Tag, you're it....

I made this tag for a very special friend...hope she likes it!!!
I love black and white and when I saw a challenge featuring black and white + a color, I just had to do it.
My brain started creating it before I could even catch a breath. I love it when that happens because usually the project turns out pretty well. And tags are fun and easy. I really enjoy working with them.

I had the polka dot butterflies from a Heidi Swapp chipboard die-cuts that I found at a dollar store!!! Can you believe that? I bought three of those packages and knew that I would really enjoy using them.

Two new stamps were put to good use on the left side of the tag. You can't see it too much but these are going to be my favorites, for right now anyway. I love flourishes and the first stamp is about a 2" wide long strip with leafy vines and flourishes. Really pretty. And the second stamp is a large flourish that is very open, just the way like it.
I know I'll be using these stamps a lot!!!

I added a silver leaf, black ribbon, and white pearl flourishes.

Here's the challenges I entered this tag into:

http://stampinfortheweekend.blogspot.com/ swirls and pearls...lots of those on this tag.
http://www.frosteddesigns.blogspot.com/ using chipboard...mine is Heidi Swapp's

Thank you for stopping by,
Be blessed,

Elena

Another Twinchie...

Hello everyone,
It's August, can you believe it?
We had the hottest June and July...and now that it's August we started seeing some rain and much cooler temps. We were sure ready for some cooler weather and we surely need some rain...just seems weird to have this backward weather.

Lately, I have not been crafting nearly as much as I would like. I don't really know how time slips away without accomplishing much of anything...but it does. There are so many ideas I have floating around in my head...I want to get them out on paper!!!!

I am still very interested in "TWINCHIES" http://twinchie-twinchiehotmaillive.blogspot.co.uk/  But learning how to decorate them better is a process for me. So this card I made has a Twinchie on it. I am not very happy with it, but it's a beginning and I intend to just keep trying.

The picture did not come out too well. The twinchie stands out away from that doily in the back of it. Here it kind of looks like they just run in together.

The paper is a small 4x6 paper pack I picked up in a bargain bin by K&Company and I love it. Has very nice background paper.
The twinchie is cut from a packaging for a book I just bought for the library. I am always looking at the packaging for anything I buy. Some of it is pretty awesome.
I glued on a flower doily to the twinchie and on top of that I attached a stamped and watercolored Iris I had made a while ago.
The butterflies are Dazzles from Hot off the Press.
The bottom is a strip of navy blue cardstock with large very glittery circles.
The card itself is this moss green cardstock and I used a border punch that I got a bit ago.

So, of course I entered this in this challenge: http://twinchie-twinchiehotmaillive.blogspot.co.uk/ . Their requirement this time is for a twinchie with a flower on it.
http://thecraftypad.blogspot.com/ requires using a die or a punch. The bottom of my card is cut with an edger punch. I have it partially covered with a ruler to show the measurement of the twinchie, but you can still see that it is there.

So, that's it for this day.
I have a couple other projects I want to get to...
Thanks for stopping by. Leave me a note. I would love to hear from you.

Be blessed,
Elena

Shabby Chic love....

I have always liked a mix of different styles and ideas in the scrapbooking/card making world. Lately though, I have fallen in love with shabby chic. I guess that all of a sudden "pretty, feminine, lace, a little victorian, a little vintage", etc. just swims around in my head and I am constantly excited about a new idea that I had seen or thought of. There are several sites that I follow where the designers show off awesome cards and layouts that inspire me to make cards in that lovely, feminine design.

So, this is the card I made for a few challenges that fit my new passion.

First of all, I had found these papers on Pinterest by Astrid Christine MacLean. They are free to print off for your own personal use. It is lovely paper, and this one in particular had a corner image of a woman.  I cut that out and used it on the front.
After that it was easy peasy.
That beautiful lace is from an Etsy Shop "Frilly & Funky"  Her prices for lace are very reasonable and the selection is awesome.
I chose a cute pink chippie from my stash, and that tear in the paper was an idea I found on-line. The designer had pleated the paper back instead of just folding it back and I LOVED the look.
I love looking around on designer sites and finding little touches that they have come up with.

Here's the challenges I entered:
http://theshabbytearoom.blogspot.com/
http://simonsaysstampandshow.blogspot.com/
http://berry71bleu.blogspot.com/
http://tuesdayalchemy.blogspot.ca/
http://simonsaysstampschallenge.blogspot.com/

That's it for right now. We are in the middle of watching the Olympics. So EXCITING!!!
I love it!!!

Finally, a card I like...

Last time I lamented about sometimes making a card that just does not work!!!

Well, thankfully, this time I enjoyed it! It was fun, came together nicely, and I like the way it looks.

I like the soft colors, and the flower with that polka dot paper. I LOVE polka dots!!!

I just bought some beautiful lace from Frilly & Funky Etsy shop. She has some beautiful lace and other things, plus it was at a price that was cheaper than what I had checked out in our fabric shops.

I'm very happy!

But, unfortunately almost all of the lace got covered up by my flower and my "Friends" square...aaaaggghhh I hate it when that happens. I like to be able to see all the beautiful embellishments that are being used on a creation!

I also have a new edge punch that is just gorgeous from EK Success...and that shows even less...oh well, next time....

So here's my card:

I'm sorry about the picture...I must have taken over a dozen shots...the sun was too bright and the lighting in my craft room was too dark. I just couldn't get it right.

Anyway, the top paper is a soft tan with white dots. the bottom is a muted stripe with all the colors that went with my work.

The peony is cut from a beautiful paper I have had forever in my stash. It was not nearly as usable as I thought, but it was beautiful. 

The stamp is a SU! stamp I bought a long time ago. I still love it!

See those two little brown stripes on the right side???? That's all you can see of my new border punch.

I hat that!

And the lace shows only one little part but then I cut off another little piece and added it to the bottom of the "Friends" piece.

The stamp I used to add a little more interest is a TH harlequin. First time I used it...I really like it. It is just the right size.

I am entering this to the following challenges:

http://berry71bleu.blogspot.com/  "Pretty in Pink" I pretty much followed these colors. Pink & brown is one of my favorite combinations.
http://tuesdayalchemy.blogspot.ca/ Anything Goes...that pretty much says it all.

Thanks for stopping by...
Be blessed with JOY!!!
e

Keep on keeping on....

Hello everyone,
Well.....this card that I want to show you today is one that just REFUSED to come together!!! It was really hard to put it together in a way that resembled what I had in my head.

After I looked around at the challenges that I would like to enter, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Even the colors came to me right off the bat. But from there on, I had to work and re-work everything before I was satisfied with it. The piece that really put it together for me was the beaded hanger. I liked that addition.

Sometimes I wonder if it's a good idea to keep working on a card that is just not coming together. Maybe it would be better to just throw it away and start over. I don't know. Have you had that problem? What do you do????

Here's the card: 

And here is the inside:

Here are the challenges I am entering this card into:
http://thestampmanchallenges.blogspot.com/ Bling it on
      I have beads and lots of Stickles on the stars. Also the inside has shiny stars.
http://justusgirlschallenge.blogspot.com/  Stars and sparkle
      As you can see, I have the stars and the sparkle is in the Stickles, shiny stars & beads.
http://cupcakecraftchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ Bright and a button
       We have bright colors and one button on the front and many star buttons on the inside.
http://twinchie-twinchiehotmaillive.blogspot.co.uk/  A twinchie and anything goes.
       The front closure part is a twinchie. The card is only 4x4 so it takes up a lot of that front.
http://simonsaysstampandshow.blogspot.com/ spritz, spray or stencil.
        I used polka dot paper on my squares and sprayed Tattered Angels mist through a lacy pattern.
        The twinchie was cut from the overspray; as well as several of the stars. The star on the right on the
        twinchie was first drawn through a stencil then cut out and embellished with Stickles.

Thanks for coming by...hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts and if you have any ideas about what to do with a card that isn't "working", leave me a comment. I would love to read what you have to say.

Blessings,
e

More fun with a tag...

I love tags...they have so many ways you can use them...and they make nice small gifts or an "extra" to a larger gift. They are also a great place to try a new technique...and that's usually how I make mine.  I am really, truly a technique junkie. I take down the information and make copies of all techniques I find interesting (especially those that make embellishments) and then I try them as soon as I can gather the supplies I need. I try to find techniques that use products I already have or those that don't require a lot of purchases.

So here's my tag for today.

I made this for my granddaughter's high school graduation. I watched a video by a Prima Designer who demoed how to make artsy backgrounds by using different mediums. I still have a lot to learn because I have a hard time getting my colors in the right places. This turned out bluer than what I pictured but then I was afraid to add more color because I didn't want it to turn muddy. The designer used an art medium that had a lot of texture to it and I had never seen that to purchase. I tried out paint, puffy paint, stenciling medium...but none of it turned out to have that look that I think she achieved with the textured medium. She showed what it was and I most definitely need to get some. I love texture on my stuff and I have to try this.

On to the deets:

I make my own chippies by layering several layers of heavy cardstock. And that's what I did here with the Memory Box flourish.

The butterfly is a Memory Box die too but I left that thin and covered it with a clear sparkle emboss powder. 

I think dies are my most favorite embellishments to use. The new ones are so delicate and thin and they are gorgeous!!!

I am entering these into these challenges:

http://berry71bleu.blogspot.com/ They want us to show our chippies. and I think my thick layered flourish fits the bill.
http://stampinfortheweekend.blogspot.com/ Show us your style...I'm not sure what I am. I am very drawn to shabby chic & some vintage (not too grungy or old & torn) I like it beautiful and elegant too. I guess it's wherever my heart is at the time.

http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.com/  All sorts says "any die will do"....ladies after my own heart..
http://panpasteluk.blogspot.com/  This one is "anything goes"...Their prize is a sample of pan pastels. I would love to win that...I've never tried them!

Thank you so much for visiting...
Please leave me a comment...I would love to know what you think,
Blessings,
e

A really wonderful day in June...

Hello Everybody!!!
It's been so long since I have written here that I think I might have forgotten what to do.
My life took a different turn and even though I was still working on my craft, it wasn't in a way that I could enter my work in any challenges. So I kind of gave up on that and waited until I could start again.


Well, I am ready!!!


I have made a couple of tags for gifts that I need and I will show one here and one on the next post... 

This one is for my husband...a bookmark. 

The brown is a faux leather paper I bought a long time ago.

Then some shredded burlap, some paper ribbon and a bronze colored arrow trim.

The two metal love and kiss pieces are from Hot Off the Press, many moons ago also.

They have holes punched in them to put small brads in.

I found a twill manly looking ribbon that says "joy, peace & love". 

Perfect for his Bible or our devotional book.

I am entering this into the http://simonsaysstampschallenge.blogspot.com/

Their requirement is "anything but a card" and also into the 

http://simonsaysstampandshow.blogspot.com/

this challenge is "show a bit of brown"

I guess I fit right into these two challenges and I am glad. I LOOOOOVVVEEE

Simon Says. I know they get a lot of people linking in, but they have a great store and their prizes are AWESOME!!!!

So........thank you so much for stopping by.

Please leave me a note...it's been long since I have connected with this blogging world.

Have a great weekend,

Blessings,

e