You're An Angel

One of my coworkers asked me to make a custom card for his wife several months back. She loves angels, so I dug into my stash to see what I could find.

The angel and fleur-de-lis are from an old TPC Studio set, Classic Icons. It's not a set I use much, but I'm glad I didn't get rid of it: I needed this angel for this special lady's birthday!

The Verve Celebrating You sentiment...I mean, how perfect is that for this card??

Oh, and my coworker's wife's favorite color is purple, so I found a couple of patterned papers that worked well together: one lighter lavender, one a deep rich plum. 

I hear she liked the card...yay! Adding special, personal touches to my handmade creations gives me a happy heart. :-)

Paris in Spring for Mother's Day

This Mother's Day card does remind me of Paris in the spring, with the butterfly, subtle fleur-de-lis and Eiffel Tower.  It was my inspiration the day I made this.

There are golden highlights on the Leafy Vine background by Hero Arts, hard to capture in the photo above, but better appreciated below.

If this pink and gold panel looks familiar, you may remember this card of mine.  I had made a few panels like this in 2014, and the last one worked nicely here.  The butterfly is textured with white raised dots, and I hand-trimmed it from a store-bought greeting card.

There is a subtly-stamped fleur-de-lis on this little die cut tag below.  I used a marker to add faux stitching along the top, added a bow made of vintage thread, and stamped a sentiment.

As I type this post, we're having a heatwave.  It's a high of 96 degrees F today and tomorrow, and very humid.  Feels like over 100 degrees.  Sheesh!  I'm more of a cooler weather person, so I hope this heat wave doesn't last too long.

Stamps: sentiment - Tag-Its #5 - Papertrey Ink; Leafy Vine background - Hero Arts; Fleur-de-lis - Classic Icons - TPC Studio; Eiffel Tower - Mon Ami Paris - Technique Tuesday Paper: Regal Rose - Stampin' Up!; Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink Ink: Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap - Ranger; Memento Tuxedo Black - Tsukineko; Crumb Cake - Stampin' Up! Fibers: vintage thread Accessories & Tools: gold embossing powder - SU; marker; butterfly from store-bought card; Mix-and-Match Banners die - My Favorite Things/Die-namics

Viva La Verve #2 - Wedding

I'm a little behind getting my Viva La Verve challenges done, but still okay if I finish before the end of January.  This is Sketch #2 for January:

I combined this with a new-to-me challenge, Jay Gee's Nook.  (thanks for the inspiration, Tammy!) Here is the inspiration picture:

The bits that I honed in on are the fabric design and birdcages on the bottom row, the lacy parasols in the top row, and the keys on the middle row.

The background is a Hero Arts stamp called Large Fabric Design, which is a recent acquisition for me.  I used DewDrop Versamagic Chalk Ink in Wheat on white cardstock.  I love it!

The lace is by Offray, and I wove (weaved?) a ribbon scrap through the holes, then tied it off in a knot on top.  I purposely frayed the edge for a different effect.

This key stamp is from Classic Icons by TPC, bought at Michael's loooong ago (probably two years).  It's the first stamp from this set that has seen ink!

For the oval, I layered on three stamps:  the sentiment and rings are from Verve's Love Story, and the bird cage is from Stampin' Up!'s Nature Walk (another set that I haven't used until now).

I embossed the rings with gold embossing powder, and an accident happened.  The word 'happiness' right above the rings was still wet, though I didn't know it.  Now it's got a speckly, flecked kind of look to it...and I decided it looks alright.  (Heck, I did NOT want to do this panel over; too many steps!)

I'm entering this also at Hero Arts January Contest, where the theme is love.

Thanks for joining me, and I'll see you tomorrow morning with another Play Date Cafe challenge!

Colleen

Stamps:  Love Story - Verve; Nature's Walk - SU; Classic Icons - TPC; Large Fabric Design - Hero Arts
Paper: white - PTI; Early Espresso - SU
Ink:  DewDrop Versamagic Chalk Ink - Wheat; Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark - Tsukineko; Antique LInen Distress - Ranger; Crumb Cake, Early Espresso - SU
Punch:  Acanthus Leaf - EK Success
Other:  Big Shot; oval die cuts - Spellbinders; lace - Offray; ribbon scrap; pearls; gold embossing powder - SU; heat tool

I'm A Guest Designer for SCS!

Hello!  I have the pleasure of being a Guest Designer this week for Splitcoast's Clean and Simple Design Team.   Challenge 104 is "Inspiration from a Word or Phrase:  Rock & Roll".

At first, I was stumped.  I do not own "rock and roll-ish" stamps, or any kind of music for that matter.  No musical notes, no guitars, etc.  So, I took out my binder of stamp sets and mulled it over.

• Polka Dots background stamp?  - no, that's a polka, not R & R
• Vintage Vogue, in honor of Madonna's song "Vogue"? - no, that's pop music
• Baroque Motifs, for baroque music? - no, wrong century
• A crown from Artistic Etchings, in honor of The King, Elvis?  - okay, now we're getting somewhere!
• Sweet Dreams, for the Eurythmics song of the same title?  Cool Cat, for Ted Nugent's "Cat Scratch Fever"? - maybe!

Ultimately, I decided on a combination of three songs:

• "Freeze Frame" by the J. Geils Band
• "Rooster" by Alice in Chains
• "Fell on Black Days" by Soundgarden

The J. Geils Band was popular when I was younger, and my husband listens to Alice In Chains and Soundgarden sometimes, and I like a couple of their songs.  Mostly I listen to classical music, though!

What do you think?  Different, yes.  But I really like the dramatic look for a change!
I used Fancy Frames by TPC Studio, a rooster from Vintage Farmhouse by Fiskars (yay, another stamp set finally sees ink!  I only got it two years ago for a birthday), and some Nestie frames:  Labels One and Large Deckled Rectangles.

I grabbed a layout I saw in Stampin' Up!'s spring Mini Catalog on page 24.  An SU catalog is full of ideas for layouts!

Background designer paper is from My Mind's Eye 'Garden Vignettes'.  The rooster was colored with Copics.  I'm sure I did not get his colors as nature would, but oh well!

I hope you are inspired to play in this challenge.  If you really think about it, inspiration can be found anywhere.

Happy Stamping,

Colleen


Stamps:  Vintage Farmhouse by Fiskars, Fancy Frames by TPC Studio
Paper:  Basic Black, white by PTI, designer paper by MME 'Garden Vignettes'
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Other:  Big Shot, Spellbinders Labels One and Large Deckled Rectangles, Copic markers, dimensionals, orange and red rhinestones from Queen & Co., black ribbon from the Stamp Simply Ribbon Store

Play Date Cafe 66: Inspired by a Plate Rack

I am so loving the challenge colors this week at The Play Date Cafe...it's Color Splash time!!

Right away, the old Stampin' Up! demo in me saw "Almost Amethyst" as that purplish shade.    

My personal inspiration came from my dining room's plate rack:

The walls are gray, white and purple.  The plate rack is black iron, and holds three Limoge dishes from my great-aunt.  They were given to her by her first husband's grandmother, I believe.  So, these dishes are pretty old.  They are decorated with irises, one of my fave flowers.

My card:

I had no appropriate flower stamps to fit in a 1" circle punch, so I spotted my unused fleur-de-lis.  Fleur-de-lis icons are modeled after iris flowers.  How lucky can I be?!

You need to go see the beautiful things created by my teammates at the Cafe, too:

Senior DT:
Julie Ranae
Sarah Anderson
Savannah O'Gwynn
Ruby 2 Shoes

Design Team:
Andrea Ewen
Fiona Shultz
Jaclyn Miller
Jinny Newlin
Libby Hickson
Michele Gross
Tracey Kuzniak

Private Blend Designer:
Colleen Dietrich - that's me!

This week our sponsor is the fabulous...

Please follow the rules carefully to enter.

Deadline for prizes is 11:59pm EST on Tuesday
The 'Cup of the Week' will be announced during the next challenge.
ALL SKILL LEVELS ARE ENCOURAGED TO PLAY!
We want you to enjoy this challenge.
Interpret the colors the way you see them.
We do not use specific card stock color names or brands.
Break out of the box and have fun!

The main requirement is:
PDCC COLORS BE THE FOCUS OF YOUR SUBMISSION
When using additional colors, please limit them to neutrals.
You are welcome to combine challenges, but we do ask that:
1. The PDCC name and/or photo is used
2. OUR colors are the focus of the card.

We'd love for you to come play!  See you there.

 

 

 

 

 

Stamps:  fleur de lis from Classical Icons - TPC Studio, Elements of Style

Paper:  Almost Amethyst, Whisper White, Going Gray, Basic Black

Ink:  Basic Black, Almost Amethyst

Punch:  Modern Garland by Martha Stewart, 1" circle

Other:  Big Shot, circle Nestie and Fancy Tags by Spellbinders, dimensionals