Tuesday, May 15, 2012

happy birthday ♥SOS♥!!!

can you believe the shopping our stash blog is celebrating its first anniversary already?! nope, me neither, talk about a year just FLYING BY! but i can assure you that this is, in fact, the 52nd week in which miss carla and her merry band have been challenging us not only to be more creative papercrafters, but also to think about and USE the things we already have in fun and fabulous ways! i, for one, can absolutely ALWAYS use a bit of help with both of those, so i'm thrilled to be along for the ride!

this week's dare is quite a special one; so much so that we're going to give you TWO WEEKS to play along. i'll explain in a minute, but first i just can't wait to show you my card, so here it is:

(patterned paper: basic grey, prima, bo bunny, anna griffin; adhesive fabric paper: dcwv; felt fern stickers: prima; lily of the valley stickers: martha stewart; card stock border sticker (embossed w/cuttlebug dots): fancy pants;  leafy ribbon: may arts; deco tape: 7 gypsies; flower trim: tim holtz; scalloped muslin trim: pink paislee; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape, gluedots, sewing machine)

ok, so i mentioned this is a SPECIAL week--two weeks, in fact--and here's why: this time ♥YOU♥ get to choose your own challenge, using this super-fun bingo card! just pick ANY consecutive line of 5 elements and get creating!!!


i went with the long diagonal row which starts in the lower left-hand corner, so i've got:

fabric 
(the tan bottom background "paper" and the ruffles) 
butterfly
 (check!) 
free space 
(plenty of extras!!!) 
blue 
(fussy-cut flowers and border sticker)
and 
embossing 
(admittedly, a very small amount--i ran the border sticker thru my c-bug; but also my nesties have that little embossed "edge" which sorta counts, right?!)

i used deconstructed sketch #51 as my roadmap--ok, so i totally loaded up on the embellies, but the sketch IS under there, honestly!!! :)


i've also played along with laurel seabrook's 23rd inspired by challenge, mostly by virtue of using the colors in her gorgeous inspo pic, but also i've got a few ferns and lots of leafy branches in tribute to the prints in that shot:




in terms of STASH-USAGE this might just be the best card i've done yet: i didn't cut ANY full papers (except my cardstock base), the nestie shapes were leftovers, the papers from which i cut the flowers and butterfly are ollllllllld; the lilies of the valley and felt ferns are very old--and were UNOPENED till now; so i'm pretty proud of that:


i should also mention that in honor of this special event there miiiiiiight just be some blog candy lurking about at some point--either this week or next, who can say?? which may just make it even more desirable than usual to check out my DT sisters' blogs; of course alicacarla, crystaldeenaleslielynn, and paige are ALWAYS fabulous sources of inspiration and creativity, so you'll definitely enjoy the trip. then c'mon by SOS and link up your own card or project! ♥♥♥

14 comments:

  1. Great take on the inspiration photo! Beautiful card!

    ReplyDelete
  2. One of my FAVES of YOURS and thats saying something! GORGEOUS!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is SO GORGEOUS Lauren! Love the flowers and butterfly on here but the scallops just make my heart flutter! So lovely.
    Lynn

    ReplyDelete
  4. just. so. beautiful. You've outdone yourself here, Lauren. Wonderful layer upon layered dimension. Truly a piece of art. Hugs, Kathy

    ReplyDelete
  5. The bingo idea is really cool, for more than just a weekly challenge. You could use it for inspiration when making cards, if you don't have the brain power at the time to embark on a new idea, you can grab the bingo card and get rolling relatively quickly.

    Very cool - could be a tool for newbies too. Very creative.

    Oh, and it goes without saying that your card is pretty awesome. I love the little white flowers peaking over the big flower and the butterfly!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Fabulous, fabulous. So many gorgeous colors and fabrics and texture. Oh it is so great.
    Myrna

    ReplyDelete
  7. beautiful !!!! way to shop your stash girl :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Very very lovely! Love the fabric and the fussy cutting ... perfect!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Beautiful, Lauren! Way to combine challenges!! Love seeing that Deconstructed Sketch in there, and LOL at covering it up with embellishments! I'm the same way :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a beautiful flower garden! No wonder that pretty butterfly stopped by.

    ReplyDelete
  11. LOVE this! Gorgeous use of flowers!! Thanks for joining us for this week's sketch! :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. bingo.
    your card is magnificent!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wow! This is one gorgeous card with oodles of flowers and layers of scallops!

    ReplyDelete

the *BEST* part of blogging is the comments, dontcha think? thanks for taking time to leave one! ~♥~