Spring Has Sprung! (Rumor Has It)

I cannot believe it has been so long since I have posted anything at all to my blog! I would start explaining the reasons for this terrible negligence, but I can't even remember that many excuses!  So I will just act like this never happened and go on my merry way.  Today that means that I am posting a card for Our Daily Bread Designs current challenge which is about Spring, AND the stamps used are to be ODBD stamps.  I was so happy to make a card about Spring. It is spring here in East Tennessee, of course, but you sure could have fooled most of us!  So a spring card may help cheer us all up!

The lovely sparrow image and the sentiment is from the ODBD set Sing To The Lord.  I just love this set! I colored the image with Copics, cut it out with Spellbinders Scalloped Circles die, and used Baby Blue Stickles around the edges. I added some flowers and bling from my stash. The base card is white with some lovely pastel pink, blue, and green flowered dp adhered. You can tell I love my embellies! I added some lovely pale ribbon roses and pearls to the base of the card, stamped the sentiment using Distress Ink on cardstock that I had sprayed with Glimmer Mist.  The top of the card has a brad bar that I have had FOREVER, but it seemed just perfect to attach the blue lace that runs down the middle of the card. I adhered my die cut image with 3D foam, and finished up with some blue gemstones, pink pearls, and a couple of butterflies from my stash. Whew!  That's a lot of bling, I know! lol

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog. I hope you will go by Our Daily Bread Designs and have a look at the amazing inspiration from the DT and all the other entries! 

Have a blessed day!

Lynn

Happy Bird Thank You Card

Oh my goodness. I am almost embarrassed to post - it has been so long! At least I can honestly say it was on purpose. I was so busy making things to sell or give as gifts for Christmas that I decided to focus on only that for a while.  Since then, I have had some pretty serious dental work, and I definitely wasn't in the creating mood!! Now things are back to normal (ummm.......as normal as they can be in my life! lol).

So this will be a very quick post. I made a thank you card for a wonderful friend who gave me a fabulous Christmas gift of  subscriptions to 2 magazines I love. How sweet was that?! So I remembered that I had this darling HAPPY BIRD digi stamp that was a freebie from Doodle Pantry.  It turns out that this week the theme of their challenge is to simply use one of their images! So I am trying to post this quickly, because I have to get this in on time! So here is my card:

                                                                      
Isn't this birdie adorable?  The designer cardstock is from My Mind's Eye "Fine and Dandy Girl" collection. The diecut is a Spellbinder's Nesties Label. I directly inked it with several pink inks that I played with until I got what I wanted.  I printed the birdie, colored with Copics, cut out, and attached with Popdots. The sentiment is from My Sentiments Exactly. I stamped it on a diecut in my stash, and attached it with 3D Dots too.  The "so happy" phrase is from one of the Lost and Found Two sets. I distressed and inked the edges of the dp and added some rhinestones for some bling.

Now here is the inside of the card, which finishes it off perfectly for my friend.

The "for being" are alpha stickers from my stash, and the "so tweet" is a cute little individual stamp from Snag 'Em Stamps.

I hope you like this card. As I said, I am entering it (at the last second!) to Doodle Pantry Challenge 19.  They have the cutest stamps there. I am going to frequent their shop, no doubt!  Thanks for stopping by, and I will be back much more quickly this time!
                                                                               

Time for Perfect Sentiment's 3rd Challenge Reveal!

Well ladies, last night was the deadline to enter last week's challenge at The Perfect Sentiment. We had so many lovely entries of Friendship Cards that were based on the amazing inspiration picture.  Don't forget to check back Friday to see who was chosen as The Perfect 3 and who won the random drawing.  It will be soooo hard to choose  The Perfect 3 - that's for sure!

Now on to this week's challenge! You are to make a Get Well Card (or a card that expresses this in some form or fashion). The twist (Remember, there's always a twist on our challenges!) is to use some type of embossing on your card. You may do dry embossing or heat embossing or even both!
If you like embossing, this is the challenge for you!

Plus, this week, besides having the chance to be chosen as one of  The Perfect 3 and posting that badge on your blog, we also have a sponsor who is giving a prize to our random drawing winner!
This week Sarah from My Little Somethings  is giving away a grab bag of various crafting items with a minimum value of $15. Whooohoooo!  Now that's a nice prize. If you get a chance, stop by Sarah's blog and thank her for her generosity!. Sorry -  USA participants only for this prize, due to the high cost of shipping internationally. 

  Here is what I came up with for the challenge:

                                                                       
My image is a digi that was created by my friend, Sam Erozan, who is a very talented artist. We considered going into business together selling his digital stamps, but things didn't work out that way. I do have several of his digis, and I love them all. I decided to use his "Fairy Dog" as a "The Get Well Fairy"!  lol  I generated that part of the sentiment on my computer,  and printed it and the image. I colored the image in bright, cheerful colors, using pencils, Copics, and Stickles. I printed the sentiment on pink cardstock that I had dry embossed with the Sizzix Impressabilities "Flourish" embossing plate. The rest of the sentiment, at the bottom of the page, was created with a rubber stamp from a My Sentiments Exactly set onto the same embossed paper. Each of the 2 parts of the sentiment were then punched out, and I inked the edges.
My base card is yellow (obviously!), with a layer of pink dp from my stash. On top of that is a blue cs from my stash, and I dry embossed this also. This time I used the Sizzix Textured Impressions Embossing Folder in "Starry Night".  I used a Martha Stewart punch on the top of this, distressed the edges of the pink and blue paper, and inked the edges of the blue embossed cs using Distress Ink. I added some pearls and pillow butterfly stickers from K & Co.
I do like to use Bible verses on my cards whenever possible, so I used a stamp from Our Daily Bread Designs on the inside of the card that says "A Cheerful Heart is Good Medicine; Proverbs 17:22" and underneath that is a simple "Get Well Soon" stamp from My Sentiments Exactly.  I thought that the Get Well Fairy was so cute and funny that it would be good medicine for anyone who needed to get well!  If you would like to see lots of inspiration for this challenge, here are the links to the blogs of everyone on the DT.  You can see their cards at The Perfect Sentiment Blog, but if you go to their blogs, you can get some ideas about how they made their cards. If you are like me, I am always interested in seeing how someone made their creation.


Jan’s blog
http://www.tweetybugshouse.blogspot.com/

Kimberly's Blog
http://hellocutiecrafts.blogspot.com

 Paper Expressions  owner
Jennipher’s Blog
http://www.jennipherlowery.com

Rochelle's Blog
http://www.twotearsinmybucket.blogspot.com

Samantha (DT Coordinator)
http://kania-amusestudio.blogspot.com/

Sarah's Blog
http://my-little-somethings.blogspot.com/

Shelly’s blog http://www.geminivisionsart.blogspot.com


Stacey's Creative Corner
Stacey's Blog
http://staceyscreativecorner.blogspot.com

Theresa’s Blog
http://thepaperpeasant.com

With All My Heart
Tere's Blog
http://www.tereazua.com

 Shaunna’s Blog
http://shaunnarooskie.com

ScrappinAbby
http://scrappin-abby.blogspot.com/


I hope you have been inspired to join in our challenge this week.  Remember, you  have until Tuesday at 10:00 p.m. to get your entry in. We will be choosing winners and posting them the following Friday.   Also, please remember to link your blog post with your entry directly to our blog, and use keywords PSC03 this week. Thanks so much for stopping by my blog. Please leave comments and let me know what you think about my Get Well Fairy!

Time for the 2nd Challenge from The Perfect Sentiment!

Oh ladies, I hope you all had a chance to stop by The Perfect Sentiment Challenge Blog this past week, even if you didn't join in the challenge. If you did, you saw some gorgeous inspiration cards by the DT along with some awesome entries for our first challenge. You have to go by and see who got chosen for out Perfect 3 this week, and to see who won the prize from the random drawing! I'm not even telling you who, because I want you to click on the link above or on my sidebar and have a look!  Besides, you simply HAVE to stop by today, as we unveil our SECOND CHALLENGE!!  Whoooohoooo!

Our second challenge is another one that I know you will want to enter - Friendship Inspiration!  We would like you to make a card having to do with FRIENDSHIP, and we want you to use colors inspired by this awesome photo that Jennipher found:

 

Wow, aren't these just yummy colors?  I love them.  Here is the card that I was inspired to make from the colors in this photo:

                                                                                                                                               
I had some trouble with the lighting on this, but my dp really is the same teal color as the Maya Road Ribbon that I used at the bottom. I love, love, love that ribbon. I wish I had it in every color. It kind of looks like it overpowers the card in this pic, but it really doesn't. It has to do with the angle of the card in the photo, I think. My base card is made from teal cardstock that I cut to the 5 1/2 x
5 1/2 size that I make so often. I then used some gorgeous paper from My Mind's Eye "Lost and Found Two" Collection. I was really inspired by the photo, because I wasn't only thinking of color, but I was thinking of the layers of the covers. So my next layer is some yummy chocolate cs with brown hearts on it. I distressed the edges of both of these layers. Then I got to cheat, because the frame (including the birdie) was cut out from the MME dp. It even had the teal glitter on the edge of the frame! How cool is that?   I then stamped the sentiment (from Our Daily Bread Designs Friendship Set) in brown Inkadinkado Ink onto cream colored Neenah Paper, and I heat embossed it with Ranger Clear Embossing Powder. I simply adhered it to the back of the cut out frame and added the little flower embellie from my stash. I added a brown photo corner from my stash and a Prima flower to one corner and teal self-adhesive pearls to the other. Finally, I added layered a light blue heart rub-on over a  brown background rub-on, both from Pink Paislee. Oh yes, can't forget the Teal Stickles! lol    Here is a close-up so you can see the glimmer a little better:

                                                                                
Now that you have seen my card, here are the links to the blogs of the other members of the DT. Go by their blogs, and you will REALLY see some awesome cards to inspire you:

Jan's blog
http://www.tweetybugshouse.blogspot.com/

Kimberly's Blog
http://hellocutiecrafts.blogspot.com/

 Paper Expressions  owner
Jennipher's Blog
http://www.jennipherlowery.com/

Rochelle's Blog
Two Tears in my Bucket
http://www.twotearsinmybucket.blogspot.com/

Samantha (DT Coordinator)
Crafty Couple's Corner
http://kania-amusestudio.blogspot.com/

Shelly Kane's blog
Gemini Visions Art
http://www.geminivisionsart.blogspot.com/

Stacey's Creative Corner
Stacey's Blog
http://staceyscreativecorner.blogspot.com/

Theresas Calderini's Blog
The Paper Peasant
http://thepaperpeasant.com

With All My Heart
Tere's Blog
http://www.tereazua.com

 shaunnaRooskie's Blog
http://shaunnarooskie.com

ScrappinAbby
Paper crafting blog
http://scrappin-abby.blogspot.com/

After seeing all the inspiration at all of the blogs of these talented ladies,  here is something else to inspire you to play along with us this week. We have a super sponsor! Heart Song Designs is giving a digi from their gorgeous collection to the lucky winner of our random drawing!    Stop by their shop and have a look at their awesome digis. That way, in case you are the winner of the random drawing, you will be know what you want! lol  Ummmm, I have a feeling you will be wanting many more of their lovely creations. I know I do!

One more bit of important info. You now have until Tuesday at 10:00 p.m. to get your entry in. We will be choosing winners and posting them the following Friday.  So get your entry in by Tuesday night, then check back on Friday to see if YOU may have been chosen as one of  The Perfect 3 or perhaps won the random drawing.  Please remember to link your blog post with your entry directly to our blog, and use keywords PSC02 on your blog or if your post elsewhere this week.

I know this has been a long post! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog. I sure hope to see you this week at The Perfect Sentiment!                   


                         

The Perfect Sentiment Challenge Blog Launches Today!

Good morning everyone! I have lots of exciting news today!  First, I had mentioned that Jennipher Lowery was starting a new weekly challenge blog called The Perfect Sentiment, and she was looking for a DT. I haven't had a chance to post the news that she now has her DT, and I have been chosen to be a Senior Designer on the Executive Design Team for this exciting new blog!!!! WHOOOO-HOOOOOO!  You may have noticed the badge in my sidebar - that was a clue! lol  Can you tell how happy I am? : )  Jennifer and Sami, who is also on the Executive Team and is the DT Coordinator, have done a fabulous job chosing several very talented ladies for this team. Not to mention that they are so talented themselves! You will be truly inspired, I know.
Soooooooo.........drum roll please.........the next big news is that The Perfect Sentiment Challenge Blog officially begins today, October 5th. I am loving the first challenge, PSC01, which is to make a Sympathy Card, and the twist is - it must have lace of some type on it.  This is how all of the challenges will run.  Each Wednesday, you will be challenged to make a type of card - Sympathy, Get Well, Missing You, and who knows what else, but you will be given an added "something" to challenge you.  Doesn't that sound like FUN?!!!  Yep! lol

Every week that you enter, your card might get picked as one of the Perfect 3! Click on the PS Challenge link above and have a look at the lovely badge you get to post on your blog if your entry gets chosen for this honor.  To top it all off, we are proud to say that we have a sponsor for our very first week!    Our sponsor this week is GLITTERBABE DIGIS.  Stef, the owner, has been extremely generous and is offering a $10 gift certificate to her store if your name is drawn. That is enough to buy 3 of her fantastic digis!!  Click on her shop name above and have a look at her lovely images. You will want some!!!
So here is the card I made for PSC01 using one of those beautiful digis:

      

For those of you who may not know me, you may be surprised when I say that for me this card is actually on the CAS side! I decided not to load it up with my usual embellies and bling since it is a Sympathy Card, although everyone may not feel this way at all.   Notice that you don't have to use the word "Sympathy" in your sentiment.  I used a sentiment stamp that conveys sympathy from Our Daily Bread Designs. I stamped it with pink pigment ink and heat embossed it with Ranger Clear Embossing Powder. The paper I stamped it on is a piece of cardstock that I colored using the "shaving cream with alcohol ink technique".  It is hard to see the paper in this picture, but it has all the colors that are in the rest of the card. If anyone is interested in this technique, let me know and I will post a tutorial. I adhered my sentiment to a rosey-pink cs, then adhered the whole thing with 3D Dots over my lace ribbon (There's my lace requirement!), which also has Prima flowers glued to it.  The pretty striped dp is from Sassafraslass, and I used an EK Success border punch on the bottom. I adhered this to a 5 x 7 blue card base.  The lovely waterlily I used is (as I mentioned) one of Glitterbabe's lovely digi's. I printed it out on Neenah paper, colored it with a combination of Copics, Prismacolor Pencils used with Googone (I use Googone instead of Mineral Spirits all the time - are you familiar with this?), Smooch, and chalks for the background. I use a Spellbinders Label Nestie to cut it out, and to cut the rose Little Yellow Bicycle cs under it. I inked the edges of both of these and adhered these both with 3D Dots for dimension. I finally added some flat-backed pearls in each upper corner. I can't help it - I always have to have a pearl somewhere!

I hope you will join in our challenge! Get started with us right at the beginning. Remember, link your blog post with your entry to THE PERFECT SENTIMENT CHALLENGE BLOG, and please use keyword  PSC01. Deadline for your entry is Sunday at 10 pm EST.
Also, if you decide to enter, why not stop by Stef's blog, GLITTERBABE GREETINGS, and leave her some love for her generosity to us.

As I mentioned, when you stop by the PSCB, you will definitely be inspired by the DT. There are links there to all the blogs, but for your convenience, I am going to list the DT blogs here also, just to make it easy for you to stop by. I promise you will be inspired! Here they are:

Jan's blog

http://www.tweetybugshouse.blogspot.com/


Kimberly's Blog
http://hellocutiecrafts.blogspot.com/ 


Paper Expressions
Jennipher's Blog (owner)
http://www.jennipherlowery.com/


Rochelle's Blog
Two Tears in my Bucket
http://www.twotearsinmybucket.blogspot.com/


Samantha (DT Coordinator)
Crafty Couple's Corner
http://kania-amusestudio.blogspot.com/


Sarah's Blog
My Little Somethings
http://my-little-somethings.blogspot.com/   
 
Shelly's blog
Gemini Visions Art
http://www.geminivisionsart.blogspot.com/


Stacey's Creative Corner
Stacey's Blog
http://staceyscreativecorner.blogspot.com/


Theresa's Blog
The Paper Peasant
http://thepaperpeasant.com/


With All My Heart
Tere's Blog
http://www.tereazua.com/


Shaunna's Blog
http://shaunnarooskie.com/


ScrappinAbby
http://scrappin-abby.blogspot.com/                                                                


I hope I didn't leave anyone out! I also hope to see your creations at The Perfect Sentiment! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog. Let me know what you think about any of this - including any questions or ideas about my card.  I love to read your comments!

A "Beary" Special Angel

I'm so sorry I haven't posted in so long! You know how it is when real life interferes with your crafty time! lol Anyway, today I have a card to share with you that I am entering in several challenges having to do with backgrounds, layers, and things of that nature. I believe this one will fit.

This darling Angel Bear is a digi stamp from I Brake for Digis. I printed it, colored it with Copics, colored the wings with Smooch Pearlized Accent Ink in Shabby Pink, and cut it out. The original digi has a cute little bee flying around it, but I cut it off for this card. The other stamp I used is the sentiment stamp which is from Our Daily Bread Designs "Friendship" set. I love this sentiment, and use it quite often!

One of the challenges I am entering this card in is from Joan's Gardens, which is new to me. Joan has a wonderful store, plus she and Selma have a challenge blog that they have taken a break from for a few months. This month they are starting their challenges again, so I am entering challenge #1. They have quite a recipe for this: use 2 different dies & 2 DIFFERENT embossing folders to create a background,  a sentiment and pearls. So I used Basic Grey Phoebe dp on my 5 x 7 base card, then I layered pp that I made using the shaving cream and alcohol ink technique (I have so much fun making my own pp with this technique! If anyone would like instructions, let me know and I'll post a tutorial.). Before adhering my "shaving cream" layer, I embossed it using Sizzix Impressabilities "Flourish" die, plus I used a Martha Stewart border punch on the right side. I added a piece of crocheted teal ribbon at the bottom of this piece. Next I took a piece of blue scrap paper and embossed it with the same "Flourish" Impressability. I sanded it slightly, so that the embossing would show. I used a Spellbinder's Nestie Oval to cut this piece out.   So next I took a teal piece of scrap paper, and to follow my recipe correctly, I embossed it with a Sizzix Textured Impressions Embossing Folder in "Starry Night", slighly sanded it, and used a Spellbinders Long Rectangle Nestie to cut it out. Btw, the Textured Impressions Embossing Folder REALLY makes a strong impression on your paper. If you haven't had much success with embossing folders, give this one a try!

After inking the edges,  I adhered my two diecuts with 3D dots for dimension, then adhered my Angel Bear with 3D dots for even more dimension. So I have lots of layers, which is what the Pile It On Challenge is about this week, so I am entering it, too. Also, I Brake for Challenges is about backgrounds. I have really worked on the background for this card, so I am entering their challenge also. Plus I got my cute digi from them, after all. : )

So that you can see some of this better,  here is a closeup:

I think you can see the embossing fairly well in this pic, as well as that cute digi.  Next, here is a pic of the sentiment that I stamped, heat embossed, and distressed the edges before adhering with 3D dots. You can see some of the embossed shaving cream paper, too.

I always tried to give you a good view of what the shine you get with the Smooch on the wings. You may be able to see it better here:

I love the Smooch! How perfect for angel wings! I also used it on the halo.

I finished off the whole card with a small rose that I embellished with some Pink Stickles. Plus I added a small piece of paper flower ribbon at the top of the page, a pillow butterfly and some teal pearls.

I hope you like my layered card.  Besides the challenges I have already mentioned, I am also sending it into Stamp Something for their VERY LAST CHALLENGE! They have been around a long time, and I hate to see them go. They have provided all of us with so many great challenges and so much inspiration. Their challenge to say goodbye to us is Anything we want,  so I think I've met that! lol

Before I go, I want to add that my friend and former DT member, Jennipher Lowery, is starting a brand new challenge blog soon. It is called The Perfect Sentiment, and I am so excited about it. She is currently looking for DT members. Click on the link here or in my sidebar to find out more. Plus, I will be writing more about it soon. This post has been so long, I think I'd better wait until next time to say anymore! lol Thanks so much for stopping by my blog!