Blog Hop: Something Wicked This Way Comes

06 Friday Sep 2013

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, Blog Hop, Cardmaking, Christmas and Holidays, Lovebug Creations, Papercrafting, Rubber Stamp

≈ 32 Comments

Tags

Boo Banner, Coffin, Coffin Banner, Coffin Template, cricut, Cricut Storybook, halloween, Halloween Banner, Halloween Coffin, halloween craft, Halloween Grunge, Halloween Mantel, Halloween Mantle, halloween ribbon craft, LOveBug Creations, Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon, Rumple Ribbon, slice, Slice Spook Alley, Wendy Addison Glass Glitter

If you’ve come here first and missed any of the other projects, start at the beginning so you don’t miss a single scary thing!

Witches and pumpkins and ghouls, oh my! To celebrate Halloween, Lovebug Creations wants to share some new products with our crafty pals. Are you ready to be scared out of your wits as you check out the amazing “wicked” projects that the LoveBug Creations Creative Team ghouls have designed? We want to inspire you to start creating for Halloween!

Sneak Peek

Some of our designers are showing off some of the NEW Mama’s Mesh colors that will be hitting the store soon so keep your eyes peeled for them!

The Wicked Release

Are you brave enough to see the new colors first??? Check out this eye-popping solid Rumple Ribbon in three new yummy colors – Purple People Eater, Harvest Moon, and Monster Skin. These colors also have a Mardi Gras palette so grab them quickly before they disappear into the night of fright!

Say hello to the “Fright Night” Collection

And to celebrate “something wicked” we’re unveiling a limited collection of Rumple Ribbon called “Halloween Grunge”; there are six colors of vintage blends to give your projects that perfect Wicked Factor. Only a select number of these have been created so when they’re gone, they’re gone! All six colors are included in this special collection.

A Wicked Deal for our Favorite Crafty Ghouls

During this Blog Hop on September 7 and 8th only, there will be a freebie with purchase!

1. Spend $15 (not including tax or shipping) and you’ll receive 2 free yards of White edged with Black Rumple Ribbon!

2. Spend $25 (not including tax or shipping) and you’ll receive 2 free yards each of White edged with Black Rumple Ribbon, Black Edged with White, and Red Edged With Black Rumple Ribbon!

My Wicked Project

BOO!!!

For my hair-raising Coffin-Shaped banner project I used Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon Halloween Grunge Collection.

All of the colors from the collection go so well together with my black coffins and the glittered orange skulls!

I can’t believe that Halloween Grunge is only going to be offered for a limited time. Order it now before it’s too late!

I have a full tutorial and templates available in my Etsy Shop so that you can make this gorgeous banner for yourself. Come on by to see it and my other Halloween products!

Products Used:

Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon Halloween Grunge Collection

Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon Simply Black

Wendy Addison Pure Glass Glitter “Orange”

Cricut “Storybook” cartridge

Slice “Spook Alley” cartridge

Scarlet Calliope Coffin Template

THE WICKED BLOG CANDY ALERT

If you’d like a chance to win a $10 gift certificate to use in the Lovebug Creations online store, all you have to do is:

1. Like the Lovebug Creations FB page and leave a frightful note saying you’re stopping by from the hop.

2. Become a fan of each Creative Team member and leave a scary note on their blog – we are all dying to be acknowledged for creating something “Wicked”.

The lucky Winner will be announced on the Lovebug Creations Blog on Tuesday, September 10.

AND

If you leave a comment on my blog and sign up to follow me via BlogLovin’ or email I’ll send you a FREE Template for the Spooky Coffin Banner! (remember to leave your email in your comment!)

Something Wicked This Way Comes Line-Up

Pamela and Kim

Tanya

Stephanie

Stacey

Dawn Rene

Kathy

Christine You’re HERE

Connie Go here NEXT

Dorcas

Dawn Mercedes

Katie

Thank you for joining in the hop and have a wicked weekend!

Happy haunting!!

xo,

Christine Barker

Scarlet Calliope Something Wicked This Way Comes Banner

Home Decor: Sweet Mason Jar Tutorial

29 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, DIY & Crafting, Lovebug Creations, Mixed Media, Papercrafting, Tags, Textiles, Vintage

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

ball jar, burlap, canning jar, Cindy Loo, color shine, copic, copic marker, craft, cricut, Cricut Cindy Loo, crochet doily, diy, diy gift, gesso, Heidi Swapp, heidi swapp color shine, homemade gift, hostess gift, lovebug creatins, LOveBug Creations, Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon, mason jar, mother of pearl button, mushroom, muslin, oh cecilia, paper craft, Rumple Ribbon, scarletcalliope sweet mason jar, sentiment, shabby chic, thank you gift, twine, vellum, vintage button, vintage music paper

Hello Crafty Friends!

First of all, I have to say a HUGE HELLO, G’Day, Hola, Bonjour, 您好!, and Hallo to my visitors from across the miles. I check my blog stats and I see that I often have some visitors from Australia, the UK, Canada, Argentina, Singapore (Hi Aida!) the Netherlands and France. Not to mention from all the other corners of the globe and you have no idea how happy that makes me! Leave a comment and say hello and tell us where you’re from!

So, you may have noticed that Mason Jars are a big deal right now. They’re so popular that Target, Michaels and some other large US retailers are selling the vintage-color blue Ball brand canning jars. I bought a case the other day without any idea what I would do with them, I just knew they needed to come home with me and I’d figure something out. 🙂

I decorated a mason jar with some fabric, twine, some adorable paper decor and some beautiful Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon. This project would make a great gift for a hostess, a thank you or just because! Or, what about using some as centerpieces for a pretty wedding or party? The jars could be filled with sand and votives instead of flowers for a fun seashore themed look!

I started off punching out a 3.5″ scalloped circle from vintage music paper. I also punched out some craft paper and glued it behind the music paper to give it some oomph, I don’t want it folding over once I start adding on some embellishments.

I gave the paper a spritz with some Color Shine in Teal from Heidi Swapp. (I’m so excited that they finally restocked this color at my local crafting shop!)

Next, I went over the paper with a little bit of gesso mixed with water.

While my scalloped circle was drying I wrapped the jar with a scrap of muslin and used a drop of hot glue to secure it.

Next, it’s time to wrap the jar with twine. Apply a line of hot glue, about an inch, and place the end of the twine in the glue until it cools.

Once the hot glue has cooled completely, begin wrapping the twine around your muslin. I wrapped my jar about 6 times and then used hot glue to secure the end of the twine.

Add a scrap of burlap to your scalloped circle and add a sentiment. I used a sentiment that was on a piece of vellum but you could print out any sentiment on your printer or use a rubber stamp.

Next, I cut an adorable mushroom using my Cricut Cindy Loo cartridge. (I LOVE this cartridge and all of the sweet, whimsical designs!) I used a Copic marker to go around the edges of the mushroom. Then, I added a mini crochet doily and accented it with a vintage mother of pearl button.

Now it’s time for your ribbon! I used Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon in “Mae” to wrap around the jar and to create a sweet bow. I love the “Oh Cecilia” Family Ties collection because it is full of gorgeous, shabby-chic hues that are perfect for my vintage-style crafts!

This vintage style Mason Jar craft goes perfectly with my collection of vintage-style milk jugs!

Thank you so much for joining me. Please leave me a note in the comments and let me know what you’ve been doing with Mason Jars besides canning!

xo,

Christine Barker

Blog Hop: New Wild Ribbons from Lovebug Creations

12 Friday Jul 2013

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, Blog Hop, Cardmaking, DIY & Crafting, Lovebug Creations, Papercrafting

≈ 19 Comments

Tags

birthday card, birthday card craft, blog candy, blog hop, camo print, candy is dandy, card making, celebrations, celebrations cartridge, chevrons, circus, circus themed birthday, circus themed card, cricut, cricut celebrations, dots, fun footz, Funhouse, GCD Studios, giraffe, LOveBug Creations, new product release, polka dots, ribbon, ribbon collection, Rumple Ribbon, scrapbook, seam binding, tiger, zebra

Welcome to the Lovebug Creations New Release Blog Hop!

Are you ready to Go Wild This Summer?

If you’ve missed any of the stops, the list of blogs is below so that you can see all of the gorgeous projects made with these fabulous collections of ribbons.

How much do you love the yummy new Lovebug Creations Fun Footz Ribbons? The Rumple Ribbons have been absolutely dreamy to work with and now there’s all of these new colors and patterns. I am over the moon excited!!!

From DOTS to CHEVRONS to WILD THANGS like zebra, tiger, or giraffe and even some Camo print ribbon, the creative minds over at Lovebug Creations have seriously outdone themselves this time!

The collection I got to play with is called Candy is Dandy. I used the Funhouse paper collection from GCD Studios to make this Circus themed birthday card and the Celebrations cartridge from Cricut for the sentiment.

The Fun Footz collections are available in one foot lengths and each Fun Footz Collection is 6 yards total. This beautiful Candy is Dandy collection features yellow with pink polka dots, pink with orange polka dots and orange with yellow polka dots.

Here’s the line up of blogs in case you’ve missed any:

Kimi & Pamela
Stephanie
Michelle
Ellen
Dawn Mercedes
Candace
Dawn Rene
Christine — You are here!
Zeni — Go here next!
Martha
Annie

BLOG CANDY ALERT
During this reveal hop LBC is offering a $10 gift certificate to a hop guest – would you like to be that crafter? Here’s what you need to do:
1. Become a fan of each blog spot and leave a love note for each crafter – we all want to get acknowledgement for our crafty efforts!
2. The winner will be announced on the Lovebug Creations page, along with the winner of the sneak peek week so check back next week…….it could be YOU!!

Leave a comment letting me know which new ribbon collection is your favorite and I’ll be giving away a $5 gift certificate to the Lovebug Creations store to a random winner! (Awesome idea, Dawn Mercedes!!!)

Next it’s time to jump over to Zeni’s page to see her yummy project!

Thanks for joining us!

xo,

Christine Barker

Swap: Spring Is In The Air Tag Swap

23 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, DIY & Crafting, Swap, Tags

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

craft swap, craft tag, cricut, cricut victorian romance, dirigible, doily, hot air balloon, jeanine weiss, Julie Weller, LOveBug Creations, mariasela vallejo, michelle duke, papercrafting, pom poms, prima marketing, Rumple Ribbon, sherry bamsey, spring tags, swap, swap bot, tag swap, tags, tashia jacques, teah barrow

I feel so lucky to have so many talented friends. One group of friends, some that I’ve never even met, are involved in swaps hosted by my amazing friend, Julie Weller.

Julie puts out the call on Facebook to see who wants to join in. The last swap we made, Spring is in the Air, happened just before Easter.

For this particular swap the guidelines were to make Spring-inspired tags and to use the colors that were shown in the swap button.

Part of the fun of receiving the swaps is the beautiful and creative way that the girls package them up.

Here they all are, each one different but so beautiful!

The tags were made by Julie Weller, Jeanine Weiss, Mariasela Vallejo, Michelle Duke, Tashia Jacques, Teah Barrow, Sherry Bamsey and me.

This is my tag. I created the balloon with the Cricut Victorian Romance cartridge, a piece of vintage doily, white pom poms, paper flowers from Prima Marketing and of course, some beautiful On the Edge Rumple Ribbon in “Icy Sky” from Lovebug Creations.

Some people have asked me how to join a swap. The best way is to host your own and make the announcement on your Facebook page. But, if you aren’t ready to jump into the Hostess seat, I recently found out about a great place to join other swappers, Swap-Bot. “On Swap-bot, you can host swaps, join swaps, and chat with other swappers from all over the world.”

Thanks for visiting and let me know if you sign up to join a swap on Swap Bot!

xo,

Christine Barker

Card Making: Happy Birthday, Stephanie!

16 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Uncategorized

≈ 17 Comments

Tags

bow template, card making, cricut, Cricut Storybook Cartridge, Heidi Swapp, LOveBug Creations, Paper bow, paper bow tutorial, paper crafting, paper crafts, stephanie eaken, Sugar chic

Happy Birthday, Stephanie!

Today is my friend Stephanie’s birthday so I made her a Birthday Girl card!

I used “Sugar Chic” from Heidi Swapp and let me tell you I am in love with the colors and the patterns in this stack! I used a gorgeous ribbon from Lovebug Creations, this one is called “Purple-Dise”.

Before I start creating any of my projects, I always go online to see what other people have been doing and get some quick inspiration. I discovered that there are cute paper bows available from Heidi Swapp, but my local craft store only carried the paper stack and no embellishments, so I had to improvise. I sketched out a template to make a Paper Bow and you are welcome to use it and share it! (As long as you don’t sell it!) Template is at the bottom and here’s the tutorial!

How to Make Paper Bows

1. Print out the template. You may want to make the bow larger or smaller using your scanner or printer settings, depending on your project. The template will make a bow that is approximately 3″ wide x 1.5″ tall. You can either cut your scrapbook paper down to 8.5×11 and send it thru your printer, or print the template onto plain white copy paper. If you print directly to your scrapbook paper, print the template on the blank side so that you don’t waste any cute paper with the frame and title printed on it. If you want to get fancy, cut the bikini top shape out of one paper, and cut the remaining pieces out of a contrasting paper.

2. Cut out the pieces that look like a bikini top, two triangles and the small rectangle. (The doodle on the bottom is so that you can see what it looks like when it’s complete.) If your paper is single sided, you’ll want to cut 2 pieces of bikini shaped paper at the same time, and layer them wrong side to wrong side. If your paper is double sided, you can skip that last part.

3. Add a dot of glue (hot glue works really well for this!) or a glue dot on one end of the bikini and bend it gently towards the middle, but don’t allow it to fold, you want it to stay puffy. Bring the other side of the bikini in to the middle and give it a small dot of glue. If you use liquid glue, use a clamp, paperclip or clothespin to hold the bow in place while the glue dries. Or, use a small snippet of blue painters tape.

4. Bend the small rectangle around the middle of the bikini and secure it with a drop of glue on the back side.

5. Now add the tails to both sides using a drop of glue. They can flare out to the side or hang down, it’s up to you! Allow to dry.

Isn’t that Cute?

Shopping List:

Ribbon: Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon, “Purple-dise”
Cricut: “Storybook” cartridge
Paper: Heidi Swapp “Sugar Chic”

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy the template and the tutorial.

xo,

Christine Barker

Blog Hop: Oh No! Kimi’s Turning the Big 3-0!

05 Friday Apr 2013

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, Blog Hop, Cardmaking, DIY & Crafting, Lovebug Creations, Mini Album, Mixed Media

≈ 24 Comments

Tags

bakers twine, banner, blog candy, blog hop, bunting, Canvas Corp, celebrations, chipboard, color shine spray, cricut, Cricut Celebrations Cartridge, Cricut Doodlecharms cartridge, Cricut Storybook Cartridge, curvy cutter, DCWV, DCWV The Sweet Stack, doodlecharms, ek success, garlands, gesso, jaded blossom, kimi cremar, LOveBug Creations, mini album, pendant, Pink Paisley, rhinestone, Rumple Ribbon, scrapbook paper, storybook, Teresa Collins

You only get to turn 30 once, so we’re celebrating Kimi Cremar’s birthday in a BIG way! With a blog hop featuring 15 INCREDIBLE crafters on 14 blogs, you’ve been seeing a fantastic variety of projects, tips and techniques. If you missed any of the party locations before you got here, the map to the party is down below.

Before we look at my project, I want to tell you thank you for joining our blog hop. It means so much to me that people are visiting and leaving comments, it really inspires me to keep creating and posting my handmade love! You’re at stop number 3 and the road map for the hop is down below in case you get distracted. (Oh look, glitter!)

I’m really not much of a card maker, mostly because I’m always remembering people’s occasions at the last minute. But, I do love making mini albums, so when I found out it was Kimi’s big three zero, I started pulling together my favorite papers, paints and embellishments.

I started with a chipboard album and painted each of the pages, front and back, first with gesso (it works like a primer) and then with regular acrylic paint. Then I selected some papers and using my Curvy Cutter from EK Success, I cut the scrapbook papers into rounded squares. I then took those cut papers and cut each of them again into 1/3 and 2/3 sections, so that I would have coordinating papers to mix and match on each layout. I used my Cricut “Storybook” cartridge to cut out the numbers. And since Kimi is having a milestone birthday, rhinestone bling was definitely in order!

Kimi’s favorite colors are Pink and Light Lime Green so I used those colors lavishly. All ribbon used throughout is Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon. Party hats and balloons are cut from the Cricut “Celebrations” cartridge.

I LOVE Bunting, or garlands, or pendants or whatever the cool kids are calling them these days They’re so fun and whimsical I just had to use them on top of bakers twine. And, by the way, I found red and white bakers twine on clearance for 70% off in my local Target dollar section Friday night. That means you can score some for just $.30!

I was inspired to use the layered ticket idea from a project that my creative friend Dorcas, the Crafty Card Angel, used. I stamped my sentiments onto card stock and then used my “ticket” punch. Cupcake was cut from the Cricut “Doodlecharms” cartridge.

Here’s the front cover opened up to show the layout with the back cover.

Crafting Concoction:

Ribbon: Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon
Cricut Cartridges: Storybook, Doodlecharms, Celebrations
Paper: DCWV “The Sweet Stack”

Did Someone Say Blog Candy?

But wait, we’ve got Party Favors for you! I bet you heard about the BLOG CANDY, right? Check it out!

$15 Jaded Blossom Gift Certificate

Heidi Swapp Flowers and Color Shine spray in “Georgia Peach”

This prize pack reminds me of chocolate cake! Mmmm!

BLOG CANDY #1

2 Canvas Corp 6×6 Pads
1 Pink Paisley 6×6 Pad
6 Flower Trims
1 Cupcake Shaped Mini Album
3 Chocolate-hued colors of Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon in “Gentleman’s Jacket”, “Sugar Plum” & “Beary Brown”

BLOG CANDY #2

Heidi Swapp Flowers and Color Shine Spray in “Georgia Peach”

BLOG CANDY #3

$15 Jaded Blossom Gift Certificate

Who wants to win the Blog Candy?

You must leave a comment on each blog in the hop
Sign up to follow every blog
Wish the birthday girl, Kimi Cremar, a “Happy Birthday” at the end of the hop
Winner will be chosen and announced on April 8th

The Party Bus is This Way

Ok, are you ready to visit the next blog in the party? Head over to Jenny Johnson’s place and see what kinds of cuteness she has going on!

Too Much Punch? Here’s the Party Map:

In case you got lost, here are the stops:

1. Tanya Stilwell –http://www.scrappinkymomma.blogspot.com/

2. Martha Pineda- http://beautifulcreationsmp.blogspot.com/

3. Stephanie Eaken www.stephanie-eaken.blogspot.com

4. Michelle Criswell www.scrappinwithmybug.com

5. Candace Pelfrey www.papercraftsbycandace.com

6. Dawn Rene Carlyle http://designsbydawnrene.com

7. Ellen ♥ CardMonkey ~ http://cardmonkeyspaperjungle.com/

8. Julie Cricut Chick – www.cricutchick.com

9. Dawn Mercedes – www.dawnmercedes.blogspot.com

10.Christine Barker – www.scarletcalliope.com < < < You are here!

11.Jenny Johnson- www.crazyaboutcricut.blogspot.com < < < Here’s your next stop!

12.Dorcas – http://www.craftycardangel.com/

13. Zeni – http://www.scrappyzeni.com/

14. Kimi and Pam – http://lovebugcreations3.blogspot.com/

Thanks everyone and Happy Birthday, Kimi!!!

xo,

Christine Barker

Crafting: True Love Home Decor featuring Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon

02 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, Cardmaking, DIY & Crafting, Lovebug Creations, Scrapbooking, Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Antique Chic, cricut, home decor, LOveBug Creations, Olive You, rhinestone, Rumple Ribbon, sparkle, True Love, Twinklets Diamond Dust, velvet flowers, Victorian Romance, vintage, vintage flowers, We R Memory Keepers

Hello Crafters!

How would you like to see dazzling Home Decor for this weeks Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon project?

I got the “Victorian Romance” cartridge from Cricut a couple weeks ago, along with a pack of “Antique Chic” paper from We R Memory Keepers and I couldn’t wait to play with it all. I may be living in 2013 but my heart is pure vintage!

Using my Cricut, I first cut out the shadow design from black paper. Next I cut out the Lady and Gentleman design from the Antique Chic patterned paper. I cut these out at 8″.

Then I cut out the “True” and the “Love” from two coordinating papers. The word “TRUE” is cut at 1 inch and the “LOVE” was cut at 2″. Once everything was glued into place, I applied glue onto the letters in the word TRUE and sprinkled Twinklets Diamond Dust finely ground glass. I used my styrofoam pop dots to raise the lady and her lover off the page.

Next, I glued some vintage flowers to her head and her dress. I bought these flowers at an estate sale several months ago for a mere pittance. They were actually part of a dilapidated hat, but I didn’t care, since I just wanted all these lovely velvet flowers for making craft projects!

Next, I created a loose foof out of Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon in “Olive You”. I have a special technique for taming this beautiful but wild and unruly ribbon and I’m going to let you in on my secret. I wrap the ribbon loosely around my fingers, this time it was 4 fingers, and I stop when it seems like I have enough fullness, which was after I wrapped around my fingers 3 times. I carefully lay it down on my table and then cut a length of the same color, or sometimes a contrasting color, of about 3 inches. I carefully slide this ribbon underneath the foof, put the ends together and tie it off. (It’s kind of like making a pom pom, but without the other 77 wraps around your hand, red, throbbing fingers and the loss of circulation). Finally, I trim upside down V’s into the ends of the ribbon so that they have perky edges. Since this is a dressy occasion, I added a vintage rhinestone broach to the foof and would you look at that sparkle?

I think this would look pretty framed in a black shadowbox.

Ribbon: Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon “Olive You”
Paper: We R Memory Keepers “Antique Chic”
Cricut cartridge: Victorian Romance
Glitter: Twinklets Diamond Dust

Thank you all for joining me!

xo,

Christine

Crafting: Spring Banner featuring Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon

18 Monday Mar 2013

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, DIY & Crafting, Lovebug Creations, Mixed Media, Uncategorized

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

arlene baker, banner, cherub, chipboard, clear embossing ink, copic markers, cricut, dic cutter, embossing powder, fairy mushroom, french general, garden statuary, garland, gilding the lily, japanese paper lantern, LOveBug Creations, mini mushroom, paper rosettes, pinterest fail, scrapbook paper, signo uniball, silk flowers, sizzix, Sizzix Big Shot Pro, slice, spring, spun cotton mushroom, tag, vellum, velvet leaves, vintage millinery, vintage paper straw, vintage rhinestones, vintage wallpaper

Hello Artists!

For this week’s Lovebug Creations project, I have a Spring banner to share with you. I actually made it a couple weeks back for the Blog Hop, but as it happens, I had a lil snafu during my photo shoot (yes, another backyard photo shoot issue. Imagine!) My daughter, Savannah, helped me set up the backyard with some fun party decorations and we got the table settings laid out. I was going for one of those beautiful pictures like you see on Pinterest. It turned into a total Pinterest FAIL! The moment we got all of the decorations set up, the wind started gusting and blowing everything around. Then, really huge drops of rain started falling all over my paper projects and started soaking all of the decorations. So, we threw everything in a box and ran inside. Literally 2 minutes later the rain stopped and the sun came out. Score 1 for Mother Nature!

So, today I tried again and at least I got a picture of the banner without it twisting and turning all over the place. You can see the banner and tablecloth getting all crazy here in this picture from a couple weeks ago.

The way our house and the wall are situated, it creates a wind tunnel through our backyard!

Anyways, let’s talk about crafting and we’ll go through each tag one by one. This Spring Banner project was just the beginning of my recent infatuation with vellum. I ran the vellum through my Sizzix Big Shot Pro die cutter with my favorite die to create a nice sheer separation for my letters from the background. The letters were cut using my Cricut.

Don’t you just love velvet leaves? I found them and the mushrooms at Gilding the Lily in Fullerton and it’s one of my favorite shops to find unique millinery, vintage photos, feathers, beads, pearls, crystals and jewelry findings. The beautiful ribbon in all photos is “Pink Clouds” from Lovebug Creations. The colors that I received ranged from a sweet, light pink to a deep coral and were so perfect for this garden inspired banner. I just love the way these ribbons curl and ruffle! I used my white pen to outline the blue letters and die cut pieces to give them an artistic touch.

The cherubs head is from my stash, it’s probably 20 years old. I love painting objects to look like moss-covered garden statuary. For this panel, I cut out vellum flowers with my Sizzix Big Shot Pro die cutter and colored the back of them with my copic markers. This gives them a nice color without being too strong and overwhelming the rest of the piece.

The buckle on the P is made from a chipboard piece from the dollar (and fifty cent!) section at Michaels and I painted it and then glued vintage rhinestones to it.

For this panel, I used a wonderful paper flower technique that I learned from Arlene Baker at a class at French General during Kaari Meng’s Art of Craft event in January. To learn this technique, you’ll have to take one of Arlene’s classes. I never give away other peoples secrets! Can you believe the result of Arlene’s technique? I love how the paper flower wrinkled up just like a real rose.

Paper rosettes are used in a lot of my projects because they look so whimsical and add great depth.

To create a waxy look on silk flowers (like the one on the bottom, second from the left) I stamp them with clear embossing ink and then sprinkle with clear embossing powder. Using your heat gun, move it around and slowly melt the embossing powder. Be careful not to burn your flower!

Detail of another cherub I painted to look like moss-covered garden statuary.

This panel has a piece of vintage wallpaper at the top that I cut with one of my punches. The punched circles at the bottom right are accented with clear glitter.

I featured these vintage-style paper straws in a past blog post, but they were part of this project so I wanted to share them with you again.

I used my Cricut to cut out LOTS of butterflies in different sizes and shades of tangerine-colored paper to adorn the Japanese paper lantern. I love the ombre effect and I’m going to file this idea away and use for decorations in the future.