Victorian Splendour

Hello everyone,

Still enjoying my last few days of holiday and what is better than card making to keep one busy. Yesterday I was digging through my craft stuff to find some stash that I never used before and some of my recent craft purchases. In blogland there is quite a number of card challenges with the theme “Something New” or “New beginnings” or “Anything Goes” – so here I go with the new things. Love these kind of challenges as I think most crafters have always something new to use on their creations.

In November I bought  three Cottage Cutz Dies (The Scrapping Cottage) from our local scrapbook store in South Africa. The first one I used is the “Birdcage” die with which I created this card. I am hooked on this cuties and can’t wait to make cards with the other two, “Garden Bench” and “Fancy Cat”. The dies are very detailed but as a detail junkie I enjoyed to glue the pieces together and, viola, it feels if I created a masterpiece. The guipure lace, charms and the Prima Sugar Plum and Camelot roses are also new. As part of my “new beginnings” for 2011 on the card making journey I also followed the sketch by Bev to put the card together – I am always struggling with sketches and decided to practice these “toughies” and nail them this year.

I love the old Victorian feel of the card and decided to enter the following challenges:

• Wild Orchid Challenge #14 – A Sketch by Bev (I flipped the sketch from right to left) 
• Papertake Weekly Challenge – Anything Goes and Lace (optional)
• Creative Cowgirls Challenge #4 – Something New (Cottage Cutz Die, lace, charms and Prima roses)
• Creative Cottage Challenge #30 – Something New (Cottage Cutz Die, lace, charms and Prima roses) 
• Fab ‘n’ Funky Challenge #54 – Anything Goes
• Lots To Do – New Beginnings (Cottage Cutz Die, lace, charms and Prima roses)
• Really Reasonable Ribbon’s Ramblings #15 – Something New plus Ribbon theme (Cottage Cutz Die, lace, charms and Prima roses (new) plus Lilac Organza bow)
• Quirky Crafts Challenges #1 – New Beginnings (Cottage Cutz Die, lace, charms and Prima roses)
• Pile It On #1 – Brand Spankin’ New (Cottage Cutz Die, lace, charms and Prima roses)  

A close-up to enjoy the beautiful Prima flowers.

I used the following to create the card:

• White and purple cardstock
• FabScraps designer papers (High Tea C41 001 and High Tea Music C41 004)
• Cottage Cutz die “Birdcage” (The Scrapping Cottage)
• Lili of the Valley circular sentiment stamp
• 2 silver charms
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink “Milled Lavender”
• Organza ribbon
• Lace
• Heritage white craft acrylic paint
• Spellbinders dies (Ovals and Circles)
• Marianne Design Creatables  die for leaves
• Prima Sugar Plum  and Camelot paper roses
• Guipure lace

This card is one of my favourites and as the sentiment says, it will definitely go to someone special on a special day! Have a wonderful day and happy crafting.

Greetings from South Africa,

Amelia