He will sing!

 How are you on this Monday? It's pouring rain here with lots of wind. I'm staying in!

I wanted to encourage a dear friend going though a tough time and was so glad to find my favorite Scripture verse available in digi form at Word Art Wednesday. 

One of my newer stamps is Blossoms and Butterflies from Pinkfresh Studio, it's fast becoming my favorite! I ordered just the stamp but next order included the dies and stencil. This bouquet of flowers is so versatile and I know that it could be one of those images that I grab often. 

Stenciling is a technique that has grown on me over this year. You may know that I love to watercolor, and slowly add layers of shading and color.  But you can't beat a good stencil or two for coloring an image quickly. 

Speaking of quickly, I need to run this card out to the mailbox. I'm wishing you a wonderful day! Adding this to the Word Art Wednesday Challenge.  Besides inspiring Scripture and beautiful artwork, they have some great prizes if you want to check it out!

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Blessed Gift

Sometimes you see stamps that you envision using to make the exact card featured on the packaging (well almost!)  These images of a snowy village and a beautiful sentiment warmed my heart so much I knew they were for me. Bought them. I didn't know it would take me so long to ink them up! Today is the day.

Why today? Jaydee's challenge at The Paper Players is a theme: Gifting. I've loved the sentiment from Penny Black stamps Peace and Love, referring to the gift of Christ at Christmas. I paired it with the village scene from the Sleigh Ride stamps, and painted the buildings with Distress ink re-inkers. Using Background Basic stencils to mask, I sponged a light night sky studded with a few stars. This card measures 4.25 x 5".

I have challenges to thank for keeping me inspired, keeping me stamping, and sending me to my stash to seek out just the right items. 

Besides The Paper Players, I will add this to the challenge at NBUS, and the Penny Black Saturday Challenge.  

Thanks so very much for your visit. I'm not putting the boxes of Christmas stamps away yet! See you again soon. 

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

God's Masterpiece

 Happy to be starting a new week and a new month with a card to share with you. Hi friends, welcome to my blog. 

Spring flowers are starting to pop up here and there outside, and many are flocking to blog land as challenges seek projects decorated with blooms! 

Here's one that I made. 

Using the great layout from Jill that I shared HERE, I've used this rose from the Enchantingly (Clear Stamps) for today's card. The greeting is from Penny Black as well; Inspirational Sentiments. Re-inkers are the medium for watercoloring.

Thanks for your visit!

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

The challenges I'm joining are: 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - use Penny Black
Try it Tuesday - embossing
Allsorts Challenge -  Clean and Simple
Penny Black Saturday Challenge  ATG

God Will Take Care of You

I've been loving the challenge at The Card Concept this month, where they inspire you with a photo prompt or two, provide fabulous samples from the DT and feature several card making styles. You know I love to change my style up. I'm here to share my clean and layered card! 

Actually, I made two. Once I pulled out the beautiful Masterpieces from Penny Black Stamps, it was easy! 

These are pre-printed designs on lovely linen paper. I combined them with kraft card stock, pretty papers and encouraging faith-filled sentiments. 

For the second card, I embossed lines of stitching for a unique accent. 

I was inspired by the chalkboard, colors and winter snow theme of the photo. 

Sometimes simple is really the best! The stamps I used are from Stamp Simply Clear Stamps. Birds are another thing that I love so I will use this set often.

I hope that you will have a great weekend, friends. No snow in my woods, but we do have plenty of birds! Enjoy the last days of January and be blessed. 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

I'm adding this to:

Saturday Challenge Penny Black

Wednesday Challenge at SSS

Under His Wings

This beautiful cardinal has been layered and assembled on my desk for quite some time. Today is a perfect time to feature him on this card inspired by Jaydee's CAS theme challenge at The Paper Players.  

Three different colors of red card stock provided the body layers. I added shading details with colored pencils.  Using white card stock for the bird's head and beak, also the greenery, I colored with Copic markers after cutting. 

The white strip was embossed for added texture. The sentiment is one that I just love! The set contains several Scriptures that pertain to birds, they are truly encouraging. Creating a mini slim card that measures 3.5" x 6" gave me a bit more playing room.

Thanks so much for visiting today! 

 Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

 

Stamps: God Will Take Care of You from Stamp Simply
Dies: Lovely Layers Winter Birds and Winter Greenery - Honey Bee Stamps
Other: Spellbinder's 3D Embossing Folder - Corrugated

It's a trio of Daisy Days! featuring The Greetery

 Hello,  I'm finding myself quarantined in the craft room so I'm making the best of it! In the heat of summer is when I really don't mind doing a little extra stamping. I'd like to focus on one set of supplies this week and make at least three cards with it to stretch myself and get more use out of one set. 

My focus this week is from The Greetery: the Print Shop Daisy Days stamps, die cuts and stencils. 

I used Distress inks in tumbled glass, broken china, peacock feathers, mowed lawn and cracked pistachio to fill in the stencils. I partially die cut the large image on the left side, and slid an aqua panel underneath the die cut parts. 

A few extra flowers were die cut for dimension and layered on top. The sentiment is from the Comforting Commands stamp set. These daisies will surely bring someone a smile! 

This is a new set, so I will be entering this at NBUS! 

I'll be back tomorrow with day 2 of Daisy Days. Hope you will visit again! 

 Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

 

A Color Challenge for The Paper Players #582

 Hello stamping friends, I hope your weekend is going well. Sunday means a new challenge at The Paper Players and I am jumping right in with a slim line card made using the challenge colors. 

I'm still practicing with my Glimmer Hot Foil machine and liking the results but NOT the photos, if I can be so honest. I loved the inspirational message foiled in gold, but during my edit in order for it to really show up in the photo my white panel looks grayish.  Sorry.

Joanne has gorgeous colors for us to work with today! I added the hues with stencils after foiling the flowers and leaves in gold. The fab thing about the coordinating stencils, foil plate and dies is that all four flower images can be foiled and die cut in one swoop making it so so easy. 

The new-to-me products that I love are listed below. Joining in at NBUS, here I come! 

I hope you have a wonderful day. I'm going to celebrate the Light I've been given, today and keep looking for it. These are dark times but there is hope. 

 Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Foil plates: Spellbinders Faith Glimmer Sentiments; Pinkfresh Studio - Brighter Days Glimmer Hot Foil Plates, coordinating dies and Layering Stencils.

Inspired By... Quote Me

 I had an idea right away when I saw the theme for Inspired  By Challenge #162 called Quote Me. I had many quotes I could choose from and wanted to feature a favorite Bible verse. Imagine  my delight when the quote fit perfectly into the Open Book Die from Sugar Pea Designs! I'd been waiting for this die to get back in stock and now is the perfect moment to use it for the first time. 

Here it is!

Do you remember Verve stamps? I loved the Scripture verses especially and think the sentiment and die from PTI works well with it. 

I did some ink blending on the background and the large book. The flowers were colored with Copics. I added a few gems and Glossy Accents to the thin black strip. 

Want to know something about my color combo? I saw Sen. Amy Klobuchar wear a beautiful coat in a luscious color of pale pumpkin on Inauguration Day. Honey or marigold come to mind. She paired it with a burgundy scarf and face mask. Honestly, you can find color inspiration everywhere, HA! I love the honey gold of the bear in our photo too. 

I will also share this card at NBUS, never-before-used-shtuff! 

Hope you will be inspired to play along! Have a great day and thanks for stopping by~

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: PTI - Inspired Prayer Mini Set and Die, Verve

Paper: Neenah Solar White

INK: Gina K Amalgam Black, Versamark

Accessories: Copic markers, Distress Oxide Inks, Glossy Accents, Buttercream Gems, Open Book Sugar-Cut Dies

A Watered Garden

It's Wednesday and I'm posting late so I'll keep it short. I managed a bit of crafty time today and made something just because I felt like combining things that I love.Bits and pieces happened to be sitting on my work table! 

Today's card is a simple layout featuring the Halfsies die from The Greetery  and some images I stamped last week when I was on a little vacay. I haven't used ribbon in ages, but this card just needed some softness. 
I love the Scripture about the watered garden. Since it's still kind of rainy, it's a perfect stamp for today.
Thanks so much for coming by! 

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

             Make something beautiful! 

Supplies used: 

Stamps: PTI - Seasonal Borders: Spring; Garden of Faith

The Greetery - Summer Sketches

Hey friends! What's up with this - I'm posting again! You can picture me playing with the new stamps from The Greetery every chance I get. 

Today's card features the Summer Sketches and Comforting Commands sets stamped with WPlus9 inks. I love the fresh clean colors of these inks, especially the pinks for layering! Old Gold was used to stamp the sentiment and is my new favorite neutral. 

I created a blended background in the top right portion of my panel using Distress Oxide inks in Antique Linen, Tattered Rose, Spun Sugar and Worn Lipstick. Adding spatters of Old Gold was the finishing touch.

That's all for me today. I do have other things I love to do in summer, and they are calling me! Have a great weekend. 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

The Greetery - He Cares for You

Hi there! 

How are things going for you? We've had some delightful summer days. I've had snippets of time in the craft room to pull out my stamps from The Greetery. 

I've long been a fan of Bestsy Veldman's stamps and now that she has her own store, I'm inspired!  If you'd love to see her new offerings, check her out HERE. 

When I first got my new stamp sets, I die cut a bunch and stamped them in different colors. This bouquet was just laying around on my desktop.I stamped the sentiment with Oxide inks in layers of color, then with a paintbrush I softened them with a dab of water to give the look of watercolor.

I was inspired by THIS card from Kay where she used a paintbrush and water added to Distress Oxides to paint a background. I just had to try this! 

 I LOVE using the Scriptural quotes to encourage on my cards. Thanks so much for visiting my blog today. I hope you've been cheered and inspired. 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: The Greetery - Summer Sketches, Fleur Impressions, Comforting Commands and dies

Paper: Neenah Solar White, PTI - Lavender Moon

INK: Distress Oxides - Tumbled Glass, Broken China.   WPlus9 - Wild Mango, Miami Spice, Old Gold, Limelight, Little Piggy, V.I.Pink, Cockleshell, Bloomberry

Accessories: sequins

Let's Make It Again! Take Two

Have you ever completed a card, and as you are seeing it come together you have an idea for making it better? That often happens to me, but I rarely re-make it.  Sometimes I rip it apart and fix a thing or two. At other times I leave it alone and get busy with photos and posting it for a challenge.

Speaking of challenges, there is a new one at PTI called Transformation Tuesdays. To take an old card, change it up and make it new! 

So I got busy with yesterday's card. See that post HERE. 

I felt it was too busy. The placement of the sentiment and the flowers in the frame was awkward. 

I began by deciding to shift the frame to the landscape position. Using sponging in the soft blue for the sentiment die cut and the card base, helped simplify the focal point and add cohesiveness.

 I added shimmer to the die cut and spatters in blue as well. Lastly, I used a scalloped rectangle die cut to repeat the scalloped edges inside the small frame.

Using colored card stock on the base pulls in another layer of color. 

I'd love to know what you think of the changes. I always love hearing from you. Thanks for visiting!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps:  Quilted Summer, Inspired: Lord Mini Stamp Set 

Paper: Neenah Solar White, Aqua Mist

INK: Simon Says Stamp - Intense Black, Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores, Harvest Gold, Summer Sunrise, Green Parakeet

Accessories: Wink of Stella Shimmer Pen

Framed Sentiment

Happy Friday! How is everyone doing today? 

I was itching for a chance to stamp today and just had fun puttering in my craft room. I wanted to play along with the Make It Monday Challenge where Laurie encouraged us to use a frame to highlight a sentiment or images. 

I used the Inspired: Lord Mini set to create the focal point for my card, using the die to cut out the word Lord. I sponged this with inks blended to create an ombre effect. I also inked up the background using a stencil behind the frame in the same pale yellow. 

I really love this concept for a card and want to use it again. I'm not really sure how much I like this color combo but you know what? I made it up as I went along and it's a bit brighter than the photo show. 

I'm happy that you came by! Thanks for taking time to visit and for your fabulous comments.

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: PTI - Quilted Summer, Inspired: Lord

Paper: Neenah Solar White,

INK: PTI - Leaf Freen, Raspberry Fizz, Gravest Gold, Summer Sunrise

Accessories: Dies for Frame from SSS,  English Brick Stencil from MFT

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop Inspiration

Hello friends,
Hope you are having a lovely holiday weekend! 
My times with family have been such a blessing and we've had lots of fun visiting and lovely weather. 
I actually made this card last week so that I could be ready for the blog hop.

Our inspiration photo contains beautiful elements of autumn. I was inspired by the greens gathered around the gold word in the centerpiece and the lovely creams of the table settings.

I used the Year of Psalms February Mini Stamp Set, and embossed it in gold on vanilla card stock. The floral background images are Gathered Garden Stamp Set. I added a gold embossed image accent among the leaves and berries.

I hope you've been inspired by my card today. Much thanks for your visits and kind comments!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Other supplies used are 

Inks: PTI - Green Parakeet, SU - Cajun Craze, Versamark

Accessories: ribbon, Gold embossing powder.