It's me! Just a quick share today. At JUGS it's word week, and they're looking for cards for encouragement. I'm sending this one out today to my dear cousin battling cancer. The supplies are from my stash and they've been there so long - I don't remember their origins. 

I loved these papers from Echo Park and probably went way overboard in using them. I ended with the heart and then thought it needed a bit more so I added the sentiment. Her heart full of faith in spite of adversity does make me smile! The sentiment is from a wonderful collection from Waffle Flower called "Sweet Lattice Sentiments." Love the fonts, I'll be using this often. 

Besides Just Us Girls

I'm linking this to Word Art Wednesday - ATG. 

Thanks so much for your visit! See you soon! 

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

 Well, hello, I guess I am due for a new post! I'm glad that some challenges have been up and running again, I really do need the inspiration. 

I have some new things to make with and had fun coming up with today's card. 

I never know exactly why, but I could not resist this darling set from Gina K. Unless it's the **snow.** It's a theme lately. I'm on a roll here from my warm house in the sunny south. I don't ski but I sure love this happy guy heading down the slopes. The Furry Flurries is my new stamp set. 

In order to play with the design by Amy at Freshly Made Sketches I had to stamp the mirror image of the stamp. Her sketch goes downhill from right to left, but the skier when stamped normally goes downhill from left to right. Reverse stamping fixed it! This is why I love challenges so much. Had to go refresh my memory on how to do this! Jennifer (HERE) has a great tutorial. Would I have bothered if it were not for the challenge? Nope.

Happy to feature again the Snow Much Fun paper pad from Doodlebug. The sentiment strip is cut from one of the papers. 

For embellishments, there are a few die cut snowflakes, details added to the image with a Shimmer pen. The coloring was done with Copics and I fussy cut the image.

That's all for now! I love that you come to visit, hope your day is wonderful!

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Entering this to : 

NBUS
Freshly Made Sketches
SSS Wednesday Challenge
Love Those Pretty Papers
The Four Seasons Challenge

Snowy scenes

 My last post for this year, hooray! And Happy New Year to you! 

I just wanted to play with the Postal Collage Die and Snowy stencil from Waffle Flower. The birthday card is not needed for a couple of weeks so I had time to try out colors and techniques with the inking.  Here's what I came up with. 

I love the mountains and SNOW *as you know* mine is only on paper although it is cold here today. This stencil is great for guy cards and I will be using it often! You may see the snow sprinkles I added with spatters of white paint.

I chose Altenew inks for the scenes as I have several variations of each color to use. The sentiment is SSS Birthday Blitz. I loosely followed the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches. So thankful for their inspiration! Also linking to Simon Says: Add a Sentiment!

I couldn't think of ending the year without a huge thank you to you, my loyal readers, and crafty friends. I began 14 years ago with this blog, can you believe it? Those in the wonderful community of paper crafters have brought me joy, encouragement, laughter and brightness to my days. Heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you! 

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Fabulous Flower

After making and mailing a slew of Christmas cards, I brought out a new-to-me flower for my card today. I know many of you around the country and Canada are having snow and I am so dreaming of snow. However. It's warm enough where I live today to actually try sun bathing.The air conditioner is on.

I might as well take a break from making winter cards, even if only for today. Here's a fabulous bloom creation made with the Lovely Layers Coneflower Dies from Honey Bee stamps. 

The  etched dies cut four layers for this flower and the dimension is amazing. I used two shades of pink card stock, and added sponged ink to vary the color a bit for each layer. When it was assembled I added more detail with flicking with Copic markers near the base of the flower. 

The sentiment is also from Honey Bee (Riding By) stamps. 

I know it seems early to get back to card making and posting but you may know how it is - the craft space is a happy place to relax and it requires no cooking or wrapping. Taking a mid-holiday crafty breather is good! 

Thanks so much for your visit. Hope you're having a great day! I'm sending this over to NBUS and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to add a sentiment.

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Spread Joy for Penny Black

 Hi friends, good to see you. It's time to celebrate my Penny Black stamps again! I have so many Christmas images and sentiments from this company that it's a delight to be inspired to add one more card to the collection at Penny Black Saturday Challenge.  I've loved being a Guest Designer this month! 

A hard challenge involves choosing which stamps to use? My new snowman came out to play today. Or should I say snow - girl? 

She was kind enough to wear pink so I could try out a non-traditional color scheme that's been on my to-make list. I combined two shades of pink and aqua using my Copic markers and Concord & 9th card stock. 

The stamps I used are Frosty Feathers (new to me) and Feeling of Christmas. I thought these went together well, although I'm looking forward to using the Frosty Feathers sentiment in the future. It says something about it never being too early for Christmas music. I think this might be a fun sentiment for a spring-time card decked out in flowers, ha!

Today's card is decked out in a trio of snowflakes and Iridescent white cord. 

Please have a look at some of the wonderful creations at the Penny Black Saturday  Challenge Blog. Those who manage the blog and those talented friends who play work so very hard! A huge thank you. 

You should check out the fabulous fun and wonderful cards at Double D

.

Also, Darnelle has hosted another beautiful year at NBUS, giving our new supplies a home to show off in. NBUS=never-been-used-shtuff

I'm sending good wishes for you to have a wonderful few days as the year comes to an end. 

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!  

Sending Joy

 Hello again, how are things going? For the first time in years, all the presents are shopped for and wrapped. It's an amazing feeling! 

I keep thinking I'm finished making holiday cards. Instead I keep finding I just want to make one more. Goodies on my desk seem so easy to assemble into a card when I come to tidy up. Here's my latest.

Most of the supplies are from Concord & 9th. I love making scenes bright with the snow globe die cuts. Using colors Pink and Green so that I can join the fun at Color Hues this month, I was also inspired to play again at Freshly Made Sketches. 

I appreciate your visit today. Thanks so much for coming by! 

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!