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!

Christ takes us as we are . . .

After church on Mother's Daymy family and some friends and I are going to celebrate by going to a beautiful arboretum and botanical garden. One of my friends feels sad sometimes because she was a horrible mother when her kids were young. She improved at least in the ten years I've known her. She became a Christian and turned away from so many problems. Now she's a wonderful grandmother, so I want her to know the message of this card - that Christ takes us as we are, buries our sins in the deepest sea, and molds us into His image.

I used a little symbolism in the materials of this card. I used black hemp, a natural product, for me representing the natural man. I wrapped it around the paper on the left and wove it through the outer holes of the frame. Then below the text I used red sparkles, representing rubies, and white satin ribbon, symbolizing purity. Inside I'm including a portion of Proverbs 31 so that she can see how far she's really come. "Who can find a virtuous woman, for her price is far above rubies. . . "

I used a verse from Clear Dollar Stamps, from the digital set "Become New." The sketch was CPS #264. The idea for the hemp was from the Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge #138, to use something real or natural. I used the middle panel for the large sentiment so that it would be the focal point, as suggested by Challenge #10 at Creative Card Crew.  Frosted Designs Fabulous Friday Challenge to use Lacing deserves credit for that idea that I incorporated.

I'll add more details after our Mother's Day Celebrations!

Belated Birthday Card

I realized the other day that I missed a friend's birthday. That made me realize two things - I need to update my birthday calendar and check it! Also, I need to keep a supply of belated birthday cards on hand. I got the idea for this card when I was looking through the digital stamps that were released in April at Clear Dollar Stamps.  I was initially drawn to their store because of the Bible verses and Christian stamps. I also like their fresh designs that look like they'd be great to send to children.

I chose to use two stamps from their set Bless My Bloomers.  I thought that Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday Sketch #158 this week at The Sweetest Thing was great for this image. I also immediately matched it up with the color palette at ColourQ Challenge #136.

As soon as I colored my image, I thought it would great on Kraft Cardstock and it was definitely feminine, so I'm linking it up with The Kraft Journal Make It Monday Challenge to make a card For Her.

I colored the image with Copic markers but added shadows or traced lines in the flowers with Watercolor Pencils and CTMHmarkers. I used three different patterned papers and a darker green cardstock to mat two of them. Using three or more designer papers was the challenge this week at Shopping Our Stash Weekly. These papers were all from more than 2 years ago. ( I love using up "old" papers!) The dotted Sunset background paper was used to make a matching button. I just took a clear button and glued it to the paper with Liquid Glass. It only took a couple of minutes to dry sufficiently so I could punch out the two holes and tie with baker's twine that matched the Kraft cardstock.

Thanks for stopping by and may God bless you tomorrow on Mother's Day.

Challenges:
ColourQ Challenge #136
Shopping Our Stash Weekly Challenge #51- Use three or more designer papers
Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #158
The Kraft Journal Make It Monday Challenge - Cards for Her

5.5" x 4.25" Belated Birthday Card Recipe:
Images- Clear Dollar Stamps " Bless My Bloomers"
Papers - Close To My Heart "Emporium" (2009-light green floral), "Grace" (2009-sunflower design), "Hooligans" (2010-sunset dotted), New England Ivy, White Daisy cs &  textured cs, Kraft cardstock
Markers - Copics Orange YR68 with Blush R20; Pea Green YG63, Neutral Gray N0, Lemon Yellow Y13 with CTMH Sunflower highlights, CTMH Olive watercolor pencil for shading
Accents/Tools - CTMH button and Basic baker's twine; Spellbinder's Nestabilities "Lacey Circles;" 3" circle punch,flower unknown

Ahoy Matey Birthday Card

I can't believe my oldest grandson is turning 10 this month. I made this card to celebrate the great kid he is. Just a couple of years ago he got an outdoor play set with swings, etc., that had a pirate's tower. He also wanted to watch pirate movies when he came to my house. He definitely got his youngest brother into dressing up like a pirate. This has definitely been a hobby of his, so this card is also for Here Come the Boys Challenge #26, Hobbies. I also wanted to scissor distress the edges, making them rough and more masculine. Craft Your Passion Challenge #109 is for torn or distressed edges.

I chose the colors for this card with the great masculine palette at The Play Date Cafe, Challenge #131: Seaweed, Algae, Goldfish, and a touch of Black.

The sketch came from My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club #71. The main image was made with a clear stamp that is also from My Favorite Things, Claire Keay's Ahoy Matey.

I added some additional sandpaper distressing on the lighter green piece that was embossed with the woodgrain pattern. The Kraft corrugated shapes are neutral and don't interfere with the intended color scheme. All three pieces were connected, but I punched them apart. Cut the one on the upper right in half and mounted the stamped sentiment under it. The ones on the bottom right came from inside that frame. I turned the inner circle upside down so I could stamp the number 10 then reinserted it and pop dotted both pieces over the arrow using two layers of pop dots on the bottom. It's hard to see in this photo but the black strip has the word "ha ha" over and over again. I tied 2 pieces of black hemp around it and tied two more pieces into knots on the right side and trimmed.

I enjoyed making this card using these challenges. That part was fun. But the number 10 makes me a little sad knowing he's just growing up too fast. I'm so glad he's a Christian and goes to a great Christian school, Sunday School, church, and Awanas. Being the oldest of four kids, he's very nurturing of the younger ones. At least I know he'll grow up to be a sweet pirate, but please, Lord, not too soon!

6.5" x 5" Masculine Birthday Card:
Paper - Basic Grey Sultry; Close To My Heart "Hooligans" (black),  "Olivia" (sunset dotted), White Daisy and old retired green cardstock
Stamps - My Favorite Things Claire Keay's "Ahoy Matey;" CTMH numbers "Friendship Alphabet" and sentiment retired
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Other - Copic markers; CTMH sanding block, black hemp, Milepost Shapes; Sizzix woodgrain embossing folder

Two of the pirate brothers. Dressing up as pirates or super heroes is definitely a big thing at their house!

Icy Christmas Ornaments

This week I had read through all of the Christmas challenges to see what I should make and as I created, I eventually realized I had combined five challenges for a change. The Jingle Belles challenged us to emboss so I planned on using both dry and heat embossing. This lovely photo at Winter Wonderland was my inspiration for heat embossing some ornaments in shades of purple and silver.

After I embossed three ornaments and cut them out, I looked for an appropriate sketch. The best sketch was actually the one from 52 Christmas Card Throwdown this week, although I flipped it vertically.

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge was to use stripes, so I selected a remnant of some My Mind's Eye paper from several years ago that went well with the purple and snow theme. The last challenge was ABC Christmas Challenge - I for Icy. Besides embossing three of the papers with different Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folders, I stamped icy drips with Versamark and embossed with silver powder, cut them out, attached portions in three places the way icicles form, and covered them with glitter gel. My thanks goes out to all of the lovely ladies who inspired my card with their challenge ideas and artwork!

Challenges:
Jingle Belles - Embossing around the Christmas tree
Winter Wonderland - photo inspiration (used pruple colors, ornaments, overlapping, and silver)
52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Sketch 5
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #71 - Stripes
ABC Christmas Challenge - I for Icy

6.5" x 5" Christmas Card Recipe:
Paper - My Mind's Eye; Close To My Heart Petal, Colonial White, Plum Mist, and Smoky Plum cardstocks
Stamps - Close To My Heart  Tannenbaum (sentiment), Holiday Trinkets, Adorn-able (ornaments), (wooden ornament stamp from LSS unknown)
Ink - Versamark,  Pansy Purple
Other - CTMH Pansy Purple and Silver embossing powders, Glitz glitter gel; Cuttlebug Snow Dots embossing folder and two others unknown, silver cord and ribbon from Michaels

Sweet Moments Mother's Day Card

When my son was a young adolescent, he gave me a gift of blue and white cameo earrings. I was allergic to the posts, but I've kept them for 20 years because he gave them to me. This Mother's Day card is for his wife in remembrance of those earrings and because she's a beautiful mom, like a cameo. Because I used all Close To My Heart products, I'm enterring it in the Heart 2 Heart Challenge for Mother's Day. I used the Deconstructed Sketch 50 for my design. I'm also linking it to The Blogger's Challenge for Celebrating Mom.

Because this card will go in the mail tomorrow, I avoided most dimenion except for pop dotting the cameo. The strips of Emporium paper are quite decorative in themselves. I added detail by embossing the dotted lines (Circle Around stamp set), as well as the cameo (Sweet Moments stamp set), using Crystal Blue embossing powder. The Buttercup diamond shape was square 7 on the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge and it's Vineyard Berry frame was the same shape with the Decorative layer feature. The cameo was also cut with that cartridge (oval 4) before stamping. If you're not familiar with that cartridge, it coordinates with stamp sets that we sell in Close To My Heart. The stamps that go with Cricut shapes are marked with the measurement they need to be cut before stamping.

Feel Better Soon

Here's a bright, cheery get well card inspired by the following three challenges. Perfect Sentiments Challenge today wants us to make a get well card using words other than "get well." DYSU Challenge is "Circles," so I used the paper from Lime Rickey and made some circle embossed paper, too. The wonderful sketch from Freshly Made Sketches, #34, incorporates a circle so it was the perfect choice.

I inked a brayer with Cranberry Ink and rolled it over the side of the Cuttlebug folder that has writing. (I call it the top.) Then I embossed the Sunflower paper as usual, being careful not to shift the paper against the ink. The rest of the papers and the row of stickers come from the Basic Grey Lime Rickey collection. The flower is from CTMH. The stamp is from Verve. Thanks for looking!