Serenity

Hello Friends! I seem to be back into a groove of creating and posting on Sundays! Feels good to create.

One of my special customers from work was sick a couple of months back and I made a card for everyone to sign and sent it out to him. When he got well, he came by and asked if I had made the card and I said yes. Well, he loved it so much, he asked me if I could make him a dozen of assorted cards and he would pay me. Now, I really am not into selling my cards. I just feel that you can never get the money for all the time that you put into them. Personally, I'd rather give them away. And I also did not want to commit to such a large order. I know twelve doesn't sound like much but, I don't really make clean and simple cards and I try to put as much detail into them as possible. However, he is also a long-time friend of our family and he has been so wonderful to call or send cards to my Mom during her times of illness that I just couldn't say no to him. So, last Sunday I created the first of a dozen cards for this special order. Today I am sharing the second one.

My card this week was inspired by May 2015 Viva la Verve Sketch Week 5.

Created with Verve Serenity Stamp Set (Archived)

Cardstock colors used in my card are Pool Party and River Rock from Stampin' Up!®. I used a patterned paper from a KAISERCRAFT paper pad called On This Day. It has some really beautiful soft tones in it. I stamped the leaves from the Serenity stamp set onto the patterned paper using the River Rock ink. The base of the card is pre-made by Recollections. I sponged the edges of the papers with Pool Party after distressing the edges lightly.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a blessed week!

Mojo Monday 388

I'm finally getting back to playing along with Mojo Monday Sketches! I did really well with keeping up the month of January and then got behind in February. Since my goal is to complete them all, I have printed out the ones I missed and have set them aside to use in future card designs. This is the current week's Mojo Monday Sketch and my somewhat 'loose' interpretation of it.

I used Verve's Believe stamp set, Sprightly Sprigs die, and Award Banner Trim die.

I created this card for a friend of mine who is battling cancer. I created the card in this blue shade as that is the color of the awareness ribbon for the type of cancer she has.

I'd also like to share it at the Word Art Wednesday Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have had a blessed weekend. 

ODBDSLC168: Sketch

Hello Everyone! It's time for a new Shining Light Challenge over at Our Daily Bread Designs.


This week we are challenging you to use this sketch to inspire your card design:

Before I share my card with you this week I would just like to take a moment to thank all the lovely ladies over at Our Daily Bread Designs for having me as their Guest Designer for the past two months. Today will be my last challenge with them as a Guest Designer and I have been so honored to have been chosen to play along with them for two months. Wonderful bunch of ladies and so encouraging in every way. 

For my final challenge I decided to get out one of my favorite sets from ODBD: Hope; and with good reason too. Someone very near and dear to my heart is a Kidney Cancer Survivor and this person recently had a scare that immediately had them thinking the worst. So, some tests were run and while the individual was waiting for results, many people were praying. About two days before my friend was to return to the doctor for the results, they told me, I know I'm going to be okay. Something changed last night after I prayed and I can just tell you that whatever it was is gone. Well, Glory to God, when my friend went to the doctor for results, all scans came back clean! Still Cancer free! Praise God!

So in honor of the wonderful healing God has bestowed on my friend and the blessing God gave me by giving me the opportunity to be a Guest Designer with Our Daily Bread Designs... I created this card...

Orange is the color for Kidney Cancer. I used Tangerine Tango from Stampin' Up!®

I hope that you will join us in our challenge this week. To make the challenge even more fun, we will be giving out a prize, a $15 gift certificate to be used toward stamps at the Our Daily Bread Designs store!! Entries for the prize must be submitted by Sunday, September 1, at 8 p.m. EST. One random winner will be chosen and announced next challenge. In order to win this prize, you do not need to use ODBD stamps, but if you have them, we would love to see them!! As a way of recognizing those who do use Our Daily Bread Designs Stamps, we will be choosing three or more participants for the Shining The Light Award. In order to qualify for this award, however, you must have your submission added to Mr. Linky by Sunday, September 1, at 8 p.m. EST. If you upload your creations to Splitcoast Stampers or any other online gallery, please use the keyword ODBSLC168. When creating posts on your blogs, please include a link to the challenge.


I hope that you'll stop by my fellow designer's blogs/galleries and see their lovely creations for this challenge:

Cheryl Scrivens

Jan Marie Ennenga

Diana Nguyen

Chris Olsen

DJ Rants

Thanks for dropping by today. God Bless You!

ODBDSLC165: Sketch

Hello Everyone! It's time for a new Shining Light Challenge over at Our Daily Bread Designs.


This week we are challenging you to use this sketch to inspire your card design:

Here is my take on the sketch:

 

ODBD Stamps Used: Faith

I hope that you will join us in our challenge this week. To make the challenge even more fun, we will be giving out a prize, a $15 gift certificate to be used toward stamps at the Our Daily Bread Designs store!! Entries for the prize must be submitted by Sunday, August 11, at 8 p.m. EST. One random winner will be chosen and announced next challenge. In order to win this prize, you do not need to use ODBD stamps, but if you have them, we would love to see them!! As a way of recognizing those who do use Our Daily Bread Designs Stamps, we will be choosing three or more participants for the Shining The Light Award. In order to qualify for this award, however, you must have your submission added to Mr. Linky by Sunday, August 11, at 8 p.m. EST. If you upload your creations to Splitcoast Stampers or any other online gallery, please use the keyword ODBSLC165. When creating posts on your blogs, please include a link to the challenge.


I hope that you'll stop by my fellow designer's blogs/galleries and see their lovely creations for this challenge:

Cheryl Scrivens

Jan Marie Ennenga

Diana Nguyen

Chris Olsen

DJ Rants

Thanks for dropping by today. God Bless You!

 

Sunshine & Butterflies

Happy Monday! Hope your week is off to a great start.

I've been wanting to design something with this beautiful sunflower designer paper from the Graphic45 French Country Collection for some time now. It's so vivid and timeless I just had to showcase it.

I started with a Cherry Cobbler card base that measures 4.25 x 5.5. I cut the length and width of the sunflower patterned paper a quarter inch smaller and adhered it to the base.

Next using the Cheery Lynn Designs Lace Deco Corners A and Summer Sun cardstock I cut out two corners for the top left and bottom right of the card. Still working with Summer Sun cardstock I used Spellbinders Decorative Labels Eight to die cut a label for my sentiment.

For embellishment and finishing touches, I used the opposite side of the sunflower patterned paper and die-cut two butterflies facing them in opposite directions on the card. I added some Brown Baby Rhinestones to the centers of the butterflies to create the bodies.

Thanks for stopping by today...

CCNS: He Cares

Happy Memorial Day Everyone! Hope you have had a wonderful holiday.

Today I have an encouragement card to share made with some fun products from the Classy Cards N Such Online Store.

I started with a 5.25 x 5.25 card base made from Echo Bronze Stardream Metallic. Beautiful brown shimmery cardstock! To that I added a distressed layer of designer paper from the Bo Bunny Prairie Chic collection. This is a great collection for those of you that like to do "shabby chic" designs.

Next, using the Italian Flourish Doily Die, I die cut an elegant pink doily and added it to the bottom center of my card. I knew I wanted this doily to be my focal point so, using Lacy Circles I die cut a green lacy circle to stamp my Scripture on.

I knew I needed something across the upper part of my card to finish it off. I decided to use a border punch with the Echo Bronze Stardream Metallic and create a border for the top of my card.

To bring it all together like a beautiful package with a big bow, I used the Esse Smooth Pearlized Cocoa with the Large Bow Die from Impression Obsession and created a bow for the upper left corner.

My card design was inspired by the Viva la Verve May Week 2 Sketch...

Thanks for stopping by...

CDS: March New Releases

Happy Friday Everyone! It's the 15th at that means it's time for new releases at 

I'll be showcasing 2 of the new releases right here on my blog and you can see the rest at the Clearly iStamp Blog.

First up is Everyone is a Genius:

Supplies: Everyone is a Genius Digital Stamp Set by Clearly Digi Stamps; computer generated sentiment; EK Success Waves border punch; Photoshop Elements.

 


Next is Josephine Clematis...

  

Supplies: Josephine Clematis digital stamp set by Clearly Digi Stamps; K&Co. Watercolor Bouquet designer paper; Queen & Co. felt border; Spellbinders Lacy Circles; Concord Crush Distress Ink. 

 

I printed out the extra pieces that came with this set and fussy-cut all of them out and layered them from the base up with pop-dots to create a 3-D effect.

There are a ton of new digital sets being released today so be sure to stop by Clearly iStamp to see all the releases and fabulous samples from the Clearly Digi Stamps Design Team.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a blessed day.

Sentimental Sundays: Negative Spaces

It's Sunday and the Sentimental Sundays Team is back from our break and ready for a new challenge.

Our challenge this week is Negative Spaces plus a sentiment.

Our sponsor this week is...

 

 

 

I decided to use my oval punch  to create my negative space and stamp my sentiment inside it. 

 Supplies: premade card base; oval punch; Rosebud and Summer Sky Memento Ink; Avocado Arts Perfectly Perfect Day Stamp Set.

Be sure to stop by  Sentimental Sundays to see the rest of the incredible inspiration from the Design Team and to enter your creation into the challenge.

The Perfect Sentiment: Encourage Me w/Ribbon

Happy Wednesday Everyone! Time for a new challenge at The Perfect Sentiment. This week we are challenging you to create a card with an encouraging sentiment and include some ribbon somewhere in the design of your card.

This Week's Sponsors

Pattie's Creations will award 3 free digis to one lucky random winner.

Crafty City will award a $5 Gift Certificate to one lucky random winner. Good only in the U.S. 

 

 

My card design was inspired by this Viva la Verve Sketch...

Supplies: Be Amazing Designer Paper by My Minds Eye; Basic Black CS; Basic Black ribbon; Spellbinders Labels Eighteen; Brighter Days stamp set from Verve Stamps; Black Pearls; ribbon slot hole punch.

Be sure to stop by The Perfect Sentiment for more inspiration for this challenge from the Design Team. 

CDS: January New Release

Hello everyone. Today I have some exciting news to share. I have been invited to be a part of the Design Team for Clearly Digi Stamps by Clear Dollar Stamps!

I'm beginning my term with them today as they launch their new digis for January 2013!

First up is a new set called Charlie Horse.

Next is the new Cake and Cookie set.

This is just two of the fabulous sets that are being released today. To see all of them with tons of inspiration from the CDS Design Team be sure to stop by the Clearly i Stamp blog.

"Viva la Verve" Dare to Dream

Wow! It's been a full two weeks since I've posted anything on my blog. I'm surprised I'm not going through withdrawals. But, in total honesty, I just haven't been feeling that well and add stress from work on top of that plus a nasty head cold and you pretty much have a recipe for killing your creative energy.

I created this card for the week 2 of September Viva la Verve Sketch Challenge.

Here is the sketch...

This sketch worked so well for the new Borderline Stamp Set from Verve's latest release. It felt like the sketch was made for this stamp set.

Supplies: Blue Bayou CS and ribbon from SU; Marjolaine DP by Basic Grey; Borderline Stamp Set & Mini Bookplate die from Verve Stamps.

 

Challenges I am entering:

• Challenges 4 Everybody: Anything Goes
• No Matter Which Challenges: Die cuts or Punches

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. May God Bless You.