Hope Blooms

When I was a teenager, I spent three years working as a Candy Striper at Baptist Memorial Hospital. My first two years, one of my jobs was to deliver flowers to patients. People were always so pleased to receive a vase of flowers. It was obvious that flowers were given to cheer up those who were recuperating. There's something bright and happy about looking at flowers.

My husband and I spent Mother's Day with a group of family at a Botanical Garden. The flowers and trees were amazing and inspired this shaped card along with these lovely challenges: The Shabby Tea Room Week #114 inspiration photo and request to make Shaped Cards. Dutch Dare Card Challenge #165 is also for shaped cards. I used the Shopping Our Stash Weekly Challenge #52 Bingo, the column under "G" - patterned paper, blue, sentiment, ribbon, and tag. (They are celebrating their birthday so you can enter as many times as you like!)

This is a really fun shape to make. I traced a template making sure that the front of the card is higher, revealing the inside of the card where a strip of patterned paper will show. The top was embossed after using a brayer with ink on the raised leaf portion, so that the colored debossed side shows on the front. My intent was to decorate the leaves as if they were a bouquet of flowers tied with a ribbon and tag like the ones I used to deliver.

I'm hoping that this card with it's flowers and verse will bring loving cheer to someone who needs to encouragment that God is with them in their time of need and will help them.

Challenges:
Basic Grey Challenge #58 - Anything Goes with Baisc Grey paper (I used Sweet Threads)
Dutch Dare Card Challenge#165 - shaped cards
Shopping Our Stash Weekly #52 - Bingo
The Shabby Tea Room #114 - Inspiration photo and shaped card

4.25: x 5.5" Encouragement Card Recipe:
Paper - Basic Grey "Sweet Threads;" Close To My Heart White Daisy, Hollyhock cardstock
Stamp - Verve "Hope Blooms"
Inks - CTMH Sweet Leaf, Hollyhock
Accents/Tools - Cuttlebug embossing folder; brayer; CTMH Pearl Opaques; Michaels silver cord, Recollections floral embellishments; white satin ribbon

Sweet Friendship for The Shabby Tea Room

This week The Shabby Tea Room Challenge #104, Sweet Confections, provided this inspiration photo and challenged us to use pink, aqua, green, and a tag.

I chose to use Easter treats as my confections. I created my own containers to hold them.

Here's how I made my containers. The dish on the left was made by embossing a lace doily from the set called Special Blend. I cut the top third off, cut a slight oval in that piece and reattached it on the front with space between them for the Easter eggs.  The Easter Eggs stamp set has 19 different egg patterns that I love. I stamped the darker shade of aqua so the egg would show up in the basket. I also colored portions of the eggs in the basket with Sakura glitter gel pen.

The Easter basket was cut using a Spellbinder's die for a teacup. It doesn't have the teacup handle. Instead, the handle was made using a 2" strip of paper. I cut half of the circle using a 2" circle punch. Then above that I used a 2.5" circle punch to cut the rest of the arc. I stamped the basket portion with a basket texture stamp that's been retired for a couple of years. It's much smaller than the cup diecut so I had to stamp it about six times, matching the pattern. That's when I really love clear acrylic stamps and clear blocks! I thought the containers should be on a tablecloth, so that was made with satin ribbon and lace. The sentiment on the tag comes from the same set as the doily. I wanted something sweet to go with the confections theme. The sweet tag says, "A sweet friendship refreshes the soul. Proverbs 27:9"  May God bless you with many sweet friendships!

Because this card has Easter eggs, I'm linking it to Crazy4Challenges #127 and I Brake for Challenges #19.

5" x 6.5" Card Recipe:

Paper - DCWV The Sweet Stack (pink glittered swirl paper), Close To My Heart White Daisy CS, "Sweetheart" pink patterned paper

Stamps - Close To My Heart "Eastertime"(basket), Easter Eggs; Our Daily Bread Designs "Special Blend" (doily, sentiment)

Inks - Close To My Heart Cotton Candy, Twilight, Crystal Blue, Sweet Leaf, Black, Versamark

Other - CTMH pink lace, bitty pearls, white organdy ribbon; Spellbinders cup die; Offray ribbons and white lace; Sakura glitter gel pen



Shabby Paris Card

The Shabby Tea Room Challenge #103 uses this inspiration photo and the colors navy, neutrals, and a distressed item. I also used this photo for the Sugar Creek Hollow challenge: Inspired by a Photo (of our own choosing.

I used the following photo elements to make my card: thread (symbolized by fashion in my card), Paris (Tour d'Eiffel), canceled mail symbol, navy gingham, peeling white paint, and shutters.

My distressed item is the paper which I scissor distressed on the edges then inked with a sponge. The middle paper has a man and woman dressed to go out on the town so I chose the word "together" so that I can give this to my oldest daughter and son-in-law on an anniversary because they had a wonderful whirlwind trip to Paris when she spoke at a conference. (That word is stamped on a white piece of chipboard that had a clear embossed design of dots on the edge. I rubbed an inked sponge over it revealing the design.) Yet, they're both very midwestern, down-to-earth so the gingham and the burlap texture of the smaller print is appropriate. The corrugated star was painted white like the chair and its horizontal lines represent the lines of the shutters. This was a fun card to assemble so I really appreciate the photo inspiration for a challenge. Thank you ladies.

5" x 6.5" card recipe:
Paper - Graphic45 "Fashionista"
Stamp - CTMH Bliss
Ink - CTMH Cocoa, Desert Sand
Other - Paper Studio Stick-a-biliies; K&Co Life's Journey (button); Papertrey Ink (twine); KaiserCraft Lace; Close to my Heart "Milepost Shapes"(star), Opaque Pearl Adhesive Gem; gingham fabric; Free Vintage Digital Stamps (French burlap)

MOJO Monday 226 for the Shabby Tea Room Valentine

The Shabby Tea Room always has inspiring photos and colors for cards I love to make. This week their theme is "Love is in the Air." I interpreted the colors in the photo as red, blush, black and white. They also wanted you to include an element of mail.

I chose to use the square card in MOJO Monday sketch #226 to make mine, although I modified it just a bit by placing my accent image a little higher.

I started with a 5.5" square white card embossed with a brocade pattern. That encouraged my paper choice which resembled the pattern somewhat. Next, I chose a stamp set that was collage-like and included mail features. Because of the ornate qualities of the paper I chose to make a red mat for my focal image using the Cricut Storybook cartridge. I stamped the patterned paper with the cancellation/postage date stamp red on red so that it would be subtle. Finally, I included black flowered ribbon and two flowers with a button center and black crochet thread which were a little more youthful, less "renaissance" in appearance. The photo had that clean, childlike quality shown by the small table, boots and bookbag.  Regarding technique, the red postage stamp was inked in Blush then the edges rocked in Cranberry ink.

5.5"square card"
Papers - K and Co. (Valentine Sweetheart); Close To My Heart White Daisy, Black and Tulip CS
Stamp - Vintage Valentine (retired)
Ink - CTMH Black, Cranberry, Blush
Other - DCWV Embossed cards, Close To My Heart "Just Blooms," Red Collection Buttons, Black Collection ribbon; Cricut Storybook cartridge, black crochet thread

Shabby Chic Friendship Card

I was intrigued by the color combination in The Shabby Tea Room and had to combine it with one of my stamp sets that says: "We are never alone when friends fill our lives." They suggested white or cream with silver and a splash of pink.

I also included the neutral, Bamboo, when I stamped the flowers and colored the leaves and stems. The Domi's sketch from the Simon Says Stamp challenge seemed like the perfect fit. I altered it slightly by including square sparkles in the lower left corner, hoping to balance the way my layout looked. I used lots of layers, but I know one of my friends will love that feature.

5.5" x 4.25" Card Materials:
Paper - Close To My Heart White Daisy and Textured Blush CS (reverse side was Baby Pink), retired metallic CS
Stamp - CTMH So Sweet
Ink - CTMH Blush, Bamboo
Other - Cuttlebug "Textile" and "Swiss Dots," Cricut cartridge "Hannah Montana"(flourished rectangle), 3" circle punch, CTMH Clear Sparkles, Recollections roses, Wilton doily, and pink organdy unknown, copic marker and blender, Prismacolor pencil

A friend who knows the song in your heart

Today's inspiration from The Shabby Tea Room Challenge #95 has trees, birds, owls, butterflies, quilts, all things that I love. They call it "Time Flies."

At first I thought I'd use one of my clock stamps somewhere. Then I looked at my cute owl and branch stamps, but something else began to take shape when I saw my bird stamp with one of my favorite sentiments. I thought about how it takes a long time to grow a really good friend like the ones I have. I know that when things are tough, like when I lost my mom, my friends knew just the right things to say and do to get me through the sadness. So I made this card in honor of them. I hope I can sing their heart songs back to them when they need it.

I used this great sketch from Papertake Weekly Challenge #63.

I used Basic Grey's "Sweet Threads" papers that looked like quilt patterns and a yellow gingham scrap I had out. They photographed a little darker and brighter but the colors are like the ones in the inspiration photo.   I replaced their scallops with pink lattice ribbon that reminded me of a lattice supporting blue morning glories I once had in my butterfly garden. I inked the bird with CTMH Twilight ink and used tissue dabbed in Chocolate ink on the wings and tail, one of my favorite, simple techniques.

Challenges:

Basic Grey Challenge #59

Papertake Weekly Challenge #63

The Shabby Tea Room Challenge #95

Happy New Year with The Shabby Tea Room!

Last night I celebrated New Year's Eve with my hubby and today I celebrate the New Year with my scrapbooking friends! I made this card with my friend Karen in mind, hoping God will bless her and her husband in this coming new year. She likes frilly, lacy, and especially PINK anything. So this inspiration from The Shabby Tea Room Week #94 challenge was perfect! I'm using their color suggestions of pink, blue, green, and yellow.

I liked the spotted paper from Basic Grey's "Out of Print" because it reminded me of balloons, confetti, etc., so I'm entering this card in Basic Grey Challenge #59. I used this great sketch from My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club Getting SketchySketch #52.

I colored the balloons with CTMH Watercolor Pencils and Blender Pen. The black line outlining the balloons seemed too dark for this card, so I outlined them with a Sakura Gelly Roll glitter pen. I love that shine. It's much more festive!

May God bless you and yours in this coming year!

The Shabby Tea Room Angel

This is a Kraft-y Christmas card for the challenge at The Shabby Tea Room. Here is their inspiration photo. We're to use kraft, red, silver, newsprint, and a star.

Flutter By Wednesdays Challenge was to use anything with wings. I chose to use an angel from Vintage Holiday Crafts to make a card for my daughter, Lisa. She was always my little angel, and came to love anything "angel" when she grew up. Every Christmas I give her some form of angel. It's my reminder that God always has His angels watching over us. I chose an angel whose coloring seemed really close to that of Kraft cardstock.

I embossed the white with a Cuttlebug snow embossing folder, then rubbed Versamark over the raised surface and sprinkled on CTMH Silver Pearl embossing powder. The red patterned paper was already glittered. I had cut a bracket-shaped square from the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge out of Kraft cardstock. I used one side of it to add to the mat under the angel. I rubbed Versamark on the edge of the bracket and heat embossed with silver embossing powder.

The newsprint was an old public domain December 24th paper I found on line that had the words Christmas and Sunday in one of the titles. I used a 2" scallop punch to cut that portion. The silver star was embossed with a Cuttlebug folder and cut out. I stamped "peace and joy" with Brown Staz-on. I tied two different ribbons around the card, organdy and a smaller silver ribbon. I wanted layers of fiber. I tied my favorite twine in the button because it goes so well with Kraft cs.

This was a fun card to make and I kept wanting to add more, but decided that Less is More and stopped. Merry Christmas, Lisa!

Challenges:

The Shabby Tea Room #93 - kraft, red, silver, newsprit, a star

Flutter By Wednesdays #183 - anything with wings

Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge #38 - anything with ribbon

Supplies:

Paper - Reminisce Naughty or Nice (red); CTMH Kraft, Cranberry, and White Textured, metallic(retired) CS

Ink - Brown Staz-On, Versamark, Tim Holtz's Old Paper distress ink (on newspaper)

Stamp - CTMH "Holiday Cheer"

Accessories - CTMH red organdy and wooden button, Michaels' silver ribbon, Papertrey Ink twine, photo of Vintage Angel from Vintage Holiday Crafts (for personal use or crafts to sell you can use up to 5 of their images free of charge-see terms of use)