September SOTM Blog Hop - Feel So Blessed

Welcome to our CTMH Stamp of the Month blog hop! You're on the right path if you just came from Michele Rowley's blog. To see the entire list of participants, visit Melinda Everitt's blog here.

I chose to use the feather image and large sentiments for these cards. The first card has feathers stamped on both the lighter and darker shades of Nutmeg cardstock. The difference is subtle, but if you look carefully, you can see the one on the right is from the lighter back side of the paper. The paper rectangles are from the new Falling For You paper pack.

I wanted the second card to use the leaves and feather with the lovely quote:

I framed a strip of the paper with sticky notes, inked it with sponges using Goldrush and Fern inks, then stamped the outline leaf images while the sticky notes are still in place. Then I removed the sticky notes to stamp the feathers so that they would extend outside the inked strip. I added the Sweet Leaf dotted ribbon (from the Whimsy Ribbon Collection)  on the left. I decided to stamp the delicate leaves inside to adorn the sentiment that will be added later.

You can purchase the stamp of the month this month only from your consultant or here on my website.

Thank you for visiting! Now you're ready to go on to see Tracie Cassidy's artwork!

Blessed to Have You in My Life

I love this sentiment because it clearly states the gratitude we have for those friends and family who encourage, bless, and lift us up.  Some of them bless us with their smile just by being near. You see them coming and your day is brighter. Others know how to read your unspoken thoughts or emotions and lift you up in prayer. Whatever way they bless us, this sentiment of gratitude is timeless, not just around Thanksgiving even though I used paper and colors for an autumn card.

The stamps are from the Close To My Heart Stamp of the Month for September which is only available for another week. I have a box with a lot of fall papers that have retired, so the gingham is ancient. I used the new Cricut Flower Market to cut the diecuts that match the stamps as well as the wreath and banner. I used the colors from the challenge at Your Next Stamp and the sketch at Tuesday Morning Sketch:

 

Thank you for visiting! May God richly bless your relationships with friends and family!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
4 Crafty Chicks #317 - Colors of Fall
Addicted to Stamps #132 - trees/branches and or leaves
Aud Sentiments #164 - Fall Colors + a sentiment
Crafty Cardmakers #173 - Autumn
Creative Corner Challenge - Autumn
Tuesday Morning Sketches #370 - sketch
Word Art Wednesday #248-249 - anything goes that's family friendly
YNS Challenge #48 - used the color challenge - at least 3 plus neutral Chocolate

Animal Greetings Thank You Card

I recently posted a couple of cards highlighting a recent stamp set that's a CTMH February special, Share the Love. I loved the fact that $7.00 of the purchase price was donated to Operation Smile which helps children around the world who have disfiguring facial problems requiring surgery.  So I decided to make a few cards using another Operation Smile special stamp available all year, Animal Greetings.

I decided to use a CAS (Clean and Simple) style to keep the lovely small animal from getting lost in patterned paper. I was inspired to use the beautiful colors at Stamping Royalty.  I used the Cricut Artistry cartridge to make the die cuts. I cut the heart border on each color of cardstock, put double-sided tape on the back of the heart openings and inserted different colors into the holes. I did the same with the tips of the sentiment banner. I colored the cute pig with alcohol ink markers. The white background was embossed with the Chevron embossing folder, but the angle of the light only shows one side of the embossed diagonals.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
AAA Cards Game #58 - CAS and sequins
Crafty Catz #312 - CAS
Critters and Creatures February Linky Party - anything goes with a creature
Hiding in my Craft Room #239 - Clean and Simple
Ooh La La Creations #198 - Clean and Simple
Stampin' Royalty #317 - color challenge

 



Autumn Paper Garden with Butterfly

Here's another card I made with the sillhouette stamps of Paper Garden, September's Stamp of the Month. I wanted it to be a thank you card for a dear friend I don't see nearly enough. She started out as a customer about 10 years ago, but quickly became a true friend as my sister in Christ. We share so many interests, including stamping and cards.

This time I wanted to use autumn colors, three panels of silhouettes, and a butterfly that I colored with the three inks on sponge daubers: Saffron, Goldrush, Pomegranate, and Poppy.  I inked around the edges of the butterfly with Black ink on a sponge dauber, then added black opaque pearls. I used Shin-Han Touch Twin alcohol ink markers to add shading to each stem and parts of flowers to add more dimension. The background of each stamp was stamped with Bamboo. I tied Poppy Thicker Twine around the card to finish the fall color theme. The sentiment came from the cardmaking stamp set from the Hello, Life National Stamping Month special.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
Bastel-traum #33 - Thanks
Bloggers Challenge - Flowers
Crafting Musketeers Challenge #29 - Autumnal Colours
QKR Stampede Challenge #157 - Three's a crowd
Really Reasonable Ribbon #126 - Orange you glad it's autumn with ribbon or trim
Scrap and Craft Inspiration Challenge #13 - butterflies
The Artistic Stampers - Things with Wings

Thank you for visiting. May God fill your heart with His love so you may share it with others. May He  bless you with priceless friendships!

A Kitty Bouquet of Thanks

We came home from vacation to find four new kittens on our porch, two white and two gray. Living on a farm, we've been overrun with feral cats who won't even let us get near them. I didn't even realize that one of them was expecting. We've neutered the ones we could catch. We're determined to give the new kittens a lot of holding and petting so they won't be so wild and afraid of us.


Yesterday I had another surprise. There was a third white one we hadn't seen all week.


While we were gone, our neighbor down the road came up to feed and water them each day. Here's the card I made this week to thank them for their kindness.  I used Doodle Pantry's Kitty Bouquet Color from October 2013.The sentiment came from Doodle Pantry's Carousel Cheetah.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
Deconstructed Sketch #160 - sketch



D.L.Art Thankful Thursday #136 - Thank you card
Fairy tale challenge #96 - use a digital stamp
Scrapbooker PhD #13 - digital with option of animal
Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers SOSS Challenge #12 - B for brads or buttons
Word Art Wednesday #141 - anything goes with uplifting sentiment

Butterfly Thank You Cards

With so many thoughts about Thanksgiving, I decided to expand the idea of this holiday to giving thanks to others with Thank You cards. I made 6 similar ones using the CTMH paper pack "For Always" that I have out to work on wedding layouts for one of our daughters.

I love the bright, clean feel of these colors together.  I made up my own sketch so that I could use the black patterned "zip strips" on the edge of the paper. The stamp set used is "4 My Friend." I cut the two layers of the flowers and the butterflies using Cricut Art Philosophy.  The top flower layer has an old black brad and pop dot to add dimension. The butterflies were cut at 1" and 3/4" then tied together with black crochet thread. On one set of the cards I debossed the small white panel and on the other set I embossed the front of the card itself, which I think I preferred in the end.

I'd like to thank you for visiting and may God fill your heart with thankfulness!

I'm sharing these cards with the following challenges:

Creative Belli #183 - Thank You (used old jar of black brads)
House That Stamps Built DCC1120 - Giving Thanks
Lexi's Creations #103 - Thanks/Thanksgiving
Melonheadz Friends Challenge- Give Thanks
Milk Coffee Challenge - Thanksgiving/Thankful/Thank You's
Papertake Weekly - Giving thanks
Parade Your Crafts #8 - Grateful

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 

 

 

CAS Card with Cricut Artbooking Overlay

I needed a special thank you card for a friend. Words from a song we had sung in church many times kept going through my mind - Give thanks...with a grateful heart...  You may know another song by Hezekiah Walker called "Grateful." I've been reading that GRATITUDE is a very healing practice. I was challenged this week to start a gratitude album, so you may see that in the near future.  This card is a simple beginning.

The new CTMH Cricut Artbooking cartridge has some amazing features. It can make mini-albums and two page 12" x 12" scrapbook pages with all the features sized appropriately to take out the guess work. It has great titles and words - I counted 124! Here's a quick, simple card I made using the polka dot background on p. 51.  I was inspired to use this feature after seeing the challenge at CAS-ual Fridays to use Polka Dots!

 I used the Overlay feature  of the "rR" key, (portrait orientation) cut with Real Dial Size at 5" to fit my 5.5" x 4.25" card. I attached the overlay using mini-glue dots in a few strategic places along the edges. I wanted the main part to stick up just a little, but not pop dotted.

The overlays and other images are pre-sized to fit the 8" x 6" baby album featured on that page. That's why you need to use the Real Dial Size key to change their sizes. If you are interested in pre-ordering this cartridge or getting it for half-price, with it's 3 stamp sets and matching chipboard sets, please email me and I'll explain my special discount: vodell2@aol.com

All of the supplies used on this card are from Close To My Heart. The dotted heart stamp is part of the Cricut Art Philosophy set. (Each cartridge has three sets of stamps that show what size to cut each image.) The gray satin polka dotted ribbon didn't reflect the light well in the first photo, so I turned it a little in the second photo.

The sentiment is part of  the "Abundance" stamp set retiring at the end of this month. These are some of the stamps I'm featuring throughout this month.  The polka dotted paper is a sneak peak of paper that will soon be available!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

CAS-ual Fridays #109 - clean and simple with polka dots
Crafting by Designs -Anything goes with the twist "Thank You Cards"
Crafty Friends #7 - Inspired by a Song ( "Grateful" by Hezekiah Walker)
Creative Corner #27- Anything Goes
Inspire Me Fridays #111 - Anything Goes
Jellypark Challenges - Give Thanks
Sister Act #15 - Anything Goes


Thank you for visiting! May God fill your heart and mind with awareness of the many things you can be thankful for!

 

Mojo Monday 256 - Dakota Thanks

This week at Mojo Monday the challenge is to use the round or square pattern. I used this as a way to make a more masculine thank you card using Close To My Heart "Dakota" paper with burlap.  Here's their great pattern and the way I used it:

I used a stamp set I got in Texas this summer and paper pieced the star. I also used the Cricut Artiste to cut the shape for Thanks. My friends told me this summer that ladies from Texas like bling so I added a few clear sparkles on the sentiment shape. Hope y'all like it, I have to go now and pick up grandkids from a school far away, but I'll add details later, I hope.

We Can't Thank You Enough

I have a new stamp set from Close To My Heart that has wonderful sentiments that fit into shapes I can cut on my Cricut using the Art Philosophy cartridge. I made this thank you card using that February Stamp Of The Month. The stamp set's acrylic carrier sheet shows you the measurements for cutting that shape. That's a cinch! When I looked in my papers I had setting out to make cards, I found a strip I had used to practice with alcohol inks back in 2008. It was a combination of amethyst and pink colors, maybe with a little silver. It doesn't shine in the photo like it does in person. I'm entering this card in Papertake Weekly's challenge to Highlight using glitter, glossy accents, etc. I used a dot of glossy accents on each white flower dot along with amethyst sparkles to coordinate with the shiny homemade strip.

I used this sketch from Card Positioning System (CPS Sketch #252) to make this card and the top row of colors from Craft Your Passion's Color Bingo:

5.5" Square Card:

Paper - Basic Grey (aqua); Close To My Heart (Black, White Daisy, (Pink B&T,Glossy White retired)

Stamp - CTMH "Thoughtful Tidings" (Feb. Stamp of the Month)

Ink  - CTMH Black, Baby Pink

Other - CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge, 3/8" white organdy, Pink/Red Sparkles; corner rounder