Inspired by Grandma

~Grandma's Cards~

I was talking to my dear grams the other day, and terribly missed her after our little conversation.

It got me thinking about all the hours we spent together when I was little...Crafting, sewing, reading, cooking...

I also remembered that grams liked to always have an afternoon nap, and I remember even more vividly how much I disliked napping (and I still do!).

So most sunny afternoons, while grams was napping away, I would spend time crafting or rummaging through her many cupboards and drawers. It seemed like she always had so many fun little things tucked away. From her heaps and heaps of colorful yarn, piles of beautiful sequins, fabrics, and beads, to old sewing machines and typewriters, to pretty stationary...There was so much eye candy behind every cupboard door, just waiting to be explored.

I can't say that grams was always the happiest about me going through her treasures...I am sure it didn't help that I seemed very good at creating messes, but never so good at tidying up :)

I remember one sunny afternoon, while grams was taking one of her naps, I got busy treasure hunting.

And I stumbled upon the loveliest thing I think I had ever seen.

It was a beautiful folk art greeting card, in colors so soft and cheery that my little heart skipped a beat. I couldn't remember ever seeing something so lovely and colors so full of life.

The little girl on the front of the card, her freckles and all, seemed to mimic the joy of those colors in her inviting expression...

I can see the card now when I close my eyes and the picture is as clear as day.

Funny how we remember silly little things, isn't it?

So today's little creations are brought to you by my memories of that special day and are inspired by the colors of my little find.

First up, a folk-arty bookmark, full of detail and dimension.

I did a lot of stamping on this number, that's for sure.

For the base of the bookmark, I stamped vine circles from this beautiful WPlus9 Spring stamp set, and then stamped some of the pretty little berries around the wreath.

To the center of the top wreath, I added a button and a chipboard flower cut using this Papertrey Ink die.

As I think back to that pretty greeting card, I can remember how beautiful the yellow splashes of color were...They made the whole card look sunny and bright.

So I added a bit of yellow here too, with some hand-dyed seam binding.

I stamped more wreaths, and folk-art motifs in a lovely blue and green shade, and then added felt hearts (die-cut using this Papertrey Ink die), a miniature felt rose (die cut with this Dienamics Die and hand-rolled), and a few punched edges.

I couldn't stop at just one project....I fell in love with the colors!

Although they aren't nearly as beautiful as the water colored shades on that greeting card, they still capture some of the cheery colors...And they happen to feature the perfect palette for Spring, Easter, new beginnings and special greetings.

For this card, I did a fair share of stamping, as well. All the bits on here, except for the ribbon, buttons, paper border, felt and nest, are stamped onto white cardstock or bitty die-cuts colored in with ink.

For the images, I used a combination of different stamps...WPlus9 and Papertrey Ink.

I love how both of these stamp sets are full of images that are separated out, so that they can be played with in a way that builds a beautiful, colorful image.

At the bottom of the card, I added some more seam binding, a pretty Prima nest embellishment (painted white), and a little bit of sunshine-y yellow felt.

This is probably my favorite of the bunch, and it was such a simple card to make, yet it is so full of dimension and detail.

I first stamped the background of the white cardstock with some geometric shapes, along with the happy spring sentiment from this WPlus9 set.

The embroidery hoop was stamped using this Papertrey Ink set, and then die-cut using this Papertrey Ink die.

A few liquid pearls and punched bits add some feminine flair to the hoop :)

I added some lace, Maya Road trim, and pink felt hearts to the bottom of the card to finish it up.

Here is the last creation, and boy, this one took a few tries.

Let me tell you, that stamped background was a bit of a challenge.

I love working with geometric shapes, but sometimes, they can be so rigid. I love movement in my cards, so if the pattern doesn't fit the bill, I can't help but try again until I stamp something I like.

This background was my 3rd try, and I found that stamping the designs as diamonds as opposed to squares was just what fit the bill.

Once the background got to look like I wanted it to, I added a cheery, yellow bow with all sorts of goodies tucked in.

The tags in the bow are die cut from this Papertrey Ink die, felt heart is die cut from this die. I also added a vintage button and pin, a leaf die-cut from this PTI die stamped with this set (as are all of the other leaves in this project).

Moving on down, I added a bitsy rolled rose, with a touch of white paint.

The felt flower was cut with the Beautiful Blooms II die, and I couldn't resist stamping one more little button label in yellow and adding it here.

The little bits of the blue paper peeking out here and there are from this beautiful, vintage design from MD.

And that concludes my folk-art inspired post today.
Hope these cheery cards brighten your day!

*Ivana*