You Had Me At Merlot

Here's another card I made at my recent crafty weekend:

This card is extra special for several reasons. First, it is the result of an unfortunate spilled wine incident. I was sitting across from my pal Lydia, who had just finished cutting a bazillion card fronts to work on for the weekend, including a few from some special card stock I'd given her. It was also Happy Hour at the hotel, and she was enjoying a nice short glass of red wine. Normally this would be an idyllic situation -- I mean come on, wine + crafting?

But then I heard a few not-so-nice words, and suddenly we were tossing her rolls of paper towels. An entire pile of white card stock fronts were absorbing purple wine. At first it was horrible. So much paper ... so much wasted wine. But then, as if in unison, we all decided it was an opportunity, not a crisis! We card-makers can do anything*!!!

Remember tea staining? Back before distressing was a "thing"? Well, Lydia invented wine staining. She called for wine-related stamp sets, and suddenly she had more stamps on her table than she knew what to do with. (Thanks largely to our pal Tina, who collects all things wine-related.) And don't you know, by the end of the weekend, those card fronts were all stamped and distributed to attendees. It was a beautiful thing.

Before Lydia got serious about stamping her wine backgrounds, though, I rummaged through the pile of dried card fronts and selected a panel for my own use. I liked the hint of wine around the edges. This was also a piece of very special card stock, lovingly carried over the big pond by one of the UK attendees to deliver to me. My blog pal Darnell had used some pretty linen paper on one of her cards, and was bemoaning the fact it was only available in the UK, and that shipping to the US was more than the cost of the card stock. Well, when I knew someone from the UK was coming over the pond, I asked, and she delivered! The fact that this gorgeous card stock was wine-stained made it extra special.

I stamped the lady from one of my Lil Inker sets, colored her in a Copic color that matched the wine, fussy-cut her, and stuck her to the card front. Since this card stock is really textured, I used the MISTI to stamp the sentiment, knowing I'd probably have to do it multiple times.

You can see the detail of the card stock on Darnell's card here. I like it because it's a more random pattern than say a Bazzill textured piece of card stock. Impossible to stamp on well, but so gorgeous.

I've finally unpacked (mostly) from the crafty weekend, and Darnell's card stock will soon be on its way to her. I love making a fellow crafty person happy, don't you?

Now that I'm unpacked, and a little craft room furniture construction has ensued along the way, I hope to get back to stamping some more, playing some challenges, and being less of a recluse! And with the rain we've had, I think I'll be cutting the grass next weekend, too. It's SPRING!

Thanks for stopping by!

* This reminds me of a quote from one of my first jobs. You know, one that goes into your Miscellaneous folder, to be moved from job to job until you retire, and even then you can't throw it out. "We, the willing, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have been doing so much, for so long, with so little, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing." Gotta love it.

Stuff I used: pretty card stock from the UK, miscellaneous purple card stock, and the following:

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