Lily Friendship Card for Mojo Monday 243

When I was teaching, most of my friends were fellow employees in my school or somewhere in our large district. I was afraid that when I retired I would no longer have as many friends because I live on a farm 30 miles away. How surprised I am that my retirement for the last six years has actually brought me more friends despite "isolation." Maybe there was more time to cultivate friendships or maybe it's because some of my friends also retired and shared the same interests that I have.

But one thing is certain. As we get older, we stay younger if we maintain social interactions.  I'm still friends with the "girls" from my high school even though we live an hour or more apart.  I grew up with the Scripture admonition that "a man who hath friends must show himself friendly." The challenge to make friendship cards at Paper Playtime also inspired me to keep in touch with a friend I don't see often. The card I made today is "mail friendly" with only slight dimension so that it can travel safely in the mail.

This is the last Mojo Monday challenge of the month, so it's either a circle or square. Here's sketch #243.

I was attracted to the color palette at CR84FN Color Challenge for this card.

 I used an image I won in a challenge called Lily Circle from Floppy Latte's Digital Designs from Stitchy Bear Stamps. I met my husband when I worked one summer at Lily Industries where he was a chemist, so I have this thing about lilies.

My square card is lightly embossed with large dots. I used a lavender strip from a scrap I've had for a long time from Basic Grey "Oh, Baby." I followed the dots on the green banner strip to cut the triangle shape. I hadn't thought of doing that before, but it works. The lily was colored with Copic markers. The sentiment is matted with gray and the baker's twine around the green banner is also gray, although the poor lighting in my house at night always seems to distort some colors. 

Here are the challenges that inspired me:

CR84FN Color Challenge #55 - lavender, celery, & gray

I Brake 4 Challenges - I Brake 4 Florals

Mojo Monday #243 Sketch

Paper Playtime Challenge #75 - Say It With Sentiments - Friendship Card

Wishcraft: Waste Not Wednesday Week #20 - use up neglected or unused stash (BG Oh, Baby paper!)

5.5" Square Friendship Card Recipe:

Paper - Basic Grey "Oh, Baby" (girl); Close To My Heart "Dotty For You," Gray Wool, White Daisy Cardstock

Stamps - Verve "Hope Blooms"

Digital image - Floppy Latte's Digital Designs "Lily Circle" at Stitchy Bear Stamps

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Other - Copic markers, Wilton doily, CTMH Baker's Twine Neutral Collection

May God bless you richly with friends and show you new ways to be a friend!

Our Daily Bread Designs Get Well

This week the challenge at Our Daily Bread Designs for Shining the Light is a color challenge. Pink and black/gray can be such an elegant color combination, maybe too elegant for my get well card, but maybe not if it's also a wish that God bless you. I've become a firm believer that we should bless our children and family members as well as our friends. Great men of the Bible blessed others which serves as an example for us. Here's a great article from Focus on the Family about blessing your children.

I think it's like a prayer for God's blessing for them.  I like to handwrite blessings inside my cards when I give them. I don't worry about the fact that I hate my handwriting. I've finally come to the conclusion that it's part of me so that makes it even more personal. (Of course I never told my students that messy was OK when I was teaching handwriting!)

I used the elegant sketch from the Try Stampin' On Tuesday Challenge 67. 

I used the stamps from Our Daily Bread Designs in the Get Well set. I stamped the butterfly corner swirls/flourishes twice, in opposite corners.  I stamped again on a scrap of the Baby Pink cardstock in black to cut out a butterfly to put on the corner flower embellishment. The fun part was tracing over the dotted swirls and end point dots with a glitter gel pen and adding bitty pearls to the bodies of the butterflies. The white background was embossed to go with the black patterned paper.

May God bless you as you bless others with words of encouragement!

Here are the challenges I used for this card:
Crafty Calender Challenge - Things with Wings
Deep Ocean Challenge #26 - Swirls
Divas By Design #36 - Flourishes
Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light Challenge #110 - colors pink, black and/or grey and white/vanilla
Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge - Anything Goes
Try Stampin' on Tuesday Challenge #67 - Sketch

6.5" x 5" Get Well Card Recipe:
Paper - Bo Bunny "Enchanted Collection;" Close To My Heart Baby Pink, Cotton Candy, White Daisy, Black cardstock
Stamps - Our Daily Bread "Get Well"
Inks - Close To My Heart Cotton Candy, Black
Accents - Cuttlebug embossing folder "Kassie's Brocade;" Close To My Heart Bitty Pearls; Spellbinder's Nestabilities Labels Ten; Martha Stewart boder punch; Recollections floral embellishments, Sakura Jelly Roll glitter gel pen




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Jingle All the Way Christmas Card

Life has been so busy the past week I missed my craft room and haven't made many Christmas cards lately. Here's a fun card I made by combining several challenges with this whimsical horse named Charlie dressed up as a reindeer from Clear Dollar Stamps. I was looking for an image using jingle bells for the ABC Christmas Challenge, J - Jingle Bells, when I found this delightful horse.  It's from a set called Charlie Reindeer Games.  I used this sketch #88 from Sketch N Stash. The item from my stash that has been long overlooked is the red shiny ribbon which had always seemed to stiff for making a bow, but was perfect for this design.

I modified the small circle at the bottom and put Santa's pack there instead. It also had jingle bells. I chose the soft blue snowflake paper for the Christmas Card Challenges Week 26 today--to use bling-- so I covered the jingle bell images and the center of the snowflakes with Sakura Gelly Roll glitter gel. It's subltle and shiny. I also chose a shiny red ribbon.  52 Christmas Card Throwdown Challenge #5 for this month was to use embossing, which I used on the white circle behind Charlie to look like snow.

Here's a close up of the glitter gell on the snowflakes and jingle bells.

The last challenge I used was one I recently found, Holly Jolly Christmas, Anything Goes with Ribbon.

4.25" x 5.5" Christmas Card Recipe:
Paper - My Mind's Eye "12 Days of Christmas;" Close To My Heart White Daisy and Cranberry cardstock
Image - Clear Dollar Stamps digital "Charlie Reindeer Games"
Copic Markers - Grays (N0, N2, N4, N6, N8) Crimson RV29, Pea Green YG63, Mint Green BG13, Yellowish Skin Pink YR61, E00
Accents - Cuttlebug embossing folder "Swiss Dots," red shiny ribbon unknown from my stash, Sakura Gelly Roll glitter gel pen, pop dots

Fabulous Dahlia for Tuesday Morning Sketches 147

Here's a belated birthday card I made with the fabulous Dahlia digital design from Clear Dollar Stamps. I chose a paper from Basic Grey's Hello Luscious that I thought had the colors of the challenge this week from The Color Throwdown, although my green Copics may not have been as dark.

I used this sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches, Challenge 147.

The digital design had dahlia buds included, so I used three of them for the three flower embellishments on the design. I wanted the main dahlia to stand out so I printed it twice and pop dotted the center portion for dimension. This is a fun technique to use on multi-petaled flowers. I'm also using this card for the Fabulous Flowers challenge at Crafts and Me.

I have two friends who love very bright cards. The patterned paper is a little much for me with the busy dahlia, so I think next time I'll try making it again with white or green embossed paper in its place. Thank you for looking!

Miss You Like Crazy - Viva La Verve card

I was remembering our men and women who serve our country and all the sacrifices they make when I made a card for the Viva La Verve challenge for May, week 4. This will be one of the cards I give to Operation Write Home. They send the cards overseas and our service men and women can select cards free of charge to write home. I thought the Verve sentiment "Miss You Like Crazy" was a great one for expressing their feelings of love (and maybe loneliness). This week Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps Midweek Challenge is to make cards that express love. I'm thankful for the opportunity to make cards for them and to keep them in my prayers as well.

Here is the sketch from Verve:

Challenges:

Basic Grey Challenge #68 - Anything Goes using Basic Grey

Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps Midweek Challenge - Love You Theme

Viva La Verve - May 2012 Week 4 Sketch

5.5" x 4.25" Card Recipe:

Paper - Basic Grey "Hello Luscious" and "Ambrosia;" Close To My Heart White Daisy and Breeze (retired) cardstock

Stamp - Verve "Hope Blooms"

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Accents - 2" circle punch; Spellbinders Nestabilities Heart Circles; CTMH White Daisy grosgrain ribbon

iSpy Sketches #16 - You're One in a Million

Two people who are dear to me just ended relationships and I've been praying for them not to hurt so much and to know how valuable they are. The sentiment I chose for my card has double meaning. They are truly each "One in a million," but I also hope they'll meet that special "One in a Million Guy" that God has for them. Love to Create Challenge #16 is to make your card inspired by a song. So I'm using Hannah Montana's song titled "One in a Million." Here are the last lyrics:

They say that good things take time
But really great things happen
In the blink of an eye

Thought the chances to meet somebody
Like you were a million to one
I cannot believe it, you're one in a million, yeah

One in a million, yeah
You're one in a million.

(That's exactly how I have felt about my hubby ever since I met him! I hope the same for my friends!)

Here's a sketch from iSpy Sketches that I used.

I love this Basic Grey "Hello Luscious" paper. I love the bright, tropical flower colors. For the aqua semicircle shape, I simply traced half of a spool of ribbon. I made an accordian flower for my center circle accent by scoring a 1 x 11 piece of cardstock every 1/4." After I folded it accordian style, I overlapped one inch of it using glue. Then I attached it to the magenta heart circle with a Gluber, adding a flower sparkle for the center.

I'm adding this to the following challenges:
Basic Grey Challenge #68 - Anything Goes using Basic Grey
iSpy Sketches #16
Love to Create Challenge #16 - Song Inspired
Paper Playtime Challenge #75 - Say It With Sentiments - Friendship Card
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge #80 - Anything Goes

5" x 6.5" Friendship Card Recipe:
Paper - Basic Grey "Hello Luscious;" Close To My Heart Sunkiss Yellow, Sweet Leaf, White Daisy cardstock
Stamp - My Favorite Things
Ink - CTMH Lagoon
Accents - CTMH retired flower sparkle; Sizzix embossing folder "Tropical Flourishes;" Spellbinders Nestabilities Heart Circles

Philippians 4:8 for MOJO Monday 242

When I was in my thirties and early forties, life had many challenges that often discouraged me. One of the verses I quoted to myself frequently was Philippians 4:8. I also reminded my children of this verse and it's importance to their mental well-being from their teenage years to the present. I find that there are many beautiful, positive things in life that we can put our focus on when times are difficult. Dwelling on the problems is exhausting as well as discouraging. When I saw this verse in the newly-released May digi image collection called Value Verses from Clear Dollar Stamps, I wanted to use it for my cards of encouragement. The fonts and arrangement of the phrases make it attractive and memorable. I like the way the key words are on the right margin. It also perfectly fit the sketch from MOJO Monday #242 this week.

I had fun making the flower by using a Verve stamp and winding seam binding around the middle. You just add some very sticky glue dots to the center of any flower, start the twisted seam binding in the center and twist and adhere as you go around the circle. Love it! The leaves were slightly creased in the middle, then folded up for more dimension.

May God bless you today as you focus your thoughts on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, of virtue, and praiseworthy.

Challenges:
Basic Grey Challenge #68 - Anything Goes, using Basic Grey
Just Keep On Creating - Anything Goes (use up your stash - the ancient yellow patterned paper!)
Little Birdie Blessings Linky Party - anything using scripture
MOJO Monday - Sketch #242
Ribbon Carousel Challenge #54 - Fancy Flowers - make flowers out of ribbon, fabric, felt or burlap
Scrap-Creations- Bingo (I used the middle row going down)

6.5" x 5" Encouragement Card Recipe:
Image: Value Verses (Philippians 4:8)
Stamp: flower from Verve Hope Blooms
Ink: Close To My Heart Sorbet
Papers: Basic Grey "Sweet Threads;" CTMH "Sweetheart"(pink), retired Buttercup patterned paper, Colonial White, Topiary, and Sorbet cardstock; Bazzill maroon cardstock
Accents: Martha Stewart border punch; Hug Snug seam binding
Technique: twisted seam binding for flower center