Shabby Chic Traveler

Hello!  It's so nice that, as we emerge from the pandemic, people are traveling again.  So many travel plans had to be put on hiatus last year, including our own family trip.  We'll get back to it maybe next year.

So in lieu of actual travel, here's a travel card!  Ha!

Our Craft Lounge Vintage Traveler Eiffel Tower, ticket stamps; Inspired By Stamping Vintage Postcards all other stamps used; Gina Marie Designs Big and Little Chain Rectangles die 

The blue rectangle does stand out against this mostly neutral card.  In retrospect, I wish I had added something else small and blue on the card to balance it all, but it's too late now!

Do you have any plans for a vacation this summer? 

These pics are from our trip to Ireland (a slice of heaven!) in 2019:

Blarney Castle

Me in front of Blarney Castle

Dublin University - and notice how sunny it was that day!

Thanks a bunch for coming by.

God bless you!

Birthdays Galore

You can never have too many birthday cards on hand, and I can't seem to supply them fast enough for sale at Arts Plus Gallery in Collingswood NJ! 

Here are some of the birthday cards you can find at the shop:

 Papertrey Ink 'On The Farm' sentiment and animal dies - Martha Stewart Hydrangea punch -  My Favorite Things / Die-namics 'Stitched Scallop Basic Edges'

Altenew 'Vintage Roses' - birthday sentiment from Stampin' UP! (set unknown)

Papertrey Ink 'Harvest Berries' sentiment - Spellbinders 'Corner Flourish' die - Our Craft Lounge 'Vintage Traveler' pocketwatch - paper from DCWV 'Once Upon A Time'

Anchor stamp rubber stamp from Etsy - digital 'happy birthday' - note the sailor's knot!

Blockhead Paper Arts  'Seashells with Round Frame' starfish, sand dollar and shell - Hero Arts 'Truly Appreciated' sentiment - small shell from All Night Media

Stampin' Up! 'Elegant Greetings' sentiment, Itty Bitty Accents flower punch - Momenta 'Cut and Emboss Leaves' dies 

Papertrey Ink 'Keep It Simple: Love' sentiment - papers from Stampin' Up!

A little bit of everything today!  Masculine, feminine, nautical, and farm-ical.  LOL
Thanks for coming by and God bless you!

It's About Time

Happy Friday! I love when Friday comes around. :-)

Is there such a thing as too many clocks? There may be too many on the masculine birthday card I'm sharing today, ha ha! Between the patterned paper (Colorbok) and a few stamped-and-trimmed-out time pieces, there are at least 25 of them!

I added a couple of buttons and sequins to balance the cluster focal point.

The small watch above is a stamp from Vintage Traveler by Our Craft Lounge.

The large clock stamp is from the stamp set Paris, and the small pocket watch (also above) is from Vintage Pieces - both by Inspired By Stamping.

Thanks so much for visiting, and have a WONDERFUL weekend!

You Are My Happy Place, part 2

'Tis the season for travel!  We've already had our vacation for the year (Disney World, in February), but it would be nice to take a day here and there to head for the Jersey Shore, or maybe the Pocono Mountains.

This card I created was inspired by people who have a penchant for travel.  I tried to create a bulletin board of sorts, with cork-patterned paper, and a snippet of a real map. The railroad tickets are stamps from Our Craft Lounge's Vintage Traveler.

I added a button and vintage thread, a couple of wooden stars, and a stamped striped arrow from Inspired By Stamping.

Of all the wonderful places to visit in this big world, the very best place is right beside my loved ones. :0) (sentiment stamp by Altenew) 

If this card looks familiar, I had made a custom card similar to it, featured in THIS post. 

Stamps: Vintage Traveler - Our Craft Lounge; Arrows - Inspired By Stamping;  Sentiments & Quotes - Altenew Accessories & Tools: wooden stars - Studio Calico, vintage thread, vintage button, piece of a map 

You are my happy place

This is different for me, huh?  A friend had asked me to make a card for the guy in her life, and they love to travel, so she asked me to include a map.  Luckily, I had one stashed away for crafting!

I pulled out anything else that seemed like it could relate to travel: ticket stamps from Our Craft Lounge's Vintage Traveler, an arrow from Inspired by Stamping, a sentiment from Altenew.

I cut my map on a random panel, along the fold lines.  I wound up with Colorado.  Turns out, my friend's beau traveled to Colorado earlier this year, so unintentionally this card wound up having even more personal meaning!

Thanks so much for coming by today!

Stamps: Sentiments & Quotes - Altenew; Arrows - Inspired By Stamping; Vintage Traveler - Our Craft Lounge Paper: River Rock, Ruby Red - Stampin' Up!; map; white - Papertrey Ink Ink: Soot Black, Walnut Stain, Frayed Burlap - Ranger; Ruby Red - Stampin' Up! Fibers: burlap Accessories & Tools: circle die - Spellbinders; cork sticker - Pink Paislee

Masculine Postcard Collage

Okay, one more reminder card for Seize The Sketch #21!  This sketch was SO versatile, I found myself using it without even realizing it!  After I made this card, I thought, "Hey, this looks familiar...." and so a Reminder Card was born.  =)

I turned the sketch, as you can see.

I made a collage using a bunch of different stamps (listed in the supply section at the end of this post), and I intended for this to look masculine.  Did I succeed?  I'm not so sure.

Here's a cereal-box-chipboard star...I've got a whole bunch of those, just made up and stored in a zippered plastic bag.

The piece de resistance is this sweet Susan Winget die cut bird and nest from K & Co.  I love her work.

There's still a little bit of time left to play with this sketch at STS!  Click HERE to link up.

Thanks for your visit today!

Stamps: 'postcard' - Christmas Postcard - Flourishes; bird cage, 'no. 147', bee - Nature Walk - Stampin' Up!; corner, rust colored postage - Vintage Traveler - Our Craft Lounge; kraft colored post mark - Vintage Blue - Glitz Design; 25 cents - Garden Seed Packets - Inspired By Stamping Paper: Creamy Caramel, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip - SU; Old World stack - DCWV; cereal box chipboard Ink: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake - SU; Versafine Onyx Black - Tsukineko; Tea Dye, Walnut Stain - Ranger Fibers: chocolate brown grosgrain ribbon Accessories & Tools: corner rounder punch, star punch - Fiskars; bird/nest die cut strip (trimmed) - Susan Winget's Botanicals - K & Co.; Crystal fine glitter - Martha Stewart

Eiffel Tower at Sunset

Being laid up this summer with my foot surgery made me stir-crazy.  Lying about sounds good to someone who is too busy, and needs a rest.  (I remember uttering those words before surgery.)  But when you HAVE to lie down, for weeks on end, the grass is greener...yada yada.  I longed to have my life back to 'normal' and be busy...but not an overwrought kind of busy.

Well.

Feels like I went from 0 to 60 in about 2 seconds.  Though my foot still needs physical therapy a couple of times a week, I'm back in the saddle and then some.  Aye yi yi!  I'm soooooo glad I have lots of cards to share that were created before the busy-ness of life took over again.  Here's a publication-reject:

I could have sworn I put this on my blog before, but I must have been dreaming.  The card base has subtle stamping from Elements of Style (SU).  The center panel is a collage of stamps from Our Craft Lounge's Vintage Traveler.  I used different inks to create a sunset kind of effect.   A corduroy button -- topped with a little text sticker -- anchors a corner.

A bird from Elements of Style and my signature pearls topped off the upper portion of the panel.

One of my readers left a question about how I get my Liquid Pearls to look perfectly rounded (though there are none on this card).  Gee.  I never gave it a thought, but the next time I use that product, I will try to pay close attention to the way I do it.

Thanks so much for dropping by today!



Stamps: Vintage Traveler - Our Craft Lounge; Elements of Style - SU Paper: white naturals, Whisper White - SU Ink: Crumb Cake, Orchid Opulence, Pretty In Pink, Elegant Eggplant, Lavender Lace - SU; Walnut Stain - Ranger; Versafine Onyx Black - Tsukineko Accessories & Tools: corduroy button - SU; text sticker - DCWV; pearls - Queen & Co.

Bonjour!

There's a challenge at Splitcoast called Featured Stamper every Sunday, and this week the special person is Emily Keaton, my very, very good friend.  I just HAD to play along!  Congrats to you, Emily, you deserve this special honor.  :D

HERE is Emily's card that I was inspired by.  Note the Eiffel Tower image on her card, and you will instantly know why I chose this one to CASE!  I looooove the French look.  :-)

I used an Eiffel Tower image from a set by Our Craft Lounge called Vintage Traveler.  See the gorgeous pearl and rhinestone bling above it?  It's from Want2Scrap.  The little roses (link below in details section) are from Inspired by Stamping --  love, love, love the flowers Joanna offers!

I colored a white doily by wiping it with a black ink pad.  Emily's card uses a white doily in this half moon shape, and I loved that detail.  The sentiment is from Inspired by Stamping's All Year Wishes I (link in details section below).

I am also playing in The Shabby Tea Room's challenge, Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend.  Here is their inspiration photo --

...and I'm also playing in a new-to-me challenge, Sugar Creek Hollow.  This week's theme:  'More is Better' - a vintage, shabby chic or primitive card entry that should have LOTS of embellishments.  I have quite a few on my card!

Before I go, just wanted to mention that my 'Mr. & Mrs. Toast' Father's Day card is featured at Laura Love's blog, Loves Rubberstamps HERE.  Thank you so much, Laura!  It was very sweet of you to do so.

Thanks for coming by today!



Dimensions: 4.25" x 5.5"
Stamps: Vintage Traveler - Our Craft Lounge; All Year Wishes I - Inspired by Stamping
Paper: Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Whisper White - SU; Black & Ivory Designer - K & Co.
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black - Tsukineko
Fibers: black lace - SU; white daisy lace - Offray
Other: white doily - Wilton; bling - Want2Scrap; mini flowers - Inspired by Stamping; Double Embossed Dotted Lace punch - EK Success; Wide Oval punch - SU

Paris Collage

At Just Us Girls, the challenge this week is a Technique:  to create a collage with stamps.

I had a leg up, so to speak, because a long while ago, I created my own patterned paper using a text stamp and a flourished stamp.  This sat unused until now, and I was able to add a couple more stamps to make it more complete.

5 stamps were used to create this collage:

• En Francais background - Stampin' Up!
• Bella Toile background - Stampin' Up!
• Anna Griffin border
• Eiffel Tower from Vintage Traveler - Our Craft Lounge
• Steampunk Balloon Guys - Lost Coast Designs

I punched the edge on top, mounted on black cardstock, then on River Rock card base, added a bow and buttons and -- voila!

One other challenge that inspired me:  The Shabby Tea Room's "Vintage Boudoir".  Here is their inspiration pic:

For the challenge, we are to be inspired by the colors in the photo (I honed in on the cream tones, and black from the words on the sign) AND use a sewing-themed embellishment (I have buttons and ribbon).

Thanks so much for joining me today!  It's finally cold here in the Northeast; really feels like January now.  :)

Colleen

Stamps:  En Francais background - Stampin' Up!; Bella Toile background - Stampin' Up!; Anna Griffin border; Eiffel Tower from Vintage Traveler - Our Craft Lounge; Steampunk Balloon Guys - Lost Coast Designs
Paper:  River Rock, Basic Black - SU; white - PTI
Ink:  Sahara Sand - SU; Antique Linen Distress - Ranger; Memento Tuxedo Black - Tsukineko
Punch:  scalloped border - SU
Other:  buttons; black satin ribbon - Michael's 

Brown Paper Package

I've got only a matter of hours until the CAS-ual Fridays challenge closes, and made a card in under an hour so I could play (quick by my standards!).

I took the challenge name literally, and created what looks like a package tied with string:

I used Our Craft Lounge's Vintage Traveler to stamp everything you see.  Love that set!  The twine is 'Cappuccino' from The Twinery.  I cut a tiny slit at the top of the card, on the backside, and fed the twine through there.

Another angle...

...and that's it!  I'll see you tomorrow with another Play Date Cafe post.  :o)  Have a great night!

Colleen

Stamps:  Vintage Traveler - Our Craft Lounge
Paper:  kraft - SU
Ink:  Close to Cocoa, Crumb Cake - SU; Versafine Onyx Black - Tsukineko
Other:  Cappuccino twine - The Twinery

Love You Anniversary

Tomorrow marks my 17th wedding anniversary.  My husband and I met in high school.  We dated a little during school, then went off our separate ways for colleges.  When we were 22 years old, we got together again, and have been together since (that's 23 years!). 

Last night, I made an anniversary card for my Bri.  Sure, it's got some feminine elements on there, but overall I think it can be considered masculine.  Guy cards are soooooo not my thing....(and he knows this)

The fleur-de-lis paper is from the DCWV Mariposa stack.  The Eiffel Tower is by Our Craft Lounge (Vintage Traveler), the frame Notably Ornate by SU, and the sentiment a combo of stamps ("Love") from Squarely Sentimental by Fiskars and Carpe Diem ("You") by Hampton Arts.

Those butterflies are from an old SU set, Botanicals, which I got cheaply on eBay not that long ago.  Love the set!!

This card is entered at the City Crafter challenge, using primarily black and cream.  My friend Stella Schenkel is the guest artist this week over there, and I'm so glad for her!  She is one of the most delightful people I have met, and has some utterly gorgeous creations on her blog.

I also entered at Ribbon Carousel, with my 'sparkle and bling' (gold papers, pearls).

October is a busy month for us, with many birthdays and of course our anniversary.  We have another anniversary to add to it now:  it's been one year since our beloved Smoat kitty died.  Although I am so fond of Cristabel, the black cat we adopted in January 2011, nothing can replace that good ol' orange boy of mine.  He was simply the best.

Miss you, Smoat!

Changing the tempo now.....
I wanted to acknowledge Linda B of Hands to Work...Heart to Love.  She bestowed upon me the Butterfly Award for my blog:

I'm supposed to answer some questions about myself and pass this award on to 10 other crafters.  Linda, I hope you won't be mad at me for holding off on that end of the bargain.  I have so much on my plate right now and just can't get to it yet!  Thank you for thinking of me and putting me in a crowd of super-talented crafters - that alone is an honor to me.  :)

At the Paper Players, my French Flair card won Headliner for last week's challenge.  :-)

Okay, that's quite a long enough post!  Thanks for reading if you've made it this far.  ;)

Colleen

Stamps:  Carpe Diem - Hampton Arts; Botanicals, Notably Ornate - SU; Squarely Sentimental - Fiskars; Vintage Traveler - Our Craft Lounge
Paper:  white, cream - PTI; Basic Black, Sahara Sand, gold - SU; pattern - DCWV Mariposa stack
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Memento Tuxedo Black - Tsukineko; Walnut Stain, Antique Linen Distress - Ranger
Other:  Big Shot; Fleur De Lis Motifs die cuts - Spellbinders; Copic markers; pearls; black ribbon - Offray