You are special for Casestudy

Hi Everyone.  Happy Tuesday.

I have a different card for you tonight… a little more vintage in feel than is normal for me.  It's still clean and simple, but it's good to change things up occasionally, right 🙂

I saw the challenge card across at casestudy

I was drawn to the soft yellows and blues/greys and, of course, the butterflies.  I was also attracted to the "friend" sentiment, and decided to incorporate those ideas into my card.  I did change the sentiment though, but still a great sentiment for a great friend!  In fact, tonight's card is for my super special friend, Pammie.  Whose return to England leaves an emptiness in our home and in my heart. 

I think I've told you this before, but I do think Shari Carroll is incredibly talented and I was inspired enough to create two different cards, but decided to share this one with you tonight.  Here's my take on the card:

I love the colors and the nature theme.  I was really drawn to those elements in Shari's original card.  I bet you are wondering where the fancy label came from and I bet you think it was some fancy non-SU die. :-)  Well, in actual fact, it's from the Window frames die.  I cut down both sides of the bulge from the die and created two straight sides.  I love the effect at the top and bottom of the label.  It has the perfect shape to go with the organic feel of the card :-)  Here's how the die looks in it's original format:

I don't use the window frames dies often in their normal format, but will certainly use them in the way that I did on this card 🙂

I looked around in my stash for some vintage-y style paper and found some very old Webster's Pages 6×6 packs that I had bought many years ago.   The sheet with the garden scene, including the chipmunk, really appealed to me and I paired it with a butterfly cut from the same DSP pack to bring in the butterfly element from Shari's original card.  

I found another sheet from the same pack to use under the label and the colors paired really well with Sahara Sand and Smokey Slate.  I really do love the overall softness of the color scheme.

As the paper really isn't strong enough to be a label on its own, I used some of the Vanilla Coaster Board to create a backing for it.  I ran it through my Big Shot with the same die and then cut it in the same way as I had done the DSP.  I then mounted the DSP layer onto the Vanilla Coaster Board die cut piece and it was perfect to mount as the label on the front of the card.

I used a sentiment from a Hero Arts OWH set and I stamped it in Blackberry Bliss.  Black would have been too dark; Early Espresso too dull; Blackberry Bliss just seemed right.  (With apologies to Goldilocks!)

To make each of the layers pop, I sponged the edges of all the pieces, from the card base all the way through to the butterfly.  The sponged edges help to carry the softness through and also define each layer. 

I was really pleased with the final card and hope that Pammie will enjoy receiving this in the mail – and the dedication to her tonight:-)

On a personal note:

Today was my first day back at work and I can honestly say that I got through the day with a tremendous amount of flexibility and calmness.  It's amazing what two weeks away with good friends, good food and good wine can do for one's equilibrium 🙂

I also got into my craft room yesterday and managed to spend some time making cards.  It's been the first time in a number of weeks that I have been able to just sit/stand and chill and show my goodies some love.  I put on some good music and just craft for a good few hours.  The break away from crafting re-invigorated me and made me realize how much I do enjoy it.  Sometimes we need a break to make us realize that, I think!

Mind you, the view from my craft table helps, too 🙂

I know look out through our fabulous screemed in porch and out to the prairie area and woodland.  The flowers are really starting to come into their own and are growing really high.  Not as many black-eyed Susan's this year, but we do have a lot of yarrow and other flowers coming up.  The butterflies, bees and dragonflies love it.

I promised to share a few more photos of our interiors with you.  This one is taken in our downstairs guest bathroom.  It's attached to what is my craft room.  It's a softer grey color than the rest of the house and works very well with the Espresso vanity.  I found this fabulous metal wall hanging and thought it worked really well in the space.

Isn't that a cool feature?  I fell in love with it when I saw it and knew immediately that it would fit into the guest bathroom.

I also wanted to share these two photos with you.   The night that P&J and R&R arrived, I set the table outside in our new screened in porch.  I have a tendency to use place name cards when we have a dinner party and remembered that I can now use MDS to help me create them!   That's a LOT cheaper than paying for the ones at the party stores!

I opened up MDS and created two different ones…. Flags for the Boys, and Butterflies for the Girls.  I used the same colors for both, to tie in with the colors used in the linens, dinnerware, etc on the table

You can see the flags that I created using MDS… but take a look at the "thing" that is holding up the place name card.  Yep… it's a crab!  I bought these fabulous little guys at Pottery Barn.  I totally love them.  They are whimsical and totally cool.

For the girls, I blinged out the butterflies.  I covered the butterflies with a gel roller pen and then added some basic rhinestones.  On this photo you can also get a better view of the crabs!

Here's a look at some of the other elements on the table:

All nice and blue and green – which was matched to the colors of our cushions and carpet!  It was fabulous sitting out there with all of us catching up.  Once again P&J and R&R were the first to help us build memories in our home….. It's been 20 months since their last visit and we can't wait for their next. 🙂

Pam C…… ah… good question about convention.  I just couldn't get time off this week as well as the past two, so will be missing convention this year!  Considering how hot it is there… I won't be missing that :-)  I will miss visiting the great restaurants and, of course, the fabulous people at convention.  But… spending time with P&J and R&R was totally worth missing convention for :-)  I would like to try and get there next year, though.

I'll be back with another card and some more photographs tomorrow.  In the meantime, warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight.

Hugs

Jaydee

Card recipe:

•     Sentiment:  Hero Arts
•     DSP:  Websters Pages
•     Card stock:  Smokey Slate, Sahara Sand – Stampin' Up!
•     Inks:  Blackberry Bliss.  Crumb Cake.  Early Espresso.  Stampin' Up!
•     Tools:  Window Labels Dies.  Vanilla Coaster Board.  Butterfly Punch – all Stampin' Up!