Welcome to my Chocolate Shoppe!

Hello!

Whew! I've had a very busy week and the rest of the week is even worse.... but today I did have time to play a little. Clear Dollar Stamps is having a Guest Designer Call, and I made this card for it. The challenge was to add something that dangles to your card. My "dangling" item is the "sign" which I dangled from my "awning" with a piece of a chain I had saved from an old key chain.

This card was fairly labor intensive... so the details might be too, but here is the recipe:

Clear Dollar Stamps: Chocoholic

Acetate box top saved from a BasicGrey Brad Purchase

Chain saved from discarded key chain

High Tac Glue (Flower Soft)

Nesties: Small Scalloped Oval for doilies, Label#3 and Circle

Cuttlebug and Distressed Stripes Folder

Two Martha Stewart Edge Punches for "curtains" and "awning"

Sponges

Crop-a-dile

Prisma Pencils and Odor Free Mineral Spirits

Stickles in Cotton Candy, Frosted Lace and Platinum

Stardust Clear Glitter Gel Pen

"SU! Sanded on vanilla" ... a RAK from Peggy which I sponged Creamy Caramel for the shelf in front of window

Paper: Papertrey Dark Chocolate CS, Georgia Pacific White, SU! Kraft, BasicFrey "Blush", Memory Box pink

Ink: Archival Jet Black, SU! Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel

I thought when I bought the BasicGrey Brads that the box top would make a great window some day... today was the day! I cut it to size, then measured the openings and drew and cut the frame around them from Kraft CS. I used a Prisma Pencil to draw in the "pane" lines and did a little sponging for shading. I stamped the cake pieces in Archival Jet Black and the little cupcakes in Chocolate Chip. Because of their size in relation to the cake I'm calling them Petitfours! LOL! I colored them with Prisma Pencils and blended with Odor Free Mineral Spirits, cut them out, then topped with Stickles and set aside.

I cut out my "wall" color from my Memory Box 6 x 6 pack and cut a piece of a RAK from Peggy that was SU!'s Sanded Bg on vanilla for my shelf. I sponged it with Creamy Caramel. I cut a piece of BasicGrey Blush DP and punched the lower edge with a MS edge punch for a curtain and glued all pieces in place. I used my little scalloped oval Nesties and cut little "doilies" for the goodies, cut them just slightly less than half size, and rounded the back corners, then glued my goodies onto them. On the doilies I used a pen to make tiny dots and then topped that with my Stardust Clear Glitter Gel Pen, as I also did on the plates.

My card itself is Chocolate base from Papertrey, then layered with a Cuttlebugged and sponged layer of GP White. My dangling item is my Chocolate Sign... made by cutting a Label 3 in PT Dark Chocolate twice, then stamping my sentiment in Archival Jet Black on GPW and using a Nestie Circle to cut it out. I mounted it on the Label, added a punched hole through which I passed the chain, secured to the back and then added the second layer label 3 to the back to further secure it. I cut another piece of BasicGrey and punched it and scored it to make the awning. I punched a hole at the center point top... and passed the chain through that, using high tack glue inside to secure it. I used the same glue to attach the awning to the top of the card. (Note: I had scored lines to make folds in the awning so it is 3-D. I glued my window in place and then I used another punched edge of BG DP and another sentiment from this fun 12 piece set to the inside. It says "From one cocoa nut to another".

I had a blast... albeit a LONG blast making this card~ it was very nostalgic for me because my husband and I used to own a Candy Shoppe and we sold the best chocolates around!!! Yummy!!! Next to coffee... chocolate is probably my next addiction. I LOVE chocolate!

Check out the Clear Dollar Guest Designer Challenge here if you are interested!

Thanks for taking a look at my blog today... have a blessed day!