Floral Gift Bag Beauty

I found a picture of the gift bag that I gave my mom on Mother's day.  Pink is one of her favorite colors and so I thought to try my hand at decorating a plain white gift bag.  Here's the details:

• The floral swirls were die cut from multiple Spellbinders and Sizzix dies out of green cardstock.  I overlayed them to create the image you see.
• The butterfly has a layer of white embossed and then die cut image and a patterned paper image just die cut using my Heartfelt Creations Butterfly Medley stamp and die.

• The flowers were die cut from white cardstock using my Heartfelt Creations Arianna Blooms die.  I used Worn Lipstick Distress Ink to watercolor the flower petals and used Scattered Straw Distress Ink to color the centers of the flowers.  When the paper was still wet from the watercoloring, I spritzed them a bit more and accordion folded each petal.  After the accordion fold, I pinched the petal to get a good crease and then stretched them out a bit before leaving them to dry.  You can see a video here (about 8:45 into the video) on this technique.
• The centers of the flowers were completed with some I'm Amaized prills.  They provide such depth to the finished flowers.

A few pieces of pink tissue and a card and this present was fit for a mom on Mother's Day.  Look for interesting ways to use your papercrafting in your gift giving to send an "I love you" message too!

Another Mother's Day Card

I made another Mother's Day card with my Authentique Grace paper collection.  This paper just goes together all on its own.  Here's the details:

• All papers are from the collection and they are all edged in Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  The pink patterned paper was embossed with a Darice embossing folder.
• The swirls are cut from matching patterned paper using my Sizzix Decorative Swirls.

• The flower is store bought and has long since been separated from it's package.  I also rubbed on some Vintage Photo Distress Ink to tie this in.
• The crochet ribbon came from the stash.  
• On the inside, I used a sentiment from the collection.

I'm all set, a card for my grandma and one for my mom.  I'm even a little ahead of the game.

I decided to enter this card into the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Not So Mellow Yellow.  Even though my yellow flower is a bit mellow, I think that it qualifies as yellow and wanted to join in the fun.  Come on over to see all the yellow-y inspiration.

Don't forget that I've posted a comment party for some blog candy.  Please click through the link, read about my great fortune that, in the end, I am hoping will result in a small fortunate event for you.  All you have to do is follow my blog and comment to win!

Best Mom Ever- A Mother's Day Card

I'd mentioned that I picked up a clearance priced package of Authentique's Grace collection at my LSS.  The package came with many different embellishments mostly geared to mothers and Mother's Day sentiments.  I just couldn't resist the opportunity to put together a card with these colorful and stylish papers.  Here's the details:

• All papers are from the collection, even the brown matting paper and they are all edged in Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  
• The floral and swirls are cut from matching patterned paper and cardstock using my Our Daily Bread Fancy Foliage, Sizzix Decorative Swirls, Spellbinders Floral Flourish dies.

• The flower is store bought and has long since been separated from it's package.  I also rubbed on some Vintage Photo Distress Ink to tie this in.
• The pearl swirl came from the stash.  
• On the inside, I stamped the sentiment on a piece of patterned paper to create the flag and used foam squares to adhere some of the tag sentiments from the collection.  

I'm linking this card up at Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge blog: Mother's Day or Special Girl.  Come join the fun!

ETA:  I'm linking this up with The Shabby Tea Room's Week #210: Anything Goes challenge.   Come join the fun or have a look around.  The ladies who share at these challenges are sooooo talented!

Front Cover for Heartfelt Creations Die Storage

I thought I might interrupt this week's posting of the scrapbook pages to show off a little bit of creativity that leaked out around finishing up the scrapbook pages.  The front covers of my Heartfelt Creations storage was so bland and boring I couldn't leave them alone.  Plus, the scrapbooking effort wasn't heavily laden with flowery goodness and I was missing my Heartfelt Creations creativity.  Out busted these blue little beauties.

 The flowers were created with my Heartfelt Creations Vintage Floret stamps and dies.  I used a black archival ink to stamp the flowers and die cut the flowers out.  The swirls come from a couple of different die sets, Spellbinders Floral Flourishes and Sizzix Decorative Swirls.






I now have two books of these stamp and die sets.  With this weekend's arrival of the leaf sets, I may be expanding to a third book. It feels like a good problem to have, but sometimes I wonder if I'm truly just a craft tool junkie.