This Is What Addiction Looks Like

Okay, I wasn't supposed to but...here's another card post. I can't help myself! I'm addicted, probably because it's the only crafting I can get done fairly quickly, between work and class and catering events and sometimes at 3 in the morning. But I promise (really!) that as soon as I'm done with class in ten days I'll get back to doing other projects, too.
In the meantime, here are a few attempts at a more clean and simple card design:

Well, as clean and simple as I can get anyway. I left most of the right side empty, and added some embellishment on the left with a few different textures of ribbon and some cute sticker pearls I found on sale. I am so in love with this pom pom ribbon from May Arts! 

Here are the sticker pearls again, along with a gorgeous light blue silk ribbon layered over a paper doily and vintage paper.

This is in all likelihood the simplest card I'll ever make - just a strip of gold card stock, a doily, and some  crinkly ribbon with marcasite and pearl beads tied in the center. I envision it as a perfect wedding card, especially since it has the "tying the knot" theme going on. 

Cards...Again

I think I might have to re-name this blog The Cardery. Lately the only crafting I've done seems to be card making. Of course there's nothing technically wrong with that, but I do want to get back to other projects soon. I was trying to distance myself from my paper stack and score board...and then the latest Paper Source catalogue came in the mail. It was love at first flip-through. I just couldn't help myself from cutting apart their gorgeous, colorful paper for these new cards:

Materials Used: Paper Source catalogue, hot pink silk ribbon, purple satin ribbon, string, graph paper, and a picture of a cake I cut from a vintage calendar.

For this mother's day card, I used teeny tiny little pearl beads that coordinated with the Paper Source paper.

Not sure why the "O" turned out so faint in the photo. Now it looks a little bit like "Oh hell"... but I guess there's a card for every occasion, right?

This card uses metallic gold paper, layered over some fine-grained green and pink glitter, and bigger-grained gold glitter.

I love getting catalogues in the mail - it's like free crafting supplies sent right to your house!

Spring Cards

You don't even know how much I look forward to the start of Spring every year. It's not that I love this season - actually, Autumn is my favorite - but I just hate winter so much. I hate not wanting to get out of bed in the morning because it's too cold, not wanting to get out of the shower because it's too cold, not wanting to go the gym because it's too cold outside to even walk to my car...well, I think you see the trend. Winter completely immobilizes me. 

That's why I am just so excited to see the weather turn and the hummingbirds return to my porch. Sayonara winter, don't come back! (I know you have to next year so the glaciers don't melt and blah blah...) To celebrate, I went on a card-making spree, and made them all in lovely shades of white, ivory, and chartreuse for a fresh, springy look.

I used a pretty set of fabric insect stickers (apparently you can color them in - but I preferred them all white.) I also cut up some paper doilies, because I love the contrast of the bright white against the greens.

I wanted to really stick to the nature theme, so I chose materials like twine and burlap for their rough texture and more organic feel. I've decided twine is pretty much the most useful ribbon ever, and fits in just about anywhere. I think if I were forced to pick only one ribbon to own for the rest of my life, it would have to be twine. Of course I'd still be upset about never getting to use velvet and silk again...

The lovely "leaves" and burlap rope ribbon from May Arts have Spring written all over them!

The green background papers I used are from Recollections, by the way. I am fully intending to use these as St. Patrick's Day cards too...who says you need clovers? They're green all over and I had a beer while making them so I think that counts sufficiently.

Yep, still had to get that Velvet in there somewhere. I just love that combo of smooth velvet and rough burlap. 

Hope you're inspired to go on your own card making spree! It's so much fun walking into a paper store with a theme in mind and then just seeing how much you can come up with. Of course my crafting table is now a complete disaster...but while I appreciate the start of Spring, i'm not quite ready for Spring cleaning yet (or ever.)

May Arts Valentine's Blog Hop

Hi all, welcome to my little part of the May Arts Ribbonista Valentine's Blog Hop! You should have come from Jennifer's blog, but if not go check out the May Arts Blog to hop through all the lovely projects for today. If you leave a comment anywhere along the way you get a chance to win 4 spools of ribbon... as if you needed another reason to peruse through some awesome Valentines Day ideas :)

Anyway, my project today is a vintage-inspired Valentines Day card that is perfect for little love notes.

I tried to make this card more 3-D with a big grosgrain bow and a pop-out love note. I used some pretty handwritten note paper from my DCWV "Timeless Type" stack, and layered a paper doily on top. Before I glued it down I cut a little heart shape out of it and glued a scrap of silk ribbon underneath for some extra texture. I like that the silk is thin enough that you can still see the text through it, too.

I wanted to keep this card a bit more color neutral instead of the usual pink and red, though I definitely still wanted a pop of it. I think the silk accomplishes that without being too flashy, since the pink is more muted and vintage-y. 

I have an old typewriter stamp lying around that I used at the bottom of my card, and some letter stamps I used to spell out "love you" on a piece of paper. After curling the paper a little bit, I used my fingertips to stamp some gold "dust" on the corners to pop against the white of the doily more. Then I glued down a strip of the bottom and top of the paper to give it a sort of wave. 

And voila! A super cute card ready for your romantic message...of course, coming up with that is the hard part. 

Ribbon Used:

Princess Bows

Hey all, just a quick post to let you know I have a tutorial up on the May Arts Blog for some seriously sweet princess-themed hair bows.

Here's a little sneak peek:

These would be great as party favors, or you can just use the style as inspiration for "royal" inspired gift wrap. 

I feel like I need to do a really masculine project next to balance out all this cats-glitter-and bows silliness!

Cats, Glitter and Ribbon!

I've been looking for an excuse to bust out my new glitter set I got for Christmas. As of last night, I still couldn't come up with a reason why I absolutely *needed* glitter, so I finally just took it out and stared at it for a few minutes before I decided on making cards.
Problem was, I still didn't have any design ideas.
Time to brainstorm. What else do I like? Pretty ribbon. And then? Cats, of course. Thus the Cat Cards were conceived:

The inside of this one reads: "You have permission to act like royalty today!"

I left the inside of this one blank. I figured it can be used as an all-occasion card.

These are pretty much my favorite things all in one: glittery, shiny, and covered in cute cats. I used metallic and glittery gold cardstock from my DCWV "The Gilded Orchard" stack, along with some basic cream colored cardstock. The top card uses a satin diamond print ribbon and canvas crown print ribbon, and the bottom card uses a gorgeous, heavy-weight striped ribbon, all from May Arts. 

I cut out some basic shapes even I could manage - a crown and a bow - covered with glue, and dusted with teal and magenta glitter. Once they dried I pasted them on top of these cute cat pictures (found on the internet) and added a few words and button-shaped pins.

Of course, as soon as my boyfriend got home he asked me whose birthdays these were for...to which my embarrassing answer is that I don't have any upcoming birthdays. But you can never be too prepared, right? 

I just hope that having a thousand cat cards instead of a thousand cats disqualifies me from crazy cat lady status. 

Velvet Bracelets

Welcome to the May Arts' Christmas blog hop! This week all the Ribbonistas will be giving you ideas for holiday ribbon projects, so check in for inspiration and a chance to win some ribbon to start your own projects!

For my project, I decided to make some pretty velvet bracelets. I am shamelessly in love with velvet. Like George from Seinfeld, I would totally drape myself in velvet from head to toe if I could get away with it.
So I knew I wanted to use some of May Arts' velvet ribbon for something - and in the spirit of rushed, last-minute holiday gifting, I decided to make a quick and easy present. These velvet bracelets would make good stocking stuffers too:

For this project, choose whichever shade of their ribbon you like best - I chose an antique pink and robin's egg blue. Cut a length big enough to just fit around your wrist (hint: if it's a gift and you aren't sure, the average wrist size is about 7 inches).
Next, choose your embellishments. I used tiny pearls and marcasite beads, because I liked the contrast of the colors and textures against the ribbon. Sew your beads onto the center of the ribbon in whatever pattern you prefer. I think a random placement is a little less stuffy, but other ideas would be to spell out a name, initial, or do a cool geometric pattern.
Finally, secure the ends of the ribbon in ribbon clamps (mine were Bead Landing,) and attach a clasp to make a bracelet.
Super fast to make, and a cute add-on to any gift. I think these would add a little sparkle to a holiday or New Years Eve party outfit, don't you?

Check out the May Arts Blog for more ideas, and of course these other lovely projects to try today:

 
Alexcia    www.makeandmingle.com
Candy    www.livingthealteredlife.com
Charlene    http://www.paperandinkplayground.com/
Lalo    http://naniwale.blogspot.com/