A Niggle Usually Means Something

Yesterday I got a niggle to make a card. Not just any card, but a pink card. If you're new to this blog, I'll let you in on a secret: I don't EVER choose pink. I'm just not that kind of girl. But, for some reason, I felt the urge to create a card, inspired by Carol's Ink Spot, using pink. The set that came to mind when I saw this card a few weeks ago was Friendly Flowers, a retired set that I've not used much. I set it beside the bubble gum Pink Passion card stock and ink (again, the niggle), and white craft ink, and set to work.

Carol used vellum as her stamping surface, mounted on top of colored card stock, so I pulled out a 4" x 5.25" piece and began stamping. It take a LONG time for ink to dry on vellum, so I sped the process along by using my heat tool. You have to be careful not to warp this thin paper when heating it, and fate smiled on me and I was successful.

Once I was done stamping, I mounted the vellum on the card using regular adhesive. I didn't want it to show, so i placed it strategically underneath the strip of card stock that would go over it that has the "they say it's your birthday!" Not a unique idea, but one that lets the images be the attention, not the adhesive.

I liked the button that Carol used, but I didn't have any pink buttons (see above for reasons why). I did have some small clear buttons and some thin light pink ribbon that had been gifted to me. That would work, right? I tied that into the button and mounted it on the card, but something was still missing. When I went hunting in my drawers again, I stumbled across a baggie of flat small rhinestones. Again, in the spirit of full disclosure, you must know that I am also SO NOT a rhinestone girl. Not a flashy bone in my body, friends. But I felt like they belonged on this card (nigggle niggle). Who am I to argue with the creative muse? So I went with it. They're a pain in the you-know-what to mount because I didn't have the right size glue dots, but I used some glue and persevered until I'd used the entire package.

I stamped the coordinating message and decorated the inside of the card--this is all the rage right now--and went looking for my digital camera. While searching for it, I got sidetracked by my laptop and spent a little time on Facebook. While cruising through my notifications, I saw a little message in the right column: Mikayla's birthday is Wednesday. NO--really? I didn't believe FB and went to her page to confirm it.

THAT'S WHY I'D HAD THE URGE TO USE PINK! THAT'S WHY I'D HAD THE NIGGLE! Mikayla is my niece, and tomorrow she'll be 10. Double digits. That's a special birthday that needs to be celebrated, even if your auntie, uncle, cousin, and doggie relatives live 800 miles away. So the card will be a bit late, but that doesn't mean we won't be thinking of her.

Lesson learned? PAY ATTENTION TO THE NIGGLES.

Recycled Flowers for a Friend

When recycling came to our town in IL, I embraced it wholeheartedly. I loved the fact that we set out more blue containers than garbage cans weekly, and that so much of what we didn't need anymore, i.e. glass, plastic, cans, paper, and cardboard, could be repurposed.

Moving to GA brought a bit of recycling disappointment into my life. GA residents cannot recycle EVERY number of plastic, only 1s and 2s. DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY THINGS ARE 5s?!? We can recycle glass, but not curbside. I have to save it up and take it to an area recycling center, but there's no fee to participate.

Well, as much as I've accepted recycling as part of my life, I'd never thought of repurposing items for CRAFTING before I read these posts by my cool Texan friend, Lydia. She thinks WAY outside the box creatively, and inspires me to do the same. How does this play out? I think of her every time I open a business sized envelope that has junk mail or a bill inside it!

Lydia LOVES blue. All things would be blue if she could find a way to make it so. So, when I saw the guts of these unassuming envelopes on a fine spring day, I knew what I wanted to do with them.

I pulled out my 1.75" and 2" scallop circle punches and made flowers! I cut down the scallops so that they'd fringe a bit, thus becoming more three dimensional, plopped a 3/4" circle of Yo Yo Yellow in the middle and topped it with a little button.

Then I needed a "landscape" for these flowers. I chose the swirly doodle from retired set Doodle This and stamped it in Garden Green to simulate funky foliage. Okay, this is coming together, but what about saying something? This card needed a sentiment, and I was a bit stumped as to how to incorporate it into the design. So I left the elements on my desk for a few days and came back to it yesterday. I decided I wanted a pennant, so I went to my stashes of SU! blues and chose Ballet Blue because it's the closest to the flowers. The sentiment is from Season of Friendship and it's stamped on Whisper White with BB ink.

I hope this makes you proud, girlfriend! I'll never be as cool as you, but I can try!

A Flower for Mom

Due to some unforeseen events that took over my life just shortly after I wrote my last blog post, I have been AWOL for 2 weeks. Since 8 of those days (in a row) were spent working at Starbucks, and the following 3 recovering, that means I've really only been gone 3 days--wink wink, nod nod.

So, let's get back to card making! When I was sitting with my feet propped up, browsing the internet in a state of near exhaustion last weekend, I came across Dannie's Designs. I hope you take the time to follow the links I post; you're missing the work of some talented fellow crafters if you don't! Dannie embellished a box she designed with a flower made using the Ornament punch (don't miss the AMAZING basket she made!). Check out this post to see what shape the punch punches.

I used Melon Mambo for my flower, sponging it with Rose Red to create some sense of dimension for the petals. The center is a 1" circle punched from Crushed Curry. The DSP is retired, but I like how it grounds the flower without competing with it for attention. The sentiment is from Well Scripted, and it is stamped with MM ink on a "kiss", a diecut shape currently available in the Occasions Mini for just 8 more days. There's a very thin mat of Whisper White that's mounted on a Crushed Curry base.

The little ladybug was an afterthought. It's a 1/4" circle that's hand-dotted, and the head is a 1/8" circle, attached to the body with a glue dot!

I'll be back tomorrow with another card that celebrates spring and friendship and recycling.

Blame it on my Pants

Okay, this might be TMI, but today's card was inspired by my pants. I'm not sure why Old Navy felt that these tan chinos needed that cute little polka dotted material on the inside of the waistband, but as I looked at it the other day, I thought, "The color of those dots is very similar to Rich Razzleberry...that color combination would make a cute card!" My brain--it's weird. I know. I'm comfortable in my own mind though, so I filed the idea away for later execution.

When I got to my craft room, I remembered that I don't have any stamps that are polka dots (although there's a great small background stamp with dots for sale right now in the Occasions Mini, and I'd contemplated buying it but decided for the solid stripes instead), so I improvised. It's just inspiration, not duplication, right?

I used my RR Stampin' Write Marker to ink the stripes and created my patterned paper. Then I pulled out one of my favorite sets of all time: Wonderful You. I had seen this card by Nina Dee and wanted to CASE it. I don't have the Big Shot die that has this leaf, so I used the leaf image from WY and heat embossed it with White Embossing Powder! Yay!

I was going to mount the 1.75" squares in a straight row across the card, but they looked better wonky. Again, I went with the flow! Everything was adhered to a Kraft base and with the addition of a little Hemp Twine, the card is complete. I'm not adding a sentiment at this point, as I don't know who I'm going to use it for. A friend of mine does have a birthday later this week, so that's what it might be used for.

Look around for inspiration...you never know, you might be sitting on it!

New Life

As I've confessed here before, I'm not much of a gardener. The only green thumb I'll ever sport is one smudged with INK. But today is a gorgeous, warm day, and it inspires thoughts of a new season, and the flowers that come with spring, so I thought I'd try my hand at a potted plant card.

These potted lilies are the result of a great tutorial on SCS. My pot is made using Soft Suede and the border is created using the scallop border punch (DUH). I didn't use the Sizzix diecut flowers Stephanie did, but I stamped and heat embossed the lily image from Fifth Ave. Florals to create my bouquet. I colored the stamens using a Stampin' Write Summer Sun Marker.

The most fun part was making leaves. The 2-step Bird Punch has a separate wing for the bird, thus the name. Well, that wing makes a great leaf, I'll tell ya! I used my Designer Label Punch for a little message from Best Yet on the pot's base. The flowers pull out and there's a hidden tab for a message inside. This fits in a standard A2 envelope.

LOVE IT! And no dirt under my fingernails either.