My Paper Bakery Banner

I  am so happy to finally share with you my finished Autumn Banner kit that I purchased from Sarah Hill of The Paper Bakery.  I couldn't pass it up since she used the Farmhouse Collection paper from Crate paper, which seems to be my favorite paper at the moment.  I have my banner hanging on my front door using magnets that I stole from a set of magnetic mini blinds that never really worked.  I wish I could have found something more pretty to hang it up with, but I think that the fabric strips that I tied to them cover them up a little bit anyway.

Here is a little sneak peek of an upcoming project.  I am hoping to have it finished by Monday since I have a very busy schedule for the next several weeks.  My mom will be here next Tuesday for a few weeks, so I will be enjoying time with her and of course Thanksgiving is just around the corner!

 

Autumn Crafts

Autumn is my favorite season, and this year has been very busy.  My DH had knee surgery so I have been taking care of him, but oddly enough, it has afforded me a lot of extra time.  I have been taking full advantage and have accomplished several projects that I am happy to share.

First, a set of "Thank You" cards I made using Crate Paper's Farmhouse Collection paper and stickers.

Next is a masculine card I made using the Graphic 45 "A Proper Gentlemen" paper collection.  I cased this card from the May/June 2011 issue of Paper Crafts magazine.

 

For my halloween layout, I used paper from two different paper collections;  Teresa Collins "Haunted Hallows" paper, stickers and brads and "The Apothecary Emporium" paper and stickers from Echo Park.  I love all the papers in both collections since I am a traditional halloween color person, plus, I thought all the papers blended well together.

Another layout I created from the new Stampin' Up! paper called Spice Cake.  I love this paper collection and it also has matching fabric!  I made a pretty flower embellishment by cutting a 1 1/2" strip of the fabric and edging it with pinking shears.  I ran a quick basting stitch along one edge, pulled it tight to make the flower.  I also made a rosette from Melissa Frances crochet trim and topped it off with a large brad I made with coordinating paper.  The tiny little clothes pins are also from Stampin' Up! and the banners were cut using Papertrey Inks banner builder series dies.

Lastly I made some little treat boxes to send some goodies in.  I made a little pull tab from black grosgrain ribbon to pull it open.  I thought this might be easier for little hands.

 

A Productive Day

I am happy to finally share some layouts with you.  I have had the pages done for awhile, but had not gotten around to adding the photos.  Today was a bit gloomy outside, so I set to work in my scraproom.  I went through a lot of pictures to find some I thought would work for 3 out of the 4 layouts.  I already had pictures for the "Garden" layout, I just needed to size and print them.  I even had time to bake a cake, from scratch even.  It always feels nice to get something accomplished and cross it off the "to-do" list.

  

And another little project I'm working on.  I am embroidering the napkins in colors to match my Rose Chintz pattern.

Tea Time Tuesday

Welcome to another Tea Time Tuesday!  Sandi, our lovely hostess at Rose Chintz Cottage has a charming Tea Time Tuesday post this week.

This week I am sharing a very informal afternoon tea.  I have noticed that since my son has started back to school that I am making tea to correspond to the time when he and my husband will be home, which is about 3:30 to 4:00.  Since I make our dinner around 6:00, tea time is very informal and light.  Once winter sets in I will most likely serve dinner closer to 5:00 with tea.  It seems silly to need a "schedule"  for tea time, but it really is such a joy for our family and missing it would seem out of place.

On to tea then!

 

Since tea is informal, I have used several mis-matched pieces, but they seem to work well together.

I am using my Victorian Bird teapot, Federalist dessert plates, and Gracie China teacups and saucers along with my great-great aunt's white damask napkins that have a subtle bird pattern and my refurbished silver.

I made a very quick and easy peach dessert which I came up with using bits of 3 different recipes.

 

I made Peach Ginger Twist tea from Harney & Sons to complement the dessert. 

It is lovely to enjoy afternoon tea in the afternoon sun.

Thanks for dropping in!

Thinking of You

I have another card to share today with a mini tutorial.  I wanted something bright and primary, so I chose to use Cosmo Cricket Odds And Ends paper collection.  I picked out a few patterns that I liked and that followed with the 3 basic colors I wanted to use.

I started by making a rough layout of my card.  I used a Papertrey Ink die to cut out the scalloped edge and the green frame was cut from the Cosmo Cricket paper.

 

Next, I rummaged through my embellies to find a few things that I would like to add.  I originally had planned on using wrinkle ribbon, but I couldn't find a color that worked well with the color scheme I wanted, so I decided to make my own.

I used an 18" long piece of crochet trim from Melissa Frances and using embroidery floss, I threaded it through one edge of the trim.

Once threaded, I held both ends of the embroidery floss while scrunching up the trim towards the center.

 

Once I had the shape I wanted, I tied the embroidery floss in a tight knot and cut the long ends.

I used a pretty red mulberry flower as the center of my crochet rosette and found some vintage green lace that I thought would look nice.  I opted to leave out the blue ticking stripe pattern paper from my final design because I wanted to showcase the floral patterned paper a bit more.  For the sentiment, I used Printer's Type letters from Hero Arts and cut out each word, then attached them with foam tape.

I need to move to Canada

I  found a tea service online that I am in love with, but, it is only sold through Bombay Company stores which are only located in Canada.  And of course, no online store or shipping to the US.  I am so sad.

This is the tea set that I found, isn't it darling?

It's Been Awhile

I finally got a card made.  Thank goodness for small miracles.  After several months of using my office as a catch-all room, I finally spent the last week getting all the clutter put away and my workdesk cleared off so that I could get caught up on projects.

My wonderful Grandmother had major surgery last week and is finally home now to begin healing, so it was a priority for me to get a card made for her.  I put a lot of work into it because I wanted it to be extra special and something she could keep as a memento.

I used a lot of fabric on this tag and card, which was all leftover from a quilt I made many years back.  I really love all the lavenders and purples in it.

The card itself is nestled inside a glassine bag.

I used a card I made earlier this year as my template to copy from.  You can click here to see it.  I just used different paper and changed to card size.

I added a little stamped image and sentiment inside of the card to match.  Isn't the tea-bag image too cute?

Supplies:

Paper:  Papertrey Ink White cardstock, Cosmo Cricket "Mitten Weather"

Inks:  Enchanted Evening (Papertrey Ink), Versamark and Zing embossing powder

Stamps:  Tea For Two, Tea For Two Additions and Fillable Frames #5 all from Papertrey Ink

Dies:  Tea For Two, Teacup and Fillable Frames #5 all from Papertrey Ink

Embellishments:  Spring Iris wrinkle ribbon from my Etsy shop, Melissa Frances white crochet trim, brads were made using fabric and the imaginisce brad maker, green carnival tickets

Odds & Ends:  Large white tag cut with Cricut, purple parcel tag, large glassine bag, fabric scraps

Thanks for stopping in!