Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Wattle On Over

Where or where is Spring? Here it is a few days away from May and we still are getting dreary, cool, sometimes downright cold weather. Enough already! Come on Spring!

Sunday was Featured Stamper day on Splitcoast and the FS of the day was Wattle from Australia. What a gorgeous gallery she has, so many wonderful cards to pick from. I chose her card titled 'A Bit of a Disaster'. All I can say I wish my disasters looked like this.

FS116

I changed the colors, the image, the Cuttlebug folder and added a flower and dewdrops. Love this card, it is so pretty and soft. The base is pale plum. Whisper white is embossed, using the Cuttlebug and embossing folder. The scalloped ovals are die cut with Nestibilities, paper pierced, and popped up on dimensionals. The top layer of the oval is vellum which has been stamped with versamark and heat embossed with white embossing powder. This also is die cut and then layered with the stamped side facing down. The stamp I used is from Sing to the Lord, a set from Our Daily Bread Designs. Thanks to Wattle for such a beautiful inspiration.

Happy Stamping! God bless

Monday, April 27, 2009

Kleenex Boxes

Saturdays are Inspiration Challenges on Splitcoast and Steffi always comes up with the most unique inspirations. This one blew me away. I never knew there were so many different designs on Kleenex boxes. This is what inspired me http://www.kleenex.com/NA/Products/Kleenex-Tissues.aspx Kleenex Expressions,
and this is my inspiration.

IC177

The base is regal rose cardstock as well as the scalloped border. Whisper white was run through the Cuttlebug using the Tapestry folder. I then took the basic black ink pad and swiped it across the embossed paper, trying to get that black and white background like the kleenex box. I stamped Bloomin Beautiful twice and the sprig from Embrace Life. All coloring was done using Copics markers. Once the coloring was completed I then proceeded to cut out everything. I cut the flowers away from the vases, stuck the vases on the background and added dimensionals to the flowers to raise them out from the vases. Then added diamond stickles to the centers of the flowers for a little sparkle. Punched the border with SU's scallop border punch and paper pierced. I am not totally happy with the background because it came out looking kind of messy so am thinking of trying something else.

Enjoy your day and Happy Stamping!

Friday, April 24, 2009

Spring Song

Every Tuesday on Splitcoaststampers there is a color challenge and every Wednesday a sketch challenge. These challenges are a great way to learn new ways of creating cards and for me, have been a wonderful encouragement to step out of my comfort zone and try something totally out of my realm. This card "Spring Song" combines both challenges for this week.





For me, as a Christian, spring means new beginnings, new life, new opportunities to savour the beauty of God's creation. I love hummingbirds so when Stampin' Up came out with this set I just had to get it. When I look at a hummingbird, I know God is real, because only He could create such a wondrous creature.

The base is basic grey and the four panels are rose red. I used Basic Grey Sultry dp on each of the panels. The main image is stamped on whisper white with black Stazon ink. This image is actually one stamp, but I wanted the hummingbird to be out of the box so I cut them apart and cut out the hummingbird so I could pop it up on dimensionals. The coloring was done before I did any cutting. I used an aqua painter and re-inkers to color the image. The hummingbird is colored with rose red on the breast and throat, and the rest is creamy caramel with touches of garden green. The flowers are pink pirouette and old olive. There is just a touch of diamond stickles on the flowers and hummingbird. The flower square is also on dimensionals. To finish it off I added some pearl dewdrops.

Happy stamping! God bless

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

My Strength

Happy Wednesday! We've hit the middle of the week and all is well. Although, believe it or not, we had some snow today. At least you know at this time of the year it isn't going to hang around.
I was so excited Monday when my order from Our Daily Bread Designs arrived, I just had to sit down and make a card with this gorgeous set. I really appreciate how this company puts the Lord first and witnesses in such a beautiful, positive way. Way to go Kelley! Check out www.ourdailybreaddesigns.com


My Strength

This card is my witness. God truly is my strength, my refuge and ever present help. I have had 4 surgeries in the past 4 years and He has been there with me every step of the way. Thank you ODBD for designing this beautiful set.

The base to this card is SU night of navy which is topped by Basic Grey designer paper. The sentiment is stamped on a piece of the same dp in night of navy. This really is a very simple card to make. Whisper white is stamped with stazon black for the image and then I used my trusty sponge and sponged night of navy for the night sky and sponged always artichoke along the base. The light coming from the lighthouse is Shimmerz candle which is also brushed over the sentiment. The image is on night of navy cs and popped up on dimensionals, ditto for the sentiment. Added a few blue dewdrops and that is it. I wanted the image to have a darkness to it so that the light would glow through. This is such a powerful image that testifies of the power of God's love and how He cares for us through all those rough spots. His light draws us to Him and at the same time reveals the dangers that are out there. He truly is an awesome God!

I just found out this card is going to be the Card of the Week, May 6th on the Our Daily Bread blog. I am so excited and honored. I think that maybe what I tried to portray came through. Check out http://kellrick.typepad.com/our_daily_bread_designs/ on May 6th. Thanks Lorelei, you have made me very happy.

Happy stamping! God bless.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Easter Mouse




Oh boy, I can't believe this much time has gone by since I last posted. Been busy with Easter and family. As well, I am trying to sort out and re-arrange my craft area. I wish I could twitch my nose and it would be all done. But, that ain't goin' to happen. :)



SC223, Easter Mouse


I am such a fan of House Mouse Stamps and this one is so cute I couldn't resist it. This is such a wonderful sketch and I couldn't resist casing Roxie's card on SCS.


The base is bashful blue. The bottom panel is a piece of that gorgeous new SU textured designer paper that I then punched both sides with the SU scallop border punch. This is topped by bashful blue and then very vanilla cardstock. All were punched with the scallop border punch. The very vanilla was also scored with the Scorepal. The image is stamped on whisper white with stazon black and then colored with water color crayons and blender pen. Used a ticket punch on the image and sentiment. The sentiment is from Our Craft Lounge. Added dewdrops for the finishing touch. I liked this so much that I made three more using different colors for each one. I have 4 daughters so these were their Easter cards which can be seen at the top of this post.

Hope you had a wonderful and blessed Easter.




Friday, April 3, 2009

Frog Hoppy

Can you believe it is Friday already? I don't know where the time goes? Tomorrow we are going to see my Dad who is 86 yrs. old and just moving into a Seniors Lodge. There is so much stuff to go through and get rid of. It always amazes me at how much 'stuff' we hang on to. I know whereof I speak, I have loads of 'stuff' too. But, I do believe my DH is the original pack rat. I am sure he has stuff from when we were first married 47 years ago. He always says "you never know when you might need it and it never fails when I finally get rid of something, then is when I need it."

LSC214

Well this little guy is perfectly happy as long as he has some flies to catch. I made this card for the Limited Supplies Challenge at SCS. A 1, 2, 3 challenge, meaning we had to use one color of cardstock, 2 designer paper patterns, and 3 embellishments. This was fun and simple and I am happy with the way this card turned out. The cardstock is SU Barely Banana and the designer paper is some of that beautiful textured paper from SU. The stamp set also is SU, Hoppy For You. Here are the details: the base is barely banana, then 2 pieces of designer paper. The images were stamped on whisper white. I used garden green for the frog and sentiment, black for the flies and chocolate chip for the log and this is layered on barely banana and popped up on dimensionals. The frog and 2 of the flies were stamped twice so I could cut out one set to pop up on dimensionals. Added the ribbon, flower and dewdrops for the embellishment. There you have it, "Frog Hoppy".

I am about to hop off to bed, it will be a long tiring day tomorrow. Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Stamping!