Going Green for Get Well Card

I've been absent more than a week thanks to a construction crew being at our house repairing our basement. I spent time moving most of my bulbs, but the perennials are now buried in many inches of clay. Amid all of the disruptions, I also made decorations and enlarged her two scrapbooks for my mother-in-law's 90th birthday party Sunday. Her birthday was March 16th and my grandmother's birthday was March 17th, today, if she was still living. She was born 101 years ago today. 

I made this card with my grandmother in mind. Although she had gotten tired of getting everything green on her birthday, it was complementary to her sometimes auburn hair. She was amazingly creative and had to constantly be making things, especially our clothes and quilts. She loved to cook, can foods from the garden, and play the piano. She was an avid reader. She was very down-to-earth and loved doing things for neighbors and family. I could say much more, but the last factor helped inspire the subject of this card - her health was very poor and she died much too early in her sixties.

I used the Cricut Pagoda cartridge to cut the bamboo and sentiment. The colors are Sweet Leaf and New England Ivy with black mats. The ribbon is my really old hoarded CTMH Ponderosa Pine organdy. The white background was embossed with a 5" x 7" Cuttlebug folder of bamboo.

Thank you for visiting. May God bless you and yours with good health!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Craft Hoarders Anonymous March Challenge - Go Green (hoarded item ribbon and never used embossing folder.
Eclectic Ellapu Purple Team Challenge - Go green
Eureka Stamps Challenge #132 - the color green
Get Creative Challenge #10 - use green



The Pink Elephant Challenge 290 - use green
The Ribbon Girl - going green

Asian Hummingbird Card

Every spring hummingbirds return to our yard here in northern Missouri. I can't wait!  Here is my interpretation of the most recent Oriental Sketch Challenge at Mark's Finest Papers. I kept it rather CAS and altered it to make a horizontal instead of a vertical cards. I have one of their clear acrylic stamps with this hummingbird and wanted it to "fit inside" one of the die cut scalloped circle halves. I chose a DCWV Asian paper with red flowers, which I heard that hummingbirds are attracted to. I planted many red flowers in my yard, but found that hummingbirds here will get nectar out of other flowers as well, especially if they're shaped with a deep center.

The middle strip of my card had a gold flower right near the tip of the hummingbird's beak. I intensified the color by going over it with gold rub-on. I colored the hummingbird with chalk and went over the green head and red throat with matching green and red metallic rub-on. In real life it actually has that shine you often see on hummingbirds - that is, if they remain still more than a split second.

Thank you for visiting. I'm writing this while the weather man on TV is predicting six more inches of snow coming. May God keep you warm with happy thoughts about friends, family, and spring! (Philippians 4:8 - ... whatever is lovely...think on these things!)

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
Chalk N Stock February Challenge - always anything goes with chalk
Crafty Sentiments Designs - Clean and Simple
Cute as a Button #6 - die (scalloped circle) and birds/bees/spring theme
Oriental Sketch Challenge #66 - sketch
PaperMinutes #372 - birds
PDE Linky Party - animals
Scrapbooker PhD #20 - CAS and use a stamp
The Corrosive Challenge #218 - things with wings

Mojo Monday 385 Asian Peace Card

With Chinese New Year celebrations lasting two weeks, I'm making more Asian cards for the families from China whose children attend school with my grandchildren. I loved this Graphic 45 image of the young lady and her dog. I thought it looked so peaceful, so I chose the theme of "Peace."

The background paper is very old CTMH called "Asian Chic." The diagonal piece and the mats from DCWV and the  pink print and image are from Graphic 45 "Bird Song." The stamp is from a retired CTMH stamp, "Wisdom." I stamped it with Versamark and embossed it with CTMH gold embossing powder and dry embossed the lower portion of that pink panel using a Spellbinder's M-Bossibilities "Asian" embossing folder. The inside is stamped with this verse stamp from Our Daily Bread Designs Scripture Collection 7:

"You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Isaiah 25:3"

I used this week's lovely sketch from Mojo Monday. Check out my second card below and how I used this sketch.

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

Blogger's Challenge - Metal - gold metallic embossing powder

Love to Scrap #48 - anything goes

Fantasy Stampers Challenge #30 - pretty in pink

Fussy and Fancy #133 - Tic Tac Toe (bottom row - sentiment, wet emboss, sparkle in center of flower)

Mojo Monday #385 - sketch

Simply Create Too #79 - anything goes

Sister Act Card Challenge #94 anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #171 - anything uplifting

When I finished the first card, I decided to flip the sketch and modify it a little, using additional Bird Song images and papers. Here's the result:

I used another set of stamps from my retired CTMH "Wisdom" stamp set. This one I embossed with black embossing powder and used a larger card size. The papers came from the same sets as those above.

Thank you for visiting. May God bless you this year with His peace and loving friendships!



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

Blessings for Chinese New Year

Today is the beginning of Chinese New Year. This year is called the year of the horse. I mentioned before that my son, his wife, and I have a passion for all things Asian. I'm so glad that China has opened its door to the west. I've met many from China and have been fascinated by their story. My favorite was a nurse who told me that whenever they would build or repair roads, they'd have so many people working on the road it took only one day. I wish our six month road repairs in Missouri took the same approach. I've met some who have worked in China setting up businesses or factories. They've come back with a love for the Chinese people.  So I made this card in honor of these lovely people, praying that God will bless them.  I used a digital image from Digital Things. The inside sentiment is one I typed in Word.

"Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers." 3 John 2

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
Cardz 4 Guyz - Chinese New Year - Year of the Horse
Crafts for Eternity #161 - Oriental theme
Polkadodles #5 - Anything goes/Oriental
Southern Girls - It's all new (New Year)
Winter Wonderland - Digi days (horse and sentiment)

Bird Song Love and Honor Valentine Card

Chinese New Year is later this week. This is another chance for me to make an Asian card using Graphic 45's Bird Song collection. I think the papers are beautiful and easy to use. The two birds in the picture I chose remind me of LOVE BIRDS, so I stamped the words "Love" and "Honor" to go with the illustration. I designed this card to be a masculine valentine (no pink, lace or hearts).

I used the design I found at Mark's Finest Papers Oriental Sketch Challenge #21:

I used a 3" circle punch to cut the bird picture. I have a few Asian stamps that I've collected since my son and his wife like to decorate with all things Chinese. I stamped the two squares with words from the Technique Tuesday Far East stamp set. I tied black crochet thread around the striped panel. The black doily is glittery, so I matted the two words on black and then gold metallic cardstock. You might be able to see the black glitter and gold shine in this photo:

You can find many Chinese card sentiments with a google search. Here is the Valentine sentiment I chose from a set that included the English translation. This is from Chinese Phrases for Greeting Cards by Hongyang in this pdf file.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
Hiding in My Craft Room #134 - For a loved one
Oriental Sketch Challenge #21 (mfpspeedytv) - Sketch used
Pile It On #4 - Animals
Ruby's Rainbow #71- use a Doily (black Wilton doily)
Sentimental Sundays #191 - Lovey Dovey
Simply Create Too #53 - Valentines or hearts
Stamplorations January Challenge - Feathers (bird pictures) and stamping (Chinese & English words)
Word Art Wednesday #116 - anything goes with uplifting verse

Bird Song Birthday Card

I spent Martin Luther King Day with my three oldest grandsons. We had a great adventure visiting our planetarium and the Imax theater in our old Union Station. We had a lot of time to talk about the history of Civil Rights in our country and Martin Luther King Jr.'s contribution. It also made me realize I needed to make more multi-cultural cards which I hope to start this week.

I saw Time 4 Scrap that it's time for the Chinese New Year. That inspired me to make some Asian cards. My son, his wife, and I have always had a fascination with all things Asian, so when Our Daily Bread Designs had an inspiration photo of cherry blossoms in a blue jar, I knew that my Graphic 45 Bird Song paper would be perfect for this challenge. My grandchildren go to school with many Asian children. I hope this card will be enjoyed by one of their mothers.

The left side is CTMH Crystal Blue cs embossed with bamboo. The black sparkle flourish is also from CTMH.

Here is the inspiration from Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light Challenge #187. I used the colors and flowers on the right as my inspiration.

The sketch from Everybody Art Challenge #262 gave me more inspiration:

I used three stamp sets from Our Daily Bread Designs. The pink flowers were fussy cut from an image from "Grow in Grace" and matted on black. The outside "Blessings" banner is from "Sweet William-Small." The inside sentiment is from "Birthday Blessings."

Thank you for visiting. May God strengthen you with wisdom and bless your days in this new year!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

4 Crafty Chicks #178 - Bling (black sparkle flourishes and gold flower centers)
Crafting By Designs - Girly Girl
Crafting for All Seasons #69 - Girly
Crafty Sentiments - Birthdays
Deep Ocean #69 - Birthday
Everybody Art Challenge #262 - sketch
Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light Challenge #187 - photo inspiration
Time 4 Scrap #32 - Chinese New Year
Word Art Wednesday #116 - anything goes with uplifting verse