Thursday, April 30, 2015

French General....c'est si bon!



Another artJOYstuff swap to share... 
this time the theme was "French General", 
drawing inspiration from designer Kaari Meng and her wonderful line 
of fabrics, embellishments and paper goods.

I had to start my ATCs from scratch, however, since I didn't have any actual products from her line to use.  Instead, I pulled together images and elements that emulated her 'look':
red damask prints, vintage-looking red labels and trims, and French icons.
My design is all lined up and neat & tidy,
which to me, is again part of the French General 'look'.

Remember the prototypes for my new bag designs I showed in this post? Well, the French grain sack design was really a perfect match for this theme.  I took that large image and shrunk it down to make this miniature pocket to hold the ATC:


I used my serger on the edges and they turned out pretty darn cute, if I do say so myself!


I used little lifts and levels to give each card a bit more dimension:


and tried to make the back pretty, too:


I got three lovely ATCs swapped in return, and our host Kimberly sent pretty French General papers in a little pennant/bunting kit to each of us~


I love everything in that French General line, especially the old graphics and the wonderful way all of it is presented and packaged.  Right up my alley!

c'est si bon!

Friday, April 17, 2015

Wedding Card Revisited


My darling niece just got married and I wanted to make a personalized wedding card for her.

Hmmm, how to start?

Well, I had already designed this one, below,  for a "White Wedding" swap a year ago, 
and was pleased with how it turned out.  I simply used the same basic layout for the new card 
(glad I saved a photo of the original before I swapped it!).


It went together lickety-split, since I already had the general template and technique figured out.
My flower stash was different this time around, so those got a new arrangement  ~  and of course, the photo of the new happy couple was used in the little frame.

It was so nice having a quick and easy project for a change!