Commissioned cards for Womens Conference in Virginia

Will come back and post later..just need to get these on my blog :)

Mothers Day Cards

It seems the Lord is given me provisions in small increments to help in the finances and I'm okay with that. I am hoping to build up my clientele in regards to making cards and other items. I was blessed when a friend of mine Candy asked me to make her four cards she could give to her daughters on Mothers Day. She was specific in choosing the color theme and the verse that she wanted displayed on the front of the cards. She gave me a description of how each daughter was in her taste, elegant, clean lines, bows and so forth, but definitely wanted bling/pearls on each card. I was ecstatic to learn that each daughter was elated with her card that she received. So without further adieu here they are.

I am all settled into my new place finally and have begun crafting. I've been commissioned to make two cards for a widow friend. Here is the cards I made on Sunday.

Happy Birthday......

Hope all had a good weekend. I tried to keep myself busy as to not to dwell on all that seems to be hitting me all at once, I know God has it and its all in His timing, but I still worry until He answers or shows me a solution. Praying for ...understanding from some friends of things that are beyond my control. Feeling really alone this last week and yet I know I'm not, manage to unpack one more box and came across things of Wayne's, not sure how this keeps happening as I swear I've placed all his things in the memorial box, and of course emotions flowed freely and glad I was home when it happened...but I guess its God's way of showing me that yes I'm healing, but still have a ways to go and to stay focused on Him. I manage to make another card this weekend, not as detailed, but at least the creative juices are flowing, now if I can just get everything else flowing the same way I'll be doing good. God is good no matter the rough journey I'm experiencing right now.

 

I think the Mojo has Begun to Return....

I am finally moved into my new place, everything is put away and unpacked except for 5 boxes. Still have to paint the accent walls and put pictures up as well as all the drapes, but for the most part I'm pretty settled. I had saved my craft room for last to unpack so I could take my time going through things I've had for years, organizing all the crafty items and arranging so it would be easy to reach when crafting at my desk. My sweet son came over and got all my shelves hung in my craft room and that's when I really began to unpack as now there was a place for everything out of each box. I came across a box of cards I had started two years ago, but when Wayne became ill I stopped and just kind of threw all the pieces in the box thinking I would get to them soon, but that was not the case. So now all settled in my new home, I decided to pull out the box, looking at all I had placed in there 2 years ago and reminiscing of why I had cut, punched and placed the embellishments in it and decided last night to assemble and make a card. I'm sure this wasn't one I had planned on, but it was like putting a puzzle together and this is what I came up with. Simple but elegant I think. But it just feels good to start getting my creativity back and do what my heart has missed doing for so long.

Thank You and Update

Good Morning All! It has been a crazy month and a half, but things seem to be looking brighter on this journey we are on.  Before I go any further, this is the card I have made in multiples to send out this week to all who have been so kind, compassionate and johnny on the spot for everything from taking him to his cancer treatments, cooking yummy dinners, cleaning our home, running errands and being there just to give us a shoulder to cry on and who have lifted us up in continuous prayer. There are not enough words in the dictionary to tell them how appreciative we are of the love they have showed us!!!! Hubby had the "Big Surgery" on April 6th. They were able to remove most of the cancer and had stated that the 4 weeks of radiation he had, did shrink the cancer some; but they found that the cancer had definitely spread to the brain in the cavenous sinuses. They removed nerves, muscles and all the other stuff that is in the orbital area of the left eye. His left eye was to be removed, but they left that and his eye will now be permanently closed since he has no muscle to raise the lid. So hence, we begin radiation again in two weeks for the cancer in the brain. Chemotheraphy isn't an option as it was stated to us that the brain doesn't absorb but 1% of the medicine used in chemo. It was a little disheartening to hear that, but on the brighter side my hubby's survival rate went from 2 to 5% to 25%. So Needless to say we're excited about that. Please contniue to pray for him as we still have a very long journey ahead of us. Thanks for looking!

Good Monday Evening!!!

I hope your weekend was restful and you managed to get some things done that needed to be done in your craft room. I have been making out my plan of action for items that I will be making for the Relay For Life Bazaar. If I can get them done, it would benefit our team quite well. But I needed to get these cards posted that I made back in February to celebrate Love and Valentine's Day and never got them posted as things were starting to get a little crazy with hubby's illness. So here they are without further adieu. I used a combination of Stamps, Cricut Cartridges and papers that I have had for quite awhile. My kids and even my hubby tease me and tell me that I could open up my own store with all the craft supplies I have accumulated over the years. LOL!!! But I am a sucker for glittery papers, bling and anything that has hearts and is very girly and feminine. But I think my favorite colors of papers I seem to go after over and over again are the blacks, reds, shimmery whites and silvers. There is something just so rich about them. Which may explain why my hideway/craftroom is done in these colors especially black and white with a hint of red. Touches of silver/chrome here and there. I guess that seems to be the mainstay of a lot of craftrooms that I have seen on many forums. Its just a bold and yet clean crisp look. Enjoy!!

Prize Drawing for Ladies Retreat

These are cards that I made for the Ladies Retreat for a prize drawing I went to last weekend. There are 3 others but somehow they got deleted and these were the only two that remained on my camera. I will have to see if the lady who received them will take additional pictures for me to post. I hate when I forget to take pictures of my creations.

Baby Card from Art Philosphy Cartridge

Since I have the Cricut Expression and now the new Cricut Expression 2 machines, I figured I had better start making cards instead of relying on store bought ones. My little neighbor Tara is expecting her first and thought she would enjoy a homemade card instead of a store bought one. Working full-time, takes away from the creativity and you gals who are able to stay home and play while kids are in school, my hat is off to you. Someday I will be able too hopefully! This card was made using the Cricut Art Philsophy Cartridge by Creative Memories. It is a great cartridge and I see many cards in the future being made from this very cartridge. I believe I like the E2 Machine better than the original. I mean afterall it has 17 more buttons to do what you wish, bigger screen and most of all it just seems to operate better than the first edition. I thought about selling my first one, but have decided against it; as I know as I began to make holiday gifts I can have 2 going at the same time. I didn't have any baby DP so I made my own, using stamps from different SU sets and the baby's name was made with thicklet letters, although after I had put everything away, I could of used the alphabet on the cartridge. LOL!!!

Photo Cards

I am so glad the weekend is here. I am also thankful that we are safe and not having to worry about the hurricane. But I will say the east coast is in my prayers and I am waiting to here from my neice who lives in North Carolina. Luckily for us on the west coast they are not that common but we do have the shake, rattle and roll when earthquakes hit. It is a humid 102 degrees here today! I have been working on cards in my room to stay cool. I made these for a special neighbor lady. I hope she likes them as her name is Rose. She takes care of Sugarbaby while we go out for errands, dinner or a show. And then she will take care of her when we go on vacation, so I wanted to give her a thank you gift. All the cards are made with real photographs of roses hubby took back when we had our photography business. I made some a couple of years ago and they are archived on my blog under "Photography" if you would like to see them. I am thinking I will be making some for the OWH to send to the military as I am sure they would enjoy seeing flowers, nature and such to cheer them up instead of always looking at brown and dirt. I found out that my Cricut Card I made "You Make My Heart Flutter" (post before this one) was loved and enjoyed by the receipent who received it. Which makes my heart jump for joy!!!! So I am thinking I will be making some more of those soon for the OWH Group. Its hard to believe that September is just a few days away. Where has time gone? Without further adieu, here are the cards for my sweet friend and neighbor Rose. I'm only showing one with what the inside looks like as I feel the inside needs to be finished to look nice when the receipent receives the hand written note that will be inside. So all the cards shown here are finished on the inside as well. The glare was so bad inside, that I had to take them outside to get a proper picture. Guess I should have used my hubby's professional camera instead of my little Nikon Coolpix. Enjoy!!!!

The Spirit of Joy

This is the second card I made for the Papertrey Swap. Again I had forgotten I had this set and remembered it was one of my favorites. Why is it we forget what we have in our stamps? Could it be we just have to have it, can't live without it and then it stay stashed in a drawer until we realize..oh yea, I have that set LOL!!! I used three different colors of blues to make the snowflakes stand out and then of course had to add Stickles to make them look sparkly and light. I remembered I had the Stardream Paper (which you really can't see in the picture) which is sparkly as well. I added the scalloped nesties as the double layering for matting behind the saying. Thanks for taking the time to look.

Supplies: Stamps-PTI Snowflake Serenade; Cardstock-Stardream Midnight Blue, Basic Gray Silver and SU Whisper White; Ink-Stazon Midnight Navy, Encore Ultimate Metallic Blue and Encore Silver. Stickles-Icicle and Rhinestones. Ribbon-Offray 1" Blue Sheer.

Dreams are...

Sorry for being MIA! Down with my back a few days and was nursing it to help my daughter unpack her house, which we didn't get very far because of it, but thoroughly enjoyed the time spent with her. It definitely gets cool up in the mountains and I am glad I remembered to pack my long pj's. LOL! By the way she loved the "Just Moved Cards" (see in lower post) I made for her which of course just warms my heart to no end! I have been working on getting cards done for swaps and wondering why I signed myself up for so many as I have so much to do, but felt I needed a break and need some cards to have on hand. This is one of the cards for the Papertrey Swap. Wasn't sure about it at first, but thought everything finally came together. I have been working on several more of the Ornaments. I am hoping that this weekend I can get them posted as there are another 7 done and about 4 more in the works. I am thinking these will be a major hit at the ACS Christmas Bazaar. If you would like to purchase one of these ornaments, please contact me and let me know which one(s) you would like or want made. I'd be more than happy to accommodate you. :) Thanks for looking!
Supplies: CS-SU Razzleberry & Soft Suede; Ink-Rich Razzleberry & Soft Suede; Stamps:PTI Spiral Bouquet; Stickles and Dew Drops.

Just Moved...

I have been making these cards for my daughter in secret. They are getting ready to move into a home of their own as of today and thought this would help alleviate the stress of telling everyone their physical and P.O. Box address and phone number. It took me the longest time to figure out a design and then I vaguely remembered seeing one on someones blog or SCS (and if it is you please let me know so I can give credit where it is due). Mine isn't exactly like the one I saw so it isn't totally cased, but still would have liked finding it again. Their home is way up on top of a mountain surrounded by the national forest and I thought using the pine tree from the "Lovely As A Tree" and matching it up with Papertrey Ink's Board and Beams House and sentiment so it would be depicted correctly. The house is exactly these colors, and thankfully I happen to have them in my Prismacolor markers. I am hoping that she will be happy with these as it took a while to color them and make sure they were perfect. I just know she is going to ask me for more of these and I will gladly make them but maybe just not as fast. LOL! I used the MS Punch for the look of the pine needles. Ink is SU in Chocolate Brown, Black and Old Olive. I used Crystal Effects to give the windows the look of glass. Thanks for taking the time to look.

Sweetest Ever

Hello! It has been awhile since I have posted, but have been busy creating and just haven't taken the time to post as I finished each project. Saturday I was invited to a SU Stamp-n-stak and wasn't going to go, but decided it would be fun. Out of all the favorites she had in our packet to make 20 cards (4 each) I fell in love with the Hostess set "The More the Merrier". She had stamped the cupcakes and then provided the necessary papers and ribbon. I only made one and then came home and put my own twist on it as I cannot get myself to be just a plain simple type card gal. LOL!!!

I just had to add more in-color cardstock, dp, stickles, and of course scallops to decorate it up more and I needed the CB effect on the card stock itself. All the coloring of the images, ribbon and solid cardstock are the new In-Colors and the dp is the Razzelberry Lemonade. I changed up the layout from the original card she had as a sample so I could call it my own. I think this card would be fun to give to anyone for any occasion. Thanks for looking.

Friendship

I had forgotten that I had made this card until I was going through the pictures on my computer. I had sent this card to a a friend who was going through a divorce. I remember her getting it and calling me to say that my card had lifted her spirits more than I could have ever imagined. That it reminded her that no matter the trials we are going through there is always those 1-2 friends who can ease the pain of it. I know the the saying has the word grief on it, but if you have ever been through a divorce that you never saw coming..it just shatters your world, breaks your heart in a million pieces and the tears never seem to stop and trust me I have been in those awful shoes. And like her I had 2 great friends who helped me make it through and realize that my life wasn't over, it was just taking a different path than I had planned. And it was up to me to pull up my boot straps and get back on the horse and someday know that I would re-marry again and take a chance of my heart not getting broken. I did take that chance and this time I truly found my prince charming who swept me off my feet 17 years ago and had no problems adding two little ones to his life. Now that is a Blessing from the Lord.

Simply Simple

Another card I made awhile back and never posted. This was some scraps left over from another project where I had to stamp a curly background and realized I had stamped more than I needed. I have a couple of baskets on my crafting table of scraps and images I have stamped/colored that decided to not use in a certain project. This is one of these as you can see it is very simple but yet with the embellished accents and charm attached it could be a card for any occasion. The flowers are from Technique Tuesday (sorry don't know the name of the set) and the ink is SU Brocade Blue. Used Offray 1/2" satin ribbon and the charm and rhinestones are by Westrim. Thanks for looking at my blog today.

A Day Of Emotion...

Today is a day of emotions and sadness, a very dear good friend of mine lost her mother to cancer on Friday, she had been battling it for quite sometime and we all know she is in a better place where there is no longer any pain. But no matter how much we try to prepare for it, it still hurts deeply when death finally succeeds. I understand what she is going through as my mother has been gone for 17 years and today it just opened up the flood of emotions of missing her after receiving the message that Steph's mom had passed. I have had some cards made for quite sometime and just have not posted them and felt today would be a good day as my creativeness is not here as all I can do is think about Steph. This card was suupose o be submitted for a Verve Challenge, but I was not real pleased with it so I didn't place it in the Mojo Monday Challege. But it could be used for "Just A Because" card or encouragement as well. Anyway thanks for looking and vsiting my blog today.

Whew!!!! Hot! Hot! Weekend!!!!!

I am not sure where you all live but if you live anywhere near the central part of California, then you will know the temperatures were a scorcher this weekend and looks to be that way into the middle of the week. Saturday was 110 degrees, Sunday was 113 and tomorrow, Monday they are prediciting 115 degrees!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The grandkids visited this weekend and were in the pool only about 4 hours as there was no way we could be out there all day. Those sweet babes would of looked like a burnt tomatoe. They had sunscreen on, but still they could of had heat stroke even at their young age. They left today and I was able to get a card made. A very simple one but still a nice card. It's nice once in a while to not make a big fuss over a card and worry if it has enough embellishments on it. LOL!!!! Supplies: Stamps-SU Priceless, Ink: SU So Saffron and Pink Passion, Embellies: Gold Rhinestones and sheer ribbons; Paper-SU So Saffron, Pink Passion and Whisper White. CB Folder-Swiss Dots.

Seize the CUPCAKE

I decided to participate in the SCS Wednesday Sketch Challenge SC235 for the first time and thank goodness this was an easy sketch to do. Of course the one I submitted is a little different as all of the nine spots had to be exactly the same design as far as the shape (see smaller picture), but this one was made for a special friend and she should be getting it soon in the mail. She is crazy about cupcakes and of course remembering I had this stamp that had not been used for quite sometime like 2 years (so many stamps-so little time..LOL!!!). I have mentioned before that I have a stash of papers that I always seem to forget to look at as it is my "Private Reserve" of papers that can no longer be found. I must of had this vellum for at least 4 or 5 years now and luckily remembered it was in this particular stash. LOL!!! I am really big on the Bazzill Cardstock as it is so heavy and I keep every scrap piece that is large enough to do something with as some of the colors are no longer made. I stamped Happy Birthday all over the cardstock before I adhered the vellum to the card to complete my layout. The card is a 5 x 5.5 size and fits really nice in the 6x6 envelopes. Supplies: Stamps: Cupcake-Lockhart Co., Happy Birthday-Studio G; Solid cardstock circles all by Bazzill and the Vellum-no clue as the strip had been cut off with the manufacturer's name; Inks- Stazon Saddle Brown for outline, Prismacolor markers for coloring the cupcakes; Flourish Punk by Ek Success and then stickles was used to give the cakes and scrolls some glitz.

Trust In The Lord

I made this card for the challenge over at Mojo Monday blog. I have to admit I stepped out of my comfort zone as I don't usually mix pattern papers even if they are of the same color and design, but I am glad I did and am happy on how it turned out. I cannot believe I had this paper in my "Stash" (you know we all have one where we want to save it forever-LOL!!!) and decided I better use it before it was no longer wanted or began to fade. I keep telling myself I need to use the paper from the special stash bin, but you know I never do. So now I have it sitting to the right of me to make me go through the bin before I look elsewhere. Of course my daughter when she visits always seems to find the exact paper from the hidden stash, but that's okay as that is what mother's are for right? Supplies: Verve Stamps Plain Janes and Beautiful You; Paper Bazill and Basic Gray; Ink-Stazon Timber Brown; Brads and Buttons-memory Makers.