My Time Made Easy: Com-pleatly Versatile!

 Let the April My Time Made Easy Peeks Begin!

 Hello sweet friends and welcome!  I'm so happy you stopped in for a visit today!!  I'm here sharing a project I recently designed for the upcoming April Release ...  introducing:

COM-PLEATLY!

 How cute is this gift set??!!  It consists of a decorative wrapper surrounding three boxes inside.  You can include two small boxes and one large box like I did, or use two large boxes or four small boxes -- your choice!  It will all depend on what you're including inside the boxes!

 I decorated the top of my wrapper with some yummy striped grosgrain ribbon tied in a simple bow.  Underneath that I layered a doilie cut from card stock.  The tag was created using the A Little Birdie Cut File upon which I stamped the 'Inspire' sentiment using the Monograms Defined acrylic stamp set.  I tied the tag onto the wrapper bow with a simple piece of jute twine.

 When my recipient opens up the wrapper, there are three sweet boxes filled with yummy treats inside!  I created the lids for the boxes using the {new} Textile Blooms paper.

 I decided to make this gift set as a door prize at the next paper crafting class I teach, so I filled the boxes with lots of bits and bobs of treasures -- organza flower trim, chipboard flourish pieces, organza ribbon ... oh my!!

 An alternative would be to forego making the wrapper and just tie some pretty ribbon around the three boxes ... but I LOVE the wrapper!!

 Then I couldn't decide if I bling-ed out this set 'enough', so I went back and added a textural burlap bloom under the card stock doilie and a pretty white and rhinestone satin flower.  So pretty!

A fun gift to make ... and give!!

Please be sure to pop on by and visit a couple of the other teamies who are sharing projects today ...

Lauren Meader

Debbie Marcinkiewicz

Farida Rone

Linda Hammerton

Lori Hairston

Mara Campbell

 ... and don't forget to check out the MY TIME MADE EASY DESIGNER'S GALLERY too!!

The entire team will be back again tomorrow for the BIG RELEASE PARTY!  See you then!!

Hugs!

xoxoxo

Aqua, Pink and Pearls ... Oh My -- A Challenge For YOU!

 Well, today's the day ... "H" day ... by time you're reading this I'll be in surgery already ... having my 'long awaited' hysterectomy.  I thought the day would never get here when I was told I needed the surgery in early January ... and now it's here.  Finally ... I'm excited for this to be over ... I'm looking forward to a -hopeful- speedy recovery so I can get back to what I love the most -- creating little paper crafted treasures and sharing them right here with you!!

I hope to only be in the hospital two days if all goes well, and then recovering at home over the next two weeks.  As soon as I'm over the 'hump' as far as post-surgery pain goes, I'll be checking into blog land from my laptop in bed!  I've stock piled loads of yummy, crafty magazines to read while I'm on the mend ... including the new Party Ensembles Book by Paper Crafts ... it was all I could do to have it in the house the past two weeks and NOT tear into it!!

I have also prepped my bedroom with lots of crafty things to keep my hands busy once I begin to feel up to 'doing something' but still need to keep still to let the stitches heal ... I'll be quilling and hand making paper flowers -- my newest passion!!  Sounds like fun ... just wish the "H" thing weren't attached to all the fun things I have planned during my recovery - ha!!

So, I gave it some thought ... didn't want you to get bored and not have anything fun going on here at my blog in my absence!  I've pre-posted a bunch of Design Team assignments that you'll be able to peek at while I'm away, but I still wanted to share a little something fun here for you girlies to enjoy while I'm gone.  How about a fun little challenge??!!

'Aqua, Pink and Pearls ... Oh My'

Create a card or project inspired by the above photo USING AQUA, PINK AND NEUTRALS WITH PEARLS AND A PRETTY BOW!  Easy peesey, right??!!

What's up for grabs ... how about 15 yards of shabby vintage seam binding from my Etsy Shop ... one yard of each of 15 beautiful colors!

Let's run this challenge from today until April 9th.  That will give you girlies two weeks to create up a storm and submit all your little pretties right here for your chance to win!  If all goes according to plan, I'll announce the lucky winner right here on April 10th!

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today!  I can't wait to see what you'll create for this yummy challenge!!

See you all soon!

Hugs!

xoxoxo

The Shabby Tea Room #107!

 Hello friends and welcome to The Shabby Tea Room #107!  This week Fran is our wonderful host and she has chosen the theme of 'Bright and Beautiful Spring' along with this lovely photo for inspiration ...

 ... and Fran asks that we create a card or project inspired by the above photo USING LILAC, YELLOW, BLUE & KRAFT with a BUTTERFLY!

 We are sponsored this week in the Tea Room by JustRite Stamps!  For the design of my card, I die cut a Fancy Tags Two label from Spellbinders and then stamped the sentiment using the Vintage Oval Labels cling stamp set.

 The base of the card was created by stamping with kraft ink on kraft cardstock using the new Fleur De Lis Background Stamp.   Next I stamped one of the pretty images from the Lace Borders stamp set on daffodil cardstock and adhered it to the base of the card along with a paper doilie and some beautiful aqua satin ribbon. 

Some machine stitching around the edges, addition of pearls and rhinestones, a sweet little butterfly die cut from the Butterflies set from Spellbinders with trinket pins for antennae and a pretty little, handmade hydrangea bloom complete my design!! 

Please be sure to pop on over and visit the other Shabby Girls to be inspired by their beautiful creations today:

Fran Westmoreland - Purple Peanut's Crafty Blog

Lenet Mos - To Scrap or Not to Scrap, That's the Question
 Rebekah Faries - Midnite Lullabies Studio

Starr Timmons - The Paper Chase

Tammy Roberts - Paperie Sweetness

And then we hope you'll have time this week to give our 'Bright & Beautiful Spring' challenge a try!

Hugs!

xoxoxo

Challenges for this card:

JustRite Friday Inspiration #69 - spring fling

The Catered Crop featured designer ...

I was tickled {pink} when Linda asked me to join her and the girlies over at The Catered Crop to share a card I made for their current 'Recipe Swap - Stitching' challenge during this Sunday's 'Quick Fire' spotlights!  I adore to stitch on my cards ... most often I don't consider a card 'complete' unless it includes some sort of stitching!  This, I would imagine, comes from a custom sewing business I used to own ... and from my love for quilting too!!

So, I began with a base of kraft card stock.  Next, I inked the edges of white card stock with a pink distress ink, and then layered some pretty damask fabric on top -- I cut the edges with pinking shears and then machine zig-zag stitched the fabric to the card stock.  I machine sewed a snipett of vintage lace to the card base and added blush pearls to the pattern centers.

The pretty nosegay is made from scratch -- I hand cut a couple of glittered chipboard leaves and adhered them to the beautiful bloom.  To make this flower, I started with a strip of fabric 1" x 15" and rolled & twisted it in a circular pattern, gluing as I went along.  I then adhered the rolled fabric flower onto another larger fabric flower and added some blush pearls in the center of the bloom!

The birdcage was die cut using white card stock, and then I spritzed it with Tea Rose glimmer mist to give it a blush hue.  The little bird was hand cut from another piece of white glitter chipboard and I added a tiny blush pearl for her eye.  I stamped the sentiment on white card stock using the Vintage Ornaments stamp set from WMS and then die cut it in a heart shape with a Spellbinders die.  I inked the edges with blush distress ink and tied it onto the nosegay with white button twine.

Thanks so much for allowing me to share this little sweetie with you all today!  I hope you'll have some time to check out the 'Recipe Swap - in Stitches' challenge going on over at The Catered Crop this week -- just too much fun!!!

This card spotlighted at the Create for CARDS Blog too!

Hugs!
xoxoxo

Challenges for this card:

Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge #89 - sketch

Moxie Fab World - The DIY Embellishments Challenge

Create for CARDS - vintage florals

The Ribbon Carousel #45 - twine

Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger - Simple Elegance

The Pink Elephant #140 - get 'krafty'

Tuesday Throwdown #90 - spring cleaning/use your stash
Simon Says Stamp - bingo/flowers, lace, twine

The Kraft Journal #63 - anything goes

Sweet Treats ...

Hello sweeties!  I hope you're all having a wonderful day!!  It's  blissful outside here -- spring has sprung, the birds are chirping, the flowers and trees are blooming.  What a pretty time of the year!

 I wanted to share a couple of pics with you of the projects we will be creating at the March paper craft classes I'm teaching.  I adore making 3-D projects and this sweet little purse and card set was no exception!  The purse is a new die offered through SU!

We embossed the ice cream and cherries with melon and cherry flavored scratch and sniff powder -- it smelled heavenly when I was using the heat tool .. makes my mouth water!!!  The tiny cards are 2" x 3", so they only took small scraps of patterned papers to assemble -- this is a fun way to use up those snippets and bits of scrappy papers that are too yummy to toss out!!

Thanks for letting me share my {sweet} project with you here today!

Hugs!

xoxoxo

Challenges for these projects: 

Moxie Fab World - The Paper Scraps Challenge
Paper Issues - Candy Shop

The Ribbon Carousel #45 - twine

Tuesday Throwdown #90 - use your stash

Stamptacular Sunday #155 - cute as a button

Tuesday Throwdown ... tops!

Thank you to the ladies at Tuesday Throwdown for choosing my card as one of their top three picks for last week's 'Use a Clip' challenge!!

I hope you're having a wonderful, stampy day!!

Hugs!

xoxoxo

 

The Kraft Journal #63!

 Welcome to my blog today ... I'm so happy you're here for a visit!  Today, I'm excited to share a card with you that I designed for this week's The Kraft Journal #63 challenge - 'Anything Goes'!  I {heart} anything goes challenges ... they allow my creative spirit to soar!

 

For today's 'Anything Goes' challenge, I began my design with my all-time favorite color palette - pink and aqua - and a base of Lunch Bag Kraft Cardstock from The Kraft Outlet that I inked around the edges with cream paint.  Layered on top of that is some pretty pink embossed and inked cardstock.  A paper doilie was added next, cut in half.  On top of the doilie pieces, I tied a snipett of Adelaide Seam Binding and a bow. 

Last, some lovely embellishments were added for the finishing touches on this card ... a sentiment tag backed with more Lunch Bag Kraft Cardstock, some yummy aqua tulle, a couple of die cut shapes and glitter, a die shape cut from a piece of cardboard box and attached to the Adelaide Seam Binding bow with Natural Hemp Cording and a Tiny Wooden Clothespin, and two beautiful Antique Stick Pins.  

 This was such a fun challenge!!  Please be sure to pop on over to The Kraft Journal blog to be inspired by the other teamies' projects and then I hope you'll give our 'Anything Goes' challenge a try!!

Hugs!

xoxoxo

Challenges for this card:  

The Pink Elephant #140 - get 'krafty'

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenges #160 - lace & scallops

Tuesday Throwdown #89 - use a clip

Really Reasonable Ribbons #44 - spring w/ribbon

Top Tip Tuesday - Mother's Day or girlie

Create for CARDS - vintage florals

Sugar Creek Hollow #3 - layers

The Shabby Tea Room #106!

 Hello sweet friends and welcome to The Shabby Tea Room #106 - 'Pennant Party'!   I am our host this week and I have chosen this pretty little photo for inspiration ...

 ... and I ask that you create a card or project inspired by the COLORS IN THE PHOTO and INCLUDE A BANNER OR FLAG/PENNANT!

 I adore including banners on my paper crafted little art work!!  I began with some pretty papers from Crate along with the Flower Tag #1 digital image from our sponsor in the Tea Room this week, Bugaboo Stamps! 

 Some sweet bits and bobs of treasures from my craft baskets ... all inspired by the photo -- satin flowers for the little birdie's nest, a teeny tiny pearl for her eye, yummy colored buttons in aqua, red, hot pink and turquoise, a spool wrapped with baker's twine and a couple of sewing pins -- yum!!

And here is my completed card using the colors from the inspiration photo and a sweet little banner to boot!

I have a bit of fun news to share ... today marks the first day of our brand new Shabby Girls Design Team in the Tea Room ... you won't want to miss a single bit of all the beautiful inspiration from these talented girls:

Fran Westmoreland - Purple Peanut's Crafty Blog 

Lenet Mos - To Scrap or Not to Scrap, That's the Question

Rebekah Faries - Midnite Lullabies Studio

Starr Timmons - The Paper Chase

Tammy Roberts - Paperie Sweetness

Pop on over to the Tea Room to check out all the details of our 'Pennant Party' challenge this week and then we sure do hope you'll have a bit of crafty time to play along!!

Hugs!

xoxoxo

Challenges for this card: 

Create for CARDS - vintage florals

Catered Crop Recipe Challenge - stitching

Sugar Creek Hollow #3 - layers

Stamptacular Sunday #155 - cute as a button

The Ribbon Reel #24 - pretty as a posey

Tigerlilly with Kaisercraft!

 Hello sweeties and welcome!  I so happy to share a sweet little layout with you all that I recently designed for Kaisercraft using their {new} Tigerlilly Collection!

 Please be sure to visit the Kaisercraft Blog to be inspired by the other teamies projects and for a complete materials list for this layout!

Hugs!

xoxoxo

 

Technologic with Kaisercraft!

 Hello friends!!  I'm pleased to share a cute layout I recently designed for Kaisercraft using their {new} Technologic collection!!

 Please be sure to stop by the Kaisercraft Blog to check out the inspiration from a couple more teamies and for a complete materials list for this project!

Hugs!

xoxoxo

 

The Ribbon Reel #24!

 Hello sweet friends and welcome to The Ribbon Reel #24 - 'Pretty as a Posey'!  I am our host at The Ribbon Reel Challenge Blog this week and I have chosen this gorgeous photo as inspiration ...

... and I ask that you create a card or project inspired by the above photo USING PINK, YELLOW, AQUA, NEUTRALS with FLOWERS and RIBBONS!  Fun!!!

 I picked up a package of deliciousness from Crate at my LSS recently on a girls' field trip shopping excursion!  How sweet is this little girl with her doilie??!!  I pulled out my treasure baskets of ribbons and trims from The Ribbon Reel Shop and got to work ... the beautiful tie around the middle of the card is 15mm Turquoise Sheer Ruffle Edge and the beautiful bloom is made from 38mm Pink Silky Crush -- love!!! 

 Please be sure to stop by The Ribbon Reel Challenge Blog to check out the inspiration from the other teamies this week, and then I hope you'll have time to make something for this fun challenged inspired by the beautiful, springy photo!!!

Thanks for visiting with me today!!

Hugs!

xoxoxo

Challenges for this card: 

Create for CARDS - vintage florals

Sugar Creek Hollow #3 - layers

Catered Crop Recipe Challenge - stitching

Stamptacular Sunday #155 - cute as a button

Top Tip Tuesday - girlie