Easter Blessings!

For many, Easter's blessings may be dressing up for church, decorating Easter eggs for an egg hunt, baskets of chocolate bunnies and eggs, and brunch or dinner with family or friends. These are lovely traditions! I especially like to think of this day as Resurrection Sunday when I focus my thoughts on what kind of amazing love God has for you and me . He knew that none of us could be sinless and since something had to shed it's blood and die to pay for our sins, He sent His own sinless Son to die on a cross to take our punishment for all of our sins. He didn't love me because I was sinless, but while I was sinful! That's the focus of the verse below that I used to make this Easter card: "But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8" This verse is one of the free verses from Word Art Wednesday's February 28, 2018, post.

But His death wasn't all that He did for me. His second gift was that He rose from the dead like He'd said that He would to show us we also had the gift of eternal life when we believe in Him and what He did for us! His amazing love for us wasn't just words! What a blessing! I will forever be thankful!

Here's one of several cards I made to share that message with family and friends. 

The two background circles were both from Spellbinders, the sentiment is MFT's Wonky Stitched Rectangle,  and the silver-embossed cross is an older CTMH stamp that I fussy cut. The light gray flowered background paper is from the CTMH Basics Fundamentals paper pack.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Always Fun Challenge #51 - Easter
Deep Ocean Challenge #178 - Easter/spring
Die Cuttin' Divas #362 - Easter with die cuts
Fab 'n' Funky #387 - Easter
Word Art Wednesday Challenge #328 - 329 - anything goes with uplifting message

Hugs for Heart 2 Heart

This week's challenge at Heart 2 Heart focuses on "cutting out" using dies, Cricut, or scissors.  I have a new passion for letter dies that I didn't have before. I bought some from Spellbinders 12 years ago to use for titles on scrapbook pages. Eventually, my Cricut took over that job. But now I enjoy putting patterned paper under a cut out word. Here's one with a little Chelsea Gardens leafy floral paper under the word "HUGS" with even more leaves embossed at the bottom.

I used Spellbinder's Grand Calibur to cut the CTMH Block Letters and to emboss with the CTMH retired Vine embossing folder. The dies were sharp and deep enough that I was able to stack two pieces of cardstock and cut both at the same time. I took a slightly damp paper towel to swipe over the bottom part of the card above before embossing so the white core of the Peacock cardstock wouldn't show from cracking. I didn't remember to do that with the first one I made (below) and I decided I needed to sand/distress the embossing to show the white core more uniformly.  I embellished with Peacock Stitched Ribbon and (Black and) White Dots.

Thank you for visiting! May you share lots of hugs with those you know and be blessed with happy hugs in return!

I'm sharing the first card with the following challenges:

Heart 2 Heart Challenge - Cut It Out
Shopping Our Stash #347 - No ink
Southern Girls #180 - Die Cuts
Tic Tac Toe Challenge #41 - down: die cuts, leaves, bold sentiment

Chelsea Gardens Mother's Day

Heart 2 Heart challenged us to make something inspired by the cover of this catalog:

 I loved the garden-themed papers of Chelsea Gardens, but it took me a while to think about what I'd make. Then I thought about how my mom knew so much about plants and shrubs and passed on that love to me, so a Mother's Day card was my choice. Even though my mom went to heaven nine years ago, I've had a lot of moms in life so I decided to make one for a friend's mom who was my Sunday School teacher, mentor and inspiration. She's still living in Texas and I need to write her a message about how much she meant to me. One summer when I took Driver's Ed with my friend, my dad dropped me off really early at their house. Mrs. Stewart would come to the door in her robe and let me in before the rest of her house woke up. She was always the perfect hostess. She shared notes she had taken at church or from messages she'd heard, always challenging us to live the Christian life to honor the Lord. When we started dating, her lovely family room in the basement became the meeting place to entertain the young men we dated. She let me borrow her tredle sewing machine when I started sewing most of my clothes. I loved that machine! I even used it to make my wedding dress.  My card will have a lot of details to express my appreciation for her mothering!

The papers are from CTMH Chelsea Gardens and the butterfly and leaves are the Chelsea Gardens Cardmaking stamp set. The sentiment is from the Mother's Garden stamp set. The butterfly and leaves were stamped then cut with the matching die and colored with Copic markers.

Thank you for visiting! I hope you'll have opportunities to share your gratitude with all the moms in your life, and  those who inspire you!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper March Challenge - anything goes with patterned paper
Create and Inspire Challenge #72 - anything goes/all about moms
D.L.Art March Linky Challenge - anything goes
Heart 2 Heart March Challenge - use the cover inspiration
HeARTful Stamping Challenge - anything goes with stamping

Rainbow Colored Flowers

When I was a teenager I learned how cloudy, rainy weather can make some people depressed. I decided then that on such days I should wear bright colors and a bright smile to help lift someone's spirits, including my own. We've had such a such a long stretch of rainy weather here in the Midwest. Even though the rain is badly needed, it's been pretty gloomy. So I was happy to make this rainbow card following the challenge at Heart 2 Heart. Playing with paper and bright colored inks is great therapy for gloomy days!

I die cut  the flowers using one of the stamp and die sets that are 25% off this month at CTMH, Falling for You. I measured the largest negative space and found it was three inches.  That meant I could have about 1/2" inch space for each of six colors of the rainbow. I lined up the top layer over the card base and  made small pencil marks at the top and bottom of the largest flower cut-out so I'd know where to place my colors. Then I used sponge daubers and made stripes of each color within the three inch space. The entire process was pretty quick.

Thank you for visiting! May you be the rainbow in someone's cloudy day!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Crafter's Castle Challenge #3 - anything goes - option: share a favorite technique
D.L. Art Thankful Thursday Challenge #225 - Flowers
Fussy and Fancy Challenge #208 - spring flowers
Heart 2 Heart challenge - Rainbows
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Floral Frenzy

Wishing You Easter Blessings

Each year I always seem to make a lot of Easter cards. Artistically, I love the pastels and lovely colors of spring after a gray, white and brown winter. Practically, I enjoy having an occasion to spread love and the message of God's love. Today I made half a dozen using scraps from my scrap drawers. I have an Ikea chest of nine drawers and put one color in each drawer, arranged like the rainbow. Today I focused on the lavender and purple drawer but added more colors for contrast. Here are the two I made using the colors of Sunday Stamps challenge and the sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch #257.

I've been using CTMH paper and stamps for 16 years so these scraps are very old. The top blue strip is a satin ribbon. The chicks and sentiment are from a new stamp set, Easter Animals.   The chicks are so cute and reminded me I need to tell my grandkids about the chicks and ducks I got for Easter as a child.  This card is for a sweet young first grade girl I know. 

I had an extra silver embossed CTMH cross left from making several other cards, so I added it to my second version of this card.  I think the design works well for an adult card that focuses on the spiritual meaning of Easter as well!

I kept the inside simple with room because I like to write a personalized message.

I used another lavender scrap and a verse you can save and print from Word Art Wednesday, February 28, 2018: 

Thank you for visiting! May you be blessed as you make your own lovely creations to share with those you love. 

I'm sharing the first card with the following challenges:

Atlantic Hearts Sketch #257 - sketch

Dragonfly Journeys Challenge #114 - Bunnies, chicks and ducks

Hiding in My Craft Room Challenge #345 - any holiday

Make My Monday Challenge #67 - Easter fun

Sunday Stamps Challenge #175 - Easter color palette

Easter - Earth's Gladdest Day!

I like that quote by Susan Coolidge that says, "Earth's saddest day and gladdest day were just three days apart." The Good Friday message of Christ's death on the cross nearly breaks my heart but the joyful message of His rising from the dead adds a new dimension to life and death. It surprised some of His followers, but gave them a new understanding of His gift of salvation.  The angel said, "He is risen as He said," so they should have all expected it. Scripture records that He was seen by over 500 people after he arose. No wonder His message spread like wildfire. Although we've been born about two thousand years later, His message still changes lives today. He conquered sin for us with His death by taking our punishment and He conquered death for us with his resurrection. Those of us who believe in and receive His gift will resurrect to a new life with Him after our deaths here on earth. This is the message I like to send with my Easter cards.

I used Cricut Design Space to cut the frame and mat for the PTI sentiment.  I stamped a diagonal background on the white panel behind it. I inked the CTMH stamp with Pixie, then dabbed on a few spots of Lagoon and Gypsy inks with sponge daubers. I also stamped the same pattern on the Juniper leafy frame using Lagoon. You can see the detail in this close-up:

Thank you for visiting! I pray your life will be blessed with the message of Easter!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

A Gem of a Challenge #215 - Easter
Crafting with Dragonflies Challenge #100 - Easter cards
Crafty Catz #409 - anything goes with option of Easter
Cut It Up Challenge #144 - Easter with die cut
Moving Along with the Times #67 - Easter
Sweet Stampers Challenge #18 - Spring or Easter
Sweet Stampin' Challenge - Easter
Word Art Wednesday Challenge #326-327  - anything goes with uplifting message

Some Bunny Loves You Easter Card

Here's an Easter card I made for a little girl I met a couple of years ago at our local craft fair. She and her sister love to visit our booth while they spend the two days helping their grandma. I think they like our papercrafts and each year spend the money they earn at our booth.

I used the sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge:

One of the girls loved seeing my friend's Bible because it was filled with artistic Bible journaling. She even mentioned it again this year because she'd seen Bible journaling somewhere else, too, and wanted to tell us about it. Since I know from her grandma that she knows that Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead, I wanted a simple verse inside that acknowledged this reason we celebrate Easter. I couldn't find any, so I made up my own simple jpg that you are welcome to use.

I stamped an Easter basket and cross inside using the very light Bashful ink that matched the paper. You can click on the jpg below to enlarge it and right click to choose Save As if you'd like to keep it.

Thank you for visiting! May you be blessed as you create cards to share that bless others!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #256 - sketch
Bastel-traum #63 - Easter/spring
Crea Chicky's Challenge #19 - Easter with hand colored image
Do-all Kreatives #15 - spring/Easter
Hanna and friends #292 - Easter/spring with hand-colored person or animal
Let's Craft and Create Challenge #135 - anything goes/option Easter
Sweet Stampers Challenge #18 - spring or Easter

Materials from Close To My Heart:
Paper - Make Waves
Stamps (retired) - Some Bunny, Sensational Season, He Is Risen
Inks - Memento Tuxedo Black, Lagoon, Bashful
Cricut Art Philosophy
Other Supplies:
Copic Markers, Lawn Fawn Spring Showers cloud dies

Encouragement on St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day! My ancestry DNA test shows that I'm 9% from Ireland/Scotland/Wales. I did find that one of my 6th great grandmothers came to the United States from Dublin Ireland in the 1700's. Our family was always told that my grandmother, who was born on March 17th, was part Irish. All I know is that I inherited her green eyes and love of crafting and history.

Robert Morgan, in one of his books about the stories behind hymns, wrote an inspiring account of the teenage Patrick being kidnapped from England by Irish pirates, taken to Ireland as a slave, and later escaped back to England. What amazed me in his story was that he had a passion to return to Ireland to spread the message of Christ. His family thought it was dangerous and he faced many trials, but he had learned to trust the Lord for his guidance and safety. Today as we celebrate St. Patrick's Day, I like to focus on the fact that he is responsible for the spread of Christianity in Ireland in the 400's A.D.  I thought this verse summarized the importance of trusting God in every situation.  The next verse in Proverbs says in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.

I used a few retired CTMH papers from my drawer of green scraps and the leaves and die from Chelsea Gardens Cardmaking stamps. The white embossed verse and die stamp for "Lord" are from PTI.

Thank you for visiting! May you trust in the Lord both in good times and bad! He will never fail you!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Always Fun Challenge #49 - shades of green
CCEE Stampers - die cut words
Crafty Gals Corner #161 - green
Dragonfly Journeys Challenge #113 - going green
Heart 2 Heart Challenge - going green
Papercraft  Challenge #7 - sentiment as focus
Word Art Wednesday #326-327 - anything goes

93rd Birthday Card

Today my dear mother-in-law celebrates her 93rd birthday! God has blessed her with many talents and many years. She still doesn't have arthritis, which I've had for almost twenty years! She just got her first bout of back trouble three weeks ago. Not many are blessed with her health-she never gets sick. Her physical strength has declined the last couple of years but she still has her cheerful encouraging spirit. Here is the card I made for her today:

Here's the fun Bingo board I used to make my card with the diagonal "Patterned Paper, Stamp, Favorite Color."

I used my favorite spring color - shades of purple/lavender with some contrasting spots of yellow and orange. The inks I stamped with are Pansy, Eggplant, and retired Petal and Gypsy., I used two current stamp sets with matching dies (Chelsea Gardens Cardmaking Stamp, Beautiful You),the recently retired stamp of the month for the large sentiment (Sunny Thoughts), pansy dotted paper from the current Make Waves paper pack, very old CTMH lilac plaid paper, and retired Whimsy ribbon. I used Copic markers to color the butterfly and part of the stamped roses.  This card used a total of six dies. Due to the CTMH 25% off sale on dies this month, the Chelsea Garden dies (butterfly) is no longer available.  The white panel was die cut using Spellbinders A2 Filigree Delight.

Thank you for visiting! May God bless your cardmaking and those you bless with your cards.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Always Happy Birthday March Challenge - Birthday anything goes
Aud Sentiments Challenge #199 - Bingo plus sentiment
Creatalicious Challenge #135 - anything goes with option: Birthday
Dies R Us Challenge #93 - Frame It
Southern Girls Challenge - Pop it up (all three flowers and butterfly)
Use Your Stuff Challenge #303 - die cuts

Die-namite Blog Hop

I'm excited to share with you this month's sale at CTMH on Thin Cuts Dies and die/stamp sets. Our blog hop should give you some ideas for using your dies or the ones you want to purchase. If you came from Brandi Robinson's blog, you're on the right path. You can find the entire list of participants on Melinda Everitt's blog.

This month all of the Thin Cuts Dies and die/stamp sets  are 25% off, including many that had previously retired! If you missed some earlier, this is you're chance to get in on the special!

I enjoy using the word and letter dies. Here's an Easter card I made using the word "happy" cut out of silver foil cardstock and the word "Easter" cut using individual Block Alphabet letter dies. One thing I can do with word and letter dies that is easier than using the Cricut is being able to line up the letters on patterned paper exactly where you want them to highlight part of the paper's pattern.

For the background of my card, I used the rock and roll technique to stamp leafy branches from Chelsea Gardens - Scrapbooking stamp set in Sweet Leaf rolled in Juniper ink. I used sponges to apply three colors of ink (Bashful, Pixie, and Thistle)  on White Daisy cardstock for an ombre effect, then I cut out the EASTER letters. 

I glued the silver "happy" to the cardstock panel first, then I added about three of the Thin 3-D Foam dots to the back of each letter for dimension. The foam dots fit exactly behind each letter!  I mounted my panel on a juniper leafy cardstock from the Chelsea Gardens paper pack and added Make Waves Sequins as a final embellishment. This was so fun and easy to make!

Now you're ready to move on to see what  Alyson Mayo has in store for you!

Thanks for visiting and happy crafting!

March SOTM - Birthday Time

Blog Hop

 Welcome to our blog hop highlighting projects using this month's Stamp of the Month, Birthday Time!  If you have just come from Tracey Pierce's blog, you're on the right path. To see the entire list of participants, visit Melinda Everitt's blog.

This stamp set has so many possibilities. Here are two more of them I made using Picture My Life Cards - Be-You-tiful for the background panels.

The first one is heat embossed with gold and embellished with Make Waves Sequins and ribbon from the Adventure Ribbon pack:

The next card is heat embossed with white on Blossom cardstock backed with Bashful Glitter paper and embellished with White and Gold Ribbon and White Shimmer Trim.

.I love the bold look of some of these sentiments, especially when embossed! You can get this stamp of the month at a discounted price of $5.00 with a $50 purchase, or you can purchase it for $17.95 from your consultant or here on my website.

And starting today, all Thin Cuts dies or stamp and die sets are on sale, including some recently retired dies, for 25% off.  I used the Basic Oval dies and Scallop Border die on my first card and the butterfly came from the Chelsea Gardens Cardmaking stamp and die set, which I just discovered has sold out of the Thin Cuts die.

Now you're ready to move on to Miss Carrie's Creations to see her lovely work!