on the hottest day in 7 years...

...I made two cards in somewhat cooler colors to match the embellishments produced by my beloved K&Company. I swear their papers feel different, smoother perhaps than others, and the designs are so lovely, just along the lines of what I like best!

So, even though I'm generally not a huge fan of stickers and ready-made pieces (although I do use some in my collectionary), from time to time I feel tempted to get a packet of K&Co.'s florals or birds... and here you have the results:

shoe factory

Last night I added six shoes to the collection, so now I have eight of them... none matching, though :)

I'm somewhat burnt out as far as this pattern is concerned, so I'll be moving to a different one - not sure yet, maybe kites, maybe my beloved botanicals (got some new weedy stamps that I would  like to test drive), and also two matching golf course cards are in the works.

This morning I made a superquick card from the shoe leftovers - I just love this paper! It reminds me of porcelain, or of fancy ceramic tiles, it almost feels cold to the touch.

One last item, or actually a pair of items - I was experimenting with creating gift boxes that would contain five or six cards and envelopes.

For now, they are not massively decorated - we'll see how it goes; the main goal was to figure out the size.

cards in calm colors

After yesterday's bright pink accompanied by other vibrant accents, we move to calmer, more subdued hues today for a change - a couple of  "Thinking of you" cards, mostly beige, gray and cream. There is space for all colors in the world, and for each of us.

I was also happy to receive 100 little mother-of-pearl buttons, which traveled to me from distant (Singaporian) lands, so now I can attach their shiny goodness to cards and journals, and whatever else, since this stash is going to last for a while!

Who doesn't like new shoes?

.Last week I came across this really cool shoe card pattern, so I purchased it from its creator and made two cards based on the same base ans scrap paper, with slightly different decorations. Boy, so much pink! I think I surprised myself with this color choice, but oh well, I think it all worked out.

I still need to finish them - since the cards are tri-fold, there is more space inside than usual, so I'm planning to add shoe quotes and perhaps a princessy crown? I'm not quite sure about that crown yet, but maybe, maybe...

More shoes to come, but I'm done with pinkness for now :)

some sweets for the weekend

I had some leftover pink cardstock, so I decided to test a new idea - a birthday cake card. Here is the prototype:

For the next copy of this design, I think I will need to add a shelf at the bottom, and move the cake up; I'm not quite happy about the current positioning, but oh well, it's all stuck on Tacky Glue, impossible to reposition :)

dogs, dogs everywhere...

My craft table has been full of dogs recently... luckily, The Cat didn't notice (or she did and is quietly planning a revenge). Here are some of them, in the bright morning sun:

texture experiments

This morning I got up early, while it wasn't terribly hot and humid yet, and, having put on the stove  some potatoes for the dinner casserole, I cut four rectangles of heavy watercolor paper to conduct some textural experiments.

First, I glued on the 3-d elements: cheesecloth, paper doily, scrunched tissue paper and cardstock squares. Then I went to town with acrylics, glimmer mists, glitter, eye shadows, fran-tage... and here is the messy result! I must say it's fun to look at, and fun to touch as well.

Here are some close-ups, which  hopefully will convey some of this tangible fun - first a fran-taged spot:

Tissue paper bumps with glitter:

Cheesecloth with cardboard squares:

And all this playing was inspired by this book brought from the library: