MIM #78

The MIM challenge for this week: stamp and stitch on die-cuts.  (This definitely took longer than the 10-minute craft dash from yesterday *wink*)

 I cut my own sunburst pattern out of different patterned papers, and stitched each one on the machine.  If you didn't believe me that I'm no sewing expert, go ahead and click on the picture to take a closer look.  Oh yeah, there are the not-so-cute-but-pretend-it's-just-the-homespun-look edges. Hee.

Once the papers were in place, I die-cut a 1 and 3/4 inch circle and a coordinating medallion for the back (in kraft paper, but it looks mauve to me in the pictures... oh well.)

I stamped the circle frame from one of the "Tag its" sets, and stitched around the inside of that frame with yellow embroidery thread.

To finish off the card, I die-cut 5 butterflies (from the "love lives here" die collection) and stitched them together in the same yellow thread.

The "smile" sentiment is from Precious Remembrance.

Thanks for peeking!

MIM #51 + "things my kids said" thursdays.

I so love this look.

If you're on Pinterest, you've seen graphic art with these folded banners, right?  And, now the tutorial on how to rock it, paper-style.  Thank you, Nichole Heady.

I used a few stamp sets: fancy flourishes, grunge me, rosie posie (but look!  a different flower from that set!), love lives here (sentiment), background basics: woodgrain (back of sentiment banner), and text-style II (for the vertical strip on the left side of the card).  Whew!

The ink colors are a little less numerous, but only slightly: memento brown, antique linen distress ink, fresh snow, aqua mist, spring moss, and autumn rose.

I'm telling you, my "craft table" (those are sarcastic quotation marks because I work on a tiny corner of our computer desk) was FULL.  As in, I might have knocked a few ink pads to the floor and felt terribly claustrophobic while creating this card.

I started out by stamping my flourishes, and then adding the flowers, and going back in with the ink splots wherever my eye decided they should go.

I liked the idea of the stamping being concentrated near the bottom of the card, and the banner coming up out of it.  The only thing I wish I could undo is the stitching near the top.  You know when something seems like a good idea, and your sewing machine is right there, and you go for it, and then there's no way to undo it, and you're not so sure about anything anymore?  exactly.

In other news, my card-making blog needs a little je-ne-sais-quoi that has nothing to do with card-making.  I was thinking of starting a "things-my-kids-said" thursdays" (less catchy than "wordless wednesdays" or "five for fridays," I know, but bear with me).  Here's my gem of the week:

You know you're due for another vacation when your 4 year old son holds a burnt-out bulb to his ear and yells "hey mom! I can hear the beach in there!"

Hee hee!  Anyone else have "things-my-kids-said" to share?

Thanks, in advance, for the giggles.  (or nice comments about my card.  either way.)

stamped wall art.

I pulled out some stamps and made myself some framed art for our living room:

I actually slipped them off the wall and into the kitchen to snap the photos - I take all of my photos in this gorgeously-lit room...

For both prints, I used the same stamp sets:  "love lives here," "framed," "mat stack II," "background basics: gingham" (all PTI), and "schoolhouse backdrops" (lawn fawn).

A bit of masking to keep it as close to 1-layer as possible, and a whole lot of edge-distressing gives it depth without bulk so it could still fit into our existing frames.

Come back tomorrow to see my card for the 1st-ever lawnscaping blog hop!