With Love: A Birthday Card for Mom

Happy Groundhog Day, y'all! If you live above the Mason-Dixon Line, I hope that the groundhog doesn't see his shadow for all of your sakes. Down here in sunny Florida, we are looking at some beautiful weather in the 70's. ;) 

We are in the throes of home renovations right now, working hard so that we can get into our new house by the end of February! The guys are two floor boards away from having the flooring finished in the house and next is to get the trim up and finished off. I am deep into getting the kitchen cabinets scrubbed down so I can start the painting process and picking up pieces here and there for the extra spaces that we will have in the house that we do not currently have in our apartment. 

With all of that work going on, I haven't had much time to craft but I thought I would pop on and share the card that I whipped up for my mom's birthday in early-January. I used a Papertrey Ink stamp and die set, as well as some Jen Hadfield papers that my dear cousin, Christy from Christy Gets Crafty sent me for Christmas! I also used die sets from Waffle Flower and Paper Smooches to finish off the sentiment and the inside of the card!

It's been a while....

Hello all.... It's been a while since my last post. I've been working through some health issues this year, and a lot of things have taken a back burner. Today I thought I would share a couple of cards that I made over the summer. One was made for my grandfather and the other was made for the wife of the pastor in the church where I grew up. It was interesting, because I didn't have many supplies on hand - only a pair of scissors, a small double-sided tape dispenser and some papers and stickers (no stamps or paper trimmer). The one I made for my grandfather is on the simple side, but I was quite happy with how the feminine card turned out.

On this first card, I used some scraps of paper, as well as stickers and alphabet stickers from two Simple Stories lines. As I mentioned, I didn't have much to work with, so I kept it simple. I think that it still looks nice, without seeming to little boyish - which I was really trying to avoid.

The second card, I used a 6x6 paper pad from Kaiser Craft. I really liked this paper - especially as it came with punch outs as well as papers. I used two of the papers, as well as a piece of  black corrugated paper from a 6x6 specialty pad by Hobby Lobby's in-house line of craft supplies. I also used stickers from a Simple Stories 12x12 alphabet stickers page and some Pretty Pink Posh sequins my cousin gave to me, as well as some wood veneer butterflies that she also gave to me. On the whole, I was quite pleased with how this card turned out. I had never used corrugated paper on anything before and I really liked the texture and dimension that it gave to the card.

Card Share

Hello, all. Well, it's been a while since I have posted much on this poor neglected blog, but life has been quite busy with sicknesses, work, and ministry things to keep life interesting. :)  May is a huge month for cards for me. there are three birthday's in my family, friend's who have birthdays in May, Mother's Day, etc. so I tend to be a card making machine in the month of May, lol. I just thought I would share a few birthday cards I made. The one with the monkeys is for my brother and the other if for my father-in-law. I was primarily using up scraps for my father-in-law's card and added in some enamel dots and a vellum sentiment from K&Company. The third was originally for someone, but I wanted to make a more feminine card for her, so that one will just be a spare for the next birthday!

Card for Father-in-law

My brother's card is using a Studio Calico 6x6 paper pad, some Teresa Collins enamel dots, and an image that my cousin stamped and sent to me. I used my different shades of brown Spectrum Noir markers. It's really hard to get the shading right with the darker markers, so I thought a picture of a bunch of monkeys in a barrel was the perfect image to practice on!

Card for Brother

Card for TBD Recipient :)

Happy Birthday to MY SIL

Happy Wednesday All! Hope that you are all keeping toasty warm in this recent cold freeze sweeping the country. Tonight I whipped up a quick card for my brother's wife, whose birthday is at the end of the month.  I have been itching to practice with my Spectrum Noir markers on more detailed stamps, so I got out a stamp set and my markers and had some crafty time. :)

I used TB1, 5, 7 and BT 1 and 2 for the dress and wings, CT 1 and 3 for the stars, GB 7, 8 and 10 for the hair, DG 3 and JG2 for the grass. The frog I colored in with LG5 and JG1.

I used The Sweetest Thing 6x6 paper pad by My Mind's Eye. The stamp and sentiment are from the Lucy set by Kanban.

I have also been looking to try the Spellbinders rubber embossings mats that my hubby got me Christmas with my circle and scallop circle Spellbinders dies. It took a couple tries to figure out how to get the best impression, but it got much easier after I properly read the directions. :)

Next I need to play with my heat embossing tool that hubby bought me for Christmas and vellum that I picked up at Hobby Lobby.

Enjoy!

Playing with Some Christmas Presents!

Well, I was going to share some Valetine's cards that I have been putting together for the Caring Hearts Card Drive, but my pictures are still on my phone, so I thought I would share the birthday card that I made for my mom. Her birthday is on January 10, so I whipped it up over the weekend and put it in the mail Saturday evening. Her favorite color is blue and she loves earth tones, so I knew that these were the perfect supplies for her card!

I used some of the lovely craft supplies that my cousin Christy bought for me for Christmas, primarily choosing both the papers and embellishments from the Colorbok "Flea Market" collection. I also used some gems from Hobby Lobby. On the inside of the card I used the remainder scraps from the papers on the front of the card and used an American Crafts border punch to add a little extra something! I edged all of the papers and embellishments with the Rich Cocoa Memento dew drop ink. The base of the card is a basic kraft card stock.

Enjoy!

Coloring with Alcohol Ink Markers

Hello friends. This has been a year that has been completely unplanned in every way. While did not have a job until this summer, somehow the year still filled with craziness, some wonderful times of fellowship with friends and some sad and trying times as well.... That isn't what this post is about, but I thought I'd share why I've been a little more quiet on the blog front this year. What times I have taken to craft, I've tried to just focus on the crafting and the art of it all rather than worry about having blog posts to share. I have shared some photos on Facebook and eventually I'll get through all of my pictures and post some favorites of what I've been working on.

Tonight, I thought I would share a birthday card that I made for my mother-in-law. My dear cousin, Christy (from Christy Gets Crafty blog) has passed on many beautiful stamps over the years, and lately, as I have been slowly building up my supply of Spectrum Noir alcohol ink markers, I've tried to make more of an effort to practice coloring. Alcohol inks are great for getting detailed, more professional looking images colored. Unlike a lot of other types of ink markers its hard to get fine details, like shading to come through, but with alcohol inks, you can blend varying levels of color with one another to really enhance the details of the image.

On this card, I used shades of Golden Brown, Gray Blue, Turquoise Blue, and the Three lightest flesh tones. I'm still learning how to find the right angles to shade images, but I was quite happy with how this card turned out. I kept it pretty simple with other embellishments on the card, choosing to let the image shine. 

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend. Hubby and I will be getting away for a couple days for some rest and I will not be taking my laptop with me. We are going to take some time to re-charge as we head in to a busy fall and winter season!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Hello All, I just thought I would pop in and share a few of the many cards I have been whipping up in preparation for the multitude of birthdays, Mother's Day, graduations, anniversaries that take place in the month of May!!! The two cards I am sharing tonight are for my father-in-law and my brother. My father-in-law's birthday is May 8 and my brother's birthday is May 11. Also next week are my husband and close friend's birthday on May 7! I used Echo Park's For the Record 2 12x12 collection pack to make both of these cards. I have never bought a collection pack before, but while I was in New York a few weeks ago, hubby took me to a Hobby Lobby close by and they were having a great sale, so I scored the collection pack for 5.99, which made me very happy! The collection pack came with 12 12x12 double-sided papers, a 12x12 sheet of stickers and a 12x12 sheet of sticker alphabets. I really love this collection - the colors and designs are totally me! One of the things I really like about this pack is that with the double-sided papers, you have enough options to pull together masculine and feminine cards/scrapbook layouts, which makes the collection more versatile. I also added a few brads, white tags and a couple of Martha Stewart printable labels to the cards to finish them up.

I also have some pictures to share of the great scrapbooking project of 2013 that I have been working on for my mom for the past several months, but am not quite finished editing them yet....more on that project to come! 

Random Information and some cards.....

Hello All, I hope that you have found me from my original blog at http://rojavirginia.blogspot.com. While I liked my blog name for a while, this new name and new blog represents a verse and name that I felt from the Lord. I will continue to share crafty projects as well as some organization, DIY and home decor posts.

I have been doing a lot of crafting lately, as well as working on a picture wall in my spare bedroom. The main craft project i have been working on for the last 2 months is scrapbooking the last 30 years of pictures for my mother, to include everything she had in old albums (everything had to come out - the old albums were eating through the pictures) as well as framed pictures. I am about 80 to 90 layouts in and still have a loooong ways to go. When I am done I will photograph some of my favorite layouts to share with you. If you are in to scrapbooking, I highly recommend "The Adventures of Glitter Girl" series on the Two Peas in a Bucket channel on you tube. She goes through a number of different techniques and explains everything she does with great clarity. It has really helped me stay inspired as I work through the various photos. In addition to sharing some favorite layouts, I also will be sharing a post on how I organized all of the photos and how I decided to create the various scrapbooks that will be the new home of all of the photos.

Tonight I have a couple of cards to share that I've been working on over the last month. 

This first picture is a card I made a few weeks ago, but then I was pretty much on my back from a nasty virus for two weeks, so have just now been able to get it photographed and edited. The image is from one of the sets that I have from the UK craft magazine, PaperCraft and colored in with Spectrum Noir markers and sharpers. i added some prima flowers with a WeRMemoryKeepers brad. The papers are various scraps from a DCWV paper pack.

These next cards came out of the two Magnolia Stamps that I stamped with a Memento Tuxedo Black dew drop ink pad and then colored in with Spectrum Noir markers and Sharpees. For the first card, I used papers from a Basic Grey PB&J 6x6 paper pack. I used Spellbinders scalloped circle dies on the inside and outside of the card, as well as white pearls from Q&Co. The sentiment is from a clear Studio G stamp. I originally was not pleased with the marbled look that the imaged stamped, but it kind of grew on me, so I left it. I glued the image down on the white scallop and then used foam adhesive to give the card a little bit more dimension.

For the pink card, I used a DCWV paper pack with colors that coordinated with the Magnolia stamp image I chose. Like the green/blue card, I stamped the image with Memento Tuxedo Black Dew Drop ink pad and then colored in with Spectrum Noir markers and Sharpees. The embellishments came from a WeRMemoryKeepers brad pack, Making Memories clear flower button, Making Memories pastel pink brads and Q&Co clear gems. The sentiment is from a foam mounted Studio G stamp and the die cut papers were put through my Cuttlebug with the Spellbinders Label One die set and a border punch from EK Success.

I also put together a graduation card for a girl that is graduating next week from Bible School. I've known her since she was a baby, which makes me feel a bit old. :) I will share that card in a separate post as I do not have the supplies list close to me right now.

I hope that you are all having a blessed week!

My Brother-in-Law's Birthday

So, I have no idea what it is, but every time I go to make my BIL a birthday card, it always ends up looking like it is for a little boy. This year was no different, except I made another one. :) I did really like how the original one turned out though, there are a few little boy birthday's coming up in my family/friend spheres, so I think I will use it for one of them.

Supplies:
Paper: plain Recollections 8x11 card stock, Cosmo Cricket paper pack
Embellishments: American Crafts Thickers, Studio 1 orange bakers twine, Spellbinders circle and scalloped circle dies
Image: (need to look up)

Its a Strawberry Shortcake Kind of Birthday

Hello all, sorry for my long lapses in posting. I promise I had a good excuse. I had a nasty virus that turned into an upper respiratory infection and sinus infection. I've been flat on my back for the last several days. (See, told you it was a good excuse!) 

Even though I haven't been feeling too well, I still needed to whip up a card for my little cousin's first "real" birthday party (as in, her mom is going all out because she will actually remember this one ;) )  Our little princess decided she wanted a strawberry shortcake themed birthday party, and even though her birthday isn't until the end of October I wanted to get the card out in plenty of time to make it. (It is a good thing too, the post office sent it back saying the button I put on the card required an extra 20 cents to process because it couldnt go through the sorting machine (I have never had that happen and I've put tons of buttons on cards,  but such is life)... and I am thankful I sent it out early, because now I can re-send it out to get to her on time!

Since the theme is strawberry shortcake and she LOVES pink, I went all out with the pink. I used a bright pink so as not to be too pepto bismolly.

I used two cuttlebug embossing folders, the happy birthday one and one with rows and rows of cupcakes. The strawberry shortcake image is a free coloring sheet that I found on line. I saved it and reduced the image to fit on a card. I  also used a button from my stash and pink twine from Martha Stewart that I found for 50% off at TJMaxx (I have scored some real wins on some great crafting products for an awesome discount there lately). I used the spellbinders scalloped oval dies to cut out the patterned paper and cupcake embossed papers.

(Sorry for the horrid lighting in the picture! If I hadn't already sealed the envelope I'd try for a better picture.)

Happy Monday Everyone!!!!

Quick Post

Happy Monday All! I started this post like 3 days ago, but kept on forgetting to write down the type of paper I used!

Anyhoo, I put this card together for our pastor. I usually try to keep it in Spanish as our Pastor is from El Salvador, but time constraints (i.e. I whipped this up in about 15 minutes) dictated that I just grabbed my go-to guy birthday stamp (which is in English - I need to find some Spanish stamps, has anyone seen them sold anywhere?).

Supplies:
Paper: Recollections cream card, Recollections 8x11 plain card stock, the polka dot patterned paper is from a new pack from My Mind's Eye Lime Twist collection (I found it for 1.99 in TJMaxx... as they are usually 6 dollars, I also picked up one another pack that was 3 dollars.), The orange retro looking paper came from a Cosmo Cricket pack of paper, but I can't remember the name of it.
Sentiment: I have had it so long, I don't even remember.... I bought it before I started writing the names down on the actual stamp clear plastic backing
Embellishments: Orange buttons from Michaels dollar aisle, ribbon from a friend

I was worried that it looked a little juvenile, but I didn't have any time to make another one, so I hope that he liked it!

Hope that everyone is getting back into the swing of the school year! PS - They have pumpkin lattes back in Dunkin' Donuts.... Still waiting for the return of Starbucks and in Green Mountain k-cups.....I foresee another purchase of the 80 count pack when they are back in stock for the season!

Back to the crafting table.....

Well, last night I couldn't take it any more. My neck and shoulders were finally feeling calmed down enough to spend some time at the crafting table and so I took full advantage! I have missed my creative outlet these past few weeks and was very happy to be able to spend some time creating last night! For now, I wanted to share a birthday card I made. It is my sister's 22 birthday (Craziness BTW that she is turning 22! I remember going to the hospital to see my new baby sister after she was born!) and I wanted to make her a card. The card layout is one that I saw on a Paper Prairie Ink you tube video recently (If you are a paper crafter - her videos are great! Check them out.) Anyhoo, Hope you likie!

Supplies:
Paper: basic Recollections 81/2 X 11 card stock; paper scraps from my stash; it's the little things 6x6 paper pad from fancy pants designs
Embellishments: Pink thread from stash
Sentiments: dollar aisle stamp from Michaels
Image: Bailey Bears stamp set, colored in with colored pencils

Birthday Boys

Today I am going to share some more pictures of projects I worked on in February. My dad's birthday was on Valentine's Day and one of my co-workers had a birthday in February as well, so I whipped up a couple of cards for them. The third card I made to have a male birthday card on hand. I also made a card in the same layout as the first two and posted to my Etsy Shop.

Supplies:
Paper: Recollections pre-cut, pre-scored cardstock and coordinating envelope, scrap patterned paper and cardstock
Embellishments: earth tone brads from Michael's Recollections line and square metal brads from Joann Fabrics (online), ribbon from a friend
Sentiment: Happy Birthday stamp (unknown brand), hand written, balloon stamp (unknown brand)

Happy Birthday Mom.... and some Pink Eye

Morning everyone, hope that everyone is enjoying their day off of work. I celebrated with a trip to Urgent Care this morning. I've been sick for about a week and a half and this weekend it took a turn for the worse... and I added pink eye to whatever infection I had. Hubby took me to Urgent Care this morning and I was diagnosed with Bronchitis and pink eye in both of my eyes... Thankfully, because I was able to get the antibiotics in my system I will still be able to go to work because I shouldn't be contagious anymore. 

Anyway, I thought I would post a couple of pictures of the card that I made my mom for her birthday. Her birthday was January 10, but she was in Florida settling my baby sister into her dorm so she won't see it until later today when she gets home.

Supplies:
Paper: Basic recollections cardstock, My Minds Eye So Sophie 6x6 paper pad
Embellishment: Ribbon saved from a gift I got, paper embellishments from a Recollections border punch
Sentiment: Happy Birthday stamp from dollar aisle at Michaels

Quick Post This Morning

Hullo all, I am about to head off to work, but I wanted to show you a few pictures. I did some crafting yesterday after we got home from a long weekend in DC (Georgetown). We had a great time, and I got to see my first non-community theater play. Les Miserables was great! I'll share some pictures of that with you tomorrow, but this morning I wanted to share some creations (and this time, I'll actually tell you where the supplies came from! :) )

Anyhoo, some pictures:

Supplies (Autumn Cards):
Paper: paper pack from Ollies, scraps
Embellishments: ribbon from a friend, pattern on bottom of second autumn card from Cuttlebug embossing folder
Digi Images: CDAC
Sentiments: Lawn Fawn stamp

Supplies (Birthday Card)
Paper: Basic card stock, scraps
Embellishments: Hemp Cord (Darico), gems from dollar aisle and Michaels, and HeroArts stamps (inside stamp from Making Memories Design Shop), firskars punch used for corners of patterned paper
Sentiments: stamp (unknown brand)

Supplies (Memo pads):
Paper: Basic card stock, scraps
Embellishments: ribbon from friend and Target dollar aisle (last year), bird (lawn fawn stamps), details on long memo pad from Martha Stewart punch, gem from Making Memories Deco Metal Stickers, martha stewart and fiskars punch used for detailed circles behind gold deco sticker

That's it for now... Gotta run!

Hurricane Irene

So... yeah... the hurricane.... thankfully we didn't get hit very hard, as many other parts of the eatern seaboard did. The only damage we had was somehow (and we can't figure out how as the ceiling, window sills, and walls are all TOTALLY DRY) the carpet on our outer wall in both bedrooms and the office are sopping wet... we put towels down and it soaked them and the carpet is still soaked. thankfully it only wrecked some boxes - we were able to pull the three boxes we had up against the wall away and this morning I had to empty one of the boxes into a hamper because the box was totally soaked through... but these things are itty bitty.... So very very thankful to the Lord for his protection this weekend. Everyone in our church was safe and no one lost power for more than a few seconds, so PTL!

Anyhooo.... since this weekend was a weeee bit rainy, we stayed inside on Saturday. Hubby had some work/Sunday morning service prep that he had to take care of, so I got some crafting done. I have pretty muuch decimated my stash of cards so I thought I would make up a couple of birthday cards to have on hand. I made myself use only scraps/already cut up card stock that I had/only ribbon scraps that I had. I was pretty happy with the results and now I am slowly on my way to having a card stash for those last minute ocassions that always seem to pop up ;)

oooh, yes... I forgot... I also whipped up a birthday card for our Pastor last week during one of my lunch breaks (and then proceeded to forget to give it to him on Sunday!) Oh, well... there's always next week. LOL.

Finally, some crafting.....

Good Morning all. I don't know about you, but I had a super productive weekend! I was able to work from home from Friday, so I was able to get all of my laundry done (well... it was done, have a couple of loads to do again...it piles up fast!) and my sheets changed and the kitchen cleaned/dishwasher emptied... and I was able to start on a couple of cards/gifts for some co-workers birthdays.

Saturday I got the dry cleaning and did grocery shopping. I decided to try something new this trip. When I got home I cut up all of the fruit (except for the apples - I don't like it when they get all brown) and made a giant fruit salad and then put the extras in their own individual containers (trust me - ONLY way to fit a watermellon and mellon in our fridge!!!) then I cut up most of the veggies and made a giant salad.  We get home so late during the week, most day's I am whipped and don't feel like cutting up the veggies to have salad's so I think this is going to help us eat more salad during the week. We had chicken salad last night and I didn't have to cut a single veggie for it!!! (score ;) ) This helps with the lunch making during the week too. Between the salads and the veggies already put in individual baggies, it will be much faster during the week to put together lunches for hubby and myself.

I was also able to finish up the cards/gifts for my co-workers.

For one co-worker, I made a card and for the other (who is my supervisor) I made a card and a small gift. I gave her the gift in her office though so that the other co-worker wouldn't feel bad. I also made a red velvet cake for the team to enjoy for their birthdays. (I forgot to take a picture of the cake - but it was pretty much the standard red velvet cake, with cream cheese frosting and red sprinkles!)

Supplies:

Paper: K&Company patterned paper

Embellishments: Ribbon from Michaels, Chipboard letters from the dollar aisles at Target

Supplies:

Paper: K&Company patterned paper, scrap cardstock

Embellishments: Ribbon from Michaels, Chipboard letters from the dollar aisles at Target, Letter sticker from dollar aisle at Target, pearls from acMoore, green rhinestones from Hero Arts, flowers from Prima

Sentiments: The sentiment on the pink card was from a vellum pack that a friend gave me and the blue card sentiment was from a Birthday stamp pack I had  - first I stamped in yellow and then stamped over the yellow in black to give the sentiment a little dimension.

This was a thank you gift for one of my previous co-workers that recently placed a large order with me for several cards and gift tags.

More work on a custom order...

Good Morning everyone. Sorry for the lack of posting lately. We've had a lot going on and I haven't had a whole lot of crafting time. Yesterday, I was able to knock out a father's day card and a boy birthday card for the custom order that I posted about last week. I finished up all of the tags and now I just have to get the cards done!!! And all before I leave on a trip with my mom and a few ladies from PA next Wednesday.

For the card, I actually used a digital image that I had colored, cut out, and glued a scalloped edge around several months ago and then never got around to using. For my card, I tried a slightly different design that I saw in a crafting magazine and liked. The design is simple, but I thought this style, plus the size of the image made the card pop more.

I just used a simple piece of cardstock, cut to size and a piece of patterned paper from a paper pack I got from my MIL. I used some ribbon (also from my MIL), both purchased at Michaels.

Hope that you all have a wonderful, blessed week!

P.S. I have some possible new opportunities coming up at work. I would appreciate any prayers for guidance for my husband and I!

Quick Birthday Card

Happy Friday everyone!!! I have a quick card to share with you all. Tomorrow the hubby and I head off to Michigan for his grandfather's 80th Birthday party this weekend. Last night I whipped up a card to take with us for him.

Supplies:
Paper: Standard textured cardstock, Tim Holtz patterned paper
Embellishments: Recollections eyelets, ribbon from a friend, Fiskars cutting tool used to cut out digi image and patterened paper edge
Digi Image: This is one of the first I downloaded so I didn't add the origin to the file extension; sentiment from a Birthday stamp collection I have

Last of the Mother's Day Cards and Some birthdays....

Good Morning all... Happy Monday.... Hope that everyone isn't too sleepy this morning :)  I just thought I would share the last of the Mother's Day cards I made, plus the last of the custom order that I never posted last week and a birthday card/gift for a friend.

Last of the Custom Orders:

 Mother's Day card for my Pastor's wife:

Birthday Card for Friend:

Gift Basket for Friend:

Supplies:
Paper: Textured card stock, K & Company Amy Butler, some 4x6 papers from a friend
Embellishments: Prima flowers, ribbon from a friend, rhinestones from Queen & Company
Digital Images: I'll have to get back to you on that one

**I made the baggies with the tea bags in them from some plastic card holders and some cardstock/patterned paper cut down to size. I hole punched through the paper and the bags and then just laced ribbon through.**


Oh... and here is a better picture of the birthday card I made for my brother! (I finally uploaded the pictures off of my actual camera on to the PC :) )