A Roses And Butterflies Card - Inspired by a Previous Project

Does this look familiar? If you know my work, you'll recognise it immediately! One of my earlier projects on this blog was a Glittering Butterfly Card with a Ginormous bow. The feedback was a shade mixed - some thought it was grand and stylish and loved the bow. Others weren't too kicked about the colours, the bow being so big and the gold was bordering on harsh. So when I was asked to recreate this for someone, it was mildly suggested that I tone it down a bit - replace the gold with red, reduce the size of the butterflies and replace the bow with something less dominating. So here's my creation!

I replaced replaced the bow with a rim of red roses from ItsyBitsy. Love them, can't go wrong with them. I also made the butterflies smaller as you can see. The rest I kept the same. The base layer is white card stock, followed by another layer of card stock and the top layer is vellum embossed with a floral design.

 But here's something new to share! How do you like my coordinating box envelope? The flap has the same butterfly design in the same rich red all cut from my cameo! Isn't it awesome! I've made it before for other butterfly cards but just realised that I have never shared it on my blog. 

So what do you think of my card as compared to the previous one? Is this better or do you prefer the gold one? Would love to hear your thoughts! 

Linking to 

DCAM Challenge 3 - I've chosen the red and white colour scheme.  

Flutter by Wednesday - No Orange or Black

Delightful Challenge - Winged Things

My Time to Craft - Butterflies

If you would like to know the supplies used for this or any of my projects, please write to me at craftingtillthecrackofdawn@gmail.com

A Jar for Fall

I love love LOVE fall colours. Although here in India, specially Bangalore, we don't really have the 'fall' season nor do we have the colours, I still love the schemes that are popping out of overseas craft challenges. Most challenges have fall related themes and although it doesn't bring up any specific feelings or sentiments for me, I simply ADORE the colour spectrum. The Shabby Tea Room has asked for Fall Florals this time. We're required to create a project inspired by a photograph (at the end of this post) and include some fall flowers in our project. So here is my card.

The flowers are all handmade by me using the Tattered Florals Garland die, heavily distressed with Vintage Photo distress ink. The jar is cut on my cameo as well as the lattice background. These two elements were also distressed with Antique Linen.  Here's the inspiration photo: 

I also included a lot of layers and texture in this project along the lines of the BGC's Layered and Over the Edge. The base layer is white card stock, then a layer of this awesome white Thai paper from ItsyBitsy which is almost furry. Next I added a layer of burlap and finally the lattice layer of card stock. The flowers are spilling over the edge on two corners of the card. 

Also entering Colour Conceptions Challenge 4 - Distress - As I said earlier, the flowers are distressed with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and the Jar/ Lattice with Antique Linen Distress Ink. 

That's it from me! Later folks!

If you would like to know the supplies used for this or any of my projects, please write to me at craftingtillthecrackofdawn@gmail.com

A Lacy Parasol Black and White Card

Whew! It's been a long time since I posted a project on this blog. It's not because I've not been crafting till the crack of dawn, because I have. It's not because I don't craft any more, because if you've been following the Itsy Bitsy blog, you know that I have. It's not because I've run out of ideas, because again  all my ideas are showcased on ItsyBitsy. I guess I haven't posted in a while because the responsibilities of being a mother of 2 finally caught up with me. Between shuttling my son to school, dealing with daily homework, trying to manage my extremely naughty toddler daughter and ensuring I spend enough time with them, I finally had to give my craft blog a bag seat.

That was until I saw Corrinne's fabulous inspiration on Sindhu's blog. Sindhu is celebrating her first wedding anniversary and her blogaversary by hosting weekly challenges. Corrinne Dietrich of Dietrich Designs was the first host and her challenge is Wedding/ Anniversary Cards with Black and White and Lace. Corrine's inspiration card is totally to die for and from the moment I saw it, I knew I had to make something for it. Last night after putting the kids to sleep, I suddenly got an idea for it and I jumped up from the covers to craft! Here's what I made. 

My idea was a lace parasol right from a Jane Austen novel. And I wanted it closed so that the frilly trim is dominant. I actually have 2 such parasols - actual versions one with black lace and one with white. I could never use them but they were so so so so pretty that I just had to have them. I followed the tutorial on this link to make the parasol with a few changes of my own. Here's a closer look at the parasol. 

The ornate frame is cut from my cameo and the pattern paper beneath it is from the DCWV Lemon Flower stack. It's sooo gorgeous! Silver textured design, perfect for my card. Was delighted to find it in my stash but very reluctant to actually use it. It was so so so pretty. 

Well that wraps up this post. See you around Blogosphere either here or on the ItsyBitsy Blog. Toodles!

Also linking to Lulupu's Load it Up Challenge (Thanks Doc Sonia). I have 4 layers over the base card and the 3 embellishments are - a lace parasol, ribbon and a pearl.

If you would like to know the supplies used for this or any of my projects, please write to me at craftingtillthecrackofdawn@gmail.com

A Shabby Chic Pink Card

I gotta say when I first saw the inspiration photo at the 'For Love of Crafting' Shabby Chic Challenge, I was literally blown away and despite it being a really crazy month for me, I was desperate to create something for the contest.  But as the days passed, it became more and more evident that time was not on my side, and I would probably have to give it a miss. The month of July began, and all hope was lost until I saw a post on my blogger feed. It was a project by Shweta Patil of 'Creative Space'. She had just done a Shabby Chic card for this challenge and that's when I remembered, For the Love of Crafting  starts on the 10th of the month, not the 1st which means they were still open for submissions! Hurray!! I got to work right away and here's my creation. 

So there were a lot of things in the inspiration photo that appealed to me. The soft cream, white and pink colour scheme, the floral motif, the rose bunches and the theme of Shabby Chic is one of my faves at the moment. I tried to incorporate all these elements into my card. Here are some closeups. 

And here's a look at the the inspiration photograph from the challenge. Isn't it just fantastic! Makes you want to just run to the craft table and get crafting!!

If you would like to know the supplies used for this or any of my projects, please write to me at craftingtillthecrackofdawn@gmail.com

A Lush and Bountiful Window Card

Thank you all for your lovely comments on my dad's calendar and the textured card. I am thrilled to say that my Textured Card made it to the top 3 at the Shabby Tea Room and today I'm back with another card created for this week's challenge at The Shabby Tea Room. The theme this time is to use the colours in the inspiration photo and to include a window as well. Of course as always I just loved the photo, so much in fact that my card is quite literally inspired by the layout, design and colours in this picture!

Don't you just love the pretty purple flowers and the lush creeper all over the window. That's pretty much what I wanted to recreate in my card. So I made a window and using some plant fillers from Itsy Bitsy I covered the entire space surrounding the window. Here are some closeups of the details.

 

Since the card was so 'bountiful', I decided to use the sentiment, "Everything Grows with Love". Isn't that lovely. I concealed it inside the slightly ajar window. And then I filled the rest of the space with some tiny purple roses from Itsy Bitsy. Here's a look a the card when it's upright. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great weekend folks!

If you would like to know the supplies used for this or any of my projects, please write to me at craftingtillthecrackofdawn@gmail.com

A Textured Card with Jute and Lace

I haven't been able to make anything for this blog in quite a bit! I've been so tied up with the Itsy Bitsy projects that I just couldn't fund a free minute to create projects for any challenges. It has also prevented me from commenting on your lovely creations but I must say I have been popping by so please forgive me. I have to kick off this post with some super happy news. 2 of my cards made it to the top 3 of 2 challenges and both the results were announced last week. For Lulupu's My Mom My World, my Apple Tree Card made it to the top 3 and for Crafter's Corner Bingo, my Garden Swing Card actually won! How friggin cool is that!!! Yippee!!! It got me so pumped that I got to work on a fresh card and this time it is for The Shabby Tea Room - Totally Textured

The challenge comes with a gorgeous inspiration photo that I have added at the bottom of this post and also asks that we use dry embossing and stitching to create texture. Now that was a packed challenge! So I started out with a jute/ burlap sheet that I picked up from Itsy Bitsy and began to create my card. I love the tassels on the inspiration photo so I tried to create that effect by pulling out some of the jute threads and roughing them up a bit. I also loved the frill in the photo so I used some crochet lace to create an underlay frill beneath the jute sheet. 

   

For the stitching, I created a stencil by using the negative card left over from using the Cuttlebug vintage corner die and followed this stencil to create the curly corner on the top and bottom. I stitched it with white wool so it adds even more texture to this card. For the embossing, I took a piece of white card stock, embossed it with a floral embossing folder and added the sentiment - "For a very Special Mom". With Mothers' Day in just 2 days, it had to be the theme of this card. Here's the inspiration photograph - didn't I tell you it was divine!

I loved making this card. This inspiration image has been on my mind for a few days now so I am relieved, thrilled and satisfied that I was able to create something for it. I also want to thank you all for the wonderful support you showed for my 100 followers candy - I am now at 150 followers which is like WOW! Thank you all so much for coming on board and I hope all my followers, new and old enjoy this project and my future projects as well. 

If you would like to know the supplies used for this or any of my projects, please write to me at craftingtillthecrackofdawn@gmail.com

A Garden Swing Card

I'm still bitten by the Vintage/ Shabby Chic bug thanks again to Saumya at Swap Central for this post. It sort of opened my eyes to different styles of vintage being not just beiges and browns. At the same time I am in LOVE with the challenges over at the Shabby Tea Room. This week is another picture inspiration and we are required to use not just the colors but also the theme of the picture to create our project. So here's my creation. 

 

The photo inspiration is at the bottom of this post and it's a picture of what I think is a blue garden bench filled with flowers - lovely spring flowers. So I've created a garden swing - which actually SWINGS! How cool is that. I created an oval frame window on the cover of the card from where my swing would hang. I used a piece of wood for the swing and colored it blue with Tumbled Glass distress ink. Then I glued a couple of tiny roses on it before hooking it on to a silver chain which I attached to the top of the frame. Here's a close up of the swing from front and side views.

   

I used some gorgeous pink lace for the border of the card and added a rim of pink pearls to add to the Vintage effect. A soft lavender organza bow completed the shabby chic look. For the inside panel I used some floral pattern paper to compliment the color scheme. Here a look at the card when it is closed. 

 

Oh my God... I just love love love how it turned out. You know how you conceive a card and then you try to follow through on your idea and most often it just collapses and you end up making something else? This time it turned out exactly as I imagined it... so I am so so so so happy! Here is the inspiration photo from the Shabby Tea Room #161 - Shabby Spring

Thanks so much for dropping by. Would love to hear your comments on my card. If you would like to know the supplies used on this or any of my projects, please write to me at craftingtillthecrackofdawn@gmail.com

Also linking to:
Crafters Corner 7 - Bingo (I have used everything on the grid except for stamping)
Simon Says Stamp - April Showers or Spring Flowers
Fab n Funky Challenges 166 - Spring Colors
Crafts and Me Challenge 128 - Lace and Pearls

A Shabby Teapot Card

School's out for the summer!!! My son's school that is. And what does that mean? No waking up early, no packing snack boxes, no hurried baths and most important of all - endless crafting till the crack of dawn!!! Last night after my husband and I caught a late movie (GI Joe - please don't ever ever ever watch it) I sat down at my craft table and by 4am - here's what I created.

As you can see I'm still over the top obsessed with the Shabby Tea Room and their 'Beautiful Blues' theme this week. Yesterday I posted another card for the same theme which you can view here. Today I went with a more pastel feel. I started with some navy card stock and then I layered over white distressed with some Tumbled Glass distress ink. For the central doily design I used a rose frame cutfile from Birdscards.com which you can find here. The centre focus is a vintage teapot, again a cutfile from Birdscards.com.

Another thing I tried for the first time is adding charms to my card. I got some delightful little charms recently and took great pleasure chaining them up and adding them to my bow. The photo above provides a close up of the charms. And how gorgeous is that open rose! Another one of my faves from ItsyBitsy.

Finally I gotta say, I just love the theme over at ICR this time. It's all about English being such a 'Punny' Language and we are required to use witty sentiments and callouts using puns. I guess that inspired me to use a pun for the sentiment - You are TEAriffic. Cute isn't it! The sentiment was etched on my cameo using a pen holder and a Staedler Microtip Pen. 

Also entering this card into Crafting When We Can - #41 - Name That Tune. "I'm a little Teapot' is the song - my daughter just makes me sing it to her all the time.

I have made a video tutorial on how I used the Cameo for this card. It's still being edited but will share as soon as I spruce it up for you! And as always, if you want to know the supplies used for this or any of my projects please write in to me at craftingtillthecrackofdawn.gmail.com.

Thanks for stopping by....

Blues for the Shabby Team Room

My latest favorite challenge blog is the Shabby Tea Room. What fabulous themes, fabulous DT inspiration projects, fabulous colors.. I can't say enough! This week's the theme is 'Beautiful Blues' and here is my creation. 

I started with a white base and cut a swirl background out of navy punch paper which I laid over the base. I found a strip of lace left over from my daughter's Christening gown and used it to create the lace overlay you see. Then added loads of organza ribbon and finished off with a crochet flower from Itsy Bitsy. Here is a close up of the lace, bow and organza ribbon. I've also added a side view so that you can get an idea of how dimensional the card is. 

And here's the inspiration photo. Now come on - with a picture like that, who can resist creating a card. Just LOVE IT! I think I will be making a couple more cards for this challenge - if of course time permits.

As a sad end note, I want to dedicate this card to Liz Chechi who left us a couple of days ago at the tender, incomplete and unfair age of 43. I made this card thinking of her - tall, classy and so elegant. It perhaps doesn't do her justice but it's my very best attempt. 

My Favorite Doodle

The challenge this month at Beyond Greys is all about Doodling - hand drawn or etched creations. It's such a fun challenge and I guess I'm not the only one who thinks so. Literally every day when I check my blogger dashboard I see one or 2 projects created just for this challenge. All the entries, combined with the super awesome inspiration over at Beyond Greys - (I mean like WOW - Pooja's waves are just amazing and Snehal's bird is so clever and cute) just got me in the mood so here is my creation.

From my school days, my favorite doodle was always eyes. I loved drawing eyes - open eyes, closed eyes, beautiful eyes. There have been countless college lectures I have doodled through all the while, immersed in the eyes. So when I saw this challenge, there was only one thing I could do - relive my doodling days with some mesmerizing eyes. 

My other inspiration was the O Sanam video - I guess thinking of college made me think of that gorgeous song and that sad beautiful video, and that's kind of how this Arabic princess look came together. I did the skin with my copic markers - I only have the skin shades. The green I did with BIC markers. I completed it with this amazing DCVW La Creme pattern paper - you can't make out but  all the black flowers on this sheet are velvet... soooo pretty!! Got it from ItsyBitsy of course where I could just pick up the single sheet and saved some money. 

And this is the inside of the card... such a romantic cover had to have a romantic sentiment. I etched this one with my Cameo and a pen holder - 'I only have eyes for you'. Another reason to get nostalgic because that's kind of how I felt in college - met my husband when I was in 2nd year and only had eyes for him. 

Ta Ta for now :)

UPDATE 13/3/2013 - Won the Beyond Grey Challenge for this card! Yippee!

Basket of Roses Card with Envelope

Some of you may have seen my post this morning on the ItsyBitsy Blog of a Basket of Roses Card. Thank you all for the lovely comments, it's so reassuring to get your support. The colors I used for this creation were inspired by the Inspired by Stamping Inspiration Challenge picture for this week. The combination is white, light brown and red which became my pallet for this concept. I also made a matching envelope for the card and here's a look at the set. 

The card has a woven bask at the base and the top is filled with bountiful and superfluous lush red roses. For the first time I found the greatest challenge of the colors was incorporating white which I was finally able to do with the 'Thank you Tag'. Here's a closer look at the envelopes. 

Since it is a 3D card with all the roses protruding from the card, I had to make a box envelope which is almost three quarters of an inch thick. I extended the woven basket effect to the envelope flap and made the body of the envelope with the same card stock as the the roses. Then I cut a rose background which in the same shade of red card stock which I glued over the base red making it look like the envelope is embossed with a rose design. Lovely isn't it!

Here's a look at the card upright from different angles. I really had fun packing in the roses and I think that paid off. Here is the inspiration pic from IBSIC challenges. As I look at it I realize that I was inspired by more than the color. The heart packed with roses has obviously spoken to me... hee hee!

I have done a full video tutorial of how I made the card. It was really easy and inexpensive. So pop on over to the ItsyBitsy Blog and let me know what you think. All the supplies used is on the ItsyBitsy blog as well.

Also entering it into Incy Wincy Designs. They have asked us to add texture and with all the weaving I've done, I think I definitely added some serious texture. 

Then I noticed Craft Room Challenge is asking that we make our own embellishment. My whole card is one big handmade embellishment hehe.. so I'm entering this challenge as well. 

Ta ta for now...

A Chandelier Card

Once again, the folks over at Play Date Cafe have come up with a really unusual color combination - its Plum, Mustard and Rose this week and I have literally been conceptualizing this card for the last 4 days. It's hard to make mustard work with anything really and so after much racking of the already over-racked brains, I came up with this, a chandelier card. 

The background pattern paper (from ItsyBitsy) has the rose tinges. The mustard is in the ornate border I made on my cameo out of Golden Sand Card Stock from ItsyBitsy. And the delicate chandelier in the center is made out of some discarded wrapping paper I found in my paper bucket. It has some lovely gold/ mustard swirls on it, making it particularly fitting for this color scheme. Finally, no card of mine would be complete without a bow and was I lucky or what to find plum grosgrain ribbon (again from ItsyBitsy) in my stash. I wanted this card to have a vintage feel which is why I distressed the edges of the white card stock and the ornate border and added the rose pearls on the chandelier.

Here is the picture inspiration from PDC 165. Do you think I captured colors?

Also entering into:
Top Tip Tuesday - Lavishly Luscious Layers - there are 7 layers on this card, not counting the ribbon.
Creative Craft Challenges 2 - Bling it Up - The pearls on the chandelier are my bling
Inky Chicks - Becky's Bingo Grid - Bottom row: Die Cuts, Bow and Pearls
Kaboodle Doodles 155 - Ribbon 

Glittering Butterflies with a Ginormous Bow

I've always loved lace butterflies and gold glittering butterflies just take the cake! I'm also a big fan of vellum. I love that translucent layer over a piece of solid card stock. I find when vellum is embossed, the effect is even prettier because the paper gets a bit discolored to a brighter white wherever the embossing occurs.  Which is why one of my favorite combinations is embossed vellum over white card stock. The end result is so very pretty.

That's how my card got started and with this backdrop, I decided to go for Gold! I cut out the butterflies with my Cameo, which is so fabulous because I can resize them to whatever I need. Then I covered the entire surface with Versamark before  adding gold embossing powder. Once I finished the heat embossing, the butterflies were glittering and almost brittle. Perfect for adhering to my card. Here's a close up of the large butterfly.

As a final touch I added some pearls in the center. They went marvelously with the white backdrop. And of course no card of mine is complete without a bow. And in this case a super massive bow it had to be! After many requests, I tried to do a video demonstrating how I tie a bow but unfortunately the camera angle was not right. You can still watch the video but look forward to another one very soon.

Linking to:

Brown Sugar #24 - Butterflies

The Squirrel & The Fox 35 - Anything Goes
Whoopsi Daisy - Monochromatic

A Card full of Danger, Seduction and Romance!

As my blog title suggests, I'm usually crafting deep into the night and last night I got into the whole sinister, dangerous and haunting feel of the hour. I had just picked up the Immortal Love Matstack from Imaginations and found myself totally immersed in the forbidden love/ Twilight feeling of the pack. This particular design really appealed to me - the lush open white rose against a black background with touches of glitter. I decided to replicate the printed rose with a 3D version in the most seductive color of all - deep red. 

The card base is silver and the ribbon is a steel grey which I think went wonderfully with the glitter already present on the pattern paper. The rose was made using some ItsyBitsy Red Card Stock and I distressed the edges of each petal with a dull brown ink. I also added some glitter to both the flourish and the petals so the glittery feel of the pattern paper carried forward to the 3d elements. Here's a close up of the  rose.

When I was done with that I got to working on the sentiment. With my cameo I can basically etch out anything I want using the pen holder and a glitter/ gel pen. I wanted something romantic, brief but still a little scary. 'You're Mine' was my choice, sketched against a black background. Here's an upright picture of the card with all it's elements.

10 years ago, Valentines Day for me was all about bright reds, pinks and cuddly teddies. Today, after 9 years of marriage and 2 children, I realize that it has become more sinister, haunting, passionate... hmmm... have I become more cynical in my 30's... or maybe Im watching too many vampire movies! Either way, I think I scared my husband a little when I showed him this card. He said, 'This is like Phantom of the Opera'... and then he looked me straight in the eyes and said with raised eyebrows, 'You're Mine'!

Later folks :)

Linking to:

Lulupu #8 Love is in the Air

Simon Says Stamp - Black/White + Splash of Color

Kaboodle Doodles #145 - Vintage
Moving Along With the Times - Floral Delights

Craft Room Challenge - Valentines' at Craft Room