Word Art Wednesday Guest Designing, Again!

Well it's the second time in the month of September that Word Art Wednesday has a new challenge, and once again, I'm guest designing for them. 

Today's card is made using the featured scripture from 2 Chronicles 15:7 that says, "Be ye strong therefore and let not your hand be weak; for your work shall be rewarded." I just love that! What an encouraging verse, especially for someone in ministry.

I took that scripture and printed it out. Because it looks more gray than dark black, I stamped a vintage pot of flowers from The Stamp Pad Company in Big Lake, Minnestoa using Stampin' Up!'s Basic Gray Ink. I really like how it turned out because it's more subdued and that allows the colors of the markers to stand out more.

I mounted it on purple card stock from Michaels and then used some patterned paper to give it a little texture in the background. It's all mounted on the coordinating Gray card stock from Stampin' Up. 

My Copic colors are: Y35, YR02, YR18, G82, YG63, V04 and RV55.

It's a simple card, but I really love the message and I feel that stands out more because of that.

It's always so much fun to play along over at Word Art Wednesday. You can use the scripture that they provide, but you don't have to. All of their challenges are "anything goes" and it would be great if you could join us! Plus, they're giving away a $25.00 gift certificate to Gina K stamps, who is the sponsor this round.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today, and a very big thank you to Karen and everyone over at Word Art Wednesday not only for having me as a guest designer, but for all the great challenges you put on each month!

3 Halloween Cross Stitch Freebies

Hello crafty friends! Today I completed three adorable, and not too scary, cross stitch pieces that I wanted to share with you.

The first two are the smaller cats on the right. The patterns are from Pinker & Punkin. Her designs are so adorable, and what I really like about these two is that they fit perfectly in a 3" x 3" frame. I picked mine up from Michaels for 2.99 each.

The link to the top cat is HERE.

The second cat, also a freebie from Melisa at Pinker & Punkin is available HERE. This cat had the border around the edges, and I just copied it onto the above cat, which didn't have a border.

On all three of these designs I used DMC floss that was a little different than the colors they suggested. I did this because I wanted to match another piece I was working on.

The third piece, the jack-o-lantern in a coffee mug is from an Italian designer who also has so many cute free patterns on her blog. The link to this particular pattern is HERE. 

A note about the larger image: I put it in a 5" x 7" frame that I found at Ross. I wasn't looking for a frame, but I passed them by and this one really jumped out at me. I thought it was perfect for Halloween and to my delight it was on clearance for less than $5.00. I like how different it looks. To make the image fit, I went through my vintage button jar and pulled out several black buttons and arranged them around the image. I like the look because I have a little "Happy Halloween" saying that is about 2" tall and I can put it in front of this without blocking the view of the stitched image.

I hope you enjoyed seeing these freebies and that you'll like stitching them as well. Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Feeling Fallish at Retro Rubber

As my 25-year-old daughter frequently says, 'I'm gonna be real.' This card was a bear to make! No fault to Retro Rubber though. I just had to try out a new technique, and it didn't go quite as I had planned. I guess after stamping for so many years, I'm not used to things being difficult. But here's what happened with this card.

I loved the colors over at Retro Rubber Challenge #239 (#rrcb239). The theme is Feeling Fallish, and even though it's still in the low 90's here in Florida, I am feeling fallish for sure. I'm crafting fall things and drinking pumpkin coffee and planning what I'm going to wear to Wisconsin next month. I will be so excited to drink a pumpkin coffee in a sweater while looking at autumn leaves. 

Here's my lineup of ink colors to match the Retro Rubber ones:

I recently saw a technique on Pinterest that I thought would be perfect for this theme and set. You tape off certain areas of card stock and brush them with ink. The card on the left below is my first attempt. I didn't like it because the lines between the inking were crooked. I abandoned that then stamped my image with Versa Mark and used clear embossing powder, then brushed over the images (on the right). It was almost perfect, but I threw in some Rich Razzleberry Ink and it was too dark. But the third time is a charm!

FAIL!

Since I have the dies to this set, I'll cut these out and use them on other cards. And finally, my complete supply list is:

• Stampin' Up! Lighthearted Leaves (2015)
• SU! Very Vanilla Card Stock
• SU! Inks (pictured above)
• Simon Says Stamp Cream Embossing Powder
• Versa Mark Ink
• Michaels Card Stock in Purple and Orange
• Sizzix Border Dies (559200)

Many thanks to everyone over at Retro Rubber for another fun challenge. I really feel like I've been stretched and have learned a lot with this one. I already know whom I'll be sending this card to on Thanksgiving, and I'm looking forward to making two other similar cards with the "mistakes."

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a crafty day! 

Gorgeous Autumn Posies

Here's a card that I made using one of my most favorite stamp sets. It's called Gorgeous Posies from Stampin' Up! I love this set because it uses the two-step stamping technique. The two-step goes way back a long time but it's still a really fun way to easily get a great look. I also love how muted this stamp is. I think it's called Distinktive by Stampin' Up!

What inspired this whole card is the patterned paper. It's quite old. It came from a partial scrapbook pad that someone gave me years ago, and it was old then! If I had to guess I think it dates back to the 1990's. But I still love the autumn colors. The paper is also thin (think cheap) but that makes for really nice envelopes, which is what I included with this card.

Here's my complete supply list:

• SU! Gorgeous Posies Stamp Set
• Misc. Vintage Patterned Paper
• SU! Scalloped Edge Die
• SU! Wild Wheat Card Stock & Ink
• Memento Rhubarb Stalk Ink
• Memento Pistachio Ink
• Memento Olive Grove Ink
• SU! Early Espresso Ink
• Speckletone True White Card Stock

And that's it for this one. I really like it's soft, late summer colors. And it seems appropriate for the sympathy sentiment that's included in the set.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a wonderful late summer day!

Word Art Wednesday Guest Designing!

I'm so excited to once again be a guest designer over at Word Art Wednesday for the month of September! This first week has a beautiful scripture from 1 Samuel 12:24. It's a great reminder that we need to remember all the wonderful things God has done for us. Sometimes it's so easy for me to just dwell on the things that I'm still struggling with and to forget the things that He has brought me through.

If you want to get this scripture to use in a design, it's available over at Word Art Wednesday, so feel free to go over there and download it. There are so many fun things to do with these digital verses. The background has already been removed, so it looks great over a photo that you've taken, incorporated into a digital design like I've done here, or just print it out and use it on a card!

My design, which was created to mimic stained glass in the background, is also available for free for your personal use if you like. All you have to do is grab it from the page here, size it accordingly (mine is a 5 x 7 greeting card) and print it out.

I like to use Fed Ex for my printing. For less than $1.00 they print an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper and you can get two of these printed on that size. But printing from home works too if your printer is up for it. Mine always seems to be out of ink! 

After printing out my image, I trimmed it and mounted it on black card stock. The only extra embellishments I used were three turquoise rhinestones to give it a bit of bling.

Word Art Wednesday would love to have you participate with them on their challenges. You don't have to use the scripture, the participation is always "anything goes!" And there are always wonderful prizes too! The sponsor for this challenge is Lawn Fawn. Every entry gets an equal chance to win a $25.00 gift certificate!

Thanks so much for visiting my page here, and I hope to see your entry over at Word Art Wednesday!

Masculine Card for 2 Challenges

One thing I'm not too good at is creating cards for more than one challenge. I've done it a few times, but I'm what perhaps one could call a "monogamous card maker." However, today I'm pushing myself a little and after looking at all the new challenges out there, decided I would enter this card in two challenges. 

First, Word Power Challenge is such a fun one because we all have so many large sentiments that fit this category. I have to say thought, that both Darlene and Diane have created cards with drinks on them. At first I thought that that may be the theme, but I didn't see any evidence of that, so maybe it's just a coincidence. But still, I may try to go back and follow that theme later this month. 

The second challenge I went with is from
Freshly Made Sketches. I followed the design, however I did offset a few things to make it look more balanced for my card.

Here's my supply list:

• Speckletone True White Card Stock & Envelope
• Stampin' Up! Rooted in Nature Stamp Set
• SU! Soft Suede Ink
• SU! Old Olive Ink & Card Stock
• SU! Blueberry Bushel Ink
• SU! Night of Navy Card Stock
• Carta Bella Pattern Paper
• Memento Bamboo Leaves Ink

I did learn two fun things while making this card. First, I discovered that some of the dies that go with the Rooted in Nature set are embossing dies, so that's kind of fun. I planned on cutting out an outline die and found that it embossed. I'll have to play around with those a bit more. Sometimes I feel like I have too many stamps and supplies (is that possible!) but I'm not as familiar with them as I could be.

Second, I always lay out my design then try to stamp the background images on after I've moved all the front stuff out of the way. This time I lightly traced around the front images so my trees were stamped more precisely. After stamping I erased the pencil lines. I've never taken the time to do that and I think it really helped with this card.

Many thanks to everyone over at both Freshly Made Sketches and Word Power Challenge Blog for helping me make another fun card! 

Happy Autumn Banner

When I read that someone in The Angel Card Project loved to decorate for fall, I had the idea to make a banner for her instead of just a card.

I've made banners like this before, and while I like it, looking at it in the pictures and after it was finished, I wished I had made the stamped letters in a little darker color. I still think it looks pretty good and I'm pretty sure the recipient will like it. Often I'm too hard on myself, but it's also good to think about how I can make things better in the future too. :)

The supplies are simple. I used Stampin' Up!'s Large Letters Stamps and Dies in traditional SU! fall colors. Most are still in the lineup, but one that I used that isn't is called Delightful Dijon. It's the perfect fall ink color in my opinion.

The leaves are also from Stampin' Up! The set is called Vintage Leaves and it too is one of my all-time favorite sets. The wood grain paper came from an old Christmas Paper Pack Set. The banner is strung together with brown twine from Michaels and finished off with some raffia that I tied into bows.

Wishing you a very Happy Autumn too, and thank you so much for stopping by my blog today!

A little bit of a closer look. I think it looks a bit better here! 

Ribbon Tied Keepsake Cards

Last week was my 62nd birthday and I got a fair amount of cards. Saving cards from birthdays is something I've always done. I have a decorative box and for years I've just piled them in there. This year, I tried something different. 

I sorted the cards and threw most of the envelopes away, but I did save a few. The pretty ones made it, and this one on the right, which has my birthday and city and state on it makes a nice memento. Then I chose one for the front of the stack and chose a matching bow. Before tying it, I used a small die to cut out a scalloped tag. I used some small stamps to stamp the year, but you can certainly hand-write that in as well. I used some thin gold thread to make a tie, then tied it all together.

Components of the date tag. 

The last picture below shows the pile of cards. Nice enough, but grouping them together really does make them more special.

As I get older, I realize that some of the cards that I receive may be one of the last ones from some people. I've already experienced that with my step-father who passed away five years ago. He was like a real father to me, and each of the times that he signed a card is twice as precious now. So I'm starting to take treasuring these cards more seriously now. And I think this is a little extra special way to do that!

Christmas (or Not) BINGO Challenge #9

Here we are just 115 days away from Christmas! This year has flown by, and I'm glad to have made another creation to help celebrate when the 25th of December does arrive.

This piece was created especially for the September/October Christmas BINGO Challenge. I used the column "N" and the elements I used were "No Stamping," "Red" and "Layering."

I started out with the idea that I would use "Gemstones" as my third element, and even bought some gem-like red beads to go around the edges of this piece. I bought some special beading needles too. They're super-skinny needles that a tiny bead can pass through. The funny thing is, the eye of the needle is so small that I couldn't thread it! I'm going to have to talk to them at the cross stitch store about which thread to use for that. So I switched it up a bow for a layered look.

It worked out well though because when I went to my ribbon box I found the perfect wired pom-pom ribbon to go with it. Like the thread, which is Turkish Red by Weeks Dye Works, it to is variegated with bright red and darker red. A perfect match!

You can see the floss variegation a bit better in this close-up picture on the left. It's especially evident on the right hand side of the M and on the top of the S. This was my first time using Weeks Dye Works floss, and while I enjoy the mottled look, I had to run to two different faraway stores to finish the piece. Using DMC would have been much easier and in my opinion, it would have looked just as good.

My pattern was a freebie that I found at a lovely site called Kincavel Krosses. The post is from 2011, but I really think this piece is so timeless. I did, however, find a couple of very minor errors in it. I've included my humble changes in a photo below. I didn't catch the G until afterwards. Ironically, the G was the first letter I stitched, but after looking back I would have made an extra row so that there would only be one space on the top of it.

Other than that, it's a great pattern that can be stitched in any color. I chose red not only because of this challenge, but because I can use it for both Christmas displaying and Valentine's Day as well.

Framing the piece was also something that was a newbie for me. I ordered a custom size frame from a place called Art To Frames. It was my first time ordering there and I was super happy with the selection, ease of ordering and how quickly it was shipped. (And they didn't compensate me in any was for this endorsement! ) By not including glass, the price was what I felt was very inexpensive. Here's what I ordered and my price:

We would love to have you join us over at Christmas (or Not) BINGO Challenges this time! We are an all-crafts challenge and you can create something simple or something more complex. As long as you choose one column (up and down only) and use at least two of the elements (the third one can be a free space) you can participate. It's so much fun doing these challenges, and if you're like me, you'll never know what you'll wind up with!

Lastly, as promised, here are the two changes that I would make if I were to do this pattern again. One I caught, the other I didn't. Even without making these changes, this is a great piece that will look great for decades to come!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I hope to see you over at Christmas (or Not) BINGO Challenges!