use all of my left over scraps and accents. I recently donated most of my stash and don't want it to pile up again! All these layered pieces are from a little drawer I use for leftover bits and pieces after I complete a project.

To create this washi tape design, I simply applied a single piece of tape to the left hand side of my card. Then I used my ruler to create diagonal lines that lined up with the washi tape. The last step was to add more washi tape by lining them up with my diagonal lines. I hope I'm explaining that in a way that makes sense! :)

The washi tape is from Two Peas in a Bucket, the 'play' tag is an  Emma's Shoppe die cut from Crate Paper, the ticket stub and 'Tt' tag was purchased on Etsy. You can find a lot of fun paper craft accents on Etsy! The craft tag is Martha Stewart, the die cut I used for the pennants is from Papertrey ink and the rub-ons, old American Crafts. Buttons are stash items.

I hope you enjoy my card and have a terrific day!

Kathy :)

Vintage Pretties

Hello!

Thought I'd pop in to show you a couple vintage goodies I've listed in my new Etsy shop. I've really been working hard to get my virtual shelves stocked! It's been so much fun! There's nothing like doing what you love! Last Saturday a girlfriend and I traveled about 1 1/2 hours out of town to Cameron, N.C. where there are about a dozen antique stores. We always meet the nicest people at these little places! The weather was on the cool side, but a beautiful sunny day.

When we got hungry we went over to The Dewberry Deli & Soda Fountain. Oh my!  I had the best sandwich...a toasted croissant with hot roast beef, melted provolone cheese, grilled mushrooms and onions and a dipping juice on the side! It was a bit of heaven! And the potato salad was excellent too! So many people mess up potato salad, don't you think? As if the sandwich and potato salad weren't enough, I had dewberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream! I never knew there was such a thing as dewberries, did you? Those little berries are excellent! I'm almost willing to get in the car and make the drive just for lunch! Yep! That good!

Okay, I was going to show you some things in my shop and I got a little side tracked! Good food does that to me! I've also been scouting out second hand stores and our local flea market. You would be surprised to see what wonderful things people want to get rid of! Oh, I also attended the Raleigh Antiques Show on Sunday. I told you I've been busy!

Bone China Teacup

by Grosvenor

Made in England

What is it about teacups? They are so pretty! I love them and have many sitting around our house. I don't even drink tea! lol! I sometimes put a few vintage buttons inside the cup and around the saucer along with an old spool. I also have one or two teacups with pretty vintage hankies cascading over the rim of the cup. I just love pretty things!

Ball Jar with Glass Lid

You can't have too many ball jars. I fill them with all kinds of goodies like the shells from our annual family beach trips, old marbles, vintage sewing spools and old mother of pearl buttons. I even have a large one filled with our son's stick collection!

Steiff Sleeping Elephant

Isn't this guy the cutest? Adorable! Do you collect Steiff? I just might start! They make the most wonderful stuffed animals! I've never bought any because they are so expensive, but this guy is rather affordable! If I don't find a good home for him, he'll just keep napping at our home!

Transferware Cup

by Mason's

Made in England

This beautiful cup was one of the first items I listed in my shop and it's getting a bit of attention. I found it during my trip to Wilmington a few weekend's ago. It's a gorgeous deep blue and the floral design is lovely! This cup will make a great addition to someones transferware collection.

I'm so glad you could stop by because I really enjoyed sharing my new hobby/business with you! If there's something you enjoy collecting and would like me to keep my eyes open for you, let me know! I hope you have a fabulous day! :) Kathy

Etsy Finds

Hey!

How are you? I'm enjoying the day so far! I received a couple fabulous Etsy packages in the mail and thought I'd share! I can't say enough about the incredible talent and wonderful shopkeepers on Etsy! Where else can you find one of a kind handmade items like those on Etsy? And the shipping! Nobody ships for less!

Just take a look at this cutie!

Buy

This little hen puts a great big smile on my face! Can you tell what she is? These used to be popular years ago. It's an egg cozy! The owner of All Things White made this vintage inspired chicken egg cozy and when I saw it...well, she had to come live at my house! Doesn't she look adorable in my real nest? What a great spring and Easter decor item!

Have you noticed in past posts and photos that I have a thing for vintage hammered aluminum? I do! Hammered aluminum pieces were made in the early 1900s to be functional and an affordable alternative to silver. It's often called poor mans' silver for this reason. I enjoy collecting it because there are so many beautiful pieces to find and they are still affordable, unlike many other antiques.

This is my first piece that combines china and hammered aluminum and it's made by Farber & Shlevin, Inc. Almost every single item in my collection came from Ye Ole Emporium. Ali, the shopkeeper finds the most amazing pieces of hammered aluminum, her prices are fabulous and the service is exceptional! I love that she always tucks in a piece of handmade soap into my order! Often it's lovely smelling lavender!

I also got this glass thumbprint and hammered aluminum basket. Gorgeous, isn't it? I love the embossed flowers, the scalloped edges and sawtooth rim. These pieces are truly works of art!

Another item that Ali specializes in, and I've purchased quite a number of, is vintage lace doilies. I love this one! It just baffles my mind that someone actually made this intricate, beautiful thing by hand!

Look at the detailing! I hope to have a few of my doilies framed someday. I think they would look gorgeous in a cluster on the dinning room wall.

Did you know that a lot of Etsy shops struggle to stay in business? They do. It's not easy to learn how to promote one's shop and keep it stocked. I hope when you have some gift buying to do or are looking for a few special decor items for your home that you will give Etsy a try!

Hope your day is a fantastic one! :) Kathy

Now Open!

Hi! T.G.I.F!

I can't believe Friday is here already and I haven't had a craft project to share with you all week! I kind of feel like a slacker! Except that I have been busy with a little project! You know how I love to search for vintage treasures? I just can't seem to get enough! And before I run out of money...I thought I'd try and support my new hobby by selling some of the beautiful things I find!

Here it is...the banner for Vintage by Card-Blanc. What do you think? If you have a moment I would love it if you could stop by and give my new shop a look! Is there an item you would love to have? Do you collect antiques? What do you collect?

One of my favorite items listed is this 'Peter Rabbit' glass candy container.Can you believe we used to give kids candy packaged in glass?!?! Hard to let go of this fabulous find! Maybe no one will want him and then I'll just have to keep it! ;) Anyway, it was made in 1947 by the J. H. Millstein Company in Jeannette, PA.

In doing research on this candy container I found a few that were selling around $50! Wow! Since there are a ton of antique/vintage on-line shops out there, I'm trying to be the shop that sells things at a reasonable price. I am willing to cut the profit I could get for a piece in order to sell more things! That way I can keep shopping at flea markets and antique malls! ;)

Well, I'm working on a crafty little project I hope to share with you this weekend. I hope you enjoy the beautiful weather a lot of the U.S. will be experiencing the next couple days! :) Kathy

Happy Friday!

It's another fabulous Friday! And I'm excited to share a logo with you! It's my new digital stamps logo! If you didn't see my last post, I announced that I have been working on a new project to draw/design digital stamps to be sold at Two Peas in a Bucket! I'm so excited about this opportunity and have been working hard to create some super fun digital stamps for you.

So what do you think? Colorful, whimsical and fun? That's what I want my stamps to be...embellishments you want to add to your scrapbook pages and handmade greeting cards that create smiles. So, I'm hoping to debut my first stamps at Two Peas in a Bucket on Tuesday, March 9th. I'll let you know as the time draws nearer if I've run into any snags.

My stamps will be sold in both a color version and black and white for just .99 cents! That will give you the option of simply printing it out to use on your project or you can color it yourself digitally or after it's been printed.

Now for a little Easter craft share. This is a button tree I made in an Easter theme. I've seen a lot of these over the past couple years. Usually I find these trees around Christmas. I had a lot of pastel buttons and thought they would make a perfect springtime tree.

Buy this Tree

I embellished my little tree further with some decorative stick pins from Fancy Pants. After I made this one, I made a Valentine one without the 'trunk' and I'm not sure, but I think I like it without. What do you think?

That's a wrap for today's post. I'm so happy that you've been able to visit and I hope to hear some input on the logo. Also, are there any stamps you would like to see made? Something you can't find? Maybe your idea will be my next stamp?

Supplies

Easter Button Tree

Styrofoam Cone:  A.C. Moore

Buttons:  Oriental Trading Company

Straight Pins:  A.C. Moore

Decroative Stick Pins:  Fancy Pants

Ribbon:  Ampelco

Opaque Pearl Stand:  Paper Mart - Buy

Here Comes the Snow

It's still terribly cold here in North Carolina! And tonight we're expecting snow! Maybe we'll have a snow day tomorrow? It would be fun to get some snow to play in if it has to be so cold! We'll see.

Because of the weather, I've been enjoying some crafting time and I'd like to show you a card I made. I'm a real fan of birds and we have two parrots so I really like this new 'love birds' die cut from Silhouette.

Recently, I also made this Valentine button tree. I've seen many ladies post these on Two Peas in a Bucket and thought I'd give one a try. I wanted to load up my tree with lots of buttons so you cannot see the Styrofoam cone base. The straight pins I used are a good quality glass head type. I found that the old Fancy Pants decorative straight pins make a great accent to the tree too.

Supplies

Love Birds Card

Card Stock:  Bazzill Basics

Patterned Paper:  Bo Bunny

Sentiment Rub-On:  Heidi Grace

Die Cut Birds:  Silhouette

Border Punch:  Fiskars

Ribbon:  Ampelco
Liquid Pearls:  Ranger

Valentine Button Tree:

Styrofoam Cone:  A.C. Moore

Buttons:  Oriental Trading Company

Straight Pins:  A.C. Moore

Decorative Pins:  Fancy Pants (my Etsy shop)

Ribbon:  May Arts (my Etsy shop)

Thanks for taking a peek at my Valentine projects. Come back regularly to see more. I'm working on some Love Blocks,  a Valentine container and more.  :) Kathy

First Post of 2010

Hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's Eve! And I hope the first couple days of the New Year have been enjoyable! We started taking down the tree and holiday decorations yesterday and I'm happy to say we're almost done. It's a lot of work and amazing how plain the house looks without all the glitter and lights. Over the next few years I'd like to collect more snowmen and winter decor so I have some things to leave out after the holidays. And I want to decorate more for Valentine's Day. What fun to add some hearts and sweetness to these cold winter days!

Speaking of Valentine's Day, I've been making some cards and craft projects so I'll share one of my cards with you.

I used a couple patterned papers from Pink Paislee's new Cupid collection. The buttons are Jesse James and can be found in my Etsy shop under the Valentine/Love section. The pink/white gingham ribbon is from Offray, from Michael's. I hand stitched the zigzag part because I can make a straighter line than I can with my machine! LOL! The sentiment is made with stickers from Basic Grey. That's it...fun project!

Come back and 'see' me Monday for a new 2 Sketches 4 You challenge! :) Kathy

December Daily - Day Fifteen

Wow, just 10 more days until Christmas! How exciting is that!?!?! A day to sit around with our families, drink cocoa, open presents, and cook a delicious dinner. Ahh....sounds fabulous, doesn't it?

What do you cook for Christmas dinner? Growing up, my dad always wanted turkey again. As the cook in our home, I'm not ready to do the whole Thanksgiving spread again! I still have a little turkey in the freezer I need to make soup with! I like ham for Easter dinner. I made a pot roast last year and I think I'll make that again. It's really simple and if you have a Crock-Pot, or get one for Christmas, it's even easier!

Here's the Crock Pot I received for Christmas last year with our dinner in it! After I wash my roast, I place it in the pot with some fresh diced onions, cubed potatoes (skins left on), carrots and celery. I add a couple packages McCormick brown or mushroom gravey from the spice section of the grocery store. Add 1 1/2 cups of water, a 1/2 cup of cooking wine and turn pot on! I also bake some Sister Schubert's yeast rolls, my husbands favorite! They are in the frozen bread section. Too simple and so delicious! With this easy recipe, I can enjoy the day and kick my feet up for a little!

My crafty share for the day is a couple things I found at the second hand store and turned them into fun holiday decor items. This first one, a wooden sled was still unfinished. Someone probably had plans to make something out of it and never got around to it.

I painted the sled white and then added a silver glittered leaf pick along with a red glittered berry pick. I cut them a little since they were too long as is. Then I hot glued the picks on and layered them with a silver mesh and white satin ribbon bow. The bow was tied together with some white craft string that enabled me to add these old Ki Memories chipboard accents and a white glittered snowflake. On the lower right hand corner of the sled I added another couple pieces of Ki chipboard, a rusty metal snowflake and a rub-on sentiment.

This next piece was one of those old recipe boxes many of us grew up seeing on the kitchen counter. No longer a hot item, this recipe box was waiting for a remake!

Since this box was already painted blue and made to look like a house, all I had to do was give it a good washing, glitter the roof and front to look like a coat of freshly fallen snow and cover the sides with this pretty snowflake patterned paper from Bo Bunny. I embellished the house further with a pine stem cut in two and made into two tiny wreaths for the windows. Baker's twine was used for bows on the wreaths. On the roof I added a berry pick, a white satin ribbon bow layered with a couple felt snowflakes, a white button and a rhinestone brad. The roof still comes off the house so it can be used as a container to hold goodies or whatever your heart desires.

Well, I hope you  have some free time during this busy season to make a couple fun things. If you are interested, these projects are for sale in my Etsy shop. Thanks again for stopping by my December Daily and I hope you can visit again tomorrow. :) Kathy

December Daily - Day Fourteen

While my husband and I were sitting in front of the tree last evening sipping hot chocolate we were remembering what it was like to be a child at Christmas. Waiting for the big day to arrive seemed like it would never come! Remember that? More than a week before Christmas was almost more than you could stand! For me, it's just going to darn fast!

Well it's another Monday, a great day for all of us who love to make cards! 2 Sketches 4 You has a new card design for all of us along with a great prize package from our sponsors Sassy Studio Designs and Sakura. Here's the sketch for this week from the talented Laura Davis and my take on her design.

This week is a bonus sketch week too! Shanna Vineyard one talented design team member at 2 Sketches 4 You came up with this great sketch. I love that there is a tag on it...that'll be fun to play with!

Since it's the holidays and many of us are scrambling around trying to get our cards made and/or mailed, I thought I'd share a card I made last night. Another simple one to whip up in no time and pop in the mail.

This is an A2 size card made with a red card stock base. I embossed a piece of white card stock with a cuddlebug folder for the dotted texture to layer over my base. Then I cut a little rectangle tag out of the same red and white card stock and attached a piece of Bazzill Basics Just the Edge scallops to the left of my tag. The sentiment is a K & Company rub-on from their Evergreen line. I sell these rub-ons in my Etsy shop if anyone is interested. Anyway, I further accented this card with a green polka dot ribbon and green stitched button. That's it! Easy!

Thanks for stopping by another December Daily. I look forward to having you stop by again tomorrow! :) Kathy

Your Crafty Friends

They are the girls without great manicures who always have a little glue and glitter stuck to their cuticles! You know, they are 'Your Crafty Friends,' the ones who are always knee deep in patterned paper, adhesives, and embellishments on Saturday night while you're out painting the town red. That's right, they have great ideas for decorating and can whip up the perfect handmade birthday card in not time! Well, now you can count on 'Your Crafty Friends' to create one of a kind cards, home decor items and gifts for you! Come on by and see us at http://www.yourcraftyfriends.etsy.com/ and if you make a purchase of $10 or more before the end of November, these gals will send you a free greeting card! Now that's worth spreading the news!

October Fest

I made Christmas crafts in July so there's certainly no sin in making some Halloween goodies in August! And there's nothing like getting together with a crafty pal or two to make some fun and ghoulish decor and cards! Look at all these fun things I made at my friend Audrey's house! Starting on Monday, August 10th I will be opening my Autumn Shoppe section of my Etsy store where I will sell some of these crafty creations and lots of supplies to make some of your own spooky spells! Enjoy and come on by www.cardblanc.etsy.com.

Annual Beach Trip

School is just around the corner and for our family that means our annual trip to Carolina Beach is just days away! I can't wait to spend time with my guys, morning walks on the shore with sand between our toes, collecting sea shells. Oh and the food...sea food! We'll take lots of pictures so I can create scrapbook pages to help preserve our memories. For great scrapbooking papers and accents for your beach crafts, stop my etsy store at http://www.cardblanc.etsy.com/ and pick some up.

Quick & Easy

A lot of people I know don't craft because they don't think they have the time. If you're one of those, check out these two cards I created. They were super simple and so much fun to make! I didn't need to drag out the sewing machine, make my own embellishments or tie fancy bows. The trick? Dimensional stickers! All you need is some craft paper and an adorable 3D sticker or two and you're set! I sell the butterfly stickers in my Etsy shop at http://www.cardblanc.etsy.com/ but if you're still not convinced that you have the time to craft, the little giraffe card is also for sale.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

Scrapbook paper isn't just for scrapbook pages and greeting cards anymore. Here's a fun way to use your patterned paper stash and make some great gifts or decor items for your home. I used some beautiful papers from K & Company's Wild Raspberry line for this project. If you don't have the time or you don't think you could make something like this, don't worry! Log onto http://www.cardblanc.etsy.com/ to purchase this mirror and many other fun decor items.

You've Got Mail!

This was just too fun to make and turned out so very cute! Wouldn't it be perfect for a little girl's room, a place for mom and dad to leave a note or special little surprise? I've got this mailbox and another one that's decorated with flowers in my etsy shop at http://www.cardblanc.etsy.com/. Come on by and take a peek. I also stock the Berry Sweet card stock I used for this project for those of you who would like to make your own mailbox and other paper crafts.

Get Out of Town!

It's that time of year again when school is out for the summer so we take off and have some fun! And time flies when you're having fun, right? Perhaps documenting some of your travels while you're away will help create more lasting memories? I like to carry a journal with me so I can write about some of the things we see or special moments we have and I love to bring one of those mini staplers with me so I can staple receipts and little mementos right onto the pages of my book.

At http://www.cardblanc.etsy.com/ you can find journals for your vacation or maybe you know of a couple about to embark on their honeymoon? What a great gift the above set would make! Well, enjoy the summer and happy trails!

All That Glitters

I love glitter and this Madame Royal card stock from We Are Memory Keepers has lots of glam and sparkle! It has me feeling quite creative, whipping out projects like these two greeting cards. To add a little glitz to your summer, log onto http://www.cardblanc.etsy.com/ to purchase some of this pretty card stock or one of the above cards.

Fifth Avenue

I've been making projects with this line of paper from Making Memories for over a year now and I still love it! Some paper lines get old after a while, but this one, Fifth Avenue, has staying power. Here's just a sampling of the projects I've created. If interested, you can purchase the card in the first photo and/or a 6"x6" stack of these gorgeous papers in my Etsy shop at http://www.cardblanc.etsy.com/.