Sunny Happy Birthday for Mojo Monday 412

Today would have been my little sister Cathy's birthday! She was born on a hot, sunny day and loved spending her youthful days outside playing or riding her bike. She was such a tomboy! Unfortunately, she spent most of her adult life sick or in the hospital with a wide variety of maladies, including a muscular dystrophy that often left her in a wheelchair. She went to be with the Lord when she was 34 after taking a new medication that didn't go with her other meds.


So I remember and honor her this day by making a birthday card with a cloud and a sun. Despite all the clouds in her life, I know she's living in sunshine now without pain or illness. That in itself is a blessing from God for which I'm thankful. So that probably explains why I was inspired by three challenges: Crafts 4 Eternity #241 (Weather),  Seize the Birthday (the Weather) and Kitty Bee's Aloha Friday#55 (In the Sky). Take a look and you'll see the result:

Here's the fun sketch I used from Mojo Monday:

I used the new Zoe (blue houndstooth) and Blossom (blue mats for cloud and strip) papers along with older and much older ones: Taste of Summer (yellow die cut sun), Elemental (background chipboard circles) and Dream Pop (rainbow strip of colorful triangles).  The yellow glitter paper was from Michaels and the blue sequins, like all the papers, are from CTMH.

The stamp set is CTMH Lovely Birthday. The sentiment was stamped, then I used the "old school" method and cut with scissors into a cloud shape. The circle and sun (called a flower in Cricut Design Space image search) were cut with the Cricut Close To My Heart Artbooking.


I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
Crafts 4 Eternity #241 - Weather
Cut It Up #78 - "old school" - old technique (cloud cut by hand with scissors) old papers and Cricut die cut of sun
Kitty Bee's Aloha Friday#55 - In the Sky
Mojo Monday #412 sketch 
Seize the Birthday - the Weather

Thank you for visiting. May God bless you with His sunshine even when life has it's clouds and storms.

 

Nifty Fifties Route 66 Layout

This summer as we went through the Painted Desert in the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. We stopped at an old, rusty Studebaker commemorating the old route of the once famous Route 66. When I was young I had traveled that road from Oklahoma to California after college graduation. I had taken the book, Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck. I'd had no idea it would follow Route 66 as the characters tried to find a better life during the dust bowl years of the Great Depression. Somehow reading the book while riding through the same places made both more meaningful and unforgettable.

I had these photos sitting out to scrapbook when I saw the challenge at Die Cuttin' Divas to make a creation based on a decade. Since I have the Nifty Fifties Cricut Cartridge I knew there would be some perfect embellishments for my layout.  I must admit the rusty car is from the 1930's,but the idea of Route 66 is definitely 1950's!

If you look closely above you can see the tire tracks I stamped. 

Here's a close-up of the words and route 66 embellishment I made using the Cricut cartridge. I also cut the red, blue, and yellow star-like emblems that match the patterned paper using other cartridges, CTMH Art Philosophy and Joys of the Season using only one of the layers each. If you have these three cartridges and would like to use my cut files, here's the link for Cricut Design Space:

https://us.cricut.com/design/#/canvas/30731316

The layered and pieced gas pump emblem was also made using the Nifty Fifties cartridge. The Restaurant sign and tire emblem are both stickers I've saved for the right layout. They were from the long-retired CTMH set called "Route 66."  Also in that set was the red plaid and blue license plate paper I used and the number and letter stickers ("on").  The road map paper on the bottom is current CTMH paper from the Wanderful set about to retire on Monday.

I stamped the two rows of tire tracks from the retired CTMH set, Maximum Power, on the bottom using Bamboo ink.

I actually have eight photos so two of them on the right page will have flip flaps added for two more photos each after I put them in the page protectors. I didn't show that because they usually have too much glare in photos.

Thank you for visiting!

I'm sharing this layout with the following challenges:
Crafting from the Heart #74 - anything goes
Die-Cuttin' Divas #230 - Decades Inspiration
Not Just Cards #23 - Anything goes
Sweet Stamps #236 - anything but a card
The Crazy Challenge #204 - paper piecing

Atlantic Hearts Birthday Card

I was still playing with Color My Heart Challenge colors when I saw this current Atlantic Hearts sketch. Together they gave me the quick idea for this fun card.

I used the retiring CTMH Paper Fundamentals patterns for the Hollyhock and Goldrush strips. I cut the flowers and sentiment using the new CTMH Cricut Artistry. I used the back shiny side of the same paper I used for the strips. Love that youthful, fun font! The Hollyhock brads are long retired but I still have a LOT!  My favorite part is embossing the vines with the CTMH embossing folder because it's large enough for a 5" x 7" paper.



I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
Atlantic Hearts Sketch #122
Color My Heart Color Dare #156 - Hollyhock, Goldrush, Colonial White, Kraft
Incy Wincy Designs - Birthday Wishes
Inspiration Destination Challenge #48 - anything goes
Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes

Thank you for visiting! May God bless you as you create and help you bless others!

Thinking of You with Fall Leaves

Where we live we're experiencing fall-like weather--in August! It has been about 52 degrees at night and only about 80 in the daytime. I'm sure that has influenced my stamp and color choices for this card.  I was inspired by this week's Color My Heart challenge #156 to use the colors to stamp leaves. Now that I finished this card, I keep thinking of so many alternatives with the same design. The colors I used were Hollyhock, Goldrush, Colonial White, and Kraft. Come back and check my next post tomorrow for another fun example of this great color combo.

Would you believe I still had some CTMH Goldrush organdy ribbon from 11 years ago?!! That year we could buy ribbon in 25 yard spools. I really need to use up my supplies a lot faster! I also used one of the leftover goldrush-looking gem from a retired CTMH Halloween Assortment, although it didn't catch the light well to show the color in the photo.  So here's the first card using this fall-like color theme:

 The Fallen Leaves stamp set I used will be available September 1st, next Tuesday, when the new idea book goes live for customers.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Color My Heart Color Dare #156 - Hollyhock, Goldrush, Colonial White, Kraft
Crafty Cardmakers #146 - No Patterned Paper
Get Creative Challenge #22 - No printed paper

Quick Quotes August Challenge - repeat shape 3x -  Hollyhock oak leaf repeated 3x

Really Reasonable Ribbon #124 - Autumn colors with ribbon or trim
Word Art Wednesday #197 - anything uplifting

Thank you for visiting! May God bless your creative endeavors and help you bless others with what you make!

Zoe and Little Darlings Baby Cards

New babies are such sweet, precious gifts. The job of parenting them can seem overwhelming at times. Even though I was 26 when I had my first and had babysat 5 younger siblings and taught young children at church, in the nursery, and in school for many years, I remember feeling suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that my tiny, helpless daughter was entirely my responsibility. I soon learned that God would provide wisdom regarding what to do in emergencies and strength to get through each trying day. 

I rarely need baby cards but this week I needed two-and fast!  The CTMH Zoe paper matched well with the "postage stamp" images from Graphic45 Little Darlings. I used this sketch from Your Next Stamp Challenge #21 for the first one:

 The ribbon is an old one retired from CTMH, delicate for a baby. The blue sequins and "Welcome Baby" sentiment are also from CTMH.

 I used the sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday #65 for this gift enclosure card. I used a large (unknown) felt button where the flower is.

  The inside of both have this sentiment from Our Daily Bread Designs, All Occasion Sentiments.

I'm sharing this project with the sketch challenges shown above and the following challenges:

Craft your passion #276 - anything goes
Crafting from the Heart #74 - anything goes
Eureka Stamps #155 - use a button (2nd card, felt button, tied with ribbon)
Word Art Wednesday #197 - anything uplifting

Thank you for visiting! May God bless you as you create for others!

Get Well with Butterfly Swirls

Each week our new pastor emails us with updates about illnesses, hospitalizations, and surgeries. I truly need to make a lot more get well cards!  Here's one inspired by this lovely photo at Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light Challenge #251:

 

The peacock and colors inspired me to find a dark blue scrap of "peacock feather designer paper" from an old CTMH packet called Magnifique and a lighter swirled pattern paper I've had a long time. To continue that blue and peacock theme, I stamped the words and images using my new CTMH "Peacock" ink!    Both the image and th e verse from Jeremiah 30:17 are from an Our Daily Bread Designs stamp set, "Get Well." The Spellbinder's Nestabilities die is "Labels 25."

I love the first half of this verse. God loves us and wants the best for us. It's a precious promise to claim:

¹⁷ ‘For I will restore you to health
And I will heal you of your wounds,’ declares the Lord,  Jeremiah 30:17a  (NASB)

May this verse also encourage you at times you need healing. 

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Dragonfly Dreams August Challenge - wings
Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light Challenge #251 - inspiration photo  

Stamping Sensations - anything goes with a die and stamping

That Craft Place Challenge - BLUE (I used Peacock and Lilac Mis inks, Pacifica and Heavenly Blue papers, B21 BAby Blue Copic marker, and an unknown blue Bazzill.

Word Art Wednesday #197 - anything uplifting

Thank you for visiting. May God provide healing when you need it and bless your creative endeavors May you bless others with your creations!

CTMH Zoe Cards

My previous day's post showed two of the cards I made using the Frames stamp of the month with Zoe papers.

I used some new poppy shimmer trim and green glitter triangles. The butterflies were cut using the shiny side of Lagoon cardstock from the Paper Fundamentals assortment.


I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
CAS-ual Chic CCC02 - pretty patterns (the Zoe designer paper)
Chocolate Coffee and Cards #98 - Use a sentiment
Die Cuttin' Divas #229 - Celebrate It
Polka Doodles Wk 33 - Use something new (glitter triangles, shimmer tape and paper)
Seize the Birthday - Anything that flies


Here are my Mojo Monday cards recently posted that use Zoe:

Thank you for visiting!

May God bless your crafting and giving!



Mojo Monday 411 with CTMH Zoe

How fun it's been to get back into the swing of things, creating, after a wonderful summer watching four grandkids. But I'm having to rediscover where I put things the last time I was home. (We're in the middle of remodeling and I won't burden you with details about how disorganizing that can be!)  At least Mojo Monday sketches are great to find and use. I made four cards for an upcoming CTMH Zoe workshop. They are all birthday cards because I have so many birthdays coming up in the next two weeks. Here are the two that use this great Mojo Monday sketch 411:

I kept the star embellishment ideas because I was making this for my son and wanted it to be more masculine. This first one has shiny Sorbet "Paper Fundamentals" strips topped with striped Slate ribbon. The stars were cut using the new CTMH Artistry cartridge. I used shiny Canary "Paper Fundamentals" for the top outline of the stars because it was a little thicker than ordinary cardstock. The stamps are from this month's Stamp of the Month, "Frames."  I used the colors from this week's Color My Heart Challenge:

  

Canary
Glacier
Sorbet
Sweet Leaf
Slate
Whisper
White Daisy

I colored the leafy image with Pastel Green alcohol ink marker and stamped the circular image inside the frame with Glacier ink a second time and cut it out.I colored the edges around the stamped frame with Marigold alcohol ink then glued and recut it the shape on white for contrast to emphasize the frame. The sentiment banner was also matted on Sorbet for contrast.

I'm sharing this card with these additional challenges:

The Cheerful Stamp Pad Challenge - Birthday Card

Creative Knockouts #103 - Celebration Time

DL.ART THankful Thursday #162 - Birthday

This second card also uses those colors plus Coral glitter tape and gold glitter brads so it doesn't really qualify for the previous challenge.

I loved using the frames in this month's stamp of the month, "Frames."

 

The frame shapes also match shapes on the new Cricut Artistry cartridge.

Thank you for visiting!
May God bless your creating and sharing with others!

Supplies Used:


Whimsy Paper Fundamentals       Zoe Paper Packet & Whisper CS      August Stamp of the Month

    (shimmer trim temporarily sold out)
New Cricut Artistry Collection       Slate Striped Diagonal Ribbon              Coral Shimmer Trim

 

Slate Ink,                                 Glacier Ink,               ShinHan Touch Twin Pastel Green and Marigold Markers

(Also, old glitter brads,   glitter sparkles, Prismacolor pencils)                         

Back to School, Back to Crafting!

I should apologize for my long absence. My crafting slowed when my vision began to double months ago. I should have shared this detail, but I kept thinking it would go away, especially as I got new glasses and saw the ultimate specialists in our area. I'm still waiting to see clearly again. Coloring inside lines is not easy, but many other types of stamping are OK.

Instead of crafting, I spent the last months with four grandchildren while they were out of school. What a joy to watch the one who pitched for his baseball celebrate an undefeated season. I became the grandma of the local fitness center, watching basketball and swimming sessions nearly every day. I prayed a lot while helping them resolve conflicts. The highlight of the summer was taking them to the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park and other places in the Southwest.

The only downside of all this activity was having no energy left at the end of the day to make anything. Instead, I decided to be satisfied that we were creating memories and teaching life skills. I decided it wasn't a bad thing to referee their conflicts. It gave me a chance to see what they needed to learn and what I needed to pray about. It was amazing that often the verses I studied in my devotional time at night were the ones I needed to share the next day. I left them with some verses on their refrigerator that we talked and prayed about.

Now I've seen them off to school this week and am returning to cheering at Middle School soccer games, and hopefully, to a little more time for creating and blogging!

Thanks for visiting!
May God bless you!
Vickie