Dot & Whimsy

Thursdays are featured card days at  

and since yesterday was Valentine's Day, we were asked to create cards of

amour du jour with the Kiss Me Collection, as well as any others that could capture

the true feeling of the special day of love.

I have a total of FIVE cards to share, so just hang in there :)

 I started out thinking that I would add a cute bee to the side of the Valentine journal card and then the idea struck me to leave the two journal cards attached and add the bee over the flower :) 

For the bee, I used a 1.5" and 1" circle punches for the body; I layered the head on with a foam dot and added a brad for the eye. For the wings, I used a 1.5" heart punch that I cut in half.

 A little pink chalk for the cheek area and this card was done!

 So many of the Bella Blvd collections contain sentiments that are just perfect for Valentine's cards!

 I pulled a few things from the Birthday Girl Collection and added a small sticker from Kiss Me.

 I hand-stitched the corner stitckers to the cut-out before attaching it to the card front. In lieu of a 'cherry on top' I added a Punch colored crochet heart! 

 Gotta have a Valentine card for the guy in my life :) 

Again, I used a non-traditional Valentine collection to bring this card together.

 One of my favorite color combos is orange and turquoise, so this turned out to be a lot of fun.

 I searched the internet for a catchy quote to go with a "playing card/game" theme and found this one by 

Eva Gabor: "Love is a game that two can play & both win". I just printed it out from my computer and added it to the top of the cardstock sticker.

If you look closely you will notice that the design in the True Love paper is made up of clustered hearts! 

With that in mind, I set out to emphasize a few of the hearts by layering with 1/2" punched hearts and in a diagonal pattern. After gluing each heart in place, I used a sewing machine to to enhance the hearts and lend a quilted look. Next, I simply layered a precut doily with one of the sentiment stickers and added a small piece of the Punch Feather and crochet heart off to the side. I wanted to keep the design to a minimum so that as many of the little hearts would show as possible!

 I love taking strips of paper and sewing them together to create a quilted design...this was made easy by cutting the strips from the Borders & Cute Cuts Paper! 

After determining the dimension of the cardfront, I cut a piece of plain cardstock down to size and then layered with the strips. I sewed them together in a small zig-zag stitch. 

Next, I used a doily die shape to make the focal point and then layered with sticker tabs, journal stickers

 and cut-outs attached with foam dots. To each side I added two of the new white crochet hearts 

and a small chevron bow to one-side. At the bottom I applied a dotted border sticker that I added a little hand-stitching to. Finally, I taped a small piece of the Designer Tape to a scrap of cardstock and then punched four small circles from it. I glued the circles in place over the green dots found on the paper. 

I really like extra detail that it brings, as well as a bit of dimension!

 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Phew!  That was a lotta cards.  The best thing is that a card of love can be given at

any time of the year...hopefully you can snag a few ideas to try :)

 

I'm not complainin', but I get lots of fun stuff each month and often times I 

get duplicates of things that I all ready have....so, it's time to share some LOVE with one of you!

 Prize pack includes: 

"Good Day Sunshine" Untiy/Authentique co-branded stamp; baker's twine-My Mind's Eye; tiny flower-embossed clothespins-Little Yellow Bicycle; 12 small envelopes-Canvas Corp.; four vintage yellow-topped stick pins; 1 yard yellow swiss dot grosgrain ribbon- May Arts; two plastic yellow flowers; Gray Flannel Dew Drop ink pad- Imagine Crafts; and a wooden spool of grey doily washi tape.

1- Follow my blog (it's over to the right-hand side, under Crafty Friends)

2- Like my Facebook page...if you have a Facebook account

3- Leave a comment on today's post

HAVE A TERRIFIC WEEKEND!

with

The large journaling sticker turned out to be the perfect size for adding the chipboard letters to.

 I layered the "V" by adding a foam dot under the bottom part of the letter and then allowing 

the adhesive to stick to the other letters below it. I hand-cut three of the hearts from the 

cute tree on the Borders & Cut-Outs paper and added then with foam dots. 

 Three "I Love You's" from the chipboard border was just the right length to go

 across the bottom of the journal sticker. 

 A little green bow brings out the color in the bottom border and adds texture and pop!

 Supplies:

 Kiss Me: Borders & Cute Cuts, Love Notes, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Ciao Chip Elements: Borders; Sienna Chipboard Alpha: Blueberry

 I have to say that making this card was so much fun! 

I started with a cardstock paper just a bit smaller than the card-front. 

I then alternated different patterns of the Designer Tapes on a diagonal. 

To create a little extra texture, I machine stitched around the perimeter. 

 Next, a fun cluster of clouds, chipboard sun and sweet flags brought the card to life! 

I mostly love that with this sentiment, it can be given for most any occasion.

 Supplies:
Kiss Me: Borders & Cute Cuts, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Designer Tape: Pickle Juice Dot, Yellow Chevron, Pony Dot, Punch Chevron; Ciao Chip Elements: Clouds; Flags: Girl; High Five Alpha Stickers: Piggy-Punch; Button Market: Fruit Punch

 For this card, I started with a lace die that I used to create a shape in the base paper,

 as well as to create background shape for the focal point. After adhering the base paper directly to the card-front, I used foam dots to give dimension to the inset piece.

  A smaller oval shape of patterned paper was attached and then topped with the adorable ice-cream cone cut-out. The small alpha stickers are in a size that's perfect for cardmakers!

 www.bellablvd.typepad.com

Bella Blvd inspiration today with 

I love that a collection has included such a pretty, dark blue

to go along with shades of pink, a dot of turquoise and a hint of green.

So many adorably cute projects are up on the blog...go and have a look :)

 Here's my card for the day:

Starting with a lacy embossed card, I began layering the front with a regal blue paper

 topped with a journaling strip sticker. I cut the adorable glasses from the Cute Cuts

 paper and attached it with foam dots. A couple of cut leaves and a pink button were added

 to one side of the glasses, as well as letter stickers spelling: LOVE.

 To the bottom a border of pink striped tape and scallop sticker were added, followed by 

some machine and hand-stitching. Small drops of pearls from my stash were added to

 a few of the flower centers. If you fancy, one of the cute mustaches or kissy lips

 could be added under the glasses too!
Supplies:
Kiss Me: Just Write Journaling Stickers, Borders & Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers;

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm  having a give-a-way this week!  I'll be posting a photo of the prize pack

in the next day or two...gotta share some L-O-V-E :)

Time to share a couple of cards a la

I love the 3-D effect that was created by punching two stars into the brown paper
 and then applying it over the background paper with foam dots.
I then hand-stitched buttons to the center of each star and then a round button,
which made a nice bridge between the two!
 A few beads were sewn onto the cupcake to bring dimension to the sprinkles.

 Congrats, Couple 
Supplies:
Kiss Me: Flutter, Love Notes, Borders & Cute Cuts, Just Write Journaling Stickers,
 Alpha+Bits Stickers; High Five Alpha Stickers: Brown-Cream; 
Ciao Chip Elements: Trees; Crochet Flowers: Dahlia;
 Designer Tape: Pickle Juice Dot

By keeping the focal point at the bottom 2/3 of this card really made the other 1/3 look lonely!
When creating cards with cardstock, I like to spiff it up a bit by using an embossed pattern.
A little piece of doily peeking out also helps to dress-up the embossed cardstock.
 For the bottom, I cut various papers into small strips, adhered to a background pape
r and then machine stitched them together.

Like to see all of the "Cards on Thursday" creations at Bella Blvd?
Just click -->here<--
Have a beautiful weekend!

It's Thursday CARDS Day with 

For both of my cards today, I've used the brand spanking new

KISS ME COLLECTION!

Every single thing (except crochet thread) is from Bella Blvd!

For the leaves I used a heart punch...I wanted something different

and whimsical...I think it did the trick :)

For this, I embossed the kraft card in a swiss dot pattern to match

the Designer Tape, papers and chipboard letters!

Come on over to bellablvd.typepad.com today and 

check out all of the inspiration!

I {heart} makin' stuff with Bella Blvd ♥
---------------------------------------------
I do believe it's "Show Me Your Craft Room" day over at the
AUTHENTIQUE BLOG
blog.authentiquepaper.com
I'll show off my room later on today :)
See y'all!

It's here, it's finally here!

The newest, cutest, most adorable collection by

.

.

.

I'm crafting up some fun stuff with this collection as we speak!

Visit the Bella Blog as the Design Team will begin bringing all sorts

of inspiration throughout the coming weeks ♥

 Now, is that some luscious eye-candy or what?!?

See you in a bit :)