Scraplife with Lynn

Happy Bird Thank You Card

2012-01-24T20:43:00.000-05:00

Oh my goodness. I am almost embarrassed to post - it has been so long! At least I can honestly say it was on purpose. I was so busy making things to sell or give as gifts for Christmas that I decided to focus on only that for a while. Since then, I have had some pretty serious dental work, and I definitely wasn't in the creating mood!! Now things are back to normal (ummm.......as normal as they can be in my life! lol).

So this will be a very quick post. I made a thank you card for a wonderful friend who gave me a fabulous Christmas gift of subscriptions to 2 magazines I love. How sweet was that?! So I remembered that I had this darling HAPPY BIRD digi stamp that was a freebie from Doodle Pantry. It turns out that this week the theme of their challenge is to simply use one of their images! So I am trying to post this quickly, because I have to get this in on time! So here is my card:

Isn't this birdie adorable? The designer cardstock is from My Mind's Eye "Fine and Dandy Girl" collection. The diecut is a Spellbinder's Nesties Label. I directly inked it with several pink inks that I played with until I got what I wanted. I printed the birdie, colored with Copics, cut out, and attached with Popdots. The sentiment is from My Sentiments Exactly. I stamped it on a diecut in my stash, and attached it with 3D Dots too. The "so happy" phrase is from one of the Lost and Found Two sets. I distressed and inked the edges of the dp and added some rhinestones for some bling.

Now here is the inside of the card, which finishes it off perfectly for my friend.

The "for being" are alpha stickers from my stash, and the "so tweet" is a cute little individual stamp from Snag 'Em Stamps.

I hope you like this card. As I said, I am entering it (at the last second!) to Doodle Pantry Challenge 19. They have the cutest stamps there. I am going to frequent their shop, no doubt! Thanks for stopping by, and I will be back much more quickly this time!

Time for Perfect Sentiment's 3rd Challenge Reveal!

2011-10-19T03:36:00.000-04:00

Well ladies, last night was the deadline to enter last week's challenge at The Perfect Sentiment. We had so many lovely entries of Friendship Cards that were based on the amazing inspiration picture. Don't forget to check back Friday to see who was chosen as The Perfect 3 and who won the random drawing. It will be soooo hard to choose The Perfect 3 - that's for sure!

Now on to this week's challenge! You are to make a Get Well Card (or a card that expresses this in some form or fashion). The twist (Remember, there's always a twist on our challenges!) is to use some type of embossing on your card. You may do dry embossing or heat embossing or even both!
If you like embossing, this is the challenge for you!

Plus, this week, besides having the chance to be chosen as one of The Perfect 3 and posting that badge on your blog, we also have a sponsor who is giving a prize to our random drawing winner!
This week Sarah from My Little Somethings is giving away a grab bag of various crafting items with a minimum value of $15. Whooohoooo! Now that's a nice prize. If you get a chance, stop by Sarah's blog and thank her for her generosity!. Sorry - USA participants only for this prize, due to the high cost of shipping internationally.

Here is what I came up with for the challenge:

My image is a digi that was created by my friend, Sam Erozan, who is a very talented artist. We considered going into business together selling his digital stamps, but things didn't work out that way. I do have several of his digis, and I love them all. I decided to use his "Fairy Dog" as a "The Get Well Fairy"! lol I generated that part of the sentiment on my computer, and printed it and the image. I colored the image in bright, cheerful colors, using pencils, Copics, and Stickles. I printed the sentiment on pink cardstock that I had dry embossed with the Sizzix Impressabilities "Flourish" embossing plate. The rest of the sentiment, at the bottom of the page, was created with a rubber stamp from a My Sentiments Exactly set onto the same embossed paper. Each of the 2 parts of the sentiment were then punched out, and I inked the edges.
My base card is yellow (obviously!), with a layer of pink dp from my stash. On top of that is a blue cs from my stash, and I dry embossed this also. This time I used the Sizzix Textured Impressions Embossing Folder in "Starry Night". I used a Martha Stewart punch on the top of this, distressed the edges of the pink and blue paper, and inked the edges of the blue embossed cs using Distress Ink. I added some pearls and pillow butterfly stickers from K & Co.
I do like to use Bible verses on my cards whenever possible, so I used a stamp from Our Daily Bread Designs on the inside of the card that says "A Cheerful Heart is Good Medicine; Proverbs 17:22" and underneath that is a simple "Get Well Soon" stamp from My Sentiments Exactly. I thought that the Get Well Fairy was so cute and funny that it would be good medicine for anyone who needed to get well! If you would like to see lots of inspiration for this challenge, here are the links to the blogs of everyone on the DT. You can see their cards at The Perfect Sentiment Blog, but if you go to their blogs, you can get some ideas about how they made their cards. If you are like me, I am always interested in seeing how someone made their creation.

Jan’s blog
http://www.tweetybugshouse.blogspot.com/

Kimberly's Blog
http://hellocutiecrafts.blogspot.com

Paper Expressions owner
Jennipher’s Blog
http://www.jennipherlowery.com

Rochelle's Blog
http://www.twotearsinmybucket.blogspot.com

Samantha (DT Coordinator)
http://kania-amusestudio.blogspot.com/

Sarah's Blog
http://my-little-somethings.blogspot.com/

Shelly’s blog http://www.geminivisionsart.blogspot.com

Stacey's Creative Corner
Stacey's Blog
http://staceyscreativecorner.blogspot.com

Theresa’s Blog
http://thepaperpeasant.com

With All My Heart
Tere's Blog
http://www.tereazua.com

Shaunna’s Blog
http://shaunnarooskie.com

ScrappinAbby
http://scrappin-abby.blogspot.com/

I hope you have been inspired to join in our challenge this week. Remember, you have until Tuesday at 10:00 p.m. to get your entry in. We will be choosing winners and posting them the following Friday. Also, please remember to link your blog post with your entry directly to our blog, and use keywords PSC03 this week. Thanks so much for stopping by my blog. Please leave comments and let me know what you think about my Get Well Fairy!

Time for the 2nd Challenge from The Perfect Sentiment!

2011-10-12T00:42:00.000-04:00

Oh ladies, I hope you all had a chance to stop by The Perfect Sentiment Challenge Blog this past week, even if you didn't join in the challenge. If you did, you saw some gorgeous inspiration cards by the DT along with some awesome entries for our first challenge. You have to go by and see who got chosen for out Perfect 3 this week, and to see who won the prize from the random drawing! I'm not even telling you who, because I want you to click on the link above or on my sidebar and have a look! Besides, you simply HAVE to stop by today, as we unveil our SECOND CHALLENGE!! Whoooohoooo!

Our second challenge is another one that I know you will want to enter - Friendship Inspiration! We would like you to make a card having to do with FRIENDSHIP, and we want you to use colors inspired by this awesome photo that Jennipher found:

Wow, aren't these just yummy colors? I love them. Here is the card that I was inspired to make from the colors in this photo:

I had some trouble with the lighting on this, but my dp really is the same teal color as the Maya Road Ribbon that I used at the bottom. I love, love, love that ribbon. I wish I had it in every color. It kind of looks like it overpowers the card in this pic, but it really doesn't. It has to do with the angle of the card in the photo, I think. My base card is made from teal cardstock that I cut to the 5 1/2 x
5 1/2 size that I make so often. I then used some gorgeous paper from My Mind's Eye "Lost and Found Two" Collection. I was really inspired by the photo, because I wasn't only thinking of color, but I was thinking of the layers of the covers. So my next layer is some yummy chocolate cs with brown hearts on it. I distressed the edges of both of these layers. Then I got to cheat, because the frame (including the birdie) was cut out from the MME dp. It even had the teal glitter on the edge of the frame! How cool is that? I then stamped the sentiment (from Our Daily Bread Designs Friendship Set) in brown Inkadinkado Ink onto cream colored Neenah Paper, and I heat embossed it with Ranger Clear Embossing Powder. I simply adhered it to the back of the cut out frame and added the little flower embellie from my stash. I added a brown photo corner from my stash and a Prima flower to one corner and teal self-adhesive pearls to the other. Finally, I added layered a light blue heart rub-on over a brown background rub-on, both from Pink Paislee. Oh yes, can't forget the Teal Stickles! lol Here is a close-up so you can see the glimmer a little better:

Now that you have seen my card, here are the links to the blogs of the other members of the DT. Go by their blogs, and you will REALLY see some awesome cards to inspire you:

Jan's blog
http://www.tweetybugshouse.blogspot.com/

Kimberly's Blog
http://hellocutiecrafts.blogspot.com/

Paper Expressions owner
Jennipher's Blog
http://www.jennipherlowery.com/

Rochelle's Blog
Two Tears in my Bucket
http://www.twotearsinmybucket.blogspot.com/

Samantha (DT Coordinator)
Crafty Couple's Corner
http://kania-amusestudio.blogspot.com/

Shelly Kane's blog
Gemini Visions Art
http://www.geminivisionsart.blogspot.com/

Stacey's Creative Corner
Stacey's Blog
http://staceyscreativecorner.blogspot.com/

Theresas Calderini's Blog
The Paper Peasant
http://thepaperpeasant.com

With All My Heart
Tere's Blog
http://www.tereazua.com

shaunnaRooskie's Blog
http://shaunnarooskie.com

ScrappinAbby
Paper crafting blog
http://scrappin-abby.blogspot.com/

After seeing all the inspiration at all of the blogs of these talented ladies, here is something else to inspire you to play along with us this week. We have a super sponsor! Heart Song Designs is giving a digi from their gorgeous collection to the lucky winner of our random drawing!    Stop by their shop and have a look at their awesome digis. That way, in case you are the winner of the random drawing, you will be know what you want! lol Ummmm, I have a feeling you will be wanting many more of their lovely creations. I know I do!

One more bit of important info. You now have until Tuesday at 10:00 p.m. to get your entry in. We will be choosing winners and posting them the following Friday. So get your entry in by Tuesday night, then check back on Friday to see if YOU may have been chosen as one of The Perfect 3 or perhaps won the random drawing. Please remember to link your blog post with your entry directly to our blog, and use keywords PSC02 on your blog or if your post elsewhere this week.

I know this has been a long post! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog. I sure hope to see you this week at The Perfect Sentiment!

The Perfect Sentiment Challenge Blog Launches Today!

2011-10-05T02:17:00.000-04:00

Good morning everyone! I have lots of exciting news today! First, I had mentioned that Jennipher Lowery was starting a new weekly challenge blog called The Perfect Sentiment, and she was looking for a DT. I haven't had a chance to post the news that she now has her DT, and I have been chosen to be a Senior Designer on the Executive Design Team for this exciting new blog!!!! WHOOOO-HOOOOOO! You may have noticed the badge in my sidebar - that was a clue! lol Can you tell how happy I am? : ) Jennifer and Sami, who is also on the Executive Team and is the DT Coordinator, have done a fabulous job chosing several very talented ladies for this team. Not to mention that they are so talented themselves! You will be truly inspired, I know.
Soooooooo.........drum roll please.........the next big news is that The Perfect Sentiment Challenge Blog officially begins today, October 5th. I am loving the first challenge, PSC01, which is to make a Sympathy Card, and the twist is - it must have lace of some type on it. This is how all of the challenges will run. Each Wednesday, you will be challenged to make a type of card - Sympathy, Get Well, Missing You, and who knows what else, but you will be given an added "something" to challenge you. Doesn't that sound like FUN?!!! Yep! lol

Every week that you enter, your card might get picked as one of the Perfect 3! Click on the PS Challenge link above and have a look at the lovely badge you get to post on your blog if your entry gets chosen for this honor. To top it all off, we are proud to say that we have a sponsor for our very first week! Our sponsor this week is GLITTERBABE DIGIS. Stef, the owner, has been extremely generous and is offering a $10 gift certificate to her store if your name is drawn. That is enough to buy 3 of her fantastic digis!! Click on her shop name above and have a look at her lovely images. You will want some!!!
So here is the card I made for PSC01 using one of those beautiful digis:

For those of you who may not know me, you may be surprised when I say that for me this card is actually on the CAS side! I decided not to load it up with my usual embellies and bling since it is a Sympathy Card, although everyone may not feel this way at all. Notice that you don't have to use the word "Sympathy" in your sentiment.  I used a sentiment stamp that conveys sympathy from Our Daily Bread Designs. I stamped it with pink pigment ink and heat embossed it with Ranger Clear Embossing Powder. The paper I stamped it on is a piece of cardstock that I colored using the "shaving cream with alcohol ink technique". It is hard to see the paper in this picture, but it has all the colors that are in the rest of the card. If anyone is interested in this technique, let me know and I will post a tutorial. I adhered my sentiment to a rosey-pink cs, then adhered the whole thing with 3D Dots over my lace ribbon (There's my lace requirement!), which also has Prima flowers glued to it.  The pretty striped dp is from Sassafraslass, and I used an EK Success border punch on the bottom. I adhered this to a 5 x 7 blue card base. The lovely waterlily I used is (as I mentioned) one of Glitterbabe's lovely digi's. I printed it out on Neenah paper, colored it with a combination of Copics, Prismacolor Pencils used with Googone (I use Googone instead of Mineral Spirits all the time - are you familiar with this?), Smooch, and chalks for the background. I use a Spellbinders Label Nestie to cut it out, and to cut the rose Little Yellow Bicycle cs under it. I inked the edges of both of these and adhered these both with 3D Dots for dimension. I finally added some flat-backed pearls in each upper corner. I can't help it - I always have to have a pearl somewhere!

I hope you will join in our challenge! Get started with us right at the beginning. Remember, link your blog post with your entry to THE PERFECT SENTIMENT CHALLENGE BLOG, and please use keyword PSC01. Deadline for your entry is Sunday at 10 pm EST.
Also, if you decide to enter, why not stop by Stef's blog, GLITTERBABE GREETINGS, and leave her some love for her generosity to us.

As I mentioned, when you stop by the PSCB, you will definitely be inspired by the DT. There are links there to all the blogs, but for your convenience, I am going to list the DT blogs here also, just to make it easy for you to stop by. I promise you will be inspired! Here they are:

Jan's blog

http://www.tweetybugshouse.blogspot.com/

Kimberly's Blog
http://hellocutiecrafts.blogspot.com/

Paper Expressions
Jennipher's Blog (owner)
http://www.jennipherlowery.com/

Rochelle's Blog
Two Tears in my Bucket
http://www.twotearsinmybucket.blogspot.com/

Samantha (DT Coordinator)
Crafty Couple's Corner
http://kania-amusestudio.blogspot.com/

Sarah's Blog
My Little Somethings
http://my-little-somethings.blogspot.com/

Shelly's blog
Gemini Visions Art
http://www.geminivisionsart.blogspot.com/

Stacey's Creative Corner
Stacey's Blog
http://staceyscreativecorner.blogspot.com/

Theresa's Blog
The Paper Peasant
http://thepaperpeasant.com/

With All My Heart
Tere's Blog
http://www.tereazua.com/

Shaunna's Blog
http://shaunnarooskie.com/

ScrappinAbby
http://scrappin-abby.blogspot.com/

I hope I didn't leave anyone out! I also hope to see your creations at The Perfect Sentiment! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog. Let me know what you think about any of this - including any questions or ideas about my card. I love to read your comments!

A "Beary" Special Angel

2011-09-13T19:00:00.000-04:00

I'm so sorry I haven't posted in so long! You know how it is when real life interferes with your crafty time! lol Anyway, today I have a card to share with you that I am entering in several challenges having to do with backgrounds, layers, and things of that nature. I believe this one will fit.

This darling Angel Bear is a digi stamp from I Brake for Digis. I printed it, colored it with Copics, colored the wings with Smooch Pearlized Accent Ink in Shabby Pink, and cut it out. The original digi has a cute little bee flying around it, but I cut it off for this card. The other stamp I used is the sentiment stamp which is from Our Daily Bread Designs "Friendship" set. I love this sentiment, and use it quite often!

One of the challenges I am entering this card in is from Joan's Gardens, which is new to me. Joan has a wonderful store, plus she and Selma have a challenge blog that they have taken a break from for a few months. This month they are starting their challenges again, so I am entering challenge #1. They have quite a recipe for this: use 2 different dies & 2 DIFFERENT embossing folders to create a background, a sentiment and pearls. So I used Basic Grey Phoebe dp on my 5 x 7 base card, then I layered pp that I made using the shaving cream and alcohol ink technique (I have so much fun making my own pp with this technique! If anyone would like instructions, let me know and I'll post a tutorial.). Before adhering my "shaving cream" layer, I embossed it using Sizzix Impressabilities "Flourish" die, plus I used a Martha Stewart border punch on the right side. I added a piece of crocheted teal ribbon at the bottom of this piece. Next I took a piece of blue scrap paper and embossed it with the same "Flourish" Impressability. I sanded it slightly, so that the embossing would show. I used a Spellbinder's Nestie Oval to cut this piece out. So next I took a teal piece of scrap paper, and to follow my recipe correctly, I embossed it with a Sizzix Textured Impressions Embossing Folder in "Starry Night", slighly sanded it, and used a Spellbinders Long Rectangle Nestie to cut it out. Btw, the Textured Impressions Embossing Folder REALLY makes a strong impression on your paper. If you haven't had much success with embossing folders, give this one a try!

After inking the edges, I adhered my two diecuts with 3D dots for dimension, then adhered my Angel Bear with 3D dots for even more dimension. So I have lots of layers, which is what the Pile It On Challenge is about this week, so I am entering it, too. Also, I Brake for Challenges is about backgrounds. I have really worked on the background for this card, so I am entering their challenge also. Plus I got my cute digi from them, after all. : )

So that you can see some of this better, here is a closeup:

I think you can see the embossing fairly well in this pic, as well as that cute digi. Next, here is a pic of the sentiment that I stamped, heat embossed, and distressed the edges before adhering with 3D dots. You can see some of the embossed shaving cream paper, too.

I always tried to give you a good view of what the shine you get with the Smooch on the wings. You may be able to see it better here:

I love the Smooch! How perfect for angel wings! I also used it on the halo.

I finished off the whole card with a small rose that I embellished with some Pink Stickles. Plus I added a small piece of paper flower ribbon at the top of the page, a pillow butterfly and some teal pearls.

I hope you like my layered card. Besides the challenges I have already mentioned, I am also sending it into Stamp Something for their VERY LAST CHALLENGE! They have been around a long time, and I hate to see them go. They have provided all of us with so many great challenges and so much inspiration. Their challenge to say goodbye to us is Anything we want, so I think I've met that! lol

Before I go, I want to add that my friend and former DT member, Jennipher Lowery, is starting a brand new challenge blog soon. It is called The Perfect Sentiment, and I am so excited about it. She is currently looking for DT members. Click on the link here or in my sidebar to find out more. Plus, I will be writing more about it soon. This post has been so long, I think I'd better wait until next time to say anymore! lol Thanks so much for stopping by my blog!

A Vintage plus Black for 365 Cards' Vintage Week

2011-08-23T03:07:00.000-04:00

I am making a really quick post. I have been watching the 365 Cards Challange Blog this past week, and each day the challenge was to make a vintage card plus a particular predominant color. Even though I have been really busy, I was SO SURE that I would get at least 3 or 4 of their challenges done. I have been cruising by Gloria Stengel's blog to look at her awesome entries, and she is giving the fab prize for the name drawn from vintage week. I would tell you all about it, but I did NOT have the time to make several cards. I managed to do one card - vintage plus black as the main color. However, entries are supposed to be in tonight, so I need to get this posted! I may already be too late, but I did have fun making it. Here it is:

I started with a black card base, then added some Rhonna Farrer dp from my stash. Then I found some real vintage music from my old piano bench, adhered 2 pieces that I tore out of a music book (plus the title of a musical piece which I used as my title - "Flower Song"), and took a dry brush and swiped gesso over it all to sort of bring it all together. I used a scalloped punch to cut a piece of cream cs, inked the edges, added some little flower stickers and gemstones, then adhered it with 3D dots for dimension. The birdie was cut from a book I have of vintage silhouettes. I added some black and frosted stickles to it, plus a pearl for the eye. To finish, I added some lovely Prima pearl swirls. I love those. I could just put those on everything! lol

So I HOPE that I finishied this in time to add this to 365 Cards Vintage plus Black challenge, as I previously mentioned. We shall see. Be sure and go and have a look there. So much inspiration! Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Have a blessed week,
Lynn

Yet Another Christmas Card - Christmas Joy

2011-08-15T20:27:00.000-04:00

Hello all. It's been tooo long since my last post. Before I share today's card with you, I want to tell you that I am so excited about the last layout I created in memory of my awesome mom (2 posts down). I am excited because I entered it in Our Daily Bread's Let Your Light Shine Scrapbook Challenge, and I was so honored to be the Let Your Light Shine Award Winner for that month! You can read all about that here, and of course, I now have my award posted in my sidebar. I was so pleased that it was a layout about my mom that won. SHE deserves the award! : ) OK, I could go on and on, but I promise I won't. Just had to share my excitement with you, but now on to today's creation......

Last post, I made a Christmas card using a lovely stamp from I Brake for Stamps. I have several lovely Christmas stamps from them, and I love them all. I wanted to make a card using one of their images again, which means that I made another Christmas card. I need to get started on them, after all! I was pretty happy with this one, especially the sparkle that I was actually able to capture on my camera to some degree. Here's the card:

I swiped some white acrylic paint onto some green dp in my stash, cut it out with Spellbinder's Nesties Label 4, inked the edges with CTMH White Daisy Ink, and raised it with 3D Dots. I arranged some gorgeous Prima pearl swirls onto the card, added 3 more pearls in the upper right corner, plus a snowflake and ribbon from my stash, and a "Joy" tag from K & Co which I altered a bit. I also wrote the word "Christmas" with a white gel pen on cs, inked the edges, and adhered it to the ribbon. The poinsetta image is from I Brake for Stamps, as I mentioned previously. Here is a closeup:

You can see the shimmer, but it has even more shimmer irl! I stamped the image with black pigment ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I know that everyone advises not doing this with Copics, but it helps me to stay in the lines! lol I just have to be careful to try to stay away from the ep. So far it works for me! I colored the poinsettas with Copics RV02, R83, and R85. I then went over that with Smooch - 2 shades of pink and a white frosted top coat (actually, it's almost clear with just a frosty shimmer that's SO PRETTY) called Illuminate. I LOVE the Smooch Pearlized Accent Inks and wish I had all of them! I especially like the Pearlized Top Coat, Illuminate, as you get a very glimmery look without going all out and using glitter. I used it to touch up the snowflake from my stash, so that it would match the pink and green theme. It's so pretty and so EASY. Maybe "easy" is why I like Smooch so much! lol Oh, and btw, I colored the leaves with 3 shades of Copics also, and used a shade of gold Smooch in the center of each flower. I then "fussy cut" the image and adhered it with 3D Dots to the label. Finally, here is a closup of the "Joy" tag:

I gave the pink side some extra gleem with a bit of Smooch, and edged it and made the swirls with Liquid Pearls. I then added some pearls and gemstones. I think that about does it.

I'm so glad you stopped by my blog. I would love it if you would leave a comment and tell me what you think. I am entering this card in 2 challenges:

The first is Sparkle Creations Christmas Card Challenges. They have Christmas card challenges every week! This week they want Christmas Cheer or any Christmas card. I am also entering another challenge site that is new to me. It is Fab and Funky Challenges, and this week their theme is "It's Christmas!". Both of these are in my sidebar, in case there is a problem with the links.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Christmas in July at I Brake for Stamps Challenge Blog

2011-08-03T04:26:00.000-04:00

I Brake for Stamps now has a challenge blog (I'm happy to say!), and this week's challenge has been to make a Christmas card. I was SOOOO happy to hear that, since most of the stamps I have from them happen to be Christmas stamps. I finally decided to use their "Cardinals on Holly" stamp. I hadn't used this one yet, and I just love the stamp, but every time I color a cardinal, it looks mean when I get finished with it! lol Have a look:

I used the "Merry Christmas" stamp from the I Brake for Stamp Christmas plate too. I stamped it and heat embossed it with some slightly glittery embossing powder, which did not show up in this not so wonderful photo. I'm trying to get this in at the last second however, so I couldn't take the time to take a good photo.

Back to the card, the designer paper is from Cosmo Cricket. I used some other dp from my stash to make a tab behind the cardinal panel and to put a musical score at the top of the card. I figure birds sing, so I needed something musical in there! lol I colored the cardinals and holly with Copics, and chalked the background with some pastel blue and green. I added a button, a piece of lace across the bottom of the card, some rhinestones, and a K & Co. 3D metallic flower next to the sentiment, which I tore out and raised with 3D Dots.

I better to hurry to get this in! As I said, I am entering this in the

I Brake for Stamps Christmas in July Challenge. There is a link to their blog on my side bar also. Thanks so much for stopping by my blog! have a blessed day!

A Layout Remembering my Beautiful Mother with ODBD Stamps

2011-07-30T19:57:00.000-04:00

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!

2011-07-14T18:14:00.000-04:00

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!

2011-07-12T22:38:00.000-04:00

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?

2011-07-06T03:09:00.000-04:00

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

2011-07-03T21:55:00.000-04:00

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!

Follow Rainbows and Chase Moonbeams

2011-06-28T19:34:00.000-04:00

Hello all. I wanted to share with you a card I made using Magnolia's Flying Tilda, which I colored with Copics and added a soft shine to the wings by painting on several colors of shimmery Smooch. I have had this Tilda for a while, and for some reason haven't gotten around to using this stamp until now. I'm so glad I did. I love the fairy wings!

I think you can tell that I stamped her on a separate sheet of cardstock, then colored and cut her out. I added her with 3D Dots for dimension. It is hard to see the lovely shimmer of the Smooch, so I took a closeup, but even so, I don't think it really shows the shimmer very well. You'll just have to take my word for it! : )

See what I mean? Oh well......The base card is made with Bobunny "dotted swiss" paper, and the gorgeous stitched paper (NOT stitched by me!) is from Prima's SEW cute stitched collection of dp. I cut it to make 2 triangles - just to add some character to the look. On top of that is a circle that I cut out of some Heidi Grace glitter paper - more subtle bling. I added some pink ribbon, flowers, and pearls from my stash. I colored the flowers with Copics to match Tilda's dress. See - that's just another reason that I love my Copics. Wish I had LOTS more! Back to the card, I THINK that beautiful pink glittery butterfly is from K & Co. The sentiment is actually written on a clear peel off that was also in my stash. I'm not sure who made it, but I do love the thought. I adhered it to a piece of cardstock that I cut out, inked the edges, and popped up using 3D Dots again.

I am entering this in the following challenges:

My Grafico - Anything Goes

Pile It On - Use Circles

Crafty Creations - Let It Shine

Just Magnolia - Butterflies

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

A Lovely Sentiment from ODBD

2011-06-08T16:41:00.000-04:00

Hello all. I finally had time to post a card for a few challenges. I have been busy working on some scrapbooks for my sil's and a mini-album for a friend, but all of these things are secret....shhhhh.......so I can't post anything about them yet!
I missed my card making, and then a friend needed a card for her mil, who had been in the hospital, so here is the card I made using a stamp from ODBD's With Heartfelt Sympathy set.

Here is a closeup of the lovely sentiment, which I stamped with black pigment ink and heat embossed with Ranger clear embossing powder. I then punched it out with a 3 inch scalloped punch and added a drop of Stickles (in a color I really like called Patina) in each scallop. I raised the whole sentiment up on 3D Dots. That is a Spellbinders Pendant Shapeability underneath.

                                                                                   Who wouldn't love to get a card expressing such a sentiment? How nice to know you mean so much to someone! ODBD has so many great sentiment sets, including some brand new ones that I really want! This card happens to fit their current Shining the Light Challenge 63 which is a Sentiment Only Challenge.
                                                                                     In addition, this week Linda Lucas is hosting Stamping Sisters in Christ's Challenge #92, which is based on John 13:34-35. Here Jesus is giving us a NEW commandment to love one another as He has loved us. So Linda has cleverly turned this into asking us to use something NEW TO US on our creation. In my case, the lavendar dp is new to me (and I have already forgotten who made it!!!), as is the lovely Prima flower (which I have been saving for just the right creation), and the beautiful Floral Butterfly Ribbon Round from The Paper Company is new to me also. So I have all sorts of new goodies on this card for this challenge! Oh, btw, I did want to add that the pale green floral dp is from K & Co. - specifically from a collection by Brenda Walton. She always designs the most beautiful vintage-look creations!
                                                                                      I am also entering Shabby Tea Room's current challenge #65 (Technique Week), where the technique is to use wet or dry embossing. I used wet (or heat) embossing on my sentiment, as I mentioned previously.
                                                                                      If for any reasons any of these links don't work, please look in my sidebar. They are listed there under my fav scrappy places. Thanks for stopping by my blog! I hope you'll take the time to leave a comment - I love to read them! Have a wonderful day.

A Birdie Card to Share With You

2011-05-17T06:22:00.000-04:00

Hello all. This is going to be a quick post (really! lol). I have so many irons in the fire right now, but I wanted to show you a Mother's Day Card I made for a friend to give to his mother. I have so many birdie stamps and would love to have 10 times as many. One can never have too many birdie stamps! Anyway, I wanted to use one for his card, so here is what I came up with:

I have always liked this birdie stamp from Inkadinkado. I computer generated the sentiment. It seems

to me to be a perfect sentiment for a mom. Mine certainly prepared me for life and gave me wings to fly away, knowing that I could do anything (with the help of the Lord, of course!) She was a wonderful mother in every way, and she is greatly missed by me and all who knew her! Now back to the card....

I used a Spellbinders Label 1 Nestie, and outlined the embossed edge with a Copic marker. The interesting thing was that I put my aqua gemstones on BEFORE I diecut the Label. This kind of broke some of a gems and smooshed them into the paper. Maybe everyone but me already knew this, but I never even thought about it, and I ended up really liking the way it turned out! I definitely plan on doing that again! I added the red gems and the delicate butterfly peel-offs after I did the diecutting.

I took some white cardstock scraps, inked them with some colors to match the pretty dp, and ran them through my Sizzix Big Kick using a pretty Spellbinders Impressabilities Butterfly template. I them used a little Distress Ink and gently inked the raised design. I added some Prima gemstone swirls and a few more gemstones in the upper right corner. So there is plenty of BLING on this card! Finally, I added some 3D Dots to raise the diecut for dimension. I am entering this in these challenges this week:

Stamp Something - Anything Goes (They are having a 3 yr celebration with great prizes, too!)

Creative Inspirations Sunday Challenge Blog - Glitzy/Bling

Crafty Creations - Challenge 118 Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by my blog! I hope you all have a wonderful day!

A Slightly Shabby Chic Birthday Card

2011-04-25T22:23:00.001-04:00

I wanted to share with you a birthday card I made for my friend, Helen. She and I have been best friends since we were just 4 years old! She lives in Virginia, where we grew up, but I have been living in Tennessee since college. Let me tell you, that was years ago! Anyway, I don't get to see Helen much, it seems. Her birthday was April 17th, and I have had this coughing thing that really got me under the weather, so I hate to say that I didn't get a card out to her on time AGAIN. (It's not like this is the first time I have done that to the special people in my life.)

So here is the card I did make, using Whiff of Joy's Nikki Celebrating Raccoon. I love this darling raccoon carrying presents. I stamped him with black pigment ink, and then heat embossed him with clear embossing powder from Ranger. Then I colored him with Copics, cut him out and adhered him with 3D dots onto the Spellbinder's Lattice Pendant diecut that I cut from a lovely piece of dp from Crate Paper's Portrait Collection. In fact, all 3 layers of dp on this card are from that collection. It is so pretty and springlike! I drool over all of that collection (which gets so messy....lol). The "Celebrate" sentiment sticker was placed on a scrap of dp from Little Yellow Bicycle. I distressed the edges of all of the dp to achieve a slightly shabby look, turned down one corner and attached a heart pin from Fancy Pants, added 3 heart buttons (threaded 2 of them), 3 pearls, Prima flowers with brads in the center, and finally added 2 ribbons. One is a piece of lace ribbon on the bottom of the card, and the other is some Close to my Heart organdy ribbon tied to the left edge of the diecut.

    I am using this for 4 challenges this time:

Pile It On -   2 or more  ribbons
Simon Says Stamp - Emboss Something (wet or dry)
Whiff of Joy - Use one of their stamps and a recipe challenge - 3 buttons, 2 papers, 1 ribbon
7 Kids College Fund - Easter or Spring, including just spring colors, so I think this will do! Also you must use something bought at their store, which is where I bought my Whiff of Joy stamp!

If any of the links don't work, these are also listed in my sidebar. Each of these challenges are offering super prizes this week - check them out!

Thanks for stopping by my blog. I only hope Helen didn't stop by, as I would like for her to get her card in the mail before seeing it on my blog! I also hope you all had a wonderful Easter and were able to be with loved ones.  My son went back to school before Easter this week, and I sure did miss him on Easter Day! It was a fairly quiet Easter this year. It was our first Easter with our BichonPoo baby, Augie, and actually I take back what I said about the quiet. Augie is always zooming around the house. He loves to rip up paper, so he is definitely in the right place, kwim? lol Anyway, come back and visit my blog soon. Leave a comment if you have a minute - I love to see what you have to say!

An Easter Card

2011-04-14T02:26:00.000-04:00

Well, I can't believe that the last time I posted, I was showing you Valentines! Now I am with an Easter Card I wanted to share with you. I have this cute stamp with dancing bunnies from Cowtown Stamps. I just love their stamps, and I wanted to use this one for Easter. My problem was how to use Easter Bunnies (kind of) in a card, but still get across the real message of Easter. Sooooo........ I used Pink Paislee alpha stickers to spell out REJOICE, and then inside I computer generated text to tell WHY they are rejoicing............BECAUSE HE IS RISEN!!!! I kinda like how that worked out and hope you do too.

My base card is white. I used a teal Coredinations cardstock as the next layer, and the layer on top of that is designer paper from a company I love more and more......Echo Park. I cut out a Nesties Label 1 diecut (using the back side of the Echo Park dp), edged it with some glimmery Smooch, adhered it, and stamped a few flowers, leaves and grass on the bottom. Then I took the bunnies that I had colored with Copics and cut out, and I adhered them with 3D dots for dimension. I added the lovely silky ribbon from American Crafts and placed a pearl in the center. I cut out some white cardstock, adhered the alphas for REJOICE and used gemstones to dot my i and j.

Since I used the Smooch and the Gemstones, I believe this qualifies me for Tuesday Throwdown's challenge this week, which calls for bling and sparkle! They are giving a wonderful stamp set from The Greeting Farm, if you'd like to play along!

I am also entering Creative Inspiration's challenge this week. Their challenge is do make something for Easter. I think I have that covered! They are giving away 4 digis from Meljen's Designs to the winner. I absolutely love their digis!

Btw, here is the inside of the card.....you know, where I explain why the bunnies are rejoicing. lol

Christ is risen indeed!!! I just couldn't leave that out!!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog. I would promise to post more often, but I am afraid you have heard it all before! : )

Valentines, Valentines

2011-02-16T01:50:00.000-05:00

Hello all. I haven't posted in a while, so before I do anything else, I thought I'd show you a few cards I made for Valentines Day. Here they are in no particular order........

This was made using Sweet 'n Sassy digi stamps!

Stamped with Love Notes Stamps from CTMH, chipboard and epoxy hearts, and odds and ends from stash.

Another quick card with no stamping!

I have to say that the little epoxy butterflies by K and Co. that are on the last card are so pretty! I have used them quite a bit, even though I have been trying not to buy "consumables". I can't resist these, however!
Now, one more card, and I have to say that it is my favorite. I just love the adorable little Love Birds!

Sentiment stamp from "My Sentiments Exactly"; image from We R Memory Keepers.

Thanks for looking at my Valentines! Believe or not, I actually made more than this, but I thought this was enough for one sitting! I hope all of you had a wonderful Valentines Day. It was also my anniversary - my 19th anniversary this year. Almost to the big 2 0!!! I am counting my blessings that it is 2011, and I am even feeling well enough to make Valentines. The last few years have been difficult, with my fibro and all the problems that have gone along with it. However, the Lord has been faithful and blessed us time and time again through all of our trials. I can't thank Him enough. I can't praise His name often enough! I am certainly going to try though!

A Cocoa Mouse Cutie from CPC's Newest Partner - Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps

2011-01-10T23:28:00.000-05:00

I am almost embarassed to post - it has been soooo long. The holidays were a big deal for me. I know that is true for most everyone, but with my fibro and trying to catch up and keep up with all the exciting new plans for the DT at Christian Paper Crafts, I have been going a little crazy. I bet you can guess what my New Year's Resolution is......I won't say it though, in case I just can't post on my blog as much as I'd like. (Wow - that was a big clue, wasn't it? lol)

As the title of this post says, we at CPC are now partnering with the awesome Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps! I have always loved their digis and have several of them. They now make clear stamps as well as digis. They also have two challenge blogs. One of them is a sketch challenge blog, and the other is a blog with nothing but adorable Cocoa mouse challenges, called (naturally) Crazy for Cocoa Challenge Blog! I can dig that! I love this digi of Cocoa with a strawberry. I know this image can be found in a set called Feel Fruity Cocoa, but I got him individually some time ago. Anyway, the card below is for the current Cocoa Challenge, C4CC6, which has to do with resolutions. One of my resolutions is to send more of the cards I make to friends and other who need them. So this fits right in. I left a sentiment off so that I can add the appropriate one as needed.

I am also using this card for the Stamp Something Challenge Blog, which has a new challenge every Friday. This time their challenge is simply to use digis! So this fits that challenge. They have a great prize package too, with lots of free digis from some great companies. Check them out for sure!

Also, I can't forget to add that I actually cased this cutie card for last week's Wednesday CASE Challenge at Christian Paper Crafts - CPC-WCA85. The challenge was to CASE a card from our Partner Co. - SNSS. So I chose to case an adorable card from Peggy McCurry. Her card was in the SNSS Gallery, and you can have a look at it here. As you can see, I changed some things. I started out making the 2 panels that Peggy made at the top and the bottom of the card, but I felt like I didn't have the room. Plus, I only added my ribbon (from my stash) at the top of the page, made it pleated with glue dots, and I chose to add a white button and flat pearls from Queen and Co. on each pleat.

I colored my image with Copics and kept the colors much like Peggy's. However, since my dp was bright pink in stead of red, I used shades of pink Copics to color my strawberry. I colored Cocoa's ears pink, as well as his nose and cheeks, but I added a little Pearl Smooch on each ear and the top of the strawberry. Thought it gave it a little bling - and I always like bling! My dp is by Best Creations, and the strawberries in the design were just perfect to go with the image. I matted the pp and the image square with Bazzill dotted Swiss cs. The whole thing was placed on a white square card. Btw, the actual image is about 3.5" x 3.1", and the Neenah cs it was printed on was cut to approximately 4" x 4". I think that about covers it.

Be sure and check out the next SNSS challenges, and also stop by CPC, as we are having lots of cool challenges right now, and Korin and lots of her team are there inspiring us and chattin it up with us! We are having so much fun, and the best part is that we are all doing our best to glorify Jesus in all we do. Remember, challenges at CPC have no time limit, so there is no pressure! Come on over - I think you will find that you meet wonderful ladies and enjoy some wonderful blessings! Speaking of that, have a blessed day!

Birthday Cards & CPC News

2010-11-08T15:05:00.000-05:00

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!

2010-09-24T08:08:00.000-04:00

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!

2010-07-07T19:55:00.000-04:00

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!

2010-06-23T18:46:00.000-04:00

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!

2010-06-20T15:54:00.000-04:00

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

2010-06-02T22:19:00.000-04:00

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

2010-05-30T23:15:00.000-04:00

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

2010-05-23T02:21:00.000-04:00

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!

2010-05-21T18:03:00.000-04:00

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

2010-05-02T21:10:00.003-04:00

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.....

2010-03-23T22:41:00.003-04:00

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!

2010-03-11T20:46:00.003-05:00

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

2010-03-09T15:29:00.007-05:00

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

2010-02-28T23:01:00.005-05:00

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

2010-02-25T20:11:00.006-05:00

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

2010-01-11T20:54:00.018-05:00

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

2010-01-10T22:24:00.004-05:00

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!

My Christmas Tissue Box Cover with Tutorial

2009-12-23T22:47:00.022-05:00

This week I made something I have been

planning on making for a MONTH, but I keep

putting it off. I made a cover for a box of tissue.

I know you can buy the ceramic kind in all the

home stores, but I wanted to make one out

of paper.

What I actually did was take the original box and

cover it with pp and embellishments. However, I

wanted to make something I could use over and

over. I was actually thinking about making

something that I could sell on ETSY or at some

of the local shops that sell homemade items.

So, I knew I had to make it so that it could be

opened when it ran out. Then when you buy a

new box of tissue, you simply open it, pull out the

tissue and put it in the lovely decorated box!

So, to begin, I took my first box of tissues, and

I carefully slid my thumb under one side to lift up

without ripping it, as in the first pic. The 2nd and

3rd pics simply show how the tissue looks as you

carefully (I keep saying that for a reason! If you

rip it, you will have to start all over!) open the side

all the way.

I then adhered pp from Reminisce on each

side of the box. Two of the sides are the same,

with the candy cane pp and a pre-tied bow on

opposite sides of the box. The two other

opposing sides have the Christmas tree pp.

One of these sides has the ornament that was cut out of pp which was in my stash. (This is the photo at the top of this post.) I have it adhered with pop dots, and it is adhered to the very Christmasy red ribbon with pearls that also runs along the top. (I just think it is so pretty!) Obviously I also added a snowflake (by K & Co.), and a little snowman embellishment with a circle punched piece of white glittered pp under it to help it stand out. I measured a square of the glittery pp to fit the top and used my circle cutter to cut out a hole in the middle to pull out the tissue. I added several red jewels of various sizes for some extra bling! My favorite side is the one with JOY on it. I adhered the red glittered chipboard letters to punched out circles of the white glittered pp, and then adhered them to the side that I had made into a flap to open and close. I added another bit of the ribbon across the top of this side also.

That's it! These are going to two blog challenges this week. Allsorts Challenge (Week 32)

wants to see anything but a card, and Practical Scrappers wants to see anything Christmas

one more time. (The links to both of these are in my sidebar.) I think this fits the bill for both!

Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed and merry Christmas!

Have a Beary Merry Christmas!

2009-12-13T22:03:00.003-05:00

Wanted to show you a card I made using the adorable image given to us by Digital Delights by Louby Lou. The image is called "Christmas Bells Charlie", and we were lucky enough to get him as a freebie to use in their digi challenge at SNR's Card Universe. I didn't do the challenge, which was to make a tag or ornament, but I wanted to use this cute bear, so I made a card for the challenge this week at Practical Scrappers (the links to both of these sites are in my sidebar - you should definitely have a look!). Anyway, Practical Scrappers wants us to make anything to do with Christmas, so here is my card. Btw, I colored Charlie with copics, intentionally making the brown not smooth, so it would look more like fur. The green pp is from Creative Imaginations, and the pretty Christmas tree pp is from Reminisce. So here is my card:

Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed week!

It's Christmas Time!

2009-12-05T16:02:00.007-05:00

Hello everyone,

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend. It snowed here just slightly - just enough to be pretty and to make me wish for a white Christmas. I had Christmas on the brain because we are getting our tree tomorrow and also because I have been busy making Christmas creations. Wanted to show this this card I made that meets the criteria for 2 challenges. One is by Crafty Creations and the other is by Creative Inspirations. Both of these blogs are new to me, and I was really impressed by both! So here is the Christmas card and matching tag I made, which is what Creative Inspirations wanted this time.

I took a pic of the back of the tag too, which also matches.

The card also meets the criteria for Crafty Creations.

They wanted to see lace and distressing for their card

challenge this week. You can see the green lace on the left

side of the card. I distressed the edges of all the pp and cs

with my CTMH edge distressor and lots of inking. I did the

same for the tag, too. The Christmas tree stamp is from
Inkadinkado. To get the color I wanted,
I had to stamp it with clear embossing ink, and then used green embossing powder which I heat set. I colored in the garland with gold Smooch, and used a couple of shades of Copics for the red decorations. I also used a white pen to highlight the garland and throughout the tree, because it just looked too solid. The star on top was made with gold Stickles. The pp I used is Graphic 45, Webster's Pages (creme color), and My Little Yellow Bicycle (green).
The little stockings were in my stash. I was pretty happy with how this set turned out! Hope you like it too.

Thanks for looking and have a blessed weekend!

Catching Up Again! Christian Paper Crafts and My Sketch World

2009-12-02T23:05:00.006-05:00

Olivia and Max -Beautiful Wonders is a perfect title for this pair!

Hello everyone. I cannot believe it has been this long since I have posted to this blog! I could have posted a smiley face and said Hello, at least. Unfortunately, my life and my brain has been scattered all over the place, and obviously I haven't blogged at all. I could blame Matt being home from school for Thanksgiving, but I didn't see him enough to blame him. Cant' blame Thanksgiving cause I didn't cook for a crowd this year. Poor dh didn't even get to come home for Thanksgiving. So, I'll stop looking for excuses, even though there are a few valid ones. I will take a minute to share a few things with you.

First, Cindy at Christian Paper Crafts needed some help on the forum. I asked what I could do and was very happy and honored when she asked if I would give the journaling questions for the Faith Journals we keep there. I did my first question today and will be doing them every Wed and Sat. Patter was doing them, but she has stepped down from CPC. Big shoes to fill! Fortunately, I only have to fill one little part of them! I have been praying for God to show me how I can get more involved in combining my love of scrappy things and stamping, etc. with my love of the Lord. This is a wonderful start!

Thought I would show you a card I did for them today. The reference for it is CPCCAS30. It is for their Case Card Saturday Challenge. I cased a card from their gallery done by Barb. She used a Tilda (from Magnolia) on her card, and used a Spellbinder's embossed oval for her sentiment. I am happy to say that I used a 50% off coupon and FINALLY got my first spellbinder's die. I got the Large Oval Nestabilities. I used them in my Sizzix BigKick and had no problem. I did have to use the Spellbinder's tan embossing mats and fold some cs to use as a shim, but it was a breeze. I'd be glad to help anyone that has questions about that process in their Sizzix. So here is my card:

I colored my Tilda with Copics and also a little Azure Smooch for part of the flowers. I chalked the backgrounds of the image & the sentiment. I used Stickles to outline the edge of the Spellbinder's embossed oval. The pp is My Mind's Eye. I really enjoy coloring with my Copics. It is so relaxing. I also love to do chalking. It is sooooo forgiving! Need to use my chalks more.

As you may know, MSW, along with Dixie Pieces, has been having a month long crop. The girls really got into it, and there are so many beautiful creations in the galleries there from the "Use Your Stash" crop. Everyone certainly did. My good friend Ginni had over 10,000 points, which means LOTS of creations! There were a few people that had even more points than Ginni. Everyone should go to the gallery and have a look. Leave some luv while you are at it! (I still need to do that). I only had time to do a few creations for the crop, but here are a couple of the cards I made and also the lo I made of my darling neice and nephew, Olivia and Max, which is at the top of this post.

This card was made for a distressing challenge. I think you can see where I used my CTMH edge distresser and inked the edges. The image is a free image from an old Stampington magazine! I love it!

The next card was made for a challenge where a transparency had to be used on the card. I used some Hamblen transparencies on some holiday silver cs.

I made a few more creations, including a lo of Missy when she was in kindergarten. However, I am just out of time. I hope to get back here tomorrow and show you a couple of other things, including the lo of Missy. I KNOW she wants everyone to see a photo of her in kindergarten!

Have a blessed night!

Our Daily Bread's Show Us the Shimmer November Challenge

2009-11-12T05:14:00.007-05:00

For their blog challenge this month, Our Daily Bread would like us to make a holiday card with some sort of Shimmer. The winner gets $30 worth of goodies from their store! What an awesome prize. I love all of their stamps, and I mean just that - I love ALL of their stamps. I am only fortunate enough to have one set, so I could make great use of that prize money! I can only hope that they are doing a random drawing, but I am not sure.

So here is my card. The snowman stamp is from Stampington, and the sentiment stamp is from Inkadinkado. The sentiment says, "O Come Let Us Adore Him" which might not seem to go with the snowman, but since he is carrying a basket of gifts, I decided he was going to see the baby Jesus!

I know you can't see the shimmer very well in this picture, but trust me, there is quite a bit of shimmer on the card. The gold ribbon that I adhered to the top of the red panel is pretty obviously a shiny gold, and you can see the blue jewel brad in the middle of the holly flower. Also the sentiment turned out with a very pretty gold shimmer. I stamped it with a gold pigment ink and then heat embossed it with some shimmery gold embossing powder. Here is a close up:

I adhered 3 shimmery red jewels to the panel, and then adhered it to a dark blue cs panel. I adhered it with pop dots for dimension.

I really had fun coloring the snowman. I colored most of him with Copics, but to get that shimmer I also colored him in with Twinkling H2Os and 2 colors of Smooch - Azure (blue) and Green Apple. I used Gold Stickles for the little star and to highlight around it. One of my favorite things to play with was painting the bottom of the snowman using Pearl White Lumiere's. I just love the consistency of it, and it turned out so pretty and totally shimmery in real life. If you haven't tried Lumiere paint, you need to! It is a metallic acrylic paint. You can use it alone or with water. I always like the way it looks everytime I have seen it used in a project. I think it maybe very similiar to Shimmerz. ??? I am not sure about that but would love to find out! I have never tried the Shimmerz. I just know they always look great and come in so many pretty colors. They are on my wishlist! Back to my snowman, I used chalks for the background of the white panel, adhered some cute little trees cut out from some pp and also adhered a little blue jewel in each corner of the panel. More gleam! I matted that panel with the dark blue cs and adhered with pop dots.

I did TRY to take a closeup of the shimmery portions of my snowman. This next picture shows the gold Stickles and the green Smooch on the "tree".

There's that shine! One more pic. It is blurry, but does show the White Luminere's, as well as more stickles on the tree on Mr. Snowman's coat and Twinkling H2O's I used to paint the little houses and lights coming from the windows. You can get the idea, at least.

I had so much fun making this. So glad Our Daily Bread gave us this challenge Thanks for looking at my card and have a blessed day!

Lynn

My latest creation for ETSY - Christmas Refrigerator Magnets

2009-11-03T16:21:00.007-05:00

This is going to be a really short post, I promise. I was going to wait and show you several of the items I am making to sell on ETSY, but some of you have asked about my refrigerator magnets. Yes Matt, it's true. There are people in the world that are actually interested in these things. : )

Matt is my ds who can't manuever through the house when he is home, due to my crafty materials and creations all over the place! Anyway, I made this set of 3 frig magnets. I am actually making more, but these are OOAK. There won't be any more like this!

Besides thinking these are cute (after all, I made them), I really like these magnets because they are sturdy. They are 3" x 3" and obviously flat, so if you want to use them to hold important reminders like PAY THE ELECTRIC BILL!", then these magnets will keep things in place. What? You can't see what's on the frig cause you have no lights? Why? Oh, because your reminder dropped to the floor from that flimsy magnet that was supposed to be holding it up! I see. That won't happen with these adorable magnets!

How was that for a sales pitch? lol

Thanks for stopping by and looking at

my love, peace and joy magnets! The link to my ETSY store, Dreamersboutique, is in my sidebar

if you are interesting in purchasing these. I will

have lots more holiday items up soon!

Have a blessed day,

Lynn

It's November and Time to Catch Up!

2009-11-01T02:38:00.008-05:00

I cannot believe that the whole month of October went by, and I didn't even post ONE blog entry! Shame on me! So here's a quick catch up. First let me say that Kent left for his new job, so helping him get ready to go, and then taking care of things here by myself have kept me very busy. So there is my excuse. Now there are a few things I want to show you. First, here are two layouts I did for MSW. One is of Matt when he was a toddler, and the other is of my great nephew Max. The one of Max is actually a change from the one I posted in the MSW gallery. I decided it was a little overdone, so I got rid of a few embellies. Btw, the lo of Max focuses on
his new baby photo and attached info from the hospital.

So first Matt: I stole Guns and Roses' title - Sweet Child O' Mine!

Now next comes sweet new baby lo of Max:

I will be doing more baby lo's, because other's in our family have had a new baby - Heather and Blake had a beautiful baby girl named Olivia! I'll be working on those lo's very soon, I hope!

Next, I want to show you a few cards I made recently. Two of them were made for the MSW World Card Making Day Crop. The first is a Christmas card that I was pretty happy with. It was Lucy's Sketch 1 for the crop. I love all of Lucy's sketches!

Here is one more made from one of Lucy's sketches. We had to make a boy or girl card, and I chose girl, so I could use PINK! : )

One more card - it was actually a birthday card I made for Kent. He had a birthday on the 13th!

I love the cupcake stamp! I colored it with copics. The "cherish" stamp is by Heidi Swapp, and I thought it was just perfect! I thought this was a pretty good guy card!

I was going to show you the Christmas refrigerator magnets I made to sell on ETSY, but I am wearing down. I'll save that for tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed day!

Autumn Colors

2009-09-27T04:06:00.003-04:00

Hello everyone. Hope you are having a wonderful weekend. I have been busy making creations for the big crop going on at MSW! There are so many awesome challenges going on. I thought I would take a minute though, so show you a card I made for two different challenges elsewhere.

I found a blog that I didn't know about. It is called Creative Inspirations, and right now they are on their 28th challenge, which happens to be to make a card or altered item about Autumn. This worked out well for me, because I already had a card in the works for Christian Paper Creations. I was working on their latest color challenge. That would be CPC-CM23. The colors we are supposed to use are Turquoise, Pumpkin and Cocoa. Sounds yummy, right? I hope my card fits the bill. I have all the required colors but do have a little bit of green around my pumpkins. I hope they will let me slide by! So here is my card:

The base pp is brown with a shiny orange. I wish you could see it irl to see the shine and texture. It is by SEI. The pp adhered next with the turquoise, orange (pumpkin) and more brown is by My Mind's Eye. They have been making gorgeous pp lately. I stamped my images on a cream Basic Grey pp (one side of a two-sided paper). The pumpkins and sentiment (except for the word FALL) are Darcy Clear Stamps. I stamped those with a mixture of orange and rust inks, and of course green for the leaves and swirls. The orange leaves are stamps from River City Stamps. I stamped them with a rust color, colored them in with Copics, cut them out, and fluffed them up before adhering them for some dimension. The word FALL is a Pink Paislee stamp. The flowers are Primas. They are actually turqoise, even though they look more blue. Brown flowers layered on top were attached with copper colored brads.

The link to both of the sites for these challenges are in my sidebar if you would like to take a peek. I am just learning about Creavtive Inspirations, but it looks like a really fun challenge blog with lots of talent. Christian Paper Crafts is a site with a forum etc. There are some wonderful Bible studies going on right now, along with their fun stamping and other crafting challenges. In fact, we will be starting a new book at the first of October called Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World. There is a wonderful group of ladies there who would love to have you join in!

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you all have a blessed Sunday!

Counting my Blessing

2009-09-21T04:29:00.004-04:00

Since I have been counting my blessings this week for so many things, but the big one right now being that my dh passed his trucking test and has his CDL. He also has 2 jobs lined up! So when I decided to do the color challenge this week at SPCC (the link is in my side bar - you can't miss it!), I had already wanted my card to have something to do with blessings or being thankful. The colors this week are a combo I really like. Here is this week's challenge:

I always love to work with black and white, and any shade of red is a favorite of mine. In fact, I do alot more reddish lo's and cards than I had realized until I started looking through my slideshow the other day. So here is another!

I started my card for this challenge with a rust color base card. I used black and white Creative Imaginations pp with scalloped edges to adher to my base card. I took a piece of white lace from my stash and tied it on the side of the card. I put a gold and rust jewel over where the lace is tied. I took my 3 in. scalloped punch and punched out a piece of the same rust cs I used for the base card. I made a flower in a lighter shade of rust using a Sizzix die and adhered that to the scallop that I placed in the middle of the card. I then found a white paper flower in my stash and adhered it to make the next layer. I topped it off with a rust colored button tied with black floss. The cute little owl is an embellishment from K & Co., and the leaves were stamps from River City Rubber Works. I stamped them on some rust pp, touched them up with Copics and cut them out. "Blessings" is a rub on I found in my stash and used on the same rust cs. It seemed to be the perfect size for the card, and also a perfect sentiment that could be used in several different ways when sending the card to a special someone.

I had to cut off the left edge of the card where you can see the lace stretch out when I scanned it, but I think you can imagine how the other end of the lace would hang off the left side a little bit. Anyway, I hope you liked my card. Be sure and stop by SPCC and see all of the great creations the DT have done.

Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed day!

Some Scrappy Things For Sale!

2009-09-17T18:19:00.005-04:00

Hi ya'll. No, it's not Paul Deen, it's just me! I have been busy today, planning some ideas for my cardmaking and how I might actually SELL a few more of them, along with my mini-albums, and my custom albums, too.

One thing I am in the process of doing is updating my ETSY store. Sam is no longer involved in the shop with me, so I finally changed all of that. Then I have been feeling well enough to organize my scrappy stuff, at least a little bit. I have just a few supplies that I need to sell, so before I post those on ETSY or Craig's list or elsewhere, I thought I'd see if any of you are interested in what I have for sale. So, here the things now, in no particular order. There may be more later on, as I go through and organize my stuff. So.............

1. I have a BRAND NEW STampin' Up Garden Whimsey Stamp Set. Here is a pic (from Stampin' Up) of what the set looks like.

Aren't these adorable? I don't know why I haven't used them. I have other stamps that are similar, and seems that I pick those. One thing is that I am always in a rush, and I mean these are BRAND new - I haven't cut out the rubber or mounted them onto the wood (which comes in the set) or adhered the pics to the matching stamp yet. Here is a link to SCS. This link goes to cards made using this stamp set. They are so pretty that I almost changed my mind! But have a look here:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/showgallery.php?page=163&cat=10624

So this set sells new for $23.95 (last I looked). I am selling it for $17, which is a little more than 25% off. Yay! Can't sell for less than that cause i keep starting to change my mind! lol Also, we have to add shipping. We can figure that out. I am getting ready to go to the P.O. and will see what it weighs. I know flat rate Priority is $4.95, but you dont' have to do that.

You need to comment here if you want any of these (or email me). First come, first served!

2. I have 2 My Acrylix stamp sets from Close To My Heart (CTMH). They are both brand new sets also. They are nice thick clear stamps that must be mounted on an acrylic block. They come in the nice frosted looking plastic envelope holders that all of these CTMH sets come in.

2a. The first is really nice. It is called Summertime. It is a "D" stamp, which means it is one of their larger sets. It actually has 4 3 inch wide stamps in the set. Each one has several fun images on it that are about summer. I have never used this because I used to sell CTMH, and I have a duplicate of it. Here is a pic, but I will have to come back with pics of examples of the stamp used:

Can you tell how these are 4 separate stamps? But actually, if you used markers, you could ink only partial parts of a stamp, rather than the whole thing. These are really cute, and I just read that this set WILL BE RETIRED IN DECEMBER! This also sells for $23.95 last I looked, and I am selling THIS one for $15.00 plus shipping. BARGAIN!! Shipping should not be expensive since this package will not be heavy! Rember this comes in the cute little storage envelope and a foam pad, which CTMH suggests putting under your stamping project. Go go a CTMH site where you can shop their store online and you will see what I mean about the envelope etc.

2b. I have another CTMH stamp for Christmas!!! It is a B set, which means it is smaller. It is called Merry Little Christmas. It has never been used either, and I think it is RETIRED! It is adorable little mice getting ready for Chistmas. There are actually 7 stamps in this set. I will have to come back with a picture because I HAVE to go make a card for a challenge due for Stamping Sisters in Christ. Just have to do it! Ok, I am back. I scanned this pic from an old CTMH magazine. That way you can see the set clearly, plus there is a card they made using stamps from the set to give you a better idea about them. It comes in the same little envelope. I am selling it for $8.00 plus shipping. Again, this is ALMOST 50% OFF! Yay!

btw, I will combing shipping!

Aren't these mice cute?

I will be back with info on some Sizzix alphas I think I am going to break down and sell. Still not sure if I want to sell all of them!

One of them is the Fruit Smoothie set. It comes in the plastic case. Originally sells for $149.00.

The other is the Brushed Box set. It also comes in the plastic case. Originally sells for $149.00.

Actually, I don't know if either of these is retired. If you are interested, I will speed up my decision on pricing.

I am also selling my Sizzix Sidekick, which is used but is in fine condition. It is the original red one that sells for $39.95. I am selling it for $15.00. I don't have the original box.

I am also selling my original Sizzix die cutter. I have a BigKick now. I will get back with pics and the price for the original Sizzix. So I am off to finish my card (at the last second as usual) and continue prasing the Lord because my dh passed his DOT test for his CDL license!!!! This just happened yesterday! A true answer to prayer!

Thanks for looking at my sale items, girls and have a blessed evening!

One Card - Two Challenges

2009-09-13T02:10:00.004-04:00

Well, it was football time in TN today, and unfortunately the Vols lost to UCLA. Since I don't get to gloat about our win, I will show the card I made while watching the game - well, after I kind of stopped watching the game. My card is based on this sketch at Card Patterns:

I chose this sketch because I was looking for a challenge to combine with this week's color challenge at Christian Paper Crafts Magazine (The link for this and Card Patterns are both in my sidebar.) The colors we are supposed to use are Teal, Olive Green, and Eggplant. I tend to have more difficulty with color challenges than other types of challenges, so I wanted a sketch that was not too involved. I thought this was a good combination. So here is my card:

The purple (eggplant) and olive green pp's are from Basic Grey's Wisteria line. The next panel of teal pp is Bobunny. I wanted some more eggplant to balance things out, so the next panel is simply a piece of white cs stamped with a flower stamp from October Afternoon using purple ink and heat embossed with clear ep. Teal jewels are placed in the center of 2 of the flowers. The "Sleepy Owl" is by Inkadinkado. I stamped it with purple ink, heat embossed with clear ep, and colored it in with Copics. I cut it out & adhered it to a chalked panel for dimension and so it would show up clearly against the background. I inked the edges of the panel and adhered it with Pop Dots. "Inspire" is a rub-on placed on the olive green paper. The flowers on the side are from Stampin Up. I stamped them with Black Tuxedo Memento Ink, colored them with Copics, cut them out, and folded up the petals for dimension before adhering them with gluedots.

I ended up being pretty happy with my final product. What do you think? I would love your comments! Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed weekend!

My First Autumn Card This Year

2009-09-07T17:53:00.005-04:00

This card is the first one I have made this year that has to do with Fall, or Autumn. I love the word "Autumn". I get all kind of images of warm red, orange and yellow leaves in my mind. I can see the crisp look that comes from the sun shining at a different angle. I can feel the slight chill - that slight chill that comes before it begins to get really cold. Now, that is a whole different story. That means that I want to move to the beach and forget winter! But for now, we'll think about Autumn.

I have really been doing lots of stamping lately. I have been devouring every stamping magazine and info online that deals with new stamping techniques. So the card challenge this week at Inspirational Card sketches (link is in my sidebar) was to use this sketch:

What a great sketch! Then..... the challenge at Stamp Something (link in my sidebar, also) is to pick our favorite stamp and use it to make a card. There was also a suggestion to use a punch or diecut when making our card.

However, I could NEVER decide on my fav stamp! So, I picked a stamp by Magnolia that I LOVE. I have had it quite awhile. A very generous online scrappy buddy gave it to me in a swap, along with another Magnolia stamp. This stamp sooo makes me think of Autumn!

So the papers I used seemed like Autumn to me, as well. The background paper is a beautiful sheet from K&Co. It has a touch of glitter in it. The middle panel with the trees is from Bobunny. Don't you love it? The image was stamped on a scrap of Cosmo Cricket with Tuxedo Black Memento ink. I colored it in with a few Copics. The word "Autumn" is a stamp from River City Stamps, and the 2 brackets are Bobunny. The felt ribbon is from my stash, as are the little jewels, which I added for a little bling. Oh yes, underneath the Cosmo Cricket piece is s square of black polka-dotted Rusty Pickle. I used a Martha Stewart Border Punch on the bottom of it, which was also a suggestion from Stamp Something. I thought it really set off the border part of the Magnolia stamp, too. Btw, I raised the sentiment and stamped image with Pop Dots.

Hope you like my Autumn card! Thanks for looking and have a blessed day!

A Few Creations from the MSW Crop

2009-09-03T20:18:00.017-04:00

I have not been keeping up with my blog, that's obvious! I have been frantically trying to finish the 15 minimum challenges for the My Sketch World ABC Summer Crop, which I did at literally the last minute! Doesn't that sound like the Lynn you know? : ) Lots of the girls finished over twenty of the challenges and Ginni, Lois, and Skippy finished them all! Amazing!

Since I haven't kept up with anything else, including this blog, I thought I would show you some of what I have been doing. I wanted you to see the lo (layout) I did of my niece, Heather's, new baby - Max. The lo was based on Lucy's August Sketch. Max was born August 2nd. So this was his "Welcome" lo from me! I will be doing more lo's of Max and of he and big sis, Olivia, soon!

Also, here are some cards I did. Not going to post all of them, just a few of my fav's except for a couple that are getting mailed out to someone. Don't want anyone to see his or her card ahead of time! Remember, this was an ABC Challenge. So, this Happy Birthday card was for H.

The stamp is from Stampington. I LOVE their stamps. The base card was done with Perfect Pearls. The image was colored with Prisma Pencils blended with GooGone. Lots of artists used GooGone in place of OMS, which is what I did. I used a Q-tip to chalk the background of the image panel.

The next card was made for V is for Violet. I made the
background by dabbing Ranger Alcohol Inks on a

glossy cardstock. I love playing with alcohol inks. This is

something Tim Holtz and I definitely agree on! The flowers

are Primas. The top panel is stamped with a Hero Arts
Stamp.

Two more cards to show you. One is T is for Turquoise Thank You. I stamped 2 panels with another Stampington Stamp for this one. The great thing about Stampington stamps is that they are pretty much wonderful all by themselves! I just used some ribbon from my stash and did distress the whole thing quite heavily with Ranger Inks. The sentiment is from MSE.

This last card is one I was really happy with,

even though

it is relatively simple looking.

It was made for F is for Four

Flowers. The background pp is

Basic Grey Lemonade. The

left border is from Bobunny.

The stamps are from Hero

Arts and one of the flowers is from

Autumn Leaves. I stamped each

flower on watercolor paper, colored

them with watercolor pencils and

sprayed them with Glimmer Mist.

This is a technique I hadn't tried

before, and I will definitely do

again!

I wish you could see the shimmer

on the flowers like you can see IRL.

One last creation! I saved MY baby for last. No, not Matt. My OTHER baby - Cotton. This lo was for Q is for Quiet. This is a photo I took of Cotton on my loveseat this past July. He was about to doze off. Ahhhhhhhh...................isn't he cute? Not as cute as Matt......lol I hope Matt is reading this and getting embarrassed! I can do a better job than this, though! So, on to Cotton.........

Whew......that's all for tonight! This will teach me not to get behind on blogging! Thanks for stopping by, and I hope everyone has a blessed Friday!

SPCC Challenge 11

2009-08-23T17:39:00.004-04:00

Look at the scrumptious colors for this week's challenge at SPCC (Scrapmaster's Paradise Color Combo). So rich and pretty , but they still felt like a challenge for me. I think I have trouble with being limited to 3 colors - no matter how pretty. I don't have the Stampin Up colors, but I came as close as I could.

I used Daisy D's pp on a brown card base. Used brown ribbon from my stash and added 3 K & Co. pearls on it for some bling. I used CTMH's Daisy White Ink to stamp the round flower element from Inkadinkado and the sentiment from CTMH on brown cs, cut them out and adhered them. (I used popdots to adhere the sentiment.) Used a Martha Stewart Border punch on the bottom edge of the pp and added one white button just cause I liked it! lol

Hope you like it too! Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed Sunday!

R is for Red, Ribbons and Rub Ons Challenge

2009-08-22T04:19:00.003-04:00

I made this card for the ABC Summer Crop at My Sketch World (link on my sidebar!). There have been so many amazing cards and lo's done for this crop. I really hope I can catch up here as the month ends. I have been so busy and STRESSED with Matt going to Liberty and dh going to trucking school that I am still so far behind on so many challenges! The good news is that Matt seems to be getting settled in at Liberty and making friends. Talk about an answer to prayer! (I want to thank all of you who have been praying for him!) Kent has already finished his first week and doing well on all the tests. He is actually home for the weekend. After that, he has two weeks left at school. We are praying that he is able to find a job where he will be able to come home on a regular basis. So many truckers are away from home A LOT their first year. However, we have really been blessed that it worked out for him to go to this training in the first place. So I will try not to worry and leave this in the hands of our awesome God!

As you can see in the title, for the letter R, Suzann's challenge was for us to make a card using red, ribbons and rub ons. I thought that this was such a cute idea for this challenge! I took a brown base card, layered it with a multi-colored pp and then the red pp. I distressed the edges quite a bit, adhered 2 ribbons (from Prima) at the bottom of the card, and cut up a third ribbon from Making Memories to make the red and white "flower" with a red brad in the center. The large owl is a rub on from Glitz, and the little flowers and butterfly are Fancy Pants rub ons. The 2nd owl was made by using a stamp from Inkadinkado. I stamped, heat embossed it, cut it out, and adhered with popdots. The sentiment (from Sassafras Lass) was also stamped and heat embossed. I used extra fine clear embossing powder on each stamp, btw. The white chipboard flower was from my stash, along with the red jewel which I glued to the middle.

Thanks for looking and have a blessed day!

Lime and Lace Card for MSW Summer Crop Challenge

2009-08-13T22:35:00.004-04:00

Just wanted to show you this card I made for the My Sketch World ABC Summer Crop. This is for the letter L, which stands for Lime and Lace. I thought Suzann came up with such a cute idea for this. I love the idea of lime green and lace together.

I used pp from My Mind's Eye on a pink base card. Top lace ribbon is from K & Co., other lace ribbon is from my stash. Strawberry and cherries stamps are from October Afternoon. I inked them with red ink from SU & heat embossed with clear ep. I added Glossy Accents to the edges and colored in the stem with a green Copic. Cut out the images and adhered with popdots for some dimension. The flower is from Prima, and the small flower brad is from Making Memories. Threading Water border punch was used on the bottom edge. Chipboard sentiment and button are from my stash. I ended up being happy with my little card. I really love those October Afternoon stamps. They come from a cute little set called Cherry Hill.

Off to do a lo for From Here to Scrapternity. Still have a project to do for Samantha at SPCC. Plus need to start on her challenge this week. Have you seen the prize she has? A set of 12 - YES 12!!) new Copics. I NEED those, ya know. The links to all of these sites are in my sidebar if you want to have a peek.

Thanks for looking and have a blessed day!

Layouts for a Change

2009-08-12T02:11:00.005-04:00

Just thought I would show you what I have been working on the last couple of days. No cards right now. I am trying to get some challenges done for the ABC Summer Crop at My Sketch World. You can't miss that big link in my sidebar if you'd like to see what's going on there. Lots of cool challenges and marvelous creations. This challenge I did was for the letter I, which is for Inky. The words "Biltmore House" are stamped, and I directly inked the large chipboard flower from Fancy Pants, then covered the stem with Glossy Accents. I have been wanting to do a lo of those pics of Matt (my ds) from that Biltmore trip. He was only 3 and was scared of those huge statues. What a mean mother I was to make him pose there! Of course, he wanted to pose next to them till he got up close and personal with them! lol They made him look even smaller!

The next lo is for an ad challenge at From Here to Scrapternity (the link is also in my sidebar). I really loved the ad, which was a vintage sort of pic of a lady holding a bday cake, with some text down in the lower right hand corner. The color was a lovely mixture of tones of a kind of rich burgandy. So here is my take on the challenge:

The photo is of my mom and her friend. My mom is on the right. She is 19 years old in 1941 and so pretty. I was happy with my colors inspired by the ad. I love the BG lace doily pp. I also love my Prima flowers. I took the sticker of the watch from Crafty Secrets and layered it on top of a chipboard circle that I cut with a circle punch, then put that on pop dots for dimension. The journaling diecut is from K & Co. I colored the design on it with my Copics. Have to use my growing collection of Copics whenever I can! I am trying to find all of the photos I can of my mom when she was younger, scrap those and get them in one album for Matt. She passed away in 2001, and we all miss her. I treasure every photo I have of her and only hope my lo's can begin to do them justice!

Be sure and stop by FH2S and check out their other challenges and the friendly folks. (You'll find those at both sites!) Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed day!

One Card for Three Challenges (again!)

2009-08-09T20:32:00.004-04:00

The card I did this week started out originally with this sketch by Martine from the Just Magnolia Challenge Blog. I love the sketch and their DT did a beautiful job with it, as usual. I made an actual tag with my Tilda stamp. You can pull it out of the card, write a message on the back or whatever you like. I am a tag lover anyway!

I am also using my card for the challenge at Allsorts Challenge Blog. The challenge for this week is to make something Vintage. I believe with the distressing and lace and flowers, my card will fit the bill. Their DT did some amazing totally vintage cards! Have a look!

Finally, this card fits the challenge at a blog I have just found, A Spoon Full of Sugar . Their challenge this week is "Floral Fantasy". They want to see flowers and I have those for sure! Their DT made beautiful cards also, and I was especially blown away by the card done by their Guest DT member, Fran. Wow! Her card is amazing! Drop by and have a look! So, here is my card:

I colored my Tilda with Copics and shaded in the background with chalk. I cut the tag out with my Sizzix. The hot pink dotted pp is from a company that is new to me - Best Creation, Inc. I bought it in several different patterns from my lss. It is all gorgeous! The other pp is Basic Grey, from their Lemonade collection. The pink flowers are Primas and the blue are from my stash. The lacy ribbon is from K & Co., along with 2 hot pink jewels from my stash. The brad in the middle is from Making Memories. The sentiment is a clear sticker from my stash, adhered to some pink cs. I inked the edges of everything with various inks (kept changing my mind!).

Am off to work on challenges for My Sketch World's month long crop, and also some challenges from a new favorite site I found, From Here to Scrapternity. Such a friendly place! I also need to work on something for Samantha from SPCC. So......I'm gone..........

Thanks for looking and have a blessed day!

Time/Clock Themed ATCs

2009-08-06T03:14:00.004-04:00

I love ATCs (that is Artist Trading Cards, in case you are not familiar with the term) and always had a monthly swap going at Memories from the Attic. A few of the girls and I did a swap with the theme of Time or Clocks. One of the girls lives in Canada, so I received her ATCs for the Time swap and for the swap that is going on now. (More about that when I have a little more time, because I am hoping I can get some more of you to join the current swap, which means I am extending the deadline).

Right now I have a minute, so thought I would show you the 3 I did for the Time Theme. The first one is a real picture cut out from a magazine for teaching piano, published in the forties. I inked it (and all of these ATCs) with Ranger Tea Dye Distress Ink. I am not sure how well you can see the black epoxy writing strip that I adhered, but it says "Time stands still". Underneath I added some stickers to say NOT. lol My pardons to the lady in the photo!

Directly underneath that one is my fav of the three. The background is actual text, also taken from a magazine from the '40s. I then stamped the 3 partial clock faces in the same Tea Dye Distress Ink, heat embossed them with clear embossing powder, cut them out, inked the edges in grey, and adhered them to the background. I then cut out a Jenni Bowlin die cut with the black design and a quote by Thomas Edison saying "There is time for everything". The watch is a sticker from my stash.

The last ATC has a vintage photo of a child from a book of ATC images. It has an epoxy frame around it that says "A moment in time". The calendar portion and watch are from that same sticker sheet in my stash. I have my fav Tea Dye ink spread here and there. You can't see the original ATC, but I tried a technique I read about where you light a candle and make soot on your ATC. Then you stamp into the soot. I couldn't get enough soot to matter. I realized that the tutorial I read used Stampbord (sp?) for the original ATC, so I wonder if that is what made the soot technique work. I don't even know what Stampbord is, which is one reason I don't know if I am spelling it correctly. Maybe someone could clue me in!

As I mentioned earlier in this post and in a previous post, we have a swap open now . I need to go and see exactly how I worded the theme when I posted it here and MSW. So I'll be back with more info, and maybe you will be inspired to swap with us. I have birds and butterflies on the ATCs for this swap, so that should give you SOME idea of what we are doing!

Be sure and stop back by and see and have a blessed day!

Inky Impressions 2nd Design Team Call

2009-08-02T18:08:00.008-04:00

I found out at that Inky Impressions is having another DT call! Yay!! I am not lucky enough to have any of their adorable stamps, just cause I don't have the $$$$ at this point. (Don't you hear me say that all the time? lol) This stamp company is not that old. I love it for lots of reasons. One is that it is a dream come true to actually have this company for the owner, Nicole. That is so exciting. The other thing I like is that she names the cute little girl stamps after her children! How sweet! The final reason is, of course, that I love their stamps and want them all! Everyone needs to have a look at them. If my internal link doesn't work, I have a link to them on my sidebar.

For this call they want a post of your fav card that has coloring and another project besides a card that has coloring. So I couldn't decide about my favorite card with coloring. There are 2 that you have seen just recently, so you are going to have to see them AGAIN!. OH NO! lol The thing is that I have only gotten a good Copic collection recently, and those are my favorite cards I've colored. I do have lots more, but they were colored with Prisma pencils (with GooGone - a technique that I like). I also have some colored with Perfect Pearls, which I also love. However, I have only gone crazy coloring since I discovered the Copics! Anway, here are these that you know:

The altered item was just made for my cousin Bobby's birthday. It is a little wooden holder that I got at AC Moore. I sanded it and then went crazy using a direct to ink technique and various colors of inks. One side has the words "Bible Verses for You" printed on a transparency and adhered. It also has a flower from Stampin Up that I colored with Copics and cut out, and a little squirrel from a Unity Stamp set that I colored, cut out, and adhered also. The other side has the coloring that is important for this DT call. It has a stamped image of a church that I colored with Copics, chalked the background, cut out and adhered. Also added 3 little jewels for bling. The whole Verse Holder has a ton of ribbons from my stash tied to the handles. So here it all is! I am very excited about the chance to be on this team (although I know the competition is unbelieveable), but I had to try!

I should add that the verses are from an old verse a day flip book. The cover is off, so I'm not sure who it is by. I am taking the verses and adhering them to white cardstock, about the size of an ATC. Hope ya'll like my card holder. You could use it to hold anything, of course. Btw, I did cover the inside with pp also. Now I have to go make more verse cards!

Wish me luck, girls and have a blessed day!

Gwen's Card Challenge to Make a Child Smile

2009-07-30T21:40:00.005-04:00

Gwen has a wonderful challenge at her blog. It is to make a card for a child at the Make a Child Smile organization. The link to their site is on my sidebar, in case this inner link doesn't work (which always happens to me! lol) You post your card and a photo of the child you picked to send a card to. You also post a link to the organization. Then link your post in Gwen's comments for the challenge. This is such an awesome thing that Gwen is doing - she is giving a TOTALLY SWEET RAK for the random winner. Hurry though! You have until tomorrow night (7/31) at midnight to get your card in.

Please read her blog. She has lots of info about the organization. If you click on the link in my sidebar, which will stay there, you can go directly to the site at any time. New children are featured all the time. You send a card or maybe a little more. Please take the time to read all about it. I am pretty amazed that our cards can make such a difference for these kids that are very sick. Here is the card I am sending:

The pp is CTMH, and the stamp is one I got from Memories from the Attic. It is by Imaginsce, the Twitterpattered Collection. I colored it with Copics, and highlighted it with Stickles. I think it will be the perfect card for this young lady:

This is Ariel, and she is 15. Her pic is on the front of the Make A Child Smile site as a featured child. She has intractable epilepsy. You can read all about her at the site. Isn't she a pretty young lady?! I am so glad that Gwen gave me the scoop on this site! I hope lots of you will take her challenge!

Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed day!

One Card - Three Challenges

2009-07-26T23:04:00.003-04:00

I originally made this card for Challenge # 16 on the Stamp with Fun Challenge Blog, which was a sketch challenge. I always forget that they are not from the US, and their time is different, so I didn't get this in on time for that sketch challenge. However, the current challenge (#17) is using pearls on your card. Since my card had lots of pearls, it still fits their challenge, so I am using it for this week! Yay! Their is a really nice prize this week, with a Stampavie Stamp given by Paper Basics. We all know that I love Stampavie! Needless to say, I would love to win this!

I am also using this card for the Stamp Something Challenge Blog. Their challenge this week is "Winged Things", so the stamp that I used by "Stamps Happen" fits that (along with my butterfly). The fairy is colored in with Copics, and the flowers she is in were colored with Perfect Pearls Metallics in the "Perfect Pearl" color mixed with a little water. You can't really see all the shimmer in the pic. It is so shiny!

Last, but not least, of course, is Jeanette's Wings Card Challenge for July at My Sketch World. I actually have another card I want to make for that, but I am going to turn this one in and see if I can do two!

Btw, the pp is by Prima. It is already stitched. I wish I could say that I did that! The circle paper is Heidi Swapp. The butterfly and pearls are by K & Co.

Thanks for looking and have a blessed day!

Stampavie DT Call!

2009-07-24T23:53:00.006-04:00

First let me say that, no, you are not seeing double! lol

I was so excited to find out that Stampavie is having a DT challenge! I know that it is a long shot to win, since there is so much talent out there, but I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to design for Stampavie. I had planned on using the last 2 posts for their DT call, but Blogger is not being nice and won't let me link directly! So, pardon the repetition, but I am going to post the pics of my cards from the last 2 posts again, as these are the only Stampavie stamps I am fortunate enough to have anyway. Both of the cards are from Sarah Kay's collection. The first card was based on a sketch. The second was based on the song "Seasons in the Sun". I won't say more, because you have read it all in the 2 previous posts! lol Wish me luck!

Stampin for the Weekend with Stampavie

2009-07-22T00:21:00.004-04:00

I am a happy camper because as I mentioned in my last post, I have another darling new stamp by Sarah Kay from Stampavie that I have been dying to use, called Country Girl. Well, I found another new stamping challenge blog, Stampin for the Weekend, and their challenge for this week was to create a lo or card based on one of the 3 song titles they gave us. I chose to do "Seasons in the Sun" by Terry Jacks, and yes, I'm old enough to remember it well! lol

Anyway, I thought this stamp would be just perfect for that title. It seems summery to me, and I colored it with Copic colors that I hope accented that summery look. I chalked the area behind the stamped image. I really like using chalks. I like the look, and they are very forgiving! The background papers I chose were from Bo Bunny's Calypso Collection, and Fancy Pant's On A Whimsy collection. I hadn't seen this paper by Fancy Pants, and it was particularly appropriate with the sun as a part of the pp. I think I'm going to have to have more of this collection. Of course, I ALWAYS love Fancy Pants. The sentiment is actually a rub on from American Traditional Designs, and again, I thought it was right on the mark for the theme of the challenge. I thought this would make a cute card to send to a friend as a "thinking of you" type card. I hope someone would be pleased to get it!

Btw, don't forget that Samantha chose her design team for SPCC. Looks like a really great group of girls. I think we are in for lots of fun! Stop by and congratulate them!

Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed day!

My Adorable Stampavie Stamp for Charmed Cards & Crafts Challenge

2009-07-18T16:59:00.009-04:00

In case I haven't mentioned it lately, I love Stampavie Stamps. I drool over every one of their collections! One of my favorite designers of Stampavie is Sarah Kay. She designs the such adorable stamps. I had to do a little on line shopping the other day, cause I absolutely HAD to have one of her stamps. I didn't have even one! I know! Shocking, isn't it? Well, the two I ordered came in the mail. I couldn't wait to use one of the stamps and play with my Copics as well, so I made this card. I used the sketch from last week at Allsorts Challenge Blog. I finished this too late last night to turn it in for the challenge, but I found out I could use it for Charmed Cards and Crafts Copic Giveaway! Charmed Cards has teamed up with Graphics Direct to do ANOTHER giveaway of 72 Copics! Can you imagine how awesome it would be to win that blog candy?! Of course you can! lol Maybe I'll be lucky enough to tell you on August 4th! Anyway, I had so much fun coloring with my (limited but growing) Copics collecction. It's hard to tell from the pic, but the 3 sweet littel flowers are a beautiful shade of purple. Wish that showed up better. The pp is Basic Grey's Wisteria collection (which I also love! lol). Thanks for looking. You will see more of this stamp, cause I can't wait to color it in different ways and make different types of cards with it. This sentiment says "Special", but there is so much you could use this for!

Have a blessed day!

SPCC Challenge 6

2009-07-17T04:26:00.005-04:00

These are the colors for Samantha's Color Combo Challenge this week. We had four colors to work with, which made it fun but more challenging for me. I have to admit that since I finally decided to do a lo for this challenge instead of a card, I had to go out and shop a little. I just didn't have any pp that made me happy with those colors. The lo that I did is of my mother and Charles (my stepdad). The photos were taken the last summer she was well, so I wanted to have some paper that I really liked. The pp is from My Mind's Eye, The Laundry Line Collection. It is really pretty. Dont' think the photo of the lo adequately shows the shimmer of either of the pp. The colors are all a really close match - probably the best I have done yet. Hope you can tell!

The quote on the vintage "playing card" says, "If you have but one smile in you, give it to someone you love". I put some blue Stickles on the bird die cut for a little extra bling, and some brown Stickles in the middle of the bottom die cut. The die cuts are all from the same line as the pp. The frames around the photos are cut out of acetate.

Remember, today is the last day to apply for the DT at SPCC. Samantha also mentioned a surprise! Hmmm........Guess we all need to stop by and check it out! I know I will. Good luck to everyone who is applying for the DT! Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday MATT!

2009-07-16T12:09:00.004-04:00

My son turned the big 27 yesterday! Yes, 27! Can you believe it? lol Well, he can't. He thinks he is getting old. Seriously. I don't know what that means for some of the rest of us. He had a celebration with some of his "bestest" friends. Naturally that meant, I had to tag along. I had to take pics! This one is Matt and "his boys".

Matt is on the far left, then Dustin, Blake and Brad. It's rough to be so old! lol Since Matt was feeling so old, I decided to make this card for him. I needed to assure him that he would not lack female companionship now that he is the big 2 7 !! So............................

He was thrilled! lol He actually thought it was pretty hilarious. I had fun making the card. The stamp is by River City Rubber Works. I used paper piecing to make it. In this case, I stamped the image 4 times, once on white paper, then on 2 pp by Cosmo Cricket, plus a greenish colored pp by ......I'm not sure who. I then cut out the dresses, each one from a different pp, and adhered them to the original image. I haven't really done much piecing. I would hate to do this if it were much more tedious. I even cut the pocketbook out of a separate piece. Of course Matt is worth it! Anyway, I attached "the girls" with pop dots for dimension. Oh yes, the fonts I used were by Scrapfonts.com. Then the bottom was a bright birthday sticker. Had to add a festive look somewhere! Inside I wrote a mushy message, of course, because I am so blessed to have such a wonderful son! Happy Birthday, Matt! I'll always love you!

Owen the Owl - I NEEDED Him!

2009-07-12T16:22:00.007-04:00

Well, today I am posting a card I made that is for Samantha's Color Combo Challenge at SPCC (that is Scrapmaster's Paradise Color Combos!), and I also used this week's sketch at Caardvark's for their Challenge. Here are the yummy colors Samantha chose this week:

Aren't these adorable? I don't have any Stamping Up materials, except for some stamp sets that I love, so I was appalled at the lack of colors that were close enough to suit me in my stash! I did the best I could. Guess I need to put in an order to Stamping Up, huh? See, I NEED to shop. lol

I was fortunate to have Owen the Owl to help me out though. In case you think I've lost my mind, Owen is this adorable owl stamp made by Kim Hughes for Cornish Heritage Farms. I love all her stamps. Notice I keep saying I love certain stamps. I love SO MANY! I couldn't even begin to list them - well, you wouldn't want me to. Anyway, back to the subject at hand, I was able to color in Owen with colors that were pretty much on the money. Here is the sketch I used from Caardvarks. (Actually, the sketch originally came from Sheetload of Cards, FYI.)

So, here is my card. By the way, I colored in Owen with Copics and some colored pencils on the wings. I couldn't get the Mango color right for Owen's party hat (since I don't have many of those expensive Copics!), so I covered the pink Copics with Distress Stickles "Worn Lipstick". That gave some bling plus I was much happier with the color. Well, see what I mean:

See how cute Owen is? He looks great with Samantha's color choices! The sentiment is by Inkadinkado. The aqua paper is Basic Grey. The mango pp and all the flowers are Prima. The little flower brads are Making Memories and ribbon is SEI.

Be sure and have a look at SPCC. I have had a peek at some of the other cards for the challenge, and there are lots of talented artists out there! The site continues to grow, too! The list of entries keeps getting longer! Don't forget, Samantha is looking for a DT. Here is the link to the info about it. The call ends July 17th, so better hurry!

You Are Invited to my new ATC swap!

2009-07-07T21:55:00.003-04:00

I am hosting a new ATC swap. You can sign up here and at here or Memories from the Attic.

But before I give you the info on the swap, I just wanted to explain the pic I have posted today. The lo I did yesterday for the challenge at SPCC just did not make me happy. This is pretty normal for me. I often finish a card or lo (especially lo's) and look at them the next day with a fresh eye. Then I change them. I decided this one had too many bright colors for the old photo. I also love to cluster embellies around a pic, but decided that there were so many that they just took away from the photo, instead of enhancing it. So I removed a lot of those, removed the word FAMILY and made a little element that I thought was more in keeping with photo. Then I went over the word POP with a brown marker to soften the bright green of those Martha Stewart letters. Also distressed the frame a little more. I like it much better. That is what I get for waiting until the last minute to do a challenge. This is twice I have had posts like this lately! lol

Back to the swap. a few of the girls at the Attic are ready to do another swap and have given me their ideas for the theme. So with that in mind, the theme for our next swap will be: BIRDS AND BUTTERFLIES! Any technique you want to use if fine. That will be totally up to you.

EVERYONE is invited to participate, even if you have not swapped with us before, and you don't have to be a member at the Attic. You can sign up here at my blog

This is a 3/3 swap as usual. By that I mean, make 3 ATCs and you will get 3 in return. You may make all of the ATCs basically the same, or you may make them all entirely different. Send them to me with a sase (self-addressed stamped envelope). Please put 2 stamps on the return envelope, as I usually add some extra packaging if you haven't already. I would hate to think anything happened to your ATCs in the mail! The cut off date to sign up or withdraw will be July 24th. Please get them to me by July 30.

Comment here or email me when you need my addy to send me your creations . I will email my address back to you. Also, when I get all of them, I would love to post pics of all of the ATCs here for everyone to enjoy if you don't mind! If you don't want yours posted, be sure and let me know!

Remember, newbies are welcome! I will be glad to help you in any way I can. Let me know if you have any questions.

Come on ladies and swap! ATCs are so much fun. There may even be a RAK involved if we get enough swappers. I am pondering that one and will let you know right away!

Scrapmaster's Paradise Color Combo Challenge 4

2009-07-05T22:15:00.005-04:00

This week the color's for Samantha's challenge at Scrapmaster's Paradise Color Combo Blog are Glorious Green, Passion Pink and Sunny Yellow. I was so excited to have made it in the top 5 last week, so I thought I would give it a shot again. The photo I used for my lo is one of me sitting on my grandfather's lap when I was about 5 years old. This is going in the book of me/Bio of me album I am doing. The pp had all three colors. It is from my stash, and I'm not sure who made it. Flowers are from Prima, Queen & Co. and from a flower lei that cost $1. I just took it apart! lol The green alphas are from Martha Stewart. The O in "Pop" has a heart rhinestone that I adhered to it, but it didn't come out too clear in my slightly crooked pic! I did direct to paper stamping of the background cs to get the correct colors. The pink scalloped edges are by Doodlebug. I see Samantha's site is already growing. Remember, she is looking for a DT. Stop by and have a look, ladies!

Also wanted to add that I have been visiting Scrapbook Doodle again. I used to hang there all the time before I started designing for Memories from the Attic. Everyone there is just as sweet and crazy (great combo, huh? lol) as ever, even the newer girls that I don't know. Lots of talent there. Another great place you should visit!

Remember, if you go 2 posts back, the free digi stamps are still available until tomorrow. Grab them while they are still free by right clicking and then clicking save as. Go from there. I'll be glad to help if you need it!

Hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend, and thanks for stopping by.

Scrap'nArts Magazine

2009-07-03T17:38:00.002-04:00

Just a quick post to tell you I was so excited to find out that I was one of the two people that won the prize for the June blog challenges for Scrap'nArts magazine! Yay! My entries are in the post below. I also made a new friend, Gwen, who was the other girl that won. She is very sweet and very talented. She had SO MANY awesome entries - you need to check out her blog and the Scrap'nArts Mag Blog. Both of those links are in my sidebar. I have a terrible time getting links in here to stay linked, so just link from my sidebar and you should end up at the right place!

If you have not subscribed to Scrap'nArts mag, you really should. They have a new look and if you look at their sneak peak, you will want to subscribe!

Also, thanks to you all that have contacted me about the free digi downloads in the post before this one. Anna hasn't been here yet to see her comments here, or at My Sketch World, or on my email. So if you haven't left a comment about the lovely fairy she drew by hand (completely her design - no copying!), please take a sec and do so. As I said before, at TWELVE, she is soooo excited and amazed that people like her art!

"Chip" the kitty cat and Anna's fairy will only be free until the 5th. Then off to my ETSY store they go! Just think - Chip was used on the card that won one of the Scrap'nArt's challenge! But Sam does not get to share my prize! No! lol

Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed day!

Free Cat Digital Stamp Download!

2009-07-01T03:17:00.011-04:00

Hello everyone! Lots of things going on! First of all, Sam has drawn several new digital stamps for our ETSY store, Dreamer's Boutique. I am posting one of them, who we are calling "Chip, the Cat" (cause his pudgy cheeks look like a chipmunk's!), for you here as a FREE digital download until July 4th. After that you will find it for purchase in our ETSY store. I think you will agree that Sam did a great job on this! Remember that all you have to do to download this is right click on the image and click Save As.... Then save it in your pics, or wherever you like. All you do at that point is print it. If you want it larger or smaller than the original, you can change it in any photo software you have, or even in your printer program. You know, where you have the choice of printing full page, 8 x10, 5 x 7, wallet size etc. You do not have to know ANYTHING about digi scrapping to do this. Just print, cut it out and use it on your card or lo. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, and I'll be glad to help you out

I used Chip the Cat to make this card to enter in the Scrap'nArts June challenge about using chalks on your card. I chalked most of the image of Chip the Cat. I did use the chalks with a water brush around the edges to help stay in the lines. I also chalked the background of the digital stamp, the background of the sentiment, and the bottom of the base card. I love using chalks. I haven't used them much lately, so I really appreciated the challenge!

I also did another June challenge for Scrap'nArts blog. This one was about using ripped paper on your card or lo for dimension. I combined this with a challenge for Lucy's Summer Cyber Crop at My Sketch World, where you had to use the word Summer in the title. This was actually Toni's challenge. So this lo, One Special Summer, fit both challenges. It is actually a photo of me when I was a little girl. What memories that photo brings back!

I have one more thing you must see. Sam's niece, Anna, who is not even a teenager yet, drew the most darling fairy! She obviously inherited Sam's talent. I was so impressed with her drawing that we are posting it in our ETSY shop as a digital stamp also. But for now I am posting it here for 2 days as ANOTHER FREE digital stamp for you. I think you will be as amazed as I! Please leave Anna some love! Looks like we have a future designer here! (Please leave Sam some love too - he gets all pouty. lol)

Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed day!

SP Color Combo Looking for DT!

2009-06-28T12:25:00.005-04:00

I have found a cool new color challenge site! It is called SP Color Combo which stands for Scrapmaster's Paradise Color Combo. It is run by Samantha who gives a color combination challenge every Monday. The cool thing is that you can choose to make layouts, cards or even altered items for the challenges. Samantha already has some great sponsors for some great prizes! Right now, challenge # 3 is due. The yummy colors for this challenge are Lovely Lilac, Garden Green, and Chocolate Chip. I came as close as I could to the colors in the lo I did for this challenge. The photo is of my ds and his friend. The title refers to the bday party I had for my son last year at our house. It is stamped with Brilliance Chocolate ink. The background paper is Rusty Pickle, and the cute chipboard birdie and tree are made by Glitz. Prima flowers and CTMH leaves. Also painted a "frame" with Makng Memories Chocolate Scrapbooking Paint with some Luminere's Pearl White added for some shine.

Samantha is looking for the first DT for SP Color Combo. The info is all at her site. Click on her icon (should I call it a blinkie, even though it doesn't blink? lol) on my right sidebar to get there. I am thinking it would be pretty awesome to be on the DT there! Samantha is very talented herself, and her site is already lots of fun! Think about it, girls! I know I am!

Also, don't forget that Lucy's Summer Cyber Crop is still going on at My Sketch World. There are some awesome challenges! I have only had time to do a few, but this lo will work for the Stamp the Title challenge. Yay! If you haven't checked out My Sketch World, you need to get over there! The forum is rockin!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a blessed Sunday, ya'll!

Pink Persimmon and Bobunny

2009-06-25T17:22:00.009-04:00

I have two things to show you today. The first is a card I did for the Pink Persimmon Cupcake Challenge. If you are not familiar with Pink Persimmon, you need to be! They are a stamp company that has such adorable stamps, and they are 1 year old now! Their challenge for this week is to make a card, layout or any project with a cupcake in it.

My card has a cupcake cut out from Pink Paislee pp. The pink background paper is also from Pink Pasilee. The other two pp are Bo Bunny (blue dotted) and Basic Grey (floral). I used a Martha Stewart border punch on the Bo Bunny strip. The Happy Birthday stamp is a clear stamp from ? I hate to say that I lost the package and am not certain. Blush. I think I know, but I hate to put the wrong company! lol

Oh yes, speaking of Pink Paislee pp, don't forget that Memories from the Attic is having a chat with Rebecca Cross, founder of Pink Paislee

tonight at 8 CST! How exciting! You NEED to be there!

The other thing I wanted to show you is the layout I did for Bo Bunny's ad challenge. My layout is based on one done by Carole from their DT. She based hers on a Better Homes and Gardens' mag cover. I used the same colors as she, plus the pool theme and swirls. All products are Bo Bunny. I have to say that I don't have any of their flowers, so there are no flowers in this lo, since all of the products were supposed to be Bo Bunny I don't think I have EVER done a lo of a girl or baby without a flower! GASP! I love these pp, die cuts, alphas and swirls though - all from their Calypso collection! So bright and summery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Free Digital Stamp Download!

2009-06-23T20:46:00.004-04:00

Sam is busy creating new digital stamps for our ETSY store. He already has a few digital stamps posted there, ready for you to download. I feel like lots of you don't see his creations. Besides the digital stamps, Sam does amazing cartoons and awesome paintings. Anyway, I thought it would be a nice to give ya'll a chance to have one of his new hand drawn creations for FREE! So here is a digi stamp from a new collection he is starting. I'd like to introduce you to "Tootsie Turtle"! Tootsie is a 300 DPI .jpg file (or ping) for transparencies. It can be resized to any size you like in your photo editing progam. Then you may color it in any way you choose for your layouts or cards. Feel free to use this on any creation that you share or publish, but please give Dreamers Boutique the credit!

I think the easiest way to do this is to simply right click on the image and click on "Save picture as....." and save the image to your photos. Then you can resize and print when you need it. If you have no idea what I mean or your computer is doing strange things, leave a comment or email me at mitzy5000777@yahoo.com and I will email a copy of the image to you.

Also, I'd appreciate it if you would leave a comment if you download Tootsie. Let us know how you like her, or if (heaven forbid!) there is any problem with the download. As I said, we do have some digi stamps on ETSY now, with lots more to come! Hope you visit us there. Have fun with Tootisie!

My "Dotty" Card for Stamping with Fun's Blog

2009-06-21T16:36:00.006-04:00

Hello and Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there and even more to all you moms who are both mom and dad to children! I know that there are a lot of you. Hope everyone is having a great day.

I have been trying to get back into my scrappy groove. I have been having so much fun visiting old friends at websites I have not been to lately, or some not at all, such as Luch Chesna's My Sketch World Blog and Forum and and old favorite, Scrapbook Doodle. There is so much fun going on at both of those places. I have also been doing the Shimmerz Blog Hop. Got to visit so many awesome blogs! I still haven't tried the Shimmerz Paints, but I can tell you I am hooked just by all the gorgeous creations I have seen! I NEED them! lol

We have so many awesome things going on at The Attic right now, too! We have our Pink Paisley Chat coming up, our mini album challenge with a darling 8 x 8 SEI album as the prize, plus a card challenge from me and a wedding themed challenge from Jaime! So stop by and join in the fun!

Also, I did a card for the latest Stamping with Fun blog challenge. The only criteria for this challenge was that the card had to have dots. So much fun! After I saw all the creations from their DT, I was so blown away, I almost didn't even do a card! But I gulped and jumped in and here is my card.

The base card is a pre-made gate fold card. I completely covered the front with the pp. Both the blue and pink dotted paper are from Bobunny. The light green is Pink Paislee. The cute little stamps are Snap 'em Stamps by

Imaginisce. They came in a previous card kit I got from The Attic.

I inked the edges of EVERYTHING. I colored in the birdie with

Copics. I inked the chipboard swirl and covered it with Candy Cane

colored Stickles. The red "dots" are Kaiser Droplets. The bottom edge was done with a Martha Stewart border punch. I have forgotten who makes the cute white flower! The blue button is from my stash. I raised the birdie and sentiment with popdots for dimension.

Thanks for stopping by!

Memories from the Attic Mini Album Challenge

2009-06-14T21:41:00.014-04:00

Did I mention that we are having a Mini Album Challenge at Memories from the Attic? Well, we are, and at the end of the month the winner of the challenge will receive an awesome prize- a soooo pretty 8 x 8 album from SEI. So stop by the Attic and join in the fun. We have some other DT challenges and an ATC swap going on (yes, i'm extending the deadline!). I hope I see some new faces there!

Here is the mini album I made to hopefully inspire the girls doing the challenge. That works out well, because I am also selling it at my ETSY store, Dreamer's Boutique. I actually was hoping to have it ready sooner, since it is a perfect Father's Day gift, being that the title is "best dad" It's a 6 x 6 post bound mini with 8 quality cream colored pages. I covered the front with patterned paper and painted the edge with Lumiere's Pearl White paint. I heard about Lumiere's from a Split Coast Stamper's challenge and tutorial, and I love it! It has such a beautiful, shiny consistency. I can't wait to play with it some more! But I digress.....lol. Back to my mini - I used chipboard, metallic and felt embellishments on the cover and all through the book. I covered each right hand page with patterned paper and embellishments. There are frames for pictures and places for journaling. The last page has a cardstock "frame" with a tag that slides behind it for more journaling. I guess I could quit explaining and show you!

See how you can slide your dad's, stepdad's, or grandfather's pic behind the frame, and it will peek through the front cover. That part made me happy!

The next page has a frame to slide your dad's pic behind and a cute little journaling spot. I love the green Prima flower!

I love the cute litte journaling tag "from A to Z" on this page, too.

And of course dad's photo can be put under the crown! How fitting!

Here is another page with lots of room for a photo of dad.

And another:

Wow, there are lots of pages in here. It is taking longer to post the pics than to make the album!

Here's the next(a crown again): And the next (I like this one!):

And finally we come to the last page, and the back inside cover with a die cut from Cosmo Cricket. This last page has the journaling tag tucked underneath the photo frame.

I hope you like my mini book for Dad. Sorry for the long post, but I hope you enjoyed the pics! Thanks for looking!

New Improved Cotton lo for Rachel Wood's Challenge

2009-06-10T20:02:00.002-04:00

Well, I just kept looking at the lo I originally did for Rachel's challenge. It kept bothering me cause I thought it needed more. So I added some more blue embellies, and I am much happier with it! This is the new, improved version! lol

Drop on over to Rachel's blog - you can click on her blog over in my favs in the right sidebar. She has lots of great eye candy on her blog.

Off to scrap some more!

My doggie lo for Rachel Wood's pet challenge

2009-06-10T01:00:00.002-04:00

I am posting this so late, I don't know if i'll make it in time. so i'll tell you more about it later. but here is the lo of my BichonPoo, Cotton, that I did for Rachel Wood's challenge. You couldn't use more than 2 colors, not including black and white. So i did red and blue. Hope i get this linked in time! She has a wonderful prize from Cosmo Cricket!

Mini Album Crazy

2009-06-03T00:06:00.003-04:00

Here I am again, mad at myself for not keeping up with this blog. I was doing a pretty good job, too! Oh well, all I can do is apologize to myself, forgive myself, and start fresh - which is exactly what I am going to do. Isn't life grand?

I have been busy dealing with all sorts of "real life" stuff. We have pretty much decided that dh is going to make a career change, and I am going to stay home (for the most part) and not only play more with my art but see about focusing more on the business aspect of it again. That means fun, and right now a big part of that is mini albums! I can't get them out of my mind. I have searched the net for mini albums, just to LOOK at them, cause I love every aspect of them. I have gotten out my old ones and looked those over (which is why I posted a pic of a few I have made and still have), and I have made plans for the new ones I intend to make. I am making a chipboard one for Father's Day for an uncle and also a couple of others for Father's Day to sell (I hope!). These are harder for me, since I tend to lean toward a girly style with lots of embellishments. So I have to think MASCULINE.

Also am going to be working on an 8 x 8 anniversary mini for a cousin. He is giving it to his parents (my dh's aunt and uncle) for their 50th (yes, 50th!) wedding anniversary. I can't wait to get going on this one! I have also kinds of pretty papers and embellishments collected, including some of the new Prima flowers with tulle and pearl-like buttons, known as Bonnet Blooms. They are so perfect for a wedding lo or album! Actually, they would be great for a baby album, a heritage album.......perhaps Prima would like for me to do an advertisment for them? lol

Clear acetate albums are something I really want to play with, too. I do have a Bind-It-All, and I think i will probably do some minis with a combination of acetate and chipboard.

I am planning on doing a mini album challenge this month at The Attic. In fact, I haven't even mentioned it yet! I also have been planning a clear card challenge. Time to start planning and start challenging, I suppose! We also have an ATC swap going on (that you are still welcome to join) with the theme of clocks and time. I think this will be a fun one. Leave a comment if you are interested or look for swaps at The Attic site. The link is under my favorites (to the right) if the one in this post doesn't work.

Off to work on all my new projects!