Tea Party!

Giovana was our hostess for this party, and the theme was stitches and ribbon. Yep, I can definitely do that!

This is a very quick card - I love this patterned paper (Making Memories), and just accented the design with this wonderful sentiment from Friends Trio. I would have loved to do some real stitching on it, but my sewing machine is buried so I settled for the faux variety with a paper piercer and a marker. Still a nice effect, though! I distressed all the edges and then tied on some cute ribbon (Prima) as the final touch.

Hop over to Susan, Dina, Giovana & Donelda to see what loveliness they have to share today!

Playing Catch-Up

Can you believe it's already Monday - and that February is just a few days away?!? Yes, 2009 is already beginning to fly by...

As I was clearing up some stuff on the computer, I came across these two cards and realized I'd never shared them. They both feature the Clock Collage set, and the first one also uses the oh-so-versatile script block from One Smile and the sentiment is from Opportunity Trio. For the first one, I used textured card stock as the base, spritzed with glimmer mist. Gorgeous! I used a ribbon slot punch to create a filmstrip type effect with black cardstock, and I fancied up a stickpin with a few beads (and a dab of matte accents on the tip to prevent puncture wounds :)

The second is all about the contrast of black and white - I used patterned paper in opposite quadrants of the card base, and matted the image with black to make sure it "popped" against the white. Doesn't get any easier than that!!

And one last thing to attend to - our next smART Cookie Tea party is this Wednesday! Giovana is our hostess, and we're to bring out the "stitches and ribbon." Both would be lovely, of course, but she's graciously allowed one or the other - and faux stitching is even allowed :) Hope you can join in the fun...

Glitterin' Good Tea Party

Our first Tea Party of '09, and Donelda challenged us to bring on the bling - specifically of the glittery variety.

I really love the sentiment and the bird in the Shelley set, and thought it would work well for this challenge. I pulled out the granola BasicGrey pad, and selected this simple blue print as well as several coordinating "solids." I stamped the bird and the sentiment onto the lightest one, then trimmed away. I traced the bird with stardust stickles - my favorite way to add sparkle while still allowing color to come through (plus I always seem to make a big mess with loose glitter!). I cut the bottom of the printed paper with decorative scissors to add a bit more interest, and then layered a narrow strip of paper under the sentiment (which is a better option than ribbon if you're planning to mail something out).

Be sure to go visit Susan, Dina, Giovana & Donelda to see what sparkly goodness they have to share! :)

Birthday Fairy

Yesterday was our daughter's birthday - I can't believe that my "baby" is already 4!! She's definitely a girly-girl, and is into all things pink, purple, and sparkly these days, and I tried to incorporate a bit of all that in her birthday card.

I started by pulling out this beautiful paper (Memory Box), then stamped the fairy (Cornish Heritage Farms). I colored her with prismacolor pencils, then accented her wand and dress with a spica glitter pen... for the crowning touch, I covered the wings with fine, irridescent glitter. She really is lovely! I diecut the letters (sizzix script sizzlet alpha) to spell out "wish."

And let those sparkly wings serve as a reminder for the Tea Party on Wednesday - hope you can join us!

Fading flower...

I have a simple card to share today. The flower is from Hello, and the verse is Isa 40:8. The main image is "inked" with twinkling H2Os, so it has a lovely shimmer to it. Add a sentiment and a bit of embellishment, and you're good to go! The verse, pearls and ribbon are all dark brown although they look black here.

Hope you all have a great weekend. I'm heading to an all-day crop tomorrow hosted by a local church, so am quite hopeful that I'll have all sorts of creations to share as a result :)

Sparkly Tea Party!

Well, now that we've made it through Christmas and New Year's, it's time to start teh smART Cookie Tea Parties back up again! Donelda is our hostess this time around, and she's challenged us to get glittery. Anything glittery will do: glitter, shiny cardstock, bling ... You know I'm excited about this one! :) We'll post our projects next Wednesday, Jan 14, and we'd love to have you play along with us!

Some fanciness with a side of rambling

I have one last "Fancy Lady" to share - the main image is from In Fashion, and the sentiment is from Hats. The lovely patterned papers are from SEI; the main panel has gold foil accents and it is oh-so-elegant in person. I re-aligned the sentiment using my stamp-a-ma-jig, punched it with the SU label punch, then embellished it with a punched circle, a rectangle, and some tiny black gems. Loverly!

On a side note, you've probably noticed that I'm posting much less frequently these days... Our family has been dealing with all sorts of things these past couple month, and my stamping has had to take a back burner. Between school, illnesses of family and friends, church, and general day to day stuff (we still need to eat and wear clean clothes!) I haven't been able to "get inky" much at all. It doesn't look like the schedule is going to be clearing up any time soon, either - we'll be moving to South Texas this summer for hubby's job, so we've begun the process of packing/purging/fixing up to ready the house for sale. I'm not about to put is all aside for six months, though - I need my paper therapy!! ;) So thanks for hanging with me!