Welcome to my blog & Happy Good Friday!

Well, I've been tossing around the idea of starting a blog...and now I have!  I'm so looking forward to sharing my creations with you.  My sister Cindy (http://creativepointe.blogspot.com) has been blogging her craftiness for about 5 months now and has finally convinced me that it's time for me to join the fun.  I'm a part-time crafter...darn that real-world job!...so this should be a good way to keep me on my creative toes. 

The first project I want to share with you is my Easter cards for this year.  These were an experiment in shabby chic / distressed a la Tim Holtz (but obviously girly-er). 

Supplies:

Paper:  Stampin' Up!, K&Co.

Inks:  Vintage Photo Distress Ink & Timber Brown StazOn
Stamps:  SU!

Images:  Girl with Easter egg image is a laser cut I received as a crop giveaway

Other:  Rock Candy Distress Paint, large silk flower, small paper flower, lace, ribbon, white photo corners, foam tape, scallop decorative scissors, splat mat, adhesive

• I really wanted these cards to have a vintage feel.  I stamped the crackled paint background on cream cardstock with vintage photo, layered K&Co. papers that had an old wallpaper feel to them on top of that, and kept up the layering with the lace, ribbon, and flowers. 
• The "wishing you..." sentiment is accented by white photo corners that were antiqued with vintage photo and is adhered using foam tape for dimension.
• I covered the entire laser cut image with Rock Candy Distress Paint.  The distress paint will curl your paper.  After experimenting, I found that if I used a little tape to lightly adhere the laser cut to my Splat Mat, THEN covered the image in Rock Candy and let dry completely, I had a much better chance of my image turning out flat and intact.  If you're working with a detailed image such as this one, let it dry before trying to move it.  The distress paint makes the paper very delicate until it is dry.
• After the Distress Paint was completely dry, I lightly distressed it with Vintage photo.  This really brought out the cracks and made the image look old.