Perfect Sentiments Challenge #87 - The Great Outdoors

Sometimes when I'm sick or not feeling well I like to envisage some picturesque vista that my husband and I visited on some vacation to a National Park. My hubby is a great photographer and always knows the best places to visit. Memories of these outdoor places are so soothing and inviting. This idea goes with my blog post today for The Perfect Sentiments Challenge #87:

The Great Outdoors

 

VACATION SEASON IS ABOUT TO COME TO A CLOSE AND IM SURE MANY OF YOU SPENT A GREAT DEAL OF TIME OUTDOORS. CREATE A CARD WITH USING EITHER AN IMAGE OR SENTIMENT THAT HAS AN "OUTDOORSY" THEME. DON'T FORGET TO INCLUDE A SENTIMENT ON THE FRONT!

 

I especially love summer trips to places with lakes, rivers, and tall pine tree forests. I continually marvel at the beauty of God's creations. Scenes in such places have given me memories that I carry in my mind and heart for those moments when you need an instant mental vacation.  I always tell my grown children the idea in Philippians 4:8 " Whatever things are . . .  lovely, think on these things." I chose an image and sentiment that express that idea quite well.

 

Our sponsor this week is Beccy's Place. Beccy Muir has so many lovely outdoor images. She is providing 3 of her digis to one lucky winner.

 

 

I used one of Beccy's free images that can be found on her blog, Pine Grove. I combined it with a sentiment from her store: Green..Tree..Heart. It especially reminded me of trips we took to the forests of Mt. Ranier in Washington. The silence was sometimes broken by the unique, loud call of their local Blue Jay, the inspiration for my card.

 

 

I kept this card simple. I used Basic Grey "Origins" dp as a background for the image. I edged distressed all of the papers just a little. I used some CTMH light green sparkles and hemp baker's twine that has two colors and is softer than most hemp. The blue bird and heart were cut using Cricut's Straight From the Nest cartridge. The background of the trees was lightly colored with light aqua BG00 and yellow green YG00 copics and W1, a warm neutral.

 

I hope you have some special memories of great outdoor places and that they will inspire you to celebrate those memories with a card to share with us.

 

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

A Gem of a Challenge #92 - Summer

A Little Bit Crafty - Summer
Try It on Tuesday - Create a Scene
Creative Craft Challenge #16 - Tic Tac Toe (3rd column down: twine, ivory, distress)

Fab 'n' Funky #181 - Anything that looks like summer

Heck of a Challenge - Summer Holidays

Pile It On #32 - Outdoors
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perfect Sentiment Challenge #86 - Favorite Technique

We're back! After a month of summer "vacation," our design team at The Perfect Sentiment Challenge is ready to inspire you again and be inspired by your creations!  Our challenge this week should be easy for everyone - show and tell us your favorite technique.
CREATE A CARD FOR THE OCCASION OF YOUR CHOICE USING YOUR FAVORITE TECHNIQUE. A TECHNIQUE CAN BE ANYTHING FROM HEAT EMBOSSING, DRY EMBOSSING, FUSSY CUTTING, SEWING, PAPER PIERCING, EMBOSS RESIST AND SO FORTH. PLEASE INCLUDE WHAT TECHNIQUE YOU USED.  DON'T FORGET YOUR SENTIMENT ON THE FRONT.

Our sponsor is Robyn's Fetish, who will award one lucky winner 5 free digis of their choice!

 



My favorite technique is one I enjoy using a lot: USING DIE CUTS.  I love using Spellbinders and Cricut die cuts. They make a great mats for images and sentiments. Today I'm also showing you a Cricut Artbooking background design using the key OVERLAY. This cartridge has a great OVERLAY that's perfect for Back to School projects.  Check it out:

I used the Robyn's Fetish digi called "Reading Is Fun." I got the sentiment acrylic stamp, my favorite for teachers, from My Favorite Things. The set was called "Clearly Sentimental about Teaching." The papers are all from Close To My Heart. The Cranberry overlay is on a Scholastic paper showing vintage library cards--so appropriate for a reading image! The image is colored with Copic markers and popped up on two circular images cut from Cricut Artiste using papers from the new Sarita paper pack. 

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
Bearly Mine #98 - Tic Tac Toe ( middle row across):

Craftin' Desert Divas #12 - Back to School

Crafty Bloggers Network #14- Favorite Things (my Cricut and Spellbinders dies and cutting machines)

Crafty Boots - Die Cuts

Created with Love #52 - Blog hop and anything goes

Digi Sketch Challenge - Anything Goes

Mema's Crafts Bonus Challenge - Anything Goes with Back to School option

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Pile It On #31 - School Time

The Paper Nest Dolls #10 - Back to School

 

 

 

 



 

Perfect Sentiment Challenge #84 - Sun and Sand

Summer arrives this week on Friday and our weather man is predicting temperatures in the 90's, with lots of humidity. It would be perfect weather to spend on a beach somewhere, curling our toes in the sand, feeling the waves wash across our feet. Our challenge this week at The Perfect Sentiment is perfect for such weather - Sun and Sand:

CREATE A CARD FOR THE OCCASION OF YOUR CHOICE. USE BEACH THEMED IMAGES, EMBELLISHMENTS, OR PATTERNED PAPERS IN THE DESIGN OF YOUR CARD

The prize this week for one lucky entrant is a $5.00 Amazon gift card! I hope you'll join us for that opportunity.

My card used beach themed paper, "Surf's Up," from Close To My Heart. Each corner of the paper I used has one or two people in a beach scene. I fussy cut one corner and used the same corner of another sheet to fussy cut the large waves and flowers to pop dot on the original corner. The back side of that same paper gave me the sand colored, fabric textured background. The waves at the bottom were from another sheet in the collection, shaped with ric rac. A yellow piece of Basic Grey that was similarly textured was punched with a scalloped oval and stamped. Gold sparkles enhanced each scallop.

The outside sentiment came from CTMH stamp set, "Bright Sunshiny Day." I used two other stamps from that set for the inside. I especially loved the sentiment:

No matter the weather,

always bring

your own sunshine.

 

 

 

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

ABC Challenges #33 - Summer theme
Crafty Sentiments Designs - Fun in the Sun

Eclectic Ellapu - Celebrate Summer Sunshine

Great Impressions June Challenge - Leave a little Sparkle

Lady Anne's Challenge #3 - The Great Outdoors

Mema's Crafts June Challenge -  I chose "Summer Vacation" option

Paper Creators Challenge #10 - Make it Sparkle

Scrappy Frogs - Summer Vacation

Stamp and Create June Challenge - Summer Fun

Word Play Saturday - Summertime

 

 

 

 



Perfect Sentiment Challenge #76 - Mother's Day Blossoms

In less than three weeks it will be Mother's Day! So we have a timely challenge for you at The Perfect Sentiment Challenge:

CREATE A CARD WITH A MOTHER'S DAY THEME; DON'T FORGET TO INLCUDE YOUR SENTIMENT ON THE FRONT.

Our sponsor is Beccy's Place where you can find so many lovely images. Beccy will award one lucky winner 3 free images!

I especially love the floral images that Beccy has. I used to give my mom flowers on Mother's Day. She often put in a request for fresh ones from my garden. They were usually tulips, irises, or lilacs. We have also taken my mother-in-law to an iris farm near us on Mother's Day where thousands of irises are in bloom or ready to buy. So I definitely associate flowers with Mother's Day.

I chose one of Beccy's images from her blog, Bucket of Blossoms, that looks like a bucket of flowers from our farm. Although the sunflowers usually bloom later, I've had bluish purple salvia and blue forget-me-nots in the spring, so I colored them accordingly. I assembled the card using this sketch from Sketch Saturday:

I just recently found a large pad of My Mind's Eye Totally Girl paper that I had stashed away (out of sight, out of mind) for the last few years. I chose the three designer papers from that stack. The orangish paper has yellowish dots, so I embossed the white background panel with a medium polka dot embossing folder. Since the bucket is rather rustic, added some thin jute from Papertrey Ink and some older CTMH wooden buttons. My Mother's Day sentiment from My Favorite Things is stamped on an area of the dp that looks like it has white paint.

No matter how you celebrate, or whether your mom is still living or not, I hope you'll join us with your own Mother's Day card for any mom in your life.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
All Sorts #203 - Passion for flowers
Clear It Out - anything goes with 2 or more buttons from your stash
Critter Sketch #161 - Buttons
Cupcake Craftroom - Summer blooms (sunflowers are especially for the summer!)
Dilly Beans - flowers
Great Impressions - Pastel colors and/or polka dots
Shelly's Images - flowers
Sketch Saturday #255 - sketch
The Corrosive Challenge #172 - Life's Special Occasions
Totally Gorjuss #180 - embossing
Use It Tuesdays #54 - flowers for Mom (hoarded supply was the designer papers)


 

PSC #66 - Furry Friendship Card

This week The Perfect Sentiments team has the following challenge for you:

CREATE A CARD THAT USES AN ANIMAL IMAGE AND FRIENDSHIP SENTIMENT.

Our challenge is being sponsored by 2 Cute Ink where this week's winner will be able to select 3 free digis.

A few months ago we were "adopted" by a really cute, young gray cat. Since we live in the country, cats are likely to show up because someone has "dumped" them. A nearby cousin also has a gray cat. Both of them purr so loudly and so much more than ordinary cats. So I chose a sentiment about friends singing the song in your heart and this image of a girl with three calico kitten friends. I imagine they are purring, singing the song in her heart.

I used this lovely sketch from Sketchy Colors #150 for the front of the card:

I found this free, vintage image at Clearly Vintage. It came from a thread advertisement. It was actually a rectangle that I cropped into an oval using the Elliptical Marquee Tool. Before printing it, I sized it to fit my oval Nestability die. A few words showed up on the edges, so I used the clone tool to "erase" those small portions.

The sentiment is a digi from Clear Dollar Stamps called Make a Joyful Noise. I divided it into two parts in Photoshop by selecting the top two lines, Edit/Copy, and select New, then Paste. There were a few pieces of the letters from the bottom part of the sentiment that were included when I pasted it into the new document, so I used the clone stamp to erase them. I repeated the same procedure to print just the bottom part of the sentiment that I put inside.

I hope you'll join our challenge with your own card showing Furry Friendship!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
Anything Goes Challenge #86 - Vintage/Shabby Chic
Forever Friends February Challenge - Animals and/or butterflies and/or birds
Happy Campers #10 - Shabby Chic
Sketchy Colors #150 - sketch
Stamps & Fun = Creativity #138 - Vintage
The Ribbon Reel #46 - Spring Roses - yellow, pink, ribbon, flowers, and lace/twine

6" x 6" Friendship Card Recipe:
Image - Clearly Vintage "thread 3"
Sentiment digi - Clear Dollar Stamps "Make a Joyful Noise"
Paper - Close To My Heart "Chantilly" paper pack; Kraft cardstock
Ink - CTMH Chocolate
Accents - CTMH blush ribbon, Mocha pearls; Recollections, CTMH, and Prima flowers, Kaiser Craft lace
Tools - printer; Photoshop CS; Martha Stewart border punch; Spellbinder's Nestabilities Lacey Oval die;
 

PSC64 with Mojo Monday Sketch

This week at The Perfect Sentiment Challenge #64, the challenge is :

Anything Goes with a Die Cut and Sentiment on the front.

Here's more explanation from Jennipher: "GET OUT YOUR CRICUTS, SIZZIX, SPELLBINDERS, CUTTLEBUGS, ETC. CREATE A CARD FOR THE OCCASION OF YOUR CHOICE . YOU MUST INCLUDE A DIE CUT AND A SENTIMENT ON THE FRONT.

Our sponsor this week is Bugaboo, who is providing a prize of 7 free digis to one lucky winner! I used one of their digis called "Thoughts and Prayers Block" along with this week's Mojo Monday sketch for circle or square week.

I used two square-type dies from Spellbinders for the white digi and it's red mat. The large outer diecut was made on the Cricut using Art Philosophy Accent 1 Square 2. My tip for cutting this border is to make it 1/4" larger than your base. In this case I used 6" for the border and 5.75" for the card so it would fit into a 6" envelope. (Making the red outer border the same size lets the orange paper show too much. If it's too big, more than 1/4", it leaves empty spaces in the little holes.)

I colored the Bugaboo image like some fresias I once grew in my garden. I used a bow on the right side where the sketch had an added border. The ribbon shapes on the bottom are from Basic Grey's "Lemonade." I matted them in green for contrast so they'd show up.

My hubbie and I have several relatives that are in need of prayer and encouragement due to serious health issues. I was hoping this card would brightly cheer one of them. I decided to try using the outer piece left from the die cut to decorate the inside instead of throwing it away. I added a verse from Clearly Digital Stamps:

You don't have to use this many die cuts, but I had fun layering them. I hope you'll dust off your die cuts if you haven't used them lately and join our challenge!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
Mojo Monday #278 - square sketch
Crafty Sentiments Designs - buttons and bows
Die Cuttin' Divas #100 - Anything Goes (my die cuts are listed in recipe)
Top Tip Tuesday #94 - Lavishly Luscious Layers (tip about cutting border)
Use It Tuesday #48 -  Use Red, Orange, and Yellow - hoarded supplies are my Basic Grey "Lemonade" paper (red and strips) and "Marrakech" (green) from 2009

6" Square Card Recipe:
Paper - Basic Grey Lemonade and Marrakech; Close To My Heart "Clementine" orange sorbet pattern
Digital Image - Bugaboo "Thoughts and Prayers Block"
Markers - CTMH Alcohol Ink Smoothee, Honey, Olive
Accents - 3/4" White organdy from stash; CTMH Clementine fabric flower and button
Tools - Spellbinders Nestabilities Scalloped Square and Decorative Labels One; Cricut Art Philosophy; printer

PSC48 - All Creatures Great and Small

This week at The Perfect Sentiment the challenge is to USE A SENTIMENT FOR THE SEASON OR OCCASION OF YOUR CHOICE. The twist is to incorporate a critter somewhere on your card: teddy bears, mice, frogs, elephants, insects, etc. Our lovely sponsor is Crafty Sentiments Design.

They are offering 3 of their digis as a prize to one lucky, random winner! Today, I used one of their digis for my grandson's birthday card. We love to go exploring together, and recently watched frogs with some lily pads at a nature center.

I used this great sketch, CPS #281, using two blue punched circles topped with orange leaves and flying insect brads in place of the two smaller squares.  After coloring the image with alcohol markers, I cut out each element and glued it on a piece of patterned paper that looked like water and sky. I used dark green waxy flax for some rough stitching that reminded me of things we used to make when I was a Girl Scout at summer camp. The orange and blue patterned papers are from CTMH "Splendor," long retired. The green mat was Basic Grey's "Lemonade."

 

 

I hope you'll join our fun challenge with your project featuring creatures great or small!

 

 

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

A Gem of a Challenge #54 - A Boy Thing (bugs and frogs)

Fairy Tale Challenge #49 - Anything with metal (insect brads)

Pattie's Creations Design Challenge #51 - Birthdays

The Craft Garden September Challenge - Inspired by Water

The Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #201 - Animal Antics

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PSC47 Anything Goes with Bugaboo Stamps

This week at The Perfect Sentiments we're using Bugaboo Stamps for a great Anything Goes With a Sentiment (on front), Challenge #47.  I had a lot of fun using their Thoughts and Prayers Block. There seems to be an endless number of people who are in my thoughts and prayers each day. When I retired I decided that I would be instant in prayer as soon as God brings someone to mind, otherwise, at retirement age I tend to forget! I probably need to pray about that, too!

I loved the design of the flowers in this digital stamp. I used the colors from the CR84FN challenge this week and the sketch from Crazy 4 Challenges. I printed the digital stamp two times and colored both. Then I cut the large flowers out and adhered them in the center with pop dots, but curled the loose edges slightly for a little dimension. For more dimension, I embossed the background, pleated the ribbon and added a pin and bling button.

 

 

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

 CR84FN Color Challenge #61 - Aqua, Tan, Cream

Crazy 4 Challenges #151 - sketch

Craft Your Passion #125 - Embossing

Shopping Our Stash Weekly #66 - Use your favorite thing - mine is embossing

 

I hope you'll  join our Perfect Sentiments Challenge Anything Goes with a Sentiment - CREATE ANY TYPE OF PAPER-CRAFTED ITEM YOU LIKE, FOR ANY OCCASION YOU LIKE.  Bugaboo Stamps is offering a great prize: 7 FREE IMAGES OR $21 VALUE.

 

PSC46 Missing You Card with Wings

When I was a "young thing," newly married to an airman, I remember how lonely it would be when he was assigned overseas near a war zone. I wrote a letter every day saying how much I missed him. I made this card with other service men and women in mind for our challenge this week at The Perfect Sentiment. I chose the wings of a plane for the card I'll send to Operation Write Home.

I used sketch #73 at Sketchbook Saturday:

I used two different embossing folders from The Paper Studio, stars for the tag behind the plane and hearts on the middle band. The sentiment is from a set called "4 My Friend" that I got this year from Close To My Heart. I really like using this paper with vintage foreign stamps to express the idea that "I miss you." I'll have to make another one of these to slip in my hubby's baggage when he travels on business. He knows I always miss him, but he loves that surprise. Luckily, he doesn't read my blog! 

Please join us at The Perfect Sentiment with your own card!

Other Challenges for this card:

 Frosted Designs Fabulous Friday Challenge - twine or ribbon (I used both)

Card Crafter's Circle Challenge  #36 - Rich and Earthy Colors

Chocolate, Coffee and Cards Challenge #19  - Emboss

Polka Doodles Week #33 - use Tags

The Cupboard Trilogy #2 - Embossing



Words of Comfort

Today I needed a card to comfort a family from our church that just lost a husband/son-in-law. I was very close to my grandmother, so when I was in my twenties and she was dying John 14:1-6 comforted Grandma and me. I stayed with her in the hospital one night so that my grandpa would go home. In her pain she whispered to me "I want him to take me home." I thought she meant Grandpa, since that night was the only night he had gone home to try to sleep. I told her that she needed to stay in the hospital so that the doctors could help her. She said, "No, I mean I want God to take me home." I had misunderstood, but the truth was so rich. Her home wasn't here on earth.  I had quoted it several times to my grandmother while she was ill and she believed that Christ did have a home for her. A couple of days later, she did go home. I miss her still, sometimes, but I know that she'll be one of the first ones I see whenever I go home. I hope the verse I chose for this card will be an encouragement for Lucille and her family like it was for me.

I made this card using the sketch and the Perfect Sentiments Challenge #25 "Uplifting Sketch" for a card of encouragement.

I chose the verse from  Our Daily Bread Designs Scripture Collection #2. The Shining The Light Challenge #102 on their blog this week was to show our favorite Our Daily Bread Designs stamp set. I pondered this quite a while since I like them all, but I went back to this one that I purchased first. I'm passionate about all of the verses in this collection.

I started designing the card using this Lucy paper and some light gray dotted paper, but needed another color for contrast, so I was happy to see the CR84FN Challenge #51 color palette for this week. The light blue was just the thing.

I hope God will bless you with the comfort of this verse.

5" x ^.5" Sympathy Card Recipe:

Paper - CTMH "Lucy," "Dotty for You (gray),"White Daisy, Sky, Taffy cardstock

Stamp - ODBD "Scripture Collection 2"

Ink - CTMH Black, Dutch Blue, Taffy

Other - CTMH Pink lace, Just Blooms; My Mind's Eye sparkles