Pretty Smocked Doilies Card

Hi There! Hope you all had a great weekend! I am wishing mine was a little longer... hee!

I thought I'd pop on and share my card for this week's Paper Crafts Magazine's Gallery Idol contest- the challenge was to use fabric in a creative way. Here is what I made:



Goodies:
All products by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: Friendly Phrases, Delicate Doilies
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Melon Mambo classic inks
Paper: Pink Pirouette cardstock; Melon Mambo, Peach Parfait textured cardstock
Accessories: Whisper White Baker's Twine, Flirtatious Fabric

This challenge was tricky! I can think of a bunch of great ways to use fabric on my cards but none of them were working for me this weekend... my mojo has been working in overtime so I guess it was time for a sputter out... I do like what I ended up with but boy oh boy was I stressed out over it! I ended up using smocking as my technique and it was fun to give something different a try. If you want to know how I did it, here is the tutorial I found online. Hers is much more elegant and beautiful but hey- it's probably not her first time, either! :)

If you'd like to vote for my card this week (which I would really appreciate!) just visit the Paper Crafts Magazine Gallery Idol page. Did I mention that the top prize is a cruise with Paper Crafts??? I've never been on a cruise before... :)

OK! Hope your day is going well! Thanks for all your support during this contest- I've loved getting emails, reading your comments here and at the contest page. It means a lot that you guys care enough to take some time to listen to all my ramblings and so on... Thanks!

-tessa

Diecut Collage Background

Hello!

Well, since I made it to the next round of PaperCrafts Magazine's Gallery Idol contest, I've got another submission for you to see! This week, we were challenged to use die cuts in a innovative way. I know a lot of the girls are going to be using their electronic machines to cut out very intricate designs but I wanted to stay simple. I used my trusty Big Shot and a few of my favorite floral dies to cut out a bunch of flowers. Then I used them to create a neat, monochromatic collage background. I also built up a few flowers to serve as a focal point. Here is my card:



Goodies:
All products by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: Friendly Phrases, Raining Flowers
Ink: Calypso Coral, Basic Black
Paper: Calypso Coral, Chocolate Chip, Blushing Bride cardstock; Calypso Coral textured cardstock
Accessories: Fun Flowers die, Leaves #2 die, Floral Fusion die, Sweet Buttons die, Scallop edge punch, linen thread

So what do you think of this idea? I love the idea of a collage background and I'm going to try it again soon with more colors and prints. It would look great on a scrapbook page, too!

This round of PaperCraft's Gallery Idol contest will run until Thursday at noon. Please pop over and vote for my card! I'd love to make it through with the top 10 designers!

I hope I've inspired you with this innovative yet easy way to use your die cuts! Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

-tessa

Handmade Elephant Card

After a busy weekend (I'll fill you in on that tomorrow!), I sat down last night to create a card for the PaperCrafts magazine Gallery Idol contest! Our challenge was to create our own handmade embellishment and use it on a card. I have made plenty of my own embellishments over the years but wanted to create something I had never done before. I chose this elephant mainly because of a silly conversation me and my friend Sarah Z had a long time ago- we were talking about a cute elephant stamp we saw in the store we work at and decided it needed to be colored purple cause all cute elephants are purple! lol! Can you guess what was on my desk that made me think of that conversation? The pretty purple fabric from the Flirtatious line! Hee! So yes, purple fabric must make me think of elephants, even if it's covered with doilies! lol! Thanks Sarah! Here is my card:



Goodies:
All products by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: Friendly Phrases
Ink: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake
Paper: Confetti White, Peach Parfait, Soft Suede cardstock
Accessories: Basic Rhinestones, Hemp Twine, paper piercer, Flirtatious fabric; brown embroidery thread


This little ellie was so fun to make! I freehanded my design onto the back of my fabric and cut it out. I frayed his edges to create a little texture. Next, I sewed him onto some cardstock- I stuffed him with cotton balls before I was all the way done- and then cut it out. I added his details last- his tail, french knot eye, and his ear. It was fun making something so different from my usual stuff!

If you'd like to vote for my card in the contest, please head on over to the PaperCrafts Gallery Idol page! Check out all of the awesome card everyone submitted- what a talented group of ladies!

Hope your week is off to a great start and thanks for stopping by today!

-tessa

Congratulations Banner Card

Good Morning!

I'm super excited to post today because of THIS post on the Papercraft Connection blog! Yes, you have to scroll through every single beautiful entry but there at the end is this card:



Goodies:
All products by Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Stamps: Pennant Parade, Friendly Phrases
Ink: Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Basic Black classic inks; Whisper White craft ink
Paper: Whisper White, Calypso Coral, Very Vanilla, Island Indigo, Sahara Sand cardstock; Calypso Coral textured paper, Brights DSP, First Edition DSP
Accessories: Dotted Scallop Ribbon Boarder punch, White bakers twine; yellow bakers twine by Pink Paislee

Yahooo! I've made Papercrafts Gallery Idol 2011 top 20!

I scrolled through the list saying to myself "oh... there is no way I would have been picked- these are SO gorgeous and way out of my league... and there's a banner card so there you go." And then lol! There it was! Hee! I am so excited to be picked among this great group of artists! Now, I hope I can keep up with them!

This is my second year playing along- I made it all the way to the final week in 2009 and had SO much fun! I can't wait to see what the challenges will be!

I made the card last weekend and it has been a favorite color scheme for me this week. I made a real banner and a scrapbook page to match! I'll share them soon- I have my open house tomorrow and I want to let my friends coming see them first! If you are near Woodbridge, VA, please don't hesitate to contact me if you'd like to come!

Off to do the happy dance one more time! :)

Thanks for reading and have a great Friday!

-tessa