Sweet Sunday sketch challenge 71

I've been busy today...this is my second post of the day. After my first post I got to work in our flower beds.  I still had some planting to do, and the time is getting away from me.  And so are the weeds!  There were a few sprinkles of rain, and a lot of thunder (in the distance) while I was outdoors.  But, thankfully, the storms missed us.  Well, that work is done, for now at least.
Now back to what is really important...stamping!
I was browsing the challenge blogs this morning a saw this great sketch on Karen Giron's blog...here.  I had already planned to use a stamp from the Inspired By Nature set from Stampin' Up.  By the way...I like the name of that set...obviously!
Anyway, I love this grassy image from the set.  It's SO versatile, I love to use it as a background stamp.  This card will be going to my father-in-law, so I tried not to get too "flower-y".   I didn't exactly succeed, did I?  But, that's ok...he won't mind.  I think the silver brads toned it down a bit...maybe???

 For some un-known reason, my oval die-cuts appear to be round in this photo.  I took several pics but, the result was always the same.  I guess you'll have to use your imagination a little  :)





To see a larger version of the pic, just click on it.






Please come back again, soon!
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My card recipe ---
Stamp sets: wonderful words, inspired by nature (SU)
Card stock: mellow moss, night of navy, whisper white (SU)
Designer paper: patterns pack III (SU)
Ink: night of navy, mellow moss, sage shadow (SU)
Ribbon: navy (SU)
Brads: small silver (Recollections)
Tools: large oval, large scalloped oval (Spellbinders Nestabilities)
Other: pop dots, mono adhesive, tacky tape

Remembering Loved Ones...

Memorial Day is a time to remember those in the Armed Services, who gave so much for our freedom.  But, it's also a time to remember loved ones who have gone on before us.
I miss those loved ones so much.  My father passed away in 2003 and, as he wished, is buried in a national cemetery.  He served in the Army during WWII as a medic.  He seldom talked about the war.  When my sister and I were young Dad was the disciplinarian.  At the time, of course, we didn't appreciate that side of  him!  Well, it turns out, he was doing exactly what a Dad (or Mom) needs to do.  Teaching us right, from wrong.  I appreciated that so much once I was grown!  As Dad got older we saw a lot more of his loving, giving nature...and his sense of humor!
My mother was the sweetest Mom anyone could have.  Since she was a stay-at-home Mom, she was always available for us.  I have so many memories of summertime.  When my sister and I weren't with our friend Brenda, or riding our bikes all over town...we were at home with Mom.  Many evenings in the summer we spent sitting in the side yard with Mom and my sister.  We watched the cars drive around our corner...there were not many, it was a small town.  And, we three sat and talked, played word games, looked at the stars in the night sky...just enjoying the summer and each other's company.
I have a lot of good memories of time spent with my parents, even though they eventually divorced, after I became an adult.
Another loved one that I miss is my dear Mother-in-law.  I was the first daughter-in-law in the family, so I had her to myself for several year.   She was a wealth of information when it came to gardening, birds, quilting, oil painting...the list goes on.  She was such a talented lady.  And, she had a great sense of humor.  Even after she developed Alzheimer's, we would occasionally be surprised by a comment or jab that let us know that, yes, Mom is still here!
Most recently, in fact, just two weeks ago, we lost a nephew to leukemia (and other complications).  He battled the disease for 18 months.  And I do mean "battle".  His motto was "Play Hard - Never Give Up".  And he NEVER gave up.  He was the most courageous 18 year old that I've ever met.  I hope that I could be just half as strong if faced with the same situation.  One of his uncles made that statement in his portion of the memorial service, and I couldn't agree with him more.  Losing him is so painful.  I have never before lost a young family member.  It's a completely different experience than losing a parent or grandparent.  I can't even describe it...and I guess, this isn't the place to do that anyway.
I hope all of you spend some time today remembering family members who have passed away.  And be sure to cherish all of those great memories!
I'm posting a few photos of the loved ones I talked about today.

My parents, during the time they were dating.

                                                          





My in-laws wedding photo.  My father-in-law is still with us and well!

Our brave nephew, who passed away just 2 weeks ago.  1991 - 2010







REMEMBER...ALWAYS.

Just Us Girls #35 challenge & Card Patterns Sketch 66 challenge

I've incorporated 2 challenges into my card today.  They seemed to fit together perfectly.  The Just Us Girls challenge is to use dry embossing.  This is a technique that I LOVE anyway, so no problem there!  You can see more about the challenge here.  Card Patterns is a sketch challenge.  As soon as I saw the sketch, I knew that the two challenges would be perfect for my card.  Card Patterns sketch info can be found here.

This card is for one of my cousins.  She and her husband had their first child recently.  I'm so excited for them and I wanted to get a card in the mail to them soon.  They live out of state, so it will be a while until I get a chance to see their sweet baby.  Since the baby is a girl, of course I had to use pink!  Looking through my stash of Stampin' UP! designer papers, I found this one and knew right away what my color scheme would be.

I used several techniques that I really enjoy: paper piercing, dry embossing and heat embossing.  And then, of course, there are ribbons and lace!  It was fun to get the chance to use all of these on one card.

I've included several views of the card, because of all the details.  For a larger view, click on the photos.

In this pic you can see the stamped "hand print" that I added to the inside of the card.  You can also see the layers of the card.  I popped up the sentiment with glue dots and used dimensionals to pop up the "foot prints" mat. 






This view gives you a closer look at the dry embossed panel.






I really had fun with this card!  I hope that the new parents will like it, as well.
Thank you for stopping by...enjoy your weekend.
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My card recipe -
card stock: pretty in pink, very vanilla, chocolate chip (all from SU!)
designer series paper: stamping love specialty (SU!)
stamp sets: whimsical words, I'm here (SU!)
embossing folder (Cuttlebug)
brad: pink and brown (Making Memories)
ribbon: lt pink grosgrain (Offray)
lace: creative classics (Wrights)
pearl sticker: (recollections)
tools: paper piercer, mat pack,big shot, hole punch, bow easy

Many Thanks

The color combination and stamping for this card was inspired by a photo I saw in my latest issue of Country Living magazine.  The magazine is one of my favorites - - after my papercrafting mags!

This card came together so smoothly and very quick.  That usually doesn't happen to me.  But once I saw the photo below, I knew exactly what I wanted to do!

Immediately, I was drawn to the combination of gray, yellow and white in this comforter.  And, this actually surprised me...I have never been a fan of the color gray.  I always thought of it as a drab color.  Not any more!  The more I use gray, the more it seems to be a soft neutral that will look good with so many accent colors.  I'm sure I'll be using a LOT more gray in my papercrafting from now on.








Here is the card that I created, based on the comforter in the magazine photo.  I kept this card fairly CAS (clean & simple) so that the focus is really on the colors of the stamped palm branches.  I love this stamp set from Verve...such beautiful images AND sentiments.  It's so versatile.  It's called Forever In Our Hearts.

This card will be sent to the women's group at my church.  We very recently lost a nephew to leukemia.  He was only 18 years old.  It's such a heartbreaking loss for us.  The congregation had kept him in their prayers from the time he was diagnosed in 2008.  The women's group at church made a prayer shawl for us and gave it to me last Sunday.  It's beautiful!  A wonderful handwritten note was included.  What a blessing to have these caring, supportive people in our lives.

Card Recipe
Card stock: SU! barely banana, basic gray and whisper white
Stamps: Verve's Forever in Our Hearts, Hero Arts Petite Messages
Ink: SU! going gray, barely banana and basic black
crystal stickers from my stash

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Card Patterns Sketch Challenge 65

Hey, 2 posts in one day!  Which means I'm doing a lot of stamping...but no house cleaning  : /    Oh well, as usual, the cleaning will wait for me.  Yay  : (

Through another blog, I recently found the Card Patterns blog.   I realized that they host a weekly challenge here.  I'm really having fun with the challenges that I've begun to participate in recently.  And this one is no exception!  AND...again, I'm using browns as my primary colors.  Yes, I'm kinda' stuck on browns lately.  Stampin' Up! has such pretty DSP's to coordinate with their Close to Cocoa and Chocolate Chip card stocks.  By the way...Close to Cocoa is one of the colors that will be discontinued soon.  I'll be sorry to see it go, it's such a nice soft brown.
I find that I'm using pearl stickers a lot lately.  In addition to the ones placed in the corners of my card, I couldn't resist adding one to dot the "i" in the word "kind".  I've picked up quite a few of these packets of stickers lately when Michael's craft stores had them on sale.  The "pearls" add a nice finishing touch to a card.

This is my take on this weeks sketch at Card Patterns.

  

Card Recipe:
Card stock: Close to Cocoa, Very Vanilla (SU!)
DSP: To the Nines Specialty Paper (SU!)
Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Whimsical Words (SU!)
Ribbon: Chocolate Chip grosgrain (SU!)
Pearl stickers: Recollections
Punch: Curvy Label (SU!)

Thank you for taking a look at my blog.  Feel free to leave a comment!

Crazy 4 Challenges card (C4C38)

This card was inspired by Cindy Haffner's sketch for Crazy 4 Challenges.  You can check out the challenge here.  It' a fun sketch to work with.  I recently bought some decorative trim with ruffles and velvet, and I've been looking for an excuse to use it.  Cindy gave me that excuse!
I love Stampin' Up's chocolate chip and close to cocoa card stocks and they seemed to be just what this decorative trim was calling for : o )
If you've been reading my other posts, you know that I've been making thank you cards for my sister-in-law.  This card will go to her this weekend; along with several others that I hope to create today.

On to the card!

Card Recipe:
Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Very Vanilla (both are SU!)
DSP: To The Nines Specialty (SU!)
Texture plate: Eyelet by Sizzix for SU! (used in my Big Shot)
Stamps: Vintage Vouge (SU!)
Decorative Trim: double frill elastic velvet ribbon (brand unknown), Jumbo Pebble Brad (Making Memoies), pearl stickers (Recollections)

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog...I love sharing my papercrafting with you.  And, as always, I would love it, if you would leave a comment!

A chocolate chip thank you...

...no, not cookies  :)
I used Stampin' Up's chocolate chip card stock as the base for this gate-fold thank you card.  We recently lost a loved one to leukemia, so I've been making thank you cards for the family to send.  The outpouring of love and caring is sometimes overwhelming.  We are blessed to have those people in our lives!

This will be a short post, since I'm not feeling chatty today.  But, I still wanted to share a card with you.

 Front...with a peek of the inside.

Here is a pic of the inside.




















Card Recipe:
Chocolate Chip CS from SU!
Chocolate Chip DSP from SU!
Close to Cocoa CS from SU!
Whisper White CS from SU!
Elegant Thank You stamp from SU!
Border punch from Martha Stewart

In Memory of Matthew

Just Us Girls #33 color challenge & Stamp Simply #139 sketch challenge...

I created this card for my father-in-law, who will turn 92 in a few days!  I decided to combine two challenges into one card.  Sometimes it's difficult to do a "guy" card, especially when you're a crafter, like me, who loves ribbons and "embellies".  I think I was successful with this card, though.  Anyway...he always appreciates my handcrafted cards no matter how they turn out!

The JUGS challenge #33 is to use red, white and blue...with the option of adding kraft.  Well, kraft is always a good choice for a guy's card anyway, so I used that for my main panel then added the other colors as accents.  I used a Diamond & Star Impressabilities on the panel of kraft, although it may be difficult to see in my photos.

The Stamp Simply #139 challenge is a sketch challenge by Jenn Buck.  I stayed fairly close to her original sketch, but of course added my own touches.  It's fun working from a sketch created by someone else.  It really gives me a "head start" on my card.

You can click on the links above to take you to the challenge blogs, to see what everyone has created!

Here's a closeup of the embossing on the kraft panel.

Card recipe
CS  SU! Night of Navy, Real Red, Kraft, Whisper White
Stamp: SU! Four Square
Ink: SU! Night of Navy
Other: star brads, silver beads and twill tape from Michael's
Tools: SU! square punches and ticket corner punch

In the pocket...

...that's where you'll find the birthday greetings in this card.  This is a pocket card.  I thought I had a simple idea for this card, but the process just didn't flow  : /  grrrrr...it took a LOT longer than I expected to make this card.
But, I am pleased with how it turned out.
I will be posting this card to the "Just Us Girls" challenge.  This will be the very first challenge that I have participated in.  I've wanted to do this for a long time, and finally worked up the nerve to do it!  By the way, you can see the JUGS blinkie in the far right column of my blog page.  There are a lot of challenges on various papercrafting sites.  Sometimes you could win a prize or sometimes recognition and getting your work posted on-line.

The card "recipe" is:
Real Red CS from Stampin' Up!
Whisper white CS from SU!
g.c.d designer paper
EK Success wavy border punch
Slot punch from SU!
Happy Birthday 10 stamp from Stampabilities
Winter White EP from SU!
The ribbon is from Michael's

The "vintage" look...

This is a get well card that I made for a friend of mine who recently had surgery.  I picked up this stamp a few weeks ago, and this was the first time it has "seen ink".  I love the look of old linens and doilys; if fact I bought 2 flats of vintage linens last weekend, at an auction.   I love all the detailed work that went into those vintage pieces.  And, yes...my sister and I went auctioning again!  :)   Anyway, this stamp is by Hero Arts and is called Circle Doily.
I'm really pleased with the way this card turned out.  I clear embossed the doily image on white cardstock, then sponged over it with Bashful Blue ink.  Then sponged with Almost Amethyst in the center of the doily image.  This gave me a subtle variation in color.  I used a couple of punches for my sentiment.  Then used a couple of colors of CS for matting.

This weekend I had planned to plant some Astillbe root stock that I bought a few weeks ago.  Well...since there is a forecast for heavy frost tonight, I guess I'll be waiting until next weekend.  We've had some beautiful weather, off and on the past month or so.  But, winter keeps trying to return.  Enough, already!