A Slightly Shabby Chic Birthday Card

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

: ) Lynn

Scrapbooking at Christian Paper Crafts!

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

ZOE - Dare to Fly



that is why I have not posted the

BIG NEWS........

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

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



Closeup of painting over Heidi Swapp masks

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

Masking done by painting over Queen & Co. felt border

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

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