Enjoy

 I am a friend of recycling items in the craft room. Especially tags. I have a collection of beautiful tags in my craft drawer. Some are just too pretty which is why I haven't used them yet. But today was apparently the day...

I was intrigued by a couple of challenges and wanted to fit them together. How does circles, colorful, recycle and adding a charm sound to you? To me it sounded like just the ticket, as I always have so much leftovers. Either from projects that I made too much fodder for, or items that didn't fit a certain project and were discarded, or the cut-offs from die cuts.

 

I started by covering the tag with gelli print strips (cut for a project in 2024). I then stamped circles onto the background (stamp by Rubberdance, last used in the previous decennium) and spent an inordinate amount of time trying to fit the pink circle cut-outs onto it until I resorted to a die-cut of a round balloon (the balloony bit is hiding under the vase). The flowers in the vase is a die by Nellie's Choice. I had cut it ages ago from a neon colored post-it and darkened some areas with ink. Today it found its place.

 

Lastly came a pretty brad as my charm, and the little but important word 'enjoy' as this is going to accompany a tasty gift.

Entering this in these inspiring challenges:

Tag-along and ATC's: Circles

Die-cut Divas: Recycle, re-use & repurpose - I used a clothing tag as my base

GRC: #56 alles mag of gebruik een bedel - ik heb een bedel gebruikt

Crafters' Cafe: AG/ optional Lots and lots of colors - I am playing with the Option

The Neglected Stuff: September - all the used items have been neglected for years

A fairy in a tea cup

Today I leaped way out of my comfort zone. I tackled a completely circular card, added washi tape, made it feminine and still tried to keep it CAS. 

These were the supplies I picked out for these prompts. A stamp of a fairy in a bubble bath (a charity shop find so I have no idea of the maker, sorry), my largest circular dies and washi tapes. Later I added a few more tapes, white chalk paint, a few markers and a length of gold thread. I did not use the postage style washi at all. Maybe for another project!

 

I started by cutting two circles. I then scored roughly 1,5cm/ 1/2" from the top of one and glued this piece behind the full circle. This creates a fully functional round card. (I took the photo of the finished card in front of the mirror so you can see the construction of the back. ) I then stamped the fairy and colored her in with markers. 

Then I went 'back to basics' as one prompt urged to do. I tore several strips of washi tape and glued them on the left side on top of each other. I painted partially over them with white chalk paint and let it dry. When it was dry I glued one more strip, this time paper lace, horizontally, creating a plane for the tea cup to sit on. I thought the gold thread would be a fitting addition.

 Everybody's 'basic' is different I suppose. For me I went back to the time about 5 to 10 years ago when this arrangement and style was all the rage.

I am entering this in the  challenges that were my source of inspiration:

Papercraft Challenges: #133 Back to Basics

CAS on Sunday: #341 Make a round card

Moving Along with the Times: #192 Feminine

Girlz Rebel Challenge: #55 Washi tape

Classic Design Challenge: AG w/ a twist of Die cuts. I am playing AG 

Greetings, my friend

 My blog posts have gotten very predictable: these days I start with my inspirations and proceed to how I made the card. Well, why break the mould, it serves me well... So, dear reader, let me tell you what I was inspired by this morning. It was butterflies, colors and a sketch - a combination that I thought would work well for a simple greeting card.

After seeing the inspiration photo at A Place to Start (scroll down to challenges) I knew I wanted to use an old book page. It had a tear down the middle which I decided to keep (by not glueing the ends properly), because that would work well for the sketch I was eyeing. The inspiration photo also had butterflies and flowers so I knew I would want to use those images. To begin with I pulled out these ingredients:

 

For stamping and coloring I used the colors in the inspiration palette (scroll down for challenges).

 

The card was put together following the sketch (again I refer to challenges). 

 

I am entering this in these wonderful challenges:

A Place To Start: #202606 Inspiration photo

 

Sunday Sketches: #389 Down the middle

 

All About Papercraft: #6 Colors

 

Girlz Rebel Challenge: #53 Vlinders (butterflies)

Girlz Creative Challenge: #69 Vlinders (butterflies)