Enjoy the Ride Travel Themed Tray

Today I have a fun project to share that I've been working on a little at a time over the past couple weeks. I'd add a few things here and there and play around until I liked it. I finally decided it was done (for now) and adhered everything into place over the weekend.

This piece was created to hang in our vintage camper. (we are still in the middle of renovating...and that's a whole other story!) Anyways...I found this 7 Gypsies Tray at a garage sale, brand new for around $4 everything else I had in my stash. These trays were super popular maybe 8 or so years ago? I remember that Stampin' Up! sold one in black for a little while...I think it was part of a kit. Not sure if you can still find these for sale anymore...other than garage sales that is! lol

Each compartment inside the tray measures 4x6 so that works out perfect if using photos or in my case beautiful DSP. The top 3 compartments I used a half sheet of gorgeous paper by Webster Pages from the Strawberry Fields line. I love the "always take the scenic route" quote...not in love with the die cut butterfly I added...might be swapping that out for more realistic shape.

The scrabble tiles were also a garage sale find...I think they are the perfect touch for this travel themed tray. I made the flower in the bottom corner using the now retired spiral flower die and added a Vintage Brad to the center...I think maybe those were my all time favorite SU! embellishment. They were a little bulky for cards, but I love them for 3D projects like this.

Thanks for visiting!

Very Vintage Blessing

The new host set Very Vintage has some really pretty images and great sentiments that are perfect for creating collage style cards, so of course I HAD to have this set!

I water colored the beautiful floral image using my Aqua Painter and several new colors...Merry Merlot, Gorgeous Grape & Granny Apple Green, along with Fresh Fig, Powder Pink, Mint Macaron & Tranquil Tide. I really like the way Fresh Fig and Merry Merlot blend together when water coloring. The doily image was stamped in Sahara Sand after I finished water coloring.

Here's a closer look that shows the stitching around the edge created using the Stitched Label Framelits. This set of framelits was also a must have for me because I think they are going to be very versatile. I love the idea that with two different styles of stitched edgelits I can pretty much make any size square or rectangle and get that stitched look along the edge.

Have a GREAT weekend!

Accented Blooms Thank You

Thank you SU! for bring Coastal Cabana back! Just love this color, and also this brand new set...Accented Blooms!

I love sets that coordinate with a punches! This one has two different greetings that you can punch out using the Tailored Tag Punch. It is also fun to color! I used my Aqua Painter and inks to color these beautiful blooms, but this would also be a great set to use Stampin' Blend Markers.

I used two brand new colors...Gorgeous Grape on the largest flower and Granny Apple Green for the leaves. It's such a nice fresh green that pairs nicely with Old Olive, which I used for the shading. You may have noticed the beautiful textures on this card...

Most obvious is the Climbing Vine Embossing Folder used on the main panel, but I also used the Subtle Embossing Folder over my watercolored image. I just love the look this EF gives. The ribbon used here also has a nice texture...the little polka dots are soft & fuzzy. It's the new 5/8" Polka Dot Tulle Ribbon.

Colorful Seasons Father's Day

I'm late to the party this year...not only in sharing my Father's Day card with you, but getting new products from the newly released SU! Annual Catalog. I didn't do a pre-order this year like I always do because I knew I didn't have the time to actually use it last month, so figured I would wait until I could order anything I wanted. My birthday is at the beginning of June, so I always have a built in excuse for placing a large order! ;-)

This card uses a few new items along with the Colorful Seasons stamp set. The leaves are stamped using one of my favorite new colors...Granny Apple Green with Old Olive. The lighter small leaves are also Granny Apple Green just stamped off once.

This year, some of my favorite new products are the embossing folders. Check closely to see the beautiful texture added to this card using the new Subtle Embossing Folder. It gives the effect of linen cardstock...and I just love this one! Don't overlook this one in the catalog just because the texture is hard to see...trust me, you NEED this one!

The little label is from the Stitched Label Framelits...which is my pick for favorite new dies. It is stamped using Timeless Textures and Thoughtful Banners stamp sets.  I layered it on top of Linen Thread and Copper Trim.

This masculine card could be used for any occasion, not just Father's Day. I hope that yesterday you all had a GREAT day celebrating the fathers in your life!

Antique Sewing Cabinet

One of my favorite things to do in the springtime is hitting the garage sales that seem to pop up everywhere. Sometimes you find some really cool things for great prices! I love that you never know what you are going to find! I especially love vintage items that can be re-purposed. I found one such item a few weeks ago...a vintage folding sewing cabinet. I can't say I was looking for one, or had even seen one before, but it looked pretty cool, and at only $2 it was a real steal! It needed a good cleaning and a little wood glue, but other than that it's in great condition. I thought my Mom who is a quilter would love to have this, if not to actually use, for a decoration in her sewing room. Unfortunately, her room...like mine, is pretty much overflowing with items and she didn't want it. I took it home and started to look for things in my stampin' studio that might fit in it so that it could possibly work for storage for me. This is what i came up with.

At first I had hoped to hang it on the wall, but it took up too much wall space. The only spot I had that it would have fit, it just wouldn't have been handy. So I moved a couple things around and was able to set it up right across from my desk so that I can see what I have there at a glance.

The top shelf fits my small collection of washi tape, with room for more on the shelf below. The 3rd shelf his some extra ribbon that is retired, but I still use often. I wish the space was a tad bigger as the ribbon just fits and to get it out without destroying the spool I have to turn it a little, hence the space between groups. The bottom cubby fits the stampin' cases so I stored a few background stamps and some retired packs of DSP from when they were 4x6 pads. I decorated some of the shelves with washi tape and made a little banner for it as well. The vintage hankie is something I picked up at an antique shop.

 The other side holds my spools of bakers twine on the top shelf...I'm sure originally it was made for spools of thread. Below that I put my most used jars of embossing powders. Now I can easily see them at a glance instead of digging through a bin in a drawer. The middle bin holds some finished cards that are ready to mail along with a couple retired background stamps I still use quit often. The bottom shelf just has a few decor items, with some background paper behind it. I may add more paper behind other areas, but haven't decided yet. Here's a view of how it looks sitting across from my desk.

and another view of my room...

I figure if I need to make more room I can easily fold it up and move it out, for now it's working out well and I love the nostalgic charm it adds to the room.

UPDATE: I recently shared a story here about a WWII Veteran who was to celebrate his 100th birthday on June 6th and hoped to receive 100 cards. I know I sent him one and I knew many of you would send him a card as well, so I figured he would surely exceed 100 cards. I got to wondering just how many cards did he end up receiving? I figured maybe a couple thousand??? I checked to see if there was an update to his story, and...Mr. Fabela received OVER 55K cards!!! Isn't that fantastic!? Here is the link to his story which includes a video of him opening some of the goodies he received. He was so overwhelmed with emotion. Thanks to everyone who took the time to send him a card.