One seed can start a garden, one candle can light a room, one step can begin a journey, one conversation can start a friendship, one smile from a handmade card can lift one's SPIRIT!

Monday, September 30, 2013

Make It Monday meets Merry Monday!!

It came together friends...TWO challenges with one card...doesn't happen often for me...I am kind of a simple person...one at a time!!  So I watched the video over Capture the Moment and then I saw the colors challenge at Merry Monday and they came together!!

The technique which Nichole refers to as "Repeat & Lift". The technique involved generation stamping (repeat) and then adhering the coordinating die cut on top of it with foam tape (lift).  And it works best with a word die that also has a stamp to match the word.

 
 Merry Monday has this Colour challenge....Red, Pink, Light Green, Dark Green and White!
I brought the two together using PTI's new stamp and die:  Wonderful Words:  JOY.  I stamped the JOY with both the red and the pink ink and did the generation stamping with both...moving it slightly up, down, left and right of center.  I die cut the JOY and stamped with the darker green and then cut narrow strips of the adhesive to "lift" it! 

And the Inside of the card!

Now, I don't ask my husband to often what he thinks...but he happened to walk into my room and so I did...he thought it said "jazz"!  Really?  I asked if he needed his glasses!  He thought it was strange the font was changed for the letters...he asked if I could change the 'y'...Now you know why I don't ask his opinion very often!!  Ha ha...

We are having another stormy day today in the Pacific Northwest!  Lots of rain and wind!
I hope you can bring JOY to someone today!

Heart Hugs, 
Colleen   
            

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Dynamic Duos # 72

Last year at this time my family was touched with cancer... Lymphoma for my older daughter and at the same time I was diagnosed with a cancer tumor on my lung (NOT lung cancer).  My daughter went through 5 months of chemo, I had surgery to remove my left lower lobe in order to remove the cancer.  I am happy to report the latest scans for both my daughter and myself show NO signs of cancer!  When I saw Tracey's card for Breast Cancer Awareness (which is October) I couldn't resist following her lead.
I saw a video by Jennifer McGuire on Simon Says Stamps and new I wanted to try this technique. 
Here is a side view of the card.  I die cut the ribbon 6 times using the darker pink cardstock and then I die cut it from the face of the card.  I then glued them all together...just gives the ribbon some dimension!

stamps:  A Muse:  Fight Like a Girl, PTI: Faith & Hope
ink:  memento angel pink, PTI raspberry fizz
paper:  PTI white and raspberry fizz
die:  PTI Faith & Hope

I would like to take this time to share with all you, my blogging friends how touched I was one day by a "Random Act of Kindness" while waiting in the Oncologist office.  A lady came in and presented me with a bouquet of flowers and told me she was just doing a random act of kindness!  If anyone needs a "lift" and words of encouragement it would be people who are going through chemo or even dialysis.  My Bible Study ladies are going to take this project on and go once or twice a week to those centers close to our home and present several people in the waiting room with little gifts...it turns out flowers are NOT the best for chemo patients because of the smell...they would be fine in a dialysis center.  Dark chocolate is wonderful for chemo patients...wrapped in a glassine bag with the word "courage" stamped  on it, then a word of encouragement tucked inside, sealed with a piece of washi tape.  Sadly the dialysis patients cannot have chocolate, but bookmarks, tea, magnets, a flower bulb are all ideas we have come up with and we are very excited about "Paying forward to others that Random Act of Kindness" shown to me.

Go forth and be Jesus to the world...give out love and kindness and compassion to your neighbors!

Heart Hugs,
Colleen

Festive Friday Challenge # 18 ~ A STAR Element

                                                                                                        
The challenge is to include a star element on the card.  I can't believe I had another Hero Arts stamp that had not seen ink...in the words of fellow blogger Darnell this is a NBUS stamp (again, her words:  "Never Before Used Schtuff"!!  She is so mighty clever with her words). 
I inked up the rubber stamp with royal velvet ink and stamped it on Harvest gold paper.  I took a sentiment from Nativity Additions and stamped it off once, then stamped it to make my background.
                                             
I used the same sentiment inside the card and stamped the star in the corners (I used the same star on the envelope...3 times, in the bottom left corner)

Stamps:  HA: Starry Night,  PTI: Nativity Additions
paper:  PTI royal velvet, harvest gold, white
ink:  royal velvet, harvest gold, memento black

Thank you so much for taking a look!  I hope you have a glorious Sunday.  We are celebrating my grandson's 14 birthday and also an Open House as his family moved into a new home for them...one with lots of rooms for the three kiddos.
Heart Hugs, friends!

Colleen

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Merry Monday ~ a Snowman theme

The challenge this week at Merry Monday  is to use a snowman on the card...can you believe I have had this stamp for over a year (maybe 2??)...it came from Paper Zone when they were shutting down and I got it for 50% off...it is a Hero Arts Stamp called "Share the Joy"...I stamped him (him...because I colored him in those blues and greens~ Ha~) on the card, then stamped him again and colored and fussy cut him out.  I die cut the snowflake with some new Glitzy Glitter paper I bought at JoAnn's...really cool stuff, I used the silver along the side of the sentiment paper also.  I stamped the sentiment with versamark and embossed with silver embossing powder. 
                                                      
Paper:  MME: Merry Little Christmas, DCWV: Glitzy Glitter, PTI white
snowflake die is MFT
copics
silver embossing powder  
                I hope you will play along and start getting those Christmas cards done!!
                We lost our power for about an hour...lots of wind and rain today ~ hope you all have a great weekend!!

Heart Hugs,
Colleen
                                    

Friday, September 27, 2013

Online Card Class "Insiders" Day 1 card # 2

 This time I just stamped my flowers with regular ink, not watercolor.   This is the front of the card:

And here is the inside:  a popped up little folded card with the same flowers and a coordinating sentiment:
PTI paper stampers select white
stamps:  Ruby Rose, 2 different HA sentiment packs
ink:  berry sorbet, raspberry fizz, simply chartreuse

Thanks again for taking a look, hope you have a glorious day,
Heart Hugs to you all!
Colleen

Online Card Class "Insiders" Day 1

The class this time is specializing the inside of the cards...making them a little more special, bringing something from the outside to the inside of the card...Day 1 had 6 or 7 videos...lots of good stuff!

Here is my first one

The inside flower is "popped" up.
            Supplies:  HA watercolor paper, PTI white
stamps:  Friends till the End
ink: distress inks and a water blender pen

It really is fun to add a little something 'unexpected' to the inside of the card!
Have a great day, thanks for visiting!
Heart Hugs,
Colleen 

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Seize the Birthday

Well, friends, I have come further than I ever dreamed of going with this card blogging business!  Lesley from Always Playing with Paper asked me to design for the Seize the Birthday Challenge!  Let me just tell you that my insides are pretty shakey...can I hold up my end with all these talented ladies?  Will I be a disappointment to Lesley?  Is it just first time jitters?  I have to go outside my comfort zone... and push myself, so I said YES!!  And a million thanks to Lesley for believing in me and giving me this opportunity.

The challenge is always "Anything Goes"...so any kind of birthday card you want to make is good with us...however, if you want to take it up a notch and add some 'icing' on that cupcake of yours, then what you need to do this time around is use TWO kinds of ribbon on your card.  Here is what I came up with:

I had said to a friend that I don't do masculine cards well...but I LOVE this MFT stamp called Fall foliage that Lisa Johnson designed...and I think leaves can fall (ha ha) into the masculine category.  And did you notice my two little pieces of ribbon?  Yes I added them to the side of the card, using the same colors as the leaves that I die cut!  And I am still working on making the inside of the card almost as special as the outside...

Paper:  PTI Kraft, neenah white
stamps:  PTI Autumn Pattern Pieces, Stylish Sentiments:  Birthday, MFT Fall Foliage
ink:  terra cotta tile, spring moss, kraft, scarlet jewell, dark chocolate, memento black
 I hope you will join in the fun and get some birthday cards made for your stash!!

Go  HERE to SEIZE THE BIRTHDAY CHALLENGE 
and play along with us!


                                                                                                                            
So this week your "Toppings" option is
                                          to use MORE than one color ribbon!                                                          

Sunday, September 22, 2013

An Anniversary card for my daughter

We are celebrating 10 years of marriage for my daughter and her husband...my husband and I celebrated our 42 two days before theirs, so we are all going out to dinner tonight, including our older daughter and her husband.  It is all about family, isn't it?  We are so thankful for the many blessings and the good health that we seem to have right now...God is good and so merciful, we praise Him for answering our prayers...so of course we are all celebrating together!

Lacey actually had yellow lily's for her bouquet, but I do not have a Lily stamp (how is that?) so I went with yellow roses from Rosie Posie!  And I used a favorite sketch from Muse.  The sentiment is from Round & Round (an anniversary set, not available for purchase).  I did stamp the inside as you can guess by now...but I wrote inside before I remembered to take a picture...I stamped the bigger rose, but I stamped it off once then placed it in the center of the card and on top of that I used the anniversary stamp from Think Big # 24, which is a bigger stamp from Beautiful Blooms...I think they will like this card, even if it doesn't have her flowers on it!  Congrats to my Lacey, we have had our struggles also, but through the grace of God and many many prayers we are all in a good place now and I couldn't be more proud of her and her family!

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Dynamic Duos # 71

I first saw Tracey McNeely's card and thought, WOW!  But since I am still in need of sympathy cards, I thought I would go that route.  Great color combo for sympathy cards.

You can go HERE to access the Dynamic Duos Challenge...kraft and black!!
                                                                                                           
And once again here is the inside of my card (can you tell I am getting ready for more inspiration from the OCC:  Insider?  It starts this Wednesday!!
PTI paper:  kraft, Bitty Box basics black
stamps:  MFT Peaceful wildflower, PTI With Sympathy
May Arts twine, scotch brand dimensional tape, zing embossing powder
                                                

Seize the Birthday ~ Anything goes

I need a card for my DAD who will be turning 92 in a couple of weeks, and I mentioned in another post that he used to raise Chrysanthemums...so of course I had to use PTI's Mum's the Word for his card.  Now, even though it is flowers, I think I managed to make it somewhat masculine...at least I think he will really like it.  If you want to play along go HERE and you can make a card for Anything goes...your choice, or the "toppings" this week is choosing a predominant color of your choice.  I just went with anything goes because I wanted an assortment of the colors of mum's!!
 I really liked this sketch from the Muse Challenge a couple of weeks ago and didn't get a chance to play along at the time, so I decided to use it now. 
The "Insider" of the card...yes he will be 92!  I will have to make a German chocolate cake as that is his favorite and my Mom always made one for him on his birthday!
PTI Stamps:  Wishes come True, Headline Alphabet, Mum's the Word, Boutique Birthday,                   MFT stamps:  Textile Background.
PTI Ink:   Terra cotta tile, summer sunrise, harvest gold, kraft, ripe avocado

                                                  
So this week your "Toppings" option is
" Monochromatic."  
                                                                                                                              

A Sympathy Card

I need more of these type of cards in my stash...
Papertrey Ink Soft stone paper and pattern paper was used.  MFT Roses was stamped with berry sorbet for the outline, then sweet blush for the filler.  The leaves were stamped with soft stone ink.  The sentiment is from Beautiful Butterflies stamped with Memento london fog ink.

and now for the inside:
I decided not to use the outline for the inside of the card, so I stamped the roses with the sweet blush ink and the leaves with soft stone.  With Sympathy is a Think Big Favorite # 3 stamped with the Memento London Fog.

Friday, September 20, 2013

CAS(E) this Sketch & CAS-ual Fridays


My card is for both the CAS(E) this Sketch and also this week's CAS-ual Fridays
            
And once again, I want to show you the inside of the card:
Papertrey stamps:  Fall elegance, Fancy Flourishes, Falling Leaves
MFT stamp (inside sentiment) Fall Foliage
paper:  rustic cream (PTI)
ink:  PTI melon berry, summer sunrise, new leaf, pure poppy, orange zest, kraft, soft stone
                    

Thursday, September 19, 2013

CAS(E) this sketch # 46

Just another little autumn card...here is the sketch from CAS(E) this sketch and you can go HERE to access the challenge!
                                                                 
                                                                                       
I used PTI Scent - mentals pumpkin and die...placed it on a MFT square stitched stax (which had been run through the Big Shot with the super stripes IP.  The sentiment is from Falling Leaves (PTI).
and the inside!!

MFT Wednesday Stamp Club Challenge

Here is the sketch for this week's Wednesday Stamp Club:
                                                                                                           
                                                               MFTWSC142                                                              All stamps used are MFT
                                 Tropical Sensations, Peaceful Wildflowers, Textile Backgrounds
                                      Dies:   MFT square stitched stax, tropical sensations
                                                  Paper:  MFT green, red, kraft

                                                   I almost forgot to show you the inside!

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Random cards...


I sold some cards at Bible Study this morning and the ones that disappeared are the Sympathy Cards...so I came home and quickly made this one.  And of course, the insider looks like this:
Stamps are MFT Peaceful Wildflowers.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Merry Monday # 75

I am so glad that I have been playing all year with two Christmas Challenges...I have a good stash of cards...so no last minutes frantic late nights for me!!

A new color challenge over at  Merry Monday ...I had to think on this one!

 You can see the colors below: red, dark brown, vanilla and champagne/gold with some shimmer...I used a piece of dark chocolate for the actual card and stamped an image from an old Stampin' Up set called Peaceful Wishes...it was stamped with Encore! ultimate metallic gold...so pretty!  I placed a piece of gold shimmer paper behind it and place it all on a vintage cream card base.  The sentiment is stamped with Colorbox red hot along with the berries which I added a bit of glossy accents to the berries for a little more shine!  That's it folks, thanks for taking a look!


                                                                      

Curtain Call Inspiration: Sunflowers!

Clearly Besotted is the sponsor for this challenge over at the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge  with a chance to win their own set called: Blooming Marvelous stamps and Die Collection!!  Yahoo!!


I used PTI Simple Sunflower.  First I die cut the circle using a nestability die, then I marked off the circle on the card base and stamped my flowers.  the sentiment is a Hero Arts one that I shaped inside the actual die while it was on the glass block in order to get the sentiment to follow the circle.  I masked the flowers to add the leaves.

And now because I am going to take the new Online Card Class:  Insider, I am paying special attention to the inside of the cards, so here is this one:
It kind of goes with the front of the card sentiment:  amazing friend!!  Oh and I didn't forget to add a flower to the front of the envelope...but of course it was AFTER I cleaned and put the whole set away!!  I am learning, it is just taking me a while..!!

You do want to play along with this Sunflower explosion of cards?  go check it out...
                                            
                                                                                                                            stamps:  PTI Simple Sunflower, Hero Arts sentiment sets (2 different ones)
ink:  PTI summer sunrise, dark chocolate, simply chartreuse
paper:  PTI stampers select white                        

Monday, September 16, 2013

Festive Friday Colour Challenge # 17

Meredith was right...I do LOVE these colors!!  Go HERE to check it out and play along!!
I die cut the largest Damask Snowflake (PTI) from the white paper and adhered it to the navy (enchanted evening) card base, then I die cut the smaller snowflake from the silver shimmer paper.  I used a circle nestabilities and stamped the JOY and the other sentiment from Big & Bold Holiday Wishes with the enchanted evening ink.  I adhered everything with dots from HERE at Deanna's blog...she has them on her etsy with the link below her picture.  I love these dots...they allow a little bit of dimension but not as thick as the 3M dimensional tape...they come in several sizes of dots and they are really perfect when layering flowers and leaves or when you want a little added dimension, but not a lot for postal purposes!!  Go check them out, you get a 1,000 for $5!
                                                                

Clearly Besotted Challenge # 4

Background stamping is the challenge this time for the Clearly Besotted Challenge. I pulled out my Cute and Cuddly stamp set and decided to make my own background using those cute little critters.  The "welcome" is actually a PTI stamp from Baby Button Bits. 
 I wanted to show you the "inside"...
 Those cute little critters peeking inside!!

Sunday, September 15, 2013

MFT Wednesday Stamp Club # 141

HERE is the sketch for this week's Wednesday Stamp Club...it ends this Tuesday!  I am loving this stamp set designed by Lisa Johnson...Fall Foliage...it is awesome and has some great dies too!
                                                                MFTWSC141
Stamps:  Fall Foliage, Textile Backgrounds, Right this Way, Roses
Paper:  PTI  Rustic Cream , Pure poppy
ink:  colorbox red hot, PTI orange zest, kraft, scarlet jewel, fine linen, ripe avocado, summer sunrise