Trusting...

Another month, another project. Wow, this is getting to be a bad habit. Still here, still wanting to play with paper, but many different demands on my time...

I wanted to make something, and started looking around at sketches - is it just me, or are many of them ridiculously detailed?! Anyway, I stumbled onto one over at Get Sketchy and thought that the little strip would be a great excuse to play with my washi tape. I used the Devoted set (Ippity by Unity), which has a rather country-cutesy feel to it, but I do love the verse, and obviously the heart fit with the sketch! The peachish paper and the heart (yes, it's faintly patterned) are from the BasicGrey Capella pad, and I punched the corners of the panel, then inked it all up with pearlescent beige. The swirly background was created with a little template from my stash and bronze glimmer mist. I finished it off with this tape, and there are a couple small pearls right above it.

Ah, it feels good to get creative again...

It's all about the paper...

A couple quick cards to share - basically I just took some beautiful paper, stamped a sentiment, and added minor embellishment. There are so many gorgeous papers on the market... problem is that I often buy them and then hoard them because they're so pretty - or I try to use them but can't decide how to handle the bold designs.

For the first card, I paired the Memory Box Paper with the fabulous sentiment from Wordsworth. I layered on a scrap of coordinating paper and a couple flowers. All done!

On the second one, I pulled out my BasicGrey 12x12 Periphery pack, and created the card base from one of the patterns (and love that the inside is still white!), and layered on one of the coordinating tags. I stamped the sentiment (Unity Birdie Inspiration), added a bit of bling to the "o" and glued on some dark lace (yet another thing I've been hoarding :)

Two cards done in less than twenty minutes. Love that!

Fabulously Pink

I wanted to make a fun card for my daughter, and started with the image from Unity (Treasure To Me). I colored it with prismacolors, added pearls for the necklace, and covered the bag with glossy accents - how swank! :) The sentiment is from Verve (So Happy). I pulled out some old BasicGrey paper (Phoebe, I think?) and then layered on a bit of lace.

Over the top girly - mission accomplished!

BYO Sunshine

Just a fun little card to share... I love these stamps from Unity (Oct 09 Kit of the Month) but they had yet to be put to paper... and finally took a few minutes to rectify the situation :) I stamped the sun image first with pale yellow, then the sentiment with navy. I accented the sun with a prismacolor pencil and a glitter pen, then added a couple eyelets just for fun. I accented it with a scrap of paper (from BasicGrey 12x12 Lily Kate collection) and we're good to go.

And I just want to add that bringing sunshine is always good advice!

Sweet!

We had a birthday party to attend yesterday, and I wanted to create something fun for the birthday girl. I pulled out the Mix Up of Cuteness set and some Basic Grey (Oh Baby - Girl) papers for this card. I colored the cupcake with prismacolor pencils, and the frosting is accented with Rock Candy stickles - I assure you it's very cute in person! The sentiment is from the same set, and it was perfect for the occasion... I'm already dreaming up some layouts with the other images from that set, so stay tuned :)

Merry Snowman

I haven't had much time to stamp this week, but I did manage to make this for the Card Patterns sketch challenge. And yes, I did take some liberties with the layout again, but the little snowguy looked awfully bored when he was all symmetrical :)

The stamps are from Unity (October store kit), and I used Brilliance inks. The snowflake die-cuts & brads are from Making Memories. Sorry about the lousy shot - it's late and this is the best it's going to get for now...

Gettin' Sketchy

As much as I love stamping, sometimes it's just fun to sit down and play with paper. I really liked the simple layout over at Card Positioning Systems this week, and I needed to make a card for my SIL's upcoming milestone b-day, so I pulled out a K&Co pad that with a vintage feel that I knew she'd love. Everything is pretty simple here - a few rounded corners, edges hit with some ink to make them pop, and a couple pearls. The sentiment is from Cloud 9 Design.

While I had everything out, I did end up making just one more card :) I just got a package from Unity Stamps yesterday, and I couldn't resist inking up this tree. There are some cute little flowers already on it, but I covered them all with these little primas, and then accented them with some glitz stickles. The sentiment is from Verve.

Back tomorrow with a few more fall cards!

Growing...

I always love the challenges over at Salt, and seeing the artistic interpretations that each team member creates. This time around, the theme was growth, and I just knew I had to make something! Since we've moved, I've found myself stretched in many ways - relocating 2,000 miles definitely took me out of my comfort zone and forced me to take a hard look at myself. Was I truly relying on God to meet my needs, or was I more often turning to friends, and then putting the matter to prayer as the next step? Also, was I stepping out in faith, sharing the Lord, or being content in my happy little box?

Anyway, I made this piece as something of a souvenir of this transitional time - as well as a reminder to not grow so content as to stagnate. I also wanted to make another example of the "earth rejoicing" for the Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge - and I'd say those trees look pretty joyful! The verse is from smARTworks' Walk Trio "That you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God." (Colossions 1:10) The papers are all from Memory Box (Sprout), and I mounted it onto some plain cardstock so the finished size is 5x7. The tree image is from Unity, and I paper pieced it, as well as doing a bit of coloring with pc pencils. Oh, and can I add that I love that the trees have hearts on them - because that's exactly the fruit I want to bear: a heart for HIM. I had picked up the clip frame from the Target Dollar Spot eons ago, and was so glad to actually use it :) After I put it all together, it needed something else, and after digging through my stash I came up with these fabulous corners (glimmer chips from Tattered Angels).

And now that it's all done, it will be residing on the bathroom counter, where it will serve as a good daily reminder. Plus it looks way nicer than all my other junk :)

Beautiful Sunset

This week's challenge over at Stampin' Sisters in Christ was to somehow show the earth rejoicing - and since moving to South TX, every time I see a palm tree outlined against a sunset sky, I can't help but think of Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Anyway, I tried to capture some of that glory in this card!

The layout is adapted from Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge. I stamped the palm silhouette (TAC) then created the "sunset" with prismacolor pencils - trust me when I say that God does a much better job! :) I masked off the circle on the card base, and stamped with a swirl (smARTworks) then went over it with a couple different Brilliance inks. I stamped the verse(Unity) and added some gems for sparkle.

Pretty simple card, and I might just have to mail it to my folks in Montana (where they had snow this weekend!) - just to give them a hint of what they'll discover when they come down to visit over Thanksgiving...

Shine!

I made this card to send to our niece, who is a freshman in college, just to let her know that she's in our thoughts and prayers. She's a loooooong way from home, and doing great, but there are always bumps along the way...

Card is pretty straightforward: images are from Unity, and the paper is BasicGrey Wisteria. The lamp is paper pieced, and I accented the "danglies" with a stardust pen. Rounded the corners, tied on some ribbon, and popped it into the mailbox!

Everything Beautiful

There was another great sketch at the Mojo Blog this week, and once again I made a "scrappy" card. The verse is from Unity Stamps and the paper is all from the BasicGrey Lemonade line. I did add a few pearls (Kaisercraft) just to give the main panel a bit of dimension, but aside from that, all I did was stamp, cut, and paste.








I really loved this sketch, and I decided to make a second card, but took it in a very different direction: no printed papers, and a fall palette. I pulled out the Botanicals "Cookie" Plate from smARTworks and stamped the leafy image repeatedly with sepia Versafine and champagne Versamark Dazzle inks (which frankly isn't all that "dazzling" but the subtle shimmer works well here). I stamped the small sprig image onto the dark green panel along the bottom also using the champagne ink. For the three strips, I rounded the upper edges and then laid them flush with the lower panel. The brown strip looked a bit too stark, but a Martha Stewart edge punch took care of that.

So there you have it - 1 sketch, 2 completely different cards! :)