Sunday, November 22, 2009

Oh, DEAR! Oh, dear! Oh, DEER!


I cheated on y'all today.

I went to the Petaluma Vintage Holiday Craft Boutique... without you. HELLO! I wished I could have scooped you all up and taken you with me, REALLY {!} because if I did, YOU, too, would be all swoony and lit up to GET 'YR CRAFT ON! There was some of the most breath taking and superbly made craft ~ well, that I've seen IRL, probably EVER! Sadly, I didn't have the MOXIE to take photos of, or even dare to ask permission... for LOTS of reasons. Mostly, because, I'm a wimp. But also, because there feels like this code... that we have to protect each other's discoveries... I mean, I want us all to be wealthy, or get wealthy by doing what we love - but then, SOMEONE needs to buy the stuff! So, it was kind of a mixed bag of totally admiring the beautiful pieces and yet, secretly {well, not NOW!} wanting to go home and MAKE stuff! And of course NOT copy, but be lifted by the inspiration...

So, I guess, I needed to confess THAT!

Additionally, I need to boast about this site, by my new friend, Cathe Holden! She has the most AMAZING eye for collecting vintage artifacts and turning them into treasure.. But, also, Cathe is a MOST talented graphic designer. You've seen her work ALL over the blog-o-sphere, and right here, my most PRIZED "Would Rather Be Blogging," the forlorn, vintage vacuum babe, came from Cathe, as a freebie, from her site. She does SUCH breath taking work. SHE designed the logo for today's show and since it's late and I didn't ask her permission to include it in my post, I'll just encourage you to check out her blog for HOURS and HOURS of insanely creative inspiration!

At the Holiday Boutique, I stumbled {literally} into the ladies who have created Pink Persimmon Stamps.. I can't link you to them {it's a long story and has NOTHING to do with them} but I can say that they can be googled or you can e-mail me, PRIVATELY, for more information..... Anywhooo, I've been seeing their name and products around and TODAY I ran smack dab into Judi and Darcy and the most GORGEOUS display of samples, kits, holiday dec AND their complete line of stamps... So, um, I bought "a few"sets {HA HA! ~ try 5!} ...And from the fumes of creative inspiration from these gals, and all of the fabulous magic at today's Holiday Boutique... I made this:




Just a little festival of these joyful images and these COLORS, brought to you by Dawn McVey!



Aren't these deer, DEAR!



Had a lil' bit of fun with the button thing. These babies didn't come from the store... no, indeedy they did NOT! They came from a little stash {if you scrap with me IRL you're yawning from this OLD story...hee hee} that came from the NASH BRIDGES TV SHOW! Yep, perhaps one or two of you recall it... Anywhoo, I got SOME buttons (okay, MILLIONS, possibly BILLIONS! from the Wardrobe department of the Nash Bridges production company... ) after the show ended. My hubby bid on the "sewing lot" and while, sadly, there were no actual sewing machines, I have enjoyed the most incredible booty-o-supplies, that have been such a blessing in my crafting pursuits.... SO, (golly, gosh, I'm WORDY tonight!) I have SOME buttons. About 10 million white/pearl buttons, to be sure. This evening, it suddenly occurred to me that a little alcohol ink could create A LOT of fun with some plain buttons ~



I mixed three different colors of alcohol ink from my BUD {*sigh* and all of YOUR'S, too!}, Tim Holtz... ANYWHOO, trying to make the raspberry color of Dawn's challenge... { I'm hoping I got close..., but this picture ~above~ was taken before I hit the perfect recipe...}



These shots show the "after" effect of the alcohol ink recipe...



I'm digging the font of the sentiment... GORGEOUS! (I "stacked" the stamping to fit my oval)



And finally, one last shot... If nothing else to break up the wordiness... Doh! Thanks for indulging me... It was a SINCERELY inspirational day, I hope yours was, TOO!

Supplies -

C/S - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - Pink Persimmon; All Night Media (woodgrain stamp)
Ink - Stampin' Up! & Staz On
Punches - Stampin' Up! & Martha Stewart Crafts
Embossing folder - (Swiss Dots) Sizzix
Buttons - Nash Bridges Booty!
Alcohol Ink - Tim Holtz

25 comments:

Dotty Jo said...

Oh Elise, can't believe you went to the Petaluma Vintage Holiday Craft Boutique thingy without me and the other 65 of us faithful followers - what were you thinking of???? Ok, so you have totally redeemed yourself with another fabulous, fun post AND a link to the amazing Cathe Holden's blog. She is soooo cool and talented. My mojo is low-low right now so this is a much needed hit of creative wonderfulness!
Your card is gorgeous! I knew you'd love Dawn's current challenge combo and couldn't wait to see what you came up with. Totally love those little deer, your artistic ability just shines through as they look amazing. Great tree and nice work with those Nash Bridges buttons.
Thanks for lifting my spirits on a wet UK day, hugs Jo x

Andrea M said...

Elise - gorgeous card! Love the story behind the buttons; also, how you altered them to meet the challenge. So creative! 'Course, their placement on the card is awesome too - like yummy apples!

Beth said...

Oh DEER, Dear Elise! I love the deer! And the buttons! I'm glad you had such a great time at the craft fair.....jealous!

Your title is funny to me b/c just the other night I was driving home LATE at night through the Jersey Pine Barrens and decided to call a California friend to chat and keep me awake. Well, there on the side of the road was a group of deer, so I frantically interupt the conversation saying "Oh Deer....deer....deer"! She was confused..."are you calling me dear?" heehee

And your button stash! My Mimi (pictured on my blog last week) had a can o' buttons that she used to prop her doors opened. They were there all my life. When she left us, I was too late on claiming the buttons :-( So sad....so sad.

~amy~ said...

OMGoodness sista...sooooo much to say to ya...I'd seriously LOVE to go to ANY Holiday Craft boutique with YOU...I bet that you're a HOOT! Sounds like you managed to do some stealth shopping ninja moves alot in this post...10 million buttons...I bow down to you girlie...and last but certainly not least...OH DEER I LOVE YOUR CARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rosemary said...

I have to join the chorus... you went to a fabulous vintage crafty show without us?? But, at least we have your wonderful retelling of the tail! And this wonderful card! Again, sweet Elise, so creative!! Love how you made your own colored buttons. By the way... I loved Nash Bridges!!! So Dear, oh, deer.... love this card, too!

Andi (RrlScrapGal) said...

Genius! Pure Genius! Love the button alterations:)

Gorgeous card...gorgeous stamps.. and what a fun day!!!

Anonymous said...

LOVE your wordiness! :-)

LOVE your buttons! I used to watch Nash faithfully as a child! (I grew up in College Station... did I tell you that?)

And your card - FULL OF CUTENESS!

You should totally submit this for the buttons challenge on the CARDS blog!

Melisa Hunter said...

Such a sweet card! Love the button tree. Great story, too!

Dawn said...

So jealous, but loved your "wordiness", totally makes up for the cheating! LOL And I agree it's a gorgeous card and you should submit it to the Cards blog challenge.

Claire said...

Lovely, lovely card dear!

Karen said...

Love Cathe's site....she has the most wonderful freebies! And love your chattiness! So glad you had a full out craft-o-liscious day and finnished it up by getting your own craft on! Its great to see those buttons in action and a way to get even more out of them......thanks for the AI tip! :> :> You put them to work in a most beautiful way!! :>

Maureen said...

Wow! You worked this challenge! Love the "apples" and how you coloured them...lovely details in the border punches too :)

Anonymous said...

Dear E,
I love your dyed buttons and card. I didn't get to the craft fair but did have luck at the Petaluma Big Box store. They had wonderful vintage style Scrapbook Kits in two sizes. A wonderful young man waited on me and I scored another 40% off coupon. Now back to paper crafting on this drizzly day.
Fifi la Rouge (aka Linda B.)

Kathryn B said...

OH Elise! Your card is simply beautiful! Great job!

Kelley Eubanks said...

This is AWESOME Elise!! I love it! I think you have another winner right here!! I just saw a card on SCS tonight that had a button tree and thought I would make one. I hope you don't mind seeing as how it will look like I copied you! However... what a better person to copy?!?!? Of course it won't be for a submission... just for little ole me!

Jessica said...

It seems like you had some fun at the vintage craft show. Thanks for sharing. And I'll definitely go visit Cathe's site :) Love your card I think it's simply adorable. Oh and a very clever way to use your millions of buttons :) TFS

3treescreations@gmail.com said...

Wowzers - first off, your card is super fantastic!!! I just love how you "made" your buttons!!

And what a cool story about your buttons :)

xo

Nancy said...

You are hilarious! I love it!
Great card. I love the button idea. Thanks for the inspiration. :)

mueppi said...

Wow.........Elise
what a wonderful card!!!! It`s a dream of card!!!
Your buttons are gorgeous and I love the story about them!!!
Hugs from germany Gisela

Vanessa said...

Gorgeous card, Elise!!! Loooove your deer, looove the buttons, Loove how you used the colours!

Hugs,
Vanessa

Winter said...

So cute! I love all the buttons! You need to submit it to the CARDS blog challenge too, using more than 5 buttons! :)

Dana Gustafson said...

Buttons buttons everywhere! I love it! YOU are such a "deer" to me!

Windy Robinson Life Handmade said...

Soooo cute! Love those buttons and border punch:)

Helen F. said...

Hey Elise! Your posts are so fun to read and aren't you just too darn clever, dying those buttons! Great Card, Sweetie.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

Terri Trotter Earley said...

What fun buttons accents and those dears are stinking cute. Way to rock the color challenge.

It's a good life!
Terri E.