Pilin' On Handmade Backgrounds

The theme this fortnight at Pile It On is Make your own background. We're sponsored by Paper Sweeties.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Craft-Dee BowZ: Anything Goes with a Handmade Bow
The Crafty Addicts: Anything Goes/Emboss It
Morgan's Art World: Add 3 of Something (3 sequins)
Paper Sweeties August Challenge: Color Inspiration

Pile It On: Make your own Background

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting! Hope you'll join us at Pile It On,

Pilin' on a Shaker with Crafting with Dragonflies

The theme this fortnight at Crafting with Dragonflies is Anything Goes, and at Pile It On our theme is Shakers. I combined these challenges to create this shabby chic double shaker card:

I stamped the penguin (Clear Impressions) with StazOn ink onto white Fuse paper, and used my Fuse tool to adhere a piece of page protector plastic on top; I cut it out by hand. I filled this shaker with plastic confetti (Recollections). I attached it to the card with foam tape.

I made the base frame from white foam core board. The background is a piece watercolor paper that I inked with black & orange inks. I filled the big shaker with white sequins (Paper Sweeties) & snowy Flowersoft. I used packaging plastic for the clear top. I wrapped a paper frame with my favorite washi tape for the top frame.

I strung twine through a piece of lace. The sentiment (Clear Impressions) was heat-embossed in glittery white on black paper. I die-cut the little penguins from a black/white textured cardstock (Core'dinations) and sanded them. The card was finished with black Liquid Pearls in the corners.


Inspiration/Challenges:
Animal Friends Challenge: Punches and/or Dies + Animal
Cas-ual Fridays Challenge #152: Tic-Tac-Toe (Middle column: Twine, Monochromatic, No patterned paper)
Cheerful Sketches Challenge: Sketch
Crafting with Dragonflies: Anything Goes
Hannah & Friends #253: Stamped Animal
One Crazy Stamper: Christmas in July
Pile It On: Shaker Element

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us at Crafting with Dragonflies & Pile It On,

Pilin' on the Beaded Sequins

The theme this week at Pile It On is Sequins and/or Beads. We're sponsored by Paper Sweeties, a fun stamp & embellishment company. To help celebrate their third year in business, I made a birthday card featuring some of their lovely seam binding.

The teapot stack die is from Memory Box, and I created the background for it by embossing a thick, textured white paper, fussy-cutting it, and coloring it with Copic markers. The die cut itself is a shiny off-white cardstock.The doily/burlap-patterned paper is from Recollections, and I slightly distressed the edges to give it a more fabric-like feel. The sentiment are plastic embellishments that I heat-embossed with a glittery white powder. Each green, flower-shaped sequin has a pink or baby blue seed bead in the middle.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Craft-Dee BowZ: Handmade Bow
CHPPC: Patterned Paper
Creatalicious Challenge #77: More than one fold
Fan-Tastic Tuesday #96: Make It Feminine
Mod Squad Challenge: Die Cut (2nd entry)
Paper Sweeties Challenge #34: Color Inspiration + Birthday
Shabby Tea Room #256: Summer Picnic Photo Inspiration
Stamps & Fun = Creativity: Vintage


Update: This was chosen as a Top 3 for Fan-Tastic Tuesday #96!

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting! Hope you'll join us at Pile It On,

Friendly Chic

click images to enlarge

You have 2 more days to join the "Shabby Chic" Pile It On! Challenge.

We're sponsored by Paper Sweeties and their owner, our former PIO teamie Debbie M, offered the DT a coupon so I couldn't resist splurging on some of her gorgeous seam binding! I really enjoyed using it for by Teapot Card, so I made a matching card.

I had a couple of crafting friends over the other day, and one of them gifted me these monogram wood stickers. I made these cards for them, and even include their monogram initial on their card, in adhesive pearls. Can you see the "S" on the teapot card and the "L" on this one? I know they'll get a laugh out of it.

I made the bow using a fork, following the Delicate Bow Tutorial at Useful DIY. The seam binding from Paper Sweeties is sold in 4-yard packs, which is perfect for this usage because I used an entire yard for this bow!

I created the phrase très chic using alphabet stamps from the "Happy Day" set that came free with a magazine (Future Publishing Ltd). The letters were stamped with Peeled Paint distress ink. I colored the banner parts of the wood piece with VersaMagic chalk ink.

I cut some Idea-Ology glassine paper with the Lace Medallion Sizzix die, scrunched it up, flattened in my BigShot, and inked it with Tea Dye distress ink. I used some commercial doilies for the background, inking one with green.

The banner was made with with recycled packaging. I used the printed packaging that came with this Cuttlebug embossing folder and matched up the embossing to the print version as best as I could. I cut the little banner pieces, sanded them a bit, and inked them with Peeled Paint distress ink.

I cut some of the mint seam binding into thirds, and made a braid to "hang" the banners on.

The cream background is pre-embossed with a tiny dotted pattern, and I used my sewing machine and light green thread for the border.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Card and Scrap #76: Shabby Chic
Craft-Dee BowZ May Challenge: Anything Goes with a Handmade Bow (2nd entry)
Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers: C is for Crap (I've kept the Cuttlebug packaging I used for the banners for probably at least 3 years, maybe longer...I knew I'd use it someday! Also, the white doilies are actually two scraps from a previous project. It's not hoarding if you use it eventually!)

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us this week at Pile It On,

Shabby Chic with Pile It On and Paper Sweeties

This week at Pile It On! our theme is "Shabby Chic" and we're looking forward to seeing your projects. If you're unfamiliar with the "Shabby Chic" style, there's a nice definition at the Card Concept. 

We're sponsored by Paper Sweeties and their owner, our former PIO teamie Debbie M, offered the DT a coupon so I couldn't resist splurging on some of her gorgeous seam binding! [Check out my other Shabby Chic card post to learn about a secret in these pearls!]

The seam binding is sold in 4-yard packs, which is perfect for this usage because I used little over half a yard for this bow. I followed the Delicate Bow Tutorial at Useful DIY to make the fancy bow using a fork.

There's a bit of a story behind the concept of this card... a crafting friend recently gifted me some Monogram wood stickers from Michaels, and since my initial is "C" I thought it would be fun to use it in a different way. I created the phrase très chic using alphabet stamps from the "Happy Day" set that came free with a magazine (Future Publishing Ltd). The letters were stamped with Vintage Photo distress ink, and I used Antique Linen for the rest of the ink distressing. I added a border of pearls with a Viva Liquid Pearl Pen.

The teapot was cut/embossed from the packaging cardboard that came with the Wood Stickers -- I just loved the bright pink, and using something recycled felt "shabby chic" -- using another Sizzix dies and a Cuttlebug embossing folder. It was white-core cardboard, so I sanded it, inked it, and sanded it again. The doilies were cut with the Lace Medallion Sizzix die from Graphic45 paper.


The cream background is pre-embossed with a tiny dotted pattern, and I matted that onto a piece of Idea-Ology glassine paper. I did the empty stitching on my sewing machine. I finished the card with some adhesive pearls swirls.

Shabby Tea Room #218

Inspiration/Challenges:

1. 613 Avenue Create: Make Your Own Challenge Board (1. Patterned Paper; 2. Die Cut + Embossing; 3. Liquid Pearls; 4. Pearls; 5. Ribbon & Stitching)
2. Craft-Dee BowZ May Challenge: Anything Goes with a Handmade Bow 
3. Craftitude Challenge #65: That's Die-licious (Use a Die)
4. DL.ART Thankful Thursday Challenge #132: Anything Feminine
5. Everybody Art #278: Shabby Chic
6. QKR Stampede: Punch or Dies
7. The Shabby Tea Room: Photo Inspiration + Teapot + Ribbon + Pearls
8. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Die Crazy (2nd entry)
9. Sunflower Fields Designs: Vintage/Shabby Chic/Rustic
10. Sweet Stamps Challenge #169: Polka Dots

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us this week at Pile It On,