Some Bits of Love & Wishes...

This week has been nuts, but with hubby working late nights, I've occupied myself with craft-making. There are some fun challenges going on this week, so I'm posting a few of my entries here. I hope you enjoy my creations!

To view an image up-close, please click on the photo.

A Wee Treat


This week's Pals Paper Arts Challenge is based on this delectable inspiration photo. Yum! I thought I'd pair this challenge with one of Julee Tilman's to create a treat box for Valentine's Day. Though I was very tempted to focus on the bright red background of the photo, I love the colors of the truffle and its wrapper -- pink and brown. This little sweet treat made me want to make a wee box that would be just the perfect size for a truffle of my own to give.
For my box template, I actually used a salvaged treat box from a Christmas box of little cakes that my parents had given my husband. I simply took it apart, traced it, and created my own new box in Pink Pirouette. I stamped polka dots all around the sides before assembling the box, and used a cool free digi-stamp that Julee was nice enough to give away this week. Using a marker, I colored in selected areas of the image and attached a little pink heart for dimension. To glam it up, I added some tiny liquid pearls and finished off with a grosgrain ribbon.
BEAN NOTES: Verve Regal Heart Digi-Stamp and Papertrey Ink Polka Dot Basics II Stamp; Stampin' Up Soft Suede Classic Dye Ink; SU Stampin' Write Soft Suede Marker; SU Pink Pirouette Cardstock; SU Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon; Petal Pink Liquid Pearls HAPPY BEANS: Salvaged treat box!

Chipboard Mojo

I really wanted to make sure I made a card for Mojo Monday (and Julee's having some fun challenges this week, so I thought I'd use this week's sketch for the Chipboard Challenge!) I've never really used chipboard and so I was shocked to find some floating around in a drawer in my craft desk. For this card, I wanted to make another for V-Day, and I can't seem to get enough of A Happy Heart. I thought this flower chipboard piece looked amazingly like the adorable dandelion in my image and so I sponged some red craft ink all over and turned it into a "heart"-petaled blossom with some Liquid Pearls. The sketch was thankfully simple, and I just had to add a strip of ribbon, a button, and a bit of twine to finish off my happy card.
BEAN NOTES: Stampin' Up A Happy Heart Stamp; SU Riding Hood Red Classic Dye Ink; SU Real Red Craft Ink; Papertrey Ink Simple Valentine Designer Paper; SU Whisper White and Riding Hood Red Cardstock; PTI Pure Poppy Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon; Button (generic); SU Hemp Twine
HAPPY BEANS: Making Memories Chipboard; White Opal Liquid Pearls

Wishing You

So I'm taking a wee break from Valentine's cards with this one, to help replenish my birthday card stash. This was my take on the color challenge, which is black, turquoise, and gray. These aren't colors I would normally put together, but that's why it's called a challenge!
For this card, I didn't have a sketch to work from, but I knew I wanted my card to have a star in it. I thought it would be fun to try something different with the shape of the card, and I lopped off a large chunk of my black card base and replaced it with this die-cut label. After stamping my images and attaching a few well-placed mini-brads, I stamped my star in matching turquoise and popped it up for some dimension. Just a little paper-piercing and I had a new card for my stash.
BEAN NOTES: Verve Wishing You, Swirly Stars, and Grateful Elegance Stamps; Stampin' Up Tempting Turquoise and Basic Black Classic Dye Ink; SU Basic Black and Tempting Turquoise Cardstock; DCWV Gray Textured Cardstock; Spellbinders Labels Four Nestabilities; Big Shot; SU Large Star Punch; Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper; Foam Dimensional Squares (generic)
HAPPY BEANS: Paper Piercer; Black Mini Brads (generic)