Birthday Blessings

Shabby chic style is one of my faves!  I started with a deep plum cardstock base, and stamped it with Hero Arts "Newspaper Background" in a plum ink.  The natural colored panel was stamped with some French-inspired images and words, from a generic set I got from Temu.  The sentiment is from Verve "Blessings" stamp set.  The 'au bon marche' label is from Creative Expressions "French Fabric Tags" stamp set, and there are some Chapter One Papers ephemera from their "Damask Rose" digital kit.

Thanks for popping in!

God bless you!

Two Embossing Folders, 6 Ways for Valentine's Day

Hello!  I made up a half dozen Valentine cards last weekend, so I have them on hand for next year.  I used two embossing folders to make things easier:  Simon Says Stamp "Pinnacle Hearts" and Tim Holtz "Entangled" (that's for the last card in the lineup).

die cut hearts from My Favorite Things using coffee cup sleeves & Distress Ink sprays; sentiment from The Greetery; Tiny Tag from Papertrey Ink; lace very old!

sentiment from Stampin' Up! though not sure what set, this was in a bag of scraps from my demo; heart die cuts from My Creative Time "Large Prim Hearts"; taupe lace

digital sentiment freebie from Emily Moore Design; Stampin' Up! "Bloomin' Love" heart die; scalloped edge heart from Inlovearts "Stackable Hearts"; red glitter paper

Simon Says Stamp "Large Doily Heart" die; sentiment Verve "Heart To Heart"; purple gems and plum ribbons

Inlovearts "Stackable Hearts" die; paper flower from stash; sentiment Papertrey Ink "Daily Design Sentiments"

Stampin' Up! "Bloomin' Love" heart die and sentiment not sure which SU set; red gems

Thanks for joining me today! Have a great rest of your day!

Love Birds

Hello friends!  I have a simple love / Valentine card to share with you today.  It's clean and simple, but with a little bit of detail.  Does that make it "simple", or no? 

The birdcage is from Inspired By Stamping "Sweet Aviary" set, with a tiny red heart added from a Stampin' Up! "Heart to Heart" punch.  There's a pearl too, and some little wooden birds.  The sentiment is from Verve Stamps "Heart to Heart" (isn't that funny, both the punch and stamp set go by the same name.) 

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Damask & Roses Wedding Wishes

Happy Friday!  I'm popping in with a couple of posts today.  This card is rather simple; the rosette ribbon and strip of pearls really carry the design.

I've hoarded this American Crafts rosette ribbon for years.  Why have I done this?  How does its beauty get shared, if it sits in a drawer?  Time for me to use all the beautiful, plentiful supplies I have.  😀
The only dilemma is the amount of hours I have available to craft! 😂

Matthew 6:19-21 - Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal.

Thanks for joining me this day!  

Colleen

Frosty Tidings

Though our temps are in the upper 60's today, they'll be dropping soon.  It will feel more like Christmas in the air when it's cold outside, at least that's always how it has been for me.  

I'm putting this wintry Christmas card in the Jingle Belles challenge, Ornamental. It was hard to capture the sparkle of these iridescent gemstones I decorated my tree with, wish you could see them in real life.  And since the card is nearly all white, with some navy at the perimeter, the gems are truly the star of the show.

Verve Glad Tidings sentiment; Stampin' Up! Christmas tree die and birch tree die; iridescent gems

Maybe you can see the sparkle a little better in the picture above?  

Thanks so much for your visit, God bless you!

Shabby Chic Baby Cards

Hello my friends,

I'm sharing a few more baby cards with you today.  They each have a shabby chic vibe which I still love to create.  

Verve Stamps Family Phrases sentiment; My Favorite Things Sensational Stitched Flowers die; Stampin' Up! "b" die, larger flower punch; vintage thread; pearl; tag

Technique Tuesday Sweet Babyi sentiment; Unity Delight In The Little Things carriage; wooden heart; pearls; crochet lace; Stampin' Up! pink rosette

Technique Tuesday Sweet Babyi sentiment; Unity Delight In The Little Things carriage; wooden heart; pearls; crochet lace; Stampin' Up! pink rosette, Heart To Heart punch

The last two cards are pretty similar, with just a few minor differences between them.  I had stamped that sweet baby carriage in two different colors, and didn't want to waste the lighter one (Sahara Sand by Stampin' Up!) but I prefer it darker as in the first carriage pic (Creamy Caramel by Stampin' Up!).

Sure am glad it's almost the weekend.  😊  I might even begin putting up some autumn decor indoors this weekend.

God bless you!

Peter Rabbit Baby Card

Coming at you with another baby card this week!  😊 I made this one for the shop, but I admit it was a little hard to let it go.  That little bunny face!  So cute! 

Pink Paislee Auburn Lane frame; Stampin' Up! Fable Friends bunny, Itty Bitty Accents flower punch; Verve Stamps Small Phrases 'you are loved'; Papertrey Ink Tiny Tags 'baby'; Martha Stewart Hydrangea punch; pearls; vintage thread

When my girls (young ladies) were very small, we read the Beatrix Potter series of books.  One of our favorite characters was Squirrel Nutkin.  Peter Rabbit is a classic, of course, and that's who this little bunny so reminds me of!  

Proverbs 22:6

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

Thank you so much for your visit today!  I hope you're having a wonderful day!

Butterfly Blessings

A friend of mine graciously gave me some of her stamping supplies she no longer needed.  Among the goodies was this pretty butterfly stamp from Inkadinkado.  I paired it with butterfly patterned paper from Stampin' Up!, and added a Verve sentiment, to create this thank you card for her.

Verve Joy For The Journey sentiment stamp ; Inkadinkado Big Butterfly stamp; Nuvo Drops iridescent glitter glue; Stampin' Up! patterned papers

It was hard to capture the iridescent glitter I put on the butterfly, always a challenge to photograph!

The way I've colored it reminds me of the Adonis Blue butterfly (polyommatus bellargus). (credit) Only the males are this beautiful blue.  

Colossians 1:16

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

Enjoy this day! 😊

Irish Proverb

I cherish the Verve stamps I have, and rarely do I see any for sale on the internet.  So, I'm guessing I am not alone in my sentiment!  

I used a stamp from the Verve Blessings set, which is an Irish Proverb.  It's such a happy thing!

Verve Stamps Blessings sentiment; The Greetery Fleur Impressions flower stamps (on green panel), Nordic Frames die; fabric panel; sequins

I used an item for the first time that a friend gave to me a few years ago; it's an adhesive-backed piece of floral fabric.  It's pretty, so I did not want to cover up too much of it.  

Linking up to Darnell's NBUS challenge with this card.

"Live every day as if it were your last" is the last line of this Irish proverb on my card.  What a great reminder.  Some days I remember this, and other days the chaos of life makes me forget.

I hope your day is a beautiful one!

Daddy Deer-est

For Father's Day this year, I created one of these for personal use, and one for the shop (for next year!).  I love that woodgrain patterned paper from Stampin' Up!  Looks really appropriate with the Paper Rose buck die.

Paper Rose Deer Family die; Verve Strong Anchor sentiment; EK Success Rock Fern punch; My Favorite Things Pierced Oval Stax die; Stampin' Up! patterned papers

With a change of sentiment, these will work for Christmas, too.  But for now, they're for dear old dad!

Luke 15:20

So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

Wishing you a beautiful day, and thanks for your visit!

Pink Hydrangea

Hello Everyone!

Hopefully this reaches you via follow.it, the new email service I chose for my email subscribers.  You can opt out if you wish, of course, but I hope you will keep me company here.  😀  I had imported my active email subscribers from Feedburner before making the switch.  The only thing I have left to figure out is how to add the follow.it icon / link on my sidebar.  My old brain just couldn't figure this one out yet.  LOL  The help team at follow.it merely directed me to one of their articles on how to achieve this, so I'll need to read through it again.  

Just popping in with one card today, made for my daughter's 23rd birthday earlier this month.  I happen to love hydrangeas, and when I saw this die release from HoneyBee Stamps, I had to have it!

HoneyBee Stamps Lovely Layers: Hydrangea dies; Verve Small Phrases sentiment stamp; Ranger Glossy Accents; Stampin' Up! Artisan Textures distress stamp

I used three shades of pink cardstock from my scraps organizer.  The darkest pink is in the back, and then a mid-range but still bright...(I think Pink Passion from Stampin' Up!), and a paler version at the top layer.  Once I assembled them for practice, I thought it looked weird, until I added splatters on all of the petals.  I used a Stampin' Up! dotted/distressed stamp from Artisan Textures and used a darker red ink to create the splattered effect.  Do hydrangeas exist in nature this way?  Not sure.  LOL  I just happened to think it looked neat!  

There is one leaf die in this HoneyBee die set.  I cut it out three times from Old Olive cardstock, then used another distressed-type stamp from Artisan Textures in Always Artichoke to give those leaves a variegated look.

A black background, a Verve sentiment and some Glossy Accents 'dew drops' finished it off.

I hope you like it!  Can't wait to try different color combos for the hydrangeas.  Definitely blues and purples!

Hope you have a great day/evening, wherever you are!

God bless you!

Glad Tidings, Plaid Tidings & more

Hello friends, Belated Merry Christmas to you!  I hope it was full of blessings for you and your loved ones.  For those who struggle at this time of year, or especially this year, my heart goes out to you.  There are so many complicated emotions that can accompany Christmastime.  

I love this season because we get to celebrate the birth of our Savior.  💓

As much as I wanted to share these cards with you during the month of December, I just ran out of steam.  LOL  So, here are a bunch of cards that seem to have a couple of themes running through most:  Glad Tidings and Plaid Tidings, with a few other twists in the lineup.

The first card was for my husband.  I got new dies, from Paper Rose - both the stitched tree and the deer (LeAnne, thank you for enabling me!), and they go so well together! 

Paper Rose Stitched Trees, Deer Family dies; gold sequins; Simon Says Stamp Magic of Christmas pinecone stamp; Papertrey Ink Angled Labels die, Silent Night sentiment; Verve Christmas In The Air sentiment in background

I'll be linking this one up to the NBUS challenge #21 (Never Before Used Schtuff), as these dies are brand new!

The next card was for my youngest daughter, using a bottlebrush tree stamp set from Papertrey Ink.  Love how the little trees came out. 

Papertrey Ink Joyful Christmas bottlebrush trees, Christmas Blessings sentiment; Gina Marie Designs Eyelet Elegance Rectangles die; Hug Snug white seam binding; pearls 

Made a second one, and there are very subtle differences between the two, including how the bow was tied.  Hard to see in the photo, though.

The next is for the stash, and was simple to make but has a good pop to it.  The tree was punched from gold and plaid paper (this was in a Stampin' Up! scrap bag I bought).  I added gems to it, and stamped a couple of Verve snowflakes with Distress Ink on red cardstock, to create my own patterned paper.  The effect reminds me of flocked wallpaper from the 1970's.  Ha!

Stampin' Up! tree punch; Verve Glad Tidings sentiment, snowflakes; Papertrey Ink Angled Labels die; red rhinestones

Every now and then, this little Lawn Fawn bunny comes out to play.  I think he's the cutest.  He's sporting a blue-green scarf as he glides over glistening snow-covered hills in the moonlight.

Lawn Fawn Winter Bunny; Papertrey Ink Tiny Tags die; Flourishes Warm Winter Wishes sentiment; My Favorite Things Stitched Basic Edges die; glitter glue; rhinestone; white cotton twine

Our cat, Cristabel, gives my husband a card for his birthday, Father's Day, and Christmas, so here is the card she gave to Dad this year.

Papertrey Ink For The Guys 'dad' die; red rhinestones; Paper Rose Stitched Trees die; Memory Box Large Sitting Cat die 

The next one is for my stash, too, and it's different, and not at all the expected Christmas colors.  This has more of a peaceful, wintry feel.

Stampin' Up! Garden Pleasures birdhouse & bird stamps, Brushed Silver cardstock, patterned papers, snowflake die; rhinestone; Verve Glad Tidings sentiment; Papertrey Ink Angled Labels die; glitter glue

The next four cards have a plaid thing going on, as you will see.  Those little corrugated Christmas trees were in a Stampin' Up! scrap bag I bought, so I had quite a few to play with.

Papertrey Ink Tag-Its #8 Mini sentiment; gold candy dots; Fiskars Star punch; Stampin' Up! tree & star die, patterned paper strips, scalloped oval, snow embossing folder, crochet lace

Stampin' Up! tree and star, scalloped oval, snow embossing folder; twine; gold ribbon; Papertrey Ink Angled Labels die, Christmas Blessings sentiment

Stampin' Up! tree and star, red snowflake felt accents, Brown Sugar twine; Crafty Secrets vintage stickers; crochet lace; ivory candy dots; Papertrey Ink Tiny Tags round tag die; manila tag; Flourishes Christmas Postcard "Dec 25" round stamp

Crafty Secrets wreath sticker; ivory candy dots; Stampin' Up! tree and star; crochet lace

Not sure how I feel about the next card, but here it is for you to see, nonetheless.  Love the Papertrey Ink sentiment, and those sweet Simon Says Stamp mittens, though.

Papertrey Ink Stylish Sentiments: Christmas sentiment; Simon Says Stamp Winter Warmth mittens; white cotton twine; rhinestones; Gina Marie Designs Big and Little Chain Rectangles

And the final card involves some repurposing.  If you've been reading my blog for a while, you may recall these candles from 2012.  I plucked off the n, o, e, and l from the candle decorations, and put them on a card front for my mom.  

Spellbinders Persian Motifs die; Inspired By Stamping Fancy Alphabet, Mason Jar Add-On II (label), Festive Frames (holly); red Liquid Pearls; pearls

That's it for now!  I've got another (shorter) post in the works to share soon.  

Thanks so much for coming by today, God bless you!