Thank You

As you all know we have been having some trying times, lately. But while going through this someone really stepped up to the plate and has really helped out. So I made a card for them to express my sincere gratitude :)

 

I used Flourishes "Apple of My Eye" set with the butterfly from Flourishes "Gerbera Daisies" set, and the sentiment from Flourishes "Humming Along". I colored everything in with my Tombows, and cut it all out with my craft knife and placing it all on popdots. 

I used Stickles "Crystal"glitter glue on the butterfly, with some extra pink glitter thrown in, to enhance the wings. The trick is to only paint the veins in with the Stickles.

 

I used the sentiment from Flourishes "Humming Along" stamp set and used the "Corners and Medallions" stamp set from HOTP (Hot Off The Press) to make the corners of the card a little prettier, instead of leaving them plain.

I am really happy with how the coloring turned out on both apples, leaves and butterfly. I really tried to go bolder, especially on the leaves, because they are always the hardest for me. I want the natural  light and dark depth to show up. I think this is the first time I have been happy with the results of the leaves, and the cute little butterfly :)

Waterlily Comfort

Hello, friends, I am here today to show another card that was hard for me to make. The morning after our beloved family members funeral, I found out my Mom fell while carrying in some wood, for her wood burning stove. The fall broke her elbow,  she had to stay in the hospital a few nights, and have surgery to repair it. I am so sick with worry and concern. She is a widow and I wish I could be there to help, but unfortunately I can't. This has not been a good month or start to the new 2011 year, I am praying it will only get better from now on!


Because she is feeling rather unwell, as I can imagine, I tried to make her a nice card that would make her smile. Since it's still winter in Minnesota, I thought that I would make a flower be prominently placed on the card. I have had an idea rolling around in my head for the last few weeks after seeing My Favorite Things Teasers, where Barbra Anders, I believe, had a Gate Fold card. I was instantly intrigued, I had fiddled with them before, but had not come up with anything I liked, so I gave up and decided not to make another for a while. I had forgotten all about them until Barbara's card, so I wanted to revisit it, and Mom's card was the perfect time to try. Mom doesn't mind when I practice on her, and I don't mind sending her my practice ones, asking for any constructive ideas or thoughts.

I chose the same Flourishes "Waterlilies" stamp as I used for my previous Sympathy card. I love this stamp image, it's easy to color in and it's a peaceful and pretty flower to look at. I colored the image in with my Tombows, keeping the whole overall look soft and pretty. The flower is the same shade of pink as the paper, blended. I used Spellbinders Lacy Circle to decorate the outer circle, and Classic Circles under the Waterlily, which is popped up on thick popdots. 

Under the Classic Circles I used Spellbinders Fancy Tags to create a lacy circle under the Waterlily image, and create a focal point under it. The pink cardstock is the backside of a MME double sided paper. Because this is for my Mom, I won't be adding a sentiment to the inside of my card, but if I was going to, I'd put it in the upper left corner. I am not a fan of signing my cards on the inside. I'd rather just add a sentiment and include a separate note from me, so that the card is untouched and can be viewed as a gift or they can use it to send to someone else.


These last few weeks have left me praying that God will grant strength to our families and that only blessings will follow now. The stress and worry have kept me from making cards like I would like to be doing. I felt better after making Mom's card, so I hope this means I can get back into "easier" cards soon! :)

Love & Peace

Last Monday, a beloved family member of ours walked into the waiting arms of Jesus, leaving behind a grieving family. We will miss the love and mentoring they gave. With all the emotions and things we needed to do, hosting relatives, and getting ready for the funeral (Wednesday), it's been hard.
This is the card I made for the widow of the family.

I used the Waterlily stamp from Flourishes "Waterlilies" stamp set, colored in with Tombows. I used Spellbinders Ovals, Scalloped Ovals, Circle, Fancy Tags and a Fleur de Lis die, to help make the sentiment stand out. The paper is K&Co and Craft colored matting on cream colored cardstock. I added some pearls from KaiserCraft last.

The inside sentiment is from the Flourishes "Sweet Violets" set.


We have not been able to get a hold of all the family members, that is why I am being so secretive. Until we have been able to tell all of the family I cannot say anything. The loss is a great hole in our family. Losing someone is never easy, please pray for our family.

Celebrate

I entered Flourishes challenge called "Colors of Love", and I loved the challenge!
I had a totally different card in my head, but in the end, I saw some MME papers and changed the design.

I used Flourishes "Humming Along" coloring everything in with Tombows and Distress Inks. After I colored the flowers in, I cut it all out with my craft knife, and adhered it to the card with glue dots. The opening into the card was cut out with a Spellbinders Heart die. I used all MME "Lost & Found" papers and Zva Bling. The hardest thing to do, was color in the humming bird, actually. After a few tries to get it's colors right, and going from memory, I came up with this one. After I colored and cut it out, I placed it on a super thick foam popdot, so it would look like it was really hovering in front of the flower.

Here is a picture of the inside of the card. Even though I was going for a crisp white card, I am happy and loving the pink music paper on the outside of the card :) Because who's heart doesn't sing, when they are in love? :)

I started off thinking I might be in over my head in this challenge, since I have never really focused too hard on these three colors. I thought I wouldn't have anything red or pink to use, but I have more pink paper and embellishments then I thought I did.
All in all, it's all for fun and to challenge me to think harder on what works and what doesn't.

Butterfly Study

Big Oops on my part! I didn't realize my card didn't post, even though I scheduled it to! So sorry about that. 

This is the Creative_Sketches sketch that my card is based off of.

I really love the shape and am really inspired by it.
I have had this idea of a set of windows having all of the same item or image in it, and after playing around, I came up with this card.

 I used a butterfly from Inkadinkado, stamped it out three times and colored it in with my Tombows. I cut them out and before placing them on the paper, I stamped the paper where my butterflies would go, again with the butterfly stamp. So once I added the second butterfly layer, I folded the wings up so they would look real. I used Spellbinders Squares to cut out the windows, and a MFT Open Scalloped die for the small border. The large flower is from Prima.

Katie's Daisies

And I'm back to wish you all a very happy and belated 2011 New Year!! I'm sure you wondered where I was, and I wish I could tell you I just got back from spending New Years at an exotic island somewhere, but I didn't. I was sick :(  But I managed a couple cards in that time, amazingly, since I sure didn't look or feel human - LOL :)
I'll post those two soon, but today I'm going to focus on a card that I woke up today and NEEDED to make. Yesterday, I went online and read about a lady named Katie Renz, on both Splitcoast Stampers and on Clear Dollar Stamps blog, who has stage 4 cancer. I do not know Katie personally but I DO admire her lovely creations and ideas, on Clear Dollar Stamps. I wanted to make Katie a card saying that I am one of many praying for her. If I was sick and discouraged, I would love to receive cards from fellow scrappers too.

 

I used Flourishes "Gerbera Daisies" set, coloring them in with my Tombow 991 and "Spiced Marmalade" Distress Ink. Then I added some Crackle Accent on to of them for some vintage interest. 
The butterfly was an after thought. It just needed something and I saw the butterfly stamp in the "Gerbera Daisies" set so I stamped, embossed, and cut it out. Tombows were used to color it in, then I added teeny-tiny thin rivulets of Diamond Glaze in the veins of the butterfly, and added glitter. But I couldn't see the glittery veins, so I added more Diamond Glaze and filled it in a little more, to stiffen it and show the glitter a little better.

I didn't intend for the card to be so "dark", since we are heading towards springy colors soon, but everything fit together so beautifully, I just couldn't dismiss the paper because it wasn't the right season :)

Flourishes has the following challenges at the moment: A Sketch, A Timeless Tuesday Challenge "Flowers", and a Bring Back Beautiful "Vintage" challenge. I thought I would combine them all in this card. The Vintage aspect for me, is the fact I bought these papers when I first started scrapbooking 5 years ago, but never used them!