Color Challenge, continued....

Last week's challenge at Heart2Heart Challenges involved the colors Cocoa, Pear and Sorbet.  This week, we're asked to create projects in the color combo that we love the most.  Now, I love many different color combinations, depending on what type of project I'm making.  But I'm definitely a "Pink" girl (ask anyone who knows me!), and I especially like pink when paired with a bright green, Like Pear.  Here is what I decided to make:

I absolutely love the colors in the Sophia paper pack, particularly Hollyhock and Pear, and since I have plenty of paper from this line, I decided to use some of them up.  I went with the theme of "consume, not collect", and deccorated these paper mache letters that I've had sitting around FOREVER!  I painted them, then traced them onto the Sophia paper, cut out the letters, and used Mod Podge to adhere them to the paper mache letters.  I then used my sanding block and finishing files to even out the edges.  Some stamping and some embellies finish it off.  These letters now grace the top of my much beloved Ikea Expedit book shelf in my craft room, inspiring me to CREATE every day!!

Blogger is being very persnickity about letting me upload any more photos.  I promise I will come back soon and post some close ups of my letters. Hope you enjoy this project, and I invite you to play along with us this week at H2H.  We've got a guest Design Team member joining us for September...Jane Haas.  Please give her a warm welcome, and visit her at http://scrappy-gram.blogspot.com/.  We have 2 new prize sponsors as well:  Heather Hunt (www.creativecoconut08.blogspot.com) and Kelly Jo Ratcliff (www.kjsstamppad.blogspot.com).  They've got some really great prizes to give out, and you can win this month simply by playing along with our challenges!

Thanks for stopping by, and Happy Crafting!! 

Heart2Heart challenge: Doilies and Lace

This post is going to be short and sweet this week.  I just returned from Close To My Heart's annual Convention in Disneyworld, and while I had the time of my life, this chick is TIRED!  :-)  But I am beyond excited about what CTMH has to offer in the new Idea Book (which goes live 2 weeks from today, by the way!!!!).  More on that in the upcoming days.  :-)

This week's challenge over at Heart2Heart is to create artwork using doilies and/or lace, real, stamped or die cut.  This challenge comes a few weeks too soon, as CTMH  revealed this week that we have partnered with Cricut to produce an exclusive Cricut cartridge, and there are EASILY at least 50 images on the cartridge that are doilies or lacy!!!  But in the meantime, I have a really adorable doily die-cut that I recently purchased at a scrapbook expo.  I was so excited to have an opportunity to try it out!  But I was very disappointed...the die did not cut cleanly, and was way too intricate to try to clean up with my scissors.  Luckily, I had some little Martha Stewart doilies on hand.  They are paper, so I was able to stamp on them to give them a little more visual interest.

 I had some spare pieces from a Mix-n-Mingle album left from another project, so I used those to create a little mini-notebook to bring with me to Convention. 

I simply adhered some B&T paper to the front and back, and adhered some notebook paper to the inside (I used a red-line tape to attach this).  I actually cut up a notepad to make the paper, but I later realized that I could have just as easily placed some Post-It Notes inside.  :-)

Here is a picture of the inside:

 Add a flower (see this post to learn how to make this flower) and a cute little button from the Pink and Red assortment, and Voila!  Adorableness!  :-)

Thanks for looking!  Leave a little love if you feel like it, but be sure to come back soon!

Material used (all products are CTMH, except where noted):

base: Mix-n-Mingle Album

paper:  Sophia B&T, Pear cs

stamps: Universal Backgrounds, Boutique Borders

ink:  Pear

Embellishments: Martha Stewart paper doilies, Red and Pink button assortment, white floss, white ric-rac, pink ribbon (from my scrap stash), generic notebook tablet from Staples

Happy birthday, baby girl!!

So as I said in a recent post, our May/June is jammed with celebrations.  Today is my daughter's turn, as she turns 11 years old.  It's so bittersweet for me, as she's my youngest, and I think it's even harder watching her grow up, knowing there's no more kids behind her.  No more sippy cups, no more blankies, no more night lights, no more Brownies, no more elementary school.  But she's growing up to be such a wonderful young woman, it's making those "no mores" easier to accept.  We're so proud of her, and are eager to watch her develop into the amazing young woman God wants her to be.  Happy birthday, Allie!!

Since Allie is a competitive gymnast, we thought it would be fun to surprise her with tickets to the Covergirl Classic gymnastics meet in Chicago.  This is a meet where the nation's top gymnasts compete....competitors in previous years have included Carly Patterson, Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liuken, Alicia Sacramone, and Chelsie Memmel, just to name a few.  She is so EXCITED to go!  It will be a girls weekend, with just her, her friend Leah, myself, my mom and my sister-in-law going.   NO BOYS this trip!  Because of the cost, she agreed that this trip IS her birthday...no other presents, or parties.  (Part of me is secretly relieved at the no party part....sssh!)  To present her with the ticket (well, the receipt for the tickets...I ordered online!), I made a special little box for her, using Sophia papaers.  I also made a coordinating birthday card.  It was a total Sophia weekend, as I finally decorated some paper maiche letters I've had sitting in my craft room for years, but I'll post on that later.  :-)

Here are pictures of the box and card:

And pictures of Allie opening her present:

 

Happy birthday, baby girl!!!!  We love you!

Yet another card....

I've been on a card roll lately, so here is another card I made last week:

The ribbon was pleated by laying down a line of Tacky Tape (red-line tape), then pushing small sections of ribbon onto the tape, one at a time.

Supplies (all products are CTMH, unless otherwise noted)

-paper: Hollyhock and White Daisy cardstock, Sophia level 2 paper pack

-ink: Hollyhock
-stamp set: Little Princess (C1414)
-embellishments: White grosgrain ribbon, White Waxy Flax, Pink Assortment buttons, misc. green button

Is it Spring yet???????

Hello fellow crafters!!  I'm baaaack!  :-)  How very ironic that my last post was in NOVEMBER, and it was about how I was going to be be more consistent about blogging.  :-)  At any rate, many of you know that around that time my back started bothering me again, and I actually ended up with surgery in February, so I apologize for the blogging void while I've been recuperating.

Since it's been so dark and dreary here, I wanted to make something that brightened up the room a little bit.  This "window box" of flowers fits the bill!!  I will be offering this as a workshop sometime in the near future, so look here for updates, or in my newsletter.  Each flower in the "garden" represents a different technique (well, technically that isn't true....I repeated 2 flowers!).  I used one of my very favorite new paper lines from Close To My Heart, Sophia.  It has such pretty, vibrant colors!  Perfect for those dreary March days!

Enjoy!  Who says it's too early in the season for flowers???  :-)

(Edited to add the details for the workshop:  It will be held at my house on Tuesday, March 22, from 6-9:30pm.  The cost is $15, or $5 with a $25 CTMH purchase.  Please email me at thepaperprincess2@comcast.net to sign up, or for more details.)

(The "wooden" posts were stamped with the wood-grain stamp from the set "Universal Backgrounds", using Bamboo ink.)