Hip to be Square

The weekend has arrived full speed!  And I still have quite a bit to do.  A wonderful friend turned 70 this month, and her surprise Birthday party is tomorrow.  My wonderfully supportive husband and I have date night Saturday evening, and then a card club Sunday.  So, let's get started.  This week, Lori is our hostess @ Our Creative Corner.  She would like us to make a square card.  Not just ANY square card.  Lori has provided us with a sketch and a few requirements.  So, lets see what we need.

Sounds pretty easy.  Looks pretty easy.  So, lets get started!  Lori says that we can add a scallop edged piece to a square card.  So, that's what I did.  The scallop square die I have, only cuts a 4" x 4" scallop square.  And, that just seems 'small' to me.  So, I cut a piece of pattern paper a bit larger than the scallop square, to give it a matt.  And, then I added it to a 5" x 5" square card, using Crumb Cake cardstock as the card base. 

 

Ok, now for the 'shapes' inside the scallop.  For some reason, I can't get past the circles.   Flowers come to mind.  So, lets see what flower stamps I have that look good cut out.  But, I want something more than a flat flower.  So, lets add a smaller flower on top the orginal flower.  The flowers don't look finished.  Let's add a button, and some leaves.  

 

Ok, but 4 flowers look too planned, too organized, too thoughtless.  So, let's shake up the sketch and add a butterfly.  I want something soft, not flat.  I cut a butterfly shape out of some ivory felted wool.  Still 'flat', so lets add a button.  Looks too plain.  Lets make a corsage pin.  I started with a pearl tip push pin.  I want the pin to have some sparkle, so how about a schworski crystal and a glass bead?  Lets keep them white, clear, and simply pretty.  

 

Now, lets work on the 'label'.  The sketch shape is pretty and elegant.  What do I have to make a pretty and elegant label.  Ok, now what stamps do I have, to stamp some words inside the label.   And what 'objects' do I have that I can add some visual interest to the 'label'; a bird and a 'no. 5'.  

The card still looks 'flat', and 'unfinished'.  So, lets add some crochet trim.  And a poor man's knot.  Not enough.  Lets add some tiny tags and attach the tags with a tiny safety pin.

 Here is my card:

 

Viola!  Here is my finished card.  I used almost all Stampin' Up! products on this card.  The only exceptions are the buttons and corsage pin and beads.  But, all in all, I'm pretty happy with it!  Now, it's your turn.   Let's see what you create using Lori's sketch and requirements, and post your finished papercraft @ Our Creative Corner challenge blog.  And don't forget to enjoy your weekend!

Trying to Find Time

Happy Friday! oh boy.  The week has flown by, and I didn't get an opportunity to sit down at my craft table and get a card done.  I'm sorry.  But, I do want to share the sketch from Sketch Frenzy Friday.  Angela has created this fun, and creative sketch for us to work with:

But please, continue this blog hop, and stop by Tammy F. blog to see what she has created.
Have a great weekend! 

Wedding Congrats #23 and #98

Wow!  Where has the week gone?  Some Most weeks I feel like I am playing catch-up.  And, it makes me wonder if everyone else does.  It's hard to gauge your busy-ness, if your schedule is the only one you see, or measure.  Know what I mean?  So, to make the most of my time, I  have created a card that will allow me to enter two (yes, 2) challenges.  One is a sketch, and the other is a color & inspiration challenge.

The talented ladies over @ Stampin' Queens Sketch Challenge have a great sketch this week! The ladies just ask that you use your Stampin' Up! supplies when you participate in their challenges.  And the wonderfully creative ladies over @ Shabby Tea Room have a pretty inspirational board and color challenge for us this week, entitled: Sparkle & Bright.  The colors are: white, cream, silver,  with a touch of pink!

So, here is what I made:

The inspirational photo made me think of either a vintage wedding, or tea with your grandmother.  So, I set out to my craft room.  I knew that I was going to use white and vanilla cardstock.  So, I pulled out a sheet of each.  Then, I wanted to see what I had for pattern paper in pink.  I wanted a simple, elegant pattern; not too bright, or too busy.  Twitterpated DSP worked.  The silver (a little glimmer) was easy-peasy: silver glitter paper.  

I wanted the card base to be white cardstock.  The panel to be vanilla cardstock with a design in white.  I inked up a large simple, delicate image in white craft ink, dusted the cardstock with white embossing powder, and heat set it.  Now the plain vanilla has a simple design to break up the empty space.  

I had a scrap piece of sahara sand textured cardstock, so I matted the blushing bride pattern paper to it.  That way, the pattern paper has defined borders.  I wanted some paper 'lace', so I used my lace-trim border punch and a scrap piece of first edition dsp.  

I kept my cut circle simple.  It started as a 3" circle of shimmer white cardstock.  I didn't stamp on it, to showcase the shimmer and keeping the card from getting cluttered.  I made the paper flower.  I punched the leaves using a textured sahara sand cardstock.  I cut some pretty, vintage ribbons (crochet trim, crumb cake seam binding, vanilla velvet ribbon) and added them just below my paper flower.  I have a weakness for those super cute mini vintage tags, so I stamped the word, 'love' from the Fabulous Phrases stamp set, in soft suede classic ink.  

I love this sentiment bracket from Creative Elements stamp set, so I stamped it in crumb cake classic ink, and the 'congratulations' from Wedding Sweet stamp set, in soft suede classic ink.  I tore around the bracket, sponged the edges with sahara sand classic ink.  I used foam tape on the back to lift it off the card.  

For the three tiny flowers at the upper left side, I first punched out the shapes, and then used my foam mat and a stylis to create the bend in the petals.  I added a half faux pearl to the centers.  I punched the leaves out of silver glitter paper.  

To finish the card, I gave it a spray (ok two) with my own home-made champagne shimmer paint.  I wanted the card to have a subtle glimmer.  A twinkle surprise, so to speak.

Thank you for looking.  And let me know how you start your creative process.  Let me know if you start with stamps or paper when putting a card together.  Or if it depends on the challenge requirements.  It's fun to see how our processes go.

Baby Shower Theme

Happy Saturday!  I hope all of you are well.  I have noticed that alot of folks are taking a break from either blogging or joining various challenges.  I encourage each of you to participate in a challenge.  Any challenge.  You just might be amazed at how much fun it is!  Also, if you would like a consistant challenge and a chance at being part of a wonderfully creative design team, Our Creative Corner has a design team call currently running.  Please check out their site to see the particulars.  We would love to have you.

Lori is our hostess this week.  And she has a super clever and creative challenge for us!  Her found this absolutely wonderful inspirational photo showcasing a Baby Shower Dessert table.  Vicki wants us to use the colors in the photo: peach, light blue, brown, and vanilla.  Also, you can make something to reflect the theme!  Here is her photo:

 

Isn't this photo just the cutest?  I'm a cake decorator, too, so this photo really speak volumns to me!  But, I have to admitt, the pool party and coral colors just jump out to me!  I didn't cash-in on the baby shower theme, but it is still beautiful!  I do love the tree in the background.  When I saw the tree, I instantly thought of birds, and that led to their eggs, a nest.  And this all makes me think of home.

Here is my card:

The card base is actually Tangerine Tango.  I know, I first thought that calypso coral or cameo coral would have been a better match.  But neither color cardstock was 'orange' enough.   I used an 1/8" matt behind the pattern papers.  That thin matt is early espresso, and not chocolate chip.  I needed a color that was deeper and richer in brown.   I selected the 'yard stick' pattern paper to convey the growth of children or babies.  The birds and the nest tag was a perfect match to the inspiration I received from the inspiration photo.  I tied a scrap piece of early espresso quilted satin ribbon around one portion of the card.  I secured the bow to the card front with a new SAB designer brad.  The 'gather' tag I thought was perfect and a purchase.

Thank you for stopping by.  I hope you found some inspiration both here in my blog and on our design team home page.  We all understand when you need to make adjustments in your schedules to find the time  you need/want to express your creative side.  Stop by Our Creative Corner challenge blog to see both this challenge, and our design team call. 

Design Happiness #46

WOW! can you believe that it is already Friday!  Well, I'm having a fun time working with these different challenges, and learning a few things to help my stampin' business.  The wonderful Tina from Sketch Frenzy Friday has designed a wonderfully creative sketch for us and YOU to work with.  The thing that I love the most about these great sketches, is that they allow you some creative freedom and use the wonderful Stampin' Up! products.  I mean how much more great can it be?  So, if you are a super fan of these products, but are either looking for a great challenge, or some inspiration, I encourage you to play along with us and take on the challenge.  We would love to see what you create!

Here is the sketch:

At first when I saw this sketch, I thought, ugh, I'm not a big fan of partial circles on cards.  But, then, I just let the sketch lay around for a few days, and then it occured to me, 'I don't have to make the half circle a piece of paper.  I can make it an image (medallion stamp, or a ring of butterflies, or...)  The rectangle could be a sentiment, or a label, or ...    So, don't be limited by just what you see, but what you 'see'.  Then I was looking for some inspiration, so I headed over to one of my favorite challenge sites, that I find a lot of inspiration; CR84FN color challenge.  This week, the colors are light pink, yellow, and a neutral.  It just sounds pretty and feminine, so that was the look that I was going for.

Here is their inspirational photo and quote:

Here is my card:

For this card I used So Saffron as my 'yellow'. and Pink Pirouette as my 'light pink'.  For the 'neutral' I used both black and white.  I first stamped the floral image in so saffron classic ink, onto so saffron card stock, randomly, and the very vanilla tag.  Then I stamped the 'hello doily' background stamp in versa mark and then poured white embossing powder on it.  Heated this gorgeously detailed image with my heat gun.  I created a flower with pink pirouette and first edition dsp with the bird & bloom die.  I created a tag with the lots of tags die and cut it out of very vanilla cardstock.  I stamped 'for you' in basic black classic ink  Then I a string of half faux pearls along one edge and a silver glitter butterfly to the other side.  I matted this whole piece onto a piece of basic black cardstock.  The card base is Very Vanilla cardstock.

I'm really happy with how this card turned out.  And I hope that you join this Sketch Frenzy Friday blog hop and see what Tammy F. has created.  And join us for a challenge.