Gratitude

I'm posting a card I made a while back and had not shared yet. 

I used up some pretty papers from BasicGrey's "Sweet Threads" pack and the Pretty Posies Die-namics Die from MFT.  My favourite style, clean and simple.

I'll enter this into the current Simon Says Stamp challenge which is "Anything Goes" - I love those challenges, no pressure to conform to anything!

A lovely warm day here in Houston.  Natasha went back to school today as she seems to be better, just a lingering cough but thankfully no fever. She is about to come home from school any minute now so I'll see how her day went.

Tomorrow is a full day, we are doing something with the Girl Scouts in the morning and then there is an Easter Party for the suburb in the afternoon.  Sunday I leave around 4am to go and do a Half Marathon, maybe my last here in US, with my running partner Candie.  And hopefully Sunday afternoon we can take it easy!

Wishing you all a wonderful day!

Because I Care

Ok, maybe things are looking up and my mojo juices are starting to flow again, albeit rather slowly.   I think that part of my problem is that I need to craft with a purpose, and by that I don't just mean a challenge here and there or even the card class, but a purpose that can touch someone's life.

I've derailed a bit from my OWH commitment, although all the cards I do make still go to them, but I was usually on top of things and knew that by a certain date they needed this type of card etc...I need to get back on track. Just mumbling out loud....ignore me...Here is my card for today:

Paper: cardstock (PTI); Neenah
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black; Copic Markers; CTMH - Baby Pink Dye ink
Stamps: MFT (IB-Flowers); Penny Black (Paisly outline)
Other: Twine (The Twinery); Corner Rounder; Dimensional foam tape; Hole punch; clear embossing powder

I stamped the paisly background in pink ink on some white Neenah cardstock and rounded the two top corners before adhering to the notecard.  I then stamped and heat embossed the sentiment.  I punched a hole, which you cannot see, under the flower through the notecard in order to wrap the twine around three times, just for something different, instead of going right around the card.

The flower is only part of an image which I coloured with copics and trimmed, and then adhered with some foam dimensional tape.

Thanks for coming to take a peek!  Hugs to all.

Best Wishes

This is a card for my Sister-in-Law in France, I hope it gets there in time!  Sometimes I just clean forget how long posts actually takes to get overseas and I take my time making a card and then oops, it's late....

Paper: cardstock (PTI); patterned paper (unknown - very, very old); Neenah
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Copic Markers; Antique Linen  & Seedless Grape Distress ink
Stamps: PTI Tiny Tags - sentiment; MFT - flower
Other: Nestabilitie Die; Crinkly ribbon; PTI Tiny Tag Die; Stickles; Dimensional tape; PTI Edge die

I just noticed that I did not take a very good photo as you cannot see the sentiment tag very well, that's what happens when you're in a rush I suppose!

I'm going to have to practice colouring in that flower, I'm not really happy with it.  But I hope my SIL likes it.

Thanks for visiting, it really makes my day!

CR84FN Colour Challenge #30

Love this inspirational photo with it's beautiful colour challenge:

Play along if you can, these colours are so soothing and calming, you can find the challenge here.  And this is what I made:

Paper: PTI
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa; Versamark; Antique Linen Distress Ink
Stamps: Hero Arts (CG102; CL404)
Other: Pearls (stash); MFT Rolled Flower Die; Clear embossing powder; PTI Edgers Die #1; Paper Piercer

I did a little bit of paper piercing around the yellow mat and then stamped it with the Antique Brocade stamp from Hero Arts using versamark and heat embossing it with clear embossing powder.

Love those little flowers made the My Favourite Things "Rolled Flower Die"!  Another really simple and plain card, I was just loving those colours!  Thanks for the inspiration Mona! (Oh, and Martha Stewart, which is where the graphic comes from!).

Wishing you a fabulous day!

OWH Memorial Day Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Operation Write Home Memorial Day Bloghop!  Be ready for a lot of inspiration along the way!  This bloghop is not for the faint hearted!  There are a lot of supporters out there and they would love you to leave them some love in the form of comments on their blogs!  This hop is open for the whole Memorial Day Weekend and ends on the 30th.  So please make an effort to visit everyone if you can.  Also make time to visit the OWH Blog to see how you can help simply by making cards!

If for some reason the road took a bad turn and you are lost along the hop, just click on the OWH logo above to start back at the begining of the hop, easy!

We were asked to keep it short and sweet, I can totally understand.  So without further ado, here is a red, white and blue card in the "I Miss You" theme for this hop:

Paper: Cardstock (PTI); Patterned Paper(PTI & old stash); Neenah Solar White
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Copic Markers;
Stamps: Joline (MFT); Sentiment (Technique Tuesday)
Other: Corner Chomper; Ribbon (Stash); Gem (Hero Arts); EK Succcess Label Punch; Dimensional dots

A little bit of paper piecing, some copic colouring and there you have it.  Isn't she pretty?

Now head on over to Laura's Blog and don't forget to leave her some love!  Wishing you all a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!

Love You Muchly

I decide to use this lovely Pure Innocence stamp to make a card last night.  This is going to be a quick post, because a) the card is simple and requires no explanation and b) I need to go to the optometrist for my follow up and to tell them what I thought about the Monovision lenses verses the Multifocal lenses! Here is my card:

Paper: PTI cardstock; Patterned paper (old stash)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Copic Markers
Stamps: MFT
Other: Corner Chomper; Pearls (stash); EK Success scallop punch;

I simply paper pieced that pretty little girl with the same patterned paper as the scalloped piece.  A little bit of glossy accents for the flower in her hair.  I once again cut off the flower she was holding behind her back because everytime I try to cut around it I mess up because it is so small.

Thank you for taking the time to visit me, I absolutely cherish it!  And a big thank you to my recent new followers, I hope I can inspire you, or make you laugh, (or maybe cry according to Michelle).  Hopefully I can be back later if I get a chance to craft today.  Hugs to all!

Flower Girl

(My second post of the day, so scroll down if you want to see more!)

I adore the Pure Innocence line from My Favorite Things, and I love their dies!  Here I used the Flower Girl image (I just cut off the daisy and I did not use the grass beneath her feet).

Paper: PTI Cardstock
Ink: Tumbled Glass DI; Memento Tuxedo Black; Copic Markers
Stamps: My Favorite Things; Hero Arts
Other: Corner Chomper; MFT Flower Die; Spellbinders die; Glittered Skittles (My Next Stamp)

The card is self explanatory, but I just want to mention the flowers.  I love that new die from MFT, it cuts the 3 flowers and the 3 centre pieces.  I just love the shape, so pretty!  I stamped the actual flowers with the Envelope Pattern stamp using Tumbled Glass DI, and also inked the edges with the same ink.  Then I applied those beautiful skittles over the pink centres and I popped up two of the flowers for dimension.  Love those flowers!

Thank you for popping in to take a look!  I love and read all of your comments, so don't be shy!

Kathy's Challenge

(Second post of the day)

There is a really interesting and fun challenge going on over on Kathy's Blog!  Actually the challenge was between her and two crafty and talented friends, and Kathy has decided to open it up to all for a whole week.  Go check it out.  Basically colours have been provided as a guide, as well as a sketch, (but you need to read Kathy's blog post).  Here is the visual guideline:

You don't have to use those exact Copics, or copics at all, but just those colours, and you can add some neutral colours in too.

Here is my submission.

Paper: PTI Cardstock, Neenah Solar white
Ink: Copics, Memento Tuxedo Black, Memento Rich Cocoa
Stamps: My Favourite Things, PTI
Other: White gel pen, Corner Chomper

That gorgeous little girl is coloured in with the copics mentioned, no blending with other shades.  I used the same blue for example to create some shading on the dress by simply applying more of it where I wanted some shading. I did add the neutral skin colour, (she could not be left stark white, really!).

I created the fun border using one of those tiny, often neglected, little stamps that was in one of my PTI stamp sets, and then the faux stitching with my white gel pen.  The sentiment is from PTI.

Go play, it's fun!

Cards for OWH

So as I promised to myself, I spent the evening in my craft room making more cards for OWH, and I think I will add this one to the current Wee Memories Scrappy Saturday Challenge.  Today I am posting more of a "cute" card.  I wanted to try out this stamp from My Favourite Things.  She is so cute holding her flowers.

Paper: PTI, Neenah Solar White
Ink: Copic Markers, Memento Tuxedo Black
Stamps: MFT
Other: PTI Edgers Die #2

A cute card that a deployed Mom or Dad can send home to their child!  I had great fun colouring her.

Just a short post today as I would like to go and make a few cards, my box is almost full enough to send off!