Hug, Kisses, and Valentine Wishes

When I was young there was a song with the lyrics: "What the world needs now, is love, sweet love. It's the only thing that there's just too little of." We certainly would have peace in the world if everyone followed the command to love God with all their hearts and love others as we love ourselves. It's really up to us to share God's love with our corner of the world. A kind word or deed here, a loving card there. What a better world it might be with just this community of crafters making a difference!

This valentine today was also made using my favorite paper for valentines, La Vie en Rose. The red floral paper inspired me to use the large flower from Beloved Bouquet, the retired January stamp of the month. I stamped the flower outline with Ruby ink and colored with several red and pink alcohol ink markers and the blender. I had the finished card sitting on the counter and looked at it from across the room. That's when I realized it looked rather plain and needed a touch of yellow in the areas I'd left white.  That made it more like roses I've raised.

I cut the white mat using Cricut Artbooking (p. 84). I changed the size proportions by unlocking them in the edit screen on Cricut Explore. Then I made both height and width 4." This design with the hearts still looked OK proportionately.  I liked the way they let the floral paper show in the hearts. The Cricut cut out the center rectangle so I embossed it with Tiny Hearts embossing folder and mounted it on a black mat to cover the rectangular hole.

Thank you for visiting! May God richly bless you as you share love with your world

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Crafting by Designs - Hearts!
Crafting for All Seasons #119 - Love is in the Air
Crafty Creations #308 - Hearts
Creative Card Crew #106 - Love
Creative Moments #86 - Anything goes with optional Twist: Romance/Love
Fan-Tastic Tuesday #106 - Anything goes with a twist - So in Love
Little Red Wagon #328 - Happy Valentines Day
Mod Squad Challenge - From the Heart
The Paper Shelter #235- Be My Valentine

Valentine Swing Card

Valentines Day is such a good time to openly share your love with those around you. I also believe that it's a reminder to us to bless others with acts of kindness and love. In this lovely on-line card-making community we have so much inspiration to do this with lovely cards. I've given a valentine to an adult before who said she hadn't gotten one since she was a child.   I usually like to write a lengthy personal message inside, but sometimes just a simple expression is all that you need to make a difference in someone's life, so a swing card is one of those. This one is meaningful but not gushy.

Reversible papers are so perfect for swing cards if they have the right combination of patterns. Here was a quick swing card using Cricut Artiste, (p.52), Artbooking (p.80), and paper from La Vie en Rose paper pack, my absolute favorite for valentines (see my others here) and scrapbooking wedding photos! You can get my cutting file here if you use the Cricut Explore and these cartridges.

The tricky part of stamping the inside of a swing card is to get it under the top layer so it doesn't show when it's closed. I embossed the inside with the hearts folder, leaving a space in the center for a sentiment by using a circle diffuser.  Then I placed the stamps on the area to be stamped, closed the top to be sure the heart covered the sentiment. I layed the clear block on top of the acrylic stamps, lining up the edges of the square block with the edge of the white mat so I could line I up again after inking.

This sentiment came from the January Stamp of the Month, Beloved Bouquet, and the gold embossed hearts were from a long-retired set (CTMH So Lucky) that I chose because they fit the hearts on the mat perfectly. The final touches are the black and gold ribbon and the gold epoxy heart (Treasured Puffies flat for mailing!) on front.

Thank you for visiting! May you be blessed with loving relationships and bless others with your overflowing love!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Artistic Inspirations #149 - anything goes with twist of Valentine

Bitten by the Bug 2 - Valentine Hearts

Cards in Envy - from the heart

Dream Valley Challenge #124 - Valentine's Day

Fantabulous Cricut #269 - Valentine's Day

Get Creative #32 - Hearts

Heart 2 Heart - Favorite paper pack

Love to Scrap #71 -have a heart

Beloved Bouquet Birthday Card

Have you ever met someone new and discovered that you had a lot in common?  When I first met Pat I found out that she goes to the church where my husband had been the pastor almost 40 years ago. Then I found out she knew some of our friends who live in Colorado. Finally, I discovered she was the nurse when my grandson was born at KU Med Center eight years ago. There were other "coincidences" but the important thing I appreciate about getting to know her is that we share a love for Christ, for family, and for crafting. Here's the birthday card I've made for her.

I thought I'd try another card stamped with the January Stamp of the Month, Beloved Bouquet, using some bright, sunny colors.

I used the Floral Embossing folder to make the background.  I stamped the rose with Sunset Ink on an old scrap of Creme Brulee. (I was sad to see that color retire.) I used pieces of the Kaleidoscope paper pack for stamping the leaves and cutting the tag.  I stamped the sentiment with Sunset using a stamp  from Balloon Wishes.  A strip of Pink glitter paper and some pink glitter gems (on clearance!) added the bling I wanted to keep the card bright and cheery. I found some amazing deals on clearance today that you may want to check out HERE.

 I cut the Creme Brulee heart border with a Martha Stewart punch. I used a circle punch to shape the tag edges. The green ribbon, button and twine are all old, retired CTMH products that I still love to use.

I hope you'll come back tomorrow to check out our team's blog hop. I have several projects for Easter using the soft and subtle colors of the Charlotte paper pack. You can find it HERE.

Thank you for visiting! I hope God helps you discover new friendships that will be a blessing to you both!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

All Sorts Week 348 - Bring on the Bling
Aud Sentiments Challenge #147 - anything goes
Crafting with Friends #13 -  anything goes
Jade's Sparkling Butterflies #11 - anything goes/ add a tag

Simply Papercrafts #22 - anything goes

Embossed Thinking of You

One of the dear ladies I know just lost her mother. My heart is breaking for her because I know how heart-wrenching it can be to lose your mother. It prompts me to pray continually that she'll sense God's loving arms comforting her. Here's the card I made for her.

I kept it relatively flat for mailing so I added embossing with inking to give a little extra dimension. I also stamped the rose three times on patterned paper so I could cut it apart in layers and used thin dimensional tape to attach the layers. The rose stamp is the January stamp of the month, Beloved Bouquet. All of the papers were retired CTMH. I cut the leaves using Cricut Artistry from a different older paper pack that had similar colors to those on the rose. The small mat under the sentiment was cut using a Spellbinders die.

Thank you for visiting. May you feel God's loving presence holding you close during the difficult times you face in life!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
Crafty Cardmakers #156 - Punches and/or dies
Fan-Tastic Tuesday #121 - anything goes with twist of add a flower/s
House of Cards - Embossing (and/or colors)
Frilly and Funkie - Enjoy your embossing
Stamping Sensations January Challenge - anything goes with a die (Spellbinder's Romantic Rectangles)
Sweet Stampin' - vintage or shabby chic
Use Your Stuff - Sequins (and/or glitter)

Beloved Bouquet - January Stamp of the Month

Happy New Year!

I was halfway finished addressing and writing notes in Christmas cards this year when I suddenly developed migraines that lasted two weeks. My stomach was too upset to take medication, so I spent a lot of time resting. At times like that I always drastically prioritize: this doesn't have to be done this year, this I can do in a few days, etc. (In teaching reading I called that "Monitor and Adjust.") Thankfully, I had finished shopping. The bottom line was that I had some very good friends who didn't get a Christmas card from me, so I decided I can send them a different type of card after the new year.

Here's my new start for a new year. I used this lovely stamp of the month to make three cards to say I love you!  I matched it up with the La Vie En Rose paper pack. The first one uses this week's sketch from the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #140:

It's embossed with gold, has black and gold ribbon, gold glitter paper, and a gold epoxy heart. This next photo shows how glittery it is in certain light.

 

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

4 Crafty Chicks #279 - anything goes

Crafty Gals Corner #52 - anything goes
Creative Corner - anything goes

Inspiration Destnation #66 - always anything goes

This next one was stamped with sorbet ink, then overstamped with the black details. I used an alcohol ink marker (ShinHan Light Orange and Pastel Green) to add shading and the colorless blender to remove ink to add highlights. I had always known that alcohol would clean remnants of my dye ink off of my work area but had never tried this on paper so I was pleased to find out that it works on paper, too.

 I stamped the third card with Hollyhock ink and shaded some parts with Cherry Pink ShinHan Touch Twin alcohol marker.

I loved the sentiment on this card: "Love is not a matter of counting the years, it's a matter of making the years count!"

If you have this stamp set, I hope I've given you some ideas. If you'd like to get it you can find it on my website here.

The last two cards each use a pattern from an upcoming workshop I'm doing in February using the Charlotte paper pack that just became available today in the new CTMH Seasonal Expressions catalogue.  Here's a sneak peak: