Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Bring on the Bling!

IHP9-12-zvaDo you LOVE bling? So do we! This month the i {heart} papers design team and the team from Zva Creative are celebrating the love of beautiful bling! Since each of our teams have designers who are also Paper Craft Planet Super Novas, we asked the PCP team to host some special challenges throughout the week. There will be lots of beautiful, blingy inspiration!

You should have arrived from Robin Shakoor’s blog...if you missed the beginning, head straight to Kate's blog so you won't miss a single gorgeous project!

ihp_logo i {heart} papers retails the industry's best paper crafting supplies from your favorite manufacturers while offering stellar customer service and super fast and FREE US shipping with any $60 order. (We also ship internationally.) We are proud to offer our exclusive i {stick} papers redline tape, which is manufactured just for us in long-lasting 60 yard rolls, at an amazing price! We also provide a publication incentive for our three private stamp lines, Mint Motif, The Petal Press and Chicken Girl. Visit our website and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and our blog for news, sales, coupons and more!

logoZvaCreative Zva Creative produces many beautiful color groupings of high quality pearls, flowers and crystal embellishments that can be used on scrapbooking, card making and mixed media projects. Visit Zva’s gallery or blog for great project ideas and to find a list of stores and online retailers that sell Zva click HERE.

Zva Creative will be selecting one lucky winner who comments along the blog hop to win a Zva prize package worth $30. All comments must be received by 11:59 pm on Wednesday, September 19th. Winners will be announced on Zva’s blog on Thursday, September 20th.

My card above reflects the definite feel of autumn in the air these days. I used the gorgeous Garden Picks set from Flourishes, and paired it up with some fall-colored paper from the Harvest Lane 6x6 pad (Simple Stories). The image, of course, is colored with Copic Markers, and for a little extra oomph on the Queen Anne’s Lace flower, I dotted it with a bit of white Liquid Pearls. The Zva bling I used, the pearl flourish, was originally white, but to tie it in with the colors of the card, I gently swiped over the tops of the pearls with my E55 Copic marker. I love that – you can always have just the right color of bling!

For the layout of my card, I used this week’s Sketch Challenge over at Paper Craft Planet.

From here, you're visiting Andrea Ewen. Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy the hop! We hope to see you and your creations this week on Paper Craft Planet!

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Monday, September 17, 2012

Boo!

It’s only the middle of September, but already the stores are full of Halloween stuff. I just got some new goodies from i {heart} papers, and among them were some fun Halloween papers and embellishments, so I couldn’t help getting into the spirit of things! LOL – spirit – get it?

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This is a re-take on another card I made back in the spring. Yeah, I totally CASEd myself – not sure if that counts as inspiration or laziness.

Anyhow, this card uses paper from the totally adorable Doodlebug Haunted Manor pad, and one of the cute little Mini Doodlepops – Ghosties stickers. The window was cut with the Small Madison Window die and popped up on Dimensional Dots. I sponged a little white ink in the corner for moonlight. The sentiment is from the Chicken Girl Design set Silly Monsters.

In case you’re wondering, the card base is black. I cut away the orange paper so it would show through the window. And you can’t really see it with my inferior photography and photo editing skills, but the chair rail is scored twice on the Scor-Pal to give it a bit of dimension. And yes, the orange paper is a bit “distressed” because I had to pull it off after I mis-aligned it when I was adhering it the first time. And the second time. Let’s just say it adds a little character.

I am thoroughly enjoying my Monday off (and will also enjoy my Tuesday off tomorrow) by indulging in a little extra crafting time. Hope you find something fun to do today, too!

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Sunday, September 9, 2012

Summer Strawberries

I know, two posts in one day – go figure. I should have my blogging license revoked, because I sure don’t follow the rules! It seems it’s either feast or famine with me.

Today we’re feasting -- on strawberries. Speaking of which, I will share an embarrassing little secret: There was a summer day, very long ago when my kids were small, that I dropped them all off with a friend so I could indulge in a basket of strawberries all by myself, no sharing! Shameful, huh?

flourishes-strawberries1When I saw the Flourishes Any Which Way Sketch Challenge this week, I couldn't wait to pull out my Strawberries set and get to work on it. Technically, it is still summer, and I’m not letting go of it too easily. There are still strawberries at the fruit store. OK, with today’s global shipping they’re there all year, but still… 

The image is colored with Copic markers (duh), matted on Garden Green cardstock, and popped up on foam dots. I punched a hole on the left side to thread some red herringbone twill ribbon through and tied a bow (haven’t done that in a while!). The card base is covered with red gingham paper from the Simple Stories Summer Fresh pad, and a strip of blue calico print paper (from the same pad) finishes it off. Very summer-in-the-country looking, huh?

I love me some Flourishes stamps when I feel like coloring (which is almost all the time), and I’m so glad that Kate is now carrying them at i {heart} papers.

And I think I’m gonna head out to the fruit store right now!

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Sunflowers

On vacation this summer, while taking a bus tour through  Romania on the way to the Danube Delta, we passed several seemingly endless fields of sunflowers. Apparently sunflower oil is one of their major products. Anyway, when I recently got the coordinating dies to the PTI Autumn Abundance set, I couldn’t wait to pull out the sunflower image and play with it. And this week’s Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge was just the way to use it.

sunflowers1 The blue printed papers are from the Teresa Collins Every Day Moments pad, and the golden print is from Studio Calico’s Memoir pad. The greeting is from the PTI Communique Curves Sentiments set. The white self-adhesive lace trim finishes it off perfectly. And of course, the image is colored with Copic markers.

Here’s another one I made last week using the same image (I cut and colored both at the same time).

sunflowers2 I know I used another card or sketch as inspiration for this one, but darned if I can remember where I saw it! If I find it, I’ll be sure and come back to give credit. Anyhow, same golden paper from the Studio Calico’s Memoir pad. The greeting, I’m pretty sure, is from another PTI set, and the satin ribbon is also PTI. I really need to tack those ribbon strips down so they stay in place!

Enjoy your Sunday!

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