Mailing Challenge

Seeing as how I had everything out, I decided to go ahead and make another card (hooray!) and play along with Lisa's Make it + Mail it challenge. I just love the idea of her challenge, and have been wanting to make a little something for my hubby's grandma, so pulled a good ol' standard manila tag out of the stash and went to work... The sentiment is from smARTworks, and I went super simple with everything. The background paper (with FLOCKED dots!) is from Kaisercraft, and I layered on washi tape and a flower. Beauteous!

Now off to the mailbox.

More Quickies

A couple weeks ago I had posted a number of cards that I'd made using scraps - I said that it was going to be a "go-to" layout for me, and here's proof that I wasn't kidding :)

I just love how quickly these come together. On this one, I used some Memory Box paper as the base, then layered on a sentiment and a punched strip. Another little tip: I cut a tiny strip of that sage cardstock to thread through the button rather than leaving it "naked."

On this card, I did add a bit of patterned paper along the spine to break things up a bit... The bottom of the peachy panel was also masked off and hit with glimmer mist - couldn't capture it in the photo, but I promise it's gorgeous. A trio of collage printed Prima flowers, a sentiment, and it's good to go.

Hope you're having a fabulous week ~ I probably won't be back until Monday or Tuesday as my son has early release from school these next 2 days, plus we'll be celebrating his birthday this weekend. Lots of things pulling me in all directions!

Live The Moment

Two cards in a row with lace and pink?! I'm shocking even myself!

I stamped the smARTworks' dragonfly image (Rossetti) onto a scrap of pink paper (BasicGrey Bittersweet) and roughed the edges up a bit. I layered it onto one of the prints and fiddled around with embellishments until settling on these flowers and a scrap of lace. I used Bazzill for the base (love that texture), and stamped a sentiment from To Life! to finish it off.

Time for me to live a few more moments straightening up my clutter :)

The strength of my heart...

I always find the posts over at Stampin Sisters in Christ so encouraging, and this week's challenge was no exception: a reminder that God is always with us, even when it may not feel like it... it's so easy to rely on our own strength, and treat God as a last resort. But whatever our shortcomings may be, He is faithful - the one and only thing in life that is truly dependable. What a blessing!

Anyway, as I was reading through the post, my thoughts went to this verse (Psalm 73:26) - we fail even ourselves, but God is the "strength of my heart." Isn't that a wonderful phrase? I ended up using the layout from the Card Patterns sketch, but did adjust the circle just a bit to fit the verse. I used a variety of bits and pieces for embellishments, but it still has a clean, simple feel to it. I think I may end up playing around with this layout a bit more to create a few masculine cards - just need to lose the flower and lace :) Hope you all have a fabulous day - and remember, God *IS* with you!!

Count Your Blessings

Another sketchy card to share today, this one based on the challenge over at Card Patterns. I decided I wanted to challenge myself even more and use only stuff that was piled up in the "this is too good to toss" box. I ended up using some scraps of BasicGrey paper and accented it with a flower and button. I wanted to make another card for the challenge at Stampin' Sisters in Christ and encourage thankfulness, so used this sentiment from printworks.

I can't say it's my best work ever, but I have a weird sense of satisfaction from actually using some of my junk pile, plus I know that my Grandma will love it regardless :)

Flight of Fancy

Don't you just love it when a card comes together just as you've imagined it?! It seldom works like that for me - I start out in one direction, but then I end up in a totally different place (not that it's a bad thing, but still...)

Anyway, I wanted to play along with a couple challenges this week, namely the sketch over at Mojo Monday, and the "Shaby Chic" theme over at Daring Cardmakers. I wanted to use the Cloud Dancer set, and I was also thinking that the focal diamond would be a great way to incorporate a bookmark (always fun to have a giftie built right into the card!). I started by creating the bookmark* then stamped the darling fairy, colored her, and accented the wings with a glitter pen. I mounted the bookmark to the other square by gluing only the bottom of white square (roughly the size of the bookmark) to the patterned piece, and then slipping the bookmark over it.

The papers are all from the BasicGrey Wisteria pad, and the lace was something I've had in my stash for years (I remember using this to accent a mop doll I made for my Mom back in junior high!) I strayed a bit from the Mojo sketch by only using the lace as opposed to scalloped layers, but I didn't want to detract from the main panel. A few flowers and pearls, and it was done!

One other comment - after this was all completed, I managed to smear a tiny bit of ink onto the bookmark. I wasn't about to start over, but I didn't want to glue anything onto it, either (wanted to keep it flat for use in a book). I covered the smudge with a white gel pen, and then proceeded to do a bit of tiny swirly doodling all over the background around the girl. I then did the exact same thing with a pale colored pencil just to break up the white a bit more. What started as a mistake ended up being a design element!

*I know there are a couple different ways to make these - I simply started with a square piece of cardstock, then found the center on one side and brought the two edges together to create a folded point (so it sort of looked like a little house at that point), and then trimmed off the excess. Thanks to Sandy, our local stamping librarian, for reminding me about these!

A Parisian Thank You

Some friends of ours spent Thanksgiving week in Paris, and brought a few little things back for us. As soon as I saw this cool Eiffel Tower, I knew I had to make a card with this Prima set (which I just had to have, but admittedly have used very little).

I started with a glimmer screen and a couple glimmer mists, just to lay down a nice sparkley backdrop... and then I just stamped away! Several of the images are done with pearlescent Brilliance ink (very noticeable on "Paris") for added shine. I stamped onto the white flowers and then accented them with a tiny rhinestone. The final touch was some sheer ribbon before mounting it onto a card base.

I don't think I spent more than 15 minutes making this card, but I had so much fun just playing with different elements... and I know that the recipients will appreciate it, too.