Tea Party Birthday

My sister recently had a milestone birthday. We won't mention numbers. The important thing to note is that I am younger! LOL!
My sis is a tea lover and one of the special things we try to do is go to our fave tea house once a month. Yummy! She also has the curliest naturally curly hair I've ever seen. I'm not kidding. Whenever we're out & about someone stops her to tell her how pretty her hair is and ask if it is naturally curly. She beams with pride when she answers sweetly, "Yes, it is. Thank you." [I giggle a bit extra knowing that it is right for her hair to be her glory. 1 Corinthians 11:15] So, needless to say that "HG Classy" from The Greeting Farm is just about the most perfect image for my sis.


She also loves shimmer and sparklies. So, while I'm bummed that I die-cute the sentiment a bit crooked, I am otherwise pleased with it. I colored it with YG91 (Putty) and then went over it with a generous slather of Shimmerz Candlelight. There's also a touch of sparkle on the hat flower, courtesy of a gold Spica pen. The pattern papers are from Basic Grey's Stella Ruby 6x6. I picked up the pearl accented lace from i{heart}papers - prrrrrrr.
This is my entry for today's Mystery Monday at the Farm Fresh Challenge Blog (taking inspiration from the case card's layout), and the Embellishment Challenge on CDAC.

"Coffee and Tea, and the Java and Me"

I'm primarily a coffee drinker, but my sis and I go to tea at least once a month, so I couldn't resist taking 2 spots in Tanja's (3boysathome on SCS) All About Coffee/Tea Swap.

Once I found the DP (at Archiver's in the clearance section - and it was the last sheet!), the card just came together effortlessly. The image stamp is by Inque Boutique. I colored in copics, and then stamped the sentiment. I didn't have quite the right brown for a card base, so I just used white CS, hoping it would be okay since the DP has white, glittery swirls. I also used Bazzill texture CS and Bazzill shimmery textured CS. I finally got with it and bought some of those Robin's Nest dew drops - love 'em!

This one was made with a Unity stamp - a rather large one with lots of swirls. I stamped and cut out the tea cup. The tea rooms I go to with my sis are usually Victorian decor, so I wanted to go for a vintage feel. I've been holding onto and loving this DP for a long time, just waiting for the perfect project to use it on. Now I'm crying because I only had 1 sheet of it, and now all that's left is a little strip. I had a hard time with coloring, only because out of all the blues I have, none was quite right when I tried coloring the inside of the cup and saucer. And then it hit me - don't fill it in, just use it as the shadow - duh! I debated over adding brads or other embellies, but I really wanted the DP to shine, so I opted for the "less is more" look. The inside sentiment reads "Friendship begins with a cup of kindness." So true!

TFL!