Mojo Monday Live Beautifully Mother's Day Card

I have been blessed to have a wonderful mother-in-law, Virginia! She's 92 years old now, but still has the loving, gracious personality she's had all these years. She was a teacher like me and always encouraged me.  On Virginia's birthday last month, I presented her two large scrapbooks that celebrated her life.  I've done this each year since her 90th birthday. I always have more layouts to add each year. She never seems to tire of the layouts, photos, and stories.  Her delight and comments make all this scrapbooking worthwhile.

With National Scrapbook Month coming May 1st, I thought I'd use the amazing paper pack and stamp set that CTMH has as a special treat for us in May.  The floral and gold foiled papers are elegant and perfect for Mother's Day. So was the sketch at Mojo Monday this week.

I wanted the beautiful papers in the background to show the most possible so I made the middle layer gold dotted vellum from the All  About Gold Fundamentals paper pack. I edged it with the gold shimmer brush but the lighting didn't show it very well.  The sentiment panel is backed with gold glitter paper. It was stamped with a sentiment from the CTMH retired "For Family." I had spent time practicing making bows thanks to Bonnie Darby's tutorial video's. on Really Reasonable Ribbon's blog! I used an old black organdy Ribbon Round to make this double layer double bow.

The rose was stamped first with Thistle ink then with Cotton Candy. I had tried several combinations to get colors that matched the paper and this one was the best. I used the Gold Shimmer Brush on the center of the rose. I added three gold glitter gems to complete the gold embellishments.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

CCEE Stampers #1717 - floral image for National Garden Month
Crafty Cardmakers #187 - pearls and/or gems
Fussy and Fancy #186 - anything goes
Mojo Monday #494 - sketch
Really Reasonable Ribbon #162 - Put a bow on it
The Ribbon Girls April Challenge - use any image with ribbon

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



MOJO Monday 245 Birthday Card with Flowers and Ribbon

Life has been so busy the past week that it was good to spend time in my craft room to create again. I made this card for my sister's birthday. Four of my siblings inherited a muscular dystrophy called Charcot Marie Tooth Disease. I am the oldest and feel quite fortunate that I was spared that malady that has put all but my brother in a wheel chair. One of those younger sisters died in her early 30's. I have my own muscle disease that is disabling at times, but seeing their problems helps me minimize my own. It's also a reminder that this body is temporary, but our soul will live on.

This birthday card is for Susan whose faith has remained strong. She has shown courage in the face of seemingly insurmountable problems at times. Her feet now look like skin wrapped around a pile of unconnected bones. The best foot surgeons in Kansas City say there's nothing they can do. And yet she stays vigilant in her wheelchair, always working to keep up her health after many surgeries on many parts of the body. I pray that God will give her strength and that she'll experience His mercy, grace and love for each new challenge. I chose this stamp set from Our Daily Bread Designs for the verse I put inside: 

Dear Friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even your soul is getting along well. 3 John 1:2

Here's the sketch from MOJO Monday that I used today.

I chose the color palette from Come and Get It Challenge for June: Colors of Spring:

Lexi's Creations challenged me to make a birthday card. Really Reasonable Ribbon inspired me to use the flowers stamp I hadn't tried yet, and of course, to embellish with ribbon.  Shopping Our Stash Weekly gave me the idea to use two different ribbons. That was perfect for the ribbon banners on the left side, but I also decided to try using those two ribbons to make my bow embellishment. I tied a piece of crochet thread around the middle of the larger grosgrain ribbon behind the satin bow to give it the dimensional appearance I wanted.

Thank you for looking, and may God bless you and encourage your heart today so you can in turn encourage others.

Challenges for this card:

Come and Get It - Colors of Spring

Lexi's Cerations Challenge #67 - Happy Birthday

MOJO Monday sketch #245

Really Reasonable Ribbons Challenge #49 - Flowers and Ribbon

Shopping Our Stash Weekly Challenge #55 - Double the Ribbon

5" x 6.5" Birthday Card Recipe:
Paper - All from scraps! Basic Grey pink scrap, Close To My Heart "Lucy" floral scrap, Colonial White, Creme Brulee, Lilac Mist, Spring Iris cardstock scraps
Stamps - Our Daily Bread Designs "Birthday Blessings"
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, CTMH Creme Brulee
Accents and Tools - CTMH Creme Brulee Ribbon Collection; Copic Markers; 3" and 1.5" circle punches and corner rounder; Spellbinders Nestabilities " Lacey Circles" and "Heart Circles;"  Cuttlebug "Scalloped Edge" embossing folder

MOJO Monday 236

Life has many disappointments, pressures, and uncertainties, so I want my friends to know that despite problems, there is always hope. One day my daughter called me when she felt so overwhelmed at work. She asked me to pray for her.  I did, and I also told her to  think about those things that are beautiful, a place, some flowers, a kindness, a friend, anything lovely so that the negative thoughts that can come with being overwhelmed will be shut out and unable to take root. I reminded her of the ideas in Philippians 4:8, Whatever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, if they have any virtue or praise, think on these things.That is one aspect of this beautiful sentiment from Verve: Where flowers bloom so does HOPE. Flowers seem to cheer the sick or bereaved in our culture and to celebrate with the newlyweds. I made this card with bright, cheerful colors to go with meaning of this sentiment. Here's the sketch from MOJO Monday #236:

This Verve stamp set, Hope Blooms, has flowers as well as sentiments. I lightly stamped the largest flower before overstamping it with the sentiment. I wanted to use the large yellow ginham ribbon with the button and twin to go with Challenge #45 at Really Reasonable Ribbon - to use Buttons and Bows. I chose to use part of a flower strip sticker that went with the June Bug paper pack instead of a strip of patterned paper. 

May your life bloom with beauty, flowers, and hope!

6.5" x 5" Card Recipe:

Paper - Basic Grey June Bug; CTMH Dotty for You, Sunny Yellow and White Daisy cardstock

Stamps - Verve "Hope Blooms"

Ink - CTMH Sunkiss Yellow, Black

Other - Yellow Gingham Ribbon from my stash, CTMH Red button collection; My Mind's Eye Baker's twine, Spellbinders Nestabilities die, 2" circle punch

A Friend Who Touches Your Heart

With the arrival of Spring, our yard has become a whole rainbow of colors, so this card is representative of some of these. When I was younger I planted lots of bulbs, especially daffodils, and many flowering trees and shrubs. The many blossoms have attracted a wide variety of butterflies already. I wanted this card to be bright and cheerful with its Spring palette.

Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge #132 today used Romans 8:31b-32 "If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him?”  Miesje has a lovely, brief devotion you would enjoy reading. God is here for us in every situation and gave us the greatest gift of all, His Son, Jesus. Part of the challenge was to think about what is the greatest gift we can give to others.   I think showing appreciation for the little things in a relationship is important. I made this card for a friend to let her know how she touches my heart as a good friend. Another part of the challenge was to make a project that uses everything.

My card has several layers, the white is embossed, there are buttons, metal, felt roses, butterfly, sparkles, velvet ribbon, a doily, punched boder, a pennant, and lots of colors. The way I clustered everything around the sentiment, I'm trying to still keep the message the focus.

I chose a sentiment that I love to be the main focus of my card, which was the challenge this week from CCEE Stampers. I used a piece of special red velvet ribbon to go with the red doily, so I'm also entering this card in the Spring theme challenge at Really Reasonable Ribbon.

6.5" x 5" Card Recipe"
Paper - CTMH patterned paper (retired gingham), Blush, White Daisy, Crystal Blue Cardstock
Stamp - CTMH "Friendship" "A Huge Thanks"
Ink - CTMH Black
Other - CTMH Just Blooms butterfly, Foundry Pin clips, Red/Pink Sparkles, Winter buttons, glitter buttons; 3/8" red velvet ribbon, K & Co felt roses, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Wilton doily

The Deconstructed Sketch#39 with Word Art Wednesday

Today I was inspired to use the verse from Word Art Wednesday to make a card for my daughter who leads such a busy life but still values God's Word and considers it to be a most important aspect of her life and her family's. I had been wanting to make a card with the pink and brown palette (with lace) suggested by Really Reasonable Ribbon's Challenge #42 and the sketch from the deconstructed sketch #39 was perfect.

I printed the Word Art with a width of 2" and punched out the circle with a 2.5" punch. I knew I had some ladies' shoes, but when I looked for the stamp sets I also saw the "'girl" from my new Fashionista stamp set and knew these had to go together. She took the place of two elements on the left side. I stamped her skirt and one of the shoes in Blush and used paper piecing. I lightly stamped her bag on the same patterned paper that I used. For my friends who get that stamp set I wanted to remind them that when you cut out something thin like this girl you can always leave a white margin around the image. I think it actually looks better that way.   And, Lisa, my dear super thin daughter who's had 3 boys and two sets of large twins), she reminds me of you.

5.5" brocade textured square card:
Paper - My Mind's Eye; CTMH White Daisy Blush CS; Bazzill (brown cs)
Stamps - CTMH Fashionista, (Let's Shop, Totally Chick both retired)
Ink - Ranger Vintage Photo, CTMH Blush
Other - CTMH lace from Pink Ribbon collection, pearls, and pink sparkles, 2.75" circle form Cricut Art Philosophy; Spellbinder's LaceyCircles; 1", 1.25", 2.5" circle punches

MOJO Monday 225 Valentine

Yesterday I was too sick to go upstairs to my craft room and stamp but I couldn't resist getting started doing something crafty, so I used supplies I had downstairs to cut out hearts and paper using the MOJO Monday sketch for this week.

I cut the hearts from a Martha Stewart mat pad called "Enchanted Woodland." I chose all of the hearts that had animals "kissing." They seem to be embossed on red metallic/foil cardstock. The text paper was from the Martha Stewart "Key and Heart" mat pad. The dotted paper and red cs was an old My Mind's Eye Tres Jolie paper I still had. I cut the x's and o's on my cricut using the Paisley cartridge at 1.25." I thought that sentiment fit the vertical space when I cut it in two and it fit the theme of my little hearts with animals kissing. My card is 5" x 6.5." the small squares are 1 7/8" x 2."

I always think it just wouldn't be a Valentine without ribbon or a bow. I'm adding this to the Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge #40 to make a Valentine. I used bright pink organdy to match the embossing on two of the hearts. I'm also adding this valentine to There She Goes Clear Stamps Challenge #140 "Love is in the Air."

52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Week 1

Starting in January to make Christmas cards should help me have enough this year if I keep at it! This is the first week of the Christmas Card Throwdown challenge, making it a sketch week. I used this sketch from their blog to make my card. I hope I can meet their challenge every week.

I used the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge to cut the ornament and snowflake. I dotted glitter gel on the middle of the small snowflakes on the background paper and on the ends of the large snowflake. In real life, the rhinestone brad in the middle adds extra sparkle but looks dark in this photo. I love these new brads I bought this year. I'm entering this card with "something new" in the Basic Grey Challenge since the pink and maroon papers are from Basic Grey. Because the theme of my card is "Tis the Season to Sparkle" I'm including it in Really Reasonable Ribbon's Challenge #39, "Sparkle and Ribbon."

6.5" x 5" Card:
Paper - Basic Grey, Close To My Heart "Wonderland", White Daisy, and Twilight CS
Stamp - Close To My Heart special edition
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories - Cricut Art Philosophy, CTMH Glitz Glitter Gel Stardust, Bow Easy, ribbon unknown

Z for Zany Colored Christmas Gifts

Thanks to Basic Grey's Lemonade paper sitting in front of me, I could readily see the possibilities of "Z for Zany Christmas Colors" for another Christmas card. This was the end of the alphabet challenges from ABC Christmas Card Challenge. I hope to make one for each letter this coming year. I used the theme of "presents" suggested by Jingle Belles. I wanted to glam up the gifts a little, so I drew around the ribbons, dots, and stripes with a Sakura glitter gel pen. It seemed that the verse from The Grinch was appropriate for a gift theme. It reads: What if Christmas doesn't come from a store. --What if Christmas means a little bit more (inside the card). I stamped an arrow, cut it out slightly larger and flipped it over to stamp the sentiment. I also outlined it with the glitter gel pen and added sparkles. The silver ribbon and the silver edged organdy were both from my stash, origin unknown. I used ribbon that sparkled to go along with the blue sparkles and glitter gel pen accents, so I'm entering this card in Really Reasonable Ribbon's challenge this week. It's also in the Basic Grey Challenge #59.

I used this Sketch #139 from Unscripted Sketches. This sketch has so many possibilities for future cards!

Materials:

Paper - Basic Grey "Lemonade"

Stamps - CTMH "Peace on Earth"(sentiment), "Confetti and Favors" (stack of gifts)

Ink - CTMH Tulip, Vineyard Berry, Twilight

Watercolored Daisy Sympathy

On my third sympathy card today I used a 6" x 6" Kraft Die-Cut card from CTMH that has an extra flap that is scalloped. I chose to put that flap at the bottom of the card. I made my own design using Basic Grey "Origins" papers and cardstock. I watercolored the daisy after stamping it with Memento Black Tuxedo ink. I picked up ink from the lids of three colors on the wet brush, making the centers a little darker with Sunny Yellow and a streak of Creme Brulee in a line down the inner center of each petal. The Sunkiss Yellow that I painted near the tips of the petals hardly showed at all. This technique was for the Watercolor portion of the Friday Mashup Challenge #38 (not the sketch). I'm also entering this card in today's Simon Says Stamp Challenge and the Really Reasonable Ribbon's Challenge #38. I know my daughter-in-law will love the wide yellow gingham ribbon. This card is also enterred in the Basic Grey Challenge 59.

This second image shows the flap down.

Materials:

Paper - Basic Grey "Origins, CTMH Kraft, Black Cardstock, Bazzil CS (dark brown)

Stamps - CTMH "Card Chatter-Sympathy", retired daisy

Ink - Memento Black, CTMH Sunny Yellow, Creme Brulee, Sunkiss Yellow

Accessories - 3" circle punch