my new fave!!!!

I loved making these cards!  it has been months and I have no idea what I did with them but I loved them!

The paper is My Minds Eye, which I have found I love almost anything they do! 

The coolest thing is that there is some masculinity in a lot of their papers so really most of them can go either way. 

These two cards are decidedly feminine what with the ribbon and the glitter LOL, but really with a little tweaking I could have done masculine.

journal cards.....YESS!!

Recently I discovered journal cards.  Yes, I know....they have been out for a while, but sometimes it takes me a while to figure things out.  My daughter loves smashbooks and even though I have really liked some of the elements that go in them I couldn't really think of what to do with them.  Making a journal seemed like to big a project which is why I make cards.  Bam you're done.  Until that is I happened to see some ridiculously low priced on clearance at Joanns.  Now?  there is not putting the toothpaste back in the tube for me.

The card base is your standard black whatever paper.  I like to use only stampin up card stock for my card base but I didn't have any.  The patterned paper is actually a journal card and the sentiment is a smaller journal card that I trimmed a little.  I love the way it came out.

I made this one for a friend of mine who was moving into her dream house after having had to move 3 times in 6 years!  The little flowers are a stampin up punch.  I love it.

Yeah...um this one?  I tried something cute that looked horrendous and had to figure out a way to fix it without ruining the card!  My solution?  Cover up the mistake with something bright and it will not be noticed.  It worked!

 Super simple and the nice thing is all the sentiments are written out so no stamping.  I love stamping but I obsess over the placement of the sentiment so with it done already it makes a nice "brain vacation "  kind of card.

And this is my last one.  It is the last card in this post because it is AWESOME !  lol.  I added the black and white brads and the little congrats thing I cut out on my cricut.  I kept it all pretty simple because...well....I like simple.

I hope that you guys see that you don't have to stick with any "rules" when you are doing the things that make your heart sing.  A journal card makes a great journal page but it also makes a fun card.  Anything that catches your eye can somehow be translated into whatever craft you are working on somehow.  Happy creating .
 

OOH I have been having fun!  bought a new paper stack called The Green Stack by dcwv while I was in Cheyenne with my husband.  We had a wonderful time and I found paper! I love, love, love finding new paper stacks.  I could probably go into thousands of dollars of debt buying paper.  I think we get the idea LOL.

The tree is a Close To My Heart set called Life is good, I don't use it nearly enough!  Maybe I have too many sets???  NO! lol.  

Loving the beaver from this stack, it is so adorable.  The flowers are from stampin up on of the itty bitty sets, It is amazing to me that so many things go together that don't go together. 

The bird up above is from Close To My Heart and so are the butterflies and the sentiments.  I LOVE the "flower power" paper!!  one of my faves in the stack.  I am definitely going to have to buy more.

Happy Carding!

 

sometimes I forget

Sometimes I forget that I love to write about my cards and the fun I have making them.  Making cards is one of my most favorite things to do EVER, and I like sharing them in the hopes that someone else will find my passion inspiring LOL......for what I am not sure.

I had a great time finding this beautiful paper, i touched some of it up to bring out more color but it really didn't need much.  My girls think I am silly because there are times I get as lovesick over a piece of beautiful paper as I do over my husband. 






But I honestly can't help myself.  i don't have the talent to make beautiful things out of nowhere, but I can make something beautiful when i am given the right components and this paper???  Definitely the right components!

crazy creative.....

I have been getting my crazy creative on lately....just can't help myself.  I had started looking at some really cute bee stuff from CTMH and my brain went tilt with joy!  The only problem was that at the time there was just no money in the budget to order anything.  So I had to figure out how to make due and still be happy.  Because we all know that making due in the paper crafting area does not always lead to happiness.

I figured I could at least get the color scheme going with most of what I had and then I supplemented with some yellow and black paper from joann's.

 
The patterned paper is from stamping up, also the coordinating flower stamp and punch are also from Stampin Up.  The cute little bee and the sentiment are from CTMH and the rest of the paper is joann special.

 The background paper on this card is from a DCWV stack called Lemon Flower.  OMGGGG i fell in love and decided I didn't need a lot of gas in my car to get around and bought this instead.  Yes, a little insane LOL.  The butterlies are Stampin Up as are the little flowers and strip of ribbon.  

I also tried a new size format and I love it!  I almost always stay within the 4.25x5.5 card size and it is out of my comfort zone to wrap my brain around other sizes.  I am only a little ocd :).  But I think I will be doing more of these, I like them.  Then of course I went back to my original size just because I love it.

I did get to play with the brown and yellow bee stuff that first ispired this wave of creativity, but you know when you get so excited about something that you don't stop to enjoy one idea before you are on to the next one?  Oh, they call that A.d.d.? HA! 

Anyway, I am having some fun and loving getting creative again!!  enjoy your day :) 

Enjoying my Journey

This is a Tim Holtz stamp set that I absolutely love.  I love it partially because it is vingtage but also because many of Tim Holtzs' stamp sets have a little bit of a message.  This particular set has a message that I have been needing pretty badly lately.

Enjoy the journey.  I often forget that the reason I started this blog was to share what I love to do most, that is after loving God and my family.  I love making cards, I love experimenting with textures, I love colors and papers....oh on and on!  For crying out I get so excited when I get a new catalog from Stampin Up or Close To My Heart!

But I have a bad habit of looking back pretty critically on cards or projects I have made in the past that did not turn out quite the way I had planned it. I see one of my "failures" and I think to myself "did I really think that is such a great card?"  "Really?!"  Most of the time I am my worst critic almost embarrassed by the ones that didn't turn out so great.

If I am totally honest, on my more self critical days, I let my perceived failings discourage me to the point of not even looking at my card space.  What a shame.  Because there is more to me than one stupid, little, failed card attempt.  There is more to me than 100 failed card attempts, and maybe card # 101 will be the one that makes my stomach flip over because I am in love with a card I just made.  Wow, how fun is that???

I want to enjoy my journey in card making much more than I have been.  I want to look back and be able to smile, or even laugh, not with criticism, but with joy because I had fun making the bad card and in the process learned to relax, have fun with it and make the lemon cards into lemonade cards.  

So here's to lemonade cards......hmm, that could be a great idea for a card :)  

even if no one sees

So here it is, another post with a long stretch between this one and the last one.  I have not stopped creating, just sometimes it seems to much trouble to put up things that don't get read.

Sorry, I don't mean to sound bitter, but we all have that need to feel as if we are seen and heard.  As if somehow that validates our creative impulses.

But really it doesn't.  What validates the creative spirit in us is the joy that we feel when we are finished.   It is the AHHHHHHHHH when I create something I love.  Sure I want others to love what I create also, but not everyone does.

I have pom poms, and painted vases and yarn covered tins that I think are pretty darling , yet others are less impressed.  Does this mean I should stop?  Should I stop making cards because no one will buy them?

How many artists did not become famous until their death?  Not that I believe that if i died tomorrow my creations would become something to be fought for....but you know.

So I continue making my cards and putting out this little blog not so that the world will be convinced of my talent, but because I am created in God's image, and He is the greatest creator of all time.  So I in some small way must also create, it is in my nature.  even if no one sees.

     

It's True Love

It's true love this card making thing.  Sometimes when I make a card I can't give it away because I become emotionally attached to it.  I wonder if artists feel the same way about their work.  Knowing of course that I am not nearly at the same level of a professional but still is it hard for a sculptor or a painter to let go of a piece of their work?

 Having asked that question when I get home from getting to know my grandbaby I think I am going open an account on etsy and see if I can sell cards.  

There is a part of me that does others to see my cards and pat me on the back because I am so amazing!  No worries, I recognize that I often have an issue with approval seeking.

The bigger part of me however is very selfish and I just want to make enough money to be able to afford my habit.

Do you see these cards?  I love them.  

 I rarely venture into black and whites because they require much more precision.  And lets just say that precision isn't my thing.

But when I do venture into the world of black and whites I always love them.  In photographs I actually love black and white much more than color.

I kept these simple because I think the black and white speak for themselves.  I added the ribbon because I felt like the card needed a little bit of emphasis.  I am not  

 in love with the red, but it was all i had.  Next time I think that a silver or even a deep charcoal would look stunning.

I love these and am not sure anyone will get them LOL, but I will definitely be making more of these.

By the way I used Close To My Heart stamps on these enjoy! 

 

Someday......

Someday I am going to.....
Someday I will.......
Someday I want......

My life is always about someday, not today, not tomorrow, but .....someday....

So instead, today I will write a new post, make a new card, share my joy in creating and know that through Christ I can accomplish all things.

This card was fun to make.  I am really into the vintage/weathered look.  For one, I am not good at perfection and it stresses me out to have to do something perfectly.  The other reason is that I just think that aged things have a beauty all their own and I love trying to capture that in a card.

So although I do make cards that require more precision and I enjoy it, my true joy is in making a more vintage look.  

The base of the card is one of the stampin up browns.  Sorry I really can't remember which one.  The background is stampin up whisper white cardstock. 
Utilizing my big shot I took a piece of Stampin Up whisper white cardstock and ran it through using a Tim Holtz embossing folder called distressed frame. 
After taking it out of the embossing folder I used one of my large background stamps with Stampin Up early espresso card stock and stamped the paper I had put through the big shot.
Using Tim Holtz distress ink vintage photo I just lightly wiped the ink pad over the top of the stamped paper.
I then very carefully ripped the paper around the edges of the embossed frame.
Using a small piece of Stampin Up sahara sand card stock I stamped the wings with the Stampin Up island indigo ink pad.
I ran that through the Big Shot using a Tim Holtz embossing folder called post marks.
Using the Tim Holtz distress ink vintage photo I swiped that over the paper I had just embossed.  
Glued it all together and then added some blue embroidery thread for a little more umph.

And there you have a very long post that took me longer to write than it did to make the card!!! :)
 

mixed bunch

So, as usual it has been a while.   I have been struggling so much with what I want to do with my cards.  It has been difficult because so many people say they love them but nobody seems to want to buy them.  So for a while I felt kind of worthless, blah, blah, blah.Then I had to remember that there are literally millions of creative and talented artists out there that never are "successful".  I am not nearly as talented as most out there so I should probably just get over myself.

 Then I bought a new stamp set that happened to coordinate with a punch that I already had and all of a sudden, once again i didn't care if anybody liked or wanted my cards.  I have a need to create and a love of doing it.  So I created........

created and I am so glad I did.  I love this punch and stamp set.  they are both from stampin up as is all the paper.  The stamps are called mixed bunch, the word "heartfelt is from a stamp set that has long been retired but it fits so perfectly with this set.

So out of my funk and my need to feel special and into just doing what I love, which is making cards that I feel I can be proud of and if they happen to bless someone else, well then even better!

Happy creating!

 

So i just love this paper from stampin up.  It is called nursery nest.  I used a stamp set called Aviary also from stampin up.  Honestly they have some of the best coordinating products I have ever seen.  

 The embellishments are also from stampin up, the flowers are a 3 flower punch from several years ago and the brads are a current stampin up product which my demonstrator gave me as a gift.  She has an awesome blog - procrastistamper.com her name is Kimberly Morris.  You should check out her blog if you get the chance.

happy stamping :)

stampin up and sizzix embossing folders

SO!!  I have been having so much fun making cards again.  I thought i had lost my mojo, but it seems to have come back LOL.

So these cards are a combo of my stampin up stuff and my big shot embossing folders.  and I LOVE THEM, WOOHOOO!!!!!

enjoy :)

 

found a camera

So my camera broke and I was so bummed.  it is not like anyone really reads my blog anyway, but I like taking pics of my work and posting them so that I can review them later.

Fortunately for me my girls have left all of their old cameras around and my sd card fits perfectly into one of the older cameras.

 This stamp set is from stampin up, it is called Kindness Matters.  It is one of their clear stamp sets.  I love those because I can never get anything straight but with the clear sets I can see exactly where I want to place them.  Works perfect for twisted people like me :)




Happy crafting everyone!

So with a renewed sense of purpose I made a new set of cards with some of my stampin up stuff.   I have to say I am pretty pleased with the results!

allie dog

So this was my dog allie.  I got her when we had been in colorado about a year.  I hated it, I was homesick and lonely.  So my poor husband in quiet desperation took me to find a dog.

As it turned out I did not find the puppy, my family did....and they were the ones to name her.  But my little family knew me.  Her feisty and loyal personality were exactly what I needed.

That little ball of fur was six weeks old when we brought her home.  All we knew was that she was a border collie/australian shepherd mix.  We had no idea  what we were in for.  We sure found out.

Plastic was her favorite thing to chew, she had a special liking for barbie doll heads, my girls were not pleased.  Allie delighted in chewing everyones "favorite" thing.  She dug hole after hole after hole.  One year when we were out of town our neighbors were watching her and they brought her a bone for thanksgiving  She dug up my two HUGE planters in the front room to bury them.  You have to give her kudos for creativity.

After 16 years she was old and sick and it was time to let her go.  It broke my heart, but she needed it.  She would have stayed by my side until the day i died.  Her life was me.  She didn't know she was a dog, she knew she was mine if that makes any sense.  Somehow for both of us life was better knowing the other was there.

I still do not understand the connection between making cards and my dog.  It's not like I have her paw prints and she helped  me stamp or anything. But for some reason since she died seeing pictures of her here or there sparks something in my heart and I need to create something.

There is just something about a dogs love that makes life different.  Allie was a constant reminder of unfailing, unconditional love often to an owner who did not always earn it or deserve it.

So happy crafting everyone.  Every one has something in them that is God given and it is pure and beautiful and creative.  Whether you can sew or mop floors until they shine, make a card, build a home or make a bathroom look like a place someone wants to sit a while.  I encourage you to experiment and find what you love and do it.  Even if nobody else cares.

birds and butterflies

I found some K&Company printed paper that just happened to go with my stampin up stamp set nature walk and a butterfly from a tim holtz stamp set that I own.  I loved making these cards and I am not sure I will be able to part from them.

the larger butterfly and the sentiment is from a tim holtz stamp set.

The bird and the bird cage on these cards is from stampin up nature walk.  The patterned paper is K&Company, the cardstock is all stampin up which is my favorite cardstock to work with.

I had so much fun making these, my heart is to create and make things that I love.  This set of cards fits the bill for me.