A Season of Blessings

This is one more autumn card for today that I made using the Midnight paper pack from Close To My Heart. I'm showing a friend this weekend how to use these papers to make cards that aren't for Halloween.  I used the "rock and roll" technique to color the leaves on this card. First I inked them with autumn terracotta ink, then I rolled the edges around a barn red stamp pad. The swirly design is uninked that way. I love this older set of stamps because of the swirls and the sentiment.

The background was embossed using "Musical Flourish" embossing folder.  The ribbon is simply two squares of black tulle ribbon tied in the center with garnet waxy flax, which I've hoarded for 8 years. I curled the cut edges to go with the leaf swirls. The die cuts were made using Cricut Art Philosophy. It's hard to tell, but the sentiment shape and the bottom leaf are actually pop dotted for more dimension. All of the materials are from Close To My Heart.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
Bearly-Mine Challenge #56 - Pearls and Swirls (leaf stamps and embossing; mocha pearls)
Kaboodle Dooldes Challenge #140 - Autumn Leaves falling and fall colors
Tando Creative October challenge - I used all: purple, orange, green and black
Try It On Tuesday October challenge #1 - autumn colors
Use It Tuesday  Challenge #41 - all about fall (older stamp set)

 

He has made everything beautiful

"He had made everything beautiful in its time." Ecc. 3:11

 

 

 

Although, I seem to find something beautiful in every season, fall has been my favorite time of year for a long time. My husband loves it for the rich fall colors and loves to plan photo trips to capture those colors. Last week our photo trip to the Black Hills was injected with dark skies and unexpected snow. Many birch, ash, and aspen there seemed to be at their peak. We had a great time taking photos in such a beautiful setting.

 

 

 

I was inspired to make a card with fall colors and Scripture. This verse from Ecclesiastes speaks volumes to me, a nature and landscape lover. Here is another non-Halloween card I made celebrating fall colors using the Midnight paper pack.

 

 

 

The Bible verse comes from Our Daily Bread Designs, Scripture Collection 1. I stamped it on patterned paper that has slight orange and green sponged appearance, but the dark surroundings took over my camera's light meter and left that lovely paper washed out. The leaves are from my oldest Spellbinders die and I believe the Cuttlebug embossing folder is called Mary Ann. I used actual baker's twine that I'd gotten a couple of years ago in the cooking section of a local store.

 

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

All Sorts Challenge #175 - Fall leaves and trees

Little Red Wagon Challenge #154 - fall

Our Daily Bread DesignsSLC #125 - fall colors and a verse

Papercraft Star Challenge #116 - fall colors

Twist of Faith #6 - for every season, with a verse

 

May God bless you with an appreciation of His creation this fall!



PSC53B Bingo - Anniversary Card

Hello everyone and welcome to the second day of our one year birthday/anniversary challenge celebration at the Perfect Sentiment! We have four fun challenges planned for you that we will spread out over the next few days. We have sponsors who have donated generous prizes for each challenge and since we are doing this blog hop style, there are hidden prizes along the way. The good news is you will have 3 full weeks to complete all the challenges and blog hops. There will also be a grand prize that you will be eligible for if you complete all the challenges!You can see the Grand Prize and add you name to the inlinkz here once your complete all four of the challenges.

 

PSC53B:The Challenge/Twist: create a card with sentiment of your choice; use three items horizontally, vertically, or diagonally from our Bingo Chart below. Be sure to let us know in your post what items you used. 

 

Hop along to the following blogs to see what our Perfect Sentiments Team has created to inspire you.

 

 

 Cheryl

Karen

Maggie

Molly

Paula

Sam

Vickie (that's me)

 

Be sure to leave a comment at each blog as there are hidden prizes along the way. 

Once you are inspired to create, come back and link up your creation using the inlinkz tool below to have a chance at today's prize 

 

Floppy Latte's Digital Designs will award one random winner a $15 Gift Voucher to their store! 

Be sure to come back tomorrow to see what the team has in store for you!

 Please note: for our anniversary/birthday celebration you may not combine our challenges. You must complete a separate card for each challenge. You are welcome to combine with challenges from other blogs and sites; however you must create a different project for each of our four challenges. Thanks for your understanding.

I made an anniversary card using the "Moonlight" Halloween paper pack to show a friend it's versatility. I used the top row across for my bingo combination: pearls, ribbon, and a flower.

I heat embossed the die cut heart with it's matching stamp (Cricut Artiste p. 51 Accent 2 shift). The flower was also cut on the Artiste, p. 54 Accent 3 shift, 1", 1.25," and 1.5" inked with smoky plum and stacked, with mocha pearls for the center. I tied two strips of black tulle ribbon in the center with 3/8" black satin ribbon. The Colonial White mat for the heart is dry embossed and inked with Petal. The heart was inked with Petal and Chocolate inks

The inside is decorated with two strips of the striped paper from the end that includes a "zip strip" with the smoky plum color and swirly design. Two different older CTMH stamps were used for the sentiment inside.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
Divas by Design - Anything Goes
Shopping Our Stash Weekly - Challenge #72 Tic Tac Toe: center row across - black, ribbon, flower
(I used 2 really old stamp sets for the inside sentiment.)
Oozak Challenge #7 - die cuts
Simon Says Stamp - Dies and/or punches
Stars and Stamps/Operation Write Home - Anniversary/Love

Anniversary Card Recipe:
Paper - Close To My Heart "Moonlight" paper pack, Colonial White cardstock
Stamps - CTMH Seal-Love; Retired CTMH "From Me to You," "My One & Only"
Ink - CTMH Black, Chocolate, Smoky Plum, Petal
Accents - CTMH mocha pearls, black tulle ribbon, Pansy Purple embossing powder; Versamark ink, black ribbon from my stash
Tools -  heat gun, Cuttlebug embossing folder "Kassie's Brocade"




 

Abundance and Gratitude

"Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Ephesians 5:20

Farmers who live near us suffered from the drought this summer. There was a narrow strip of land that was missed each time it rained. We were in the extreme drought zone.  It was sad to see the skinny stalks of corn turn brown before they matured. I know there must be farmers nearby who are hurt by that drought. Farming seems to be a gamble. However, we won't be standing in long food lines at empty grocery stores like some in other parts of the world in our time.We still live in a land of abundance, but that often makes us forget that many people in our country do go to bed hungry worrying about how to pay bills or care for their children.

I used a stamp set called Abundance to stamp the pumpkin and the corn. It's my reminder to pray for those who don't have an abundance of food, shelter, etc. in their lives. And that reminds me to have gratitude for what we have.

 

 

I used The Deconstructed Sketch #72 for this card:

 

 

May God bless you with a heart full of gratitude.

 

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Card Crafter's Circle Challenge #43- Autumn Colors

Dutch Dare Card Challenge #185 - Fall Is in the Air

Going Grey with Scrap-Creations Challenge #134 - pumpkins

Hand Stamped Sentiments Challenge #139 - pumpkins

Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog #73 - Autumn

The Deconstructed Sketch #72

 

6.5" x 5" Thanksgiving Card Recipe:

Paper - Close To My Heart "Moonlight" paper pack and Cocoa cardstock

Stamps - CTMH "Abundance" and Flirty workshop stamp set (Gratitude)

Ink - CTMH Cocoa

Alcohol Ink Markers - CTMH Creme Brulee, Creme Brulee dark, Autumn Terracotta; Copic E35 Chamois (brown)

Accents - CTMH burlap ribbon, pop dots

 

 

 

 

 

PSC53A - Perfect Birthday Celebration

Hello everyone and welcome to the first day of our one year birthday/anniversary challenge celebration at the Perfect Sentiment! We have four fun challenges planned for you that we will spread our over the next four days. We have sponsors who have donated generous prizes for each challenge and since we are doing this blog hop style, there are hidden prizes along the way. The good news is you will have 3 full weeks to complete all the challenges and blog hops. There will also be a grand prize that you will be eligible for if you complete all the challenges!
 

The Challenge/Twist: create a card with sentiment for either "Happy Birthday" or "Happy Anniversary" in honor of our one year birthday/anniversary.
 

Hop along to the following blogs to see what our Perfect Sentiments Team has created to inspire you.

 

Jan

Jennipher

Karen

Maggie

Molly

Nana Connie

Paula

Vickie (that's me)

 

Be sure to leave a comment at each blog as there are hidden prizes along the way.

Once you are inspired to create, come back and link up your creation using the inlinkz tool below to have a chance at today's prize.

 

Today's random winner will receive:

A $9 Gift Voucher from…

 

 

A few days ago my hubby and I drove from the Black Hills in South Dakota to our home in northwest Missouri. The weather was cool, but sunny. Whereever we passed farmland with crops, we saw tractors or combines working in the fields. I made this masculine birthday card using a digital tractor and "punny" birthday sentiment from Clear Dollar Stamps.

Retro Sketch #32 was perfect for this image when I rotated it:

The black houndstooth embossed background paper was sanded to reveal the lighter shade underneath. To me, that added a great masculine look.

If you're not a Photoshop person, you can ignore this paragraph. I actually selected the colored green tractor image but made the following changes so I could color it orange. Before printing the image, I opened it in Photoshop and under Image/Adjustments/Hue I lightened the yellow (removed green color) and the Cyan (green grass). That allowed the darker grayish shading to remain so the image wouldn't look flat when I colored it with my limited orange set of markers. I applied two shades of gray markers over the tires to increase their saturation.


I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

ABC Challenge - Y for the Y Chromosome (masculine)
Cards for Men Challenge #21 - Orange and Black
Retro Sketch #32

5" x 6.5" Birthday Card Recipe:
Image & Sentiment - Clear Dollar Stamps digi "Got Tractor"
Markers - Copic YR68 Orange, N4 & N6 Neutral Grays; CTMH Alcohol Autumn Terracotta
Paper - Close To My Heart Flirty (orange), Goldrush, Colonial White and Black cardstock; Graphic 45 Core Impressions - Timeless Collection (black houndstooth embossed)
Accents - CTMH Black Jute, Antique Gold Durable Studs (round)
Tools - Printer, Photoshop CS, sandpaper, pop dots for the sentiment
 

Mojo Monday 262 Birthday Calendar cover

We just came back from a vacation in the Black Hills and I couldn't wait to start crafting after so many days "off!"  It's wonderful to see new places and take lots of photos, but it's also great to get back into a normal routine.

Today I'm giving you a teaser for a project that I won't post until October 16th. It's a Birthday & Anniversary Calendar that I will give as gifts and sell in two craft fairs. I used Mojo Monday's Sketch 262 to design the cover. I rotated the design and used a square instead of a rectangle.

I covered a 6" x 6" chipboard square with My Mind's Eye "Lost and Found - Sunshine" and used that paper pad throughout the calendar. The bright leafy print is from Basic Grey's "Indian Summer." I think the yellow ribbon is also Basic Grey, but it's been in my stash so long I'm not really sure.

I typed the words using Microsoft Word and printed them on 3.5 x 5" cardstock pieces in the photo tray. The Colonial White circle was punched using a 3" circle punch. The black die cut frame was cut using the Cricut Art Philosophy from Close To My Heart. I stacked the dark pink flower on a white one so it would stand out more against the leaf print of the same color.

I hope you'll come back on October 16th and see the rest of the calendar!

I'm sharing this project cover with the following challenges:
Craft Your Passion Challenge #31 - square
DYSU #92 - warm colors
Mojo Monday #262 sketch

 

PSC52 - Fall or Halloween Challenge

Today at The Perfect Sentiment we're challenging you to make a card for fall or Halloween. The twist is to use neutral tones and add just a pop of color.

We're being sponsored by MelJen's. They are offering four of their fabulous digis to one lucky entrant.

I never send Halloween cards, but some of my friends wanted some and here's the result. I used black, white and gray with just a little Smoky Plum. The background paper is from The Paper Studio. All of the rest is from Close To My Heart. The fun images are included in the Moonlight Workshop On the Go. The pleated paper was scored at a half inch and a fourth inch repeatedly. I used paper piecing on the lamp and owl. First, I stamped the lamp on the slate cardstock. Then I stamped it again on Colonial White cardstock and cut out the parts that show white - the top and the sign. It's much easier than cutting out the entire lamp.

Please join us with your own fall or Halloween card at The Perfect Sentiment.