Vellum Butterfly Card

Have you ever made a card for yourself? I often find when I'm sick I feel better if I make encouragement cards. It helps me to revisit my stamps with sentiments that help me put my focus on what God can do rather than how horrible I feel or how much I'm going through.  I'm having a reaction to contrast dye for a CAT scan and decided the only thing that will make me feel better is to create something and get my mind off how I feel. The good news is that the growths in my lung have stopped growing and I won't need additional scans. I'm praising God for this answer to prayer! To find that out was worth having the iodine contrast, reaction or not. I always thought that as a nonsmoker I wouldn't have to face things like lung disease.

I gold embossed the sentiment for this card, "He who kneels before God can stand before anything." This was my reminder to keep praying for the reaction to subside and trust God to do it. I also gold embossed the butterflies and flowers on vellum and colored the backs with Copic markers.

I cut a large oval out of the center of the kraft cardstock die cut and popped up a smaller stitched oval with the sentiment. Here you can see the gold embossing better:

Thank you for visiting today! May you be blessed by the Lord as you bless others with your cards!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

All Sorts Challenge #469 - Insects, bugs, bees, butterflies
Challenge Up Your Life #92 - Gold
Cuttlebug Mania - butterflies and birds
Fussy and Fancy Challenge #212 - favorite florals
Heart 2 Heart May Challenges - Get Creative with Vellum
Word Art Wednesday Challenge #336-337 - anything goes, uplifting

Stamps and dies - CTMH "Chelsea Gardens Cardmaking" stamps and dies (butterflies and flowers), Stitched Ovals Thin Cuts;Sweet 'n' Sassy Stamps "The Future,"  Spellbinders "Classic Ovals,"  "Tranquil Moments" Card Creator (background)


365 Promises - Promise #146:   I will show you the mysteries of My kingdom.

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

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

For a Sweet Birthday Girl

Today our oldest granddaughter turns 13! It seems the day we drove 55 miles in an ice storm to meet this dear one, was just the other day. Here's the card I made to celebrate her day! It has a white base, but the photo looks pink. I wish I'd straightened the bow but photo conditions haven't been good enough for a retake.

I used a combination of old and new materials to make her car:  new Bashful Ink to stamp the cascading hearts on top, old Baby Pink to color the old chipboard frame and to stamp the new butterflies from the Chelsea Gardens Cardmaking Stamp (and die) embellished with old Little Dreamer Glitter Gems, old birthday sentiment stamp and Baby Pink organdy from at least 10 years ago. The bottom panel was a leftover scrap from old Calypso papers. 

If you're in the Northern Hemisphere of this planet, I hope you'll keep warm this week!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Craftaholics R Us #1 - Celebration

Double D Challenge - Birthday/Anniversary Mood Board inspiration - butterflies

Pause Dream Enjoy Challlenge #1 - die cuts

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - something new-butterfly stamp and die

Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #151 - Feminine anything goes