Curtsey Boutique Is Celebrating Their 400th Blog Post... You Can Win!

This week we celebrated a wonderful blog anniversary here on the Curtsey Boutique Blog - our 400th post!  To celebrate we are offering a giveaway where one lucky customer will win a $25 gift certificate to be used on anything in the shop.  And everyone can enjoy a discount with our coupon code for 20% off your purchase.

Want to win? Of course you do! Here’s how to enter…

1. Like the Curtsey Boutique on Facebook
2. Comment on our Facebook page to let us know you entered
3. If you also follow us here on the Blog we will throw in an extra entry for you!
4. Refer a friend and be sure they let us know in the comments on either Facebook or the blog and we will give you another entry.   That's 3 chances to win!

You have one week to enter, winner will be announced one week from today on, Friday, May 30, 2014.

Buttons, Brads and Bling!

Well, HELLO there bloggy people!  Again... I know, it's been awhile, a long while!  And again, I am sorry.  How nice it would be to finally get back to a good blogging schedule.  I always have grand intentions!

For today though I just wanted to make a quick post to share a card that I decided to create for a challenge on the Northridge Publishing CREATE blog.  It's also been a long time since I've participated in any challenges so it was fun to just create on a whim doing something I totally enjoy! 

The blog challenge for this month is to design a card using buttons/brads/bling! 

And here's what I came up with... 

For this card I used Core'dinations cardstock... the embossed Floral is a piece from the David Tutera card making line, as is the "Thank You" sticker sentiment.  The canvas resist flowers and butterflies are Prima and I misted them all with Glimmer Mist.  The "You" and "Made My Day" stamps are older stamps from one of my favorite sets from For the Luv of Art.com.  All the other embellishments are from curtseyboutique.etsy.com. (glitter butterfly, pearlized heart stick-pin, baker's twine, painted wood button and blue library card).  Ohh, the glitter dots are from Sei.  I used them as floral centers to give the look of blinged out brads!  

I hope you enjoy my design as much as I am digging the color combination!  Now that I keep seeing the card on my desk, I am totally drawn to this silver/orange/blue pallet!  

Sorry to be short, but I am off to enjoy the evening with my hubby.  We are going on a movie date to see The Lone Surviver!  Enjoy the rest of this cold, cold weekend and whatever it is you are doing...stay warm! 

Back to Blogging!

Well, I know it's been a long break for me with the blogging, so I am going to give it a shot and see if I can remember how to create a post, lol!  I really have no excuses for not being active here except for LAZINESS!  That's really all it comes down to.  I get home from work and I am zonked and don't really feel like doing too much, although I do enough pondering of all things I should and could be doing! Enough about that... let's get to something more creative.

I am still a designer for the Curtsey Boutique blog and Etsy shop and I am still loving all the sweet details of the embellishments that CarrieAnne creates.  Since I haven't been blogging I thought you may like to see some updates of different things I've been putting together with Curtsey Boutique notions. 

 

First up, here is a Fall/Halloween project that I was excited to work on.  I got the idea from seeing some pinecones that my Preschool kids at work were painting.  I thought it would look really cool to paint some pinecones in white orange and yellow sections to mimic the look of candy corn.  Thus the creation of CANDY CONES! 

 

After I painted the cones, I sprayed each with a hefty duty spray adhesive and then covered each with some Diamond Dust glass glitter.  Then to cleverly display them I used a wooden berry basket from Curtsey Boutique and embellished the basket with some candy corn inspired fabric flowers and burlap embellishments also from the Curtsey Boutique shop. 

 

 

The next project is something that I will be using for our Thanksgiving table this year.  I used the 4x6 burlap bags and chalkboard painted tags from Curtsey Boutique to design these perfectly festive place card/utensil holders. 

 

I also embellished each bag with a hand-dyed paper doily and fabric flower from the shop.  The leaves that I used here were from the Dollar Tree. 

 

 

I'm getting real excited for Thanksgiving dinner and I think these will make the table settings look a little extra special this year.  This will be our first time hosting Thanksgiving at our home this year.  My brother and sister in law usually do and then we host Christmas, however we decided to switch it up this year.  Looking forward to it! 

 

Hope you've enjoyed my latest crafty stuff with Curtsey Boutique and I hope you've missed me too!  I know I've missed you all.  I need to make a better effort to get back to all the fun blogs that I enjoy visiting as well because I know my life has missed all of the wonderful inspiration!  Ohh and please, stop by again real soon.  I have some exciting news that I'll be getting to share with you all in the days ahead!!!

 

So Happy Together!

I love my weekends... but I don't like how they go so fast!  I swear... wasn't it just Friday?  Well, I guess the countdown to the coming weekend officially starts NOW! lol!  It was a nice two days of relaxation though and I did get some things accomplished.  I even got to create for a bit which really makes me happy!  I took the bull by the horns and I did it... I completed my submissions for the Bella Blvd. 2013-2014 Design Team.  I still have to hit the send button, but I actually went through with it and I'm really liking everything that I created for the call.  Now I just need to hope that the judging panel will like them (my cards) AND me too!  Yes, I am applying for a Card Designer position.  Not too sure about my luck there seeing as they are looking for only 2-4 people to fill those Card Maker spots.  Makes me nervous!  Anyway... I was thrilled to be in my scrappy happy creating environment again and I realized that I need to start carving out more of my creative time.  It's far better than all the other mundane day to day stuff that should be pushed to the back burner more often.  Ohh, and did I mention... my vacation starts in 11 days! 
Wa-Hoooo!!! Oh, I can hardly contain the excitement!   

 

So tonight before I go, I wanted to share a card that I recently had up on the Curtsey Boutique blog.

This one is a card that can be used as a simple little Anniversay or Wedding card.  All the sweet cork heart and butterfly shaped stickers can be found in the Curtsey Boutique Etsy shop, as well as the painted mini clothespin and the torn fabric strips.  The embossed panel behind the sentiment tag is kraft masking tape (Curtsey Boutique) that I layered onto a piece of cardstock.  I embossed the panel with an Anna Griffin Cuttlebug folder, inked the surface with some chalk ink and then cut out around the embossed edging.
 

 

 

 

 The enamel dots, tag and patterned paper are all by My Mind's Eye and the embossed Tillie Dots cardstock is Core'dinations.  Don't you LOVE that navy and aqua color combo?  I believe it's becoming a quick favorite of mine!  Good night everyone!  Have yourselves a wonderful week... enjoy!

Designing For Curtsey Boutique!

I have to say, I have thoroughly enjoyed designing for Curtsey Boutique these past months, AND if you like crafting with fun vintage inspired goodies and MORE, now could also be your chance because there is an open DT call happening right now!  Here is the blog post at Curtsey Boutique with all the deets...  CHECK IT OUT!!  

In other news... the new May Arts Ribbon DT was announced recently and unfortunately I did not make the cut.  It's all good though, because I gave it my best shot and that's really all I could do.  I will find something else down the road to occupy my crafty niche, I'm sure of it... I'll just need to keep plugging away!  :)  With that said... have you all heard that Bella Blvd. has a new DT call open now too for the 2013-2014 term?  Hmmm, must say that I was quite pleased to see that.  I really wanted to apply last year and the time got away from me.  So, I am seriously thinking of giving it a shot this time around.  A girl can only hope... I think there products are the absolute cutest around :) 

Before I say Good-Night, I will leave you all with a card share.  This card I created for our good friends' wedding a few weeks ago and I used  some gorgeous Curtsey Boutique embellies. 

 

 

I wanted this wedding card to have a vintage and homespun look all in one, to emulate the style of my friend's wedding décor and theme.  I chose to emboss the background with a vintage floral design  and then paired it perfectly with vintage touches of a pink floral fabric strip and a swatch of burlap from Curtsey Boutique.  The burlap was actually a section cut from one of the burlap bags.  I also cut strips of the burlap from the bag to use on a separate project! And the little bitty hearts... those are cork and I swiped them with some pink chalk ink. 

 

Other supplies used include-

Anna Griffin floral Cuttlebug emboss folder and machine

Cricut Sweethearts cartridge and machine

Core'dinations cardstock

Clearsnap  chalk ink (pink)

Ranger Perfect Pearls Mist (Heirloom gold)

FloraCraft Diamond Dust glass glitter

 

 

Curtsey Boutique Lovlies!

Hey there... hope you all are having a great week so far!  I know I am more than happy that tomorrow is Thursday and that means two more days until the weekend!  The hubs will be off work so I am hoping we can finally have a little bit of summer time fun together.  Seems as though we haven't had enough of that lately and summer is going by just way too fast. 

Today I am in the mood to share some of my latest favorite projects that I've created for Curtsey Boutique!  I absolutely love designing with bits and pieces from the Curtsey Boutique because there are always an array of perfect embellies to add to any project I'm working on.  Seriously, totally cute stuff.  Check out the shop if you love anything fancy, frilly, vintage or shabby chic! Please note however that the shop is currently on vacation and will re-open August 10th. 

First up I have a Burlap Drawstring Bag that I decorated.  The full tutorial can be seen HERE! 

 

 

I created the kraft paper flower by die cutting some kraft lunch bags from the shop with some Spellbinder's floral dies. I then dyed the canvas brad and wooden button and burlap butterflies (also from the shop) with some Ranger Dylusions spray ink. 

 

Next up is a sweet gift bag that I had created to enclose a bracelet that I had made for my mom to give to her for Mother's Day this past May.  This bag is just perfect though for gifting a surprise to someone for practically any occasion... birthdays, best friendships or simply "just because"!

 

 

 

I've used a lined pink treat bag, a plain white doily, a dyed yellow doily, a pink glittered bird, yellow rolled felt flowers and a torn fabric strip all from the Curtsey Boutique shop.

In addition, I used Diamond Dust glass glitter, a rub-on sentiment (Kaiser Crafts) and colored feathers all from my craft stash. 

 

And finally... here's a pretty Birthday card I put together!  This one uses another yellow rolled felt flower from the shop as well as some white seam binding that I dyed yellow with some Glimmer Mist spray. 

 

 

 

The cardstock used on here is all Core'dinations (Gemstones and Core Couture collections), and the Cardstock sticker embellie with Sentiment is a Core'dinations/Darice brand from the David Tutera card collection series.  Don't you also LURV the polaroid-like chipboard frame from Recollections that I picked up at Michaels?  I think they are cool... as well as the fabby looking Heidi Swapp resist paper on here too.   By the way... the butterflies... yep, Cricut cuts of course, lol!  These are designs from the Picturesque cartridge! I seem to cut these butterflies a lot :)  

 

So there you have it!  I have many more new things to share with you from Curtsey Boutique, but I will get to sharing them later after the shop and blog are back to their regular schedule next month.  Before I sign off for the night though, I just wanted to remind all my crafty friends that I am still patiently waiting to hear if I will be joining the May Arts Ribbon Design Team for 2013-2014!  The big announcement should come  on Monday, July 29th, so I do have the entire weekend to wait it out yet! Please keep your fingers crossed for me and if you like, you still have time to check out all of the finalists 2nd round audition projects HERE!  I really would love and appreciate all of your comments and support over there on the post too if you have any extra time!  Thanks friends... and take it easy!

 

A Decorative Woven Burlap Framed Monogram with May Arts Ribbon!

I seriously do not know where the Summer is going!  Can it really be July?  I've really been super busy, as I am sure much of blog land has been too.  Perhaps I am not the only one who hasn't had as much time to devote to their crafting these hot, hot days!  I'm sure I am not alone.  The 4th of July holiday was pretty fun and relaxing.  On the 4th we saw some fantastic fireworks here in the State College, PA area after we devoured a delicious Bloomin' Onion and dinner at Outback.  Then on Saturday we had a picnic and more fireworks at my brother and sister-in-law's new property that they affectionately refer to as "The Haven".   But now the holiday is over and it's back to the normal routine of life which is okay with me because it also means that my favorite season will be here before we know it.  I so can't wait for it to be Fall!  I'm already thinking about it and filling up the calendar with everything I want to cram in... October sure isn't long enough for me, lol :) 

 

On a crafty note, I was able to get to work on my project for the second round of the May Arts Design Team call this week and today I am really excited to be sharing with you all what I created.  My project uses the May Arts 2.5" Burlap Wired ribbon in both natural and green (398-25-11, 398-25-16) as well as their brown 400 y Burlap String (SM33). 

 

To tell you a bit about my idea for the project, the frame that I used to create with I found at a second hand store.  I had been looking around for a beautiful but inexpensive mirror to hang above our fireplace mantle for the Winter season and so one day I scored this divine ornate framed mirror for $5.00!  Quite the bargain!  Anyway I proceeded to hang it above the mantle and it looked really nice... until it fell the next day and the mirror smashed into bits.  But, not all was lost because I was still able to salvage the gorgeous frame.  I knew I could put it to use perfectly some other way, and I think I succeeded!  I have been wanting to create a framed monogram décor piece for my home office, so I envisioned a really textured design... and this beautiful selection of burlap May Arts ribbon did just the trick!

First I got to work by painting the frame to coordinate better with my room décor and with the colors of the burlap that I selected.  The frame was originally a dark hunter green like this...

 

 

I am now loving the fresh new color.  I painted the frame with a Metallic Krylon spray paint... in brushed bronze! 

 

 

The new color really shows off and highlights the ornate details. 

 

Now for the fun part... weaving the burlap ribbon for the background!  I started by cutting a piece of cardboard into an oval base to fit and be inserted into the middle of the frame securely.  This oval cardboard piece also serves as the base for my woven ribbon background.  I then cut several pieces of ribbon to approx. 20" in length each.  I then laid the ribbon horizontally in alternating color,  over the cardboard oval base. 

 

 

I then flipped the base over and folded over the ends of each length of ribbon, securing each of the ribbon sections to the back side of the base with some masking tape. 

 

 

Now flip the base over again to the front and cut several 32" pieces of ribbon.  These are the pieces that are now woven into the pattern vertically as shown!

 

 

After the pieces are all woven together, the ends of the vertical pieces can also be folded over and secured to the back side with more masking tape.  Here you can also "shape" and "mold" the edging of the entire oval base until you get the perfect shaping to fit snuggly inside the frame.  To secure the piece into the frame I used a heavy duty stapler gun, but you could also use a craft glue if you like. 

 

 

To create my initial which will be framed inside, I selected my font and cut it out from cardstock using my Cricut Expression.  The initial is from the Paper Lace 2 Cricut cartridge.  Each "A" was cut from cardstock 3 times and I glued all 3 together to make the initial sturdier. 

 

 

Now apply a double stick adhesive to the surface of the letter and begin to wind the brown burlap string around the letter until the entire surface is wrapped.

 

 

After the initial was complete I then used a fabric glue to adhere it to the woven burlap background.  I also decided to decorate the feet of the letter with some pretty felt flower and doily embellishments  from the Curtsey Boutique. 

 

 

I love my new framed monogram... and I especially love the woven burlap texture!  It's a  lovely shabby chic addition to my office space. 

 

 

I sure hope you've enjoyed my latest creation and that maybe I've inspired you all toward a new direction in creating with ribbon... after all, ribbon isn't just for bows!   Enjoy!  :) 

I'm Here!

I really am here!  I know I've been quiet, and I am sorry.  I have really missed blogging, but once again, I will use the same old standby of "Life has simply gotten in the way".  Funny, but I hate when that happens... when I can't seem to find a simple block of time to do what I'd rather be doing in life.  Instead, lately it seems it's been all about the mundane... 8 hours of work (stressful at times), piles of laundry, grocery shopping, and other miscellaneous household chores... you catch my drift! I've been slacking hard in ALL areas that I really want to be doing and improving upon.  I really am craving more creative time for ME! I can't even tell you the last time a sat down and scrapbooked a layout.  So sad... I think about it a lot though.  I'd also like to be trying to improve upon myself... to become a more healthy and fit me.  That's proven to be more difficult than anything these days.  But, I am not giving up on either of these areas.  Summer is here and I am going to make these some very important goals and priorities in the weeks ahead.  I can't give up :) 

About the scrapping, and well crafting as a whole, well... one of my absolute favorite things was to be a designer for Core'dinations Cardstock.  Sadly, my time with them has come to an end as I did not make the new team selections a few weeks back.  I was pretty disappointed and I guess I could say that it kind of also had a little bit to do with why I just dropped off the blog radar for a spell.  But I have realized that all good things must come to an end at some point, and no matter what, I loved every minute of my time with such a fabulous and respectable company.  Sooo no regrets, and back to business as usual! Besides, I still have quite a fabulous stash of Core at my disposal and it's always going to be a favorite ;) 

While I'm here, I also thought I'd share a few more projects that I've designed recently for the Curtsey Boutique!  If you haven't yet checked out CarrieAnne DeLoach's  Etsy shop, the Curtsey Boutique, you must.  It is totally full of the sweetest items to craft with.  First up is this card that I designed using some felt doilies and a printed fabric bow (currently not available) all from the shop. 

 

 

 

Other Products Used

Cricut Expression and Kate's ABCs cartridge.

Cardstock: Core'dinations, Teresa Collins Core Amour collection.

Sand It Gadget: Core'dinations.

Patterned paper: My Mind's Eye.

Bling embellishments: Queen & Co.

Rub-on alphas: American Crafts.

Green stickers: Prima.

Ink: SEI.

Marker: Sharpie.

 

And next up... another card.  This one is perfect for all those Graduations being celebrated this month! 

 

For this card design I used one of my favorite embellishments from Curtsey Boutique... the gorgeous gray tulle fabric and felt shabby chic butterfly!  The blue butterfly stickpin (currently not available), the white seam binding and the graph print starburst sticker are also all from the shop. 

I also used an embossed dot coin envelope which I adhered on the inside card flap.  This is the perfect size for inserted a gift card or folded check/money to give to the Graduate!

 

Other supplies-

Cardstock and Sand It Gadget: Core'dinations.

Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye.

Foam tape adhesive: Imaginisce.

Ink: Sei.

Cricut Expression and Fontopia cartridge: Provo Craft.

 

I do have some other design team projects for Curtsey Boutique but I guess I will show them later... that way I can come back a blog again soon!  Anyway, I am excited to be back and I do hope I can make it be a more regular thing.  I do miss hearing from everyone so I promise to be better about visiting you all as well :)  Hope you have an enjoyable weekend... or what's left of it!  Enjoy :)

Fun Announcement!

Hi all!  I have such a fun announcement to blurt out today, AND a fun share! 

I am excited that I have been added to the  Design Team of a fabulous little Etsy shop and creative blog... The Curtsey Boutique (Shop and Blog)!  If you are a fan of sweet, vintage and shabby-chic, you really need to check out what all the Curtsey Boutique has in store.  I believe you will fall in love with all the cute hand-crafted elements!  Today the shop's blog featured my very first project and tutorial and I would love for you all to check it out and comment (there and here) to let me know how I did for my very first go of it!  ;)  HERE is the blog post!  I'm not going to go into depth here with the tutorial since it can be seen on the Curtsey blog, but I will share the picture here of the finished card.  Since St. Patty's day is coming up, I went with that theme.  I paired my green up with some lovely "SPRING" yellow!  Anything to set that spring mood of course! ;) 
 

 

 

The elements I used on here from the Curtsey Boutique include the hand-dyed yellow doilies, the seam binding and the green pearlized heart pin.  The green seam binding was originally white but I sprayed it with some wonderful Fairy Green Glimmer Mist!  You can see I also packed this card with loads of wonderful new Core cardstock too...the fabulous NEW Tim Holtz Shattered collection, as well as some beautiful softer shades of yellow and green from the current Graphic 45 Signature Series in Lights!  My die cuts were cut from Cricut cartridges. I used the Paper Lace cart to cut out a heart shape... I used 3 different hearts pieced together to form a clover design.  Then I also used the Teresa Collin's Sophisticated cart to create the banner to house the sentiment which I stamped on with Vintage Photo Tim Holtz Distress ink. 

 

So there you have it... my first design for Curtsey Boutique!  I'm hoping you liked it and that you'll go check out the shop!  There are tons of beautiful goodies in there to spark your creativity!

And, one more thing before I forget to mention... my favorite company to design for is now hosting an open Design Team call!

 

  Yesss... that's right, Core'dinations is having a new designer call and you do not want to miss out on this fabulous opportunity.  Believe me when I say, this is one design team that I DO NOT WANT TO GIVE UP... like EVER!! So now maybe your chance.  Break out that Core and create in a frenzy!  Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of the week :)