ENCOURAGEMENT

We all need some encouragement from time to time to get us over the rough spots in our lives. I had not thought of myself as being "gifted" as an encourager, but I do have a "don't give up" attitude which I guess you can say falls on the positive side of attributes.

My friend Emiline fell out of her bath tub and was in such pain and they couldn't find the problem. Xrays didn't show anything but after 3 weeks and not being able to put weight on her left leg, they finally did an MRI and found two fractures to her pelvis.

I felt she needed some encouragement and so made this card for her. I also made a duplicate for my Mom because I thought it would make her smile and lift her spirits too. She is 88 yrs young and going through grief over the loss of her husband.

So I guess I am an encourager sometimes. We all need to practice lifting each other up in spirit, and in prayer to the Lord. So no matter the circumstances, there is a bright side to everything. We have to search for what God is trying to teach us or show us about ourselves.

For those who make cards. the baby orangutan image is PSX E-1160 from 1999, the sentiment is The Cottage Stamper, H 672. The corner punch is a Marvy scalloped corner used on the white, and the CS colors are black, white, solid green and a small leaf patterned single sheet paper purchase from Hobby Lobby. I used off-white cotton yarn for the knotted string. Inside is the sentiment "Just to let you know you're in my thoughts today" by Hero Arts 2004.

COLOR THROW DOWN

Well, I have decided to enter a card in a contest. I've never done it before and my style is certainly not as complicated as most mainly because I don't have all the stuff some of the card makers have and use. But I thought I would try.

The throw down required the colors Bermuda Bay, Green Galore, and Barely Banana. I didn't have the exact colors but made do with what I had that was similar. My green was a shade lighter, so I took my Green Galore SU marker and just colored the edge that showed. : ) We also were required to use a frog and I only had one and it has hearts on its body...a real Valentine frog if I ever saw one! I searched and searched through my paper and CS and couldn't find anything but florals with those colors. Very frustrating, because I feel like I have lots of paper and CS and still NOT the right look. : ( Is this a common experience for others?

I decided to make the card itself out of the Barely Banana color and layered the Green Galore with the Bermuda Bay on top. I had a dotted paper with different colored dots that are glittered. I put that on top and SU scalloped the bottom edge short and it made it look like blue water on the bottom. I don't have a machine designated for sewing paper, so just "drew "stitches around the edges on the green only. The dotted paper is from Doodlebug Design, Inc.

I found a Darcie's saying" Love Hits The Spot" and stamped it on the barely-banana-look-alike CS in black Momento ink. I matted the heart first in green and then in the blue and popped it up on the dotted CS. I tied a turquoise ribbon from Wal-Mart that is striped sheer and satin. I put the bow near the point of the heart to draw the eye there. I drew my own lily pad and added a little Green Galore shading. I ruffled the edges to give it dimension but stuck it down fairly flat with the red double-sided tape. The frog is a Judith stamp H-95 that I bought off of ebay. I stamped it on the barely banana CS and colored with SU green galore marker and pixie pink hearts and a yo-yo yellow tummy. I covered the frog with Crystal Effects but found that it curled a little because I had cut it out first. When I tried to flatten it , it cracked a little. So I stuck it down with pop dots and added more of the Crystal Effects to cover the cracks, and it did. I also discovered a little stain of something near the bottom right corner, so I added the three homemade hearts that are glittered with Stickles. Necessity is the mother of invention they say!

So that is my offering. I came down with a virus and so won't swear to any of the above information, but I think it is all correct. Hope you like my first humble offering.

I am thinking my card is simple compared to some, but I realize that since it is only 4 1/4 x 5 1/2", I may be limiting the "canvas" I am working on. I don't know the size of the cards most gals make, so if any one will share their nuggets of wisdom with me, I would appreciate it.

WEDDING DAY CARD

Hi. My name is Martha and I am new to blogging, and Verve stamps (I don't have any YET but want them! They are super!) My card for the DIVINE DETAILS is a card I made the end of June. (I have been separated from my card making stuff for a month because we had to leave it at our Condo in WI until we return in August...long story!) Because the card was for someone who has my mother's heart, I put extra thought into all the details. Which I notated below. Sorry it is so long. : (

My usual process is to pick the sentiment and main stamped image first, stamp those off several times and color using SU markers, Twinkling H2O's, colored pencils or SU Water Color Wonder crayons (I don't have any Copics YET!!! But they are on my Christmas Wish List and I want all the colors. : )

I choose a few different selections of card stock that are compatible and audition those until I get a feel for what I like and what might work together. I have a degree in art so am familiar with the basic Art Principles learned in Art 101 in college. I then pull out all my punches and extra tools to see what might work, and play around with layout ideas (I have never used someone else's layout as some do but I am sure some of the stored images of them come to my remembrance when I am trying to choose what goes where.) I hope to participate in some challenges in the future.

I start cutting and matting, and punching and adhere the different layers, lay them in the proper places to make sure they are acceptable to my artist's eye, look for ribbon if I have room for it and other embellishments, and then stick it all down using different adhesives and pop dots to raise some items up for dimension. Last is adding glitter in the form of Stickles. I have embossing tools but have not gotten into that very often. I know it sounds simplistic to list it so simply, but the truth is this process may take me a week or two to accomplish. I often will work on it an hour or two auditioning the stamps, and then leaving them set out for a day while I do laundry, etc. I go back and look at them again to make sure. My stamps are not very organized, so it is a true labor-of-love to HUNT through boxes and bins of stamps to see what I find. I know this isn't the best system, but since we usually have to haul my stuff back and forth between MN and WI every other month, it is the best I can do for now. I am hoping to have a room of my own for my crafting someday. I am already 67 years young, so I had better hurry up. LOL

Here goes my card description...
June, the month for weddings! I have been working on a wedding card for our exchange student Krissia, who lived with us 5 months in 1993 and became a daughter to us. I wanted to create a really different card and when I saw the tri-shutter card, decided to give it a "try" (no pun intended!) Krissia is a beautiful, and elegant woman and deserved a card that will become a piece of art for her to look at and remember. Today is her wedding day and her wedding is happening in about an hour from now. She will be wearing a cream colored dress (appropriate for second weddings) and silver shoes and accessories. For her going away outfit, she is wearing purple, which is the national color of Costa Rica where she lives. I have incorporated these colors into the card. So here is the recipe and the pictures of the card from different angles.

1)The basic card is Bazill paper in white. It is 6 1/2"x12".
The score lines are vertical at 2", 4", 8", and 10".
The horizontal cuts begin at the 2" score mark and go to the 10" score mark.
The cuts make three sections, 1 1/2", 3 1/2" and 1 1/2" wide from top to bottom..
2)There is a vertical panel on either end of the card in cream Bazill card stock.

3)Then there is a layer of a cream paper that has swirls and is textured. I rounded the corners by hand because the texture wouldn't punch with my corner rounder and edged it in silver paint.

4)The front panel is white card stock, corners rounded, with a layer of a cream floral on white
card stock that has been punched with the SU scalloped punch. The scalloped edges are
rubbed with silver and the two pieces are adhered together and then punched with a tiny
hole punch in each scallop. I used an SU marker in Pale Plum to give the holes some color.

5)The heart is a clear stamp on white card stock in Martha Stewart black ink. I rubbed the edges
in silver, matted in white and rubbed those edges with silver also. I painted the open back
ground with Twinkling H2O's in Heavenly White. I painted the flowers with Sweet Thistle
and used SU Garden Green for the leaves and the stems. I put a flat soft yellow half pearl in
the center of some of the flowers and added a row of three pearls at the side of the heart. I
stamped a Stampa Rosa"LOVE"( in script) in silver on the lower left of the front panel and
tied a sheer cream ribbon over the "love" with a small bow. The heart was adhered at an angle and the top rounded parts on foam squares and the center and bottom "V" are flat to give the heart an uneven dimension. At the top of the panel, I put a silver curly-Q (From a Martha Stewart lace punch and was leftover) being held up by two cream-colored doves (Martha Stewart dove punch.) I colored the curly-Q with silver paint.

6)The middle sections were covered with pieces of "wedding words" paper. It had gold
lettering, so I colored all the words with silver. : ) If they don't sell what you need you must
improvise! I also drew in silver paint 2 hearts entwined in spaces between the lettering. I punched some Martha Stewart small hydrangea flowers from purple card stock, glued them on in places in the upper section and lower sections. I drew with the SU Garden Green marker some vines and leaves.

7)For my focal image in the center of the card, I put a House Mouse bride and groom. She is
wearing a cream colored dress and veil, has purple flowers and pearl earrings (remember
those little flat pearls on the front? Too cute!) I stamped the image in black on white CS and
fussy cut them out. The groom is wearing a black tux and purple bow tie and cumberbund. I
used brown Fun Flocking on the areas where they have fur. Have to make them look real,
right? I used the cream-colored H2O's in French Vanilla for her dress and used SU black
marker for the suit. I tried to water the marker ink down to create a little shading. Wish I had
those Copic markers that are easy to do that with. Maybe for Christmas! The couple was
matted with purple and adhered with foam squares. I added PSX "Congratulations" in black
ink, fussy cut it out and matted in purple also and placed it under the couple.

8)For the back section, I layered the cream Bazill and the cream textured paper the same as
the front. I stamped in black on white with a PSX "God Bless You". I punched it out using a
Marvy scalloped circle. I punched small dots in each scallop and edged it with silver. I
punched a larger circle in purple using a Marvy scalloped circle, patted the edges with the
silver ink pad making a marbled effect about 1/2-3/4" in. I adhered the white "God Bless
You" onto the purple with a dotted runner. I used foam squares to put the whole circle in
place so that the card could fold and bend where it needs to.
And lastly, remember those punched out small flowers with the drawn vines...they looked too
plain so added a white center to each.
AND I am making a duplicate to remember all the new techniques I learned making this special wedding card! I will try to put the pictures in order to show you how it looked going together. I hope you enjoy my first tri-shutter card. Thanks for taking a peek!

MOTHER"S DAY CARD

The card I made for my mom took me a week. Not sure why it takes me so long but I work on cards between cooking and taking care of hubby, our 3 cats, church, doctors appointments, laundry, etc. I don't just sit down and make my cards quickly, all in one big time frame. And being retired, I don't have all the kinds of equipment, CS, etc that some of you have. but I do the best I can with what I do have. Taking the time required to finish a card may have something to do with being 67 and relatively "new" to card making. It may have something to do with my decision making skills or the fact that half my stuff is in Wisconsin and it is not easy to find what I need when I need it since I don't have a room for it all to be organized. It is in bins and on shelves and some on the kitchen counter, and some in the basement and some in rolling cases...you get the idea! My designs seem so much simpler than many I see others doing. Maybe my two brain cells just can't work any faster or do complicated designs. LOL

Anyway, I knew I wanted to use the PSX (Personal Stamp Exchange which is out of business much to every ones regret) clematis/star jasmine heart wreath botanical stamp. (WOW, that is a mouthful !) I have bought lots of their stamps on ebay and they are spectacular IMO! My mother lives in central Texas where it is too hot to grow clematis and mom (who is 88 this year) loves flowers. So this seemed a suitable image and would make it special for her.

I stamped the image while in Wisconsin at the condo last month. I leave some of my stamping equipment there and bring the basics back and forth to our home in MN. I painted the wreath with my Twinkling H2O watercolors using three different colors for the clematis alone. (icy iris, periwinkle blue and blue ice.) I added some passion stripes to the centers of each petal. I painted the star jasmine with irridescent oyster white and added rose petal to the baby's breath for a little color there. I used three shades of green for the leaves (kiwi, moss green and forest green) and two shades of brown for the vines (cocoa brown and warm pecan). I also used a fine black Zig pen to emphasize some of the flowers and vines. It took extra time to dry between different layers of the paint which might partly explain why it took me so long. ; )

I used the SU ticket punch on all corners of the image and mats. I used a medium blue solid and then a black to mat the image and set it aside while I worked on covering the card. I used a piece of a fern print in blue from a pad of blue papers, tags and envelopes called Blue Sapphfire by Sarabooks. I found it at Michaels in their sale items. The paper in a soft blue/lavender mix mirrored the colors in the clematis and I cut it to cover the card leaving a 1/4 " border. I matted it with black and added a vellum overlay that had tiny random white dots. Using the Fiskars double slot punch, I punched the upper left corner of this piece and the vellum overlay. I ran a Wal-Mart white sheer 1/2" ribbon down one slot, up the second, down the first again and up the second, leaving tails I trimmed at a slant. It holds the layers in place and gives a ribbon embellishment without the bulk of tying a bow, which I am not very good at...yet! I adhered this beribboned section down to the card, and then positioned the clematis wreath piece under the vellum but on top of the blue fern print. The vellum wouldn't stay straight covering the wreath, so I used just a tiny amount of adhesive on the lower right corner of the vellum. I did stamp "Happy Mother's Day" on the vellum prior to putting it all together when the vellum could be flat on the table. My sample of "stamping on vellum" isn't perfect, but you get the idea anyway.

The card has a soft quality to it, with the image under the vellum. The vellum may also make the image look out-of-focus but the outer edges of the card are crisp so it is just the vellum. ; ) Inside, I stamped, "I'm so lucky to have you for my Mom" and I am!

Thanks for letting me share about me and my Mother's Day card. God bless you, Martha