Wait a minute Mr. Postman! Etsy Treasury...

For those of you who have been reading my blog for a while, you know I just loooove making treasuries on Etsy. It feels like winning the lottery, because it can be tricky to get a slot in time. A treasury is basically a gallery of Etsy items made by an Etsy member, the curator. Sometimes these little treasuries become the front page on Etsy, which is pretty cool :) Anywhoo, treasuries are awesome because they offer a snapshot of fabulous handmade goodies on Etsy, a gallery of the creative talent found in the handmade marketplace.

With my new found love of card making, I decided to create a treasury to showcase some of the amazing card makers that are creating on Etsy. Here is my treasury! I think you may recognize some of these artists - I follow quite a few of their blogs!

The "ghosted" images are the alternates, and I usually rearrange the gallery once or twice so that I can give exposure to as many artists as possible. There is such lovely talent out there... You can click on the picture to be taken to the treasury if you like :)

Meant to be...Midnight madness at its most sincere

Midnight Madness... This is my first MMSC and I think it pretty appropriate that I am posting it at, if not midnight, the middle of the night... I am having one of those I-can't-sleep-but-can't-decide-of-I-should-go-back-to-bed-and-try-to-sleep moments. These usually turn into me deciding to get on the computer "just for a minute" and then see that two hours have gone by, it is almost morning, and by the time I fall asleep, the kids are up. Oh well. I'll just drink an extra pot of coffee.

This card originally had a digistamp on it, then I did the unthinkable - I tore it off, because I had used a funky red and it threw the whole thing off! I usually am not a teal and pink kind of gal, but I had this roll of fabulous lace edged fabric trim ribbon and have been dying to use it... and that determined my colorscheme... So then I sat here, card without an image, done in teals and pinks. I dug through my stash of vintage pics, and there she was...

(cue the swelling orchestra!)

the exact size, already printed for crying out loud, and she was wearing a soft bluish teal dress and holding a bouquet of pink flowers. Seriously? It was meant to be.

When working on a project, I usually "print to order." That is, I print out a pic for a specific project. However, I have this well-meaning, if not productive, intention of being frugal and trying to be productive notion that if I print on photopaper/fabric/whatever, I may as well fill up the sheet as to not waste time/material. What usually happens is that I cut out the image I wanted, set aside the sheet, and either forget about it, spill my coffee on it, or accidentally roll my chair over it three months later when it falls off the pile of other preprinted sheets that met the same fate.

But this little vintage gal somehow survived and is now looking beautifully melancholy on my teal and pink card. Three cheers for not getting rolled over!

See what happens when I wake up at 2am and can't sleep?

Ingredients

Papers: Basic Grey

Image: rescued vintage image (Luna Girl)

Embellishments: buttons (of course), thread, vintage lace trim

Inks: Ranger distress ink

Hey baby... loving Mary Engelbreit

I am a huge fan of Mary Engelbreit. Huge. My little workspace is plastered with prints from her calendars and posterbooks (I was looking through my stash of old calendars, and I have been saving them sine, oh, 199osomething), and I just love her sense of whimsy, her great use of color... When I started stamping years ago, some of my very first stamps I bought were ME stamps. Cute Card Thursday had a challenge of "new beginning", and the first image that came to my mind was one of my most favorite ME stamps. A prefect baby stamp, it works for Stampin' for the weekend's Baby challenge too! Using a fabulous sketch from EverybodyART, I created this card. I loved this sketch, and know I will be using it again :)


I really enjoyed building this card up. Lots of texture with buttons, quilted fabric, layers of paper and chipboard, paint, a little safety pin...


I really feel like my obsession with cardmaking is coming along quite nicely.

Speaking of Mary, did anyone read her article in the magazine "Where Women Create"? It is new on the shelves, and I sooo want to live in Mary's world...


Ingredients
Papers: MyMindsEye (I so love their papers...)
Stamp: Mary Engelbreit and GStudios (sentiment)
Embellishments: Fabric (moda), silver safety pin, buttons, thread, chipboard
Ink, paint, colored pencils

So many cards...and FREE SHIPPING offer :)

With all of the challenges I have been doing, in addition to just making cards for the fun of making cards... I have a ton of cards! Some of you know that I sell scrapbook pages and such on eBay and Etsy, so I decided to put some of my cards up in my shops :) Some are cards you may have seen here on my blog, and others are creations that no one has seen yet. I plan to stay up late tonight and stock up my shops! If you do buy from my eBay or Etsy store, just mention you found me through my blog and I will give you FREE SHIPPING! I have cards, altered tins, blog banners... Take a peek!

Lace...

I got a nice comment from Kathy, and she told me about the challenge at Daring Cardmakers. The challenge was this: Lace. Since I love vintage and old goodness, I had a stash of lace to choose from. I found this crocheted lace that I just had a smidge of, and it was an odd, green color... perfect for the papers I have been wanting to use!

Ingredients

Paper: Websters Pages, DCwV, Graphic 45

Image: Luna Girl

Embellishment: lace :)

Ink: Ranger distress ink

Hey Diddle Diddle... Mojo Monday (day3)

It's mad times, I tell you, mad! Ok, so I am channeling Professor Slughorn from the Harry Potter books, but there is madness - MojoMadness! It is day 3, and I have made it my goal to do a card for each challenge this week. So far, so good :) AND this card actually has a stamped image. I have been using my vintage pics, but then I dug through my very small collection of stamps, and forgot I had this one! I love vintage children's books, and this cute stamp was perfect!

This is my first stamped card for a challenge, and therefore my first coloring... What do you think? I used colored pencils, and hope to get my hands on some Copic Markers one day :) They seem to be all the rage, and have fantastic results.

Ingredients

Paper: MyMindsEye, Cosmo Cricket, Paper Loft, K &Co

Image: "Hey Diddle Diddle" by Stampabilities

Distressing ink (Ranger) and colored pencils

Sketch: MojoTeresa
This card measures just under 6x6

My first Mojo Monday Challenge

I am so excited! This is my first ever "challenge" card! I used the sketch from Mojo Monday. Instead of a stamp, I used a vintage image from my collection that was printed on tea-stained muslin. I have to say, I am feeling pretty fancy. AND I love, love, love the sketches on Mojo Monday's blog. I have made a few more challenge cards, but this is my first "official" one. I'll be posting the others shortly :) So fun! I frayed the edges of the fabric after I stitched the image onto cardstock.

Ingredients

Papers: Jenni Bowlin, Paper Loft, BoBunny

Image: vintage photo printed on tea-stained muslin

Inks: Ranger

Embellishments: Vintage lace, stitching, vintage button

Template: Mojo99