Birthday Girl

Yes, I'm actually posting a card I made - felt so good to be working with this familiar canvas again :) This little cutie was created with the sketch over at CPS in mind, although I admit I took a few liberties with it. I stamped the little girl and added a touch of color with prismacolor pencils, rounded the corners and inked the edges, then added the sentiment and mounted it over the three background strips. I love the happy colors, and it's even nice & flat for mailing. Beauteous!

Girl image: Cornish Heritage Farms, sentiment PaperTrey, and paper BasicGrey Junebug

My help comes from the Lord...

I can't imagine that each of us hasn't been touched in some way between all the economic issues and the natural disasters sweeping the globe. We know a number of families who've experienced different degress of loss, and I sometimes struggle with what to say. I want to *do* something, but obviously I can't just sweep in and make everything better... I made this card to send to a friend who is going through some difficulties, but I found myself encouraged as well. No matter what is going on, HE is still in control, and HE will provide what we need.

Mountaing image: Cornish Heritage Farms, Sentiment: Wordsworth, Patterned Paper: 7gypsies

Unusual Encouragement

I know - not exactly my normal scripture verse & flower card :) I've had this fun household set from CHF (bummer that they've shut down!) and wanted to play around with it for quite some time... I have a friend who's going through a rough time, and I know without a doubt that she'll get a huge laugh over this. You have to know your audience, right?!

The card is pretty straightforward - I stamped the vacuum in blue, lightly colored it in with metallic pencils, and pieced the bag with some scrap paper I had on the desk. Added the sentiment, two square brads, and then rounded one corner just to add some interest.

AND I'm happy to say that it's already been mailed off... I'm telling you, this sending thing is quite addictive, LOL.

Beautiful Things

I'm so excited to get back into my crafting groove and start participating in challenges again. The layout is from Card Patterns, and the blue/kraft/white combo is from the Colour Create Challenge.

I must admit that I interpreted the "layers" on the sketch pretty liberally. I created a mask with a border punch and some lightweight paper and then misted my card base with glimmer mist as a start. The stamps are from the Ornamental Beauty set (CHF) - I had purchased it quite awhile ago, but it was packed up and I just recently rediscovered it. I unearthed the fibery ribbon, too, and the giant button finished it off.

Here's to finding buried treasure :)

Merci

The Daring Cardmakers challenge this week was folding, and when I saw the sketch over at Card Patterns, I immediately was envisioning this combination... finally had some time to actually create it!

The papers are all Making Memories Chloe's Closet, and I simply cut the little flower strip from one of the papers. I love the look of the folded paper - gotta remember to do that again! The layer with the rounded corners is stamped with CHF's ledger block (faint, but I promise it's there!), and the sentiment is Printworks.

Blessing of Friendship

I wanted to make a card for a friend back in PA, and I already had these Chloe's Closet papers (Making Memories) in mind for her; when I saw the sketch over at the Mojo blog today, I knew that I wanted to play!

I stamped the card base (Pretty Pattern backgrounder from CHF), and then started layering on the patterns. I framed out the sentiment panel (Inspirational Sayings from The Angel Company) just to make the pattern pop a bit more against the others - amazing what a bit of white can accomplish. I tied on some twill tape, and added two little gems (K&Co) for just a bit of sparkle.

Birthday Fairy

Yesterday was our daughter's birthday - I can't believe that my "baby" is already 4!! She's definitely a girly-girl, and is into all things pink, purple, and sparkly these days, and I tried to incorporate a bit of all that in her birthday card.

I started by pulling out this beautiful paper (Memory Box), then stamped the fairy (Cornish Heritage Farms). I colored her with prismacolor pencils, then accented her wand and dress with a spica glitter pen... for the crowning touch, I covered the wings with fine, irridescent glitter. She really is lovely! I diecut the letters (sizzix script sizzlet alpha) to spell out "wish."

And let those sparkly wings serve as a reminder for the Tea Party on Wednesday - hope you can join us!

Caffeine!! Caffeine!!

Since I already had my Fabriano notecards and watercolor crayons out yesterday, I made this second card later in the afternoon. This one uses Dawn Houser images (Inkadinkado) and are red rubber mounted with foam and a repositionable adhesive back. They work pretty well, but the index on this set is not accurately printed (I do, however, have another set that is spot on). My other beef is that there is quite a lot of extra rubber on the edges. I worked around it, though, and carefully inked up the mug and stamped onto a piece of a previously mucked up notecard. I added a bit of color with the watercolor crayons (prismacolor pencils obscure the fun words too much), carefully ripped the panel, then covered the edges with versamark and embossed with scented embossing powder (CHF). Mmmmmm... I added the sentiment to the bottom, and now it's ready to brighten someone's day!