Peony Leaf Background

About 17 years ago, Kristy Bishop,  a CTMH director, taught classes in a North Kansas City high school. After attending the first one, I could hardly wait for the next class. The technique she taught us was random stamping. We were using rubber stamps on wood blocks. We made each little stamp a different color and stamped the first design in a visual triangle. That was my addicting introduction to stamping. (The day I found out CTMH went from wood mounted stamps to acrylic stamps I signed up to become a consultant. I knew I'd need a discount for all the stamps I wanted to get.)

I was inspired by the challenge at Heart 2 Heart to use random stamping. My technique and stamps have changed a little. I thought I'd use only the foliage of the Budding Peony stamp set with the new lighter shade of Sage ink to make the background for this card.

I added the soft shade of Mint checks with bright pops of a Lagoon strip and Raspberry for the die cut sentiment and background mat. Of course I had to stamp the leafy sprig again with New England Ivy on Sage cardstock and cut with the coordinating thin cut die. I wanted to make the random stamping into a soft background for a Clean and Simple card.

Since the card base is black I finished with a few black enamel dots on the front and a couple of leafy sprigs on two inside corners. I looked at this card and truly wished for spring!!!

Kristy Bishop is now a college professor in another state far away, so she may not know the directions her card classes have taken or how many people have been blessed along the way.  May you be blessed as you share your love of stamping, cardmaking, and giving, blessing your friends who receive your creations. What you enjoy can be a part of something much bigger than yourself!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Crafting from the Heart Challenge - anything goes

Die Cut Divas - Something New (Budding Peony stamp and die are new)

Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies January Challenge 

Heart 2 Heart January Technique Challenge - stamped backgrounds

Stampotique Designer Challenge #315 - Clean and Simple

Budding Peony  

365 Promises - Promise #25: I will not withhold anything good from those with an upright heart.

Psalm 84:11 (WEB)

For Yahweh God is a sun and a shield.
Yahweh will give grace and glory.
He withholds no good thing from those who walk blamelessly.

Seeking His Strength

I've been enjoying Ginny Maxim's blog for several years. She often shares images and word art that we can use in our own artwork. Here's a card I made with one of her images with a verse of encouragement. There are a lot of verses in scripture encouraging us to seek the Lord. Those verses assure us that when we seek Him, we will find Him. I love the verse on Ginny's image that encourages us to seek the Lord and His strength. I'm at an age when strength seems more elusive, so I'm frequently praying for strength as well as guidance and wisdom. I made this card to share the encouragement with someone else.

After printing the image, I colored it with Copics and fussy cut it. The left flowering branch is tied with a ribbon. I colored it yellow and painted it with a gold shimmer brush to match the gold dots in the pink paper.

An image like this looks best on solid cardstock or paper with no pattern, but the tiny gold dots on this paper seemed to enhance the image.
The papers are from DCWV Wildflower. The black and gold ribbon is CTMH.





I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
Colour Crazy Challenge - anything goes with coloring
Craft-Dee BowZ - anything goes with handtied bow
Crafty Calendar Challenge -  Make it flowery
Simply Create Too #145 - anything goes
Word Art Wednesday Challenge #370 - 371 - anything goes

I like to share the promises and photo from the daily 365 Promises. Click on the link to see more on the daily devotional.

365 Promises - Promise #20: If you search for Me with all your heart, you will find Me.Jeremiah 29:13 (WEB)
You shall seek me, and find me,
when you shall search for me with all your heart.

Loving Silhouette

I'm taking advantage of my hubby being gone today to make a card for him celebrating our love. This card is for the Heart 2 Heart challenge to illustrate "The Important Thing." I believe the most important thing is LOVE, both the kind we feel and show to our family and friends and the kind we show to those we don't know. It's so important that it's the greatest commandment in scripture to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind and to love others as we love ourselves.  It's a subject I could expound on for days! Most of the problems of the world exist because of a lack of love.

Here's a mood board from Crafts Dreamy that I found with a perfect mix of colors, text, and a heart, just right for his card:

I used the challenge at Crafting By Designs and added a circular frame. I put a smaller circle die inside the next larger one to make the frame. For the challenge at Moving Along with the times, I chose a Cricut die cut that had a heart balloon. 

The striped diagonal that looks like it has black stripes is actually a silver foil sticker with no black, but I did add charcoal, white, and gray enamel dots to match the other elements.

Thanks for visiting! I hope you'll share love in new ways to  those around you!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Crafting By Designs - Corners, borders, frames

Crafts Dreamy Challenge #2 - anything, using the mood board

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge - anything goes with patterned paper

Heart 2 Heart Challenge - The important thing

Moving Along with the Times - Have a Heart

365 Promises - Promise #2: I am full of mercy and grace and I overflow with love. Psalm 103:8 (WEB)

Yahweh is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness.

So Much Sympathy

Last night I received news from a friend of a serious infection she has. A few minutes later there was a call of a cousin who had a heart attack. As I sat to begin writing this post I received a call that a dear friend had just passed away. Life as an older adult brings so many challenges, so much bad news. The good news is that God is with us and loves us through all our trials.  His strength is made perfect in our weakness. I'm thankful I had just made these two cards and will certainly need more.

I was playing with the color orange. I used Nectarine dye ink and a water brush for the first one and watercolor paints for the second.

I'm sharing these cards with the following challenges:

613 Avenue Create #217 - anything goes/option watercolors

Make My Monday #87 - use words or a sentiment

Unicorn Challenge Blog #39 - Things with wings

Word Art Wednesday #370 - 371 - anything goes

Thank you for visiting! May you be strengthened by the Lord when life brings its trials. 

365 Promises:  Promise #18: My power will rest on you when you are weak.2 Corinthians 12:9 (WEB)

He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me.

January SOTM Blog Hop - Card Captions

Happy New Year! Welcome to our blog hop featuring the January Stamp of the Month, Card Captions.  If you arrived here from Jean McNulty's blog, your on the right path. You can see the entire list of participants at Melinda Everitt's blog.

This stamp set has a greeting for every occasion. I have two granddaughters with birthdays in the next week, so I chose one of the three birthday greetings for this card. Although this sentiment is in one longer line, I wanted to show you how you can cut between the words to stack the words to fit a different sized shape.

I cut the scalloped border twice from the same paper. The light gray with white grid on the back of the dark gray dotted side doesn't show the pattern in my photo. The leaf or branch pattern at the top is one of the strips on the new Feels Like Home on the side to cut shapes and strips.


Thank you for visiting!  Now you're ready to see Miss Carrie's Creations!

Birthday Card Recipe:
Paper - Candy Apple and Black cardstock, Mix-in Paper Collection (black dotted/pebble grid), Feels Like Home (branch pattern on top), Black Glitter Paper
Stamps - January SOTM Card Captions, Dandelion Wishes
Ink - Versamark
Tools - Decorative Borders Thin Cuts, White Superfine Embossing Powder, (Cricut shapes - heart)
Embellishments - Red Pearls, Black Shimmer Trim