Shabby Chandelier & a meeting

It felt good to make this card yesterday and today.  I'd had a busy weekend of work with no time for play, and Monday I met my friend Andrea Ewen for lunch and craft store shopping.  Andrea lives near the Jersey shore and I'm close to an hour's drive from her.    It was so much fun to catch up with each other and shop for goodies!

I found a new-to-me challenge called Party Time Tuesdays, which involves romance and chandeliers this week.  At Gingersnap Creations, also new-to-me, we are to use charms.  Mark's Finest Papers wants self-made flowers, and the Paper Players is focusing on romance as well.  I've chosen an inspiration pic from EtsyInspired, whose featured shop this week is Daisy Petal Designs:

Note the pair of roses, and the scripted background.

Here's my creation:

I'm using a new stamp I bought with Andrea on Monday by Hero Arts, called Old French Script.  Love, love, love it.  It echoes the inspiration pic from Etsy, don't you think?  I sponged Antique Linen and Old Paper Distress inks around that panel, as well.

See the charm at the top of the chandelier?  That's new too, from my trip on Monday.  It was on clearance at Mike's; it's by Plaid Enterprises.  I believe it's meant for jewelry-making as it has two holes for linking up a chain.  I prefer it here on my card!

The chandelier is from Chandeliers by Inkadinkado, and I've decorated the bobeches (the little drip cups around each candlelight) with teensy pearls.  The sentiment is from Anna Griffin.

I used the same flower-making tutorial from YouTube that I used on my "Inspired by a Table Arrangment" card in January 2011. 

I started with 6 serrated-edge 1" circle punches, each sponged with Sahara Sand:

After following the tutorial, which involves misting each circle with water, crumpling up each circle then uncrumpling, layering them on each other, putting a brad through the center of the stack, and crumpling each layer back up again (honestly, it doesn't take much time; it only looks like a lot when I have to write each step out), then I re-inked the edges by doing this:

Tomorrow begins a new color challenge at The Play Date Cafe, and you don't want to miss it!  Our design team has brewed some interesting projects to show you.

Thanks for joining me today!

Colleen

Stamps:  Hero Arts Old French Script, SU Bella Toile, Inkadinkado Chandeliers, Anna Griffin sentiment
Paper:  Sahara Sand, Basic Gray, Very Vanilla
Ink:  Sahara Sand, Basic Gray, Basic Black; Antique Linen and Old Paper Distress inks by Ranger
Punches:  scalloped circle by SU, serrated edge 1" circle by Martha Stewart, Modern Lable by SU
Other:  sponge, dimensionals, gray satin ribbon by Really Reasonable Ribbon, pearls by Recollections and Queen and Co., charm by Plaid