Christ Died for Us

Hello! Welcome back! It's time for another challenge at Word Art Wednesday. This week we're focusing on Romans 5:8, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." What an amazing love God has for us that even when we were sinners and totally uninterested in Him, He sent His Son to die for us! God made the way of salvation for us even before we were born so that someday we could live in Heaven with Him. Accepting this gift of salvation is as simple as A-B-C: A-Admit that we are a sinner and in need of salvation; B-Believe that Jesus died on the cross for us to pay the penalty of our sin; and C-Confess our sin to the Lord and ask Him to come into our heart and save us. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to me via the comments section or the contact me link.

For my card today, I kept my card design simple. One of our sponsors this week is Graciellie Design. They kindly provided me with the Count on Me digital stamp set. {I especially love the sentiments in this set. I'll be reaching for it again and again.} I printed 3 of the flower images, colored them with several purple shades of Copics and fussy cut them. After printing the verse on white cardstock, the panel was die cut with a stitched rectangle die. This was matted with purple glitter cardstock die cut with a rectangle die and mounted to the card front. The three flowers were arranged above the verse with the middle flower being popped up with foam squares. A white gel pen was used to accent the flower centers and Wink of Stella added some shimmer to each flower.

Supplies:
Cardstock: Georgia Pacific, The Paper Studio Heavy Weight, Core'dinations Glitter
Stamps: WORDart by Karen (Romans 5:8), Graciellie Design (Count on Me)
Copics: BV11, 13, 17; V20, 22, 25
Tools/Embellishments: My Favorite Things Blueprints 29 & Blueprints 1 dies, Uniball Signo White Gel Pen, Memento Marker (Tuxedo Black), Wink of Stella

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Crop Stop February Challenge - Use items/brands found in the Crop Stop store (I used Fiskars, Zig, Cuttlebug, and Core'dinations)
The House that Stamps Built Inspiration Palette Challenge - F2118 - Use the picture and/or color palette for inspiration
Outlawz Monday Greetings Challenge - Anything Goes
Color Inspiration Monthly Link Up 31 - Must be hand colored

Thanks for visiting with me today. I hope you'll come back soon. Please be sure to visit the Word Art Wednesday blog for more inspiration and to pick up your free digi. We'd love to have you play along so that you have an opportunity to win a prize one of our wonderful sponsors. The sponsors this week are  Graciellie Design and Crafty Individuals.

Perfect Pearls - Hello

I am excited to be a Guest Designer for the Crop Stop Blog. I will be Guest Designing this week and next for them. For this week's card, I wanted to try something a little different. I found this tutorial on Jennifer McGuire's YouTube channel and just had to try this Faux Textured Metal with Perfect Pearls technique. She gives such clear directions and the results are so fun.

I used approximately 1/2" wide washi tape to mask off the edges of the 3.75" x 5" white panel. Using a mini ink blending tool, I started inking the panel from the top left corner with Picked Raspberry Distress ink. Then as I moved to the bottom left corner I brought in Spun Sugar, Picked Pistachio and finished up with Evergreen Bough. I carefully peeled off the washi tape and then applied Perfect Pearl color of Perfect Pearls all over the inked surface. Because the Distress ink stays wet for a little while it acts as a binder for the Perfect Pearls. I used the brush that came in my package of Perfect Pearls to apply them and then to buff away the excess. I also tapped the back of the panel to remove the excess powder. I really liked the metallic look this gave the inked portion and the Perfect Pearls hide some of the less than perfect inking I did. I set the Perfect Pearls by spraying water into the air with a mini-mister and then waving the panel through the mist. I did this 2-3 times. I then dry embossed the white panel with a Cricut Cuttlebug embossing folder. I love the way this panel turned out! I matted it on a 4" x 5.25" black piece of cardstock and then adhered both panels to an A2 sized card base. The "hello" sentiment and hearts were die cut from black cardstock and then adhered with Ranger Multi Medium Matte liquid adhesive.

Paper-saving tip: I die cut the hello and the hearts from the black mat piece of cardstock before adhering the white panel on top of it.

Supplies found in the Crop Stop Shop:

Distress Ink pads - Picked Raspberry, Cracked Pistacho and Evergreen Bough
Cricut Cuttlebug - Machine, Spacer A, Cutting Pad B, Adapter C

Inkssentials - Mini Misters, Mini Ink Blending Foam

Scotch ATG Adhesive Applicator 

Scor-Buddy

Fiskars Triple Track Cutting Blades 

Brands found in the Crop Stop Shop:

Distress Ink Pads - Spun Sugar, 

Cricut Cuttlebug - Embossing Folder - Rosette Cluster (I believe it's an Anna Griffin)

Lawn Fawn dies - Scripty Hello and Hearts
Inkssentials - Mini Ink Blending Tool

Perfect Pearls - in the Perfect Pearl color

Ranger - Multi Medium Matte

Fiskars - paper trimmer

Other items used:

Cardstock: Recollections (white heavy-weight, black), Raspberry cardstock brand unknown

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today. I hope you will visit the Crop Stop Blog and Store. You will find beautiful inspiration on the blog and some fantastic products in the store.

Simon Says Stamp - Stamptember

Today I have a card for you showcasing several Simon Says Stamp items. As you may know, this is Simon Says Stamp's annual Stamptember celebration. They have a new release of their own products and exclusive releases with various stamp companies. So far, they've shown us releases from Lawn Fawn and Art Impressions. If you are new to Simon Says Stamp, you can hear the story of their beginning in this YouTube video by owner Heidi Crowl. I had the privilege of meeting Heidi at Stampaway USA last month. What a wonderful and gracious lady she is! It was the highlight of my trip to the convention.

I don't have any of their new release items yet, but I'm using my new favorite set that I purchased at Stampaway USA last month. This set comes with flowers in three different sizes and each flower has a solid image and an outline image.I used the solid and outline images from just one size. I randomly stamped the solid image in three different colors using light shades and then stamped the outline image in a darker shade. I used the stamp that is intended to fill in the centers in all six shades to fill in the empty spaces. I used Enamel accents on the centers of the flowers, however as it dried it didn't give me the look I wanted. So, I added some coordinating bling to each flower center. Each flower petal was given a coat of Wink of Stella. The stamped panel was layered on Audrey Blue cardstock and then adhered to a black card base.

 One of the sentiments was white heat embossed on a black cardstock strip. I cut a fishtail end to the sentiment strip. and then adhered it to the card front.

I did a little interior decorating on this one and, and decorated the envelope as well. For the flower centers on the envelope, I stamped the centers with charcoal ink and then highlighted them with a white gelly roll pen.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Stamp It
Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday - Use Stamps
Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge #209 - CAS (for me, this is CAS :) )
Outlawz Sunday CAS Challenge - Use a bird, bee, flower or tree

Have you heard about the absolutely amazing giveaway Simon Says Stamp has going on now during their Stamptember celebration? It is for a dream craftroom makeover. You can check out all the details in their blog post here.

I've listed all the products I used in today's card below using affiliate links where possible. {When you shop using these links, I earn a small commission at no cost to you.}

Simon Says Clear Stamps ARTFUL FLOWERS sss101488 Hop To It	Simon Says Stamp Card Stock 100# AUDREY BLUE AB19	Georgia Pacific White Cardstock	Recollections Black Cardstock
Simon Says Stamp Hybrid Ink Pad Cube Set ZEN zn04 Plan On It	Hero Arts Mini CUBE INK PADS Set FIELD NOTES af240	Hero Arts Ombre PINK TO RED Ink Pad AF306	Tsukineko Memento Ink Pad LULU LAVENDER ME-504
Tsukineko Memento Ink Pad GRAPE JELLY ME-500	VersaMark Ink Pad	Simon Says Stamp EMBOSSING POWDER WHITE Fine Detail WhiteEP2	Ranger ENAMEL ACCENTS Dimensional Glaze Inkssentials GAC27355
Sakura WHITE GELLY ROLL Medium Point Pens Set 37488	ink of Stella Clear Brush Tip Marker	Birthstone Gemstones | Hobby Lobby | 862607	Fiskars 12 Inch SureCut Deluxe Craft Paper Trimmer
Fiskars PREMIUM CUT LINE Paper Trimmer 12 Inches	*Martha Stewart SCORING BOARD Score Craft Tool 42-05002	*Ranger PAPER CREASER BONE FOLDER Fold Cardstock & Cards Easily BON10029	Scotch Advanced Tape Glider (ATG)
Dahle Self-Healing Cutting 18x12 Mat 10671

InLinkz.com

Texting

As promised, I'm back with two more cards using the fantastic Texting stamp set from the new You Have My Heart release at Simon Says Stamp. I've been working on stretching my comfort zone in my card-making. That means attempting to make to flatter cards that are easier (cheaper) to mail and also try to figure out the CAS style. Both of my cards for today are a result of that.

I do a lot of texting. Since both of our children live long distances away from us (8 hours each), texting is truly a blessing in our communication with them. My husband and I also text during the work day on breaks to just say "Hi! I'm thinking of you" or just share some thoughts via emoticons. Because of my love of texting, when I saw this set, I know I wanted to make a card with a bunch of different emoticons stamped randomly in the background. When I saw this sentiment, I knew it was perfect for a card for my hubby. He also happens to be my best friend.  I stamped the images with black ink and then colored them with Copic Markers. Each image was given a coat of clear Wink of Stella. The background around them was also colored with Copics. The sentiment was stamped, fussy cut and then popped up over the images. The image panel was double matted before being adhered to a 4.25" square card base.

Supplies:
Cardstock: Georgia Pacific (white), DCWV (blue)
Stamp set: Simon Says Stamp (Texting)
Ink: Memento (Tuxedo Black), VersaFine (Onyx Black)
Copics: Y13, 15, 17, 38; YR16, 18; YG0000, 00; B000, 23, 26, 29; BV0000, 000, 00; BG11, 13, 15; R22, 24, 27, 29
Other: Wink of Stella (clear)

My second card for today is also 4.25" square. For this one I stamped the smiley face image randomly with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and then clear heat embossed it. Afterwards, I used a rainbow of colors to make a blended background. I then heat embossed a sentiment from the Simon Says Stamp Banner Sayings stamp set on top of a banner cut from the Simon Says Stamp Folded Banner die (I think both of these items must be retired because I can't find them on the website). The two right corners were rounded for a playful touch.

Supplies: 
Cardstock: Georgia Pacific (white), Recollections (black)
Stamp sets: Simon Says Stamp (Texting, Banner Sayings)
Ink: VersaFine (Black Onyx), Distress Ink (Barn Door, Squeezed Lamonade, Tumbled Glass, Peeled Paint, Shaded Lilac)
Other: Simon Says Stamp Folded Banner die, Stampin' Up! embossing powder (Crystal Clear)

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Something New (new stamp set from a new release)
Fab 'n Funky Challenge #286 - Something New (new stamp set)
Cute Card Thursday Challenge #407 - Something New (new stamp set)
Aud Sentiments Challenge #146 - Thank You Sentiment
Outlawz Twisted Thursday Challenge - Anything Goes
Crop Stop Linky Party #11 - Something found in the Crop Stop Store (I used Memento Ink,  and Distress Ink)

Thanks for visiting with me today and a very special thanks to Simon Says Stamp for the happy mail.

Corgi Cuteness

Our daughter and son-in-law adopted a Pembroke Welsh Corgi puppy, Dylan, earlier this month.

 When Deedee's Digis came out with this new Corgi Cuteness set, I knew it was perfect to use to make a Congratulations card for them.

I kept it pretty CAS so that the adorable little Corgi could take center stage. I chose to use the image with the ball and colored it blue just like one of Dylan's favorite toys. I colored the puppy and his ball with Copics and then fussy cut the image. After matting the sentiment, it was adhered to the layered background papers. The fussy cut puppy was then popped up over the background.

Supplies:
Cardstock: Georgia Pacific (white), Recollections (kraft), DCWV (red)
Patterned Paper: DCWV (The Pet Stack)
Digi Stamps: Deedee's Digis (Corgi Cuteness)
Copics: B21, 23, 25; R22, 24, 27, N3, 5, 7; W1; 100; E04, 11, 31, 33, 35, 37

Deedee's Digis is sponsoring this week's Crafting From the Heart challenge. This challenge is always Anything Goes, so why not play along? Please be sure to visit Deedee's Digis for LOTS of adorable digi stamps.

I know I've been MIA lately.  Moving day is Saturday!! So much to do but we're really looking forward to getting settled in our new (to us) house. Hopefully by mid to late November I can be back to a normal blogging schedule.

Seek the Lord

Wow! There were over 300 entries in last week's Word Art Wednesday challenge!! That is fantastic. I would love it if one of my blog readers was one of the winners. That would be great!! This week's focus verse is 1 Chronicles 16:11, "Seek the Lord and His strength, seek His face continually." I don't know what the last few weeks have been like for you, but ours have been a whirlwind. At my mother-in-law's suggestion, we're going to buy a house with her and have been going through the house-buying process (a first ever for us), we've had family illness, a work promotion and transition for my husband, and various other normal life odds and ends. Whew! We have definitely needed the Lord's strength and have been asking for His wisdom. I am so thankful that we can go to Him, the source of all wisdom, when we don't know what we should do. When we're tired and discouraged, He is there with His strength to uphold us and encourage us. As I look back over the last 5 weeks, I am so thankful again for the Lord and all He does for us.

I tried making a truly CAS card this week. I just couldn't bring myself to make it only one layer...I just had to add a mat (one of my friends teasingly refers to me as the "Mat Queen" because I feel the need to mat almost everything). However, I did settle for just one mat, a few sequins and some stickles for the interior of the sequins. This beautiful Autumn Jar image is from one of our awesome sponsors, Bugaboo Stamps. It was so fun to color with my Copics. I tried a new (to me) paper for my coloring this time. It's Neenah Bright White (bought at Walmart). Definitely not the same as Neenah Solar White. It's OK but I think it bleeds a little more than Georgia Pacific (also bought at Walmart) and definitely more than Neenah Solar White or Papertry Ink White Cardstock. I'll still use it as a basic white cardstock and will probably try it again with more Copic coloring for further testing, but so far it's not in my Top 3 Favorite Papers for Copics.

Supplies:
Cardstock: Georgia Pacific (card base), Neenah Bright White (image panel), Bazzill (yellow)
Image: WORDart by Karen, Bugaboo Stamps (Autumn Jar)
Copics: G03, 07, 09 14, 17; YG03, 05; Y000, 11, 13, 15, 17, 35, 38; BG10, 15; B000, E07, 08, 09, 31, 33, 35, 37; N0, 1; Colorless Blender
Tools/Embellishments: sequins (The Paper Studio), Stickles (Cinnamon), Zutter Round-it-All

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Addicted to Stamps Challenge #109 - Autumn image or Autumn Colors
Craft Your Passion Challenge #279 - Anything Goes
Sweet Stamps September Challenge - Anything Goes
Incy Wincy Designs - Must use Digital Stamp (no rubber stamps - I used two digis)
Scrapbook Blessings Club - Anything Goes
Crop Stop Linky #8 - Use something from the Crop Stop Store (I used Cinnamon Stickles)
Mod Squad Challenge - Flower as Focal Image


I so appreciate you stopping by for a visit today! Please don't forget to pic up your free digi and see if you were one of the winners from last week's challenge over on the Word Art Wednesday blog.

Inspirational CAS

This week's theme at The Kraft Journal is to make a CAS (clean and simple) card that is inspirational. As a patterned-paper-multi-layers addict, I find CAS challenges truly a challenge. I started this week's card with a Lunch Bag Kraft Note Card as my card base. Then I stamped a floral background stamp in white pigment ink on a piece of Lunch Bag Kraft Cover Weight Cardstock. The sentiment was stamped on the back of an Admit One Ticket Tag. After stringing the tag with Red Baker's Twine, I  wrapped the twine around the stamped cardstock and then layered it on the note card.  Some Copic colored butterflies and pearls finish off the card. 

A piece of Buff Cover Weight Cardstock was layered on the inside to make it easier to write a message.

Supplies:
Card base: Lunch Bag Kraft Note Card (4"x5.5") - The Kraft Outlet
Cardstock: Lunch Bag Kraft Cover Weight Cardstock, Buff Cover Weight Cardstock - The Kraft Outlet
Stamps: Our Daily Bread Designs (Quote Collection 4), Hero Arts (Flower Burst Pattern), Doodlebug Designs (Doodlebug Love Spell)
Ink: Colorbox Pigment Ink (Frost White), VersaFine (Onyx Black), Memento (Tuxedo Black)
Tools/Embellishments:  Admit One Ticket Tag & Red Baker's Twine - The Kraft Outlet, pearls (The Paper Studio, Queen & Co), Copics (BG01, BG05), Staedtler fine tip marker (black)

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Fussy and Fancy Challenge #144 - Things with Wings
Mod Squad Challenge - The Wing's the Thing
Fab 'n Funky Challenge #269 - No Patterned Paper
A2Z Scrapbooking Supplies July Challenge - CAS using at least one Hero Arts product (my background stamp is Hero Arts)


Thanks for visiting with me today.  I  hope that you'll play along in this week's CAS challenge.