i live to wrap!

ok, not quite. but as you know, i do ♥LOVE♥ wrapping gifts, the more elaborately the better; and then i love making a fancy gift bag to hold them; and then i especially love giving them to a very special niece, in this case riley elizabeth, whose *ELEVENTH* birthday was celebrated this weekend!!! (where exactly did that whole entire decade go... because seriously... it seems like we just had her FIRST birthday party fifteen minutes ago!) anyway, here's the bag that held the loot, i am proud to say it was quite a hit with that young lady!

(patterned paper, journaling card + transparency, alphabet stickers, stick pins: basic grey; florals: prima; small label tag: k and co; happy birthday rub-on: EAD designs; bunting rub-on: hambly; cupcake ribbon, plain white giftbag + tissue paper: michaels; ink: colorbox; adhesives: staples brand gluetape runner, 3m foam tape, gluedots, sewing machine)

now, i realize most of the sketches out there in the papercrafting challenge world are created for either layouts or cards, but really, a good sketch can be used for ANYTHING, and is always a great starting point if you're in a hurry. in this case i grabbed the current sketch from the basic grey blog, a whole bunch of my favorite BG supplies, and one or two other odds and ends and came up with my design post haste!

since riley's actual birthday is on valentine's day, i often incorporate plenty of hearts... as well as reds and pinks... into the cards and presents i make for her, and this week the palette at colour q was BRILLIANT for that; it's "brilliant" in every sense of the word, actually!

here's a closer shot of the gift bag, with the birthday girl's name on it. actually, riley's favorite part was the big sparkly pink flower! 

you can probably tell more easily from the big photo than from this one, that the entire design is built on a 7x9" panel of dark red paper, and every single element is attached securely to THAT rather than the bag itself; then the whole panel is attached to the bag using only 4 or 5 little squares of foam tape. which is enough to keep it securely on the bag, but make it easy for the birthday girl to detach the panel and hang it on her bedroom door, or the bulletin board in her room. because it's important to enjoy the sensation of being THE FABULOUS BIRTHDAY GIRL for longer than the span of one little party, don't you agree?

happy birthday, riley elizabeth, and i hope this is just the start of your best year yet!!! ♥♥♥♥♥

here's something you don't see me do very often...

...i've made an entirely ~FLAT~ card!*

 (patterned paper and alpabet stickers: basic grey (+ a few teeny scraps of authentique); star dies: nestabilities; ink: colorbox; pen: copic multiliner; adhesives: staples brand gluetape runner)

yeah, i know, i can hardly believe it, either! but i simultaneously fell in love with this week's basic grey card sketch:

and also with the quite fabulously vibrant palette (#159) at colour q:

and that limitation of stash-usage meant that i basically had just paper and stickers to work with, lol, so i went with those! on the other hand, you don't need that much if it's all reallllllllly great, right? luckily there's a TON of color and pattern going on here; plus old skool BG alphas automatically make everything look cool, imo, so i'm pretty happy with the results. not sure i will know how to act when mailing a card that only needs ONE first class stamp... holy moly... what a CONCEPT!!! :) :) :)

*yes, it IS still really me. yes, i can prove it: i have already watched this elebenty zillion times. and that's just TODAY!!! :)

snow far, snow good!

we're about halfway through this fortnight's ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ challenge, making cards which feature snow in any size, shape, color, or form, and thus it seems like a good time to show you this guy:

(patterned paper, tag, cardstock stickers and brads: basic grey; christmas words stickerz: EAD designs; tape: 7 gypsies; black pearl eyes: kaiser; rub-on snowflakes: fancy pants; cardstock: dcwv; ink: colorbox; adhesives: staples brand glue tape runner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

i've used the right-hand side of this week's (2-page, layout) sketch from the basic grey blog:

one of my favorite things about basic grey is how well all of the various lines, past and present, work together. i've got some figgy, some jovial, that beautiful (ancient!) snowflake from fruitcake, and even some white from the basics line (possibly the most practical and truly useful collection ANYONE has made, EVER?!) and it all goes together perfectly, and to me, every bit of it looks as cool as the day it debuted!

here's a closer look at the layers; you know how i ♥LOVE♥ for there to be a bit of dimension and depth to everything-- when i work digitally i use drop-shadows; IRL, foam mounting tape is my best friend! there's some under the right side of the big snowflake (though the left edge is sewn flat); another layer under mr. snowman; and a bit more attaching the two small snowflake stickers to the larger one; thus, the tag, which is stuck to the snowman layer on its left side, has TWO layers of foam tape under it's right edge, adhering it to the white dotty background paper.

here's my top tip for making less look like MORE: how many blue snowflake rub-ons do you see? five, right? nope! there are only three, and they aren't very large, either, but by cutting two of them unevenly in half, they really go a lot further, don't you think? it's cool to put things right on the edge of the frame, as well, for a more dynamic look; the snowflakes at the top appear to be falling onto the card!

speaking of falling snow, that was monday's theme (day 208) on the 365 cards blog, so i'm popping this in over there; and it wouldn't be friday without checking out what miss patrice is up to on her blog, the old back porch!

if you have a couple of minutes, this week my ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ partner, stephanie, has made an equally cool snow card that is different from mine in every possible way-- i love it when that happens! for that matter the snow gallery is chock full of amazing cards that are sure to inspire, but don't worry, of course there's still plenty of room-- and time-- to link up YOUR masterpiece before next wednesday night! :)

dashing through the...

...snow? really?? on september 21st?!

ok, yeah, it seems unlikely, until i mention that contextually, we're talking about the latest prompt at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ for which we are asking you to incorporate some of the wintery white stuff, whether that takes the form of snow flakes, snow balls, snow storms, snowmen (and/or snow-women!), snow-covered houses, or... well... anything you can think of which is snow-related!

i found this sweet little re-sized bit of sheet music in my holiday stash, leftover from a prompt the lovely marie bingaman came up with last year called "suzy snowflake", so i went with flakes! :)

(patterned paper, tags, chipboard pieces and pearl circles: basic grey; vintage style tag: christmas labels by the digital paper shop; pearl flourishes: want2scrap; felt and glitter snowflakes: recollections; blue journaling spots: k and co; other: vintage doilies, snowflake cut from an old xmas card, sheet music from t'internet, resized; inks: colorbox; adhesives: staples brand glue tape runner, 3m foam tape and doublestick tape)

i was completely inspired by the current sketch on the basic grey blog. yes, once again, it's a layout sketch. what can i say, i use all sketches interchangeably, and in fact i often prefer the layout ones because they tend to suit my "maximalist" style the best, lol! i know there are places in which only one type of project is solicited, and while of course i respect the rules and preferences of all the wonderful challenge-setters out there, i am occasionally stymied by that "segregation"; surely it's a compliment and a sign of an AWESOME and totally flexible sketch if people are inspired to do something CRAZY with it, no? (but again, i do my best to follow rules and completely understand that i might get disqualified!) 

i'm also linking this up in the vintage challenge at crimbo crackers, and for christmas is just around the corner challenge at just keep on creating. because christmas *IS* just around the corner, and by golly, i'm gonna be READY! (at least in terms of cards, lol!)

i'm embarrassed that i occasionally forget to do it (i did last week, sorry patrice!) but i generally submit my holiday cards with 52-card-pick-up on the old back porch. if you don't currently read that blog, you should! miss patrice is sooooooooo rockin' the clean and simple card aesthetic every single week! ♥

speaking of places i hope you'll visit, why not head over to ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and see stephanie's gorgeous snowy masterpiece? it's worth the trip, i promise!!!

a "three-fer" that will most likely be disqualified THREE times, lol! :)

the city crafter challenge blog is always one of my favorite places to play, just because they have really creative prompts to get me thinking and one of the best and most inspiring teams around to give me a "hint" if i get stuck! either of those two factors would be enough, really, to keep me coming back, but the combination is exponentially more AWESOME! this week's challenge is called "wishi washi 2" and it's harder than it sounds at first; because-- as you may have guessed-- we're incorporating washi tape (or any deco tape, really!) but here's the trick: apart from tape, you can only have TWO other items!  YIKES!!!  i chose basic grey paper and brads, and came up with this:

(patterned paper and brads: basic grey; decorative tape (paper, plastic, and fabric varieties): love my tapes, heidi swapp, 7 gypsies; ink: colorbox; pencil: prismacolor; adhesives: staples brand gluetape runner, 3m foam tape, gluedots) 

ok,  so, first possible disqualification: i realized as i was typing my supply list that i just *assumed* we could have basic things like tools, inks, pens, adhesives and white cardstock as a "gimmee"! if those count as extra items-- which they might!-- i have blown this in a biiiiiiiiig way, and humbly remove myself from play at city crafter, sorry guys!!! i cannot be sorry in any other way, though, because i really like this card and would not have made it without ya! :)

do i even have to tell you that my favorite part of this is the tape+paper pinwheels*??! and the thing is, they were a total fluke, they just happened to be part of the illustration for this week's basic grey sketch, see?

but of course i was looking for an embellishment that would add a little texture and dimension without taking me "over my limit" and they just seemed PERFECT! but here's my second probable disqualification: when i went back to the BG blog to link up, i realized they are specifically asking for LAYOUTS this week; something i have only just noticed (because i tend to use all sketches interchangeably!) is that they have designated card and LO sketches. so again, sorry BG, but isn't it nice to know how FLEXIBLE these things are??! :)

my third almost certainly ineligble challenge the august one at love my tapes, in which they want us to think up creative ways to make flowers from tape. you can see the problem for this one already, can't you? yeah. technically these are not EXACTLY flowers, are they? but go with me a second: they're a similar shape/profile... they sort of function in the same way on my card... they're in a context of pink and green and "gardeny" prints, and i've given them some washi tape leaves to make them a little more "floral", lol.  ok, mebbe not. but i do think they are kind of clever, and they're most definitely made from tape (backed with paper); but again, i will not be shocked or insulted if i am disqualified from play! :) 

here's a closer photo, so you can see them better: 

right, so the bottom line for me here: i apologize if anyone from the challenges involved feels i have wasted their time or flouted their rules, because that was certainly not my intention! but i LOVED making this card, and i also love how it turned out; and the fact is, it would not even exist but for the triple inspiration, for which i am most sincerely grateful! thank you!♥♥♥

*there's a little mini photo tutorial in the post below this one, if you want to see exactly what i did; it's not complicated, though, lol!