A Sketch Challenge "Happy 4th of July"

It's Tuesday!! Time for a fun sketch from Gloria at Christian Paper Crafts!  Be sure and make your way over to the Creative Blog and link up and join the fun.  I LOVE sketches!  It really gets the creative juices flowing and although my cards do not always look exactly like the sketch it is enough to get me started!  Hope you enjoy my 4th of July card. 

CPC - ST115

Closeup of the embossing.  I was actually trying to do a double emboss (another challenge, but that didn't work out - I'll have to read up on that technique) but I couldn't just let this paper go to waste.

Here are the ingredients:  DESIGNER PAPER, Karen Foster Designs, Fireworks Finale; CARD STOCK, Bazzill; STAMP SET: Taylored Expressions, 4th of July set; INKS:  Memento, tuxedo black; Archival, crimson; COPIC MARKERS: R27, B29; EMBOSSING FOLDER, ProvoCraft Stars, Cuttlebug; RIBBONS AND BUTTONS, stash.  Finished size A2

Have a blessed day and remember to share a smile and a kindness with someone today!

A New Day!

Good Morning!! Hope all my delightful friends and family are doing well! This has been a fun week at Christian Paper Crafts as we've been celebrating our 2nd birthday. Hope you've been able to visit the CREATIVE BLOG and have linked your card/project to enter into the festivities. Today's the last day to link up, so don't miss out on qualifying for some wonderful prizes! We have some very generous sponsors!
Here is my card for SKETCH TUESDAY #107 (thanks to Gloria Stengel our designer for a fantastic sketch you can find this sketch if you scroll down a couple of posts)

CPC - ST#107

(truer color in this picture)

(inside of card)

INGREDIENTS: Stamp: Taylored Expressions, Rest and Renewal; Ink: Palette, black and Distress Ink , Peeled Paint used on the inside scallop edge; American Crafts, ribbon. All of the other ingredients came from my ON THE EDGE Kit from Scrappers Edge (the kit we put together at the lss I work at) the designer paper and chipboard flower is made by KaiserCraft (Bubblegum Hills Collection), Bazzill, card stock; Tools: Marvy Uchida, Scallop Circle Punch; EK Success Corner Rounder and I machine stitched around the edges using the zigzag stitch. The finished card is A2.

Thanks for looking and I pray you have a fantastic day!!

Hugs and Blessings!

Thanks for visiting today!!
Here's another sweet digi from Lori Boyd (BYLORidesigns) as well as the sentiment.

I just love this paper from DCWV (Mediteranean Cafe line) and it worked out perfectly for the color challenge (#106) at Christian Paper Crafts this week. I've also used the sketch from Gloria Stengel, who provides our sketches for Christian Paper Crafts (CPC ST#106) (thanks Gloria!!) A new challenge for me that I've just found is Cute Card Thursday, the challenge ( #162) is to re-use a sketch from their blog or use another sketch from another blog (which is what I've done!) this is a fun site be sure and check it out!

Here is the rest of my ingredients:
Card stock: Bazzill, DCWV (pastel stack); Basic Grey, buttons; Colored with Copic Markers; Spellbinders, Nestabilities Label Nine; Taylored Expressions Medium Scallop Border Die; American Crafts Ribbon, dimensionals.

DON'T FORGET THE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION COMING UP NEXT WEEK AT CHRISTIAN PAPER CRAFTS, WE ARE CELEBRATING OUR 2ND BIRTHDAY!! More info to come....

Enjoy the rest of your week!!

An Irish Prayer and so much more...

Happy Thursday and a delightful St. Patrick's Day to you all!

Thought for the Day:
There are only three kinds of Irish men who can't understand women— young men, old men, and men of middle age. (Now that's a bit of truth if I ev'r heard one!)

I know it's hard to believe it, two days in a row to share a card!! I have another milestone to share with you all from Christian Paper Crafts, we are having our 100 Color challenge this week and it's a testament to all of our designers as well as our community that we've all supported each other long enough to get here! And since we are celebrating, we're going to give away a little something special to one lucky participant for this challenge. You have until next Sunday night, March 20th, at 6:00 PM EST to upload a card or add your direct link here. There will be a random winner chosen, who will receive something special from us at Christian Paper Crafts ! In two more weeks we will be celebrating the 100th Bible Verse Thursday challenge so be sure to stay tuned to see what Angie will have for us over at the Creative Blog.

This is our inspiration piece from Mary so have fun chosing your colors from this picture and don't forget to head over to the Creative Blog and upload your picture!

Here is my card and 3 challenges! Of course it's the color challenge but I've also included this weeks Bible Verse Thursday#98 (Heaven & Earth verse) and Gloria's sketch #99 (which I missed last week due to other committments!)

CPC CM100; CPC BVT98; CPC ST99

I love layering can you tell?

Here are the ingredients:

Stamp: Our Daily Bread Designs; Ink: Memento, rich cocoa; Designer Paper: DCWV - Mediteranean Cafe (love this paper pack!); Card Stock: Bazzill (base); DCWV Pastel Stack (yellow); Flowers, Making Memories; Buttons, Foof a la Bag 0 buttons; Martha Stewart, border punch; Spellbinders Nestabilites Deckled rectangle; Cuttlebug; Orange Ribbon, American Crafts; Cream ribbon, Buy-the-Spool (I think I got it at Michaels)

An Irish Prayer

May God give you...

For every storm, a rainbow,

For every tear, a smile,

For every care, a promise,

And a blessing in each trial.

For every problem life sends, A faithful friend to share,

For every sigh, a sweet song,

And an answer for each prayer.

My corn beef and cabbage are in the crockpot and my darlin' Irish hubby will be a very happy man when dinner is served!

Have a blessed day in the Lord!!

100 Sketches!!

Hello Delightful friends and family!!

This week we are celebrating 100 sketches and 100 Color challenges at Christian Paper Crafts!! You will definitely want to head over to the Creative Blog and see how you can win a prize for commenting! Easy peasy!

Here is the sketch by Gloria Stengel! We are so proud of Gloria, she is now on the Spellbinders Design Team!! God bless you, Gloria! Continue to let your light shine!

Here is my card and as usual I'm taking some creative liberties. I know Gloria embraces creative liberties (tee-hee!!) and since there are no challenge police at CPC, I know I'm okay ;-)

CPC ST 100 (digi is a ByLoriDesign image)

I'm calling this card "Hitching a Ride" but haven't decided whether to make it a "hello, birthday, thank you" or just leave blank... love for you to make a suggestion to help me out so I can finish it!

Here are the details: For the image I used Publisher to resize our girl and wagon and then resized the Kitty (separate image) and placed it in the wagon. I'm getting rather fond of playing around with these! Then I printed it out on Neenah bright white cardstock. I colored it with my Copic markers and I'm sorry I didn't get the ones I used written down before putting them away! (oops!) I double matted the image with Bazzill card stock, then stitched in the corner and added red buttons for the wheels.

For the base I used white, then blue, then a red card stock all Bazzill. The designer paper is from the Green Stack (DCWV) and I stitched them all together using a zig zag stitch around the edge (you have to look close the thread is an off white and hard to see). A coordinating dp (DCWV - Green Stack) was used for the middle strip and I matted it in red then hand stitched in red embroidery floss (Making Memories) I used the We R Memory Keepers SEWeasy (straight stitch) paper piercer to get the nice even holes to stitch. The ribbon (Taylored Expressions) accent at the bottom was adhered and a flower button added.

CPC ST100

Thanks for looking and hope you'll leave a delightful comment!!

God bless and remember to rejoice in the Lord always!!

Is it Spring, Yet?

Happy Wednesday to you all!!

I have a fantastic sketch to share with you and the card I was inspired by it. The sketch was created by Gloria Stengel who is on our DT at Christian Paper Crafts. She has a blog that has some serious eye candy especially yesterdays post. If you love Graphic45 paper then you are going to LOVE all her cards, layouts and fabulously fun projects from yesterday!! So be sure to visit her at Scraps of Life. We are praying she makes a second term on the Graphic45 design team!

Speaking of eye candy the Beat the Winter Blues gallery at Christian Paper Crafts features My Time Made Easy has some stunning cards and projects! You can catch a sneak peak here.

Well, it's the middle of the week and there are some fun challenges thoughout the week at Christian Paper Crafts. I encourage you to join us over there and register to become a part of our community. There are 3 membership packages that you can choose from, all of which are very budget friendly. You might consider becoming a fan of our Facebook page, and follow our Creative Blog. It's fun to see how the Lord is helping us to grow and more importantly to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I did take some liberties but here is my card! Just love this paper by My Minds Eye, it's called Fine and Dandy (double-sided too!) cute, cute, cute paper! Is this little sprout just a sweetie pie or what?! She is called Peekaboo Baby and she is part of the Lollipops at By Lori Designs Digi Shop I've just fallen in love with ALL the images!! The sentiment (Spring) is a Pink Paislee stamp that I've stamped with Dried Marigold (Distress Ink), pierced and added a dot of Ranger Liquid Pearls (Flamingo) and did a bit of fussy cutting.

CPC ST96

I've colored the images with Copics and the white you see is Smooch (pearlized acrylic accent paint, Moonlit) I've added the Liquid pearls to the center of the flowers, too.

The inside Scripture is from a set called Rest and Renewal from Taylored Expressions and I've cut it out using the Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 6.

Well, that's it for now! Thanks for looking and may the rest of your week be a blessing!!

Happy Birthday, Sondra!

Hello Delightful friends and family!

Today was Sondra's birthday (my boss) and so I made her a card. Now it's just a little intimidating giving her a handmade card. She owns the local scrapbook store, went to Ranger U, she's Copic certified, and teaches classes on just about everything paper craft related. I take that back, she does not teach the pergamano class! If you are ever in the Humboldt County area (northern Calif.) you should come and visit the store, it's massive and a wonderful place to get your creative juices flowing!

Here is the sketch I started with from Gloria (her blog). Gloria is our Sketch Tuesday hostess at at Christian Paper Crafts

I was hoping to incorporated our Color Monday Challenge but it just didn't happen on this card. I'll post the inspiration picture from Mary at the end of this post, just in case you'd like to play along. I hope you will visit us at the Creative Blog of Christian Paper Crafts. You will find lots of fun challenges and info about an upcoming blog hop!

CPC ST#95 (sorry I got in a hurry and forgot to crop the picture)

Here's a close-up of the sun, I used liquid pearls to embellish!

On this shot you can see, {well just barely} I added some zig zag stitching on the center "band" and then some "faux" stitching on the skirt. I used Smooch pearlized ink to make the stitches and also to color her shoes a snazzy hot pink! Our sweet little girl has been framed by the Labels Six from Spellbinders Nestabilities, embossed and ink blended around the edges while the die was still in place.

CPC-CM#95

Here is the inspiration image for Color Monday at CPC. I'm sorry it's so small, (same with the sketch) I'll have to ask my "tech" girls why it is so copying small and then remedy it!
Here are the details:
Paper: American Crafts, Dear Lizzy (Enchanted - Curious Matilda); Bazzill card stock; Neenah, bright white cardstock for image.
Stamp: Greeting Farms, Hope and Grace
Ink: Memento, rich cocoa; Distress Ink, antique linen, faded lipstick
Ribbon: Taylored Expressions, kit
Last but not least the rest of the ingredients:

Thanks for taking time to look, I hope you are having a blessed week! Tomorrow the grandbabies will be over and then it will be off to the Morning Women's Bible Study. We are studying with the Beth Moore DVD Series "Beloved Disciple."

God bless!

Sweet Cupcakes and a Couple of Sweet Cutie Patooties

Hello Delightful friends and family!

Earlier in the week I shared this sketch from Gloria Stengel for Christian Paper Crafts and today I have the card which was inspired by this delightful drawing! Fun challenges this week over there so be sure and take a peek! I think you'll be pleased with the Creative Blog and all the fun challenges.

CPC-ST92 (ingredients listed at the end of post)

We had fun watching Jakob "play" basketball this morning and I took a bunch of pictures but I'll only share one! Also Addy got bored with the inside game so she decided it would be a better idea if her momma took her outside to play and it was such a gorgeous day. So, I was able to take a few pics of her as well. These kids are growing up too quickly!

Jake getting ready to dribble. Look at that concentration! If you click to enlarge, you can see his "shiner" he ran into his dad's elbow.

(Addy age 19 months)

Ingredients to my card:

Designer Paper: Little Yellow Bicycle (Cupcake love) from the Taylored Expressions Key Ingredient Kit and KaiserCraft Candy Lane Collection (paper piecing); Card Stock: Bazzill and Neenah, bright white; Stamps: Taylored Expressions: Kid at Heart set; Colored with Copic markers, Embellished with: Dimensional Pearls, Expresso; Smooch, Sassy Pink; Tools: Scallop Eyelet Border Die, Taylored Expressions; Craft & Jewelry hemp cord by Cousins

I always look forward to your delightful comments, thanks for visiting today!

Confessions and Love Birds...

I understand that confession is good for the soul...

Aaaaah!!!!! I'm so far behind in the challenges at Christian Paper Crafts, I'm so behind I'm ashamed of myself!! That's my confession!

Gloria has been sharing and creating some FABULOUS sketches and I've dropped the ball! As a matter of fact there are new challenges every day but Sunday from color, sketches, scrapbooking, Bible Verse Thursday, Fun challenges on Friday, CASEing, CAS, journaling and more! But I got so busy with the holidays and our "Love is in the Air" gallery reveal on January 15 that I've neglected all the other challenges. The good news is that there are no challenge police!! (whew!) Tonight I'm going to feature one card from last weeks sketch and then post this weeks sketch for y'all! (I have been busy in all fairness, so please out of the kindness of your heart please, please forgive me!) I would feel EVEN better if you were to go and check out the CREATIVE BLOG for Christian Paper Crafts!

I think you are going to like my card, maybe even love it!! This little stamp from Hero Arts is so stinkin' cute!! And the background owl paper, I love it! I got the next to last piece at Scrapper's Edge (where I work) and today someone snatch the last piece - kinda wishin' I had grabbed it first! Oh well. And the cute little sentiment on the front is from the new "KID AT HEART" set from TAYLORED EXPRESSIONS, It was all perfect for the sketch challenge. Of course, I took a little creative liberty and instead of an oval shape I did a heart. (I know Gloria will approve!) The ingredients are listed at the end of the post.

A finished inside card (whoo-hoo or is it in this case Hoot-hoot!!)

THIS WEEKS SKETCH!!!

Recipe for card: Designer Paper: My Minds Eye "Fine and Dandy" collection; Card Stock: Bazzill, kraft and Neenah bright white; Ink: Memento, rich cocoa and cantaloupe; Embellishments: American Crafts, ribbon; Tools: Marvy Uchida, scallop heart punch; EK Success, diamond scallop border punch. Stamps: Hero Arts (owls); Taylored Expressions (Love birds sentiment) Unity Stamp Co (inside sentiment); COPIC markers to color.

Thanks for stopping by and you know I love to read those delightful comments!!

*You're Sew Special*

Hello and don't fall off your chair from shock - I'm posting again this week!!

If you remember I mentioned that I wanted to be more consistent in writing and since Christmas and New Year's is behind me I can focus on that a bit more. Although today was not the greatest. Our darling little granddaughter Addy is sick with a fever and a nasty cough. And if Addy isn't happy then nobody is going to be happy!! I think she's practicing for when she is the "queen of the house" right now she is only in princess status. It is so true though, it's the woman who controls the "thermostat" of the home! So ladies let's remember to walk in the Spirit and not after the flesh. We will be in a much better mindset (strive to have the mind of Christ), if we remember that and our families will be much happier as well. Nothing is worse than a cranky momma! Even the Bible has something to say about that in the book of Proverbs. (check it out in Proverbs 14:1 21:9, 19 and my all time favorite Proverbs 27:15). Just know I'm sharing this in "love" I promise (!) and I'm still learning these things myself. It's good to be reminded :-)

Be sure and check out Gloria's fantastic sketch at the Christian Paper Crafts Creative Blog! She is quite the crafter, you'll find her name and link to her blog on the sidebar we serve on the Design Team together at CPC. I wanted to post the sketch (CPC-ST-90) but for some reason it's teeny tiny when I uploaded it. So, I deleted it, but I did follow it almost exactly.

A few months ago I bought a digital set from Two Peas in a Bucket called Sew Crafty and here are two of the elements (image and sentiment). It's originally from the Hero Arts line. I colored it with my Copic markers and the papers are Basic Grey (design paper) Neenah bright white card stock and Bazzill, gray and blue card stock. The ribbon is from American Crafts and the button is from Foofala Buttons in a Bag. The ric rak at the bottom is an EK Success border punch called Zig Zag Stitching and I repeated it. I also ran it through my Cuttlebug using the Sizzix folder called Starry Night (coordinating with the Basic Grey paper). The finished card is 6"by 6".

Good night everyone! It's way past my bedtime and I'm expecting the grandbabies in the morning. Don't forget you are a delight to me and very *special* God bless!

Please remember the following in your prayers:
Abby
Randi
Jennipher
I don't have to go into details, the Lord knows. Thank you!

Hope to warm a Heart

Hello and Happy New Year's Eve Eve to you!!

Another year is coming to a close and many may be reflecting on this past year, the highs and the lows. I can't help but think that it's the lows that make the highs so wonderful. Afterall, if we didn't experience a little bit of adversity we would probably not grow in our character. Practice makes perfect or perhaps better said in James 1:2-4 "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have it's perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."

I know that I certainly don't like problems or trials, I'd love for life to just go on with no hitches but that's not really reality is it? So if you are dealing with something today or last week or last month or whenever, know that the Lord is there to help you walk through it. I know He is faithful and not wanting us to go it alone. And to top it off He desires you to grow from it and sometimes growing pains can hurt so hang on to our Abba Father's hand and He will be there for you each step, helping you to conform to the image of His dear Son, Jesus Christ.

Here is a sweet little card (don't you love this snowman!!) and it's inspired by the Christian Paper Crafts sketch this week. I made it for a friend going through a trial right now and I hope it brings a smile to her face and will warm her heart!

I've added the list of "ingredients" at the end of the post.

CPC-ST89

Thanks Gloria for such a great sketch!!

Ingredients: Paper: Basic Grey (designer paper) Cardstock: DCWV pastels, Neenah bright white, Frosted Teal (Taylored Expressions KI kit); Stamps: Image: Penny Black; Sentiments: Hero Arts (believe) and Gina K Designs (friends...); Ink: Memento, rich cocoa and Palette, black; Punches: EK Success (border and snowflake); Crystal tiny Twinkles (Taylored Expressions); Pearl Dabber, Andirondack; Sizzix Snowflakes embossing folder, Cuttlebug. Copic Markers to color.

If I don't get back here before January 1st - have a blessed and safe New Year!! Thanks for stopping by and visiting, you are a delight to me!!

Christian Paper Crafts Challenges

Hello Delightful friends and family!

Here are a couple of challenges from the Design Team at Christian Paper Crafts.

The first one is the Color Monday #80 challenge which is inspired by this picture

and the colors are red, hunter green, taupe/tan, and a neutral.

Here is my card for the color inspiration challenge (thanks to Miss Boo!!)

CPC-CM80

Color Monday Card ingredients:

Paper: Girls Paperie, Tinsel & Twig; Card Stock: Taylored Expressions (base and red), Bazzill, green; Ink: Archival Ink, Olive; Distress Ink: Aged Mahogany; Stamps: Taylored Expressions: Christmas Blessing set; Embellishments: ColorStories, adhesive pearls; Tools: Cuttlebug, Spellbinders Nestabilities Label 1, Scallop Eyelet border die, Taylored Expressions;

Here is challenge #2 and it's our fabulous Sketch Tuesday Challenge #80 (Gloria, you rock on the sketches!!) I took some liberties on this sketch with Gloria's blessing (tee-hee!)

CPC-ST#80

Sketch Tuesday challenge card ingredients:

Paper: 3 Bugs in a Rug "Snow Much Fun" Card stock: Green, Bazzill; Red, Taylored Expressions Key Ingredient kit; Stamp: Taylored Expressions, Wings of Joy; Embellishments: Stampendous Diamond Dot Stickers; Stickles, Icicle; Copics: C1, E00, E19, E33, E37, B12, G07, G85, R59, RV17, Y08, YG67, YG95; SMOOCH: Sassy Pink, Azure, Green

Well, thanks for looking and you know what? It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Hey stay tuned more to come this week or even better yet, head over to Christian Paper Crafts and see all the fabulous card and scrapbook challenges! That's right the new monthly scrapbook challenges have been posted!!!