Control Freaks March Blog Tour!

Welcome to the March 2011 Control Freaks Blog Tour!! If you've just arrived from Jen's blog, you've come to the right place! If you've started here, you can go completely to the end and arrive back here after going to the beginning of the tour! Just a quick note, if you are viewing this before the 20th, all the links may not be working so be sure to stop back again on the 20th.

This month, the theme is "Something borrowed, Something Blue - Wedding Projects". I have a blue project, all are wedding themed, and one is a favour box!

Stamps: Apple Blossom, Absolutely Fabulous
Paper: Crumb Cake, Not Quite Navy, Elegant Soiree DSP, Confetti White, Baja Breeze
Ink: Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Stazon™
Accessories: Dimensionals®, Clear Rhinestone Brads, Baja Breeze Seam Binding, Boho Blossoms Punch

First up is this blue themed card! I was inspired by the most recent Tuesday Trigger challenge and combined it with the layout from Clean and Simple Stamping. It is pretty simple overall, don't you think? It would make a great card to give to a newly engaged couple that is still pretty but not overly feminine. I know LOTS of people that aren't into super frilly floral cards so I figured that this would be a great addition to my stash of cards! The background was created by stamping the smaller backgroundish image from the Apple Blossoms set (I LOVE my stamp a ma jig!).

Stamps: Elements of Style, Occasional Quotes
Paper: Whisper White
Ink: Stazon™, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Pear Pizzazz
Accessories: AquaPainter™

Now, this is a really simple card -- one layer! I don't normally make a one layer card but I loved this one so much! I watercoloured these flowers too, believe it or not. Now, you can watercolour on regular cardstock -- you just have to be very very careful and know what you're doing before you do it as you really have limited time once the ink hits the paper. The paper soaks the ink up very quickly. I started with the first hit of colour to where I felt the shading might be and then quickly went over the remainder of the flower. Another reason to work quickly is because your paper will pill (get bumpy, yucky ...). Anywho, isn't this a pretty card?

Stamps: Butterfly Prints, A Word for You
Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Confetti White, Whisper White
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Chocolate Chip, Versa Mark®, Stazon™
Accessories: Matchbox Die, Little Leaves Sizzlit, Butterfly Punch, Basic Pearls, Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder, Dimensionals®

When I think of wedding favours, I think of something relatively quick, relatively inexpensive with wow impact. What do you think of? So, when thinking about all these things, I thought of using the Matchbox die to create a quick and simple little box to place something in -- it could be mints, chocolate, garden seeds, whatever. I added a bunch of detail to the top -- again, fairly quick to reproduce, even in an assembly line :) I still remember making a ton of things for my wedding 12 years ago! The leaf stems were die cut out of Old Olive. When I was cutting the matchbox, I had cut the label shape at the same time out of Confetti White card stock. The butterfly was stamped, covered with versa mark and then heat embossed with Iridescent Ice embossing powder. I glued it on with a dimensional under each wing and then added a few pearls to the centre. Easy peasy!

I hope you enjoyed looking at my projects and are inspired to create something new, fun, and beautiful!!! Your next stop on the Control Freaks tour is Lee Ann! Have fun on the tour :)