Spring Break

Taking a break from my "Going Grey..." series to celebrate Spring! I trust that you had a blessed weekend. We had a truly wonderful weekend, the highlight of which was yesterday. The church services were a blessing and encouragement, and it being the 2nd Sunday of the month, we observed the Lord's Supper, which was extra special on Resurrection Sunday. I also officially became a member at our new church, which the Lord led me to a few weeks ago. He has confirmed repeatedly that this is the place He would have us, and as we were talking with friends after last night's service, it was another blessing to hear my mom tell others how happy she is there and how much she is learning and growing in her understanding. Praise God!

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
Ecclesiastes 3:1

A new season in life with a new church, a new season in the earth, and the new life we have in Christ as born again believers, reconciled with the Father, because of Jesus's perfect sacrifice on the cross and His victory over death and sin when He rose on the third day. Amen and amen!

As Christians, we have so much to rejoice about, and we shouldn't keep it to ourselves.

I made this card using "Stella" from The Greeting Farm. I love me some digis, but some things are just easier/quicker/better in rubber, and for me, paper piecing is one thing I love rubber for. I raided my stash for the beautiful papers from Basic Grey's "Sultry" collection, and then raided my button and twine stashes for embellies.


I'm entering this in the Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge #45 "Buttons and Bows", the Ribbon Carousel Challenge RCC47 "Spring Is in the Air", and the Fresh Brewed Challenge FBC90 "Tie It Up". (I hope to be back with another Fresh Brewed Challenge entry later this week!)

Have a blessed day!

Fresh, Fuchsia Flowers for Mom

Hello again! As promised, here is the card I made for my sweetie pie of a mom for Mother's Day. I love a theme, and I love my mom in pink, so I had to carry the color from her corsage and cake to the card.


The image is "Daisies" by Digi Drawn, who offered up this image for free(!) for the Sketch Challenge at Crafter's Digital Art Center. I took some liberties with the sketch, but the basics are there, I hope.
I'll have to get back to you on the greens, but the petal colors are: RV59, RV19, RV32, RV34, and RV0000. The pattern papers (including the pink matting layer) is from Basic Grey's Lemonade Collection (6x6) and the dew drops are Inky Antics.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a blessed & beautiful day! ((hugs))

Updated 5/19/2011 -
What a blessed surprise! Thanks to all the lovely ladies at CDAC.

International Inkers, Kit 2

Welcome! Well, here we are again with our 2nd International Inkers Kit, courtesy of yours truly, proudly representing the USA in our little delegation ;)

Spring has sprung and soon the snow and cold will be a distant memory. The birds are chirpin' away, and though I've yet to spot my first bunny, I couldn't resist using this image from Sugar Nellie and these fresh & funky K & Co. patterns papers to celebrate this season of renewal.


So for this month's kit, I challenged the girls (and myself) with the following raw materials:

• K & Company Urban Rhapsody pattern papers


• May Arts web ribbon in turquoise and cream


• chipboard swirls


• blue buttons


• SU! Hodge Podge Hardware (pewter) altered with Adirondack Metallic Mixatives (copper)


• "Bashful" image from Sugar Nellie, designed by Diane Duda

In keeping with my commitment to focus my crafts on the Lord, my card today, despite that shy little long-eared, cotton-tailed cutie, is NOT an Easter card, but a celebration of God's creation.
As I've mentioned before, I just love rabbits. All of God's creations are special, but bunnies are extra special to me: a stuffed toy one is a memento of love & encouragement from my Dad; from my Mom, my sister & I inherited the ability to twitch our noses like a bunny; and I use an imaginary bunny to get Charlie (the choco lab) to run out in the yard & do his business - teehee. So this is simply a happy little card celebrating the beauty of all God's creation, hope of things being made new, and rejoicing together in the eternal love of the Lord. Genesis 1; 2Corinthians 5:17; 1Peter 1:22-23

CARD COMING SOON!
(For those of you keeping score: Yes! I am late with my own kit! Oye vey!)

And as a special "thank you!" for visiting all of the International Inkers' blogs, I'm giving one of these card kits away! To be eligible to win this kit for yourself, just leave some comment love on each of the blogs. The winner will be selected and announced on Sunday, April 24th.

The International Inkers are:
Michelle (USA), Catherine (USA), Karen (Canada), Paola (Canada), Tanja (Germany) & our new addition Imke (Germany) - Welcome!

OWH Bunny Hop

Welcome to the Operation Write Home Bunny Hop!!!! I'm soooo glad you could join us!

If you are arriving here from Cheryl's blog, you hopping down the bunny trail beautifully! If this is your first stop, please go back to the beginning - the OWH Hero blog.

Before I share my card, I want to remind you that the deadline for Easter/Resurrection Day cards is March 18th, and the Mother's Day deadline is March 31st. So I hope you find lots of inspiration today and create some awesome cards for our heroes!

Also, I want to make sure you know about a very cool new feature at OWH. If you go to the main site, you'll see a tab toward the right called "Free Stuff" and if you scroll down, there's a place to order your own free unmounted red rubber Operation Write Home stamp to use on the back of the cards you make & donate to OWH! Stamping your cards before sending them to the shippers will save them a lot of time and work. Be sure to follow the guidelines HERE for packing up your donated cards.

Now, on to the card:
Wanting to avoid the association of bunnies with Resurrection Sunday (a topic for a later post), I was hesitant to make the traditional "Easter Bunny" card for this hop. But after thinking on it further, I realized that there is no reason to let not so subtle pagan associations spoil my special love for bunnies. Between my mom and me, we have a healthy collection of rabbit decor. And one particular stuffed animal bunny will always be a treasure to me because of a very special childhood memory with my dear dad, who is often a source of inspiration for my OWH cards, since he is my favorite veteran. And that's when I remembered that this stamp, "A Little Hug" by Sugar Nellie artist Leanne Ellis, has been in my stash far too long without some inky love. So I decided to do a seasonal card centered on love.


I paired the image, colored with Copics, with some gorgeous papers from Basic Grey's Capella collection. I just love the soft greens, blues, pale yellow and soft salmon colors in this line, with a balance mix of warm taupes and cool greys - the perfect winter-into-spring palette, at least in my book. A multi-part chipboard flower, tiny pearls, satin ribbon and white lace (which for me totally evokes white garden pickets) are the finishing touches.


Your next hop stop is Shelly at http://shellyrharris.blogspot.com! Have fun!

Before you go, I do have some BLOG CANDY to give away, but I am having trouble loading the picture. I'll keep working on it. In the meantime, please leave a comment to be entered into the drawing!

I'm late! I'm late!

Ahhhh....what else is new, right? LOL!
I had quite the adventure trying to finish this card. Seems my tardy bunny tried to make a break for it. I literally spent hours on the floor in my disaster of a craft area trying to find the stamp. I had used it for the mock up of this card, but when it came time to do the card for real, this little guy was apparently looking for a rabbit-hole under my ottoman! LOL!

I am still so wildly ecstatic over being so blessed to be part of the "Oh, Alice..." Challenge Blog! I hope you will all join us for our FIRST CHALLENGE, which will be announced THIS SATURDAY! Until then, this card is my paper celebration :D

(Sorry for the wonky photo, BTW. *sigh*)

One of the best parts of this is that I finally used the clock stamp, from a set I've had stashed away well over a year (or more???). After stamping and punching the clock face, I punched another circle in acetate and layered it on top as the "glass". Instead of hands, I put my "white rabbit" in the center, propped up on glue dots. The "Alice" image is courtesy of my swapping buddy, Debbie (djones), who traded images with me months ago - thanks Debbie! Who knew? :D

And thanks to all of your for your congrats, well wishes, support and encouragement! Love you all!

Twistedly yours,


Image(s): The Greeting Farm (Alice), SU (rabbit), Heidi Swapp (clock )
Pattern Papers: Cosmo Cricket - Earth Love
Cardstock: Bazzill, SU and local sources
Embellishments: Making Memories die-cut tag; velvet ric-rac ribbon
Inks: Memento, Tim Holtz Distress Ink
Colored with Copics
Layout: SC265

Unity Friends With Flair - Let's Get Hoppy!

I am enjoying Fridays so much more this year, thanks to FWF! As always, the list of participants can be found on the Unity blog.

It is in the teens temp wise, but the sun is shining brightly, so let's get 'hoppy'! I was so anxious to get January's KOM, and I am the polar opposite of disappointed! This lovely rabbit is from that kit, and the scrumptious papers were part of the January Scrap/Collage kit that arrived yesterday - just in time for FWF. Love it when that happens!I'm not sure it has anything to do with my 'hoppy' mood, but my birthday is this weekend. So let's celebrate with a wee bit of blog candy! Leave a comment and tell me if you're ready for Spring or still enjoying the Winter delights. I'll select one winner and announce on Monday, 2/1/10. (U.S. and Canadian residents only - got watch those shipping dollars.) The prize? Unity stamps, of course! :D

Have a delightful Friday and a blessed weekend!


Image(s): Unity Stamp Co. - JAN10 KOM
Pattern Papers: Basic Grey - Origins (12x12)
Cardstock: local source
Embellishments: Making Memories - Chloe's Closet (yellow flower); SU (brown flower); KI Memories (flower button); PTI twine
Ink: Memento - Cocoa Brown
Layout: SC264

The Anti-Bye-Bye Blackbird

Get it - because this little birdie is saying "Hello." Yep, I had caffeine today!
I love this bird. He's the reason I bought the set - Autumn Leaves Nature Set by Rhonna Farrer. I stamped him in Palette Black, and then went over him with JudiKins Diamond Glaze (again, not that you can tell from my crappy cell cam - ugh!). Letters are from an Inque Boutique/SeeDs set. I got the striped paper (your seeing front and back) on clearance, and the green & white floral paper is Basic Grey. The ribbon was from the oodles that Michelle sent with one of the Secret Sister cards - how awesome is that! I adhered using vellum tape - we'll see how it holds up. I punched the flowers with a retired SU! punch I bought from Alana, and the centers are black gems I recently picked up from Archivers.

Blue Bird of Joy

I am seriously on my bird kick now. Stamped 3 cards this weekend, all birds.

Here's the first. I picked him to share today because of his vibrant colors - it's a little cool and dreary here in NE Ohio today, so this little guy cheers me up.

He is partially recycled, as the base of the card and the strip of patterned paper were made in an SU! class. But I goofed the flower that was originally in the birds place, so I tore it off and made my little friend here. He's stamped in Palette Black, heat set, and colored with SU! Wonder Color Crayons and blender pen in Tempting Turquoise and Mellow Moss (I think, could have been Old Olive). Then I used JudiKins Diamond Glaze, and trimmed him out once it dried. I mounted him on a scrap of dark olive textured paper, punched the corners with SU! Ticket Corner Punch, edge in more Palette Black to make it "pop" and then finished assembling. I think it's a little crooked, but I used the green Mono glue for the first time, and once it was on, there was no budging it!Pretty quick and easy. I love the way the Diamond Glaze gives glossy shine and dimension - not that you can tell from the photo :(

Note: Sorry for the low-fi image - still using cell phone cam.

Something to look at

Digi cam is still on the fritz....okay, I haven't been stamping - you caught me.

I snagged this pic from Michelle, and cropped, just to give you something to look at until I can carve out some creating time. This is a much belated thank you card that I made for Michelle, who was my super awesome Secret Sister months back. TFL!

Card base is a pearlescent (now I know I didn't spell that right!) light blue that I snagged either at Archivers or from Marco's Paper at Adventures in Rubber Stamping a few years back. Pattern papers are from Basic Grey. Faux stitching done with Signo pen and paper piercing. Chipboard flower from Making Memories, and (if memory serves, which it often does not) also from Making Memories. SU! Linen Thread (which I attempted to make white with ink).

Blizzard Survival Techniques

The Weather Channel never actually labeled it a blizzard, but what else do you call 18-inches of snow in a 24-hour period???

My survival technique: Stamping in a Spring-like fashion!

I keep telling myself that the Easter Bunny will be hop-hop-hopping on by soon, but of course, Queen of Waiting-Until-The-Last-Minute that I am, this was the first weekend I stamped an Easter card. (Hey, I'm much better at 32 than I was at 29. So by 40 I should be an early bird!)

Once again, I don't know why, but my camera skills are lacking. You can kind of make out the dot pattern that I SpellBinder-ed on the pink card, but it's hard to see that the tan card has a basketweave SpellBinder-ed, and on the green strip, horizontal ripples. You'll take my word for it, I hope. The pattern paper on the pink card is LilyKate by BasicGrey. And the green scallop edged matting is courtesy of Michelle, the best Secret Sister ever!

Let's Fly Away!

Another creation from my 3-day weekend. This is a card of many firsts:

1. The first time using my Copics!!!!

2. The first time using my Inkadinkadoo Birds Galore set!!!

3. The first time using my Autumn Leaves Nature set!!!

I started with the polka dot paper - provided by Alana in the PIF (pay it forward) package she sent me, which was loaded with cool stuff (thanks, Alana!), and stamped the flowers from the Nature set in Brocade Blue. Then I colored them with some of my brand new Copics (Cardinal, Putty and Cool Shadow). On a piece of vellum paper, with Black StazOn, I stamped the bird on branch from the Birds Galore set. I then used the same Copics to color the bird and branch from the opposite side. I stamped Print Pattern (SU!) in VersaMark on the card itself. Then I tore the vellum, and set 2 silver eyelets, threading SU! twine through them, securing with triple knots, and wrapped them behind the DP. I distressed the edges of the DP and a piece of red cardstock (very close in color to Purely Pomegranate), and inked the edges of the DP with Brocade Blue. Then I just assembled all of my layers, and stamped the sentiment in India Ink.

Let me know what you think!