Silhouettes of Christmas Doves

During the winter and late spring we were feeding birds outside our kitchen window. So many birds came to the feeder, we had to put down bird seed in several wide swaths on the patio to accommodate all of the hungry visitors.  Late in the season when doves arrived I could see why they are often portrayed as symbols of peace. They weren't pushy like the blue jays and some sparrows. They slowly, gently walked into a group to feed. Although they were bigger than the sparrows and juncos that we had so many of, their behavior seemed to say, "You go first, I can wait" or "it's your turn-you need it more than I do." At the time, I thought we could all take a few lessons from such birds.

I made two Christmas cards with a vintage silhouette digi of two doves from Free Trinkets and Treasures with the PEACE sentiment. I changed the colors from black to a peaceful light blue.

I embossed the white card base with snowflakes and used some very old CTMH Sweet Home papers that matched the blue of the doves.  I die cut the image panel with PTI 's Pretty Brackets die and snowflakes from silver glitter paper and added a bow with white and silver ribbon.  I used leftover paper to add more interest to the inside.

Thanks for visiting! May you be blessed as you create Christmas blessings for others!

I'm sharing these cards with the following challenges:

A Snowflake's Promise Challenge #52 - anything goes
Christmas at Sweet Stampin' June Challenge - anything goes
C.R.A.F.T. Challenge #472 - Christmas

Crimbo Crackers Challenge #160 - anything goes Christmas
Pile It On Challenge #143 - All sorts of holidays
The Holly and the Ivy #31 - Anything Christmas Goes

Winter Wonderland - Christmas Birds

Ephesians 3:20 (WEB)
Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly
above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,

365 Promises (of God) - Promise #167: I am able to do more for you than you could possibly imagine.

Monster Mash Birthday Card

I took my three oldest grandsons to the library. The one in first grade chose books from the series of Diary of a Wimpy Kid. He's quite an artist, so I showed him where to find "How to Draw" books. As soon as we got home, he went straight to the kitchen table and started drawing animals from that book. His mom said later that he liked the "Wimpy Kid" books because he could draw the illustrations. His birthday is coming up so I've made him a card that he'll probably try to draw. Laurie Wilson made these cute monsters for Clear Dollar Stamps.

I thought it would be fun to use the bright color palette from the Crazy Amigo Challenge. I also used this sketch from the Simon Says Stamp Challenge this week where we were given the choice of two sketches:

 

 

I used a textured card base that was embossed with squares, so I embossed the yellow panel with Cuttlebug's "Traffic Jam" embossing folder. The orange and red designer papers are some that came with the Monster Mash digital stamp set, although I changed the colors using Photoshop. Each of the images and the sentiment were all individual stamps that I copied and pasted into a new image. I also enlarged the sentiment while keeping the dpi at 300. That way it was bigger when I pasted it.

I had been inspired by Digital Tuesday and Catered Crop to make a frame for my monsters. I cut the black cardstock the same size as my image, then cut out the center 1/4th" from each edge. I pop dotted it over the image panel for more dimension and added the row of buttons in the blank area. Tying one with black crochet thread was the final, simple touch for a masculine card.

Can You Digi It #31 - Male Birthdays
Catered Crop - Framed
Crazy Amigo Challenge - Orange, Red, Yellow, Black, and White
Digital Tuesday Challenge #201 - Frame It
Pause, Dream, Enjoy - For the Boys
Simon Says Stamp: sketch
Whoopsi Daisy - Buttons or Bows

5.5" Square Birthday Card Recipe:
Images and Sentiment - Clear Dollar Stamps "Monster Mash" digi
Papers - CDS digi papers from Monster Mash, CTMH Sunkiss Yellow, Black and white cardstock, embossed card base
Accents - CTMH and My Mind's Eye buttons; black crochet thread
Tools - printer, Adobe Photoshop CS, Cuttlebug "Traffic Jam" embossing folder
 

Clear Dollar Stamps New May Release

Today Clear Dollar Stamps released new digital stamp sets for May. I've had fun playing with two of them so far. The first one has both colored images or outlined images. It was designed by Lauri Wilson.

I live on a farm, but we rent out much of our pasture land. My only farming is my organic orchard. My husband works in the city, but spends a lot of time on the tractor mowing hay or conservation land in the summer. When he was young he used to compete in tractor pulls. This card was made with my hubby and his other tractor-loving friends in mind. It's so masculine that I'm entering it in the Lollipop Crafts Challenge #80 - Just For Him . With it's masculine twill ribbon, I'm also entering it in the masculine challenge at Really Reasonable Ribbon.

I colored my image with a variety of brown and gray Copic markers, sometimes blending the two. It also comes with a "John Deere Green" colored image along with papers that match and a variety of sentiments.

Images: Clear Dollar Stamps digital "Got Tractor"

Papers: The Paper Studio "Farm Fresh;" Close To My Heart "Bliss" paper pack, Colonial White, Black cs
Ink: CTMH Chocolate
Markers: Copics Light Suntan E13, Dark Suntan E15, Copper E18, Sand E33, Chamois E35, Neutral Grays N4, N6, N8
Accents: CTMH twill ribbon, antique copper brads; Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Ten, 3" circle punch

The second one I used is called Lost in Space.

My second card was made with my many grandsons in mind. They seem to love outer space movies, so the humorous "Lost in Space" characters may be their favorites. (They made their valentines using monster stamps.)

The first image didn't show the glitter on the stars, planets, space ship, or alien so I used a flashlight to highlight those details in the second photo. Cool trick!

Images: CDS digital "Lost in Space"

Papers: Close To My Heart "Fanfare" and "Hooligans" paper packs, White Daisy, Black cs
Markers: Copics Wax White G20, Mint Green BG13
Accents: CTMH Sweet Leaf Ribbon, Milepost Shapes (stars); Sakura Gelly Roll glitter gel pen

You can see all of the new stamps at the Clear Dollar Stamps store. There's an Extreme Inventory Makeover Sale going on with great prices. Check out the blog at Clearly iStamp for more artwork illustrating the rest of the new images being released today for May.

Thanks for stopping by. May God bless you!