Botanical Postage

It's been such an honor to be a guest designer for the month of April with Creative Worship Stamps!  Thank you to Korin for having me, and to Esther for patiently answering all of my questions.  😊

For my last creation this month, I pulled together quite a few stamps and dies to create a flora-and-fauna postage-themed Scripture card.  A verse stamp from Fear Not fit perfectly in one of the largest rectangles, and I paired it with sprigs of greenery from Beautiful Branches, stamped in a few areas.  The postmark wavy edges and tiny American flag are from Going Postal, as is the "par avion" sentiment.  I had stamped that one on white cardstock and grunged it up with Distress Ink, then layered it onto a piece of deconstructed cardboard box.  One of the pretty birds from More Than Sparrows was stamped on white cardstock, colored with alcohol markers and trimmed, then glued her body onto the postage background.  I stamped her first on the actual postage, so the feet would show and I wouldn't have to fussy cut those.  A tiny butterfly from Vintage Nature Elements was stamped and I used the matching die, and placed foam tape beneath to give dimension.  It was the perfect size for that right top corner!

Thanks for joining me all month at CWS.  It's been fun to use their beautiful products!  

More Than Sparrows stamp set

Postage Stamp Cover Plate die

Beautiful Branches stamp set

Fear Not stamp set

Going Postal stamp set

Vintage Nature Elements die set

Vintage Nature Elements stamp set

Isaiah 41:10 - Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Thanks for coming by!

Hope you have a beautiful day!

Morning Glory Sympathy

Hi friends!  I'm so enjoying my time as a guest designer this month at Creative Worship Stamps. 😊 I made a morning glory sympathy card using several shades of blue Distress Ink Sprays on a white background panel.  I spritzed randomly, then followed up with spritzes of water to smooth out the colors.  Once dry, I used a MISTI tool to stamp the morning glory bouquet from Sympathy Morning Glories in Versafine Onyx Black ink onto the blue panel. Without removing the panel from the MISTI, I then used some acrylic paints in shades of blues and greens to paint the flowers and leaves.  The paint was thinned out a bit with water to make it sheerer and easier to maneuver.  And when that was dry, I re-stamped the morning glory bouquet with the black ink again to bring the image back to life.  A small sentiment from the same stamp set was stamped on a tag, and I added a twine bow from my stash. 

Morning glories are one of my favorite flowers (hydrangeas are #1 in my book).  Since my kids were little, we've grown them in our backyard.  One of the core memories for my daughters is when we'd go out in late summer / early fall and begin harvesting the seeds of the morning glories.  The seeds are in little pouches with dry husks around them, and the seeds are so smooth.  We would pluck the pouches and put several into our palms, and roll them around a bit and blow away the dry husks / chaff, leaving you with just the seeds.  Totally reminds me of God's Word.  Matthew 3:12 AMP: His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear out His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat (believers) into His barn (kingdom), but He will burn up the chaff (the unrepentant) with unquenchable fire.”

Supplies From Creative Worship Stamps:

Sympathy Morning Glories

MISTI Tool

Thanks for coming by today, I so appreciate your visit!

Field Notes

As a guest designer for the month of April at Creative Worship Stamps, I've had so much fun playing with the beautiful stamps, dies, and stencils found in their store.  This card I'm sharing today is one of my faves, if I may say so.  I love the crisp black and white of the botanical images against a shimmery aged postage background.

On the Postage Stamp Cover Plate, I first inked up the entire thing with a light colored Distress Ink.  Then I sprayed it with Distress Mica Stain Spray in Unravelled, to give it a beautiful glimmer.  This was matted with black cardstock before going onto the white card base.  Images from Vintage Nature Elements and Going Postal stamped on white cardstock, die-cut or fussy-cut, were added here and there amidst the panel.  I stamped a postmark from Going Postal on the bottom portion, and a script stamp from that same set along the right portions under the mushroom.

Supplies From Creative Worship Stamps:

Postage Stamp Cover Plate Die Set

Vintage Nature Elements dies

Vintage Nature Elements

Going Postal

Ephesians 6:14 NIV

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,

Thanks for your visit today!

God bless you!

Sparrow & Branches

Hello all!  Today's card I made as guest designer at Creative Worship Stamps focuses on a sweet sparrow, nestling in branches.  The background was inspired by the packaging that comes from CWS products!  It's white with tiny blue dots on it, and I put a piece to use here, pairing it with the Damask Pattern Stencil and shades of blue Distress Ink.  A bird from More Than Sparrows was stamped on white cardstock, fussy cut, and colored with alcohol markers.  Same goes for the leafy fronds from Beautiful Branches stamp set.  The sentiment is 3D, using the With Love Word Die set.  I die cut five of each word from black cardstock, and stacked them together.  Really pops off the card!

Supplies From Creative Worship Stamps:

Beautiful Branches stamps

Damask Pattern Stencil

More Than Sparrows stamps

With Love Word Die set

Matthew 10:29-31 NASB

Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.

Thanks for dropping by!

God bless you!

John 15:13 Postage

Hi there!  I'm back to share more as a guest designer during the month of April at Creative Worship Stamps!  I've found the Postage Stamp Cover Plate die immensely versatile, and used it for several of my creations that I'll share throughout this month.  For this card, I used the cute little dies that come with the set as well:  hearts, leaves, gardening pots, stars/flowers.  After die-cutting them out of white cardstock, I used dye inks to shade them, and then did the water flicking technique on some of them to get a lovely mottled effect.  To round out the postage pieces, I also used stamps from these sets:  Vintage Postage, Words of Jesus and Vintage Nature Elements.

Supplies from Creative Worship Stamps:

Postage Stamp Cover Plate die set

Vintage Postage stamp set

Words of Jesus

Vintage Nature Elements

John 15:13 NIV

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

May your day be blessed!

Guesting over at Scrapbook & Cards Today Magazine

Hello everyone!  I'm truly excited about being a Guest Designer today!  Catherine, the publisher of Scrapbook & Cards Today magazine, asked me to contribute to their weekly blog feature, Card Cafe Thursday.  It's a thrill to be asked.  :-)

I'm sharing the article I wrote for SCT with readers here at my own blog, but I certainly welcome you to visit the SCT blog and have a look around.  Their website is so bright, fresh, and lovely.They offer papercrafting challenges and sketches, free digital magazine content, and more. 

Here we go!:

I’d like to share with you a few cards that feature some of my favorite embellishments: sequins and pearls.  These little beauties always add pizzazz to a project.  I've long been a fan of pearls on my cards, but admit that my recent addiction to sequins might have taken over.  :0) I add ‘em to nearly everything lately!

Imagine this baby card without its deep orange and white sequins. 

When I first created the card, I thought the butterflies-in-a-jar motif added such a fun touch, and I thought it was finished…until I spied new-to-me Pretty Pink Posh sequins on my work table.  By adding a smattering of these little gems, this card suddenly came to life. 

Stamps: butterflies - Springtime Beauty II - Inspired By Stamping; sentiment - Absolutely Fabulous - Stampin' Up! Paper: Vintage Cream, white, True Black - Papertrey Ink; gingham - Garden Vignettes by Carina Gardner - My Mind's Eye Ink: Pumpkin Pie - Stampin' Up!; Memento Tuxedo Black - Tsukineko Accessories & Tools: Marshmallow, Bronze sequins - Pretty Pink Posh; Baby die - Papertrey Ink; Modern Label punch - Stampin' Up!

I love making black cards because they are dramatic, and very eye-catching.  On this example (my very first shaker card, woohoo!), I’ve got several details that take it to the next level.  A My Favorite Things / Die-namics ‘Fancy Flourish’ die cut, also in black, provides subtle texture, as does flocked patterned paper and a black seam binding ‘Colleen Bow.’  (P.S., I have a bow tutorial on my blog here.) 

The stitched rectangle frame adds more subtle interest, and how about that dotted acetate?  There are iridescent hearts, and even some lip sequins in this shaker.  Initially, I had trouble deciding where to put a sentiment on this card, and I put the project away to think it over.  The next day, the idea of a little tag at the top of the shaker popped into my head.

Stamps: sentiment - Fresh Cut Wreaths - Wplus9 Paper: True Black, white - Papertrey Ink; dotted acetate - Stampin' Up!; lavender and black flocked pattern Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black - Tsukineko Fibers: black seam binding - Hug Snug - The Zipper Stop Accessories & Tools: assorted sequins; Fancy Flourish die - My Favorite Things/Die-namics; lavender rhinestone - Queen & Co.; Tiny Tags die - Papertrey Ink; Stitched Rectangles die - L'il Inker Designs

One of my most favorite card-making styles is a shabby chic / vintage vibe.  And you know what I love to pair with that?  PEARLS!

The inspiration for this card was a piece of packaging from some stickers.  It’s pink, with text all over it, and I just couldn’t throw it out!  I had die-cut a spiral notebook page from it for another project, and saved the negative, which happily fit this card perfectly.  I backed it with some lined patterned paper, added an Altenew sentiment, a couple of buttons, and scattered pearls.

The rooster image, as well as the flowers, were trimmed from patterned paper and added with foam tape for dimension.  And do you spy even more pearls in the bower of flowers?  I’m telling ya, they make everything better! 

Stamps: Sentiments & Quotes - Altenew Paper: Pink Pirhouette, damask, rooster/flower/lined patterns - Stampin' Up!; text/pink packaging Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black - Tsukineko; Walnut Stain - Ranger Fibers: twine - Creative Impressions; Sahara Sand ribbon - SU Accessories & Tools: Spiral Notebook Page die - Papertrey Ink; pearls; pale blue buttons - SU

Since I tend to use gem and pearl stickers quite often on my projects, I keep a pretty box full of them near my work table.  Inside, gems and pearls are separated by color family in zip-top plastic sandwich bags.  My absolute favorite brand is Queen & Co., not only for the variety of colors, but also their budget-friendly price. 

Thanks for allowing me to share my joy about being a Guest Designer with YOU!

Guest Designing at City Crafter

Welcome!  It's my pleasure to be Guest Designing this week at City Crafter.  This card of mine was the winner a couple of weeks ago, and as a result, I am helping to bring this week's challenge to you.  :-)  Thank you to Kirsty Vittetoe and the whole team for having me!

The challenge is "One Stamp, Two Ways."

On both cards, I used a rubber stamp with no name by PSX.  I bought it on eBay years ago, but rarely ink it up.  Topiaries always capture my heart, so this stamp is a treasure to me.  Since the stamp is finely detailed, for version #1 I kept the color scheme to black and white, with pops of olive green added by the ribbon and the sentiment from Inspired By Stamping's Graceful Hydrangea set.

Stamps: topiaries - PSX; Graceful Hydrangea - Inspired By Stamping Paper: white - PTI; Basic Black - SU Ink: Versafine Onyx Black - Tsukineko; Old Olive - SU Fibers: Old Olive satin ribbon - SU Accessories: rhinestones

The next version is my fave, I think.  I loved coloring these topiaries with my Copic markers.

Inspired By Stamping phrase combined with Paper Smooches birthday sentiment = joy!

Stamps: topiaries - PSX; Birthday Greetings - Inspired By Stamping; Salutations - Paper Smooches
Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White - SU; pattern - Garden Vignettes - My Mind's Eye Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black - Tsukineko Fibers: gray sheer ribbon - JoAnn's  Tools: Labels Thirteen die - Spellbinders Accessories: rhinestones - Queen & Co.; Copic markers

Thanks so much for coming by today!  Hope you get a chance to play along at City Crafter.  :-)