How Would You Walk?

I wanted to use this great quote from Mary Brainard on my card after I read the very inspiring challenge post at Word Art Wednesday.  We've all had those "down in the dumps" kind of days or even worse when those days stretch out into weeks (or even longer!).  I'm also playing along with Cute Card Thursday where the theme is distressing, Simon Says Stamp's anything goes challenge, and Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light #117 which is a sketch challenge.

Here's the sketch.

Here's my card.

I really wanted to use the Brocade Borders to frame this quote, but the frame was a little bit to small. What to do? I stamped half of the Brocade Border frame, estimated about how much space I'd need for the quote, and then stamped the other half of the frame. It was really easy to line up the frame and created a custom size perfect for the quote.

I zigzagged around the two panels, distressed the edges, and then sponged them.  The sentiment panel was made using the cracked glass technique which can be found here at Splitcoaststampers.  I used regular clear embossing power and just used several layers of it to get the thickness needed before freezing.

Supplies:
Stamps:  ODBD "Brocade Borders" and "Light" for sentiment
Ink:  Versafine Onxy Black, Vintage Photo Distress Ink, Versamark for cracked glass technique
Papers:  Cream, brown, dps from K & Co. ancestry.com 12 x 12 2-sided paper pad
Other:  Recollections flowers, seam binding, Bow Easy, clear embossing powder, distressing tool, Copics, sewing machine, heart button, thin twine, sponge
Techniques:  cracked glass, Copics, distressing


Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings,
Sarah

Celebrate!

I have a Magnolia birthday card to share that I made for several challenges.  I had so much fun coloring Pearl Tilda, but I am really regretting not buying the accompanying clam shell from this collection! 

Challenges:
Sketchy Challenges #28:  layout (love this versatile sketch by Karen!)
Lovely Hanglar or Sweet Magnolia #48:  Doilies
Magnolia Down Under #156:  Paper doilies
Magnolia Stamp Lovers Challenge Blog:  Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice (Tilda images)
Tilda's Town #10:  Anything goes
Just Magnolia and Hanglar Stanglar #166:  Birthday card (I made a fairy card on Sat. 7/21 and forgot to link it up to the challenge, how silly of me!)

Here's Karen's sketch:

So, having decided to use Pearl Tilda, I thought I would go a little crazy with the coloring of my mermaid (for me at least!).  I am working on using up some of my paper pads, and today's target is Basic Grey "Euphoria."  The dp that is the background on this card was kind of an oddball to me.  I love the pink, blue, and green, but the green flowers and offset outlining were fighting anything I've ever tried as a layout.  My new motto?  Don't fight the "difficult" dps, bury them in the background!  I did just that, and I think it works pretty well.

Here's Pearl Tilda with her wild raspberry hair!  I had to angle the card slightly to get the camera to focus.  It was really fighting to focus with the glare from her glittery tail!

Tilda is colored with Copics, and then I sponged around her to soften it a little bit.  I was struggling to find a birthday sentiment that would fit in the remaining space, but thankfully I found this one from Verve that was just right.  It's amazing how many of my birthday sentiments were just a little bit too big!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Magnolia "Pearl Tilda" and sentiment from Verve "Birthday Bash"
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, SU! "Bashful Blue" for sponging
Papers:  White, dps from Basic Grey "Euphoria"
Other:  Marianne Dies (doily), Spellbinders Nested Pennants die for sentiment panel, organdy ribbon from stash, blue heart button from stash, thin twine, Recollections flowers, Copic markers, sponge, Stickles "Crystal" glitter, Bow Easy
Card size:  6" square

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings,
Sarah

A Magical Birthday

I made a birthday card that incorporates a bunch of challenges:

The Verve Diva Dare is to make a birthday card (Happy Birthday, Julee!)

At Cute Card Thursday, this week's challenge is Fairy Nice.

At The Shabby Tea Room, the challenge is Sew Crafty along with this colorful inspiration photo.  Wouldn't you love to have that crafting space?  We were challenged to use stitching, twine or ribbon, and buttons in our creations.

I used the July week 4 VLV layout from Maureen, and I loved her sketch!

Here's my card.  I had to angle it just a little bit to keep the glitter from glaring, so the card looks odd-shaped, but I promise, it is square!

My fairy's wings are coated in Stickles glitter.  The yellow still shows up really well, but I was surprised how muted the dark fuschia was once the glitter was applied.  I added some sparkle to the sentiment stars with a gold glitter gel pen.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Magnolia image, sentiment from Pink Cat Studio "Fairy Friends"
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Onyx Black
Papers:  White, teal, lime green, dps from Cosmo Cricket "DeLovely"
Other:  Copics, sewing machine, circle and petite scalloped circle Nestabilities dies, Stickles glitter, foam tape, star and flower buttons from stash of Favorite Findings buttons (shanks cut off), organdy ribbon from JoAnn's, Bow Easy, gold glitter gel pen
Card size:  6" square

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings,
Sarah

Sunshine and Clouds

This week's Shining the Light Challenge at Our Daily Bread Designs is Sunshine or Clouds.  I elected to make my sunshine and clouds.
Here's my card.

The sun is 1 orange and 1 yellow sun punch that I offset to create the rays of sunshine. I cut out a cloud shape by hand and then added a little gray outline with a Copic marker. The grass edge was cut with a decorative edge scissors. The butterfly was made with heart punches, and the body was just cut out by hand and attached with foam tape.

I added a sentiment on the inside as well.

Supplies:
Stamps:  ODBD "Blessings"
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black
Papers:  Blue, scraps of white, yellow, orange, and green
Other:  Sun punch from EK Success, decorative edge scissors, Sizlits leaf die, rose button from stash, Creative Memories mini heart punch, foam tape, gray Copic marker
Card size:  A2

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings,
Sarah

ETA:  Thank you to Our Daily Bread Designs for selecting my card as one of the Shining the Light recipients for this challenge!

A Very Pink Bingo card

I made this card for Just Magnolia and Hanglar Stanglar's BINGO challenge.  I used the middle row of ribbons and lace, flowers, and pink.  I'm also playing along with Papertake Weekly's "All Things  Girlie" challenge. 

Here's my card.

We had some much needed rain last night, only about 0.5", but it all helps.  More rain is possible over the coming days, and we are praying that the "isolated thunderstorms" will reach our area!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Magnolia
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Papers:  White, pink, dps from Basic Grey "Euphoria"
Other:  pink organdy ribbon and pink lace from stash, Recollections mini roses, Prima flowers, MS leaf punch, Sizzix leafy die, Copics, Bow Easy, Recollections pearls, foam tape
Card size:  6" square

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings,
Sarah

Summery Strawberry Card

So I started this card a few days ago, and then I didn't have time to get it posted for one of the challenges I wanted to enter.  I used a great layout by Sandy from Sketchy Challenges.  Here's the sketch:

I'm also playing along with Oldie but a Goodie's Flower Power challenge.  Without the strawberry blossoms, there wouldn't be any yummy berries!  This year our strawberry crop didn't do very well, but so it goes.  We'll hope for better results next year.  I wanted to play along with Papertake Weekly's Strawberries and Cream challenge (use strawberries and/or red and white), but I missed that deadline.

Here's my card.

I thought the strawberry paper was just the perfect background for this Tilda image.  I masked my scene to place Tilda on top of the big strawberry.  I sponged the edges of both dps with some Poppy Parade ink.  At first glance, I thought that the grid pattern was a pale pink, but upon closer inspection, it is a weird brownish peach color.  The sponging helped to soften that color difference.  The little strip of scallops was hand trimmed.  The scallops originally were the border on the grid paper.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Magnolia
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, SU! "Poppy Parade"
Papers:  White, black, dps from DCWV "Berry St. Farmer's Market"
Other:  MS border punch, Nestabilities oval and scalloped oval dies, sponge, Copics
Card size:  6" square

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings,
Sarah

Big Flowers and a card by Ariel

Good morning!  Today I have a card that I made for Just Magnolia and Hanglar Stanglar All the Bs challenge and Cute Card Thursday's Gardener's World challenge.  At JMHS, we were to use anything that started with the letter B.  I used bows, butterlies, blooms, and bling.  My great big Magnolia flower image was also perfect for CCT's garden challenge.

As you can see, these flowers are really big!  This card is 6" square, and the image panel really fills up the space.  I added some bling to the petals and butterflies.

Supplies used:
Stamp:  Magnolia
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Papers:  white, dps and orange paper from Basic Grey's "Gypsy" collection
Other:  Grand Nestabilities oval and scalloped oval dies, glittery organdy ribbon from Michael's, Recollections mini roses, MS butterflies punch, Copics

Ariel also wanted to enter a card in the Garden challenge.  She drew her image with a Copic Multiliner pen and then colored it with Copics.  Then she wrote a little sentiment.  She cut out her panels by hand and attached with with foam tape.  The only thing I did for her was cut the cardstock base and attach the dp for her.  I think it is a pretty cute card!

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings,
Sarah

I Pray to You, O Lord

I wanted to play along with this week's Mojo Monday sketch, and I managed to combine the sketch with two other challenges.  I used a sentiment from Our Daily Bread Designs, so that qualifies for their anything goes SLC 114 challenge, and ODBD is also sponsoring Word Art Wednesday this week.  The Word Art Wednesday challenge is Blessings from God.

Here's Carole's sketch.  Of course, the ribbon and flower elements in the sketch caught my eye right away!

I just got a new pad of Graphic 45 paper called "A Lady's Diary."  I thought this sentiment would be perfect to use with the dp that has clock faces.  It also fits the Word Art Wednesday challenge as a reminder of how richly blessed we are to experience God's love.  I added some zigzag stitching all around the largest panel, but it is really hard to see against the patterned paper.  The other panels all have straight stitching.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Our Daily Bread Designs "Time"
Ink:  Memento Rich Cocoa, Vintage Photo Distress Ink (sponged)
Papers:  Cream, dps from Graphic 45 "A Lady's Diary"
Other:  SU! Baker's Twine in Calypso Coral, ribbon from stash, vintage flower button from stash, large rose from Recollections, EK Success "Abstract Flower" border punch, Nestabilities oval die, Bow Easy, sewing machine, Tim Holtz distressing tool, sponge
Card size:  6" square

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings,
Sarah

Anything Goes!

Today I want to share an "anything goes" challenge card.  I combined last week's Papertake Weekly sketch with their anything goes challenge this week and Our Daily Bread Designs anything goes challenge for the Shining the Light Challenge 114. 

Here's Dawny's sketch from last week.  I really liked this sketch, but I didn't have time to play.

Here's my interpretation.

I managed to use one of the "hard" patterned papers in this paper pad (for me at least!).  The olive green background paper has parts of the letters E, R, and R (from Merry) printed on top of the teeny tiny lyrics to "I Saw Three Ships."  I covered up the majority of that paper, and it worked well as the background.  You can see the base of the E and the stem of the R just below the red border under the sentiment.

After coloring the image with Copics, I sponged around the edges while the image was still in the die frame.  I also sponged the edges of the sentiment to coordinate better with the colors in the dps.

Card supplies:
Stamps:  Our Daily Bread Designs "Blessed Christmas" for the poinsettia image and "Poinsettia Tag Set" for the sentiment  (I wanted a slighty smaller sentiment than the one in the Blessed Christmas set)
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Memento Tuxedo Black, Vintage Photo Distress Ink (sponged)
Papers:  White, red for mats, dps from Basic Grey "Jovial"
Other:  Red silk ribbon from May Arts, Nestabilities dies, MS border punch, sponge, Recollections mini rose, Bow Easy, Copics

Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings,
Sarah