Love You to Pieces Card . . . and more

My dear hubby and I have been fighting viruses since last week. He's had a respiratory virus, I've had a stomach virus. We've made quite a pair! To add to the fun, I also had a rather unfriendly computer virus that seemed to eat up my time to resolve. I think all is fixed now.

I'm still making cards, so I'm posting three together today that were made with a new paper pack from Close To My Heart, "Balloon Ride." All three cards that I'm sharing today have a theme of love, which is so important. As I was growing up, my parents and teachers emphasized the scripture: "Love thy neighbor as thyself." If we loved everyone that way, that much, this world would be a much kinder place! I hope you enjoy the message of each card!

I used a square of each of the six paper patterns in the pack. I stamped the heart square on three of the simpler patterns. The stitches, heart squares and sentiment are from the set called "Stitch Wonder."  I stamped the cross stitch hearts separately and cut them out to layer on top. The sentiment was stamped and cut out and embossed with a Spellbinders die.

 

The challenge at Just Inspirational Challenges encouraged us to use ribbon and hearts. I used a retired crinkly-edged ribbon from CTMH.

 

I'm sharing this first card with the following challenges:
Card Mania #41 - Use a Sentiment
Crafty Sentiments Designs - Love
Just Inspirational Challenge - ribbon and hearts
Kaboodle Doodles #212 - use ribbon
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
Tuesday Throwdown #184 - Anything Goes
Word Art Wednesday #121 - anything goes with uplifting message

Here are two more cards made with the "Balloon Ride" paper pack. The first one has a balloon cut out of the patterned paper. I love the way you can curve acrylic stamps to fit a curved space like I did on the balloon.

Thank you for visiting! May God fill your heart with love and your day with opportunities to share His love!

Cased Easter Card

The Shining the Light challenge this week at Our Daily Bread Designs is "Secret Admirer" - to CASE someone else's card. I had seen a great design I wanted to use from a card on the gallery made by Sandee Shanabrough using He Is Risen stamp set. I loved the idea of using John 3:16 on an Easter card. It was one of the verses I learned as a child that helped me personally find Christ as my Savior.


"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have Eternal Life!"

The paper is from Basic Grey "Sugar Rush," using both sides of one paper,combined with Spring Iris and White Daisy cardstock from CTMH. The Spring Iris organdy ribbon has a thin satin loopy ribbon on top. The cross near the bow is from Jolee's boutique. The tiny flowers are Prima an the larger pink one is from Recollections. I used a Martha Stewart punch to make the Spring Iris feathery branches like the ones on Sandee's card. I added silver "pearls" to go with the silver cross and white pearls on the yellow flowers to go with the ones on the pink flower.

Thank you for visiting. May God bless you with many great ideas for cards for all the people your cards encourage!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
Crafting for All Seasons #71 - Sentiment as the focus
Divas By Design - rubber stamps only
Fab n Funky #204 - Spots or Stripes
Our Daily Bread Shining the Light #191 - case someone's card

Paper Shelter Challenge #146 - punches and dies (3" circle punch and Cricut Art Philosophy for scallop)
Word Art Wednesday #120 - anything goes uplifting

Big Hugs to You Card

It was nearly 1990 when I heard on television that people need 12 hugs a day to be healthy. I can see that hugs would improve emotional and mental health. This news item implicated that physical health was also improved by many hugs. Naturally, all parts of our well-being are interconnected. They showed a group of people who went to nursing homes or those who lived alone and shared big hugs as a blessing. So when I saw this fun image from Doodle Pantry, I thought I'd pass on the hugging idea. When I watch four of my grandkids this week, I'll definitely get ahead on hugs and make sure they do, too!

My designer papers are all long-retired from CTMH. I mentioned in a previous challenge that I'd looked in a long-ignored drawer and found about two dozen red and pink striped bases. I used the back of one of them and embossed it with a basket weave embossing folder. I used one of the pre-colored images from this Doodle Pantry set called "Big Hug Friends." Both sentiments are also from this set. I underscored the word "hugs" using three red enamel dots from My Mind's Eye "My Girl." Here's the important message inside:

Here are the rest of the lovely images from Big Hug Friends from Doodle Pantry.

Thank you for visiting! May you share many hugs with those around you!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
2 Sisters Challenge #173 - Embossing
Digi Haven - Valentine's Day Love/Cherish/Adore
Kitty Bee Designs Aloha Friday #17 - Use Red/Pink
Open-Minded Challenge #4 - Monochrome
Order of the Opus Gluei #176 - Let Me call you sweetheart, red, pink, and white
Scribble and Scrap #12 - anything goes
Sunflowerfield Designs Challenge - Valentine's Day/Hearts
The Squirrel and the Fox #63 - Love

Love Each Other Card with Non-Traditional Colors

How nice it is to have a holiday when we celebrate love. In fact, my hubby and I spread out the celebration over three days, not just February 14th. My friends scrapbooked with me yesterday and the hostess made it Valentine themed even though it was February 15th. If we lived in a perfect world, we would celebrate love 365 days a year!  I love the fact that there are so many verses about love in the scriptures. When I did a search for the word love in the Bible, I came up with 484 results. The important ideas revolve around the truths that we love because we've been loved. Even as a very young child I learned the song that "Jesus Loves Me" and the verse "God is love." We are challenged to love others like Christ loved us with sacrificial love.

A few weeks ago, I went through my stamps from Our Daily Bread Designs and drew a red heart near each verse that had the word love or heart.  I chose one today that I hope would be appropriate for many types of cards, whether valentine, anniversary, wedding., or simply to show encouragement with love. The challenge at Our Daily Bread Designs began the idea of this card - to make a valentine or card about love with non-traditional colors. I used one of their sentiments as the focus.

I started mine with the tan background that is covered with loving phrases (Martha Stewart). I added a black sparkly doily cut in half for each side. A pale juniper background can hardly be seen in my photo (another cold, cloudy day) from MME "Lost and Found-Market Street." I added a juniper circle behind my verse for contrast. I added CTMH gold glitter paper strip and a gold edged ribbon. Two black glitter paper hearts and a black sparkle flourish were added for embellishment, both from CTMH. I was thinking about the upcoming wedding of my friend's daughter, Elizabeth, when I made this and hoped it would be elegant.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
Crafting When We Can #63 - lots of bling
Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light #190 - Love-themed or Valentine, non-traditional colors
Paper Minutes #308 - Love is in the Air
Pile It On #7 - Sentiment as the Focus
Word Art Wednesday #119 - anything goes with uplifting verse

Quick Lollydoodle Valentines

When I was a teacher we took personality tests in a workshop one time that revealed amazingly accurate results. Then they divided us into four groups. I was the only female in a small group of four men. Dozens of other women were in two main groups in the front of the room. One of my characteristics given in the results was "files in piles." How true it was. I had stacks or piles of papers of many different types. I usually knew where something was when it was in one of many piles. However, if I tried to be neat and put things away in cupboards or drawers, I'd completely forget about them or wouldn't be able to find them. The other day I started cleaning out a drawer and and discovered a large set of really old Close To My Heart card bases from 2005 that I'd filed away and never used.





Here are two quick valentines I made for grandkids using the new Close To My Heart paper, "Lollydoodle," with its whimsical flowers, combined with those old striped card bases. The two papers seemed made for each other.

 Shelly's Images has a challenge to use two hearts with red and/or pink. The two hearts above were cut with the Cricut. I added contrast with the white heart  by sponging Twilight ink on the edges so it would match the large flower. I added a red Recollections heart sparkle on top. The black heart border below was cut using a Martha Stewart punch. I added some tiny CTMH pink sparkles on the valentine greeting.

I'm sharing these cards with the following challenges:

Crafter's Cafe #50 - must have Hearts
Oldie But a Goodie - Valentine
Papertake Weekly - with a Heart
Scrapbooker PhD #7- Hearts, red or pink
Shelly's Images - Use two hearts with red and/or pink (first card)

Ariana Vintage Love Card

I feel so fortunate to have had amazing friends all throughout my life. Each one has blessed my life in many ways. I was reading 1 Thessalonians 3 last night and found this thought in verse 12:

and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you;

This has become my prayer, that my love for others would increase, not just for my friends and family, but for all people, even the unlovable.  Valentines Day is a great way to let others know how much we love them. In fact, we should be ready to share messages of love any day of the year. Can you imagine what an amazing place this world would be if everyone loved the way Christ loves us?

Here's one of my cards made with Ariana paper that has a vintage feel.  My favorite part of this card is the message of this Skylark stamp set.

I used black pearls, instead of the usual white ones,  and a black sparkle flourish for contrast. The baker's twine bow on top of the lace bow has a metallic gold thread which adds a little more sparkle but doesn't show up in this photo.

Thank you for visiting. May God bless you with friends who share their love with you and may you find more ways to show love for others!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Artistic Inspirations - anything goes/Valentines Day
Bearly Mine monthly challenge #119 - Vintage Romance
Card Mania #40 - Love is all around
Eclectic Ellapu - From the heart - have a heart on it
Going Grey with Scrap Creations - Valentines Day
Papertake Weekly - with a heart
Scrapping Everyday Miracles - Love is in the air
Shopping Our Stash #130 - use something shiny (pearls, sparkle flourish, gold thread in twine)
Stamp and Create February Challenge - Love is in the Air
That Craft Place - Valentine Love



Swinging Bunny Valentine

How lucky I am that God has blessed me with eight amazing grandchildren! Five of them are boys, so pink hearts and valentines are out for them!  My quietest grandson is seven years old and very artistic. When he was in kindergarten, he had a strong drive to draw pictures much of the day. As soon as he'd get home from one of our excursions, he went straight to the paper and markers and began to draw things he saw. I gave him a marker, crayon, and paint set that he loved. His first comment was that it had so many "greens." Green has been his favorite color, so I made this masculine valentine card for him using an older Nutcrafter's digi image, colored with Copic markers, and a new paper pack from Close To My Heart, "Lollydoodle."

 I used some older sentiment stamps from CTMH. The inside has two stamps combined to make the message I wanted for him.

Thank you for visiting. May God bless you as you create and spread a little love with your own cards!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
Cards Galore Encore #2 - add gem, glitter or candi
Catered Crop - heart of the matter
Crafty Bloggers Network - all about boys (my masculine valentine)
Desert Islands Crafters #71 - use 3: (#4-twine, #7-3 patterned papers gray+ leaves, multi-colored dots, aqua with tiny white dots; #8- 3 different embellishments: twine, button, enamel dots)
Just for Fun - Love is in the air
Kreativeinkauf Challenge #11- hearts (mine says "Cutie Pie")
Nutcrafters #61 - A little bit of love
That Craft Place - love/valentine

Hugs and Kisses Card

Here in Missouri on Tuesday we had about 10 - 12 inches of snow with 3 foot drifts my hubby had to clear from our long driveway. I'm thankful that we have a tractor in our barn.  He also cleared our neighbor's drive and our country road. The next day he woke up extra early to start the process again since it had snowed most of the night, with blowing and drifting. To his surprise, the neighbor had come over early with his tractor and cleared our drive so my hubby could make it to work. I'm thankful for good neighbors and glad we can give and share the blessings. Our homes aren't close together in the country, but our hearts are. Love takes many forms.

Today it was sunny enough to take photos of cards, with temperatures hovering around 0 F or below. I made quite a few during the storm. Here's one I wanted to share. It uses this week's Mojo Monday sketch. I combined it with the color challenge from Color Throwdown #278. I thought these papers from a Martha Stewart valentines paper pack fit the color challenge perfectly.

 I used a former stamp of the month from CTMH for the sentiment. The kraft cs is embossed with Tiny Hearts from The Paper Studio. Here's the color palette from this week's Color Throwdown and the Mojo Monday sketch:

The hearts are cut out of one of the shiny metallic foil decorated papers in the set. Here's a close-up.

 

Thank you for visiting. I hope you will find wonderful ways to share love with your family, friends, and neighbors. May God bless you with many expressions of love from others!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Aud Sentiments #99 - Loving Inspiration

Color Throwdown #278 - colors

Craft Your Passion #199 - Love is in the Air

Kaboodle Doodles #209 - Valentine theme

Little Red Wagon #223 - Love

Mojo Monday #331 - sketch

Nutcrafters #61 - A little bit of love

Shopping Our Stash #137 - Love Me Tender/Valentines (made embellishments-hearts-from older dp)

The Paper Shelter #144 - used 3 dp (red and pink, multicolor floral, hearts cut from foil heart dp)

Much Happiness Card with Chinese Lanterns

(We're having heavy snow today. Being snowed in is a great time for papercrafting. But it also gives me a headache making it hard to think what to write. It's amazing that brain fog can allow creativity, but not words. I believe it has to do with my headache being on the left side, language side of the brain.)

Here is an Asian card using a sketch from Mark's Finest Paper SpeedyTV Oriental Sketch Challenge, paper lanterns from Graphic 45 "Bird Song" paper, and a long-retired CTMH stamp called "Kanji Phrases." The glitter gems are also from CTMH. I loved using the Marvelous Squares and Splendid Circles Spellbinders dies. The background designer paper is from an old DCWV paper pad, "Far East."

Thank you for visiting! May you be blessed as you craft and share your blessings with others!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
Cards Galore Encore #2 - add gems/bling
Crafting from the Heart #6 - Anything goes/Use Red
Crafty Hazelnuts Patterned Paper challenge - anything goes with patterned paper
Crafts 4 Eternity #161 - Oriental Theme
Cuttlebug Mania - A Touch of Red
MFP SpeedyTV Oriental Sketch Challenge #22 - sketch
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
Penny Black and More February Challenge - Make It Sparkle
Polkadoodles wk. 5 - Anything Goes/Oriental

Doodle Pantry February New Release

Today Laurie Wilson introduced a bunch of new (or re-released from CDS) digi image sets. Here are two cards made from two of the sets.

His Name Is...

I loved the rainbow look of this digi and was immediately inspired to pop dot a heart over one set of names. I decided to keep it Clean and Simple so the printed image of names would be the focus.

Here's the way I was able to cut the heart where I wanted it.  I printed two of the images sized 4.5" wide by 3.5" high on 4: x 6" cards with landscape orientation. I wanted to cut out the heart highlighting the words "His Name Is Wonderful" and "Jesus." I used the Cricut, setting the cutting blade to the left 1" and down 1.5," cutting the heart out of scrap paper at 3." I removed the heart, but kept the scrap paper on the mat. I slid my printed paper under it to make sure I lined up the words in the hole. I removed the scrap paper and cut out the above heart, keeping the settings the same as the original scrap paper heart. All I had to do then was to add pop dots and line up the words. (This digi was previously from Clearly Digi Stamps.) Next time I think I'll print the second copy in light pink for cutting out the heart.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Delicious Doodles #73 - die cuts and punches
Everybody Art #263 - Heart
Fairy Tale #86 - more than two colors
Squigglefly Challenge #4 - have a Heart
Word Art Wednesday #117 - anything goes with uplifting verse
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Wagon Hellos 1

 The second card uses a new digi set called Wagon Hellos 1. I printed the wagon and books on CTMH Champagne cardstock. The background burlap paper, book, and graph paper are all from the CTMH Scholastic paper pack. I used the colored image but added more blue sky and green grass to go to the edges of the Spellbinders Nestabilities Scalloped Circle.

Be sure to check out all the great sets of images at Doodle Pantry. You can find them here. Check out the cards made by other designers for Doodle Pantry listed on the right, too!

D.P. Kissy Lips Valentine

Happy February! This is the month for so many celebrations, but in this house Valentine's Day gets the biggest celebration. We always go out for dinner in a nice restaurant on that day. My husband has been asking me for over a week what I wanted for Valentine's Day. He keeps telling me that all he wants is a card. In this family, cards are one of the important ways that we give each other special messages. I've been madly in love with this man for many years and am so glad that the feeling is mutual.

I will be posting a number of cards in the next two weeks. This card will only be for my hubby.  If you have a hubby or significant other that likes this kind of card, I'll try to explain how I did it. I used the computer and Photoshop to combine images and sentiments from Doodle Pantry's Kissy Lips image set that was introduced in January.

I wanted the outside of this card to be CAS (clean and simple). I cut out an array of lips that I'd designed for the envelope flap. Three extra lips cut out individually were pop dotted over three of the lips in the array. The sentiment was printed in the corner before I embossed the white panel with the Paper Studio "Tiny Hearts" embossing folder. The finished white panel was matted with black glitter paper, my only embellishment.

The inside has one kissy lip rotated 20% counterclockwise using Photoshop. I copied and pasted 4 of the sentiments onto a 4" x 6" page. I added two half-inch strips of the black glitter paper on the inside.

I ran my red envelope through the printer, printing the S.W.A.K. on the back. I had reduced the size of the kissy lips to 1" width and copied and pasted repeatedly into the pattern below onto a 4" x 6" page. In photoshop I always flatten then save the entire document as a jpg. After printing it on regular printer paper, I traced the envelope flap around the image and cut out. I actually designed the envelope flap first then printed it two more times to make the portion I cut out for the front of the card.

If you like these images or sentiments, you can find this set here at Doodle Pantry.

I'm sharing this card and envelope with the following challenges:

A Creative Romance - show us some love
Aud Sentiments Challenge #99 - sharing the love
C.R.A.F.T. #244 - Love/Valentines
Fun with Shapes -#153 - Valentine
Jellypark Friends - lots of love
MilkCoffee - Valentines/Love
PaperCrafting Journey - emboss that
SweetPea Stampers - Valentines/Love
Totally Papercrafts #204- Clean and Simple