Saturday, June 5, 2010

The Quiet Artist


He awoke quietly and ventured out into the bathroom. There he found an unlimited supply of new and exciting things. He grabbed a bottle from his Mama's drawer, twisted it and pulled out a brush. He began to paint on the white surface of a vanity drawer, dragging the bright red color from one side to the next. His concentration was intense and he didn't make a sound. After some time, he admired his work and decided it was time wake his slumbering Papa to show it off.

I felt similar to what our second son must have in the above situation when I too pulled out some nail polish for the latest household item challenge at Everything but the Kitchen Sink. My palette was a bit more muted however, then his signature bright red color. The polished doily came out with a shabby chic/vintage feel that I absolutely loved. Wanting to expand on that look further, I pulled a chipboard heart for The Shabby Tea Room Challenge-Dear to my Heart, covered it with patterned paper and gave it the same treatment as the doily. I must admit that I had a lot of other "stuff" on the card in my attempts to create a true shabby chic style, but it just wasn't me so I paired my elements down to the basics and created a clean and simple design. I guess I must learn to trust my heart and go with what I feel comfortable with.  **It's a raining morning here today so I wasn't able to photograph properly the shimmer and shine on both the doily and heart that the nail polish created. It really is a nice, soft effect.**


Supplies Used: Cardstock: Very Vanilla (Stampin Up) Tan (Reminisce) Paper: DSP (unknown, from my stash) Stamps: So Many Sayings (Stampin Up) Pigment Ink: Close to Cocoa (Stampin Up) Chalk Ink: Chestnut Roan (Colorbox) Other: Chipboard Heart (Heidi Grace), Pearls (Queen & Co.), Lace Doily (Wilton), Nail Polish

30 comments:

  1. my greatroom has exactly these colors and i LOVE this card. you truly captured the shabby and the chic, and to think, you did it with nail polish-genius and gorgeous, karen:)

    (gotta love little boys!-great story)

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  2. I love how you attained a vintage feel to your card and still worked within your CAS comfort zone. Such an absolutely pretty card!!!! Thanks for sharing it with us all in the Tea Room this week :)

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  3. This is very shabby! I have got to get my nail polish out and start painting for this challenge!!! The main question is red, pink, black or brown??? Maybe purple? It is funny that I have all of this polish laying around but I only paint my toes!!!

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  4. Oh, Karen, this is absolutely lovely! I love the monochromatic look. Thanks for playing!

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  5. Gotta love little boys! :) I don't know what I like more- the card or the story!

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  6. ACK!!!! I can only imagine the red nailpolish result! YIKES!
    This is STUNNING! I can't believe you achieved that look with polish! May have to give it a try....

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  7. Great story Karen - I can only image the bright red results. Sounds like you are a patient understanding mom. I would still be yelling about it!
    Your card is lovely - and I especially loved how you stuck with what you know and love. I've been trying to do that lately so your comment struck a chord.
    Have a great weekend. Good luck with your Gallery card :)

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  8. Oh My! Having only a daughter, I cannot imagine!!! LOL

    Your card is fabulous - nail polish? Really?! It's just amazing - very shabby/chic! Perfect.

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  9. So pretty, love what you did with the doily.

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  10. *chuckle* what a sight that must have been!

    I wanted to play along with this challenge, but I don't own any nail polish! How sad is that?
    You are so good at making your card unique Karen...I had to look and look before discovering where the nail polish was! (of course, I could have just read it first, but where's the fun in that?)

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  11. Beautiful card, Karen. I loved the story too!

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  12. Love the card, Karen. It's perfect. Also, loved the story. We still have pink fingernail polish on the vanity in the bathroom our kids used -- and they're 24 & 26! Surely it's safe to redo that bathroom now... (mainly because they no longer live at home!) :)

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  13. Karen this is gorgeous! I love the distressing and that doily is fab! Love this card!

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  14. the color on the doily is so beautiful! love the distressed/vintage look! fabulous card, Karen!! love it!

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  15. You are always so adventurous in the techniques you will try! I love it! I think you are wise to listen to your inner self--you clearly have great instincts. It's nice to hear that you've passed your creativity on to the next generation. :)

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  16. Oh that is cool. I'm not ever sure exactly how you did that!

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  17. Beautiful! I'm baffled with the result!
    Have a great Sunday!

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  18. So pretty LOVE it :) :) :) Hope your having a great weekend!!!

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  19. yipes...red nail polish? Oy vey.

    I love your combined challenge card...it's absolutely soothing..perfect amount of embellies for a perfect card!

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  20. OMG! I really love this card!! So classy and elegant!

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  21. I love the effect that achieved. This card is simply stunning! :)

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  22. Gorgeous card! I really love the vintage feel to it! Sooo creative, Karen!!!

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  23. So pretty! I love it! Thanks for playing with us in the EBTKS challenge! :)

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  24. THUD! What a beautiful card!

    And LOL about your son!

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  25. Oh wow fabulous card...love this!!!would you mind to see my Blog Karen B, I just made a card using Nail Polish too...thanks before, hugs, Monika

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  26. Absolutely stunning, Karen! Love the elegant simplicity of this gorgeous, vintage-style creation!

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  27. Fantastic job with nail polish. Beautiful vintage feel.
    I've been at a complete loss for this challenge and highly uninspired.

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  28. Congrats on being one of the domestic divas of the EBTKS challenge, truely deserving:-) Hugs!

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  29. congrats, karen on being crowned a domestic diva!

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