Radiant Orchid Swap

   This was a bit difficult for me. I have a little trouble with seeing color correctly so my husband helped me. Since he didn't know what color orchid was I told him a shade of light purple. I said with more blue in than red...otherwise it would be violet, not orchid. After several attempts and him saying "Maybe a little more blue," we thought we might be close enough on the color.

THIS IS THE ATC THAT I MADE

   I started this by making my background print first. I started by mixing what I hoped would be a shade of orchid with acrylic paints. I painted the background then I used a foam stamp with a contrasting color of acrylic paint to stamp the ferns onto the background. After they were dry I drew around the outside edge with a black felt pen. To make the orchid I drew a template so that I could easily repeat making it again. I first drew the throat of the orchid and then I drew one petal. It was wide at one end and narrow at the other. I cut five out. Then I chalked the outside edge with a purple chalk. Then I used yellow chalk at the other end of the petal. I made two using the wide end of the petal for the bottom two petals. I cut out the throat of the flower and shaped them over the edge of my scissors. These were curled downward. then using the last three petals I curled them up to be the top petals. I put it together using fast drying glue. I used a brush marker to put the speckles on the throat of the orchid. I punched out a circle and rolled it to make the stamen. I glued it in place using glitter glue to add the look of dew inside the flower. I cut black card stock and mounted the background onto it. Then I cut a drooping stem from green card stock and glued it into place. Finally I glued my orchid onto the stem.

THESE ARE THE ATC'S I RECEIVED

 Kathy Scholl

Lucie Horowitz

Katherine Walker

   These ATC's are so beautiful. I really can't say how pleased that I am to have them in my collection. I'm so glad that I didn't let a little thing like being color blind keep me from joining this swap. I thought that even if the color is wrong the flower will be right. I'm glad that I didn't walk away from this swap because of the color issue. Look what I would have missed! Thank you ladies for my beautiful cards.

Take Care 

Kathy

Fairy Birdhouse Book Box

   Just before Christmas last year I shared a birdhouse book box that I had made for a friend. At that time I was also working on one for myself. A lot of other projects got in between me and finishing my own Birdhouse Book Box. Saturday I pushed everything away and pulled together the parts for my box that were scattered all over my studio. I made up my mind it was time to finish it for me. I love fairies so I was really happy to find this one at Micheal's. She was in the toy department. She was supposed to be riding a cardinal but her cardinal was gone so I picked her up for half price. She was wearing mustard yellow tights, a teal green tunic, and black shoes. I brought her home and pulled off  her pitiful little wings and then I painted her pearl blue, with dark blue shoes. I pulled apart a Dollar Store headband with sparkly blue fabric and blue butterflies on the antennas. I cut the fabric off and made her a sparkly blue tunic. Then I used one of the blue butterflies for her wings. The bird's tail was green so I painted it blue to match my fairy. I'm so happy that I finally finished my book box. I'm real happy with the way it turned out.

MY FAIRY BIRDHOUSE BOOK BOX

Front

Right Side

Back

Left Side

Showing The Roof Book With ATC

   This time I included the template for this box. The complete instructions can be found on this blog at Friday, December 20, 2013. Bird House Book Box.

   With the help of a friend there is a printable template for this book box. If you are interested email this blog at  cabblecottagecreations@gmail.com.

Thanks for looking.

Take Care

Kathy

Swing Card ATC Swap

   This month I hosted a Swing Card Swap that had an open theme. Meaning that any theme was fine just as long as it was a swing card. All the players used a template that was found on the internet. They look wonderful and yet they were amazingly easy.

MY SWING CARD ATC

Front

 Back

   For my swing card I started with double sided paper. I then cut out the template found on the internet. Then I made the two simple folds. On one side I placed a photo from another piece of scrap book paper and on the other I placed a paper flower with two leaves that I made. I have never made any ATC this easily before.

THESE ARE THE ATC'S I RECEIVED IN THE SWAP

Front

Kathy Scholl

Front

Jennifer Spirko

Front

Judy Lawson

Front

Verna Heavner

Front

Kitty Kinnavy

Front

Laureta Linett

Front

Kathy Keller

Front

Kitty Kinnavy

   These ATC's are really unique. That being said it was really hard to get good pictures of them. I loved that I hosted this swap because I got to see all these beautiful cards for myself. Thank you ladies for jumping in and trying this different kind of ATC with me. I hope that you enjoy seeing them as much as I did.

Take Care
Kathy