Passion for Purple Cards!!

I have had to really push myself lately to get some cards done. I wanted to be creative, but the ideas just were not coming and I was in a time crunch (ok - when am I NOT in a time crunch?!?)

So I needed to work on a get well card for a dear friend and a birthday card for my granddaughter first. Yes there are still other cards to make, but these come first!

The first one is from an SVG Cuts file - Woodland Fairies. I used Paper Temptress mica to cut the silhouette with my Silver Bullet Professional.  The cardstock is also from Paper Temptress and I used just a bit of washi tape (that is fun to  use!) and rhinetones to add as much bling as possible to brighten her day.  The inside talks about "wishing" her well......

I love the silhouette figure - I used double sided adhesive and glittered the wings with Ritz glitter - I love how that glitter doesn't fall off (except when I knock it over in my craft room!) and it feels like silk when it adheres to any adhesive - it is awesome.

For Haley, my youngest granddaughter, I found a fun file from Birds Cards called 3 Gift Box.  The Silver Bullet made it easy to put all of the pieces together.  Her favorite colors (this week!) are purple, and I was already on a purple kick so that fit right in!!  I used the amethyst mica from Paper Temptress to accent the gift boxes and ran the strips through the Provo Craft Swiss Dots embossing folder to tie it into the patterned paper and give it a little interest!   I printed out an Amazon gift card so she and her Mom can go shopping online and she can get the books (yes she loves them!) or toys that she wants!!  It is so hard to shop long distance when the wish list is vague!  I just hope she isn't disappointed......

Happy Birthday, my precious granddaughter Haley!

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Fabric Flowers

I am not one to make cards in advance and have a stockpile.  It would certainly be easier,but I like to tailor every card to the recipient. It helps inspire me as I usually struggle to figure out in my  head just what the card is going to look like.  It can take me the better part of a day just to know what I want to do - good thing I am not trying to make a living out of card making!  It would be a rough go!!
I have quite a collection of card sketches ; it might be time to put them to work instead of taking up space on my computer - what a concept!!  I think I just challenged myself!  Will see how I do with that one.........stay tuned!!

But for this card, I wanted to make a special card for a friend going through a difficult time.  And I wanted to try something out of the norm for me, so I chose an older cutting file from SVG Cuts from their 3D Flowers, Part 2,  It's called Queen Anne Lace.  I loved how light and airy it appeared and was hoping I could capture that.

I have wanted to try cutting a new material that I had been reading about -- it is a fabric paper made by Nasco and it comes in variety pack of beautiful colors.  It has been sitting in my craft room begging me to try it  -so I did!! Using a new medium is always challenging, but the Silver Bullet Pro does the hard work. I thought I would need the fabric blade, but actually was happiest with the results I got with the 45 degree blade. 

These flowers were VERY tiny (and yes I need to clean my mat!!) and they turned out very well. Teh material feels a bit like interfacing, only softer and thinner.

I turned to Paper Temptress Mica Papers for the card base (lapis lazuli card stock) and the flower stems (fairway text weight).  I love the shimmer of this line and turn to it time and time again.  It gives the cards I make such an elegance.

Here are the stems before the flowers are added

Assembly was simple but time consuming! Gluing all of those flowers on the stems  was a good exercise in patience and I can always improve in that area! Instead of doing a section and waiting, I would just keep going and inadvertently knock off a "not yet adhered flower" in my attempt to glue a new one on.  Did I learn to wait?  Nope....... I am stubborn and refused to be defeated by glue and paper, so I persisted, gluing and regluing and getting more creative with the placement of my fingers so as not to knock off any more!!  I finally succeeded, but it was definitely a learning experience!!

I used the embossing tool pictured above in the center of the stems to get added dimension in the flower.

I really like how this turned out and would happily make it again/  I am excited to do more with this fabric paper again too!   The greeting sticker is a 3D  variety that I have had for a long time. I have a wide variety of these, so you probably be seeing them in cards to come!!

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Where does the time go??

Not sure what has kept me from posting other than a lack of inspiration and time  I know you can relate to that.  I have been doing a lot of cooking and will share some photos in the coming week. But I have been really frustrated that the card making has taken a back seat to everything lately. That is about to change!!  (if I say it, will that make it so??!!??)  Fingers are crossed!

I have been working hard to reorganize (or want to reorganize)  my office/craft room, and that seems to be a never-ending, ongoing project. I am one of those people who is obsessive about organizing.  Let me give you an example.  I make lists for EVERYTHING.  Consider, if you will,  my "to do" list.  If I finish a task that is NOT on my list - I will write it down just so I can cross it off.  Oh the sheer joy of drawing a line through a chore!!  Please tell me I am not the only one who does that!  It's a sickness I know, but I admit it!!  And I really do love to organize. Every few months I will redo an area of my craft room and then the snowball starts.  Why is it that one simple cleaning project turns into TEN???   It's like putting together a jigsaw puzzle.  I get a few pieces in place and then nothing else works together so I have to undo and restart again. It's exhausting, but gratifying once I get to the end!  So my hour project usually becomes a day, but I am always happier with the end result, so that's a good thing!!

And this was my "redo the craft room" day..... errrrrrrr..... weekend!!  I believed then, and I still do (although now it's more of a faint glimmer of hope) that if I organized and redid a few things my creative  mojo would return.  At this point I am hoping it is still hiding under that last stack of papers I never got to!!

So here it is as clean as it will ever be.  There is a reason all of the drawers are closed!!  As you can see, my Silver Bullet Professional is the star of the room.  I love it!!

I have been playing with PicMonkey and I am really liking it - so much to learn. But at least it enabled me to share a lot of photos in a hopefully painless way for you.

LATE UPDATE:  Guess what???  I found a little mojo along the way - will be sharing a couple of cards soon and I hope that the more I do the more I will want to do!  And am still cooking so stay tuned for a variety of "Crafting Crumbs in the coming weeks."



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