A Layout Remembering my Beautiful Mother with ODBD Stamps

July's Let Your Light Shine Scrapbook Challenge at Our Daily Bread Designs is to create a page using circles and your fav color (or a color from the photo you use).  ODBD stamps are to be used also. I LOVE ODBD stamps! I have a few sets, but there are SO MANY that I would love to have!!! Like.....all of them! lol  Perhaps I will get lucky and win the awesome $25 to use in their store. Of course that could be a problem, since it would take me forever to choose just one set. What a great problem to have......teehee.

Anyway, even if I don't win, I really enjoyed working on this layout of my mom. There are 2 photos on this page. One in particular is not the best quality, but considering that these are the originals from 1945, I think they look pretty good. The photos are of my mom at age 23 in her first MINK coat! Yes, mink. Now I am a big animal advocate, and I know that is not politically correct. In fact, my mom (who passed away in 2001) was also an animal lover and wouldn't have bought a real fur for as far back as I can remember, but I suspect things were different in 1945.  Before I go on, I suppose I could show you the layout! : )

The fav color that I used is a teal blue - don't know if you can tell how "teal" it is on various monitors, but I promise that irl, most of the blue in this lo is a teal shade - especially my circles. The circles in the title and under the birdie are chipboard that I inked with various shades, especially Brilliance Sky Blue, and then sprayed with "Glacier" Glimmer Mist for shimmer, plus it added to the teal color.

Here is a closeup of the title:

Wow - that doesn't even look teal on my monitor! Oh well, the chipboard letters in MOM are from Fiskars and K & Co. I wrote the other words on white cardstock, cut them out & adhered them to the chipboard. Obviously, I covered the heart with self-adhesive pearls.

My mom truly did have a merry heart. My childhood was often pretty crazy, due to the very serious problems my dad had that resulted in EXTREMELY abusive behavior toward Mama. She was always upbeat and even able to make jokes to lighten some really bad times. I attribute what sanity I have to her! (I know some of you may think that my sanity is questionable! lol) We were so close. I have missed her so much since she passed away. Here is a closeup of the photos. They were taken 10 years before I was born.

Below is the closeup of the stamp I used from ODBD's "Get Well" set:

                                                                              This panel is layered over a length of lovely blue lace from my stash. I did the stamping with brown pigment ink on cardstock that was dry embossed with the Butterfly Spellbinder's Impressability. I then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. I did the same with the other stamp below the right photo, using ODBD's Praying for You set:

That scripture is so appropriate! I DO always thank the Lord for my mother, though she is now in heaven. Btw, you will notice that the circle theme is carried out by the circular rhinestones and the Fiskars punch that I used on both sides of the largest piece of  patterned paper, plus the other teal chipboard circle with a diecut birdie on it.  It is also carried out by this Colorbok diecut that I did a little journaling on:

I popped this up on 3D dots and added teal (Yes, irl they are teal!) rhinestones to it. Since I did not have much room for journaling, and I wanted to tell the whole story of this day for Matt, my only son, and for anyone else who might be interested after I am no longer around to tell the story, I typed a whole page of journaling and put it in the pocket I made underneath the photos. You pull out the page with the "Memories sticker that you see here:

I stamped around it with the flourish part of the butterfly with flourishes stamp found in the ODBD's Friendship set. I thought it looked weird to just stop the flourishes part of the way down, so I decided to stamp it all the way down! See:

I stamped it with brown ink, obviously. I rather liked the way it turned out! : )  Here is the whole journaling page opened:

Sorry for the poor pic! As you can see - I typed most of the page, then added my own handwriting, and ended it with another scripture stamp and dragonfly. This one is from ODBD's "Praying for You" set. You can see it more clearly here:

This verse was the perfect ending. Although the typed portion described my mom's day in 1945, the part that was hand written had a little about her death and missing her. What better way to end than to remind the reader that there will be no more death or tears in heaven! I hope my future grandchildren will feel the joy of knowing that when they get to heaven,  they will see Jesus and the great-grandmother they never had the privilege of knowing here on earth!

That's it! I added an inked Prima flower lots of Prima pearl flourishes. I think this might be the longest post I have ever made about one project! lol  Please forgive the length. Be sure and have a look at ODBD's July Let Your Light Shine Scrapbook Challenge, where I am entering this page. You will see lots of creativity on their blog, I promise!  

                                                        Thanks for stopping by!                                                             

CASEing My Own Card to Make a CAS Card!

Well, I thought my title was just so cutesy, until it dawned on me that not everyone knows what CASE and CAS stand for! So much for being clever.......

Anyway,  in papercrafting, to CASE means to Copy and Share Everything. In other words, you find a card you really like, and you make one like it. For today's card, I CASEd my own card from my last post. I made my first easel card then, and I ended my post saying that I was starting on another one already. That's exactly what I did.  I was so pleased with my last card (especially the stamps I used on it from ODBD!) that I made another one a great deal like it, except that I made this one CAS - which is NOT my usual style!  CAS stands for Clean and Simple, btw. lol   Here it is:

As I said, I used ODBD stamps again. These are all from the Friendship Set. I used the same white base card and red cardstock for the front base as I did for my first easel card. The dp is also the same - from Sassafraslass. I simply flipped it over and used the striped side.  This already gave my card a more CAS look, so I kind of got the idea at that point. I tied the dp with the rest of my red dotted ribbon.  Instead of a doily like I used in the last card, I used a larger Spellbinder's Scalloped Oval cut from plain white cardstock. I stamped the lovely swirly butterfly on red mulberry paper again with CTMH White Dasiy ink, which I heat embossed with white embossing powder. This time I painted the edge with blue acrylic paint.  I used the same white ink and ep with the "Thank you for being my friend" sentiment. I think you'll notice that I do lots of heat embossing. It has to be my favorite technique - I love the look it gives!

The verse from Corinthians was stamped on a piece of cardstock from my stash with Brilliance Mediterranean Blue ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder - of course! : ) I painted the cardstock with blue acrylic paint first, btw. So their is plenty of red, white and blue!  Here is a closeup of the inside:

I added a piece of the dp (turned in the other direction) to the bottom half of the inside before adhering the cardstock verse. Finally, I had to add a few pearls! That is as CAS as I can get! lol

I am entering this in the following challenges:

ODBD Shining the Light Challenge - red, white and blue

Pile It On - favorite technique

Stamping, Scrapping Challenge Central - a CAS project

If any of the above links don't work for any reason, they are all in my sidebar. I hope you enjoyed my CAS CASE card! Thanks so much for stopping by.

                                                                                 

At Last - My First Easel Card!

I can't believe with all the techniques I love to try that I have never made a simple easel card until now! I really like the look of these cards, and the fact that the recipient has an easy way to display the card to share it with others. I made a very basic type of card, with the base card base being 5 1/2" square. You can find tutorials all over the web for a basic easel card if you just google it.

The stamps I used for this card are from ODBD. The butterfly is from their Friendship Set, and the Thinking of You stamp, along with the sentiment on the inside is from their Thinking of You Set.   Here is the card:

Here is a side view so you can see the "easel" part:

ODBD's Shining the Light Challenge this week is to use red, white and blue. I used red cardstock, and layered it with dp from Sassafrass Lass. I have really been using the dp quite a bit. I distressed the edge of the dp, and then tied white satin ribbon with red polka dots around this layer. I then found a white doily in my stash and inked it here and there with some blue Distressing Ink - just so it would show up and adhered it.  The other dp is a red mulberry paper. I'm not sure who made it, as I have been saving it!  I stamped it with the butterfly and the Thinking of You sentiment, using CTMH Daisy White ink and heat embossed it with white embossing powder. The butterfly was cut out with an oval scalloped Spellbinder's Nestie, and the sentiment with their long rectangle Nesties. I then added some lovely gemstone swirls that I got at Hobby Lobby.  I loved how they turned out.  Here is a closer look at the inside:

I used the blue tiles from my stash popped up on 3D Dots to prop of the front of the card. I added some K and Co. butterflies and another one of the swirls from the front page for consistency. As I said, the inside sentiment is from ODBD's Thinking of You Set, and I simply used scalloped scissors to cut it out.

I hope you liked my first easel card! I was so pleased with it, that I have already started on a similar one! I am entering this one in the following challenges:

ODBD's Shining the Light Challenge - red, white, and blue

Allsorts Challenge Blog - free and easy July (meaning anything goes)

Stampin for the Weekend - wings and things

                                                     Stamp Something - bugs and butterflies

If for any reason any of the above links don't work, don't worry - they are all in my sidebar. Thanks so much for stopping by my blog. Feel free to leave a comment. I love to read them!

An Elephant Never Forgets a Birthday - Right?

Right. That is why I am not an elephant! lol  But I do have this adorable elephant stamp that I got from I Brake for Stamps. They have so many stamps that I LOVE. Most of the ones I have right now are their Christmas stamps, but I'm hoping to change that. Their stamps are NOT run of the mill, that's for sure.

I Brake for Stamps now has a challenge blog. I will put the link below, and it is also in my sidebar. I am really excited that they are starting to have challenges. This week they wanted a birthday theme. That worked out well for me, since one of the few stamps I have from them that is not Christmasy is a Rick St. Dennis exclusive called "Party Elephant". It is one of my favorite stamps! I was also able to use another new stamp I have from a set by Glitz. It is also an elephant stamp. So I"ve had fun playing. Here is the card:

The musical notes dp is from Sassafrass Lass, and that includes the pretty floral border at the top of the card that came with the music notes paper. I love the way several companies have been adding those borders. The other dp has some glittery stars - perfect for celebrating a birthday. It is from We Are Memory Keepers. I computer generated the "I could never forget....", and the birthday sentiment, which was stamped and heat embossed with clear ep, is from a set by Inkadinkado. I already mentioned the elephant stamps. I colored the Rick St. Dennis stamp with Copics, with some Stickles on the candle flame, and chalked the background with a soft rose color. I chalked the background of both of the sentiments, also, and inked their edges.  I diecut my Party Elephant with a Spellbinders Label 4 Nestie. I used 3D Dots on it and both sentiments for some dimension. 

I stamped the small Glitz elehant with various colors of Brilliance pigment inks, heat embossed it with clear ep, and punched it with a 2" scallop punch. Here are closeups of both elephants:

I just think both of these elephants are so cute! I might start an elephant fetish! : )  As you can see, I added some pink pearl flourishes and a lovely Prima flower to finish off my card.

I am entering this in the following challenges:

I Brake for Stamps - Happy Birthday (use one of their stamps)

Stampin for the Weekend - Your Favorite Things (my new stamp, Prima

flowers, pearls, Nesties, and the colors I used!)

Simon Says Stamp and Show - show a flourish! My pearls are my flourish.

Allsorts Challenge Blog - free and easy July (or do what you want!)

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog. Please leave a comment if you have a minute. I love to see what you have to say!

                                                                       

A Perfect Thank You for July 4th Weekend

Hello everyone. I have a card to share with you that uses red, white, and blue colors, since this is the 4th after all. It is a Thank You card, and I got to use stamps from 2 new sets I just got recently. So I had lots of fun. Here is my card:

I have to say that I was happy with the way this turned out. I don't usually use these colors, and I'm definitely going to start using them now! I also was happy with my new stamp sets. The sewing machine is from the Stella and Rose "Mabel So Sweet" set from My Mind's Eye. I stamped it with CTMH's White Daisy Ink and heat embossed it with white embossing powder. The ruler is from The Girl's Paperie "Paper Girl" set. I stamped it with the same white ink on red cs and also heat embossed it with white ep. The "Thank You" sentiment is from My Sentiments Exactly and the rest of the sentiment are alpha stickers from Pink Paislee.

The card base is white with red and white striped paper by daisy d's adhered to it using my ATG Gun. (I love my ATG Gun, btw! lol) The blue and white striped paper is from We R Memory Keepers. I punched the right edge with a Martha Stewart punch. The red flowered piece is a die cut from my stash. I also added buttons (which I threaded with white floss)  and pearls from my stash.

I think you can tell that I distressed and inked the edges of the larger pieces of dp. I am entering this in the following challenges:

Scrapping Stamping Challenge Central - use red, white and blue

Crafty Creations Challenges - make a Thank You card

Tuesday Throwdown - use red, white, and blue

If for any reason these links don't work, you can find all of these listed in my sidebar. Thanks so much for stopping by my blog. Hope you all have a Happy 4th!