Perfect Sentiments Challenge #99 - Thanksgiving Sketch

Here in the U.S. we'll be celebrating Thanksgiving this month. It is a time to reflect on the blessings God has given us this past year. We teach children in school our history of Pilgrims coming to America in 1620 to have religious freedom and how difficult it was to start a new home in a cold wilderness, a difficult winter, with half of their numbers dying. We rejoice that Native Americans helped them in the spring to plant crops, fish, and hunt so that they prospered enough to have a large celebration of Thanksgiving after harvest. Four years later, some of my family came to America to join more Pilgrims, also seeking religious freedom. A few years later my husband's O'Dell family moved to the same town, Concord, Massachusetts, then part of Plymouth Colony. Knowing this gives me an even stronger connection with the struggles of the early Pilgrims.  I admire their determination and the strength they received from their faith in God. I love sharing this story with the younger generation of our family so that they may, in turn, pass on their history and faith with their future families.

Where I live, we get together with family and have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner that includes turkey, dressing, cranberries, sweet potatoes, a variety of vegetables, and ends with pumpkin pie. Fortunately for me, I'm allergic to most of it and will eat a much smaller meal. But I still enjoy baking a turkey for everyone else. The aroma fills the house for hours and gives me so many memories of days gone by and family members gone to be with the Lord.

So I had to include a turkey with our sketch today.  The Challenge: create a card with a Thanksgiving theme following this sketch. Don't forget your sentiment. 


 Robyn's Fetish, our lovely sponsor, will provide a prize of 5 images to the random winner.

 Here's our fun sketch:


























Here's my "Turkey" take on our fun sketch:

I used the CTMH Huntington paper pack with its warm fall colors. I cut the leaves using the Cricut Artbooking cartridge "b" key. The turkey, from the stamp set Perfect Fit -  Thanksgiving, was cut with the Cricut Artiste, then stamped.  The sentiment "Happy Thanksgiving" also comes from that same stamp set. The leaves were from CTMH and are long retired, but not from my drawer. I added some Crème Brulee and Olive inks to the leaves as well as a small bow tied with Harvest Assortment Baker's Twine.

The inside sentiment is lovely word art that I saved last year from Little Birdie Blessings. I lined the top and bottom with "Huntington" zip strips.

"From the fullness of his grace we have all received one Blessing after another." John 1:16.

Thank you for visiting and may God bless you and increase your awareness of the many ways He's blessed you. May your heart be filled with thankfulness no matter where you live!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Cuttin' and Stampin'  #44 - Giving Thanks
Die Cut Divas - Holidays and Celebrations
Everybody-Art-Challenge #252 - Autumn
Going Grey with Scrap Creations - Give Thanks
Path of Positivity #8 - Thankfulness
Ribbon Carousel Challenge #87 - Holidays and Celebrations & spooled item Baker's Twine
Rose Blossom Garden #15 - Fall/Thanksgiving theme and leaf flourish from Artbooking "b" key
Scrapping Everyday Miracles - Thankfulness
Shopping Our Stash #126 - Thanks (leftover paper and some very old leaves from my stash)
Word Art Wednesday #104 - anything goes with Scripture or uplifting/encouraging verse



 

Perfect Sentiment Challenge #98 - Fall or Halloween

This week at the Perfect Sentiment Challenge we are asking you to make a card for fall or Halloween with a sentiment on the front. I was without internet service for several days and couldn't download images from our lovely sponsor, Bugaboo Digi Stamps. Bugaboo will have free digi images for one winner of our challenge.


My card takes a different perspective of Halloween. I used paper and a sticker from Basic Grey to illustrate the dark, scary, or stormy times in life and a Scripture sentiment about how we need to trust in the Lord instead of being afraid.

 

Perfect Sentiment Challenge #97 - Poinsettia Christmas

Going through my Christmas card stash last week gave me a little jab to get busy creating! Maybe some of you need to add to your stash - or even get started creating your holiday cards. Now is the time! Our new challenge at The Perfect Sentiment Challenge this week:

Create a holiday card and incorporate a poinsettia into the design of your card. It can be the image, a die-cut you add to the design of your card, etc. Be sure to include a sentiment on the front of your card.

We have a new sponsor for this challenge: Daydream Designs by Diane Noble. You can find quite a few poinsettia digis from her store. Her prize is three free digital sets. Part of the qualification for the prize is that participants "like" their facebook page.

 

I chose to use the one with a candy cane because I wanted to include the legend of the candy cane inside this card for a grandchild. I want to emphasize the real meaning of Christmas to each of my eight grandkids:

For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

 

 

I used the new Christmas paper pack from Close To My Heart, Sparkle and Shine. I thought the red and white stripes would coordinate with the candy cane and the grey dotted paper would make a good neutral background for it. I thought I'd experiment and added some embossing of like designs on the gray dotted paper (Swiss dots) and the red (Ornate Swirls).  I colored the image with Copics: R29, R35. R89, RV29; YG03, YG63, G85, G94, HY17. I also used this sketch from Sunday Sketch and Stamp.

 

 

The sentiment on front, from a long-retired CTMH acrylic stamp, is perfect to coordinate with the inside sentiment that I found on internet. Here is the message I'm including on all my candy cane cards this year. I typed it so you can feel free to copy and paste it if you want:

 

Look at the Candy Cane
What do you see?
Stripes that are red
Like the blood shed for me
White is for my Savior
Who’s sinless and pure!
“J” is for Jesus My Lord, that’s for sure!
Turn it around
And a staff you will see
Jesus my shepherd
Was born for Me!

Merry Christmas!

I hope you'll join our challenge. I'm looking forward to seeing your lovely creations. May God bless you as you create holiday cards that will bless others!

 

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

 

Addicted to Stamps #67 – Christmas is coming

Christmas Card Challenge #47 – flowers

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long #38 - Christmas candy

Deep Ocean #63 – Button It Up

Hiding in my Craft Room #120 - Color It

Inkspirational #41 - Anything Goes

Joanna Sheen – Button it up

Scribble and Scrap #3 – Anything goes

Sunday Sketch and Stamp #179 – sketch

Word Art Wednesday #102 - anything goes with Scripture or uplifting, encouraging verse

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perfect Sentiment Challenge #95 - Layered Thanksgiving

Practicing GRATITUDE has amazing benefits. When I was a child many decades ago, adults reminded us frequently to say thank you to others for any gift or kindness. When we were learning to pray, we were taught to thank God first before asking for something for ourselves. These simple habits were only a beginning. GRATITUDE goes much deeper.  Sometimes it means seeing what we can be thankful for during difficulties.  The eyes of GRATITUDE see beyond our own self interests or circumstances. GRATITUDE even increases after times of great difficulty. Now that I'm older, I hope that I can practice even more GRATITUDE during times of difficulty.

Corrie Ten Boom learned how to be thankful for lice in a concentration camp during World War II. She reminded her sister that because of the lice, the guards didn't come into their building and they could worship and pray.

Our challenge this week at Perfect Sentiment is to make a multi-layered card that expresses Thanksgiving.

I love the CTMH "Always Grateful" sentiment stamp that I used today:  GRATITUDE turns what we have into ENOUGH. The patterned papers are from the CTMH Huntington collection. I used this week's sketch from Mojo Monday. It had great potential for layering, especially if each element was matted.

I used two embossing folders (The Paper Studio Quatrefoil & Sizzix Ornate Swirls) to dress up the Barn Red and Goldrush cardstock. I fussy cut two of the floral images from the patterned paper. The second one was only the flower itself, pop dotted on the larger image (more layering). I also layered two ribbons, very old Autumn Terracotta organdy and a 1/8" satin ribbon. I added a little adhesive to the satin ribbon so it would stay in place while I was tying it.

I hope this gives you some ideas for a card you can share with us at The Perfect Sentiment Challenge.
I also challenge you to find something new for which to be grateful in your circumstances.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Bearly Mine #107 - Ribbon, string, or twine
Mojo Monday #314 - Sketch
Papertake Weekly - Use two of something (2 ribbons, 2 embossing folders)
Shopping Our Stash #122 - old stash (ribbons) and 2 embossing folders

 



Try It On Tuesday - add Texture (dry embossing and lots of pop dots)
Word Art Wednesday #101 - anything goes with Scripture or encouraging/uplifting sentiment


 

Perfect Sentiments Challenge #93 - Holiday Snowflakes



This week at The Perfect Sentiments Challenge the design team made cards with snowflakes. They can be stamped, die cut, embossed, or any way you can add them to your card. Remember to add a sentiment of your choice to the front of your card.  Earlier this week my hubby was in southwest Colorado where it was snowing already in the San Juan Mountains. I would rather see your lovely snowflake creations or see his snow photos than to actually have snow here where we live.  We hope you'll join our challenge with your own fun creations.

I chose the sentiment "Kisses from Heaven" because I remember the feeling of looking up during snowfall and having snowflakes alight on my face like a gentle kiss. Sound familiar?

I used three embossing folders for this card. The heart is included on the card and is embossed with hearts to represent the love God has for us, even when sending snow! Both the heart and the snowflake were cut using the Cricut Artiste cartridge at 2.5" and the Kraft border on the left is a remnant after cutting some frames using the Cricut Artbooking cartridge. (I'm trying to save my abundance of "scraps" and find good uses for them.) The Kraft border was stamped with a tiny CTMH snowflake.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
Amusing Challenge - pearls and/or gems (pink sparkles and red glitter gems on the small snowflakes)
Card Mania #30 - use at least 1 button
Craft-Room Challenge - Use something wooden (the wooden button)
Creative Craft Challenge #19 - use ribbon
Christmas Stampin' All Year #34 - anything goes to spread Christmas cheer
Use It Tuesdays #64 - use 2 hoarded items (pink CTMH ribbon from 2005 and one of only a few wooden buttons from two years ago that I've been hoarding)



 

Perfect Sentiment Challenge #92 - Find Me Some Fall

Where we live fall is a beautiful time of year, but not nearly as much as areas that have aspens or sugar maples turning bright yellow or red. Here the pumpkins are ready in the area farmer's markets.

WE CHALLENGE YOU TO CREATE A CARD FOR THE OCCASION OF YOUR CHOICE AND EITHER USE FALL IMAGES OR FALL COLORS. DON'T FORGET TO INCLUDE YOUR SENTIMENT ON THE FRONT.

Our sponsor is Pattie's Creations who is providing 3 free digis to our lucky winner.

 

I used her fall image with a pumpkin cut into a watering "can" with two mums, the fall flower I used to line the church railing at my wedding some years ago.

 

 

I used this sketch from A Die for a Sketch:

 

The inside verse is encouragement from a Plain Jane stamp from Verve:

Be strong and take heart all you who hope in the Lord. Psalm 31:24. 

 

 

 

The papers I used were retired Close To My Heart Colonial White cardstock, "Moonlight" and "Flirty." I used two dies from Spellbinders, Scalloped Circle and Foliage 2. The scalloped circle was sponged with CTMH whisper near the edge while it was still in the die. This is the way the dies are used like a stencil so that the edges stay white. The foliage was cut from the same green designer paper on the sides, but colored over with a darker Green G99 Copic marker. Because Copic inks are translucent, you can still slightly see the design of the paper on the leaves.   

 

Copics used: V04, V09, V15: YG03, G24, G99; Y17, Y32, E13 and W1 for the shadow.  I built up layers of color on the pumpkin trying to get what I wanted: YR02, YR04, YR61, YR68.

 

 

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

A Die for a Sketch -#16 - September sketch

Craft Your Passion #180 - Autumn/fall colors

Crafty Sentiments Designs - fall/autumn colors

Eureka Weekly Challenge #57 - color inspiration

Lexi's Creations - Autumn Colors

Oldie But a Goodie - Dies and Punches

(Pin)spirational Challenge #75 - photo inspiration - colors of autumn

The Crazy Challenge #154 - Color inspiration photo

Word Art Wednesday #97 - Anything Goes with Scripture or encouraging uplifting sentiment

 

 

 

Perfect Sentiment Challenge #91 - Thank You Card

It's time for another challenge at The Perfect Sentiment. This week we're challenging you to

CREATE A CARD WITH A SENTIMENT OF THANKS. INCLUDE YOUR SENTIMENT ON THE FRONT OF THE CARD.

Our Sponsor this week is Stitchy Bear Digital Stamps that has an amazing number of digis. One lucky winner will get 3 free digis!

 

My card today uses the Stitchy Bear Image called, "Finch on Pine."

 

 

I used this fun sketch from Sweet Sunday Sketch  #192.

 

 

The finches where we live are yellow, so I used these Copic markers on the image: Y13, Y15, Y17(beak), N0, N2, N4 (for shading), YG16 (pine needles), E44 and a lighter one (on pine cone), and BG70, BG10, and B000 (on the sky). 

 

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

 

Clear it Out Challenge - Thank you card and stash item (retired stamp sentiment and wooden button)

Crafty Bloggers Network September - Things with Wings

Creative Card Crew #44 - Things with Wings

Cuttlebug Mania - Back to Nature (Cuttlebug embossing folder "Pinking Stitch" used on yellow strip)

Craft-room Challenge - Trees and/or leaves (pine branch)

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #192 - sketch above 

 

 

Perfect Sentiment Challenge #88 - Christmas without Red or Green



This week at The Perfect Sentiment Challenge we want to see your

 Christmas card without using any red or green.

We have some delightful Christmas images on our challenge blog that you can see on the Christmas tab at the top of the PSC blog. One lucky winner will get to choose 3 of those Christmas digis. My card features one of those digis, "Mail Girl," which I colored with Copics (B000, BG72, BG 78, B99, E00,  W1, N2, N4, E35, E18).

I used this week's sketch for Mojo Monday #307.

 

I used Twilight ink to stamp this sentiment I love from CTMH "Flakey Friends:"

 

snowflakes are kisses sent from heaven

 

The snowflake papers are from Close To My Heart's new "Frosted" paper pack and two scraps used for a banner and a circle mat are from retired packs. The silver snowflakes are also older, from Stampendous. I added a lot of dots of White Opal Liquid Pearls from Ranger on top of the digi snowflakes. I added a few Pearl Opaques and snowflakes on the laces.

 

The inside is a great verse from Clearly Digi Stamps:

 

 

 

I hope you'll check out the Christmas cards from the other design team members and join in the fun at The Perfect Sentiments Challenge. I can't wait to see your creative ideas!

 

 

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Crafty Boots - Christmas in August

Cuttin' and Stampin' #33 - Monochromatic (shades of Twilight blue with a touch of neutrals)

Fashionista Challenge #19 - Christmas

Lexi's Creations #97 - sparkle and shine (liquid pearls, pearl opaque, silver snowflakes)

Marker Pop Challenge #29 - use colors in the blue or blue/green family

Mojo Monday #307 - sketch

Paper Playtime Challenge #17 - use pearls

 

 

 

 

 



 

PSC #77 - Make it Feminine

This week at The Perfect Sentiments Challenge we are celebrating mothers and all the girls and ladies in our lives. We'd like you to

CREATE A CARD AND MAKE IT FEMININE. USE LACE, PEARLS, BLING, LACY DIE CUTS, DOILIES, ANYTHING THAT A GIRL LOVES. DON'T FORGET TO INCLUDE YOUR SENTIMENT ON THE FRONT

Our sponsor is Robyn's Fetish who will provide one lucky winner with 5 free digis!

 

My card uses the Robyn's Fetish digi stamp called English Tea Cup. This was the perfect image for me. My family knows that I absolutely love to drink my tea every day the English way - with milk. My mom fixed it for me that way on snowy days when I was young and it "stuck" with me the rest of my life. My grandson got me an extra large pink teacup for Christmas and he's seen me use it many times!

 

 



 

To make my card feminine I used colors shown in the above inspiration from The Shabby Tea Room. I used soft papers with pink, green, and aqua blue from MME "Totally Girl."  I colored the teacup with copics using those soft colors plus light gray for shadows. I added pink lace and pink sparkles along with a shiny organdy ribbon bow and white and pink rosette ribbon flowers with pink sparkles in the center.  The teacup theme goes perfectly with the sentiment stamp from Our Daily Bread Designs, Proverbs 27:9, "A sweet friendship refreshes the soul."

 

I can't wait to see how you make your card feminine!

 

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

CCEE Stampers #1317 - In the Kitchen

Crafty Ribbons #44 - anything with ribbon

Creative Card Crew #35 - Bling

Dilly Beans - Think Pink

Robyn's Fetish #157 - Stripes or dots

The Hybrid Chick Card Caravan - use flowers

The Shabby Tea Room #164 - Beautiful Spring - using photo colors, flowers, lace, and ribbon

Totally Papercrafts #164 - flowers and lace

Word Art Wednesday #77 - anything with encouraging, uplifting verse

 

 

 

 

 



Perfect Sentiments Challenge #74 - Sweet Treats

Last week I had three birthday celebrations. I was actually supposed to go to a fourth one for a grandson until I got a bad migraine. I heard that 17 kids came to the skating party in a very crowded skating rink-definitely migraine atmosphere. My daughter was surprised because many of the kids weren't invited - the party was spread among kids on his baseball team. Obviously, birthdays are big events for kids! What warmed my heart the most was that my grandson asked after the party where I was. He missed me! That's really sweet for a shy seven-year old boy who was just overwhelmed by lots of friends. It didn't matter to him that I'd come down on his actual birthday to do things with him and to bring his gift. I made this card with his sweetness in mind.

Our challenge at The Perfect Sentiment this week is:

CREATE A CARD FOR THE OCCASION OF YOUR CHOICE USING SOMETHING SWEET...CUPCAKES, CANDY, ICECREAM, ETC. DON'T FORGET TO INCLUDE YOUR SENTIMENT ON THE FRONT.

Our sponsor is Meljen's Designs who will have 4 free digis for one lucky winner.

I used one of Meljen's Designs birthday images that is just too cute! I thought this image was perfect for little boys with that mouse coming out of the cake! My color combination also had my grandsons in mind. The Close To My Heart sentiment that I used was perfect for our Sweet Treats challenge.

I placed Bitty Blue green sparkles on the dots that were on the digi image. Stars cut from silver glitter paper finished the sparkly effect.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
City Crafter #154 - Happy Birthday!
Digital Tuesday Challenge #205 - for Boys (using a digi)
Dream Valley #54 - Happy Birthday
Ladybug Crafts Ink TLT - A card for a child or teen
Love to Scrap #2 - Recipe: 3 or more layers (5), 2 patterned papers (dots and stripes), 1 image
My Craft Spot Monday Challenge #94 - Cute Critters
One Stop Craft #223 - Birthdays
Stamp with Fun #206 - Birthdays
The Crafting Café - Let's Celebrate
Totally Gorjuss #178 - Anything goes with Sparkle




 

PSC63 - Blue, Silver and White Winter Birthday Card

 This week at The Perfect Sentiments Challenge we have a lovely color challenge for any occassion:                                                                                                                                   

                                  
  CREATE A CARD WITH A SENTIMENT FOR THE OCCASION OF YOUR CHOICE. INCORPORATE BLUE, SILVER, AND WHITE INTO YOUR DESIGN.

Our sponsor is 2 Cute Ink. I just discovered how truly cute their images are. They're providing 3 free digis to one lucky winner!

If you ever come to my blog looking for a specific style, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. I love playing with paper using many different styles. The one I chose for this color combination was fairly clean and simple. These colors spoke to me of winter snow. I discovered that all of my newest blue patterned papers were aqua and I wanted more of a true blue to go with silver, so I chose some from my old, old, old patterned paper that is filed away by color. I made my own simple sketch this time.

 I tried a couple of new things with this card. I attached the light blue patterned paper before embossing the front of the card, hoping the embossing would be the same on both layers so it would show inside, too. Also, I tried stacking four layers of Cricut-cut snowflakes, 2" and 2.75," to give it more interest. I added a silver glitter brad to the center as a glittery, finishing touch. I did find that it helped to line up the layers and add one small glue dot, rolled thin, under each layer so they'd stay lined up properly.

I heat embossed the sentiment on front, added a strip of my new silver glitter paper and some white lace, then attached my snowflake embellishment. Then I finished by stamping the inside and adding part of the snowflake cut-outs with silver glitter glue in the middle:

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Little Miss Muffet Challenge #51 - Winter Birthdays
MilkCoffee Challenge - Snowflakes/Snow plus Sparkle and/or Glitter
Gingerloft #55 - Let It Snow
The Hybrid Chick Card Caravan #36 - Winter





5: x 6.5" Birthday Card Recipe:
Paper - Close To My Heart retired Moonstruck paper pack (ancient!), White Daisy Cardstock, Silver Glitter paper from CTMH Black and Gray Glitter Paper (coming soon)
Stamps - Our Daily Bread Designs "Happy Birthday" stamp set
Inks - CTMH Clear embossing ink, Moonstruck
Accents - CTMH Silver-Glitter Brads, White embossing powder, Silver Glitter Glue; Offray lace
Tools - Cricut Art Philosophy (snowflakes), Cuttlebug embossing folder, heat gun

 

PSC45 Polka Dotted Thank You

I'm one of those people who likes to encourage others. Yesterday as I shopped for grandkids school supplies, I tried to make eye contact and warmly thank each clerk. I think they need that. I really should make a million thank you cards to show friends and others how much I appreciate them and the things they do. My heart is probably filled with more gratitude than my words express, even though I try to be consciencious.

Today's challenge at The Perfect Sentiments is such a fun Thank You card because it uses Polka Dots. I love adding them to cards.

I couldn't resist cutting out this polka dotted flower from the dp. I also cut out a black dotted flower from the stickers and pop dotted it on the flower. The sketch I used was Pattern 26 from a new Close To My Heart pattern book, Make It from Your Heart.

I embossed the yellow layer with Swiss Dots. Then I brayered Cranberry ink on an embossing folder with larger dots, only on the side where the dots are raised. I put the red paper face down on the inked side and ran it through my Wizard. That debossed the red layer, slightly coloring the dots. I wanted both of those layers to have subtle polka dots since the patterned paper and flower had such bold dots. I had considered embossing the white background of the card but decided that would be just too much!

My sentiment stamp had two lines, so I covered the second line with Scotch tape, inked the stamp, pulled off the tape, and only one line was stamped- my favorite masking trick. The red glitter gel shows up on the flower, but not so well on the scalloped border in this photo.

Thank you for visiting! May God fill your heart with gratitude for the blessings you receive!

4.25" x 5.5" Thank You Card Recipe:
Paper - Basic Grey "June Bug," "Color Me Silly"
Stamp - Close To My Heart Pemberley workshop set (retired)
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Accents - CTMH retired Holiday Red organdy ribbon, Red Glitz Glitter Gel; old dotted ribbon from my stash, Cuttlebug embossing folders

PSC44 CAS Sympathy Card

"The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms . . ." Deuteronomy 33:27.

Quite often we have a difficult time knowing what to say when a friend has lost a loved one. I like to send a message to friends that God is their comfort and that I'm there for them, too.
This week the Perfect Sentiment Challenge #44 is to make a Sympathy card. The twist is to use a Clean and Simple design, which means there is lots of white space and limited layers or embellishments, yet still have a strong design.

We're being sponsored by Shelly's Images. One lucky participant will be selected to win one of their free digital images.

Clean and Simple is a great style for mailing cards since the embellishments are limited.

I chose to cut two roses from my designer paper and color empty sections with my alcohol markers - very quick. I stamped the sentiment, then ran the background through the embossing machine. The shiny, gray dotted ribbon that holds the roses gave me the inspiration to add the dotted background. I added gray sparkles, hoping to draw the eye from the roses to the sentiment and still be really simple. I was thinking of my friend whose father just died and added them for her, knowing that I'd hand deliver the card this week, so bulky sparkles wouldn't be a problem.

The stamp set I used had this sentiment that I used on the inside:

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Heart 2 Heart Challenge - (use Close To My Heart supplies) With Deepest Sympathy

Lexi's Creations Challenge #71 - Sparkle and Shine

Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge #53 - Bling and Ribbon

6.5" x 5" Sympathy Card Recipe:

Paper - Close To My Heart "Flirty" (roses), White Daisy cardstock

Stamps - CTMH "Words of Comfort"

Ink - Black

Accents - CTMH Slate Satin Polka Dot Ribbon, Black and Gray Assortment Sparkles

Tools - Cuttlebug embossing folder



PSC43 - Girlfriends

This is my first week as a The Perfect Sentiments design team member. I'm already noticing what great friends they are together. God has blessed me with many wonderful friends throughout life, so the theme this week is one dear to my heart - Girlfriends: Create a card with a sentiment for friendship. The twist is to use girly embellishments like pearls, lace, bling, flowers, etc. Our sponsor this week is Meljen's Designs. They will be giving a prize of 4 free digis to our lucky winner!

Here's my card celebrating the wonderful friends that I have.

Please visit the other team members at The Perfect Sentiment and join our challenge this week as we celebrate friendship!

Sentiment Technique:

I couldn't find just the right sentiment to go with my image so I combined two different sentiment stamps from Close To My Heart by masking out the unwanted words using scotch tape when I inked the stamp, pulling it off, then stamping. The unwanted words are clean and uninked!

For more dimension, I cut the petals of the sunflower apart and bent them different ways. I also stamped, colored, cut, and pop dotted a second brown center  for the flower.

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

One Stop Craft Challenge #193 - Just Good Friends 

Shopping Our Stash Weekly Challenge #62 - What Was I Thinking (when I bought hundreds of sheets of discounted gingham dp in every color back in 2006???)

Simon Says Stamp and Show - What Do You Say? (creative sentiments)

Try It On Tuesday - Anything Goes for July

6.5" x 5" Friendship Card Recipe:

Papers - Prima "Botanical;" CTMH Black, White Daisy Cardstock and very old Shell Pink Gingham

Images - Clearly Vintage Ladies and Sunflowers, CTMH Friendship Bouquet sunflower

Sentiment Stamps - Close To My Heart "Endless Friendship," "Friendship Bouquet"(quote

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Markers - Copic

Accents - CTMH Licorice Opaques, retired pink organdy and crocheted lace

Perfect Sentiments Challenge 38 Here Comes the Sun

This week PSC38 is Here Comes The Sun. As I'm writing this we have a heat index of 105 degrees outside my house, definitely a sunny day!  Since this is the first full week of summer here, this is the perfect challenge!

The challenge this week: create a card with a sunny sentiment like: you are my sunshine, wishing you sunny days, you shine, etc.

The twist: include an image of the sun on your card. The sponsor this week is  Pattie's Creations.

My patterned paper for paper piecing my sun was inspired by the tiny prints in the  sunburst quilt at the Inspired By challenge:

I embossed the light blue background to represent the radiating heat. If you've traveled somewhere hot I bet you've seen that rising from the road. I used a sunshine stamp that was just one fourth of the sun, so I stamped the yellow sun four times on yellow cardstock. I wanted the smaller rays made from orange patterned paper with a tiny pattern like the ones in the quilt photo, but I didn't have what I wanted. So I stamped it again four times on pink patterned paper with the yellow ink, making it orangish. Then I paper pieced it. The really fun part was lining up my 2" circle die to cut out the center of the sun, the cardstock and the front of the card. The sentiment and banner were also part of that stamp set. I finished it with yellow, orange and pink baker's twines tied together.

These sunny sentiments are great for many different occassions. I hope you'll enjoy playing along with our challenge at Perfect Sentiments. May God bless you with sunshine in your life today.

"For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly." Psalm 84:11

Other challenges for this card:

Charisma Cardz Challenge #24 - Summer

Deep Ocean Challenge #28 - Welcome Summer

Inspired By #29 - a sunburst quilt

Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenge #25 - 3 of anything (3 different stamps and 3 baker's twines, yellow, orange, pink)

The Ribbon Carousel Challenge #59 - Paper Piecing

5.5" x 4.25" Card Recipe:

Paper - Close To My Heart "Sophia," Sunkiss Yellow, Sky, White Daisy cardstock

Stamps - CTMH "Splendid Day"

Ink - CTMH Sunkiss Yellow, Black

Accents and Tools - Cuttlebug "Divine Swirls" embossing folder, Bazzill button, Spellbinders Nestabilities Circles die, CTMH Paradise Assortment Baker's twine, crochet thread

Perfect Sentiments for the Graduate - Gift Card Holder

This week at Perfect Sentiments Challenge #37:

The Challenge: use a sentiment appropriate for a graduate. Sentiment must be on the front of your card.

The Twist: create either a gift card / money holder or a card with a designated place for the gift card/cash

 

I made a graduation card using the colors of our local school. Three of our kids went there and two graduated from the high school. Lawson's mascot is a cardinal, so red is the predominant color. I chose to make my own version of a Joy Fold card using stripes in the school colors and gray dotted paper.

I started with a premade card base that is 6.5" x 5."  I cut the front in half lengthwise at 2.5" and covered it with Dotty For You gray flannel paper that is 6.25" x 2.25" on the front and back side. I attached the striped piece inside, measuring 6.25" x 4.75." 

The red cardstock was cut at 4" x 7" and folded in half. The outer side was embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder and decorated. The inner half had a 3"x 3" envelope attached, using some extra strong sticky tape to handle a gift card or cash being moved in and out without detaching. The top flap of that envelope was cut off since the gift card would stick up a little above the opening.  I love the sentiment that's attached to the envelope. It's perfect for graduations. I also left room for a short note.

The outside has a matted and decorated circle attached using dimensional tape only on the bottom half so that the red flap can fit in the top. That's what keeps the card closed.

I hope this helps you sometime in designing your own gift card holder. Be sure and stop by Perfect Sentiments for more ideas.

Challenges for this card:
Craft Your Passion #115 Flips and Folds (more than one fold)
Fairy Tale Challenge 42 - money or gift card holder
Here Come the Boys #29 - More than one fold
Pile It On #25 - Graduation with School Colors
Stamptaclar Sunday Challenge #168 - Fabulous Folds, more than one