Happy Monday!

Well, this weekend was busy, as usual. Two birthday parties, a wedding shower, church and yardwork! Whew! I am tired all over again just thinking about it! hehehehe

I DID get to do some crafting, though. Here are a few new things....

This card was inspired by a lady that came to look at my cards at the Library Fund Raiser. She asked if I had anything with Lighthouses. I remembered this stamp set by Our Daily Bread Designs and thought it would be perfect! I used my MS Picket Fence Border Punch to accessorize the look. The CS is corner punched with the Fiskars Heritage Corner Punch.

Here are the Copic colors I used to create this image. I was going for a night-time look, not sure if I pulled it off, but I think it looks nice.

I layered the image with soft grey and royal blue CS and some soft blue/green DP from my stash...not sure what the name/maker is. I used paper flowers and gemstone brads from Spare Parts to embellish.

Don't you love this scripture? I know I do...it reminds me that no matter what is going on in my life, God is present and in control. I can rest in His peace knowing that He takes care of all my needs.

I followed the theme from the front to the inside and used my MS Picket Fence Border Punch again to just give it that little extra "something."

Blessings!

Oh When The Saints....(everybody sing!)

I was on the phone the other night with my sis and she asked me if I could make some kind of wall hanging for her with a Fleur de Lis. (She is from Nawlins', dawlin!)
Well, here is what I came up with. I had to find a FDL .bmp image, copy the bitmap to .jpg in Inkscape and then size it and cut it out BY HAND!!!!***RAMBLE ALERT***I REALLY need to get the Sure Cuts A Lot software, which is similar to way better than Cricut Design Studio, but you don't need a bunch of cartridges to use it. You can use any .svg image, (which is what you use Inkscape for) and do whatever you want with it. There is a guy, Dan, whose blog
My Crafty Life has all kinds of tutorials and freebie .svg files. Also, Inkscape is a FREE (you heard me, I said FREE!) download from http://www.sourceforge.net Now you all know me, and I LUURRVVEE free stuff! It is an AWESOME image editing software that lets you do practically anything! There is a bit of a learning curve, but Dan-the-Man can help you out. Ok, now...***END OF RAMBLE*** I printed out 2 copies of the FDL in consecutive sizes on 110lb white CS, one I traced onto some silver, textured DCWV cardstock, cut out, colored the edges in black Sharpie and then wiped off the excess Sharpie. On the second I colored in the white cardstock with black Sharpie and colored the edges with a silver paint marker. (To tell the truth, I initially did it because I was too lazy too tired to trace and cut another out of black cardstock, but I quite like the way it looks! hehehe) I chose 3 DP's from a DCWV stack that I got on...can you guess?... CLEARANCE! I added a brown paper that I embossed with the Vines plate from Fiskars and swiped with silver ink. I swiped all the edges with black ink and layered black CS, silver CS, the DP's, then attached the two FDL's with pop-up foam. The sentiment is from the "Everyday Blessings" Vellum pack by Colorbok, which I layered with black CS and added round, silver brads to coordinate with the silver diamond brads I used on the corners. I popped that up with foam too. I put it in a black frame I picked up at Wallyworld.

Gina K Challenge Jan 16

Here is the card that I made for the Jan. 16th Challenge over at Gina K.'s I used her example as my inspiration, changing the colors and shapes. I started with Making Memories Ave Coral Coral cardstock for the card itself and black cardstock for the next layer (corners punched with Fiskars Heritage Corner Punch. I reused the tidbits left over from the corner punch as little corner frames. Next layer is white watercolor paper, embossed with the Fiskars Filigree embossing plate and brushed with black ink. I really love the way this looks. The image in the middle is what the challenge was all about...stamping with color. I colored on my Thanks a Bunch stamp ($1 from Michael's), "huffed" on it to re-activate the ink and then stamped my image on to watercolor paper. I touched up the edges with slightly darker colors using my MS Art Markers and used the Blender Pen to blend. I punched the corners and layered it with black cardstock and more of the coral cardstock. Under the image is some pretty ribbon from the Dollar Bin at Michael's (what can I say? I LOVE the dollar bin!) and I put silver brads in the corners to finish it off. I attached the image to the card with pop-up foam. This has GOT to be BY FAR my most favorite card yet.

Blessings,

Shannon