Mini Envelopes Valentine's Banner

Pin It Now! I love Valentine's Day, now that I have a sweet husband and two lovely sons, who think I'm number 1!  Not so much stress involved, I like it that way :)

I set out to make a sort of countdown to Valentine's Day this year, and came up with this little trio of banners made with SU's mini envelope Bigz die.

I cut envelopes from alternating white and two patterns from the super pretty Tea Time DSP. Added lots of embellishments from the Artisan Embellishments kit and a couple of the little tiny Pop Top embellishments.  Also some of the delicate Flower Trim (oh, how I love that stuff).

 I strung them onto the new Natural ribbon from the spring mini, it's very much like burlap, but nice and neat.

I plan to fill them with tiny candy treats and "Love You Because" type of notes.  I think it's especially important to let people know not only that you love them, but specifically why you love them as individuals.  Now I have more than one day to get my points across :)

Have a lovely day, my crafty friend!  ~Erika

Tickets, Please {Christmas Wishes}

Pin It Now! I'm so glad I've come across the Merry Monday challenge. A new Christmas card challenge every Monday! Yay, a chance to use all those stamp sets & products I bought for Christmas, but like many of us, didn't have enough time to use during the holidays.

Or, in this case, making Christmas cards out of Spring mini items!











Here's a 4-1/4" square card base from Naturals Composition DSP, with a cluster of tickets and trim, including Flower Trim, Lace Tape, Doily paper, and Linen Thread.

The ticket stamp is a very versatile new set, That's the Ticket.

Only 328 days til Christmas. What are you waiting for? Get a jump on your cards! :)
Click below to visit the challenge.  It's a tic-tac-toe challenge, and I chose the bottom row...DSP, Red/Green, and Ribbon...the linen thread, lace tape, bitty bit of Natural Trim ribbon, and flower trim loosely translated to ribbon!

I've got my dear Gram on my mind today, she would have been 92 today, but lived to see 90 birthdays. She was my biggest fan. I hope you have one of those people in your life, too! What a blessing. Here's a picture of her at a bus station photo booth around 1940. I keep it in the window of my craft room :)









Pretty girl!

Have a blessed & creative day.
Erika

SUPPLY LIST:
STAMPS:  That's The Ticket, More Merry Messages, Lovely As a Tree, Itty Bitties
INK: Raspberry Ripply, Gumball Green, Basic Black
PAPER:  Naturals Composition DSP, Print Poetry DSP, Very Vanilla
EMBELLISHMENTS:  Vanilla 5/8" Flower Trim, Delicate Details Lace Tape, Natural Trim ribbon, Linen Thread, Ticket Duo Punch, Itty Bitty Shapes Punch

Girly Chalkboard Tags

Pin It Now! I'm jumping on the Chalkboard Technique bandwagon, and I'm loving the ride!

I made a little batch of these feminine tags for customers when I sent out my latest packet of info.  They're simple and easy to do, and there are plenty of tutorials on the web.  Now that I've done it, I've found a few other samples that I'd like to CASE, like this one from Tami White, very subtly done.  So I'll continue to tweak my technique. Practice makes perfect!

Mine are simply done by heat embossing the image with white Stampin' Emboss powder onto Basic Black CS, then sponging Craft White ink here and there.  It's easy to smudge around until you like the look.

SUPPLY LIST:
STAMPS: Vintage Verses (SAB 2013), Affection Collection,

INK:  Craft White, Versamark clear
PAPER: Basic Black
EMBELLISHMENTS: Pink Pirouette Two Tone Ribbon, Baker's Twine, White embossing powder

There's Only One You {Valentine}

Pin It Now!

This week at Hand Stamped Sentiments, there's a beautiful inspiration photo to spark your creativity!  Look at all the eye (and every other kind of) candy in this picture...

Hand Stamped Sentiments challenge #152
Inspiration Photo

I'm on a creative search to make a sweet Valentine for my hubby.  One that I like, too, as I always wind up taking it back to keep in my stash after he's lost track of it :D  In the photo, the envelopes against the wall really stood out - how cute is that?!!  So I made a super CAS card imitating those rectangles. 

The honeycomb embossing makes a clean, white background with just one sparkly red heart, and the heart has doily wings!   

The wings are made from a small section of the new doilies form SU's Artisan Embellishment pack.  I folded it in half, and pleated it back and forth a few times, and fluffed.

And then inside, a very appropos sentiment!

So what do you see in the inspiration photo?  I had so many great ideas...banners, cupcake toppers, repetitive hearts, or just anything red & white.   Hop on over to Hand Stamped Sentiments and see what everyone has come up with, and join in the fun!

SUPPLY LIST:
STAMPS: Vintage Verses (Sale-A-Bration 2013)
INK: Real Red
PAPER: Real Red, Whisper White, Red glimmer paper
EMBELLISHMENTS:  Doily (Spring 2013 catalog), Small Heart punch, Honeycomb embossing folder

Love, vintage inspired love!

Pin It Now! I am so into the love cards lately. I just think that besides saying Merry Christmas, saying I Love You is the next sweetest sentiment ever.

I am crazy about the hand made ribbon flowers on MeadowStreet.com.  My mom recently donned a gorgeous poinsettia pin, and I ogled it for days.  She didn’t give it to me (LOLOLOL) but she did let me take pictures of it, and I used the inspiration to make this card with Hand Stamped Sentiments’ new sketch this week…

The ribbon flower is made entirely from Very Vanilla seam binding ribbon. I just used sponges and ink to color the ribbon to my liking in Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, and Crumb Cake. I used SU’s adhesive rounds to work the flower until I got it the way I liked it - it’s very forgiving, and allows you to pull the ribbon up and reposition it.  I made the rosebud from the same ribbon, and colored the rhinestone with SU’s gold pen.

The stamp is a single sold in December, called Love Heart.  I plan to put together a card kit to sell this month…more about that later.  It’s cut out and the edges are adorned with Champagne Glass Glitter and Crystal Effects.  The card front is stamped with Ex Libris, which is rubbed with a Crumb Caked sponge and sprayed with Frost White Shimmer Paint.  The edge is embossed with Delicate Designs and hand trimmed.

I love sketch, and this one is simple and leaves so much room for creativity!

What do you see in the sketch?  Come and play along at HSS this week!

SUPPLIES USED:
STAMPS: Love Heart single stamp, Ex Libris background stamp
INK: Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Frost White Shimmer Paint
PAPER:  Shimmery White, Crumb Cake
EMBELLISHMENT:  Very Vanilla seam binding ribbon, Crumb Cake scalloped tulle, basic rhinestone, Champagne glass glitter
OTHER:  Delicate Designs embossing folder, blender pen