Taking Inspiration #1

Do you use Pinterest? I am an avid pinner, however after I have pinned something I don't often return to it, well, except for recipes. I see so many pretty pictures that I add to my inspiration boards and never get around to using them as actual inspiration. With that in mind I have decided to try using different pictures from these boards more when I am crafting in the form of a 'taking inspiration' challenge.

Here is my first prompt;

Source: arosynote.blogspot.co.uk via Angela on Pinterest

First of all I loved the soft pretty colours, the delicate layers of the ranunculus flowers and the pale blue wash on the cup, I also about the stamps I have that I could use to mimic the pattern on the cup.

I pleated some crepe tissue paper by hand and then dyed it with various different shades of pink inks and sprays. I stamped the background using PTI Daydreamer for the circles and a small floral flourish from Peace, Love & Joy. Unfortunately I should have stamped off the paper on the top of the card to make it look more grounded but I am happy to add another card to the almost always empty birthday section in my card holder.

I then loosely used the following picture for the next card;

Source: weheartit.com via Angela on Pinterest

 

I actually only made this to try out my new Rosie Posie stamps from Papertrey Ink, speaking of which I received this package of goodies a couple of months ago...

 

I am ashamed to say that I haven't used half of this stuff yet and I'm already preparing to put together another order for my birthday next week! I need to schedule myself in for some crafty time so I can give these babies a real workout!

Thanks for reading,
Ang x

Papertrey Anniversary Entry #1

If you are a fan of Papertrey Ink, you probably know they are holding their anniversary celebrations with lots of contests and prizes, including winning a year's worth of stamps! Here is my entry for today's challenge to create a wrap, tag or gift wrapping using a photo from pinterest or any other site. So here is my entry...

Inspired by this pin...

Source: cakecentral.com via Angela on Pinterest

 

I bought the rose paper today but have no idea who made it! PTI dies used for the word, clear label and border. I stamped the background of the tag and the crepe ruffle with the Sweet Life stamps.

Thanks for looking!

Ang

Old Time Anniversary

I am amassing quite a stash of cards in my little card box but I noticed that I have plenty of birthdays and simple sentiments but none that really cover anniversaries. I set right to work making a card and it all started with the rose. If you haven't seen Wendy Vecchi's tutorial, hop on over to have a look, you'll be glad you did, and as she says they are addictive!

I took the basic 5 petal rose and added in a number of individual petals to make a more ruffly rose, instead of using grungepaper as suggested I used MME Wild Asparagus paper. The best tip I can give when using paper, as it is less forgiving than grunge paper, it to cut your petals, then take each individual petal and to screw it up into a ball, flatten it back out and to gently curl it using either your thumbnail or a bone folder, it allows you to curl the petals without hardly any rips and tears. I then inked the edges using cat's eye chalk ink.

 It sat on my desk and I played with it for a good couple of days turning it this way and that before commiting myself to putting it on a card, they are just so pretty! I added a mat of MME paper, stamped a postcard on some cream card using a Prima stamp, distressed it with distress ink to add some age and rounded the corners, I popped the postcard and a tag behind a die cut piece of K&Co paper (I love that paper, I have one and a half sheets left and keep telling myself to just use it up and not hoard it!) I then stamped a clock image using a Hero Arts stamp which I found in the land of bargains known as Home Sense! and dusted it with perfect pearls for a more subtle look.

I sewed some ruffles using MME paper, added it to the card and layered it with some Prima lace and added some gems, buttons, ribbon and a stick pin dyed to match using alcohol inks. The sentiment is from one of my favourite Hero Arts sentiments sets.

The card is quite bulky so needs to be sent in a boxvelope. I love how it turned out, it came out quite vintage-y which is what I was going for, I think I am going to send this to my husband's grandparents for their anniversary this year, they have been together for 63 years and are still very much in love, I only hope that my husband and I are as happy as they are when we have been married for that long!

Happy crafting, looking forward to WOYWDW, hope you consider joining in too!