I like that title because it describes the way I like to do things in life :) I try to be kind and do my best, even when sometimes it doesn't work out. But that's life and there's always a lesson to be learned along the way, in every situation.
I Love, love how this card turned out! I thoroughly enjoyed making this card and when I look at it, it makes me happy. I was trying for a simple monotone colored card, and I didn't have to paw through my paper for 2 hours (like usual), I found this piece in 10 minutes and Knew I Had to use this one. It just spoke to me and looks beautiful. I love that pink color, and pattern. It just grabs me visually.
I made this card for the My Favorite Things: September Guest DT Member Challenge. Their challenge is "Getting Sentimental". The object is to make the sentiment the focal point. And that's why I though maybe going monotone for the colors would be best. I have never made a sentiment be a focal point, so this was a challenge I both welcomed and was interested in.
I used My Favorite Things stamp set Pure Innocence "Have a Blooming Good Day" stamped in Ranger Distress Inks "Antique Linen". Then I stamped over that with a harvest sentiment stamp set from MFT company. After stamping them, I heat embossed both of them so they would stand out some more. Tombow markers were used to color in her heart, hairbands, shoes, flower and grass, to add a bit of color, or else it would all look "flat" with out some color. I die cut their Open Scallop Die and placed it under the matted image. And I used some ribbon along side for interest and to break up all the pink, pink, pink going on :) I used a punch to cut out little flowers to place over the ribbons, then pearls were added after for a softer creamy pink in the middle. I could have used buttons, and I did try, but it just wasn't working, so I went with the punched flowers. The last thing I did was place pop dots under everything to lift it off the paper. I like the 3D element it adds. I like my cards to have dimension, and not be laying flat on a card front. It looks boring to me. It only takes 2 minutes but the results are worth it, to me :)
So I finally figured out my lighting situation (I know I say that every time! LOL). I took my homemade LightBox (Thank You Kim Teasedale!! She's the BEST), and went outside and added a couple lights along the sides for more light, and Voila! The BEST pictures I have taken in a while. I have always loved and wanted pictures that many others seem to be able to do. The kind that are a bright, white "studio" picture with full color. I could never seem to get that, and when I tried to Photoshop light in...Ugh! It all looked so unnatural. I hate that look. So, I hope this works out, although I had to cart two lights, a LightBox, coffee table, camera and card outside, and lug it all back in... I'm sure my neighbors think I'm crazy lugging this stuff out on my front lawn... :)~
Psalms 136:1
Give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: His mercy endures forever
What do you do when your Mojo goes on hiatus? You wonder "Why me??" just like I did - LOL :) I'm just kidding! I have had a couple of times when it's just not there anymore after just having tons and tons of ideas and major mojo drive, but I've never had it last this long. I've only been making cards since December, so it's to be expected. But it did give me a bout of worry there, for a bit :)
So after some forcing of myself to sit and play with my stuff, I made this card. I had been itching to play with my new My Favorite Things stamp set PI "Being Cute is What I Do". And oh my goodness, did I have FUN!! I love how I can use it on any paper or color it in. And it's a universal kind of stamp (a prerequisite for me since I don't own many), and I love those kinds.
I used a lot of My Minds Eye papers for her and the card's backgrounds. I wanted a bit of a "groovy" embroidered look on her pants so I found an old stamp and heat embossed the image on them. I really like it, like that and I think it looks great.The clouds are a stamp from Verve's "Up, Up & Away" stamp set, with a water colored blue around it to make them stand out a bit. The grass at her feet are a small stamp from Stampin Up from an old set back in the 90's.
The blue flowers are from Recollections Mini Paper Roses. I'm not sure how I feel about them, but this being my first time using them I'll keep playing with them and hold back on judging how I like 3D flowers or not. Everyone else makes them look so natural, I feel like mine are out of place and detracting from the image. But I'll keep playing and we'll see.
The bling strands are from Prima. Again, I like them there, but maybe they are a little much?!? :)
I did use my trusty Tombows to watercolor in her hair, shoes, clouds and grass, at her feet. I really love these Tombows! I'm getting much better at my results then when I was using Distress Inks. I'm not bashing the Distress Inks, I'm just finding I can control the results and finishing better with my Tombows.
And please be patient as I'm still tinkering and fiddling with the whole blog realm. I am liking the changes so far,but still want to lighten my middle background column so everyone can read it. Until then the text will be bold black and very large Reader's Digest type print - LOL :)
I'm entering this in two challenges, just to jump start my mojo again too. For some reason entering in challenges really helps me get back on track. Here's to having fun and jumping back in the creative pool!! :)
My Favorite Things - Floral Fantasy - Blue Flowers
Our Daily Bread - Punches or Dies - Nestabilities "Circle" Die
Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
What a great title to the two subjects, I'll be talking about! :) Now I'm starting to sound like a real blogger! I love fancy titles like that :)
This morning I joined the ranks of many other mothers, who sent their first-born off to Kindergarten! *Sigh* Sad! One funny thing happened though. When we met the teacher for the first time, each child has to introduce themselves. When it was my little one's turn, the teacher asked,
"What is your name?"
My little one said "Um, Ariel" (she's totaly into "The Little Mermaid").
The teacher looked stunned. She looked over at the name tags for a split second and looked blank. I jumped in and said her name, for the teacher. The teacher never cracked a smile, but I thought it was funny, and unexpected. I'm sad to see that her teacher has no sense of humor :(
On to more fun things :)
I made a card last night, and I love how it turned out. But I'm a bit unsure of a few items on the card, namely the green ribbon and the blue butterfly. I just worry that they are too much for the design of the card, but I do love them, so I think I will leave them there :)
I had the "Seeds of Friendship" and the "Berry Sweet" stamps from Flourishes company that I was itching to try out. I was kind of concerned at how I was going to color the berries in, because they can be pretty tricky to do, but these colored in beautifully! I credit that to the design of the stamp, because the seeds/berries have somewhat larger "bumps" (very scientific, I know), it's easier to color in. I'm loving this set!!
I painted a blue "haze" around the raspberries and didn't heat emboss the images in. I wanted the "seed packet" to look like I had accidently left it out in the garden; so it's all washed out and faded by the sun and rain. I wanted it to look like an old fragile piece of paper.
I was really trying for a "modern version" of a distressed look. Not distressed brown but full of color but only softer. I added pearls, lace and worn ribbons to add to the "modern vintage" feel.
I used the backs of the green ribbons for the textures back there :) I had allot of fun creating this card, and I am sure I'll be pulling this stamp set often, in the future, since it's pretty universal :)
I'm entering it in the "Kids Play" Challenge from Flourishes, because when I look at this card I think of "Here we go around the Mulberry bush.." song, but that's not a game. So I think "Ring around the Rosie" is probably the one that fits this one best :)
Psalm 150:1 (1.) Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.
(2.) Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.
I made my oldest daughter this card for her first day of school. She's going to be in Kindergarten! How did she grow up so fast? I was homeschooled my whole life, and loved it. So if there's any nervousness about her first day of school, I am the only one who has it - LOL! :)
I thought that, just in case, I'd put this card in her lunch bag or give it to her before she leaves the house. I really don't think she's going to have a problem with school, she loves playing with other kids and is used to being a couple of church programs, without us, so I think she will enjoy school very much :)
I used a $1 sticker sheet, from Micheals, along with a cute paper (which you can't see :) that has all the school subjects on it, and ribbon, to keep it fun and girly. I pulled out my very, very limited collection of Copic Markers and used E00, E53 and R29 on the bus, to keep in the primary color theme and style. The ribbons were just $1 bin ribbons from Micheals.
I tried to keep it pretty cheap, but tried not to make it look that way. But I'm Really Happy with how it turned out! I Never use stickers, they aren't dimentional enough for me, so I choose not to use them. But when I saw these, I thought I'd give them a shot. I enjoyed this so much, maybe I'll make a card every year for the first day of school. Does anyone else do that?
I just want to touch on the Copic Markers again, here. I am not sure how I really feel about them. They really intrigue me, very much and love many of the cards colored with Copics, in the Split Coast Stampers (SCS) Gallery. But to be completely honest, I have never loved markers as much as I do painting, even when I was a child. I love a blended look, and I don't feel like you can get a true blend with Copics. Please don't think I'm using this as a soapbox to bash the Copics. I'd like to go to a class that offers a Beginners Copics (that doesn't cost an arm and a leg), soI can learn how to use them and learn how to blend. I have exactly 5 or 6 Copic Sketches, and I know that isn't enough to make a decision, but I'm not feeling them. But I'm not ready to give up on them yet. I guess what would really be best, for me, is to take a Tombows and Copics class and decide between the two what I like. Anyone else with that dilema?Matthew 6:33
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
I hate to scare away any potential blog readers here, this being only my 3rd post. But I just want to say, I have a newfound respect for those of you/us who start blogs and create them.
I am one of those who just can't understand how to create one if I tried my whole life. Some say "If I can do it, so can you". I can't. Even if I was gifted with the book "Blogging and Designs for the Desperate Dummy", I would still struggle. I look at all those CSS and HTML letters and symbols on a page and I get a little sea sick :) I stayed up late, late last night trying to make my blog feel cozy (second only to my scraproom), but went to sleep frustrated at the extremely steep learning curve. I was drowning in codes and the more I read and tried, the more I just couldn't get it. I think I got lucky with how it looks, in the end, because I sure couldn't figure out what I was doing and where to incert things! Please bare with me as I fiddle, tweek and improvise my way through creating my blog.
So my hats off to all of you who make their blogs look soo good and make it look so effortless :) You all are my heros! I'll be riding your coat tails and asking you all the annoying questions I can think of :)
Phil. 4:4
Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.
I want to take a minute to thank all the kind Ladies who left comments on my first post :) Your all so kind in your comments, thank you!! Many of you helped nudge me into the blogospere, if it wasn't for you I'd still be boring - LOL ;)
Here is my newest card in my first card posting. I am not sure how to start or how to do this or what to say, so I'll tell you my inspiration and supplies used.
My Favorite Things stamps is having an August Guest Designer Challenge, the theme being "Flower Flair". Sounds easy enough, right? I thought so too! I mean I have a LARGE shoebox FULL of flowers of every kind, shape, color and size. But those little rascals threw me for a loop! I've been really "jonesing" (is that a word?), for the rolled flower die from MFT and just Knew it would look great here on this card, but since I don't have it yet, I had to make do. I did try to make my own, but that was a disaster, so I called it a loss and tried to work with what I had :)
I had this exact card design in my mind for a few months, but didn't have the right papers and embellishments. The whole card came together quickly except for you-guessed-it, the flowers. I finally settled on using the smaller flowers on the umbrella part, and I think it looks good that way. The umbrella stamp is from the MFT "Rain or Shine" stamp set. I thought it would look cute as a card for someone having a baby or a baby shower.
I used a clear frame tag in the upper right hand corner of the nested circles. You can read in in real life better, but it says " A Blessing From Heaven". I love the clear tag, but I haven't seen it since I bought it. Too bad, it turned out cute, I think.
I think I got really lucky having the materials on hand. I am a scrapper that can't seem to throw anything out! :) You ought to know that I regret most of my purchases in the scrapping department, but I won't throw it out, or give it away, just in case. And most of my cards have had at least one or two saved "just-in-case" items - LOL :)
Eph. 2:8
For by Grace are ye Saved through Faith, not by Works, lest any man shall boast. - My Dad's favorite verse
Ok, so I live in a cave when it comes to anything computers or being tech savvy. I just don't get how it works or how it could improve too much in my life :) Other then looking for more new stamps, online! LOL ;)
The title of my blog is called "Le Jardin de Papiers". Just in case you don't speak French (I do not, by the way), it means "The Paper Garden". If you knew me, you would know that I am Obsessed with paper and stamps and could spend hundreds easily on either one! I personally have a much greater weakness for paper, that's why my blog is called the Paper Garden, instead of The Stamp Garden :)
I'll give a little background about how I came into stamping and card making. In May 2006 my husband, our then 9 month old daughter, and I went to France to visit my husband's Grandmere (Grandma) and family. My daughter and I had never met them, so it was a Big trip, and boy did they spoil us. After we came back to the States, my Mom suggested I scrapbook the trip so my daughter could enjoy looking at the photos, when she got older. I wasn't too keen on the idea. I didn't hate the thought, don't get me wrong, I just didn't think I had enough talent to scrapbook the trip and do it enough justice. Then my old friend called me on the phone inviting me over for a visit and to scrapbook with her. She asked me if I had heard of scrapbooking, and I said I had, but I thought it was a passing fad. She said "Get with the program" and to come over and see how fun it was. I did and I have been scrapbooking ever since!
I started making cards so I could send out Thank You cards to the kind Ladies and friends at our church who brought our family dinners, after our second daughter was born in October 2009. I had been scrapbooking for a few years so I had all the supplies and figured "Why not? How hard can it be?" LOL! Well, it's been 8 months since I've started making cards, and it's harder then it looks, but I'm hooked and loving every minute of it! I'd post pics of my first cards, but they are SO cringe worthy that I think I'll spare us all the agony - LOL :)
I'm interested in where this card blogging journey is going to take me. I'm talkative as all get out, but blogging is kind of an art form, to me, and I am pretty sure this is going to take me a while to find my groove, so bare with me :) I hope to be posting a card here, within the next couple of days, so we'll see how I do :)
1 Timothy 6:6
"But godliness with contentment is great gain."
