Paper Sweeties March Release Party!

Paper Sweeties Release Party is here! Whoo Hoo! Now you can get your hands on the newest Paper Sweeties stamps and Sweet Cuts dies, too! Here's another card I made using the new Stitched Tags #1 stamps and dies, as well as the Bloom & Grow stamp set

I went all shabby chic for this card, with lots of feminine layers, texture, and distressing. I made the heart with the Stitched Tags #1 heart stamp and Sweet Cuts die, then added the sentiment and little leaves from the Bloom & Grow stamp set. Sequins from the Sweetheart Mix made for cute little flowers, with a drop of gold Pearl Pen in the center of each one. I also have two more tags from the the Sweet Cuts Stitched Tags #1 die set on the card, cut from designer paper. You can see the floral tag with the button, and there is a typewriter text tag just beside it. You can't see the tags too well because I got carried away with the yummy Bubblegum Seam Binding and Cotton Candy Twine bow, but hey, can you blame me? ;)

You might have noticed that the white doily has a pinkish stain on it, but in my supply list below I've listed Dylusions Melted Chocolate Ink Spray. I added just a small amount of Ink Spray to a small water spritzer and it came out a nice shade of Victorian pink.

Now, you seriously have to check out the my Paper Sweeties Teamies creations. They have amazing talent and creativity! 

Cheryl Lea (that's me)

Debbie Marcinkiewicz – Paper Sweeties
Jill Norwood 

Julie Tucker-Wolek
Kathy Schweinfurth

Larissa Heskett
Lysa Rohrer 
Mackie Robertson

Maria Patrick

Michelle Bala
Mynnette Kitchen

Nancy Penir

What's New

I Pick You

Stitched Tags #1

Stitched Tags #1 Sweet Cuts

Thanks for stopping by! We'll be back tomorrow with our March Release Rewind, where we mix new and older releases. You won't want to miss it!

And, don't forget, there's still time to enter the Paper Sweeties Inspiration Challenge--Waiting for Spring!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
The Shabby Tea Room Week #247: Pop of Pink
Viva la Verve March 2015 Week 1 Sketch Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: B is for... (Bloom & Bow)
Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge #113: Flower and Ribbon or Trim
Your Next Stamp Color Challenge #9
Corrosive Challenge #219: Follow Your Heart
Fresh Brewed Designs March 11-17 Challenge--Flowers
Paper Issues: Enamored with Enamel with Paper Camellia

~Hugs,

Supplies Used:

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Top Hat Days

Last month, I made a Mother's Day card with a vintage feel to it. With Father's Day around the corner, I used that design and made a more masculine version. Even though they are very much alike, they look completely different! The only major differences between this and the previous card are the backgrounds (embossed vs. stamped), and an added element (the doily die cut).

On this card, I embossed the background, then added some Inka Gold to the embossed areas. The doily was cut from kraft cs, colored with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink, then spritzed with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls Mist. The image is colored with Copics, and I add some highlights with a white gel pen. The round "metallic" embellie, just to the left of the hat is made from clay, then I used Inka Gold to give it a nice finish.

The inside is the same as the Mother's Day card, just in a different color palette.

Slowly, but surely, I'm getting caught up, posting my cards! :D

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful day!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday: Father's Day/Masculine
TCP Tuesday #267: Anything Goes
Paper Issues: The World is a Circle
Chocolate, Coffee, & Cards Challenge #66: Embossing
Crafts 4 Eternity Recipe Challenge R#179: For the Boys
Polkadoodles Challenge Week 23: Men On Our Minds
Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge #96: Masculine with Ribbon or Trims

~Hugs,

Supplies Used:

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Simple, Extraordinary Things

I am loving the Love Fest over at Splitcoaststampers! This card is for Verve's In Love With Color Challenge. There were two options to choose from, and I'm using the aqua, brown, and pink palette.

I know absolutely nothing about watercoloring, but this LaBlanche stamp looked like that's what it needed, so I gave it a go. This is one of those times when making a shabby, distressed card is essential. It's great for camouflaging all my less-than-stellar skills. ;) 

Did some shabby sewing, ripping the stitches out in a couple of places. Remember, when doing that to distress the back of the paper that is going to show, too. The edges of the dp were distressed with a Distrezz-it-All and Distress Ink, then I spritzed the edges with water to create a stained look.

I used Carribean Blue Glimmer Mist on a paper doily from the grocery store, then sponged a little Tea Dye Distress Ink on it. I accidentally tore the doily while sponging, but, it's a shabby card, so it fit right in. I used a few mini staples to hold the image panel on. 

Ivory seam binding dyed with Distress Reinkers made a fab bow, but since more is always better, I distressed some twine with ink, then added it, along with a metal brad. I left the tails extra long.

I don't often sew inside my cards, but I was having so much fun with this one, I just couldn't resist. I distressed the dp the same way I did on the front. The sentiment panel is watercolor paper. It's amazing how hard it is to get something to look this dirty without it looking fake. Can you tell that the brown spot in the lower left corner is the same bird's nest stamp that is on the front of the card? When I wet the paper to age it, the stamp lost a lot of detail. Don't you love that quote? It's perfect for someone who makes handcrafted things, and this card is for a friend who recently gave me a gorgeous handcrafted sweetgrass basket. 

I've found that when I dry wet dp with my heat gun, it becomes stiff and brittle, so the curved up edges on the inside of this card are fairly inflexible, and it doesn't close all the way. Adds just a little bit more vintage-y feel to it, I think.

Well, I'm off to make another card. Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to be back real soon--I've got to make seven more cards in the next four days if I want to complete all the Love Fest challenges! :)

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Splitcoaststampers Love Fest Challenge: LOVEFEST2013J (In Love With Color by Verve--aqua, brown, & pink)
Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge: Metal-ology

~Hugs,

 

Stamps: Bird's Nest (LaBlanche); Little Things (Our Daily Bread)
Paper: Life's Journey (K&Co); The Basics (The Paper Studio); watercolor paper
Ink: Distress Ink & Reinkers; Memento; Glimmer Mist
Dies: Curved Rectangles (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Seam binding dyed with reinkers (Hug Snug); paper doily; mini staples; brad; twine (The Twinery); sewing thread; Distrezz-it-All
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Tuesday Morning Sketch Challenge #141: Butterflies

Hi Friends! Have you played along with Tuesday Morning Sketches yet? If you have, you know how much fun it is, and if you haven't, this is the perfect time to start, because our intrepid leader, Melissa, has come up with a great sketch, Digital Delights is our fab sponsor,and this week is a judged challenge--not a random drawing! Being a judged challenge, there is a twist, too: Think Spring! You ready?!? Let's go!

Here's the sketch:

And, here's my take on it:

I rotated the sketch and tweaked it just a bit by tilting the main image panel and adding an embellie. The yellow corrugated layer is from a shipping box. I peeled off one side of the paper, painted it, then sanded it to give it a more distressed look. 

For the image, I stamped it in black ink, then embossed it with clear embossing powder. I wanted to use the current Kathy's Lily Pad Palette Challenge of pink, green, and yellow for this card, so I colored the leaves and vines green, one butterfly in shades of pink, one in shades of yellow, and the largest in both pink and yellow. I love how that one turned out, with orange in the blended areas. I added Stickles here and there for some sparkle--always essential in a girlie card. ;)

The sentiment is from Flourishes' Tiny Flowers and Tags set, and I used the coordinating Classic Tags Template die to cut it. See how the knots on the lace lined up perfectly with the eyelets on the white die cut border? I didn't know that was going to happen until I was actually putting it together. I love it when things work out just right, by pure chance.

As busy as the front of this card is, the inside was much more difficult for me to design. All I knew was that I wanted to use this Spellbinders Flying Beauties die cut. I've had the set for awhile, but never used it. You can't see it in the picture, but after sponging Distress Ink on the butterfly, I spritzed it with Shimmer Spritz, so it shimmers in the light. The flourish underneath the sentiment is from the In Flight stamp set from Our Craft Lounge--perfect since that is a butterfly set, too. 

Okay, that's it for my card. I sure hope you can join us at Tuesday Morning Sketches this week! And, for some fantastic inspiration, be sure to check out the rest of the DT to see how they interpreted this sketch. You may be so inspired, you'll want to make more than one card for the challenge! ;) I can't wait to see what you come up with!

I'll be entering this card in the following additional challenges:
Simon Says Stamp: Use Your Favorite Tool (Mine is the Big Shot!)
Little Darlings Challenge 20: Outside
Kathy's Lily Pad Palette Challenge: Pink, green, yellow
Flourishes Bring Back Beautiful Challenge 21: The Beauty of Friendship
Crafty Friends Challenge #1: Vintage

Thanks so much for visiting me today! Hope you have a wonderful week, and have fun with the challenge!

~Hugs!

 

Stamps: On Butterfly Wings (Hampton Art); Tiny Flowers & Tags (Flourishes); Sunny Days (Verve); In Flight (Our Craft Lounge)
Paper: Sweet Nectar (K&Co); cardboard
Ink: Copics; Colorbox; Distress Ink
Dies: Classic Tags Template (Flourishes); Fair Isle Border Petites, Fleur de Lis Rectangle, Flying Beauties (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Clear embossing powder; lace (Joann); acrylic paint; flower; twine; Stickles; Shimmer Spritz; Enamel Accents; sanding block
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Hey Lady!

Hello Friends! I'm heading out to the grocery store, so this will be short and sweet. The Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge #163 this week is to create a birthday card. What great timing--I needed a birthday card for a friend next week! I went with a vintage look so I could join in the fun at Crafty Friends Challenges, a brand new challenge hosted by Beate Johns. If you haven't seen her work, be sure to check out her personal blog, Fresh & Fun. I assure you, you will be Wowed! She's also assembled a super crafty DT. I can't wait to see the projects they have in store for us!

For this card, I used the Deconstructed Sketch #46 for my layout.




















And the color palette of CR84FN51.

And, here's what I came up with:

It's hard to see in the photo, but the layer behind the flowers is actually white card stock that was stamped with a floral background stamp in light blue.

This is my first time to use the dress form image, but it certainly won't be my last. I colored the pearl necklack with a pink Copic and the one hanging from the belt with a yellow Copic. Stickles are used on the chains, the "jewels" hanging from the belt, and also on the belt buckle.

And, on the inside:

I used the same floral background stamp on the inside that I did on the white panel on the front of the card. If you click on the photo, I think you'll be able to see it. It's actually a really pretty stamp.

I'll be entering this card in the following challenges:
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge #163
Crafty Friends Challenge #1: Vintage
Deconstructed Sketch #46
CR84FN51: Pink, Peach, Light Blue

And, that's it for me today. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend and a Happy, Happy Easter!

~Hugs,

 

Stamps: Feminine Charm (Flourishes); Fancy Floral Background (Stamp Camp)
Paper: Annalee (Prima); Sweetness (Pink Paislee)
Ink: Copics; Distress Ink; Colorbox
Dies: Fancy Tags Three (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Pearls; Flowers; Lace; Sewing Thread; Stickles
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Love You Always

Hi Friends! I have another Valentine's Day card to share with you today. This one is for my DD to give to her daddy, my DH. She calls him Papa, and she absolutely adores him. She's in the second grade, and reads at a sixth grade level, but she still wants her Papa to read to her every night. It's their "thing." Their plan is to do this until she grows up and moves away. Isn't that sweet?

I used another older Mojo Monday sketch (#170) for my layout. The theme for Our Craft Lounge OCL104 is Vintage Love, and the Flourishes Bring Back Beautiful challenge this month is BBB19: The Beauty of Love, so I think this card handles both of those pretty well.

I am loving my new By Lori Designs digital images. This one is Suzy, and she reminds me of my DD, with all that curly hair and demure expression.

I colored Suzy with Copic markers, fussy cut her out, added little dots of Liquid Pearls for buttons, then popped her up with foam dots. After stamping the hearts beside her, I sponged Victorian Velvet Distress Ink in them and added pink rhinestones for sparkle. I used a Pearl Pen for the pearls on the Fleur de Lis Rectangle die cut. The Valentine ticket is stapled onto the card with a mini stapler.

After die cutting the blue heart, I sponged Victorian Velvet Distress Ink around the edges while it was still in the die. Then stamped a burlap design on it in Stormy Sky Distress Ink. Using my Distrezzer, I distressed the edges of the heart, ticket, and main panel, sponged Walnut Stain, then randomly dabbed water here and there to smear the ink, rolling up some of the edge, too. I stitched the main layers by randomly changing between zigzag and straight stitching, and also changed up the width and length of the stitches as I sewed.

The inside is a little unusual. See what you think, then I'll explain my thoughts behind it:

Since this card is from my DD, I wanted it to "feel" like it was from her. When she makes cards, she tends to get really carried away when she likes a particular stamp or ink or glitter glue (I may have to put my Stickles under lock and key!)  So, when I decorated the inside of this card, I used the "lots & lots of love" sentiment, then stamped the "Happy Valentine's Day" sentiment lots & lots of times, along with that little heart stamp. To my DD, the more she emphasizes something, the more it means to her, and she would really, really, really, want her Papa, my DH, to know that she loves him and wants him to have a Happy Valentine's Day. She's such a Sweetheart!

Well, that's it for today! Hope your day is filled with crafty fun!

~Hugs,

 

Stamps: Puddle Jumper-Suzy--Digi Stamp (By Lori Designs); Valentine Savings (Hero Arts); Burlap background (Stamp Camp)
Paper: Kissing Booth, Oxford (Basic Grey); Vintage Style Valentine Tickets (Miss Cutiepie Inspiration)
Ink: Copic Markers; Distress Ink
Dies: Classic Hearts, Classic Scalloped Hearts, Fleur de Lis Rectangles (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Ribbon (Offray); pearls; sewing thread; Glossy Accents; Liquid Pearls; rhinestones; Pearl Pen; mini staples
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Live Among the Flowers

Hello Friends! [If you are looking for my Flourishes Timeless Tuesday post, click here. If you are looking for my first Tuesday Morning Sketch post, click here.] I'm back with the final card for my notecard set. I used the Tuesday Morning Sketch #128 for this one and the CR84FN45 color challenge colors.

I colored the flowers with Prismacolor pencils and used gamsol to soften it up. The cameo is a button with the shank cut off. 

Thanks for stopping by today, and be sure to check out the Tuesday Morning Sketch blog for details on the judged sketch challenge this week.

 

Stamps: Clearly Beautiful Flowers (Prickly Pear Rubber Stamps)
Paper: Cafe Mediterranean (DCWV)
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink
Dies: Lacy Squares (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Ribbon (Michaels); pearls; pearl brad (Art Minds); buttons; Stickles; Enamel Accents; Perfect Pearls Mist; colored pencils; Gamsol; waxed linen thread
Size: 4 Bar (3.5" x 4.875")

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Tuesday Morning Sketches #128: Cheetah Heels

Hi Friends! [If you're looking for my Flourishes Timeless Tuesday challenge post, click here.] It's time for another Tuesday Morning Sketch challenge, TMS128, and this week is a judged challenge with an added twist: make it vintage.

Bugaboo Digi Stamps is sponsoring this week's challenge and those cute cheetah heels are one of their images. I colored it twice, fussy cut the front shoe and popped it up on the main image. The heel tip is colored with a gold opaque pen and the bows have a little bit of gold Pearl Pen on them for added shine. The pearl dots around the shoe image is a Pearl Pen, too.

I made the flower with a Carnation Dimensional Punch. The flowers from those kinds of punches always sit up too high for my taste, so after it was finished, I just cut most of the base off and re-glued it with hot glue and it held together fine.

For the inside of the card, I used Flourishes stamps. The soul mates stamp from the Feminine Charms set was perfect for this card. I stamped the decorative flourish on the brown cardstock with Versamark ink, and used a brown pen to doodle on the edges of the red cardstock. This was my first time to try freehand doodling. I was a little nervous about messing up the whole thing, but I think I like it.

In this close up, you can see the red Pearl Pen dots. For the ones on the Beaded Circle die cut, I sponged red ink on the circles before removing the die, then added the Pearl Pen dots. It makes it look like the Pearl Pen dots soaked into the paper, but they didn't. I didn't intend to have that look, but once I saw it I liked it immediately. It adds just a little more vintage-ness to the card.

So, now that you've had a look at my card, you can click on over to the Tuesday Morning Sketches blog and see what the other ladies on the design team have to inspire you. Then, create something fab and link it up. I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Thanks for stopping by today!

 

Stamps: Heels-Cheetah (Bugaboo Digital Stamps); Feminine Charm, Tag Lines, Moments in Time (Flourishes)
Paper: Lille (7Gypsies)
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink; Colorbox; Versamark; Copic Markers
Dies: Labels Sixteen, Labels Fourteen, Curved Rectangles, Std Circles Lg, Beaded Circles (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Carnation Dimensional Punch (EK Success); Velvet Ribbon, Lace (Fancy Pants Design); Jeweled brad (Art Minds); black rhinestone brad (Recollections); Pearl Pen; twine
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Beauty of Dreams

Hi Friends! If you saw this post an hour ago, you saw a raw, super quick shot of my card, using an on-camera flash instead of a light box and there was very little photo editing. I apologize for that. I was seriously under the wire on the Flourishes Feminine Flair Challenge, and I didn't have time for all that editing then. Here's a much better photo:

That gorgeous paper by Pink Paislee did most of the work on this card. I just layered a wide piece of lace over it, stamped the sentiment onto a white oval, sponged Spun Sugar Distress Ink inside the die and pierced the inside edge, then adhered an Ironwork Motif die cut to the back of the sentiment. The gold pearls on the Ironwork diecut are Pearl Pen pearls, and the little rose is resin. A few pink pearls in the upper corners and this card was done.

For the inside, I sponged Spun Sugar and Victorian Velvet inks on the edges of a white panel, adhered the Ironworks Accent strip along the top, and stamped the sentiment and rose in Stormy Sky, stamping on scrap paper first, to get a lighter blue on the card. I didn't stamp off for the rose well enough, and left some dark spots, but hey, it's handmade, right? :)

I seriously, didn't think I'd be making cards and posting again until after Christmas. I guess I'm just the tiniest bit obsessed. :)

Have a wonderful weekend!

~Hugs,

 

Stamps: Tag Lines, Sweet Nature (Flourishes)
Paper: Sweetness (Pink Paislee)

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink

Dies: Ironwork Motifs, Ironwork Accents, Classic Ovals Lg (Spellbinders)

Accessories: Lace (Fancy Pants Designs; pearls; sewing thread; Pearl Pen; paper piercer; floral embellishment (Recollections)
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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