Just Us Girls #38 plus EBTKS #17 ....cabbage rose tea party

Hi everyone!  Today I am pleased to share the latest color challenge from Just Us Girls!  Our super talented Alicia has chosen a gorgeous, and many times *tasty*, color combo of chocolate, vanilla and pink...otherwise known as Neopolitan icecream in my house! ;)  Check it out:

I also was inspired by the extremely versatile sketch from the Everything But the Kitchen Sink girls!

I'm really excited about this one for one big (centerstage like) reason...I made that flower myself from fabric scraps!  So loving it!  There are some amaizng tutorials HERE, HERE, and HERE to start or just search "how to make burnt edged fabric flowers" for a garden full of fabulous ideas!  For my flower, I cut by hand, and not too exactly, circles of fabric in several sizes.  The pink fabric is a crepe-y pice I grabbed out of the "free" box at my local treasure trove, The Legacy, the white satin is from a formal dress my crazy-talented  mom made me when I was 19 (eee gads!  that's 16 years of hoarding!) and the pink tulle was salvaged off of a wedding package we received 12 years ago (yes, confirmed hoarder, I know).  I ended up using about 15-20 circles in the end just layering them as I went until I got something I liked. 

See?  kinda fluffy huh?  I went for a few random burned edges which is the result of passing it through the flame versus near the flame which just curls the edges.  Use tweezers and work on a flame tolerant surface....fabric can be flammable!  Ask me how I know? ;)  You might want a little ventilation too...

I stitched the layers together with needle and thread and then Fabri-tac glued the white button and large gem to the center of the flower.  Other juicy details are my pretty butterfly from Want 2 Scrap, tea-stained trim I made myself and the perfect teacup image stamp from All Night Media turned tag with images from Papertrey Ink.  A paper doily sets the scene for my tea party...rose hip tea anyone?

Ready for some more amazing pink, vanilla and chocolate?  I hope you will visit the Just Us Girls DT (they are listed in my side bar) and leave them some lovin' for their inspiration and then JOIN us in our color challenge this week!  Be sure and link us up on the Inlinkz tool.  By the way, a shout out to all of you smashing digi designers for last week's challenge....154 entries!  Really amazing!  Thanks so much for your continued support and enthusiasm for Just Us Girls challenges!  We love you!  And a heartfelt thank you from me to you for all of you who visit and encourage me on this creative journey!  You make my day with your wonderful comments. 

Supplies:

Paper: Papertrey Ink

Stamps: All Night Media, Papertrey Ink

Butterfly accent: Want 2 Scrap

Ink: Papertrey Ink

punch: Fiskars

Craft supply: craft gem, tea stained seam binding, fabric scraps, paper doily

My Time to Inspire 06 Challenge - {Sweet as honey}

I spy with my little eye...chocolate and glitter and flowers, oh MY! Hey friends! It's saturday so you know what that means...a my time challenge with Lauren and the my time challenge team! This week is an inspiration challenge so use any part of the challenge photo to inspire your project.

the challenge:

my card:

All kinds of favorites here...glitter, scallops, button, Papertrey stamps, swiss dots embossing envelope and sewing. I love this combo of chocolate and light blue with white or cream.

Some glitter accents on the silk flower make it sparkle! Speaking of sparkle, let me link you to some talented ladies who always sparkle....check out what the my time team has come up with this week:

Lauren Meader
Alicia Weiman
MacKenzie Bruckler
Maria Levine
Kendra Wisenbaker
Kristen Beuter
Tracey Cuccia
Pam Imholtz
Jen Tapler
Odette
Lisa Kind
Tamara Harder

Be sure to visit Kristen's blog for a Mr Linky to submit your creation. You could be one of Lauren's favorite projects highlighted in the My Time to Shine top 5!

Have a creative weekend and thanks so much for stopping by!

My Time to Inspire 05 Challenge - {Bee} Happy

Hey friends! What's the word? What's the BUZZ all about? Well I can think of at least one thing....and that is folks are buzzing about the change to the My Time to Create challenges with Lauren Meader and crew. Lauren will be highlighting favorite challenge projects each week starting with last saturday's challenge! Hooray! Watch for the very first announcement of the My Time To Shine top 5 on Lauren's blog!!! Could be YOU! Or one of your crafty friends...check out the links for last week's challenge on this post from Lauren.

So, are you up for another challenge? This week it's an inspiration challenge so you can use the image to inspire you, may be it inspires you with colors, or maybe layout, or??? you make the call. Be sure and post your project online somewhere and link us up with the Mr Linky that will be on Lauren's blog. Can't wait to see who's in the My Time to Shine Top 5!

the challenge:

my project:

So a little on what inspired me...I liked how the clothesline was full of brightly colored fabrics of all types of patterns, all lined up in a row. And even though each apron was it's own entity, there seemed to be a connecting fabric and/or color as you move your eye down the clothesline. I decided to let the neat clothesline lead me to neat rows of stamped cardstock and the connector be the bees from the Papertrey honey bees stamp set. I let Lauren's choice of highlighted colors be my guide in what color I would stamp each strip with.

I also snuck in two other Papertrey sets: Simply Stationary and Polka dot basics. Here is a closeup of the honey bee within one of the stationary decorative circles. Oh! And stitching since the aprons on the clothesline look handmade.

And finally, some buttons, because who is not loving buttons these days?? I am honestly quite happy to see the button back in vogue in papercrafting. There are just so many ways a button can be the perfect something don't you think??

Ready for MORE inspiration? Check out the My Time design team offerings this week. They are always up to something amazing!

Lauren
Alicia
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristen
Tracey
Jen
Odette
Tamara

Thank you so much for buzzing by! Your visits truly make my day :)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Supplies:

Paper: Papertrey Ink

Stamps: Papertrey Ink

Ink: SU!

Buttons: Papertrey Ink and Foofala

Other: Scrapper's floss, sewing machine and pinking sheers

Say thank you with flowers

Just a quickie to share an easy way to say thank you or hi or happy spring! The flowers are Cricut cut at the 5 1/2" size in the shadow setting of the smiley face flower from New Arrival. I also hand cut circles for the center. A little inking and crumpling, vintage lace doily, and a vintage-y button. The faux stitching is a sharpie white pen...I even "back-stitched"...heee hee, an attempt at covering a pen mishap which kinda made it look more authentic.

A wooden skewer makes a great "stem" to attach the flower to and a packet of seeds for planting. The cute little bee stamp from Papertrey Ink covers the price on the seed packet (which, at a mere 20 cents, is a very affordable gift to attach to your handy work.) The stem can be hand held, poked into floral foam into a cute container or stuck into the dirt of a flowering plant for giving which is what we will be doing this week for Teacher Appreciation bring flowers to your teacher day. These would also look adorable with a photo of your student as the flower center. I plan to also attach a piece of cardstock to the back of the seed packet with a note from my daughter on it to her teacher.

Super fun, fast and easy as can be! Thanks for coming by, and I hope you day is blooming with beauty!

Supplies:
Paper: CM
Stamps: Papertrey Ink Honeybees
Pen: Sharpie
Cricut cartridge: New Arrival
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink Chestnut Roan
Other: button and vintage doily

PTI Spring Fling challenge

Hey everyone :) It's Sunday evening here and I spent most of the day at a 4-H event with the family. It was a good old fashioned BBQ, raffle and mini fair. Despite the rainy morning, it was quite a lot of fun! AND a good excuse to make something :) A simple little folded envelope to hold some seed packets. A perfect and inexpensive gift for spring!
Over at Nichole Heady's blog, there is a little inspiration challenge going on. I chose Becky Oehler's graphic to work from.

I borrowed the headboard shape, the button accents (are those wall buttons the coolest or what??!), the color scheme, the floral garden look and the white on lime stripes from the sheets and this is what I got....

This cool chicken statue from Joann's was crowing my name when I walked by. I was really hoping to win him back today during the raffle but he went home with someone else. darn! Anyway, back to the spring fling challenge. I used a cool image of a rooster from SU (French Provencial set) and then PTI'd the rest. All the flowers are from Honeybees and the double pinstripe on the bottom is from Faux Ribbon. This is a new set to me and I am loving it! The double pin strip was stamped and then embossed in white and it really popped against the spring moss. All of the cardstock is PTI too.

Another fun first on this card was sizzix cutting some cork. It comes in thin sheets (I got mine at Michaels) and the daisy above cut without problems at all. Thanks to Dawn McVey for the buying tip :)

Well, that's it for today. The rooster crowed early at our house this morning so I think I will get some shut eye now. Hope you had a fabulous weekend and thanks so much for stopping by.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (PTI)

Stamps: PTI and SU

Ink: PTI, SU and colorbox

Embossing powder: Joann's

Ribbon: offray

border punch : martha stewert

Daisy sie: sizzix

Other: buttons, cork, round punch for hole reinforcement, seed packets.

February PTI Blog Hop... just fluttering by to wish you a happy spring!

It's blog hop night! Hooray! This card uses the flower image from the Papertrey Ink Honey bees set. I get a TON of use from this adorable set! Also on this card is Paper Pizazz floral printed paper, the butterfly die cut from SU!, crochet lace from an IT! kit studio kit, scallop punch from SU! and a button and sheer ribbon from my stash. The ink is SU! Also, I used pages from my vintage English literature book that I rescued from a doomed fate at the local recycle center. I am hooked on the thin tissue like pages and small type in that book :) Thank you for looking and happy Blog Hop everybody! Woohooo!

My oh my what a wonderful day!

WOW! Am I ever excited to share this stationary set!?? Thank you to Papertrey Ink and Nicole Heady for awarding me a Guest Star Stamper spot this month. Such an honor!!

This stationary set was created with my daughter's elementary teacher in mind. She once told me that she actually keeps bees and I just knew the Honey bee set from Papertrey would be perfect for her.

The new Simply Stationary stamp set has several different borders to nestle images or initials in for custom stationary and lots of great single detail images in which to finish off your designs.

This acrylic stationary box is actually a repurposed packaging box that the Papertrey stamp sets are shipped in. I loved being able to reuse this great box. It easily fit 6 notecards and 6 envelopes inside.

The below shot is my pile of supplies I had cut and ready to go using Cricut for the circles and the scallop circles. I used the swiss dots cuttlebug embossing folder to emboss the white cardstock and a Martha Stewert scallop punch for the black scallops. The next step was to stamp everything and then adhere it all together. Designing the layout takes the most time but, once that is done, assembling is a snap! I will definitely recreate this layout in the future.
Thanks so much for stopping by and looking :)

Supplies

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink Lemon Tart, SU! basic black and unknown white

Stamps: Papertrey Ink HOney Bees and Simply Stationary

Ribbon: Papertrey Ink

Ink: SU! Barely Banana and Stazon Black

Embossing folder: Cuttlebug swiss dots

Cricut cartridges: Mini Monogram cartridge

Punch: Martha Stewert

Dawn's Favorite color challenge from PTI

EDITED: I feel like the luckiest girl! THank you Papertrey Ink and Dawn for the amazing Damask set and for all the opportunities to enter and win during your anniversary celebration! You gals are amazing!!!

I was inspired by Dawn McVey's pink and orange card for this challenge. While those colors are not much of a departure from my usual style...I did venture out to try a more shabby approach to these bright colors. I aspire to be better at shabby and vintage and I was happy with the way this card combined a little of me and hopefully a little shabby too! What do you think? I started with Sizzix diecut flowers from a vintage book I have for just this purpose. The pages are nice and thin and make nice fluffy flower layers. I stamped them with Only Orange, Pink Passion and Creamy Caramel SU! inks. The stamp sets are from PTI...polka dot basics and simply stationary. The little bee and the "happy" are from PTI Honey bee set and the "birthday" is from SU! I inked and layered the die cut flowers and topped them off with a button. The leaves are white cs and then stamped with the simply stationary detail stamp and then inked as well. The flower stem was first paper pierced and then sewn with hot pink twistel. The scallop edge punch is from SU!

Thanks for looking!