a special reason

challenge # 19 at the cheerful stamppad is "a special reason."  for this challenge everyone is asked to link up a special occasion card such as wedding, graduation, sympathy, etc., but not birthday cards which will be saved for another time. the challenge sponsor is our daily bread designs, i had never purchased from this company before but i checked them out in preparation for my DT duties and i found a lovely stamp set with quotes by mother teresa.  i ordered the set and was delighted to find my stamps were on purple rubber!  i find mother teresa both encouraging and inspiring.  her life of faith in action really speaks to me.  this card i made will go to my cousin. unfortunately she was diagnosed with breast cancer recently.  i think this quote is spot on for her.  surgery will be june 6.  all good thoughts are welcome.

the background for this card was done by spritzing watercolor jewels from stampzia then laying a paper towel over the wet surface to get a more muted and textured feel.  i inked the stamps with markers.  i lightly inked around the edges with some distress ink and then i put the stamped image on some textured cardstock.  in the scanned image of this card the textured cardstock appears to be almost an electric purple but the real card is much more muted in appearance, a pale-ish color.  i tried out lots of ribbons and beads for further embellishment but nothing was right.  this card wanted to stay simple.

i hope you'll try out the challenge!  love to all.

under the pink saturday sea

happy third birthday to pink saturday! i'm excited to join in the pink saturday fun for the first time today.  although pink is not the color i use most, i got inspired by other bloggers i love (see lynne at adorn and cindy) to give it a try.

the background here is antiqued glimmers from technique junkies.  i'd made a bunch of these backgrounds recently (as you can see from a few entries back) and had some left.  the rest is pretty simple.  i used some k & company stash, some lace for the sea floor, and a little crystal sticker to make this scene.

i wish you all a lovely weekend.  love to all.

more coloring joy

for this creation i was interested in the idea of coloring on some already colored paper.  i had some card stock i had colored in deep blues with watercolor jewels by zia stamps.  i stamped a mermaid image by ching-chou kuik from sweetpea stamps.  i used every colored pencil in the box to color my mermaid (i'm especially fond of her hair!).  next step was to put my mermaid in her watery blue world on to some beautiful yellow parchment paper by the paper temptress.  finally all of that went on to another bit of card stock that i'd previously saturated with color, this time with colors by starburst stains.  i had some greenish ribbon that made me think of seaweed so i placed that in the corners.  perhaps this will be additional inspiration for you to join the "color my world" challenge at the cheerful stamppad!

love to all.

cheerful stamp pad challenge #18 -- color my world

i love to color!  so the invitation to "color my world" is a delightful one.  the sponsor for this new challenge is copics.  i don't own any of those markers but there are lots of ways to color...  to prepare my DT pieces for this latest challenge at the cheerful stamp pad i stamped several images, got out my colored pencils and sat on the couch to play. 

this beautiful hummingbird stamp is an image by ching chou kuik sold by sweet pea stamps. i colored it with pencils and cut it out. i had a piece of card stock i'd decorated with the antiqued glimmers technique from technique junkies. i cut some of that card stock with some fancy scissors and adhered it to some delightful shiny purple paper by the paper temptress. the final touch was to take some flowers i'd cut with a punch and place some shiny dots in the middle and then add them to the card as well. this was enjoyable to make and the process reminded me how wonderful it is to color. a very peaceful activity. i hope you'll join the challenge and experience some coloring joy of your own!


love to all.

all you need is love

card collage

this has been a very collage-y week.  this card hasn't gone out to anyone yet though i think i've decided now where to send it.  there is all kinds of stuff here.  the card itself was a designed paper card from a set. on the left there is a little strip of leftover cardstock from when i was making millefiori like crazy (see technique junkies).  there is some ripped paper from a paper pack.  there's a vintage beauty label from twisted papers.  there are some little floral pieces from some collection or the other.  the stamped image is one of my favorite face stamps and it is from judikins.  i had stamped that on cardstock with yet another technique junkies technique -- though i've forgotten which one.  it was watercolor something i think. but anyway i'd messed up the stamped image so one of her eyes didn't come out.  but being a "saver" like so many of you all i kept the image and i've remedied her damaged eye by covering it with what now appears to be a sort of "curl" from a stash of random goodies from k & company. (smile!). finally i've given her a crown of lace.  this is my favorite creation of the week.

happy mother's day to all women who have nurtured others in the spirit of motherly love!
may we all get the motherly love we need.  and let's all be sweet to each other.
love to all.

2 more for beautiful mothers

well friends, here are two more, these went to grandmother and mother.  both are collage-y type creations once again.  on the one above with the bird, all the ingredients of this card are random bits from the stash.  i don't know that i can even say for sure where the various papers even came from though i am pretty sure the butterfly is from k & company.

another vintage beauty label from twisted papers is the focal image for the second card.  i gave some gentle coloring to the plain cream card stock with a light touch of distress inks.  the rest is random stuff once again.

more cards tomorrow believe it or not!  and one of them, i promise you, will be very nontraditional once again...

love to all.