Time Well Spent

When I saw Deedee's  new digi, Time Well Spent, it just "spoke" to me as we say in our family.  I think it's another one of those versatile images that can be used for many different occasions. 

After coloring the image with copics, I cut it out with my nesties and then sponged it before removing the die.  I did the same thing for the sentiment. This sentiment really makes you think.  I frequently need this reminder that God's timetable is far superior to my own and I just need to trust Him.

I used some pearl flourishes and added 3 singles pearls in the bottom left corner.  I used a metallic marker to do a little highlighting on the watch.

Here's a pic of my interior decorating.  I cut a Fancy Tags 3 in half  and placed it behind my petite scalloped oval.

I am entering it into the following challenges:
Mojo Monday 188 - sketch challenge
Paper Sundaes Challenge #66 - use at least two of the following items: yellow, pearls, sparkle, and die cuts.  I used die cuts & pearls
Stamptacular Sunday Challenge #108 - Use at least 5 layers

Supplies:
Sketch - Mojo Monday #188
Cardstock - Recollections, Georgia Pacific
Patterned Paper - Cosco Cricket (Ever After), Cream/Black floral - Unknown
Stamp - Deedee's Digis (TimeWell Spent)
Ink - Colorbox Fluid Chalk (Charcoal)
Markers - Copic, AC Metallic Silver
Embellishments/Tools - Pearl Flourish (Recollections), Pearls (BG), Nestabilities (petite ovals, petite scalloped ovals, & labels 4), Fiskars Border Punch (Apron Lace)



Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

Benjamin Bunny

We sent our daughter an Easter basket (well, it was in a small canvas tote bag this year) at college.  Here is the card I made to go with it.

I used the Benjamin Bunny digi stamp from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps.  Isn't he adorable?! I did a lot of layering with my large & small circle nesties and my lacey circle nesties. Can you tell I love them?  :)  I used a little bit of glitter pen on the flowers.  I don't often make shaped cards and this is one of very few circle cards I've ever made.  It's much easier now with my nesties.

I am including it in the current Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge -- Challenge #22 Violets and Lilacs and Plums! Oh my!.


Supplies:
Cardstock:  Recollections, Georgia Pacific
Patterned Paper:  BG & Recollections
Stamp: Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps (Benjamin Bunny)
Embellishments/Tools:  Prismacolor pencils, gamsol, Ribbon (Michael's), Nestabilities, Sakura gelly roll glitter pen

I borrowed this idea from Darsie over on the Crafting with Deedee's Digis blog and made these for our daughter's roommates as a little Easter treat.  Thanks, Darsie for the inspiration.

I used the same Benjamin Bunny stamp and a similar design to our daughter's card for the tags.  Here's a close up of the tags.

Supplies:
Cardstock:  Georgia Pacific
Patterned Paper:  BG
Stamp: Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps (Benjamin Bunny)
Embellishments/Tools:  Prismacolor pencils, gamsol, Baker's Twine, Nestabilities, Sakura gelly roll glitter pen

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a great week.

Old Rugged Cross

Here is another Easter card focusing on Christ's death for us on the cross.  This time I made a gatefold card and decorated the interior & the exterior.  I used two stamp sets from Sweet 'n Sassy stamps for this card.  The exterior has the Old Rugged Cross stamp. I colored it with prismacolor pencils and gamsol.  After die cutting the image I sponged it with ink.  I then layered some circle nesties die cuts as a frame over the image and then mounted it all on a lacey circle die cut.  I added texture with a Cuttlebug EF.

The interior uses one of the sentiments from the Easter Blessings set.  I used a similar treatment on my die cuts & embossing as I did on the front.

Supplies:
Cardstock, Recollections, Georgia Pacific
Patterned Paper:  Paper Studio
Ink - SU creamy caramel
Embellishments - Pearls - Recollections; Ribbon - Michael's, prismacolor pencils, gamsol, Nestabilities, Cuttlebug EF

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Easter!!

Amazing Love

Today, as we think about what Christ did for us on the cross of Calvary, our hearts should be amazed at the love He showed us.  John 3:16 states, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."  Christ died so that we might have everlasting life.  What a priceless gift and what an amazing love!!

My card to day focuses on Christ's love for us.  I used the Amazing Love set from Deedee's Digis to make this card.  It's hard to believe this great set only costs $1.00!!  My card design is called a joy fold card.  Beate Johns has a great tutorial over on Splitcoast Stampers.

Here are a few more pictures so you can see the interior and other details.  I used a SU journaling pen for some faux stitching.  I distressed the edges of my cardstock & patterned paper and then inked them. I also sponged my focal image before removing it from the nesties die.

I used one of the Fancy Tags 3 dies for the edge detail.  After cutting it out & embossing it, I cut it in half and matched the swirls when I overlapped the edges.

Supplies:
Cardstock:  Recollections, Georgia Pacific
Patterned Paper:  BG
Stamps:  Deedee's Digis (Amazing Love)
Ink:  Colorbox fluid chalk, SU
Pens/Pencils - SU journal writer (Close to Cocoa), Prismacolor pencils
Embellishments:  Ribbon (Michael's), SU journaling pen, Spellbinders Nestabilities (fancy tags3, deckled rectangle, petite ovals, petite scalloped ovals

New Scripture Sets - Psalm 61:2

Have you seen the new Scripture sets Deedee's Digis just released?  Wow!  I am loving them!!  The two newest are:  Be Glad in the Lord and The Lord is Our Refuge.  Both sets are full of encouraging Scripture verses to include with another image, to use as part of what I like to call "interior decorating" or as the focal image on the front of your card.

For this card, I chose one of my go-to verses when I personally need encouragement and used it as the focal image on the front of my card.  It is Psalm 61:2 from the The Lord is Our Refuge set.  I love using Scripture as the focal image for several reasons -- here are my top three.   The primary one is because it's such a great witnessing tool and Isaiah 55:11 teaches us that the Lord's Word will not return unto Him void.  Second, what better way to encourage a fellow Christian than with God's Word? Third, there's no coloring required.  :)  This makes the card quicker and, in my opinion, easier to make.

I used the current Stamp TV  {STVSKSP21} sketch for this card.

Supplies:
Sketch:  STVSKSP21
Cardstock - Georgia Pacific and a misc. mustard yellow from my stash
Patterned paper - BG
Stamp -  Deedee's Digis - The Lord is Our Refuge
Ink - SU - creamy caramel 
Embellishments - Ribbon - Offray, pearls - Queen & Co, Nestabilities (petite oval & petite scalloped oval, decorative photo corners), Fiskar's border punch



Thanks for stopping by!

Purfect Friend

If you know me IRL (in real life), you know I LOVE cats.  So, when I saw this Purfect Friend digi set from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, I just HAD to have it.  :)  We have three cats and "my" cat is a Russian Blue named Sasha.  {I emphasized the "my" because if you know cats:  they don't have owners, they have staff.} So, I chose to color the kitty on my card gray in her honor.  I used SSS102 for my card design.

Supplies:
Cardstock:  Recollections, Georgia Pacific
Patterned Paper:  BG
Tools:  Prismacolor Pencils, gamsol, Cuttlebug EF (Swiss Dots), Zutter Round-it-all, Nestabilities (circle & lacey circle), Fiskars border bunch (apron lace)

Home Tweet Home

When I saw this Home Tweet Home digi at Deedee's Digis, I couldn't wait to turn it into a card.  There's just something about the two bird houses that just appealed to me.  I also tried my new gamsol technique with this image.    After I cut out the image, I sponged it with ink to tone down the white of my cardstock. This week's Mojo Monday Sketch #185 was the inspiration for the card design.  I'm also entering this card in the Really Reasonable Ribbon #21 challenge.

I used the Scripture from the set to help with my "interior decorating."

Supplies
Challenges:  Really Reasonable Ribbon #21  Mojo Monday #185,
Card base: Strathmore Bristol
Cardstock:  Georgia Pacific
Patterned Paper:  Bo Bunny (Olivia)
Stamps:  Deedee's Digis (Home Tweet Home)
Ink:  SU (Creamy Caramel)
Embellishments:  Prismacolor Pencils, gamsol, Misc ribbon, Bazzill Just the Edge, Nestabilities deckled rectangle

Whooo's Counting

For our daughter's annual "countdown to the end of the semester" calendar, I chose the wonderful Fern Collection from Carolee's Adornit.  I made the calendar part and the title on the computer.

Supplies:
Cardstock:  Bazzill, Georgia Pacific
Patterned paper:  Carollee's Adornit (Fern Collection)
Ink - SU (Creamy Caramel)
Embellishments: Eyelet (Oriental Trading), Nestabilities (Labels 4, Circle, Lacey Circle), jute

Guess hoo?

I have been experimenting with Gamsol and my Prismacolor pencils this week.  I like how Ollie Owl from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps turned out.  He still looks a bit "feathery" to me.  I used a sentiment from the Owl Occasions Clear Stamp set as well.  I used Sweet Stop Sketch 101 for the overall card design. 

I thought the Forest Branches EF added great texture to the background papers.  I really like this little acorn button.  It's one I've been saving for a special card.  Since this card is for our daughter, that definitely qualifies as special.  :)

Supplies:
Cardstock:  Archivers, Recollections, Georgia Pacific
Patterned Paper: Carolee's Adornit (Fern Collection, BG (Scarlett's Letter)
Stamps:  Sweet 'n Sassy (Ollie Owl digi stamp, Owl Occasions clear stamp set)
Ink:  SU (Creamy Caramel), Versafine (Vintage Sepia)
Embellishments: Cuttlebug EF (Forest Branches), Spellbinder's Nestabilities (Petite Oval Large), jute & button from my stash, Prismacolor pencils, Gamsol

A Quilt Inspired Card

This week I started thinking about using quilt block designs as a background for a card.  I did some looking around on the internet and found tutorials for a Quilted Card and a Bargello Technique (which I think looks like a quilt even though they say it's a needlepoint pattern) over at SplitCoast Stampers.  For this card I used the Quilted Card as my inspiration.  I changed my squares to 1" instead of the 3/4" squares used in the tutorial.  Also, if/when I do this again, a punch would be a better idea to make sure all my squares are exactly the same size.  This is a great way to use up those tiny scraps you've been keeping "just in case."

When I saw the Spring Blessings set at Deedee's Digis, I loved the Scripture verse because it was one of my Dad's favorites and I loved the butterfly/caterpillar sentiment. So, I decided to combine my quilt idea with this set and here's the result:

Here's a close-up of the details and then a pic of the interior.

I had the hardest time getting the words to be in focus.  I'm sorry if they're still blurry.  I'm going to try to retake the pics in natural light & will replace them if I get better results.

I am entering this card in this week's Stampin Sister's In Christ challenge #82 which is to include paper piecing in your main image and in the new Challenge #21 at Really Reasonable Ribbon which is to include die-cuts or punches and ribbon.

Supplies:
Cardstock - Strathmore Bristol, Recollections, Bazzill, Georgia Pacific
Patterned Paper - BG (Lemonade)
Stamps - Deedee's Digis (Spring Blessings)
Embellishments - Ribbon (Hobby Lobby), BG Opaline half pearls, Recollections swirl, Nestabilities (petite ovals and petite scalloped ovals), Fiskar's border punch (Threading Water)

Thanks for stopping by!