So Thankful

Welcome back.  I hope everyone's day is going great.  I am doing much better now.  I am able to craft for longer periods and finding myself creating more lately.  I am so thankful for good doctors who really care about their patients. Some doctor's don't give a rip whether you get better or not.  They are in it for the money and they should find another line of work that doesn't involve dealing with people and their health.

Today's card is a thank you card that I am going to send to my surgeon and his PAs.  Dr. Campos has taken such good care of me and I am doing so well that I felt impressed upon to send this to his office.

The focal image is a cute little stamp that I picked up in the dollar bin at Jo-Ann's from Studio G.  I think it 's so soft and delicate.  I paired it with some dark teal, olive green and chocolate brown which can all be found in the DP I used for the background.  This is another sheet from that wonderful pack I picked up right before Christmas.  I used my Spellbinders Ovals and Scalloped Ovals to cut out the image and the mats for it.  I used pop dots to adhere it to the card after I added a chocolate brown satin ribbon to the middle and tied a knot on the left hand side.  The rhinestones are all from Queen and Co.

I used SU Very Vanilla for the card base.  I hope you all enjoyed this card and I hope to see you all back soon.  I am entering this card in the One Stop Craft Challenge for this week.  The theme is Thank You.    God bless you.

Birthday Wishes

Hello Guys.  How is everyone today?  I guess if you are reading this, your eyes are still intact and working properly after the previous post.  HE HE   This one will not be as long.  Only one card to showcase today.

This one is for two different challenges.  The monthly challenge over on Beccy's Place.  You still have 10 days to enter this challenge.  You must use one of her images, but she does have quite a few for free.   And the second challenge is Sketch Saturday.  

I used my colored pencils and OMS for this image from Beccy Muir.  Isn't she cute?  She reminds me of a little Southern Belle out for a Summer stroll.  That little pinafore dress is adorable.   The sentiment is from Dessert Diva.  I used Memento Dandelion to ink all the edges of the focal image and the sentiment.  I matted them on  Cornflower Blue by Colorbok.  The DP is from my stash and I wish I knew who made it and how to get some more.  I just love that cloud design.  I used pop dots on the sentiment.  The die cut strip I received in a swap and don't know if was made from a die, a punch or a die cut machine, but I like it and thought it fit perfectly here.  The two sunflowers I found in my stash.   The card base is Navy Blue from SU.

I sure hope you all enjoyed this card as much as I enjoyed making it.  I sure hope you all are having a great week and I will you blessings.

Some New Challenge Blogs

Hello there.  I have been searching for some new challenges to do.  I have found quite a few and thought I would try my hand and some.  So this is going to be a long post.  Be prepared to read for a while.  I am going to showcase some cards I made for the new challenges.

Cute Card Thursdays

This site can be found HERE.  The challenge for this week is Diamonds are Forever.  I decided to create a birthday card using an image from  Beary Wishes and the sentiment is from Dessert Diva.  I used my colored pencils in shades of pink and gray to color in the image.  I rounded the corners and inked the edges in DI Vintage Photo.  I matted the image on a piece of gray CS from SU and rounded those corners too.  The DP is from my stash and once again all corners are rounded.  I used the same gray from SU for the card base.  Because the theme is Diamonds are Forever, I used lots of bling to simulate diamonds all over.

I think it turned out pretty well, I just don't understand the shadow in the middle of the image.  Freaky.  Oh well, thanks for stopping in today and I hope I don't burn out your eyes as you keep reading.  


Card Making Mamas

I am loving all the DT examples on this site which can be found HERE.  The whole blog is beautifully designed.    This weeks challenge was to create and CAS card.  I chose to make mine a Valentine's Day card.    I used a stamp set from Studio G for the image.  I stamped it with Memento Tuxedo Black and Lady Bug Red.  I cut the image to 2.5" x 2" and matted it on a piece of red and a piece of black.  I adhered it to the bottom right and added two red hearts and a black on floating up toward the left had corner.

It is definitely CAS with lots of white space.  I am not a big fan of lots of white space.  I like to add embellishments.  The more I add, the more I like it.  But, for a creative break, these CAS cards are a nice  way to go.  Take a hop on over to Card Making Mamas and check them out.


Just Us Girls (JUGS); My Time to Craft

These two sites are just packed full of interesting ideas and challenges.  The JUGS blog can be found HERE and the weekly challenge is a color challenge.  Lime Green, Gray and White.  My Time to Craft has a sketch challenge for this week.  I combined these two as well as using it for the monthly challenge over at Beccy's Place.  

I fell in love with this wishing well when I saw it as a freebie.  I just love old fashioned wells.  We had one on my grandpa's farm when I was a child and I was facinated by it.  I knew I had to use this one for a card, but I didn't have the chance until now.  Using the gray and green combo worked very well with the way I had colored this image.  I love the sketch that we were challenged to use too.  

I used my colored pencils to color the image.  Everything was cut on my paper trimmer so this was a very easy card to put together.  I matted the image on SU Gray as well as used it for the card base.  The lime green and white are from my stash.  The DP is from a set that I bought right before Christmas from AC Moore.  It is by American Crafts and was in a cute pink binder system.  There are over 400 pieces of paper in the pack and I paid $19.99 for it.  Regular price was $59.99.  I thought it was a pretty good deal so I snagged it.  I used a Fiskar's Corner punch for the accents on the corners.  The sentiment is from a set of stamps that I got free but have no idea who designed them.

Thanks so much guys for stopping in today.  I hope you enjoyed the cards that I showcased and I hope your eyes aren't bleeding from such a long post.  I have three more cards but will put them in another post.  God bless you all.

Happy New Year

Happy 2013 everyone.  I hope that all my friends had a wonderful Christmas and a safe and blessed New Year.  We were bombarded with about 8 inches of snow right around Christmas so we had a White Christmas.  My mother was afraid she was going to be trapped up here in NE PA until the Spring Thaw.  She went home on the 28th.  I am so thankful for her visit because it sure was a big help.  Being unable to lift over 5 pounds, no stretching, bending, reaching, and having to wear this neck brace sure puts a damper on things.  

I was a little depressed when I had to send out, "gulp", store bought cards this year.  Everyone totally understands the situation, but for the past four years I have made my cards for friends and family.  But, I was able to focus more on my family and the true meaning of Christmas this year instead of how many cards I needed to get done.  So, all in all,  it was good.

I have been able to get a card done for the first Teapot Tuesday of the new year.  I have to be careful about how long I sit at my scrap desk and the movements I make, but I finished it and I thought I would share it with you. 

This card is going to Erik and Andrea who, after 19 years of marriage and some miscarriages, welcomed their baby twins, Theo and Sopris, into this world on December 19.  What a blessing and a Christmas miracle this family experienced just a few short weeks ago.  Their story touched my heart and I knew I had to try to complete this card for them.

I made a gate fold card which I thought was appropriate considering we have two babies.  I used all DP from my stash.  The ribbon was white and I used Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks to color one blue and one pink.  I attached little diaper pins to the bottoms of the ribbon.  The embellishments are from Recollections and the pink one says BABY GIRL and the blue one says BABY BOY.  I added blue and pink pearls for a little bling.

 The inside is done with the colors on the opposite flap just for a little variations.  I fussy cut the bows and the stuffed animal border from a baby paper pack I got a few years ago on clearance at AC Moore.  I used Memento Inks to stamp the sentiments which are from SU and Recollections.  I inked all the DP and Card stock with DI Vintage Photo.  The middle DP background paper has both pink and blue letters to tie both colors together.  I sure hope is brings joy to Erik and Andrea when they open it.

I hope to try and post at least once a week until I am free of this collar.  I am going to try my best to try and make some cards to encourage and bring joy to people.  I did go through the stash of cards I already have from my own creating as well as swaps and I think I could get away with not crafting for a couple of months, but it's like breathing.  I have to do it.  It's in my blood and my soul and I consider the cards I make a talent that God has given me to bless other people.  When I am not able to do so, I feel like I am missing out on my own blessing.

Thank you so much for stopping in and taking a gander.  I hope that you will continue to keep up with me as I plug along.  Thanks again for all the thoughts and prayers that have been said on my behalf.  I will also keep you posted on my progress.  God bless you all.

Vera Bradley Inspired Card

Hi peeps.  I have another card to show you today.  I received a special order for a birthday card this week.  The lady is buying her daughter a Vera Bradley cosmetic bag for her birthday and wanted a card especially for her.  So, I Googled Vera Bradley Since I am not a girly girl, I know absolutely nothing about purse designers.  The name of the bag is Island Bloom and I have to say, it is a beautiful bag.  Not so much for the style, but as a crafter, the design and color combinations.   So here is the bag..the aquas and lime greens I absolutely love.  The black outlined flowers really set it off.  Kinda tropical don'tcha think?



This is the front of the card.  The base is made with a K & Co prefolded gatefold card with a twist.

I received a pack of these cards from my Big Sis over on SCS.  Thanks Mary!  I used some papers from my stash and unfortunately, when I began scrapbooking back in 2004, I wasn't so concerned with keeping my paper lines seperate.  Now, I wish I had because I still have some papers from 2004 and have no idea which lines they belong to.  Yes, I know, I am a paper addict.  It's bad.  I actually have enough paper that even if I didn't buy anymore for probably 2 years I could still craft.  With the exception of my cardstock, I am set for patterned paper.  But dang it, there are just so many beautiful collections out there.  So, back to the card.  I tried to match up the patterns and colors on the Vera Bradley purse as close as I could.   I pulled a couple of sheets that had the green, black, and aqua together, but they didn't seem quite right.  So I decided on this cute lime green with white flowers, black with white outlined flowers, and a small aqua print.  It does have brown in it, but not enough of a difference with the black that it clashed.  I also used a lime green cardstock from my stash to mat the patterned paper on.  The sentiment was printed out on my computer using the Brushstroke font set at 24.  I had a slightly hard time getting the diamonds to match up, and they still weren't perfectly straight, but that's the fun of crafting, right.  Imperfections make it handmade.

The inside was done with a combination of the black and white and green and white patterned paper and black cardstock and green cardstock.  I layered them leaving 1/8th of an inch between each layer.  The sentiment for the inside came from a list compiled on SCS (Splitcoast Stampers).  It's a great list of sentiments for all occassions.  I printed it out on my computer and used the same Brushstroke font as the front sentiment, just in a smaller size.  I mounted it on aqua cs just like the front.  I added the flowers on the green panels from some I had in my stash..again, I have no idea where I got them or who they were made by.

So that's the card.  I hope you guys enjoyed it.  I know I had fun making it.  I am going to have to check out more of Vera's purses for more inspiration.  Whatcha think??