The Shabby Tea Room #51!

This week in the Tea Room, our theme is Classic Elegance and we're asked to create a card or project inspired by this photo ...

... and to use RED, WHITE (OR CREAM) AND BLACK!  Easy peesy :)

Lots of my favie yummies on here ... Love Notes patterned paper and You've Got Mail stamp set from the My Time Made Easy Shop, gorgeous striped grosgrain and tafetta ribbons, a bloomer from Webster's Pages and a crystal trinket pin!

The Stamping Boutique is our sponsor in the Tea Room this week and Tracy has provided the DT with the sweetest images and a wonderful digital prize package for one lucky winner!

And, be sure to check out the Shabby Girls' blogs to see what they have created for your inspiration this week:

Cathy Clark-Santie - Papier Girl

Clare Buswell - Clare's Creations

Melissa Bove - Creating From the Heart

Nicole Segnere - My Craft Room Creations

Pattie Goldman - The Pampered Paper Patch

Thanks for peeking in today ... have a wonderful stampy day :)

 Challenges for this card: 

The Shabby Tea Room #51 - classic elegance
Wee Memories #45 - Operation Write Home for the troops!
Stamptacular Sunday #100 - you've been framed
Sweet Stampin' Challenge Blog - girly

Let the March My Time Made Easy PEEKS Begin!

Good morning all and welcome to the first day of peeks for the March My Time Made Easy release!  Today myself along with Lauren, Kristin, Monique, and our guest designer, Kathryn have a few projects to share with you!

Hold onto your hats ladies ... the March release goodies are going to BLOW YOUR SOCKS OFF!  For today's peek, Lauren asked the Design Team girls to create a gift set using one of the new in March templates and the new stamp sets.

And, without further ado, here we go .......

introducing CAGED!

I was absolutely SPEECHLESS when I first saw Lauren's birdcage template this month!  She is a true artist and this template is absolutely GORGEOUS!  Wouldn't it make a beautiful centerpiece at a bridal shower, wedding or even a baby shower with little eggs in the nest??  At first glance, I thought that this template would be difficult to put together, but it really was very easy to assemble -- all straight lines, no angles -- went together in a snap :)

I embellished the outside of the cage with a couple of new in March cut files - A Little Birdie and Branching Out!  The Little Birdie cut file has FOUR adorable and sweet little birds ... I used two of the styles here.  They are absolutly precious and I know I'll find myself using them a LOT this spring season!  The Branching Out cut file has a scrumptious meandering branch with leaves and several flowers too!  I inked the edges of all cardstock pieces to create a time-worn look, added vanilla satin flowers to the branches and tiny little pearls for the birdies eyes!

The top of my birdcage is embellished with some yummy, wide vanilla lace, a marina mist satin bow, a pearl trinket pin, chocolate bloomer, glitter and a damask butterfly!

All of those cages pieces have holes punched at the top of each length and they are all held together simply with two layers of cardstock (included with the template) and a pretty little antique brad!

Any my own little birdies will soon be making their sweet little nests in the trees around my home while they wait every so patiently for their little birdie eggs to hatch with little babies!  I LOVE spring!  I found this {real} nest in one of the trees in my yard and thought it was the perfect accent for this exquisite birdcage!  What do you think??  Sweet huh!

For the matching card to this beautiful gift set, I used the new in March Keep Strong and Singing Silhouette stamp sets which will be available in either acrylic or digital formats for your convenience!  The background paper is some new Whistful Musical Magic in Rock that Kristin created - YUM!

And here is my completed gift set ... scrumptious, right!  This would make the prettiest gift for someone special in your life ... but I think I'm keeping this set for me -- it's just too pretty to part with :)

Please be sure to visit the other MTME girlies' blogs today to see what they have created for inspriration for you all today:

My Time Made Easy Design Team:

Lauren Meader (owner)
Kristin Eberline

Debbie Marcinkiewicz

Monique Hansen
March Guest Designer - Kathryn Berthiaume

And check out the MTME Designer's Gallery for tons more beautiful inspiration as well!

Thanks for 'peeping' in today!!!

Challenges for this project:

Embellish Magazine - color trends with birds
Cardabilities - sketch

The Hybrid Chick ... Mini Note Set!

Good morning friends ... so happy you stopped by for a visit today!  I have a quick little sneak peek here of the project I made this month for The Hybrid Chick ... a mini note set and fat envie!

This digital paper from The Digichick Shop in a soft and vintage damask is to die for, and I just love making handmade 3-D paper flowers!

So quick and easy ... and the fat envie is perfect for those cards you've added embellishments to but won't fit in a standard envelope.  What a {sweet} gift set!

Hop on over to The Hybrid Chick blog for all the details on how to make this yummy gift set!

The stamp set is Framed Elegance from My Time Made Easy!

Thanks again for peeking in ... have a wonderfully stampy day :)

xoxoxoxoxxo

The Shabby Tea Room #50 - part three!!!

The cutting files from The Cutting Cafe' were just too cute to pass up, so I designed projects with all THREE files that were provided to the design team this week for The Shabby Tea Room :)

Here is used the Flower Pot cutting file for the base of the card along with one of the stamped sentiments from the file!  I paper pieced the flower pot with two different patterned papers from SU!'s Springtime Vintage collection - the base has a delicious Kraft background with the sweetest flowers and polka dots.  I added half of a paper doilie, some turquoise pom-pom trim, a button with turquoise baker's twine, a turquoise trinket pin, tiny clothes pin and some Cake Crumbs (Kraft) Shabby Vintage Seam Binding from my Etsy Shop!  The sentiment tag is inked with Kraft paint for a time-worn look!

I planted lots of bits and blooms into the pot!!!  I used two different kinds of paper flowers spritzed with Black Cherry Glimmer Mist to give them a soft lilac color.  The butterfly was white and that was spritzed with the same glimmer mist to add some pretty color!  Turquoise paper flower centers from Prima and Turquoise glittered leaves from American Crafts!

This shaped card was just TOO MUCH FUN to design!  I'll be giving this to a very good friend of mine to let her know just how much I appreciate her friendship ... love me my girlfriends :)

Click HERE to peek at my #1 dress design for the Tea Room.

Click HERE to peek at my #2 tea pot design for the Tea Room.

Challenges for this card:

The Shabby Tea Room #50 - buttons and bows
W Plus 9 {Color Cue 12} - kraft, lilac, turquoise, white
Moxie Fab World Stamp It Techniques - paper piecing
The Kraft Journal - bling
4 Crafty Chicks #25 - butterfly
Really Reasonable Ribbons #18 - spring and ribbon
Paperplay #7 - shine
Beary Scrap Challenge #20 - winter blues
Flourishes Bringing Back Beauty - love
The Creative Cottage #33 - florals
Stamptacular Sunday #99 - someone special

The Shabby Tea Room #50 - part two!!

The challenge in the Tea Room this week is Buttons and Bows ... right up my alley!!

This is my second design team project ... I used the Tea Pot cutting file and sentiments from the Flower Pot cutting file provided by our sponsor, The Cutting Cafe'!  The patterned papers are Springtime Vintage from SU! along with the Vintage Adornment resin button and Vanilla Satin Rosettes!!

My hubby is playing golf today with my best friend's hubby and I've sent this sweet little care package over to Susan!  She was in the ER last Thursday with a very bad infection and she is slowly recovering.  I hope this handmade with love gift cheers her up and puts a smile back on her sweet face!

Click HERE to go to my design for TSTR - part one!

Challenges for this card: 

The Shabby Tea Room #50 - buttons and bows

Flourishes Bringing Back Beauty - love

The Creative Cottage #33 - florals

Truly Scrumptious #51 - swirls & pearls

Moxie Fab World Stamp It Techniques - paper piecing

Stamptacular Sunday #99 - someone special (my best friend!!)

Fussy & Fancy - sweet treats

Wee Memories Fab Four honor ....

Thank you so much to Jenny and the DT girlies over at Wee Memories for choosing my card HERE as one of their Fab Four from last week's Live, Love, Laugh challenge!

The Shabby Tea Room #50 - part one!

Welcome friends!  Today I have a card to share with you that I made for The Shabby Tea Room's 50th challenge - buttons and bows!  How fun is that?  Pattie is our host this week and I just {adore} the theme she chose ... so girl-y ... so fun!

 

I began with the Dress Form card file supplied by our sponsor and some patterned papers from Making Memories and Stampin' Up! in violet, gray and vanilla.  I paper pieced the bodice to the skirt, added some gray Prima lace on the bottom of the skirt and a few light pink satin roses. I just am in {love} with that gorgeous damask pattern on the skirt!!

 

At the waist, I layered some pink tulle ribbon from Webster's paired with some pink satin trim with glass beads!  I tied a beautiful vanilla taffeta sash around the waist and layered a nosegay of a pink satin rose and violet & lavender berries!  The bodice is decorated with a tiny pink pearl necklace with a Webster's sparkler button hanging from it as the pendant!

 

So vintage with all the found treasures from my craft room baskets!  So sweet!

 

Our sponsor this week in the Tea Room is The Cutting Cafe'!

This week's winner will receive 3 cutting files of their choice!  Regina has so many delicious and unique shaped files for creating paper crafted treasures!

Be sure to visit the Shabby Girls to see what they have created this week for your inspiration ...

Cathy Clark-Santie - Papier Girl

Clare Buswell - Clare's Creations

Melissa Bove - Creating From the Heart

Nicole Segnere - My Craft Room Creations

Pattie Goldman - The Pampered Paper Patch

And then hop on over to The Shabby Tea Room and give our fun buttons and bows challenge a try :)

Challenges for this card: 

The Shabby Tea Room #50 - buttons and bows

Moxie Fab World Stamp It Techniques - paper piecing

Stamptacular Sunday #99 - someone special (Happy Birthday to Susan!)

Truly Scrumptious #51 - swirls & pearls

The Creative Cottage #33 - florals

CR84FN #16 - light pink, medium violet, gray

The Pink Elephant #94!

We have a recipe challenge for you all to create with this week at The Pink Elephant challenge blog #94 - buttons, lace and ribbon!

Our sponsor at TPE this week is Anita Be Stampin' and they have provided the DT with the sweetest vintage girl images to design with!  I got to work with 'Nellie'!

Please be sure to visit TPE challenge blog to be inspired by the other DT girlies lovely creations and then give this {sweet} recipe challenge a try!

Thanks for peeking!

Challenges for this card: 

The Pink Elephant #94 - buttons, lace, ribbon

The Shabby Tea Room #50 - buttons & bows

Our Vintage Affair - sketch

Truly Scrumptious #51 - swirls & pearls

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenges #105 - 3 patterned papers

City Crafter Challenge Blog #44 - pink, aqua, yellow, neutral

Create For CARDS feature ...

Good morning all!  I hope you're having a fun and stampy day today!  I'm teaching a card class in about an hour, but wanted to pop in quickly to share some fun news ... my card HERE that I created for The Shabby Tea Room was featured on the Create Blog this morning for the border punch challenge!  How nice ... thanks to the Alicia and the girlies at CARDS!

Another fun day with our bonus room remodel ... trim carpenters here installing the 'icing on the cake' for the project -- base molding, crown molding, doors, knobs and trim!  I know ... it doesn't sound that exciting, but almost 2 months into this project I'm pretty DANG excited because this means next we can finish paint, hook up electric, heat and AC, install floors and call it DONE!  I'm counting the hours until I can get my house back in order!  Very challenging to be living in the house with construction work going on  - we've been eating and sleeping with saw dust for weeks - yuck :(

I'll share pics when it's all complete!  Really appreciate all your kind comments -- the encouraging words have lifted me up and kept me sane!

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Paper Play Top Three!

Two days of tax prep done ... thankfully!  Check check!!

Working today to prep supplies for upcoming classes that I will be teaching -- Friday, Saturday and Monday.  No time to stamp for fun, but wanted to share this fun little news with ya' today ...

Thanks to the girls from paper Play Challenges for picking my card HERE as one of their top three!

Have a wonderful, stampy day :)

xoxoxoxoxxo

The Creative Cottage ... top 3!!!

Good morning everyone!  Just a quick little blurb before I hit the 'books' again today -- working on tax stuff the past couple days so we can file next week and get our sons' FASFA applications completed for college funds for next year - NOT FUN :(  Would ... rather ... be ... stamping!!!

Thanks to the girlies over at The Creative Cottage for showcasing my card HERE as one of their top three today!

Happy stamping to everyone today!!!

xoxoxoxoxo

Lovey Dovey ...

Spent the entire day getting crafty in my stamp room today ... it's a GOOD DAY!

I'm on a sewing theme kick with my cards lately (see this post HERE and this post HERE) -- too cute!  This one is another mini paper quilt I made by cutting lots of strips of 1/2" pretty papers and then doing a basket weave pattern to create a quilt top!  I cut couple of border punches in Melon Mambo CS to create the 'binding' for the quilt with tiny pearls to accent!  I cut a heart shape from some hot pink glitter chipboard and embellished it with a snipett of lace, crocheted flower, button, baker's twine, trinket pin, tag and tiny clothes pin!

The tag was stamped using a GORGEOUS sentiment piece from the Monograms Defined stamp set available at My Time Made Easy!

So FUN to make ... you gotta give this technique a try! 

Challenges for this card:

Embellish Magazine - color challenge with hearts

Totally Hues #1 - color palette

Our Vintage Affair - sketch

Create For CARDS - border punches

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenges #104 - buttons

Flourishes Bringing Back Beauty - love

4 Crafty Chicks - Valentine's Day

Tuesday Throwdown #35 - buttons

Stampin' Royalty #58 - hearts

Simon Says Stamp & Show- tag

The Creative Cottage #32 - words of love as focal point

Live ... Laugh ... LOVE!

The sentiment is very appropriate for today ... Valentine's Day!  I hope you all are enjoying living, laughing ... and LOTS of LOVING today for this extra special {sweet} day!

My hubby is in Barcelona {sigh} today, so we celebrated over the weekend before he hopped on a plane.  I'm sad that he is not here today so that we can celebrate the 'day' together, but happy that I get lots of crafty time this week - yippiee :)  Can't get much better than that!

It's a gorgeous, warm, spring-y day here in NC ... I hope you're all having a wonderfully stampy day :)

Challenges for this card:

Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge #34 - sketch
Wee Memories #43 - live, love, laugh
Crafty Creations #105 - 3 words
Flourishes Bringing Back Beauty - love
Simon Says Stamp & Show - tag
The Creative Cottage #32 - words of love focal point
CR84FN #15 - teal, green, yellow

Card Patterns Super Six ...

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY to all my {sweet} bloggity friends!

Good morning ... a sweet thank you goes out to Michelle and the girlies over at Card Patterns for choosing my card as one of their Super Six from last week's challenge :)

The Shabby Tea Room #49

Hello happy friends ... so glad you could spend some time with me today!  I have a sweet, little shabby card I made for the Tea Room's 49th challenge - 'Keeping Warm' - to share with ya'll today :)  Nicole is our host this week and she has provided this snuggly photo for inspiration ...

... and asks that we create a card or project inspired by the 'Keeping Warm' challenge theme and/or to use some of the yummy colors in the photo!  How FUN :)

I was inspired by the 'warm' theme and the soft blues, creams and twills in the photo.  Nothing says warm to me during the cold winter months like a nice pot of tea ... and especially delicious when shared with a friend!

I used the JustRite Friday Challenge #48 sketch to begin creating my card.  Fabby stamps and dies included here from the JR shop -- Friendship Nested Sentiments stamp set, You Inspire Me cling stamp set and Nested Sentiments Custom Dies.  Aren't they wonderful ... so easy to create a card with such gorgeous and easy-to-use tools!

Further inspired by the 'warm' theme, I hand cut some snipetts of warm green felt to create the leaves -- machine sewn down the middle for texture and dimension!  I love the little pops of sparkle from the glittered dress form bodice, pretty little silver rhinestone and vintage gold crepe paper folded behind the blue glittered chipboard heart!  I kissed the rolled flower and lacey border punch with some silver glitter glass for another little pop of glitz and rouched some Baja Breeze seam binding to give this card a homespun look!

The Stamping Dragon is the sponsor this week in the Tea Room and provided the DT girlies with some wonderful digital images to design with.  I chose to work with the Post Card Stamps and Sewing Pack images ... just {adore} their vintage appeal!!!

Now hop on over to the Tea Room to be inspired by the Shabby Girls' creations and be sure to visit their individual blogs for lots more yummy ideas:

Cathy Clark-Santie - Papier Girl

Clare Buswell - Clare's Creations

Melissa Bove - Creating From the Heart

Nicole Segnere - My Craft Room Creations

Pattie Goldman - The Pampered Paper Patch

Thanks for peeking, have a wonderful, stampy day :)

Challenges for this card:

The Shabby Tea Room #49 - Keeping Warm

JustRite Friday Inspiration #48 - sketch

Flourishes Bringing Back Beauty - love

Create for CARDS - border punches

Top Tip Tuesday #21 - frame it

City Crafter Challenge Blog #43 - all that glitters with gold and silver

Paperplay #6 - hearts & flowers but not Valentine's Day

The Creative Cottage #32 - words of love focal point

Stampin' Royalty #58 - hearts

Cupcake Inspirations #98 - photo inspiration

Simon Says Stamp & Show - tag

A shabby hello ...

Hello friends ... I hope you're all having a relaxing day before the start of the new week!  Those that 'know me' know that I love all things {pink} and {tea party} related, so this card design came so easy for me.  It only took about 30 minutes to put together ... came straight from my head onto the paper effortlessly!

I used some vintage papers from SU! and handmade a shabby flower with Vintage Cream CS, Tea Rose Glimmer Mist and a cream pearl ... pink Prima leaves to finish it off!  The adorable polka dot and rhinestone butterfly is Jenni Bowlin with some more Prima pearls and swirls trailing after her flight!

A gorgeous border die punch from MFT and a label punch from SB.  Some cream pom-pom trim, a corner snipett of a paper doilie and inking of edges with twill (kraft) paint to give a time-worn look.

Stamps are SU!'s Notably Ornate and Bliss (my FAV)!

Thanks for peeking in today ... enjoy :)

Challenges for this card:

Mojo Monday #177 - sketch

Create For CARDS - border punches

Flourishes Bringing Back Beauty - love

The Kraft Journal - love

There She Goes #94 - pink, kraft, ivory

Top Tip Tuesday #21 - frame it
The Creative Cottage #32 - words of love focal point
Wee Memories #43 - live, love, laugh
Sweet Stampin' Challenge Blog - bugs/ butterfly

Shabby Vintage Charmers ...

I've just added some adorable shabby little vintage charm chipboards to my Etsy Shop this evening!

Have fun peeking :)

Thanks for stopping in!

JUGS honorable mention ...

Swoon ... I think this is close to being one of my all time favie cards that I've ever designed (to date) and it got an honorable mention over at Just Us Girls this morning ... thanks Dana :)

A Fabulous Day ...

Be still my shabby heart ... Valentines' Day is one of my all-time most favie days of the year!  Just the thought of all the love that will shared on that day makes my {heart} smile!  I love spending a part of the day with my sweet hubby (of 24 years) -- dinner, maybe a movie, holding hands and being gushy!  There are usually flowers and candy involved - goody, goody gumdrops :)  Sadly, this year he will be out of the country on business - in Barcelona, Spain - on 'the' day, so we'll have to celebrate before he leaves instead!  Heading out to dinner this Friday and we'll just {pretend} it's the 14th!

I adore making Valentine's Day cards ... so pretty, pink, glittery and yummy!

This one was so fun to design ... I began with the button challenge going on today over at PTI -- love me some buttons!  I die cut some hearts from Sweet Symphony patterned paper and Kraft cardstock, painted the edges with cream paint and then glued Raspberry Fizz buttons around the edge of the DSP heart followed by adding some mica flake glitter to yum them up!

The flower in the center was die cut using Raspberry Fizz and Simply Chartreuse felt, a bit of sewing on the leaves to create dimension and finished with a button and some green baker's twine.

The card base is a piece of Library Ledger patterned paper and I used the Calendar Basics, Banner Builder and Signature Series Dress Form stamp sets to add my sentiments.  A bit of raspberry organza ribbon tied into a sweet, fluffy bow topped off with a Vintage Flower Adornment and sewing pin - sweet!  The card base is mounted on a piece of Melon Mambo cardstock inked with cream paint and then the card base inked with twill (kraft) paint.

Thanks for peeking in today ... hope you're having a wonderfully, stampy day!

Challenges for this card:

Papertrey Ink:  Button Challenge
Card Patterns #101- sketch
The Shabby Tea Room #48 - Sweet Hearts
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenges #104 - button up
Flourishes Bringing Back Beauty - Love
Flourishes Winter Thaw Challenge - spring flowers
Tuesday Throwdown #35 - buttons
Kraft Journal - love
Stampin' Royalty #58 - hearts
Stamptacular Sunday #97 - hearts
Sweet Stampin' Challenge Blog - spring flowers
4 Crafty Chicks - Valentine's Day

A {new} technique ...

Papertrey Ink began hosting 'Make It Monday' technique video classes this week, so I thought I'd listen in on Erin Lincoln's sentiment stamping technique class today when I had a few minutes to spare.  WOW - what a SIMPLE idea and what a BEAUTIFUL result when you combine like sentiments to create a background paper for the base of your card!

I used my favie color combo - pink, aqua, vanilla and kraft ... {swoon}!!!  Don't you {heart} these soft, pastel, soothing colors?  They make me SMILE :)  This photo does not even begin to do this pretty little card justice -- it's simply lovely in real life!  I cannot begin to tell you how much FUN I had designing this card ... it was a blast scouring through all my PTI stamps to see how many I could find with the same sentiment.  I was {surprised} at how many sets I actually own - YIKES!  Sssshhh ... don't tell my hubby!

Papertrey Ink stamps and supplies I used on this card:

Damask Designs

Just The Ticket

Round and Round

Mat Stack 2 Collection

Friendship Jar

Signature Greetings

It's Official

Banner Builder stamp set and dies

Signature Series:  Dress Form die

Ticket Die

Thanks for peeking in today ... have a wonderful, stampy day!

Challenges for this card:

Papertrey Ink Make It Monday Challenge - Go-To Sentiment
The Shabby Tea Room #48 - Sweet {Hearts}
JUGS #70 - sketch
The Kraft Journal - love
Top Tip Tuesday #21 - frame it
Paperplay #5 - stamps
Sweet Stampin' Challenge Blog - spring flowers
The Creative Cottage #32 - words/love focal point
Stamptacular Sunday #97 - hearts
Claudia & Company #74 - pink, blue, brown

Cupcake Inspirations Top 5 ...

Thank you to Rachel and the sweeties from Cupcake Inspirations for choosing my gift set HERE as one of their top 5 from last week's photo inspiration challenge!

I hope you're all having a wonderful stampy day :)