Golden Afternoon

This card is for a very dear friend's birthday next Monday.  For Joan's Gardens challenge this week we are to theme a card in yellow and white, use at least two butterflies, some swirls, and polka dots.  The butterflies are cut with Spellbinders Shapeabilities S4-395, Les Papillions 2 from polka dotted paper, and they contain swirl detail in the die. Additional butterflies are cut with Sizzix Embosslit's Beautiful Wings. Swirls are within the center of the  Cheery Lynn Doily Die, (DL184) that is touched with star gel glitter pen, and in the sentiment stamp, a SU Elementary Elegance stamp.   The yellow mat for the doily cut out is cut with Lifestyle Crafts scalloped circle dies, and the cardstock is embossed and sponged Happy Birthday EF by Cuttlebug. Organza ribbon and white mulberry paper flowers finish the card. The Spellbinders, and Cheery Lyn products are available at Joan's Gardens. A bigger polka dotted butterfly and yellow diecut sentiment mat inside the card show the polka dotted paper better. It is Bazzil 4-453 Butter (Michaels).

May Papers and Pixels Magazine

The May edition of Papers and Pixels includes some amazing designers, paper crafting ideas, and Photoshop tips.  Get your copy HERE.  Look for ideas for Creating from the Heart on the 15th of each month.  Join the fun, be inspired, and try out some amazing new things.  There are lots of gifts, great tutorials, and resources galore at PnP.

Double Half Zig Zag

This card is inspired by a tutorial  in the May Papers and Pixels Magazine coming out on May 15th written by Laura  Boetto.  This card is especially for a dear friend's 70th birthday, and I love how it turned out.  I used two sided decorator paper from a discontinued series called Bliss, and cream cardstock. The edge punch is a Martha Stewart lattice edge.  The butterflies are cut from the decorator paper and also from blue vellum using  Sizzix SU Embosslit called Beautiful Wings.  The Flower Power Basket of Daisies is by Wendy Hall at Digital Delights.  Rhinestones and Daisies are commercial  products. The little miss is colored with Copics and with Tim Holtz Distress markers,and accented with a star glitter gel pen.   Look for this fun fold card tutorial in Papers and Pixels May Magazine. This card is slightly modified from the original tutorial.

Vellum flowers and dancing borders

The Challenge this week At Joan's Gardens is to create a flower using vellum, and use a sentiment on a red white and black (only card) that has a diecut border.  For the diecut edge I used Spellbinders Borderabilities S5180.  I also used Spellbinders  Shapeabilities  Die D-Lites S2-009 for part of the decoration under the flower The sentiment is a Just Right Clearstamp from the large Fancy Sentiments collection, die cut with Spellbinders Labels 18 S4-310 that's been lightly sponged with black ink.  The Vellum flower is constructed of 3 cutouts of an old stamp using Sweet Stamps White ink for vellum that has been run through the embossing folder (Square lattice by SU), stacked up, then edged very lightly (and randomly) with diamond stickles. The center of the big flower is a trimmed down Mc Gill flower punch. The grey,  black and clear rhinestone swirls are by Engraver (563943).  Everything except the Engraver rhinestones and SU products are available at Joan's Gardens

A kiss of red vellum

The challenge this week at Joan's Gardens is to create a vellum flower, and a card with a die cut border. and black and white.  The red and white vellum is stamped with Sweet Stamps white high detail ink for the three layer flower. The stamp is a very old one that I THINK came from an Annies Attic Card Maker kit.  The border is punched from a Martha Stewart Border Punch and the glitter stack is paper chosen from DCWV glitter mat stack papers.  The sentiment is from Just Right Stamps (Large Fancy Sentiments).  I was all ready to post to the challenge when I realized that I punched the borders, not die-cut them, so this post is separate from the challenge submissions.  I loved the way the card turned out, and may have at it again this week and follow the challenge rules!  The punch, ink, and vellum came from At Joan's Gardens

Vellum flowers

The challenge this week at Joan's Gardens is to make a card using creating a vellum flower, using red, white, and black, and a die-cut border.  The vellum flower is cut from Sweet Stamps Parchment Craft Vellum that I got at Joan's Gardens with edges of the flower punched with a Fiskars Emboss punch.  The design for the flower was inspired by Marcia Moss, owner of Dandylion Wishes, St. George, UT who had some of these punch edged flowers on display for one of her card-making classes at the store. I rolled the edges of the cut square with a quilling pen to shape the vellum petals, then adhered the tw- layer petals, and topped them with a stamen punch that I got at Joan's Gardens.  The paper is Recollections red dot, and the cardstock is black shimmer paper  by Ranger.  The die cut I used for the edge is Spellbinders Edgeabilities Classic Petal ES006.  The pearl is from my stash and the black die cut accent on the cardfront is Spellbinders Shapeablities Die D-Lites S2-009.   The frames for the flip out area are diecut from Spellbinder Labels 17  (S5025) then a rectangle over and double  punched with the matching flower edge punch, and the sentiment on the inside is a Vintages Verses stamp (Stampin Up) The whole card is edged in either black-diamond sticker strips by Starform, or Stickles Clear Diamond.  The Flip It Die is one of several of this type by Sizzix #658704 and it is a rectangle flip-it.  .All the dies and many of the products I used are available to order from Joans Gardens.

Build a Lace Flower

The challenge this week at At Joan's Gardens is to use peaches, cream and green, a pearl, and a fan. For this challenge I created a card using the stripes label embossing folder by Lifestyle Crafts.  I used the build a flower punch and stampset and the coral stamp from By the Tide "kissing technique" by Stampin Up for the large flower inked in peach color ink and misted with champagne color glimmer mist.  The center of the flower is gathered lace edging from my stash, gathered and stitched in a tight circle and topped with an ecru organza rose (SU). That flower is all worked with my Mc Gill flower creating mat and Punch  Bunch tools that I got at Joan's Gardens.  The cream and shades of peach paper is some I made in Photosho to match the project and the flower.  The green paper is Green Faux Canvas (Recollections Paper).  The  mats are created with Spellbinders Wonky Triangles S4-306 available at Joan's Gardens.  You can see just a bit of the coordinating envelope that I made for this card using  Create a Lopoe GS46100 available at Joan's Gardens.  The cream paper is lightweight resume paper and the little fan is made of the same paper, spritzed with champagne shimmer, and tied with green embroidery floss.  The edges are a thin gold and sparkle sticker strip.   The edge of the fan is cut with decorative scissors, and behind the shaped edge, I've adhered the same lace trim as in the flower's center.  I typed the green Congratulations sentiment in Photoshop, arched it, and then fan-folded the paper using my Scor-Pal to give me the fold lines.

Fans and Frills

At Joan's Gardens this week is peaches and cream, and green--pearls and lace!  The products I used available at Joans Gardens for this project were the Spellbinders Nestabilities S5-161 Radiant Rectangles die, and Ranger Distress inks "Old Paper".  This die cuts a lace edged peach paper I created in Photoshop. I also used scor-tape,  that Joan sells and other very similar products that are available at Joans Gardens.   The cream resume paper was embossed with tiny dots and brushed with distressing ink.  The sentiment stamp is from a clear stamp invitation set I found years ago at Michaels.  I have a friend named Kat, and I made this invitation card for her to invite a friend in for tea.  The little fan with the kitties having a tea party is a graphic from the internet I found when I googled victorian fans, just too cute.....and that's embellished with ecru lace from my stash and a touch of green ribbon at the bottom. All that's mounted on peach colored plain cardstock.  Inside is a polka dot paper cut out with Spellbinder's Gold Labels Four (S5-159) available at Joan's Gardens, but not shown.

This shows the detail in the cute little fI usually make my matching envelopes using my Scor Pal that Joan also sells, but have you seen the quicker and almost magical A5 templates that Joan can get for you?

They are called Create A Lope-GS46100, ($7.99) . FUN FAST and fail-safe.

Peaches and Green n Cream Fairies

The Challenge at Joan's Gardens this week is to use  peach, green and cream colors, a fan, pearls and lace.   My card started with Once Upon a Springtime Collection...Flight of Fancy 4500290 Graphic 45 two-sided decorator paper.  Fairies with peach flowers form the background mat.  I did not have a fan--so I made one out of light green cardstock, the "reverse" of the fairy paper (a peach checked design), an ecru cut out flower from a piece of border lace, the Lace Corner Deco A (B161) Cheery Lynn die, trimmed, and some peach colored embroidery floss for the fan's tassel.  The lace edge on green core-dinations paper (Tim Holtz) and light green paper I made in Photoshop,  is a Martha Stewart Lace Scallops Punch. The green organza and satin bordered ribbon (Walmart) is threaded through holes punched with a Fiskers ribbon punch.  The coffee colored pearls are by Kaiser Craft (SB792 Chocolate).  The Happy Birthday sentiment is a Stampin Up stamp from the Sassy Salutations collection touched with Clear Star Gel pen.  This sentiment is stamped on cream textured paper, and cut with the oval from Spellbinder's Nestabilities Radiant Rectangles die set (S5-161).  These products (with the exception of  SU and the piece of lace) are available at Joan's Gardens   If you  do not find the product pictured on her site, just e-mail her and she will check the availability for you.

Engagement Ryan and Stephanie

This is probably one of my all-time favorite gate fold cards.  The decorative edging is done with one of my paper trimmers (Purple Cows cutting disk 2809). The tab on the front is diecut from Sizzix Decorative Label Set #4 (656537)    The decorative paper is by K&Company papers called Sera Tera.  Inside the card I have embossed and sanded neutral brown Core-dintions (Tim Holtz) with embossing folder Texture Fades  Bubble and Honeycomb set (657846).   I laminated the engagement announcement that was in their hometown paper that a friend sent me.   The back of the card contains the Apache Wedding Prayer, which I love to add to cards that I send newlywed or engaged couples.  Ribbons are pale turquoise, and all the flowers are from my stash ordered through I am Roses.com. If you are looking for many (most of) the products I used for this card, you can find them at Joan's Gardens--or she can get them for you.

This groom was our neighbor when we lived in Sequim, and we have known him since he was three and a half.  Wishing this sweet young couple all the best as they wed on May 21st.

Apache Wedding Prayer

Now you will feel no storms,

for each of you will be shelter to the other. 

Now you will feel no cold,

for each of you will be warmth to the other.

Now there is no loneliness,

for each of you is companion to the other,

You are two persons,

but there is one life before you, and one home.

Turn together to look at the road you traveled,

to reach this---the hour of your happiness.

It stretches behind you into the past.

Look to the future that lies ahead.

A long and winding, adventure-filled road,

whose every turn means discovery,

new hopes, new joys, new laughter,

and a few shared tears.

May happiness be your companion,

May beauty surround you both in the journey ahead;

And through all the years to come.

Go this day to your dwelling place

and enter into your days together.

May your days be good and long

upon the earth.

Your adventure has just begun!