Words of Encouragement with One Sheet Wonder Cards

I'm often late to participate in trends or fads. I just found a need to make a lot of cards for our local store and use up lots of my paper stash. When I discovered One Sheet Wonder patterns on Pinterest, I finally joined the trend. Here are the first seven I made after a quick cut of the pieces along with die cut words and coordinating stamps.

Using the flower paper from CTMH La Vie en Rose was a good choice for the cards with three strips or three squares. I loved the way the pattern matches from strip to strip.

I had found the "prayers" set of die and sentiment stamps at Simon Says Stamp.

The rest are found at Papertrey Ink. I liked the versatility of these sets because each had a variety of beginnings and endings that can be matched with the die cut words to fit the situation of the recipient.  One additional feature of my cards is that I cut a black mat for each piece. I thought it would take a long time, but I looked at the size and added almost 1/4" on two sides for a contrasting mat. The black hearts were stamped and one black glitter paper heart was added for simple embellishment.

This week I just found that another CTMH consultant, Kathleen Androlewicz, used the same One Sheet Wonder pattern with the Dreamin' Big papers that you can see here.

Thanks for visiting! I hope this inspires you to make your own encouragement cards using One Sheet Wonder patterns!

I'm sharing this project with the following challenges:

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper April Challenge - anything goes with patterned paper
Crafty Creations Challenge #340 - anything goes
Crafty Gals Corner Challenge #120 - anything goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - anything goes
Word Art Wednesday Challenge #280 - 281 - anything goes/family friendly

Happy Birthday with La Vie en Rose

I just had to make a birthday card from this same paper, La Vie en Rose, that I used for Valentines, with an emphasis on HAPPY. It only uses words to complement the flowers on the bottom panel. I wanted to pair the floral paper with this super version of the word, "happy" that I cut using Cricut Artbooking (p. 75)

I white-embossed the word Birthday after I had cut apart the two separate words of one of the phrases in the acrylic stamp set, Joyful Birthday. I added sparkle using a strip of metallic gold foil tape, black and gold ribbon, and gold sequins with a dollop of liquid glass.

Thanks for looking! May you bless someone else with a big dose of HAPPY!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps and More #181 - anything goes

Crafting for All Seasons #120 - three of a kind (3 sequins)

Creative Moments #87 - anything goes/ twist- embossing, wet (or dry) 

Dream Valley #125 - Sparkle, bling, embellish

Moving Along with the Times #14 - words only, no image

Southern Girls Challenge - add a little sparkle



You Make My Heart Sing

My son and I share a special bond. One of the things we have in common is that we both played in band for many years. In fact, he'd learned to play viola in 5th grade, trumpet in 7th grade, and guitar in 12th grade. He learned them so easily and had a mom who was so proud of him at all of his concerts, especially jazz band performances. Music played a big roll in our church experience, our schooling and our lives.  So I naturally thought of him when I saw this sentiment from Close to my Heart: "You make my heart sing" printed on a zip strip on top of one of the patterned papers.

I thought a couple of notes and a treble clef would be the perfect thing to add to the circles on this week's Mojo Monday sketch. (And I think he'll forgive the pink patterned paper that I embossed and rubbed with white pigment ink since it's a Valentine!)

Here's a close-up of the sentiment and heart.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Aud Sentiments Challenge #148 - Use a love sentiment 

Bitten by the Bug 2 - Valentine Hearts (Cranberry heart from Hannah Montana cart)

Craft Rocket Challenge #8 - Valentine/Love

Crafty Girls Challenge #14 - anything goes

Die Cuttin' Divas #252 -  Love (Die cuts include Cricut die cuts: Artiste circles, Hannah Montana music symbols and heart.)

Everybody Art Challenge #355 - Hearts

Mojo Monday #434 - sketch

Through the Purple Haze #95 - Share some love

Unicorn Challenge #6 - Lots of Love

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 - 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: