Birthday Cards & CPC News

I have two cards for you today. I needed to make up for not posting in so long! : ) First however, I want to share some news with you. I am really excited because Cindy offered me the Wednesday CASE Artist Hostess position at Christian Paper Crafts! Yay! Last time I posted, it was concerning my new position as Scrapbook Specialist at CPC. I just love it that we have added challenges for scrapbooking. After all, scrapbooking is how I started out in papercrafting. I love card making too, however. In fact, since I started stamping a few years ago, it might be fair to say that card making has become my first love. If not first, then it's at least a tie. I guess it boils down to loving to stamp! Anyway, I am really looking forward to all the exciting changes Cindy has planned at CPC.
This first card is a Birthday Card I made for my ds's girlfriend's grandparents (Whew......did I get all that right? lol). It seems that they have birthdays just a few days apart. So I decided to do this for  CPC's WCA76. Cindy hostessed that challenge, and the artist she chose to CASE was Joyce, who is one of our very talented Scrapbook Specialists who also makes great cards. The card I chose to CASE was her Please Know Sketch Challenge card. It is the lovely card she did for our Sketch Tuesday Challenge 81 (Gee, I  think I did another challenge!). The stamp is a digital one from Meljen Designs, so I decided I should enter the Meljen's Designs DT current challenge, which is to make a card with at least 3 Shapes. I believe this fits that challenge. The circle and scalloped circle were made by Paper Shapers punches, and the diecut shape that the sentiment is stamped on was made by an EK Success punch. That makes 3 shapes already. The base card is covered with striped dp by BoBunny and the blue star layer is from my stash (more shapes!) I loved the waffle paper that Joyce had on her card. I didn't have that, so I took some K & Co. dp and cut it into little slits for some movement. Btw, the sentiment is stamped with Brilliance Ink in Poppy and heat embossed with clear ep. I know that whole diecut looks pink, but I promise it's red! Don't know what my camera did, but I tried and tried to fix it and couldn't! Oh well....I think you get the idea.....

Here is a closer look at the Meljen Digital Stamp. Btw, her DT blog is located in my sidebar, but you can get all of her stamps at Whimsy Stamps. She has so many cute designs to choose from. I colored this stamp with Copics, and then the background is chalked with some Hampton Arts Glimmer Chalks that I just recently found. I just love these glimmery, shimmery, yet subtle chalks. I wish that the shimmer showed up clearly in the pic. I also used them to color in the background behind the sentiment, and not only does the diecut look pink in the photo,  but you can't see the shimmer. Oh well!  I also painted over each balloon with Pearl Smooch.  I didn't want you to think that I was simply a messy colorer when you looked at the balloons! I might be, but  the balloons look a little wonky (my fav word that I got from Cindy Coutts! lol) because of the Smooch. Once again, I don't see that nice little glimmer on this photo of those balloons either, but I wish you could see what the Smooch does irl.  I added a couple of rhinestone stars from my stash for a little more bling.

I am using the next card for two challenges. The first is Christian Paper Craft's latest Fun on Friday challenge (FOF78)  Robyn, who is the Fun on Friday Challenge Hostess, decided that this week's challenge should have some type of embossing. I'm not sure you can tell it, but the lion in my Missing You On Your Birthday card is stamped with black ink and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder. Everyone always says not to emboss with Copics, which is what he is colored with, but the little ridge the ep gives actually helps me color in the lines. I just avoid coloring on the ep, which is no problem.

Speaking of Copics, I am also using this card for the Copics Creations Challenge this week, which is to use browns or to make a scene.

To make this card, I used a stamp called Whimsy Lion from the Animal Collection of rubber stamps from Whimsy Stamps. I love this stamp. I've had it for a while and couldn't decide what sort of card to use it for.

It was so funny and cute, but looked sad. : )  So a card about Missing You on your Birthday seemed just perfect. As I mentioned, I stamped this cutie with black pigment ink, then heat embossed with clear ep.  I colored him with shades of brown Copics (and I need more, btw!) and chalked the background. I inked the edges of his panel and used the corner rounder, also. I did the same on the white cs and burnt orange cs that he is adhered to.  The dp is from Fancy Pants. I love all things Fancy Pants, including this paper. The whole thing is placed on a green card base. Pearls and tag are from my stash, and the sentiment was simply typed from using a font on my computer (that I know I got free from somewhere!).  

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today. Don't forget to check out my updated sidebar. Ummmm......if it isn't completely updated, it will be by tomorrow, I promise! Hope all of you have a blessed day!

: ) Lynn

Scrapbooking at Christian Paper Crafts!

How long has it been since I've posted? I know....since July! I feel so guilty. I can tell you how busy I've been since I got back from my fabulous beach trip, or I could tell you that my fibro has not improved and I'm not feeling well enough to do much at all. Both of those things would be true! I could also tell you how much time my new puppy, Augie, takes out of my daily schedule, whether I am housebreaking him or just playing with this adorable little furbaby who has stolen my heart! That is definitely true. I need to post pictures of Augie, as a matter of fact. Although he looks so much like Cotton, it would be difficult for you to tell the difference. lol I will pass the blame to my dh for that. I was browsing the net, looking at BichonPoo pups, and Kent saw Augie's pic. He didn't feel like his heart was ready for a new puppy. We have both had such a hard time dealing with losing Cotton. I finally decided that I would not think about missing Cotton to the degree that I was (which was getting crazy!), if we got a new pup. I knew a puppy could NEVER replace Cotton, but I thought it could help fill the void. I also wanted to find a puppy that needed us. So Kent saw Augie's pic and said "If you have to get one now, get that one". Even though I was a little bit worried that this puppy looked so much like Cotton, I had to jump at that chance. So Augie (which rhymes with doggie......Kent named him) was flown to us from Missouri! That's another long story. He is 7 months old now and full of energy. Next time I will show pics and tell a few Augie stories, but for now I will just say that he makes me very happy and keeps me very busy. SO.........

ZOE - Dare to Fly



that is why I have not posted the

BIG NEWS........

CHRISTIAN PAPER CRAFTS now has a SCRAPBOOKING component. I am fortunate enough to be one of the designers, better known as Scrapbook Specialists there. You have to come by and see for yourself. Jennipher Lowery is our fearless leader who came up with the whole scrapbooking idea. She has worked SO hard, plus she is so talented, as are the other Scrapbook Specialists. We have all kinds of fab challenges. They are monthly challenges and will start on the 15th of each month. We are already into our first group of challenges. My challenges will be technique challenges........Techniques to Scrap By.  Here is the layout I did as an example of my first challenge. The technique is MASKING....in this case,  to paint (with a brush or sponge......just no spray paint) over a mask of some sort in at least 2 places on your lo.  

The mask can be one that you buy, like the Heidi Swapp butterfly masks that I used on my base cardstock, or you can make your own mask out of most anything. As you can see below, I added a Basic Grey half pearl and painted the antennae in with gold Smooch. You can also clearly see the K & Co. blue rhinesones lined up over the photo mat.



Closeup of painting over Heidi Swapp masks

 I laid a Queen & Co. felt border strip on the left end of the Crate Paper mat that is under the photo and painted over that. Then I carefully pulled up the border strip. See what a great mask it turned out to be? It already had adhesive on the back, and HERE'S A GOOD TIP- ***I laid it on my jeans and pulled it up a few times before adhering it. This takes away some of the stickiness, so when you pull it off the page after painting over it, it won't mess up your page by pulling up some of the paper with it!***  The paint I used for all of the masking was a mixture of pale blue acrylic paint and Lumiere Pearl White (which is a shiny, metallic paint that gives a nice shimmery look to the mixture). In the closeup below, you can also get a better look at the red ribbon with pearls that I adhered under the photo, as well as the edge of the Hambly white acrylic border that I rested the photo on at an angle.

Masking done by painting over Queen & Co. felt border

In case you are wondering, the beautiful little girl in the photo is Zoe, who is the granddaughter of one of my two best friends in the world - Jill. I have done other layouts of Zoe......just look at my slideshow. Wow, she has grown so fast. That's why we scrapbook, isn't it? To capture those moments that slip by so quickly.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I plan on having a tutorial for my next technique challenge, but I do hope you will stop by before that! Please stop by CPC also and check out our new scrapbooking challenges, as well as the card challenges. It's a great place to fellowship with others who love Christ and to get some great inspiration from the talented DT and members! Hope to see you there!
 

Time for some Stampavie!

Well, I finally had a chance to do a blog post. I was so determined to do this at least every other day. Ha. Ha. That hasn't worked out. I have been online researching health insurance info. It is overwhelming. Plus, I have been looking for room rates for Myrtle Beach. Now that has been fun, but also very time consuming. It looks like my son and his girlfriend are going with us, so we will have a blast. I don't know how much I can actually do at the beach now with my fibrogarbage being so bad now, but I sure am going to give it a try. We haven't been able to have a vacation in several years, so this will be great. Although, I am looking for rooms with wifi or I'll be lost without my puter! lol Have to pack my scrappy supplies......oh well, enough of that. That's in a couple of weeks. For now I want to show you a card I made using the "Ruffles Get Well" stamp by Helz Cuppleditch for Stampavie. I LOVE Stampavie stamps, so now that I finally have a little cash, they are one of the companies I started ordering from! THAT has been fun. Here is the card that I made:

 Isn't Ruffles cute? I stamped him on white Bazzill cardstock, which I then heat embossed like everyone says not to do if you are going to color with Copics. I do it all the time, and it really does help me with my coloring. I use black pigment ink and clear embossing powder. That little ridge you get from embossing helps me stay in the lines better. I just don't color over it with my Copics, but that is the point, isn't it?" lol  Anyway, I took my stamped image and ran it through my BigKick, using oval scalloped Nesties for the cutting and embossing. I then went back and colored the image with my Copics, as well as coloring the embossed edge with a pale blue color. I adhered this piece to some bright blue cs in my stash. I also stamped the sentiment (from MSE) on that same bright blue. The background is Basic Grey  from the Olivia collection.  I added  some pearls and ribbon from my stash and a Prima flower.

I am sending this into this week's challenge from Practical Scrappers  which is to use cartoons, animation or characters (think I have all of that right! lol). Ruffles is certainly a character, so in he goes. Also I am sending  this in for A Spoonfull of Sugar's Card Drive. If you did not know, Michelle Oatman, one of the very talented dt members from Stampavie, who has the blogspot Donkey Smiles, was kicked by one of her beloved donkeys and is now blind in her right eye.  A Spoonfull of  Sugar  is doing a card drive for Michelle. They have several wonderful prizes offered as well as a link to a free adorable donkey image drawn by two of Whimsy Stamps artists, Melissa Jenkins and Ann Vento. In addition, if you go to the Stampavie dt blog, Tina Wenke has drawn another darling donkey image for you to download. They simply ask that you donate at least $3 to Michelle's Paypal account to help pay her medical expenses for a new eye. How wonderful that the Lord has blessed us with the knowledge to do such things now!  The information about donating is on their blog, and the info for mailing your card from the card drive to Michelle is on the Spoonfull of Sugar site.  If for any reasons my links do not work, they are also in my sidebar if you are interested in helping Michelle in either way mentioned.  It is certainly a wonderful way to give back a little to someone who has given so much to our papercrafting world. May God bless you all!                                                                
                                                                  
                                                                          












                                                                                     
                                                                     

The Lord Gives Us HOPE!

                                                            
Here is a card I made for 3 challenges. The first is for Christian Paper Crafts for their #61 Color Monday Challenge, technically CPC-CM61. Jen wanted us to "Choose Your Own Story" and use, pink, blue, orange, yellow and neutrals or any of those. How fun is that! The 2nd challenge is for Stampin Sisters in Christ who want a card with no stamped images except for words. Finally, Practical Stampers wants us to use flowers of any kind on our creations this week. So this card qualifies for all 3 of these challenges. The HOPE stamp is from Paper Inspirations and quotes Jeremiah 29:11. I stamped it onto a soft green cs using black ink and heat embossed it with Ranger Clear ep. I inked the edges of this panel, adhered it to a slightly larger blue rectangle of cs, inked those edges, and did the same with a pink rectangle of cs. I adhered these to the Basic Grey dp from their Lemonade collection. I used a Queen & Co. adhesive flowery felt ribbon across the bottom. I used 3 flowers from K & Co. across the top. 

Btw, if any of my links don't work, they are in my sidebar. Thanks for looking and have a blessed day!

Happy Father's Day!

                                                  
I made one clean and simple card for Father's Day this time. It actually goes for 3 challenges. The first is for Christian Paper Crafts Fun on Friday Challenge. This week, for challenge CPC-FOF58, we were to make a masculine card. Two other sites wanted cards "For the Boys". They are Creative Inspirations Challenge Blog and Cupcake Challenge Blog. The links to all of these sites are in my sidebar. The design teams all did a great job. I am almost embarrased to turn this card in. I DON'T do CAS well, and I felt like I had to do CAS to do a guy card. After looking at all the inspiration, I found out that was totally wrong! My new goal is to make a great guy card without going the clean and simple route, because it is just not me!

This card was made with K & Co dp covering the whole white cs base card. Yes, I covered the back, too. One big piece of paper. I used a Spellbinders Label 3 Nestie to cut and emboss white Bazzill cs, on which I stamped an owl image from Inkadinkado. I colored in the image with Copics and added a couple of epoxy leaves from my stash. The bottom of the card has an Autumn Leaves adhesive border, also going all the way around the card to the back. The letters for Dad and HOO are from Rusty Pickle, and the "loves you" letters are rub-ons from my stash.

Thanks for looking and hope everyone has a blessed Father's Day!

A Scripture Wall Hanging

Thanks for stopping by. I wanted to show you this wall hanging I made for Christian Paper Crafts Fun on Friday Challenge from last week. (Notice how I'm always a week or so behind! lol) Fortunately, there is no time limit for the challenges at CPC, so that's great for me. This challenge is technically CPC-FOF53. Candance did the challenge cause Cindy is CRAZY BUSY! Candance's challenge was to alter something - anything. Great for me because I have had this unfinished wood frame that I think I got from AC Moore sitting around the house for a bit. I've been wanting to do something with it, so I did! The frame itself measures 5 1/2" x 7 1/2". I sanded it and painted it with a coat of clear gesso. I used a very thin coat, because I wanted this to look very vintage and not look or feel very finished (as far as the frame goes). I then painted it with Making Memories Scrapbooking Paint in "Strawberries and Creme". That dried very quickly, and I took a fan brush and painted on Delta "Ivory" acrylic paint. The fan brush allows the paint to go on in a very haphazhard type look and makes it easy to blend it together - giving a peeled paint look, I HOPE. lol  After than had dried, I stamped butterflies and flowers from Fancy Pants clear stamps with Staz On "Cherry Pink" ink. Took Basic Grey pp from their Porcelain collection and cut out a piece to fit inside the frame and adhered it using the "Ultimate Glue". I adhered the pink ribbon from American Crafts with 3D Dots, as well as Prima flowers. The lovely adhesive lace at the top is from Jolee's Boutique. Finally I added the peel-off scripture from Creative Imaginations. I love this verse from Luke! Oh yes, one more thing. Fortunately for me, the holes were already punched in the frame, and it actually had a rope-like cord to hang by. I got rid of that and added the darker pink piece of American Crafts ribbon, tying knots in the front so it would hang correctly. I happen to love the way this turned out! I'm thinking of making some more and going crazy with different pp and colors and verses! Wow! Anyway, I hope you like this too. Thanks for stopping by. Stop by Christian Paper Crafts too. Their link is in my sidebar, as well as the link to Cindy's blog and her AMAZING blog candy!!!! Have to get there before Friday to see what you need to do to get that great prize!  Have a blessed day!

A Quick Post to Show You A Couple of Cards

These are a couple of cards that I wanted to
show you really quickly. The first one
is a card I made for a friend who is in
the hospital. I LOVE that particular verse from Jeremiah.
 It does give us hope to know that the Lord does have
a specific

plan for all of us!  The rubber stamp for this verse is

 from a company called Paper Inspirations. I stamped

 it on white cs cut and embossed using

Spellbinder's #4 Label. I colored the embossed

edge with a pale yellow Copic. The card base

is cream colored Bazzill, and the pp is from

 Basic Grey and Creative Imaginations.  

I made the flowers by cutting scallops

from the Creative Imaginations pp, topping

them with Primas and a shiny pink brad.

I also added some small silk flowers and

gems from my stash. I hope my friend

 likes her card, but mostly I hope she

is out of the hospital soon!

This one I actually made a week or so ago and never

 got around to posting it. The image is from one

 of my FAVORITE stamp companies - Cowtown

 Stamps. I posted another card I made using one

of their stamps not long ago. They just have the

cutest images and such a variety. You really

need to check them out. The link is in my

sidebar. The base card is a burnt orange

from Bazzill. The background paper on

this is K & Co., and the strip of pink and

yellow pp is by The Black Market Stamp

 Society. I added some jewels, the sentiment

came from my computer, and I colored the

 image with Copics. I also added a few silk

flowers from my stash to blend with the

flowers from the image, and some blue

adhesive ribbon. With this message,

the card could be

for a bday or a new baby or any life change!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Memorial Day!

Christian Paper Crafts Bible Verse Thursday Challenge

                                             

Today I want to show you a card I made for Christian Paper Crafts (a link is in my sidebar).  It is such a wonderful site. I encourage you all to visit there. It is filled with many VERY talented papercrafters and devoted sisters in Christ. The fact that I am the journal challenge hostess there has NOTHING to do with my love for the place! lol  One thing is for sure - I have met so many friends who have helped me through this rough period dealing with my fibrogarbage and waiting to hear about my disability. Their prayers on my behalf, along with the prayers of so many other dear friends both off and online, have definitely been heard and answered by the Lord. He has been so awesome.

Now for my confession......I am doing last week's Bible Verse Thursday Challenge. It is technically CPC-BVT54. So I am a week behind, but the great thing at CPC is that there is no time limit on the challenges. You can't beat that! Angella wanted us to do a papercrafted item with an image of hands or a Bible verse having to do with hands. I used Our Daily Bread's set "I Am The Potter".  I love the stamps in this set. It is the first set I bought from ODBD. In fact, it is the only set I have from there SO FAR. I hope to buy more as soon as I have a little cash!

As far as the card goes, the base card is gold Bazzill. The striped pp is from Memory Boutique, as is the blue pp at the top, on which I used my Threading Water border punch. I then adhered gold gems over each hole. I colored the pots with my Copics and a little bit of Smooch in various colors, cut them out, and adhered them with 3D dots to two  2 1/2 in scalloped pieces which I punched out of shiny yellow Gemstones CS with my Paper Shapers. I added one Classy Red Pearl to the center of the pots. The sentiment is stamped in black and heat embossed with clear ep onto a white chipboard oval from Technique Tuesday. I used various colored chalks to color in the background and added 3 Queen & Co. Classy Red Pearls. The chipboard piece was adhered to a 3 1/2 scalloped piece, also punched out of yellow CS with my Paper Shapers. I punched tiny holes in the bottom of the scalloped piece and ran the green cord through it, then tied it in a bow. I also used Ranger Tea Dye Distress Ink on the edge of all the yellow CS.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope I can keep up with more of the challenge at Christian Paper Crafts, and if you stop by again, I'll try to have kept up with my blogging and more challenges. Have a blessed day!

A Naughty Kitty!

This card was originally made for last week's Sweet 'n Sassy Digital Challenge from SNR (SNSDD 18 - What's from your garden?).  However, I just didn't get it completed and posted in time. I did use their adorable stamp, "Naughty Kitty".  How cute is this kitty who climbed into the flower pot? I thought it was adorable. I am sending it to a special little girl - Zoe. She visited me last week with my dear friend, Jill, who happens to be Zoe's dgm. Here is a photo of this sweet, pretty little girl who deserves a million cards!

Isn't she a doll playing in the bubbles? Hope she likes her card.  Speaking of the card, the base is a pink card (one of Zoe's favorite colors). I distressed a panel of CTMH pp with Ranger Tea Dye distress ink and my CTMH edge distresser and adhered it to the base. The pink adhesive paper ribbon is from K & Co. I colored the stamped image with Copics, cut it out and adhered it with 3D dots. I used little silk flowers from AC Moore and placed a few of them throughout the stamped image for dimension. I also punched a hole through one of the flowers so I could attach a small pink butterfly brad from Doodlebug. I then took Wine glitter by Glitter Glitz and adhered a little bit (using my glue pen) to the edges of some of the flowers. The glitter looks much better IRL, btw. I used Stickles around the chipboard piece with the sentiment "Giggles". Finally I added a foam butterfly (Zoe requested butterflies on her card) and 2 pink jewels from my stash. Think that about covers it.  I am sending it to 2 challenges. The first is the challenge this week from A Spoonful of Sugar, which is "Cute and Girly". The second is this week's challenge from Creative Inspirations, which is "For a Child".  I think this card fits both.

Thanks for stopping by and have a day filled with blessings!

One Mother's Day Card - 2 Challenges

I can't believe it has been so long since I have posted here! I was doing so well about posting on a fairly regular basis. My fibro-garbage has been flaring up, and somehow I am busy even though being busy somehow involved sitting on the couch.....Oh well, enough about that. I do have so many challenges that I meant to do and haven't been able to keep up with. I did manage to make this Mother's Day Card. A friend loved it and bought it which was good for my ego! lol I happen to like it myself and I hope you do.

The base card is a soft pink (which I love). I took a darker piece of pink cs, distressed it quite a bit with my CTMH edge distresser, and sponged the edges with some Tea Dye Distress Ink. Yes, I love pink! The butterflies and large flowers were made by fussy cutting from some lovely SEI paper. Some of the pieces already had some glitter, and I added various colors of Stickles to the others. The sentiment is from MSE, which I stamped and heat embossed on a scalloped white cardstock circle I made using a Paper Shapers Punch. I chalked the background with green. You will notice that I also colored in some of the leaves (using Copics) with green. Needed a little break from all that pink! : ) I even added a little green flower and brad at the lower left corner of the card, over the white lace. Added 3 green pearls from my stash in the upper left corner, and some white Prima pearls in a swirl. Adhered everything with 3-D Dots and folded up the butterfly wings for some dimension. Think that about covers that!

I'm sending this in to 2 challenges. The first is Cupcake Craft Challenges. Their challenge this week is to make a card that is not square shaped. They are giving a wonderful prize from The Stamping Boutique, so stop by! The other challenge I am entering is at A Spoonful of Sugar Challenge Blog. Their challenge is to do any kind of 3D card. They also have a wonderful prize by Bunny Zoe's Crafts - a stamp called Mimosa's Birthday and a sentiment stamp that says Hugs and Kisses. So you need to stop by their blog also and have a look. If for any reason these links don't work, they are in my sidebar!

Hope you have a blessed day, and thanks so much for stopping by my blog!

For God So Loved the World.....

That is the sentiment on the Easter card I have made this time. I am making this for 2 challenges this week. One is new to me. It is Our Creative Corner. They want an Easter theme this week. The other is a challenge site that I often give a try - Stamp Something Fun. They also want an Easter theme this week. If either of these links don't work, they are both in my sidebar.

The sentiment and lovely cross image came from a clear stamp set called "Spiritual Sketches" from Inkadinkado. The blue card base is 5 x 7. I cut and dry embossed white card stock with a Label 4 Nestie and stamped my cross image there with brown Brilliance ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. I do like the way that slightly raises the lines in my images - which makes it easier for me to color with my Copics. I did use a glue pen to adhere a few lines of Crystal P.K. Glitz glitter at the top of the cross to simulate a sort of glow coming off of it. The sentiment was also done with brown ink and clear ep. I did this on a small rectangle of white cs. I then rounded the top corners and used a Martha Stewart border punch on the bottom. I adhered both white cs pieces with EK's 3D Dots for dimension. I adhered K & Co's Smitten self-adhesive ribbon in white to the left side of the card, along with 2 little blue Offray bows. I added the brown Pink Paislee rub on vine to the right side. I cut out a little butterfly from some vintage pp from my stash and adhered. Also added 3 white pearls on the top right corner. Oh yes, the little brown heart by the sentiment is also a PP rub on.

Thanks so much for looking! I love all the cute Easter cards with bunnies and such. I make quite a few of them. However, I really love this card, as it reminds us of the reason we celebrate

Easter in the first place! It is amazing to think that the Lord gave His only Son to die this way for us. Of course, the fact that Jesus rose again in 3 days is the true message of the cross! How marvelous that those who believe in Him and love Him as our Lord and Savior will also rise and be with Him in Heaven! What a wonderful blessing, and may all of you have a blessed day!

A Cute Newborn Chickie Welcomes Spring!

This is my card for the Our Daily Bread Designs Shining Light Challenge 5. This week is the first time they have used a sketch for this challenge. I love the sketch. I am only fortunate enough to have one of their awesome stamp sets, which you must use in these challenges to be eligible to get a Shining Light Award. However, I am still eligible for the random drawing for a $15 GC toward their store. So I am hoping to WIN some more of their stamps until my finances improve and I can actually start buying them!

I should have downloaded a pic of the sketch for you to see, but you can click on the link above or the one on my sidebar and have a look at it. You can also see all the gorgeous examples the DT did to inspire us. Also check out the info on their anniversary activities that are starting on the 13th, I believe. FUN things to do and more chances to win their goodies! Now, on to my card. The card base is 5 1/4 x 5 1/4. The front is totally covered with the yellow (with some pink in there) paper from the Basic Grey Lemonade collection. I know it looks kind of greenish in the pic, but that's my scanner, I guess. The pp used for the bottom scallop and the matching pp across the bottom is also from the Lemonade Collecion. I used the Fiskar's Threading Water border punch on that bottom strip. The solid pink paper ribbon is from K & Co's Smitten Collection. The sentiment, Welcome Spring, is from Unity Stamp Co. The image of that cute little chick just hatching is from Cowtown Stamps. I really love that stamp company. They have so many CUTE stamps! Right now there is quite a sale. You should check them out, too. I stamped the image with black pigment ink and heat embossed it with clear ep. I colored the image, including the blue background, with Copics. I outlined both of the scallops that I punched with a darker blue Copic, so that that both pieces would pop. I also adhered them with 3D Dots for dimension. I finished it all off with blue gems in the upper corners and 2 small Prima flowers on the lower scallop.

Hope you liked my card. Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed day!

My Flower Card for Fun on Friday Challenge 42 by Cindy & SSCC Challenge 29

Well, I finally did it. I have been the Journaling Challenge Hostess for the Christian Paper Crafts Magazine forum for several months now. (If the link doesn't work, it's in my sidebar.) Before that I was a member. Before that I was a lurker (such a creepy word! lol). In all that time, I think I have made ONE creation for the site. There are a couple of reasons. One is that my life has been so crazy lately that I haven't created much at all. I think the 2nd may be that I am truly intimidated by all the great talent there, and so I feel like my creations must be amazing! Theirs sure are! You definintely need to stop by there and have a look. You will see what I mean. You will also meet so many sweet, encouraging, devout sisters in Christ. You will find awesome Bible studies by Natalie, wisdom filled devotionals by Marcelle, many challenges based on Bible verses by others. I will not name everyone, although they all deserve it. The goal of everyone is to have fun creating while spreading the Word! How perfect is that?

Anyway, Cindy Coutts, who is the owner and is such a kind, caring servant of the Lord who works so hard, does a Fun on Friday challenge weekly. There is no time limit, so you can go back and do older challenges. I really like that. In fact, that is what I am doing. This card is from the challenge before last. We were supposed to have flowers in our card. This is challenge Fof42.

When Randi at CPC saw this card, she was kind enough to suggest that I should send it into the latest challenge for Stampin' Sisters in Christ, Challenge 29 which is all about joy. It is based on Isaiah 12:6. I had already looked at the challenge and marveled over the beautiful examples done by the DT (including Randi's gorgeous card!), but hadn't really thought this card quite fit. However, after Randi's suggestion, I went back and looked more carefully at the challenge and decided that if I am sending someone happy thoughts, that's a card that expresses joy! I definitely was joyful when I made it, as I am anytime I get all involved in a project. So this card is going to SSCC also! I really appreciate Randi's suggestion because the prize this week is a totally cute stamp from Humble Pie Stamps. I would love to win that!

My card is 5 x 7. I took a white card base, cut out Rusty Pickle pp just slightly smaller than the card and adhered. I used Spellbinders Nestabilities Label 4 to cut out and emboss white cs. We have been discussing heat embossing on the board lately, so I almost always heat emboss & did so on this card. I stamped a flower image with a stamp by Me & My Big Ideas with Cranberry Stampabilities PIGMENT ink. Let me stop and say that I believe people that are having trouble with heat embossing should use pigment ink and see if that doesn't help. It is the best ink for heat embossing imho. I stamped the bottom with a green ink by Brilliance Dewdrops pigment ink.

Here is the important part! I poured Ranger Antiquities embossing powder in Claret over the blossom portion. I poured Ranger Super Fine Detail ep over the green ink. It is important to note that any of the distressing ep (to which Antiquities is similar), you get a look that is not smooth and almost glittery. A closeup of the blossom is below so you can see what I mean. You can also see the P.K. Glitz glitter in Wine that I used to edge my blossom here and there. I thought one blossom needed some bling. If you have never used P.K. Glitz glitter, you should try them or at least have a look at their website. They have about a million colors and the texture is so fine. I found them at a convention I went to several years ago and had to buy one of their kits. I bought their sticky paper too. It is unreal. The glitter ALWAYS sticks to it. Back to the subject at hand, I used a glue pen and poured the glitter over my image. This glitter stays better than any I have found, unless you are using a glitter glue.

Speaking of glitter glue, for my sentiment, I punched a 1 1/2 in. circle out of white cs. I stamped the sentiment (from My Sentiments Exactly) with the same Cranberry color, but I used the Clear ep for it because the fine ep does better with small letters. I punched a 2 in. scalloped circle from some cs from my stash that seemed to match the Cranberry. I then used Stickles in Pink over each scallop. I wasn't perfect about this at all. Just wanted some bling. I adhered some white Satin ribbon across the bottom, adhered the sentiment circle to that with 3D Dots, along with 2 pearls and a little flower. I also adhered 3 colored pearls on the top right of my pp. I adhered my Nestabilities label with 3D Dots also. I just like that little added dimension.

Here is the closup of the blossom.

That's it. I'm going now to upload my card. Thanks for stopping by my blog and have a blessed day!

My First Easter Card for 2010

I think you will see more on my blog than usual now. After I got over the initial shock of our beloved fur baby, Cotton, passing away, I am pushing myself to start creating again. It is definitely therapeutic, but I couldn't make myself even get off the couch for a while. I hope I will be able to do a layout of him to frame very soon. Right now, at least I have been able to make some cards. This is the first Easter card I have made this year. I actually felt bad that it wasn't about Christ's resurrection, but I am sure these dancing bunnies are rejoicing over His resurrection, don't ya think? This card fit the criteria for two challenges this week. One is from the Copic Challenge Blog. If the link doesn't work, it is in my sidebar. This week they wanted an Easter card, and you were supposed to use your Copics to color your embellishments. I used my Copics to color in the Prima flower that I used. It was originally solid pink. I didn't realize that Copics would do so well on coloring embellishments - I tried it on ribbon, too (not on this card), and it turned out great. There is a video tutorial on the site if you want some more ideas. I also colored my dancing bunnies with my Copics. The stamp is just so cute, I think. It came from Cowtown stamps, and if you haven't seen their stamps, please have a look. There are so many great stamps and the prices are also great! Btw, I stamped the image and then heat embossed it. I can color better with my markers when the image is slightly raised from embossing (a tip from someone who has trouble staying in the lines! lol).

Down below you can see the closeup of the flower I colored and see where I added a few pink Stickles for some bling. I also posted another picture of the card, because the first one is from a scanner, and the edge of my round embellie was cut off. So I wanted you to see it all!

The other challenge that this card is for is from Stamp Something. The link is also in my sidebar if this link doesn't work. Their challenge this week is a recipe challenge. We had to have dp, buttons and ribbons. In case you can't see my white ribbon, it is from the K & Co. Smitten collection. The solid blue dp is from Basic Grey and the blue dotted paper is from Creative Imaginations. Oh yes, the pink dotted paper is from Best Creation. I inked the edges of everything with Tea Rose Distress Ink. The Happy Easter die cut is from Bo Bunny also. I used Pop Dots on both my die cut and stamped image to give them some dimension. The buttons are from my stash and actually match much better than the pic shows! The blue gemstones are also from my stash.

Hope you like my dancing bunnies card. Thanks for stopping by my blog and have a blessed day!

Our Daily Bread Shining Light Challenge 3

Even though I am not at all happy with the pic of this card, and how washed out it all seems to look, I don't have time to take a photo from another angle. In fact, I didn't have time to fix it with my photo editing software either - which would have helped, I think. So here it is, in spite of my whining, because my deadline is upon me! This is my card for Our Daily Bread's 3rd Shining Light Challenge. This challenge is called "Secret Admirer", because we pick an artist or card we admire and case it. I chose to case the extremely talented Chris Olsen's card using the "You are the Potter" set. I hope you can see her card here, but if not I will come back and fix the link. I have had so many computer issues that I will be lucky to get this in on time. We were supposed to change 2 things. I changed the frame's shape, but I got really close. The big changes were the dp and I don't have a machine to do stitching. Oh yes, I used brown ribbon, but I had the exact lacey (is that lace exactly? lol) ribbon that Chris used by Wrights. Will come back later with more info on how I made the card. Right now, I am just trying to get it in! The link to Our Daily Bread is in my sidebar. I love all of their stamps, but unfortunately this is the only set I have! $$$ is tight right now, so I am hoping to win more of their stamps. : ) They are beautiful AND they glorify our Lord. Can't beat that! Go have a look at all their goodies and all the wonderful talent there also.

More later on how I made my card! Have a blessed day.

Altered Creation - 8 x 8 Family Christmas Mini Album

ALL HEARTS COME HOME FOR CHRISTMAS

This is an 8 x 8 mini album I made to sell on ETSY. I also made it for the Altered Challenge Group at the Challenge Master's site. However, I didn't get it finished in time for the December Challenge. I made this using my Bind-It-All. The front and back cover are the sturdy Bind-It-All covers. There are 8 inner pages, which are made with thick manila folder pages completely covered with patterned paper. This means there are 10 actual pages for journaling and pictures. With a few exceptions, the format is basically that the left page has room for journaling, and the right page has a place for pictures. I used pp from several companies, but a great deal of it, including the covers, are Websters Pages. I used a lot of Bobunny, also. These are 2 companies I always love. There are Christmas embellishments and words throughout the book, all with a slightly shabby chic look. Obviously, I have added LOTS of ribbon to cover the white O wires.

Here are the first 2 pages:

Next is page 3. The journaling card says "My ten greatest joys.....".

Next is p. 4 on the right hand side. The wreath on the Websters Pages pp makes a natural picture frame:

Here is a closeup view of that page with a fabric sticker saying "sweet" adhered. I love the 2 birdies kissing:

On page 5, I have made 3 circular spots, all with an acrylic overlay. One has lines for journaling. I love the glittery, embossed Bobunny pp:

The next page is p. 6 on the right side. It has a large area with cream colored cs where photos can be placed:

Here is a closeup of the top of the page with a lovely Prima rose:

Next is p. 7. The journaling area is from Teresa Collins:

Page 8 has a large tag which can be used as a photo mat. Some fancy gold tinsel ribbon is tied through the hole punched at the top of the page. Notice lots of the pages have the little snowmen or penquins, just as a little cute embellishment to provide some continuity throughout the book:

Next, we flip to p. 9. This page has a photo mat with a journaling tag tucked down behind it. I punched a hole at the top of the tag and put more tinsel ribbon. I also added white and green pearls. You can write whatever you like on the tag and place it back behind your photo. Santa and his reindeer are part of the Websters Pages pp. The sentiments are fabric stickers:

The last inner page is page 10, which has a large area for photos. At the bottom is a small circle with lines for journaling. Next to this is a little white Christmas flower and the words blessings, believe, and magic. The top of the page (next to the penguin) is a 3D embellishment that says "memories". Their are bells on transparency type paper at the top of this page and this type of embellishment is also found throughout the whole book:

Finally, we come to the back cover. It is covered with Websters Pages pp., a diecut from Bobunny and a circle definition from Making Memories. Also a border element from Websters also:

Hope you enjoyed looking at my mini album. It is for sale! I just have to get it on ETSY, and I thought I would try selling on some of the other Handmade sites this time. I figure lots of us will be getting our holiday photos about now, so lots of people will be in the market for a Christmas mini album. If anyone is interested in seeing any other close ups of any of the pages, please let me know! Thanks, and have a blessed week!

Cocoa Mouse with Some of My Fav Doily Hearts

With Valentine's Day drawing near (Yes, it is drawing near!), I made a card using one of Sweet n' Sassy Stamps' digi stamps - Cocoa, Be Mine. I love Sweet n' Sassy Stamps, and now I have tried some of their digis. I love them, too. This weekend was their Digi Day Challenge at SNR Card Universe (link in my sidebar). Our creation was supposed to use pink and red, and this is what I came up with. Since the challenge at A Spoonful of Sugar (link also in my sidebar) was to use hearts, even though Cocoa already had a heart in his cute little envelope, I added a couple of more lace doily hearts. I always loved those when I was a little girl, and I still do. The pp I used was from Creative Imaginations, and I colored my cute little image with Copics.

Thanks for looking and have a blessed day!