Sakura Cards - white and bright

I love finding inspiration in unexpected places.

My latest set of cards is a recycled, or up-cycled, project using yet another lovely tissue box.
This one is a Royale box in deep fuchsia featuring beautiful sakura blossoms painted on a somewhat abstract background.



I kept these first two cards simple with minimal accents and a bright white base.

I started by stamping  random splashes across the bottom right corner of the card base. Then atatched a few strips of washi tape, some wire paper and in the middle a cut out  of my tissue box that has been mounted with foam tape.
The greeting was cut from black paper and several little rhinestones were added randomly to the card for a little bling.

Supplies used:
Cardstock: Recollections white and black
Stamps: Gorgeous Grunge - SU
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Rose Red, pear Pizzazz - SU
Dies: Greetings Thinlits - SU, Circle Framelits - SU
Designer paper: Royale tissue box
Misc.: foam mounting squares/tape, little rhinestones, green paper wire, washi tape

For this card I kept the shape of the tissue box piece rectangular. It was mounted on some spring green cardstock and attached to the card front with foam tape. Little flags were added to one side. these were created with the banner punch. For the larger flags the paper (and tissue box scraps) were cut to strips and then one end inserted into the punch to cut the tail
The regretting was cut form black and added vertically. For a final touch the flower centers have been accented with rhinestones as well as  small trio of stones was added to the top of the banner row.

Supplies used:
Cardstock: Recollections white and black, Bazzill green and pale pink
Dies: Greetings Thinlits - SU
Punch: banner - SU
Designer paper: Royale tissue box
Misc.: foam mounting squares/tape, little rhinestones

Thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you again soon. 

Daisy Granny Square Crochet Blanket

I've really gotten back into crocheting these past few months. After making the baby blankets and cute little raccoon hat I started on several other projects.

I made this lovely daisy square blanket for my sister.

I chose various off white, pink and silver/gray yarns.
Several of which are specialty yarns such as Loops & Threads Mink (chenille),
Isaac Mizrahi craft yarn - Carnegie Hill, silver sequins yarn,  multi toned boucle and a shiny metallic yarn.

The blanket is worked in a large daisy granny square pattern using a Q (15.75 mm) crochet hook. This resulted in approx. 12 x 12" sized squares. So the finished blanket consists of 12 squares. The finished blanket is approx. 42" x 54 ".

I made 4 each of 3 different squares. The Lion Brand Homespun yarn and the fuchsia chenille were crochet in single strand, the rest in triple strands. The basic daisy square pattern came from this site. The pattern is well written and the blanket came together rather quickly. I love how it turned out.
Thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you again soon. 

You've got the World by a String

I have one more Balloon card to share, well for now anyway.
This is a bit of a different colour pallet, softer, neutral tones and a lot of beige/taupe colours.
I quite like how it turned out.

For the card front I stamped various texture images randomly around the edge to create a border and finished the edges with sponged ink. The balloons were stamped on a scrap piece of cardstock and then punched out with the balloon punch. They were attached to the card front with foam mounting squares/tape.

The card front was attached to the card base with foam tape as well and I finished it with a few randomly placed rhinestones in various sizes.

Supplies used:

Cardstock: Recollections white

Stamps: Balloon Builder, Timeless Textures, Gorgeous Grunge - SU

Ink: Tip Top Taupe, Soft Suede, Sahara Sand, Perfect Plum, Pool Party, Calypso Coral - SU

Punch: Balloon Bouquet - SU

Misc.: rhinestones, foam mounting squares/tape

Thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you again soon. 

Balloon Birthday Border

I'm really liking the combination of yellow and purple. For this card I also added a little bit of light turquoise peach in the background.
It is another fast and simple/CAS card. I stamped by border background using Gorgeous Grunge. Stamped three balloons, punched them out using the matching punch and attached to card front over top of the border. The last balloon features the greeting and was popped with foam for a little extra pop.

The only bling is the 3 little silver sequins that were randomly glued tot he front. I opted to emboss the card base and then mounted my front onto the card with foam tape.

Supplies used:

Cardstock: Recollections white

Stamps: Balloon Builder, Gorgeous Grunge - SU

Ink: Daffodil Yellow, Crushed Curry, Mossy Meadows, Lost Lagoon, Calypso Coral - SU

Punch: Balloon Bouquet - SU

Embossing folder:Wild Holly wrapped in joy Collection  Couture Creations

Misc.: foam mounting squares/tape, silver sequins.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you again soon. 

Balloon Celebration

As, one can never have too many birthday cards I made another using the Balloon Celebration stamp set and the matching punch.
Unlike the Balloon Builder stamps these balloon images do not have a smooth/rounded outline but more of a hand drawn jagged edge. This results in a fairly uneven white border when using the matching balloon punch. Honestly, I'm not sure quite how I feel about this uneven white border yet.

I do like the secondary "shadow" image for the lower part of the balloon. I tried both using the same ink colour to create a slightly darker (second stamp) look and using a slightly darker shade. Either will work well.

I kept the focus of my card on the pretty balloons and popped them slightly from my embossed cloud background.

 



Everything was matted on green (I inked my white cardstock for a perfect match) and attached using foam tape. The greeting was also popped with foam.

And as most cards feel incomplete to me without a tiny touch of sparkle, I added a few little rhinestones.

Supplies used:

Cardstock: Recollections - white

Stamps: Balloon Celebration - SU

Embossing folder: Clouds - Darice

Punch: Balloon Bouquet Punch - SU, 1" square - SU (for banner tail)

Ink: Old Olive, Mossy Meadow, Real Red, Cherry Cobbler - SU, Tuxedo Black - Memento

Misc.: foam mounting squares/tape, rhinestones

Thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you again soon. 

Birthday Baloons

This weekend I finally sat down and made a few cards using the new balloon stamps from Stampin' Up. I quite enjoyed playing with these and can see myself using them frequently in the future.

First up is a purple creation.

I love the transparency of the stamped image. It adds a wonderful sense of realism to the balloons.
I kept it nice and simple, single layer of images matted on one piece of card. A few sequins for accents and a popped greeting.



Supplies used:
Cardstock: Recollections white, Bazzill
Stamps: Balloon Builders, Itty Bitty banners, both SU
Ink: Blackberry Bliss, Island Indigo, Crushed Curry - SU
Die: Bitty Banners Framelite - SU
Misc.: gold sequins, paper piercer, Basic piercing template -SU, foam mounting squares/tape



Thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you again soon.