Peaceful Irish Cottage - Shamrock Blessings to you!

I love this serene image of an Irish cottage by Waltzingmouse Stamps. I was looking for a peaceful scene and I think this really captures that feeling. The shamrock has three leaves, so it is associated with the Holy Trinity, and I have a shamrock blessing for all of you inside!  All stamps used are from the Irish Blessings set, except the large shamrock inside which is from the Celtic Heritage set.



I stamped the scene in brown (Rich Cocoa - Memento) on Cream (110 lb. - Flourishes) and colored it with Copics - the cardstock was a dream for blending and coloring! I trimmed and embossed it with a Petite Oval Nestie (Spellbinders) and colored the edge with a brown Copic marker. This was backed by a pink scalloped layer.

The olive background (Stampin' Up!) was stamped with shamrocks (Bamboo Leaves - Memento) and the edge was scalloped with a border punch (Apron Lace - Fiskars) then wrapped with a pink and brown ribbon.  To extend the cardfront back to full size after punching the edge of it away, I backed it with cream cardstock tinted with pale yellow Copics.



I wanted the cream cardstock to be decorative on the inside as well as the outside, so I scalloped the inside edge. It is always nice to repeat elements from the card front on the inside! I stamped the large Celtic shamrock in green and the shamrock blessing in brown.

This card is my submission for several challenges:

First, it is for Stamping Sisters In Christ Challenge #30:

SCRIPTURE
Psalm 29:11 "The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace."


CHALLENGE
Make a card/layout/project using a peaceful image or a verse about peace.

I think my peaceful Irish cottage and shamrock blessing fit this challenge perfectly!

Second, it is for the Waltzingmouse color challenge on Stamping Around, which was to use a neutral like white or kraft, plus pale green, sugar pink, and pale yellow. I came as close as I could with the green!

Third, it is for the Our Creative Corner Color Challenge by Silke Ledlow, who I had the good fortune to meet in the Flourishes booth at the show this weekend in Perry, Georgia! The color challenge was to use brown, pink, green, and yellow.

Fourth, it is for the Stamp Simply #130 Color Challenge - Pink and Green with added Brown!  I really lucked out that so many challenges were on the same color palette!

I hope you have enjoyed my peaceful Irish cottage card and I wish you lots of shamrock blessings!  Please leave a comment - that is what makes it all worthwhile!

Shabby Chic - Dictionary Flowers!

This shabby chic card features a poofy flower and leaves made from old book pages. At the last Friends of the Library Old Books Sale, I purchased a bunch of old dictionaries, thesaurasus, and atlases for the express purpose of using them for papercrafts -   I spent about $3 for this treasure trove that even included a French-English dictionary! 



The rose is made from six 1.5-inch and four 1.25-inch scalloped circles punched from a page of the dictionary. I stacked them all together, smaller ones centered on top, and used a paper piercer to punch a hole through the center which I secured with a small brad. then I smooshed each layer up tightly, inked the edges with my English Red ink pad (Marvy Matchables dye ink) and then un-smooshed them some. This is a very technical process, LOL!  This is a variation on the "poofy flowers" from Dawn McVey's blog.



The leaves were also made with the scallop circle punch, first punching a circle and then moving the circle over and chomping some off to make a leaf shape. Then I folded them in half and ran them through my paper crimper. Remember paper crimpers? Hah!  I ran the Old Gold ink pad (Marvy) over the crimped surface to add some olive green color. A couple of branch punches (Martha Stewart) were tucked in to add more texture.



Then I used more dictionary paper, trimmed with a large scallop border punch (EK Success) and sponged with tan ink (Tim Holtz - Corduroy Distress Ink).  I also heavily sponged the embossed background (Large Spots Quickutz Folder) with Corduroy ink. I swiped the edges with the English Red inkpad. A lovely champagne gold ribbon wrapped around and a beautiful bow (thank you, Bow-Easy!) seemed like the perfect elegant contrast to all the shabby sponging.

The sentiment was stamped in English Red on a scrap of cream cardstock. I notched the ends and sponged with Old Gold in the center and Pond Green (Marvy) around the edges, with a little Corduroy (Distress) over the top to grunge it up a little.  I curved the cardstock and left a little curl in it when I stuck it down.



Of course you can't forget the inside! Several of you have asked me to show the insides of the cards so I am trying to get better about remembering to photograph them!  I embossed each edge with the large dots folder by just tucking the edge of the card into the embossing folder. Love how that turned out - I'll be doing that again for sure! I sponged it with Corduroy (Distress) and stamped the sentiment (SU) in Pond Green (Marvy). I took another scallop punched circle, this time 2-inches, and sponged the edges and dotted the center with English Red. I smooshed it up really good and then unsmooshed it and adhered it to the card. The leaf was a circle with some punched off to make a leaf shape.

I am really thrilled with this card!! I have not done too much with Shabby Chic, but with all these old dictionaries to use up, I think you'll be seeing me explore this style a lot more! What do you think?  Does it work for you? Please leave me a comment - I really LOVE hearing from you!  Thanks for looking!

Life is too short to drink House Wine & Gingersnap Birthday Blog Candy!

Scroll down to read about Gingersnap Creations birthday celebration! This card features a wonderful stamp of a wine bottle and glass in a lovely sketchy style (Stamps Happen), perfect for a thank you card for a bottle of very nice wine I received from the head of the company where I work. I do not often drink, but when I do a glass of good Cabernet Sauvignon is my fave! The stamp features Merlot, but you can't have everything, LOL!


The base is Bravo Burgundy (Stampin' Up!). I cut out the stone card stock panel with the largest Nestie Label 8 (Spellbinders), sponged it while still in the die with a muted gold (Ochre - Marvy dye ink) and had a wonderful time coloring it with Copic markers. I used a slot punch on one side (Stampin' Up!) to make a place for the ribbon to come to the front, and cut a slit in the fold of the card to allow it to pass through to the inside of the card. I used two layers of sheer organza ribbon - a bright gold and a narrower old gold stacked on top of each other - love that look! I used a granny knot instead of a square knot to make the tails go perpindicular to the ribbon band, and covered it with rustic button with narrow hemp twine knotted through.

I wish I'd remembered to take a picture of the inside. On the left, above the ribbon, I stamped two sentiments at different angles, one higher than the other. One said "Life is too short to drink house wine!" (Ann-ticipations) (I heard someone else say that life is too long not to, LOL!) The other was a quote from an ancient Greek writer: "No thing more excellent nor more valuable than WINE was ever granted mankind by God. --Plato" (Serendipity Stamps). On the inside right I used a standard thank you sentiment.

What do you think, does it look good enough to drink? Please leave a comment!

Blog Candy Alert - Gingersnap Creations Birthday Blog Candy Bonanza!

Gingersnap Creations is a wonderful challenge blog that I enjoy reading, and I need to challenge myself to start entering their challenges, LOL! To celebrate their birthday, however, they are making it easier, no challenge entry required.

You can read all about how to enter and see the WONDERFUL birthday blog candy in this post. The drawing is on March 19, 2010.