The Comfort of His Wings

Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge#129  used a beautiful Psalm today:

Psalm 91:4a "He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge."

That verse has so many applications. I always appreciate the devotional they include with their challenge. I seem to need a lot of cards of comfort lately.  I had found a wonderful bird image embedded in one of my patterned papers and had cut it out. I had already started making a card for the ColourQ Challenge using the sketch from The Sweet Stop when I found their challenge to make something with wings.

My card uses a verse from Sweet and Sassy Stamps.

The bird is from one of the papers from Basic Grey's Curio. The yellow and orange papers are from Basic Grey Color Me Silly and Oh Baby Boy. The brown patterned paper is from Recollections.

The Spirit of Christmas All Year

I spent today at the memorial service with a dear friend whose husband just passed away. We've been friends for 50 years, a really long time. Other classmates that I see occassionally or rarely were there. It fills your heart with a mixture of joy and sadness. Joy in seeing the strength of friendships in the healing process and still sadness, wishing I could take away some of the pain. And yet, this friend, always the cheerleader for us all, had that same radiance. Surely it was because she knew where her husband is and thankful for the time they had.

I used the sketch from Stampin Sisterhood challenge #12, the Christmas Card ChallengeWeek #13 to include music, and Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge #62 to use red.

I had planned all day to make this Christmas card today for special challenges. When I selected the sentiment, I realized a little more of it's meaning. "May the Spirit of Christmas warm your heart all year long." All year means even today, even during the sad or difficult times. The joy of sharing, giving, caring should be year-round.  The minister talked about the gift of Jesus for us all. I chose this Christmas Carol for these words that I'm whispering as a prayer, personalizing it for my friend:

I love Thee Lord Jesus, look down from the sky
And stay by my (friend's) side 'til morning is nigh

Be near her Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay
Close by her forever and love her, I pray
Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care
And take us to heaven to live with Thee there

Fashionable Stamping for a Child

Birthday Sundaes Challenge #45 said to "Get Messy" with inks, sprays, or paints. This challenge combined well with Fashionable Stamping Challenge #16 - for a child. Since I have five grandsons, I seem to regularly need a "boy" card, so the "messy look" is great. I wanted to use a stamp set that had a boy and a tree, so the sketch from CPS #254 had the right dimensions for the tall tree. I made the card 7" x 5."

I used some Basic Grey paper from "Color Me Silly" that already looked painted and I tried a fun technique to make the red and white polka dot paper and the white cardstock look like it matched.  First I wrapped a piece of something used to caulk walls before painting around my rubber brayer. I don't know the name, but it's slightly sticky and has a nice texture. I inked it using Shabby Shutters the first time and Broken China the second time. By rolling it back and forth a couple of times across the red strip, if you don't lift it, the lines stay in the same place. For more lines I reinked and rolled again.

When I rolled it across the white, I had to make sure that the exposed brayer that wasn't covered with texture was outside the boundary each time or I would have gotten a thick dark streak instead of texture in that spot. Here's a closeup of the red spotted paper and the white mat before I added the sentiment.

I used 4 different stamps from this Childhood Portrait set to create the scene. In addition, the red vertical panel was embossed on the cuttlebug. I put two layers of pop dots under the left side of the sentiment.

7" x 5" card recipe:
Paper - Basic Grey "Color Me Silly" and "June Bug;" CTMH White Daisy CS; Black CS
Stamps - CTMH "Childhood Portrait," "Card Chatter-Birthday"
Inks - Ranger Shabby Shutters, Broken China; Memento Tuxedo Black
Other - Cuttlebug Flower Dots(?) embossing folder, brayer, pop dots

Sweet Sketch for Believe in Your Dreams

When I taught classes at a local scrapbook store I fell in love with Basic Grey and became a Basic Grey collector- loving the paper too much to use, saving it for something special. I decided this year that something special is now. Instead of waiting for the right photos, I'd make lots of cards with those papers I love.. I haven't even made a dent in the pile. But now that my youngest grandchild is four, it's time to use the Oh, Baby papers, all four packs!

Basic GreyChallenge 63 is called "Wish Upon a Star." I used the Oh, Baby and the Color Me Silly papers with the Sweet Sketch Wednesday Challenge 143.

One technique that I used in stamping the sentiment was to turn over the stamp that says Believe in Your so that I could stamp the solid side as a background. Since the stamp is curved to go over the word Dreams, it's a good way to get the shape you need as well as providing background color.  The rocket was cut out of one of the papers and pop dotted. The corrugated stars were painted with a mixture of copper lumiere and white craft paint so that they weren't too white.

I think even my nine-year-old grandson wouldn't mind getting this card from the "baby" paper.

5.5" square card recipe:
Paper - Basic Grey "Oh, Baby Boy," "Color Me Silly;" CTMH White and Colonial White cardstock
Stamp - Believe in Your Dreams
Ink - CTMH Dutch Blue, Sunflower, Black
Other - CTMH Milepost Shapes (stars), gold ribbon; Cuttlebug "Swiss Dots" embossing folder

Sing Unto the Lord . . .from The Sweet Stop

CR84FN Color Challenge #49 this week is a beautiful combination. I decided to use a digital stamp from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps and their sketch at The Sweet Stop to make this simple card. I absolutely love the font they used to showcase this beautiful verse.

5" x 5" card recipe:

Paper - CTMH Buttercup, Gray Wool, Gray Flannel, Kraft cardstock

Digital Stamp - Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps "Sing Unto the Lord" set

Cuttlebug "Allegra" embossing folder

Marvy Uchida pink and purple scalloped oval punches

Cricut "Hannah Montana" music symbols

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)

Jingle Stickers for 52 Christmas Card Throwdown

Both the Jingle Belles Challenge and the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown this week requested the use of Stickers or Rub-ons. I was sick all day and couldn't do much searching, but I can't stand to go an entire day without making something. So simple Christmas it is.

Every year when Close To My Heart comes out with new Christmas stickers I use them all on scrapbook layouts, but I did manage to find a sheet of Level 1 Stickers I'd never used. Most of them seemed better for scrapbooking, but I managed to find a wonderful sentiment and a small border strip that matched some of the Jingle paper that I have in abundance.

My favorite thing to do with stickers in scrapbooking is to pop dot them for more dimension. I also like to add something, so in this case I added some Pearl white Lumiere dots for both dimension and shine. I added them where there were already circles in the design. I also cut a second set of red and white gifts and bows from a second piece of the paper and pop dotted them over their matching set in the background paper. I never cared much for that paper because it was too busy for my tastes, but by using a 4.5" square of it and adding dimension, even the red bow on top of the background bow, it gives the paper more interest.  Thank you ladies for the challenge to use stickers. (Now I need to find the rest of mine when I get better!)