Crafting: All Occasion Card featuring Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon

Tags

glitter sorbet, green, kiwi, LOveBug Creations, purple, rubber stamp, Rumple Ribbon, Sorbet Glitter Collection, The Robins Nest, vintage rhinestone button, violets

Happy Tuesday, Friends!

This week I have a perky all-occasion card blooming with violets to share with you, plus a new technique to use for Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon.

The technique is to use a rubber stamp and create some images on the ribbon. It works best when you stretch out the ribbon first, and then stamp the image.

I used Sorbet Glitter Collection paper from The Robins Nest. This beautiful green color is called “Kiwi” and it pairs up so beautifully with this gorgeous ribbon from Lovebug Creations in Olive You.

 

I love how the Raindrops Dew Drops from The Robin’s Nest give this card some extra pop and texture!

 

A vintage rhinestone button adds a beautiful finishing touch.

 

Thanks for joining me!  Please head over to Lovebug Creations and The Robin’s Nest to check out all of their fabulous products and tell them Christine sent you!

I hope everyone has a fabulous and creative week!

xo,

Christine Barker

Friday Round Up: Cute Cakes

Tags

art journal, beach wedding, beach-themed wedding, cake, Cupcake, Elizabeth Cakes, Everyday is a Holiday, hotel laguna, Jenny Holiday, Kimberly Ouimet, laguna beach, marjolaine, paper sculpture, pinterest, sand castle, Tahiti Pehrson, wedding anniversary

My husband and I are getting ready to celebrate our 6 year wedding anniversary on May 20 so I thought it would be fun to do a round up of cute cakes.

One of my favorite artists is Jenny Holiday from Everyday is a Holiday. She and her partner, Aaron, design some of the cutest stuff I’ve ever seen. I have this print hanging in my craft room and it makes me happy every time I see it!

How much do you love this art journal, with an adorable cupcake?

Not only are Jenny and Aaron totally talented but they are two of the nicest people I’ve ever met!

Can you believe this incredible work of art by Tahiti Pehrson? She creates paper sculptures using layers of intricately hand-cut stencils. The detail on this cake is incredible and I wish that I could see it in person. (I don’t think I ever will, though, because I read that she burns her paper sculptures after they’ve been shown.)

Isn’t this dreamy? This cake made by Elizabeth Cakes is an absolute fantasy in white. This cake is one of the pictures on my Wedding board on Pinterest. Sometimes I wish I could have another wedding just so I could use some of the gorgeous ideas I have saved on my board.

These adorable cupcake designs are from the Etsy shop of Kimberly Ouimet.

Aren’t they so incredibly adorable?

This one is my favorite, with a beautiful wedding cake in the window of the Patisserie.

And, since it’s our anniversary, I want to share another picture from our beach-themed wedding.

Here is a picture of Phil and I cutting our wedding cake in 2007. Our wedding was held at the Hotel Laguna in Laguna Beach so I had to have a sand castle on top of my cake! This was the best cake I’ve ever eaten, too. The owner of the bakery is French and he made us a cake with layers of different flavors. My favorite was the Marjolaine layer, which is made with almond and hazelnut meringue layers with chocolate buttercream.

Thank you for joining me on my roundup of cakes. Now I am totally craving cake, how about you?

xo,

Christine Barker

Crafting: Mermaid Card featuring Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon

Tags

Aquamarine Glitter Sorbet, dew drops, LOveBug Creations, Mama's Mesh, Mermaid, Rumple Ribbon, Sorbet Glitter Collection, The Robins Nest

Have I told you how much I  L-O-V-E being on the Lovebug Creations Creative Team? Every time there’s a new product release, we get to play with it first! I love that!  And I couldn’t wait to share these new colors with you.

The darker blue Rumple Ribbon is from the Star Spangled Collection and I am loving this Simply Blue duo of ribbons.

The lighter blue ribbons are from the Eyes of Blue and Icy Sky collections.

And, there’s also a very new and very exciting product from Lovebug Creations on this project!  It’s called Mama’s Mesh and you are going to want some of this super versatile product. The color I used is called Gentleman’s Jacket and it reminds me of a fishing net. (Bad for mermaids!)

I really enjoyed making this project because I got to use some fun products from our friends at The Robin’s Nest as well!  The Lovebug Creations creative team received some Dew Drops and also this beautiful Sorbet Glitter Collection scrapbook paper in an assortment of colors.  I knew from the moment I received my package of happy mail that I would be using AquaMarine Glitter Sorbet and that my project would have a mermaid theme.

I also used the Clear Dew Drops in assorted sizes to add some gorgeous sparkle and texture to this card.

I like how the dew drops really look like dew, or in this case, droplets of sea water!

Thank you for joining me for this fun project!

Have a creative week!

xo,

Christine Barker

Design Team Call: A Gilded Life

Tags

mixed-media, artist, crafter, collage, vintage, jewelry, papercrafting, Gilded Girls Stash Society, Shea Fragosa, Debbie Murray, Design Team Call, stitching, romantic, glamorous

A while back I was a member of the Gilded Girls Stash Society from Shea Fragosa and Debbie Murray, but I had to stop because I kept stashing and hoarding and I’m still really struggling with using the vintage pretties that I got in those couple of months. I just like to have it and look at it!  Anyone else feel that way about their stash?

If you’re anything like me, you love vintage trim, antique flowers, silver sequined ribbons and this is your perfect opportunity! They’ve announced a Design Team Call and the benefits are pretty nice.

They are looking for projects featuring stitching, jewelry, papercrafting, collage, and mixed-media. They want you to pull out all the stops and show them what you’ve got! And when they say pull out all the stops, that means embellish and decorate, and when you think it’s enough, don’t stop. Keep going!

I can’t possibly put this design team call into better words so I’ll just give you what Shea Fragoso and Debbie Murray are saying:

“Are you a romantic at heart, with a passion for all things worn and wonderful, glittery and glamorous?

Are you a versatile artist/crafter that would enjoy working with the products that A Gilded Life offers, and a desire to work on a small design team with the potential for widespread exposure?

Then we are looking for you!”

Deadline for submissions is June 5.

Check the What Happens Next blog for all of the details!

Good luck, Friends!

xo,

Christine Barker

Crafting: Swaps featuring Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon

Tags

art event, brass filigree mirror, bridal lace, cheryl stoneham, creative event, creative event swap, crepe paper, czech glass button, embroidered ribbon, enchanted affaire, enchanted memories photo album swap, fairest reflections mirror swap, fairy tale, gilding the lily, gold dresden, kim caldwell, LOveBug Creations, michelle duke, Mollie Makes, paper flowers, rhinestone broach, rub-on, Rumple Ribbon, silk flowers, snow white, swap, swap partner, table gift, The Duchess, velvet flowers, velvet ribbon, vintage gold leaves, vintage mushrooms

For the last three years I’ve attended creative events hosted by one of the sweetest people in the whole world, Kim Caldwell. Her art events are beyond belief. From the talented teachers, to the whimsical decorations, to the love and care that goes into every detail, Kim’s events are incredible! This years fanciful event was called Enchanted Affaire and it was based on a Snow White and Fairy Tales theme.

I’ll be posting pics from my amazing weekend soon but for today I’ll be sharing some of the beautiful projects that I made for the table gifts and swaps that I used Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon on.

Being new to the world of creative retreats, three years ago I didn’t know what a table gift was, much less that I should bring a gift for each of the girls at my table. This year I was ON IT and stitched up some cute apple pincushions since the theme was Snow White. I found the most adorable Seven Dwarfs fabric, and using a pattern from Mollie Makes, I created these apples that are finished off with a vintage button, a hand stitched wool felt leaf and added some beautiful Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon in “George”, from the “Oh Cecilia” collection.

The OTHER Grumpy Cat, Miss Charlotte Lucas

I like how these dwarfs are looking at each other

This is Miss Bella

Love these!

These fabric apple pincushions make me happy!

The other important thing I learned from going to creative events is that swaps are so much fun to make and even better to receive!  I joined two swaps this time, the Fairest Reflections Mirror swap and an Enchanted Memories Photo Album swap.

I started with a vintage brass filigree vanity mirror and embellished it.

I tucked in some gorgeous flourishes of Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon in “Gentleman’s Jacket“.

It’s blooming with hand-dyed silk flowers, velvet flowers, vintage gold leaves, a rhinestone broach, gold dresden, petite vintage mushrooms, bridal lace, gold jewelry pieces, and paper flowers.

This is my friend, Michelle Duke, who made all of my hard work worthwhile. She was so happy to get my mirror and I was so relieved. There’s a lot of pressure when you go to an event with women of this creative caliber and especially when the swap hostess will be receiving your handmade item! I worry that my swap won’t be worthy and that the recipient will feel let down. Thankfully Michelle said that she loved my mirror and I was over the moon happy!

The other swap that I was in was the Enchanted Memories Photo Album swap hosted by  Cheryl Stoneham.

I started with a leather-covered photo album from Target. Then I just started going crazy. The rule of thumb when making a swap gift is that if you don’t want to part with it, you’ve done a good job! I used a gold colored rub-on to make the album look like it came from the castle where Snow White used to live.

I added some blue Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon in “Ocean View“, along with some gold satin ribbon, velvet ribbon and some vintage-style embroidered ribbon. I absolutely adore petite vintage mushrooms, so they made an appearance.

I had so much fun decorating this photo album! I’m very lucky that I live where I do because we have a fabulous shop, called Gilding the Lily, that is full of the most beautiful vintage ribbons, trims, millinery and gorgeous jewelry findings that were perfect for this project. It took two visits for me to find just the right details.

My swap partner’s name was Stacy, so I had to use an S, and the locket was just perfect!

Tucked in there is a lace doily, vintage silk leaves, gold dresden, silk flowers, tulle, brass stars, wired pearls, vintage gold paper leaves, and a Czech glass button. I was very sad to give this album away, but I did receive a gorgeous album from my swap partner, Nora.

Thank you so much for visiting!  I’ll be posting pictures and details from my lovely weekend at Enchanted Affaire soon.

And, if you’re wondering who won the Jenni Bowlin Border Punch in the National Scrapbooking Day Blog Hop, Congratulations goes to:

MIGDALIA!  

I’ll be contacting you via email to find out what your address is!

The winner of the $15 Gift Certificate to Lovebug Creations has been announced! Is it you? Check it out here http://lovebugcreations3.blogspot.com/ to find out!!!

xo,

Christine Barker

Blog Hop: Happy Mother’s Day and National Scrapbooking Day!

Tags

blog hop, craft, dew drops, Jennifer Priest, LOveBug Creations, michelle duke, mothers day, mothers day craft, national scrapbooking day, Robins Nest, Rumple Ribbon, scrapbook, shabby chic, vintage embellishment

Welcome to the Lovebug Creations Creative Team and Friends Blog Hop.  We’re celebrating National Scrapbooking Day by sharing our Mother’s Day projects and we’re so happy you could join us!

We have some Blog Candy for you to win and it’s so easy!

You can win a Lovebug Creations $15 Gift Certificate to use in the Lovebug Creations’ online store simply by commenting on and signing up to follow all the blogs. The winner will be announced Monday, May 6, 2013 on the Lovebug Creations blog. (Must be a US Resident to win)

And, I’ll be giving away one Jenni Bowlin Border Punch from Fiskars! The winner will be announced here on my blog on Tuesday, May 7, 2013. (If your email and your name aren’t the same, please let me know what your email is in your comment. Add spaces around the @ sign to stop the bots from spamming you!)

Happy Mother’s Day Vintage-Style Home Decor

Disclaimer: I get a little detailed sometimes! I just love to share!

I went totally vintage on this project and I am in LOVE! I started off by painting a chipboard album page with gesso, then collaging some old book paper on it. Next, I distressed some scrapbook papers with white paint to tone the color down a little and then layered them with foam dots. I cut a photo with my decorative edge scissors, rubbed the edges with a stamp pad and added this on top of the scrapbook papers with foam dots.

I created all kinds of fun embellishments using bits of lace, crocheted doilies, sewing pattern paper and all sorts of vintage and vintage-style pretties. I’m so happy that I finally figured out how to use my paper punch on sewing pattern paper without it ripping. Are you ready for the secret?  Sandwich the pattern paper between two sheets of copy paper and punch away!

The paper rose with the tulle trim is from my friend, Michelle Duke, aka The Duchess, and the lace that I used to create the flower is from crafter extraordinaire, Jennifer Priest.

Of course my project has to have some gorgeous Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon. Don’t you love this vintage color?  It makes my vintage heart go pitter pat!  It’s called George and it’s part of the Oh Cecilia Collection.

And in true Vintage Girl style, I added a gorgeous rhinestone pin that I got in a swag bag from the Enchanted Affaire creative event that I went to last weekend. This rhinestone bling is from Lori Sparkly Franklin of Sparkly Heart Studio.

I added some pretty dew drops from The Robin’s Nest to my paper flower.

And some more dew drops to the side next to the vintage velvet and sequined ribbon.

More dew drops and some vintage colored plastic roses.

And finished off with the word LOVE in glittered chipboard.

What do you think?  Are you a Vintage Girl at heart like me?

Thank you for stopping by and don’t forget to sign up to follow me and leave a comment so you can win some Blog Candy!

Here’s the lineup. You’ll be heading over to Dawn Rene’s place next to see a gorgeous scrapbook layout!

1: Kimi & Pamela - http://lovebugcreations3.blogspot.com

2: Christine - http://scarletcalliope.wordpress.com/  <<<   I’m so glad You’re Here!

3: Dawn Rene – http://designsbydawnrene.com  <<<    Go Here Next!

4: Tara - http://www.craftindesertdivas.com/

5:  Martha – http://beautifulcreationsmp.com

6: Tracy –  http://lovesbuggin.blogspot.com/

7: Dawn Mercedes – http://dawnmercedes.blogspot.com

8: Dardie - www.antdodascraftycorner.blogspot.com

9: Kathy - http://kathyand3kids.blogspot.com

10: Jane – www.creationsbyjaney.blogspot.com

XO,

Christine Barker

Crafting: Happy Mothers Day & National Scrapbooking Day Blog Hop

Tags

blog hop, craft, LOveBug Creations, mothers day, mothers day craft, national scrapbooking day, Rumple Ribbon, scrapbook, vintage embellishment

This Saturday, May 4, 2013 is National Scrapbooking Day and Mother’s Day is May 12, 2013.  To celebrate, the Lovebug Creations Creative Team and friends are having a blog hop inspired by our moms. Hop along with us and you’ll find some pretty projects that would make perfect gifts for some beautiful moms!

I don’t scrapbook as often as I’d like to, but I love to make projects using pretty scrapbooking papers, delicate vintage embellishments and photos so I came up with a project that would be a wonderful cherished gift to make for your mom.

This is a little sneak peek of the home decor project that I made featuring gorgeous Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon. I’ll have all the details on how to make a pretty wall-hanging gift on this blog tomorrow.

Please join us on Saturday, May 4 and join the fun starting on the Lovebug Creations blog and hop along with all of our creative friends!

I’ll see you soon!

xo,

Christine Barker
“Art is the child of nature in whom we trace the features of the mothers face.”
― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Swap: Spring Is In The Air Tag Swap

Tags

craft swap, craft tag, cricut, cricut victorian romance, dirigible, doily, hot air balloon, jeanine weiss, Julie Weller, LOveBug Creations, mariasela vallejo, michelle duke, papercrafting, pom poms, prima marketing, Rumple Ribbon, sherry bamsey, spring tags, swap, swap bot, tag swap, tags, tashia jacques, teah barrow

I feel so lucky to have so many talented friends. One group of friends, some that I’ve never even met, are involved in swaps hosted by my amazing friend, Julie Weller.

Julie puts out the call on Facebook to see who wants to join in.  The last swap we made, Spring is in the Air, happened just before Easter.

For this particular swap the guidelines were to make Spring-inspired tags and to use the colors that were shown in the swap button.

Part of the fun of receiving the swaps is the beautiful and creative way that the girls package them up.

Here they all are, each one different but so beautiful!

The tags were made by Julie Weller, Jeanine Weiss, Mariasela Vallejo,  Michelle Duke, Tashia Jacques, Teah Barrow, Sherry Bamsey and me.

This is my tag. I created the balloon with the Cricut Victorian Romance cartridge, a piece of vintage doily, white pom poms, paper flowers from Prima Marketing and of course, some beautiful On the Edge Rumple Ribbon in “Icy Sky” from Lovebug Creations.

Some people have asked me how to join a swap. The best way is to host your own and make the announcement on your Facebook page. But, if you aren’t ready to jump into the Hostess seat, I recently found out about a great place to join other swappers, Swap-Bot. “On Swap-bot, you can host swaps, join swaps, and chat with other swappers from all over the world.”

Thanks for visiting and let me know if you sign up to join a swap on Swap Bot!

xo,

Christine Barker

Card Making: Happy Birthday, Stephanie!

Tags

bow template, card making, cricut, Cricut Storybook Cartridge, Heidi Swapp, LOveBug Creations, Paper bow, paper bow tutorial, paper crafting, paper crafts, stephanie eaken, Sugar chic

Happy Birthday, Stephanie!

Today is my friend Stephanie’s birthday so I made her a Birthday Girl card!

I used “Sugar Chic” from Heidi Swapp and let me tell you I am in love with the colors and the patterns in this stack!  I used a gorgeous ribbon from Lovebug Creations, this one is called “Purple-Dise”.

Before I start creating any of my projects, I always go online to see what other people have been doing and get some quick inspiration. I discovered that there are cute paper bows available from Heidi Swapp, but my local craft store only carried the paper stack and no embellishments, so I had to improvise. I sketched out a template to make a Paper Bow and you are welcome to use it and share it! (As long as you don’t sell it!) Template is at the bottom and here’s the tutorial!

How to Make Paper Bows

1. Print out the template. You may want to make the bow larger or smaller using your scanner or printer settings, depending on your project. The template will make a bow that is approximately 3″ wide x 1.5″ tall. You can either cut your scrapbook paper down to 8.5×11 and send it thru your printer, or print the template onto plain white copy paper. If you print directly to your scrapbook paper, print the template on the blank side so that you don’t waste any cute paper with the frame and title printed on it. If you want to get fancy, cut the bikini top shape out of one paper, and cut the remaining pieces out of a contrasting paper.

2. Cut out the pieces that look like a bikini top, two triangles and the small rectangle. (The doodle on the bottom is so that you can see what it looks like when it’s complete.) If your paper is single sided, you’ll want to cut 2 pieces of bikini shaped paper at the same time, and layer them wrong side to wrong side. If your paper is double sided, you can skip that last part.

3. Add a dot of glue on one end of the bikini and bend it gently towards the middle, but don’t allow it to fold, you want it to stay puffy. Bring the other side of the bikini in to the middle and give it a small dot of glue. Use a clamp, paperclip or clothespin to hold the bow in place while the glue dries. Or, use a small snippet of blue painters tape.

4. Bend the small rectangle around the middle of the bikini and secure it with a drop of glue on the back side.

5. Now add the tails to both sides using a drop of glue. Allow to dry.

Isn’t that Cute?

Shopping List:

• Ribbon: Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon, “Purple-dise”
• Cricut: “Storybook” cartridge
• Paper: Heidi Swapp “Sugar Chic”

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy the template and the tutorial.

xo,

Christine Barker

Blog Hop: Winners of Kimi’s 30th Birthday Blog Hop Announced

Tags

blog candy, blog hop, kimi cremar, winner

Hello Crafty Friends!

Thanks again to everyone who joined us for the blog hop for Kimi’s 30th Birthday.

I’m excited to let you know that the winners have been announced.  To find out if you’ve won, please jump over to Scrappy Zeni’s page!

Thanks again to everyone and I hope you all have a creative week!

xo,

Christine Barker