Creative Cucina

This style is not my strong suit, but there is so much of the vintage/distressed look going on lately that I figured now is probably the best time to try it.

I had my eye on this Fancy Flowers stamp set for a while, and when it went on sale last month, I had a chance to buy it for 20% off!

While I originally was drawn to the large flower image, I decided to try the flower and stem image first. I stamped it a few times on Gina K Luxury White card stock in Memento Black ink and colored it in with Copic Markers.

Next, I cut along the top of the flowers, just following along the image, with my scissors. Since this is a “distressed style” card, I used the Distressing Tool along all the card stock edges, going back over the distressed edges with Old Olive ink and a Sponge Dauber. Then, I sponged some Creamy Caramel ink all over the White card stock using a sponge that happened to have some old Chocolate Chip Reinker/Champagne Shimmer Paint on it. The darker brown spots were just a happy accident as a result. Finally, I spritzed some Frost Shimmer Mist (Frost Shimmer Paint mixed with 70% Rubbing Alcohol) all over the card stock.

Behind that, I randomly stamped the small flower and leaves in Old Olive ink (stamping off first) on Old Olive card stock. That was also distressed using the same method described above, minus the creamy caramel. I also sprayed it with Frost Shimmer Mist. In the upper corner, I added 2 Circle Rhinestone Brads in purple, and the sentiment is from Well Scripted, stamped in Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive Marker on Whisper white that I “distressed” with sponges and Shimmer Mist. Then, I punched out the “Happy Birthday” with the Large Oval Punch and layered it onto Rich Razzleberry textured card stock, punched with the Scallop Oval Punch. I adhered it to the base with Stampin dimensionals.

The striped paper is from Cottage Wall DSP, which I layered over the Old Olive card base. At the bottom of the card, I added a little Rich Razzleberry Grosgrain Ribbon. The “pleated” look was easy to do, simply by putting Sticky Strip along the length of the ribbon and then folding it into pleats.

My 3 1/2 year old recently got her first kite. Neither my husband nor I are experienced kite fliers, so we tried our best to “teach” our daughter the ropes.

She didn’t need much instruction though, and basically got the hang of it all on her own. She did think it was pretty funny to run straight toward my husband so the kite would crash into him when she passed by.

I’d also like to note her footwear: the ladybug rain boots were all her idea!

I made these 12×12 scrapbook pages using My Digital Studio (MDS). The background paper is called Spring Shades and it’s so pretty. The papers are slightly distressed and faded, with floral or botanical images. I chose the green here to go with all the grass in my photos. Below (left) is a sample of the other papers in the collection.Other elements I used in MDS for these pages were Rough Type Alphabet stamp set (above) for the letters, Pretty in Pink grosgrain ribbon, and the scallop edge punch. My font colors are Tempting Turquoise, Cameo Coral, Summer Sun, Whisper White, and Chocolate Chip.

The two blues used here are Baja Breeze and Marina Mist, colors that will be available in the new catalog coming July 1st. The base of the card is Chocolate Chip card stock, 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″, folded in half. You can see the inspiration for this card here, on Mary Fish’s blog.

I used the Curly Label Punch to punch out the two tones of blue card stock and arranged them onto a Whisper White background, alternating the colors like a checkerboard pattern.

The sentiment is from Goody Goody Gumdrops (a retired Hostess Set) and I thought it would be just perfect for this card. I colored in the words with Chocolate Chip Marker and Ballet Blue Marker, stamped on Whisper White, and  punched out with the 1″ Circle Punch layered onto Chocolate Chip 1 1/8″ Circle Punch.