Friday, February 29, 2008

Refuge and Strength

I've been playing around with this set called "Refuge and Strength" in an attempt to find something for the "Shoebox Swap" at Southern California Stampmania V coming up in April. This once a year stamping event is such a blast... a whole day of stamping, meeting new friends, eating, winning prizes, and more stamping. I always come home with dozens of great cards to drool over! We all bring a card for 10 other people to make, put all the supplies in a box, hence the name "shoebox swap." I'm still playing around with colors and patterned paper, so I'm not revealing any secrets yet, and we need to use only current products, so I still need to order some NEW STUFF (oh darn!) but here are a few cards to brighten your day. As the sentiments on the cards say: "Each day of life is a precious gift from God" (Charles Spurgeon) and "God is, and all is well." (John Whittier) AMEN to both of those sentiments today. As I still try to figure out how to deal with the changes in our family regarding my son's new school situation (basically it's a combination of home schooling and independent study, which is causing a lot of pressure on me and a lot of begging, coersing, reminding, and a lot more involvement for me to help him get his assignments finished each week) I need reminding constantly that God is still on the throne of my life, He is Sovereign, He loves me, my son and my daughter, and will never leave us or forsake us. No matter what the circumstances! I try to remember not to focus on the present, but to keep my eye on the future..... the eternal perspective. God Bless You Today and remember that HE LOVES YOU!

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Spring Time Cards!

This little sheet of scrapbook paper was calling out to me to make some spring time cards. I love the colors in it (Celery, Almost Amethyst, Rose shades, Olive, Saffrons and Banana shades, etc.) and also love the fact that it LOOKS textured, even though it's not.

Here are 2 fun cards I made... the first with CRAB AND CO. from Stampin Up! I made the circle with my coluzzle because I needed it to be almost 3 inches in diameter and I don't have a circle punch that big! That meant cutting the scalloped circle by hand using scalloped scissors.

The next card is using a stamped image by Stampendous that Joy from eclecticPaperie sent me! Stampendous makes such adorable spring images. There are little stick on rhinestones on the word window punch in the corner, and on the "S". The word BLESS YOU is made with the little tiny snap stamps. The image is colored with markers, the scalloped edge is cut with the "cloud" decorative scissors, and there is a piece of apricot grossgrain ribbon (Stampin Up!)
All the cardstock for both cards is SU! (Amethyst, Banana, Celery, & Apricot)

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Valentine's Day Purses





I have 10 ladies in my office at work that I care about very deeply. Working at a church is a wonderful blessing. We can laugh together, cry together, hold hands and pray together, have lunch, shop, STAMP, and serve God together. It doesn't get much better than that! I usually try to make them something for holidays like a card, a bag of candy with a stamped topper on it, or something like that. When we made these little purses at Jami's club night a few months ago, I knew they would be perfect for valentine's day for "my ladies!" Here's a link to Jami's bag: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/761728?cat=500&ppuser=5896



I made 10 of these, 2 in each type of paper. Glad I started very early! They were more time consuming than I thought they would be. There are a few bags of M & M's inside each purse! Can't have a purse without chocolate inside!




Saturday, February 02, 2008

Jami Swap

My friend Jami recently hosted a swap to feature the new stamp sets in the new Stampin Up! spring 08 catalog. I was fortunate to be invited to join in. A swap means everyone makes the same number of cards and swap with each other, so we end up with gorgeous, unique cards from other talented stampers, using sets that we may not have, to give us ideas and inspiration. I am always AMAZED whenever I am involved in a swap... and my reaction is usually, "How did she come up with that?" (In a very good way.) Here are my two swap cards, for 2 different rounds. Round one, using the stamp set Pun Fun was just a general swap using new stamp sets. My colors are chocolate chip and celery, and it also features the oval punches from Marvy, ribbon from Michaels, and the word window punch from SU!

My second card was to feature black as an accent. This was very difficult for me, because I am very limited in my current Stampin Up Stamp sets and designer paper, and all the supplies were supposed to be current. Here is what I came up with, also using the same stamp set, Pun Fun, and the colors Pink Passion, Pixie Pink, and black. I also used the stamp sets "Itty Bitty Backgrounds" and "Paisley" as well as the photo corner punch, silver brads, the Stamp-a-majig to get the words "Love You a Latte" exactly in the right place, and the 1/16" hole punch to make little holes in the scallop. The image is popped up on dimentionals with the little pieces of ribbon taped to the underside.
Hope you're having a great weekend!