Monday, February 20, 2012

A Shabby-Chic Spring Birthday

Hello friends, I hope your weekend has been a wonderful one...before the grind begins yet again! ;) I got a late start to my craft room today but once I gazed at all the awe inspiring creations from the design team ladies of the 5 challenges I've entered at the end of my post, I had get crafty too! Hope you click on the links to play along--there's just so much stunning inspiration, fun challenges and goodies too! Gotta love it :) Also, I've been itching to ink up my brand new My Creative Time "Hello Spring" stamp set, one of Miss Emma's most sensational stamp sets to date--- so here it is!
 I'm actually quite pleased with my card because I've been in awe of many ladies cards I've seen lately that have this amazing shabby-chic feel and seem to be chocked full of glorious flowers, ribbons and gorgeous trims, lace and have an all-around beautiful vintage-style feel to them. But my budget is tight at the moment and I'm not able to splurge on all of these lovely, yet expensive embellishments--soooo I decided to try to create my own with supplies I already have--and Lord knows I have enough! I used some Fresh Cuts images from Rebecca Sower that I've had for seriously, like 10 years for my flowers. I had some kind of fun distressing and sponging the flowers and leaves and tried to create more dimension with buttons, brads, lace trim and twine.
I'm trying hard to improve my coloring skills and along with my limited budget (ugh, I hate that word lol) I have a limited amount of Copic markers, which can make blending difficult when creating that look you really want with depth and dimension. So I'm working with what I have right now and after watching Annika Ryan's coloring tutorials over at Kenny K. Downloads, I tried to apply some of her tips, which I've accomplished at only a very elementary level. Annika is a master at coloring, a true artist, and she explains the the process with easy-to-follow steps as she's coloring an image, showing each copic color (this is how I know that I need ALOT more Copics! Lol) Anyway, she's just amazing and so humble--she actually says during her tutorial that her way isn't necessarily the right way and someone else's is probably much better......pshhhh WHATEVA!!! If you wanna watch a master at work, check her out--just sayin cus I learned alot just by watching those and I stink at coloring! But practice makes perfect, I suppose! :) I really enjoyed creating my card today, I found it very soothing and I hope you have enjoyed taking a peek too!
Chicks in egg from MCT Hello Spring, Birthday sentiment from MCT All Around Birthday. You can't really see it in the picture, but the chicks are attached with homemade "wiggle wire" and adds a lil extra fun. I made my first wiggle wire card recently using Amy's blog "Love To Crop" and her wonderful Wiggle Wire Tutorial. Totally addicted now! :D You should visit Amy's blog for some supah sweet inspiration, she rocks my crafty world!
I've entered this card into the following challenges:

Thanks for stopping by my blog and I'm sorry for the long ramblings tonight lol!!! Big Hugs and Crafty Dreams to all!!! xoxo

2 comments:

Glora said...

This is so cool! Definitely shappy chic, very neat! Hugs- Glora

Kate said...

Stunning card Linsey and your coloring is perfect. That's how I learned how to color, so I am going over that link now to watch Annika. Awesome job on you Shabby Chic Card, love the vintage look.

Hugs,
Kate