Shabby Vintage: {PPC9} & {CCCC41}

Tonight I have an entry for two of my favorite weekly challenges to share with you. Lesley and the design team over at Paper Players challenged us with a "vintage" theme and boy, is that ever a challenge for me! Is there such a thing as too much vintage?! This card has been distressed, smudged, spritzed, shimmered, embossed and stamped within an inch of it's life! I'm not sure but...I think I like it!

The color scheme was inspired by another favorite over at Stacey's Stamping Stage. I did take a little artistic liberty and changed the neutral from Whisper White to Very Vanilla to better coordinate with this lovely bit of Victoria Crochet Trim from the new SU catalog. Otherwise, the colors stayed true using Night of Navy, Marina Mist and Crumb Cake. What a beautiful
combination!

At stamp club with my upline this week, we made these wonderful flowers with the Scallop Circle Punch. I don't know where this technique originated...if anyone knows please tell me so I can give proper credit. You can use as many layers of scallop circles as you wish depending on how full you want your flower to be. For this one, I used 5 Marina Mist scalloped circles--4 punched with the 1 3/4" Scallop Circle punch and 1 using the 2 3/8" Scallop Circle punch (new). The technique is super simple:

1. Punch desired number of scalloped circles.
2. Punch a small hole in the approximate center of each circle. I used my 1/16" circle punch but you could also use a Crop-o-Dile or even pierce a hole. Don't worry if the hole isn't in the center--you want each layer to be a bit wonky so it looks more natural.
3. Using a regular spray bottle, spritz each circle with water so it is covered. I just held it in the palm of my hand and sprayed a couple times.
4. Scrunch each circle in your hand.
5. Unfold each circle and layer them one of top of the other, aligning the center holes and with the largest circle at the back.
6. Place a small brad through all layers of the flower.
7. Starting with the top layer, scrunch up each scalloped circle until it looks the way you want it to look. You can spray the entire flower with water a few more times to get the desired effect.
8. Set your flower aside to dry--should take about 15 minutes or so. You'll be amazed at how quicky it dries and how beautiful it is when finished! Leave me a comment if you would like me to post a photo tutorial on how this is done. I've been thinking I need to start doing some tutorials so this might be a good place to start--let me know if you're interested.

Before my flower dried, I used SU's Color Spritzer and an Early Espresso Stampin' Write marker to give it an aged, vintage look. After color spritzing, I sprayed on a mixture of Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint and rubbing alcohol for some extra sparkle and glitz! I warned you this one was spritzed within an inch of it's life! LOL. (click on the photo above to get a better look at the shimmered spritz!)

Finally, the inside. A piece of Very Vanilla was stamped with the En Francais background stamped I used on the front. Also stamped in Crumb Cake but this time I stamped off twice so it looks almost like a watermark. I wanted a soft and washed-out image that wouldn't compete with any writing on the inside. The little piece of Marina Mist is punched with my new favorite punch--Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border--and the Night of Navy flower is from Charming. And because I couldn't let well enough alone (!), I sponged the edges of the inside with Crumb Cake just as I did on the sentiment oval from the front. That little background stamp in the oval? It's from Charming too and is also stamped in Crumb Cake...pretty, eh? Maybe I do like this vintage thing after all...what do you think? Don't forget to go check out all the other vintage entries at the Paper Players Challenge and the beautiful colors at the Curtain Call. It's always fun to play along...cheers!

8/8/10 edit: I'm so excited! Stacey chose this card as the LEAD in the Curtain Call Color Challenge {Act 41}. I just can't believe it...I'm thrilled...thank you!

8/9/10 edit: WOW! Just found out that this card also made it as a Cut Above at the Paper Players...a big thank you to Lesley and the design team! Hmmm, maybe vintage is my style afterall. :-)

supplies:
stamps: en francais; charming; because i care
ink: night of navy, marina mist & crumb cake
paper: crumb cake, night of navy, marina mist, very vanilla cardstock
xtras: vintage wallpaper impressions folder; 1 3/4" scallop circle, 2 3/8" scallop circle, wide oval, 1/16" circle; dotted scallop ribbon border punches; lots of tags & little leaves sizzlit dies; victoria crochet trim; basic pearls; champagne shimmer paint; color spritzer; early espresso stampin write marker