Social Graces - Nashville

on our recent trip to Nashville, when we were downtown, we stumbled upon this PAPER store! of course, i had to go in! Social Graces mostly does invitations, but it is great inspiration for card making!

i bought some of this handmade paper from Spain. and i loved the way they packaged it with some melting wax and twine.

so i tried it myself. Mom bought me a silver melting wax a few years ago, and i got a new R at this store.
i just need to practice a bit more, i think i needed more wax.

i packaged a couple of cards in a plastic sleeve and then put a PTI Fillable Frames die cut as a thank you for the purchase. i tied it with twine and added the wax. it was a fun project. maybe it will inspire you too.

Tues Trigger : Farm Fresh

thought i would play along with the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger this week. in fact, as usual, i was lying awake thinking about stamping last night.

i wanted to play with my new Stampendous Jumbo stamps, this one is Dahlia. i inked it in SU groovy guava with a PTI berry sorbet center. and then shaded under a few of the petals with a gray Koh-i-noor pencil. i loved all the white in the trigger picture with all of the shadows. so i decided to go clean and simple, which is not me, but i like it.

Dill Blossom Strips

this was one of the rejected cards from the sketch challenges from PaperCrafts mag. dave thought it was too busy. i used paper from the SEI Dill Blossom paper pad, so they all went together. but maybe i used too many different patterns.

no, this is not blurry. i stamped 2x, i wanted it pear tart, but it blended in with the paper strips, so i stamped again in bamboo leaves, i love that it looks shadowed.

The Copper Kettle

last year, we found this great place called The Copper Kettle, on Peabody St, downtown Nashville. they have a great Sunday Brunch! they also have these cool garage doors that open the whole side of the restaurant, and you can see all of downtown, even the Titans Stadium.

i just had to show you all of the pastries, and cheeses in the above 2 pics. dave loved the Gouda, and the fried cheese below, is on a salad with fresh strawberries and mango slices.

they had eggs benedict, and an omelette bar, biscuits, gravy, meats, cheesy grits and much more. (i didn't get pics of any of those). let's get straight to the desserts!

i thought michelle would love the little creme brulee's. (sorry i can't spell!) they had choc dipped strawberries, and individual banana puddings, and when i asked what another was they said, cookies n cream. i remember loving it the last time, so i got it again! i was real oatmeal choc chip cookies crumbled in cream, it TASTED LIKE a bowl of LITTLE DEBBIE OATMEAL PIES!! IT WAS HEAVEN!

did i make you drool? i am just looking at all of these again!

100 Cameras

we went to the Franklin TN Galleria on Saturday. Dave told me about this app for my iphone called 100 Cameras, and it gives different techniques and textures to photos. and this is one i was playing with when we needed a break from all that shopping! ;)

each filter has a funny name like the above pic is Clouds of Jupiter.

i couldn't remember this filter's name, but others are : a feeling of conflict & discomfort; knowing that warm apple pie is waiting for you; the part of the song we both like; the feeling of an extra hour of sleep... you will prob be seeing more of these(just a warning, tee hee).

Mat Stacked 2

still loving the new Mat Stack set from PTI. i used Memento summer sky ink and then went over the top with the rich cocoa, i like the blue showing thru. the paper is Tres Jolie from MME.

Mat Stacked

this is another set from my old fav paper Tres Jolie from My Mind's Eye. i used the new Mat Stack stamp set & die from PTI, and used the frame on the other card. the ribbon is SU soft sky.

Amy Butler & PTI

this is a set that was commissioned, the only request was : blue. (get wells & thank yous)
i just love these little birdies.

altho i love these Pear Tart leaves from Turning a New Leaf(PTI).

and i think this last card is my fav of the four. i didn't have the ticket corner punch, so i just used a small circle punch on the corners. it works.

More Dill Blossom

i know you have seen the one card before, but just thought i would show you the matching card to finish out this set. the paper is Dill Blossom by SEI.

Faux Watercolor Spritz

this is my all time favorite technique: ink the stamp, spritz, stamp! so this is for the Stamping with Shimmer Sprays Challenge over on the Moxie Fab blog. so i inked the left one with Memento Pear Tart ink, spritzed with Smooch Spritz, Pearl, and stamped. the right one is stamped in Memento Bamboo Leaves, spritzed and stamped. the center is inked with both colors and then spritzed and stamped. the spritzing gives the illusion of watercoloring because it blends the ink for you. and the great thing about the Smooch Spritz is that is gives this great shimmer!!

i just wish you could see the shimmer! the background paper is SEI, and sentiment is from PTI Fillable Frames.