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 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....

A Rosette Card.... For 50 rupees!

Has my blog titled intrigued you? It's a really funny story! But I'll get to that in a bit. I've been wanting to do rosettes for a while and when I saw the sketch at Mojo Monday. I thought it was a perfect opportunity. I also had some pattern paper scraps remaining from a previous project and they happened to totally go with the Dynamic Duo color combination this week which is monochromatic and this also happens to be the challenge over at Tuesday Throwdown. So all things put together, this is my card.

 Now on to the story. About a month and a half ago, my apartment building had this carnival and I put up a stall of all my cards and crafts. It sold like hot cakes and my major market were young girls - from age 5 to 14! A few days after the carnival, one little girl came to me and said, 'Aunty I didn't see your cards at the Carnival. All my friends were saying you were selling such beautiful cards. I didn't get a chance to come by. I really want a card... Do you have any left?

I said, 'Sorry - no all my cards were sold.'
She said, 'Oh Aunty can you make one for me, I really want one'.
I said, 'Ok sure - it will be Rs. 70.
She said, 'Ok thanks'.

A few days later  as I was sitting in the playground with my kids, she came running to me,
'Aunty, have you started my card?'
'No not yet', I replied.
'Oh thank goodness!' she said, 'Actually Aunty, can you make a 50 rupees card? Not a 70 rupees card?'
I giggled to myself and said 'Ok sure'

Then yesterday she ran up to me again, 'Aunty, I want to give the card on Monday - is it ready?'
'Oh ya.. I forgot about that', I said, 'Ok I will give it to you tomorrow'
'Thanks so much Aunty!' And she ran off but not before saying,

'Only 50 rupees ok Aunty!'

And this is the card she is getting. Even now as I type, I am giggling to myself. Sometimes you need comments like this to stay grounded, don't you think!

Have a great Sunday folks!

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...