Flying Unicorn Card Swap

We're having a card swap over at the Flying Unicorn!  

All you have to do is make 3 cards:  

Birthday, Sympathy and Get Well.  

Sign-ups will close on Apr 5th, so check here for instructions on how to join in the fun.

In March we had an ATC swap that ended up with members receiving some really fabulous ATC's!  I was happy to get my friend Tammy Henderson's name in the draw.  I have been following her from the very first moment I learned there were blogs about scrapbooking on the internet.  (What a happy day that was!!)  I have learned so much from her and received such great inspiration, it was wonderful to be able to send her something in exchange!!  You can check out her blog here.  You're gonna LOVE what you see!

Here are the ATC's I created for the swap.

I used a chippy from G45's Place in Time and framed it with a Pink Paislee Artisan Elements frame that was lightly rubbed with gold Inka Gold.

For this one I used Prima Firefly paper and I made the wings by die cutting them out of scrap plastic and then embossing and gluing to a piece of patterned paper.

Here, I used a La Blanche stamp and played around with little bits and pieces of embellies.

The bunnies on this one were a jpeg file that I had purchased on Etsy and I embellished the frame with Stampendous Aged Ivory embossing enamel and inked the edges with Walnut Distress Ink.

They were all tucked into this little jewelery box that I decorated with some bling.

And sent off with this card to wish Tammy a Happy Spring!

Can't wait to get busy creating my cards for the swap.  

Hope you'll join us!

Linda

PPC110 Playing in Paradise

Good morning!  We have blue skies, warm sun, and a brand new challenge at Playing in Paradise!

                                         

Nina is hosting the challenge this week and she reminds us how much an embellishment can add to your card or layout.  Some people like to embellish a little, some people like to embellish a lot.  I fall into the latter category ... I like to add tons of embellishments.  So because this is a challenge .... I challenged myself to only embellish "a little"!  LOL it was SO HARD.  I kept thinking, "oh that corner just needs a little something", or "if I put a touch of this here it would look so much better."  I had to keep slapping my hands away from the embellies!

In the end, I let my stamped image take all the glory and just added some crinkled ribbon and distressing.  Oh yeah, and a "wee" touch of lace.

I used a stamp by La Blanche called Blossoming Rose and coloured the image with a water brush and Distress Inks: Tattered Rose, Festive Berries, Mowed Lawn and Shabby Shutters.  To shade around the flowers I used Shabby Shutters and Iced Spruce, then I edged them with Walnut ink.  I love the La Blanche stamps and when I use them I always use their specialty paper (which just happens to be on sale right now).  This paper has a beautiful coating on it; the ink just glides and blends perfectly, and you're left with a lovely lustre.

To further enhance the stamped image, I did an "enamel technique" on it.  I went over each flower with an embossing pen and then sprinkled and melted a layer of UTEE on top.  This next photo shows you the incredible gloss you get.  It's very rich looking and pretty.  If you don't have an embossing pen or UTEE, I think a similar effect could be achieved with Glossy Accents.

I stayed "simple" on the inside as well.

Now I KNOW you all have lots of embellishments in your craft rooms, so bring them out, and put them to work!  Show us whether you like to embellish "A Little" or "A Lot"!  The rules can be found here, and I promise you they are very simple.

After you're done checking out the rules, take a peek at the rest of the design team's creations - they are absolutely wonderful!

The prize to be won this week is:  The Sweetest Thing stickers, brads, enamel dots, doilies and layered stickers.  This awesome package is worth $25 and you get a chance to win it just by linking your project to the challenge!

Enjoy your crafting!

Linda

Click on the images below, to see where you can purchase the supplies that were used to make this card:

Walnut Distress Ink	Iced Spruce Distress Ink	Festive Berries Distress Ink	Tattered Rose Distress Ink
Mowed Lawn Distress Ink	Shabby Shutters Distress Ink	Sakura Water Brush	LaBlanche Stamp - Blossoming Rose
LaBlanche Specialty A5 Paper	Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel	Basic Grey Serenade Avalon	Basic Grey Serenage Chemise
KaiserCraft Pickled Pear sticker sheet	Hero Arts Lace Ribbon	Tim Holtz Crinkle Ribbon	Spellbinders Basics B Card Creator
Ranger Embossing Pen	Ranger Ink Blending Tool