a silver lining…

This week’s challenge at The Shabby Tea Room is called ‘A Silver Lining’, hosted by Starr.  She has selected a gorgeous inspiration photo and challenges us to create a card or project that uses aqua, brown and a silver element….

I adore aqua and silver and work with them frequently.  Does it make you think of those beautiful boxes by Tiffany’s, as it does me?  Rummaging through a collection of patterned papers ranging from the palest aqua to rich turquoise, I came across an unusual paper I purchased some time years ago…

I had no idea what I would do with this intriguing die cut paper when I bought it, but this week I had just the project!  I wanted to create something with a template from Creations by AR called One Drawer Card Organizer.

I love to make little, affordable gifts from the hands and heart so this project has real appeal for me.  Here in Arizona, turquoise is a color we mine, wear and sometimes see in the sky!..

All but one piece of the template was cut from card stock.  Since I don’t own a computerized cutting machine, I printed out the pieces on copier paper and used temporary adhesive to the wrong side of the card stock to adhere the cutting templates.  That made it quick and easy to cut out.  The single part that makes up the back corners and top cover were cut from the patterned paper…

The open section above was used to hold the envelopes and a drawer protects the cards.  My touch of silver was a small ‘concho’ that I’ve had for years as well, tied with a piece of brown linen ribbon.  Perhaps you’ve seen pictures of the silver conchos worn on belts by the Navajo people?  They really are gorgeous works of art and equally expensive!…

I used some commercial cards and envelopes in a lovely mocha color, salvaging unused portions of the design paper (an arc and some portion of a circle on each card), along with different sentiments to make the collection more useful…

With a single sheet of patterned paper and three 8-1/2″x11″ sheets of card stock, this template helped me put together a delightful and quick container for card set that is pretty enough to sit out on someone’s desk.  Knowing myself, I’m likely back to my much loved aquas for my next project, but this foray into turquoise was a really fun challenge~ thank you Starr!!

*Hugs*

Rebecca