A Vintage Chic

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Hello Friend

Good morning, my friends!

It’s raining cats & dogs here on California’s central coast today…hope things are a little better where you are! {I secretly love a good downpour, though…we don’t get them very often!}

Just one project to share with you today using the fabulously retro "Dimestore Vogue" Paper Sheets and Tags" kit from Vintage Street Market...

Dimestore Vogue

…I just love it!

Today, just a card for a dear friend...

I did a bit of patchwork as the base of the card, with some of the sweet gingham print and the pattern paper as background...

A friendly little "hello" using one of the button images from one of the paper sheets, and my own typed sentiment, edged with a bit of Platinum Stickles …

I punched border of xxx’s on the beautiful aqua foil sheet to add to the sewing theme of the card, using one of my new toys…an “x” border punch from Recollections…so fun!

One of the beautiful "models" cut out as the focal point of the card...love these images!

A bit of the "Linen" Tinted Tape along the number line on the side for just a bit of aging and interest...

A little collection of tags, a button from the tag sheet, and a single posy...gathered up and tied in place with some of yummy "Pink Sorbet" Baker's Twine...

...a gathered edging of the gorgeous brown crepe sheet...sewed in place and edged with Platinum Stickles...

Now, of course, I have to add a couple of adorable photos of my Mom…

…the retro fashion images in this kit always bring her photos to my mind…here she is in her new Easter dress, about 1955…

…and looking pretty sleek here…I just LOVE her fabulous 50’s style! (She’s still pretty stylish, I must say!)

Well, that's it for me today. Hope your day is filled with everything wonderful…

See you soon with something new.

Julie

LiveJournal Tags: Vintage Street Market,Dimestore Vogue,Karen Ostlund Smith,friends

Monday, March 21, 2011

Vintage Chicks…and a Winner!

Happy Spring!

My goodness, what a blustery, rainy few days we’ve had!

Here’s proof:

Yesterday, our poor trampoline—and it’s a HUGE one!—was carried by the wind from farther down in our one-acre backyard…

(Folded in half! To give you an idea of how large this is…my husband is a big man…6’4”)

…to being literally draped over our side fence! I’m afraid there’ll be no jumping today…..!

Even with this crazy weather, the lure of Spring caught me in it’s clutches this morning, and I just had to make a couple of cards to celebrate the new season…

As you will soon see..the natural lighting is still horrible for photos. Almost as soon as I finished taking my pictures, it started hailing…oh, well!

Some sweet little Spring Chicks, courtesy of Crafty Secrets’ “Seasonal” Creative Scraps…

…nothing too involved on this card…a bit of iridescent sparkle on the flowers, some spritzing with Glimmer Mist, framing with Platinum Stickles, lace, ribbon…that’s about it.

The colors I used today aren’t typical springtime card colors…

Lovely pastels will come later…for now, the colors of the earth awakening…deep reddish-purple buddings on my fruit trees…

…yellow-gold tips of daffodils emerging from the rich, brown, rain-soaked earth…

…these are the colors that are speaking to me these first new days of Spring…

I love this vintage chick {sound familiar?}…an adorable image from Crafty Secrets’ “Easter” Creative Scraps…

…I cut out a second one to pop it up just a bit…

…a bit closer-up…

Again, nothing too involved on this card…just the addition of some milky, smooth vintage mother-of-pearl buttons…

Does everybody else love crinkled up, old seam binding as much as I do? So yummy to play with!

Okay…now for the winner of the Crafty Secrets/Eclectic Paperie Blog Hop here on my blog…

Cindy Adkins of Whimsical Musings!

Congratulations to you, Cindy! I’ll be sending you an email message as well.

There were 16 winners between all the different blogs in the hop…we had so much fun! Thanks to all of you for playing along with us this weekend!

Well, that’s all for me today…whatever your weather this second day of Spring, I hope it’s peaceful, cozy, and filled with every beautiful thing…

…and if it’s not raining at your house…step outside and take a little peek at all the marvels of the season…they’re all around us.

See you soon with something new.

Julie

(blooming images found online…too rainy to take my own today!)

LiveJournal Tags: Crafty Secrets,Eclectic Paperie,Spring,chicks,Easter,Seasonal

Friday, March 18, 2011

Crafty Secrets & Eclectic Paperie Shabby Blog Hop!

*****GIVEAWAY CLOSED*****

Good morning, my friends!

We’ve got some fun planned for you today! The Crafty Secrets Design Team has teamed up with the wonderful Design Team at Eclectic Paperie for a challenge today…and we’ve got some prizes for you!

Both Eclectic Paperie and Crafty Secrets will be giving away prizes—a total of 16 prizes all together! You can find out more about the prizes on the Heartwarming Vintage and Eclectic Paperie blogs. ( linked below).

The more DT blogs you visit and leave comments on, the more you increase your chances to win one of the 16 prizes!

You have from today, March 18 to Sunday, March 20th to visit each blog participant. 16 winners will be chosen to each win some Crafty Secrets goodies. Winners will be posted on both the eclectic Paperie blog and on the Crafty Secrets blog on Monday, March 21st.

Winners to be announced on Monday.

Sounds fun, doesn’t it?!

I chose a farm theme for my projects today…and Crafty Secrets has the most wonderful farm-themed products to choose from…available through both Crafty Secrets and Eclectic Paperie.

So let’s head on down to the farm, shall we?

I love this fabulous vintage rooster image found on Crafty Secrets’ new “Farm Fresh” Creative Scraps…

…double-sided with SO many images, journaling squares & sayings to choose from…

I framed the rooster with the checkerboard boarder stamp found in Crafty Secrets’ new “Farm Chicks” stamp set, which also contains the “something to crow about” saying I used here…

…adorable, isn’t it?!

I also used the chicken wire stamp as a background, which you can see better in the close-up here…

To finish it off, I gave it a VERY liberal spritzing with “Creme de Cocoa” Glimmer Mist…(making it just a bit shabbier!), and…

…tied it all up with a rustic bow of twine, topped off with a black vintage button.

If you visit me much, you know how much I love Vicki Chrisman’s 3D Shadowbox cards (available through Crafty Secrets)…here’s one I made for today…

First of all…I have to apologize for these photos. It’s been so gloomy here lately, I’ve had a VERY hard time with my photography! Oh, well! What can you do when Mother Nature’s in charge?

I love this adorable image on the left side of the card…a young farm wife in dress and apron planting seeds in her garden…

…and this sassy farm girl on the right panel…checking out her new seed catalog…what to choose?

Here’s the center panel…a wonderful image of a mid-century farm couple, found on Crafty Secrets’ “Farm Fresh” Creative Scraps. I framed it with some of the miniature vintage “seed pack” images also in the Creative Scraps…

…and, of course, (as they usually do!) this image reminded me of one of my stories…

My beautiful grandmother, LaPriel, when she was about 17, just before she met…

…my handsome grandfather, Rudger…a farm boy.

Not long after the two had gotten a bit better acquainted, LaPriel confided to her sister Veon that she knew she was in love with Rudger because she felt so strongly about him even though he “didn’t dress the way she liked” (i.e. plaid flannel shirts—farm boy clothes!)

Well, she visited his family a time or two (their mothers were very old and dear friends), helped Rudger with his chores on the farm (wearing one of his old plaid, flannel shirts!), and the rest is history…