Elegant Help

My husband and I have a friend, Vicky, whose husband was just in hospital following a stroke.  It was touch and go for a while and we were not sure he would survive, but the whole family was lifted up in prayer on an hourly (or sometimes minute by minute!) basis.  God was so gracious and has granted a remarkable recovery to date.  He is still in rehab but is improving every day.  We give all the glory to God and can see Him at work even in the very small details of such a devastating event.

I made this card as an encouragement for Vicky and I wanted to create something elegant that had just the right verse on the front.  Pink Paislee's Queen Bee paper turned out to be just the pattern I was looking for.  To begin with a struggled to find the right color ribbon (the background paper looks grey by itself, but when I put the olive ribbon next to it, I realized that it was not really grey but a deep olive color.)  The verse is from Verve - naturally most of my encouragement cards feature a Plain Jane Verve stamp - they are so elegant and the font it just perfect.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps : Verve (Scripture verse Plain Jane)
Paper : Pink Paislee Queen Bee, PTI Smokey Shadow and Vintage Cream
Ink : Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Marigold)
Accessories : TCP Gems, Ribbon from Michaels, Cricut Lacy Labels Cartridge, EKSuccess Small scallop border punch

Pink Baby Bunny

This sweet pink creation was for a good friend of mine that just had her fourth child (and 3rd girl!).  The bunny is an old image from Stampin'Up! but I still use it a lot on baby cards - it works perfectly and it is a great image to color in.  I used my Prismacolors again and enjoyed choosing the colors based on the chart I've created in my reference binder.  It  helps to hold the patterned paper I'm using as a background against the chart to choose just the right shade.  Now I need some new blending stumps - I've been using the same ones for over two years and they are looking very worn and some of them are in really bad shape.  I remember though, that Paula Williamson, from Paper Possibilities, told me to only buy blending stumps make in Taiwan and not China.  I learned that lesson the hard way when I was first experimenting with colored pencils!

Has anyone else been coloring images using Prismacolors recently?  If so, send me a link to your blog - I'd love to see your work!

Stamps : Bunny and Sentiment from Stampin'Up!
Paper : SU! Rose Romance (retired?), PTI Smooth White and Basic Grey DP, 
Ink : Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories : Kaisercraft pearls (colored with Copics to match color scheme), Ruffled Ribbon from Archivers, Prismacolor pencils

Get Well Flowers

A couple of weeks ago I got some new Hero Arts stamps and I've been enjoying playing with them on different cards.  This card uses two sets (Speedy Recovery and Antique Engravings).  I love using lots of flowers and butterflies and this card was no exception.

Unfortunately I still have not found the right kind of lighting for my cards in this new house, so please bear with me as I try different windows and different times of day.  I would love some designated lighting to photograph my cards but I spend all my money on stamps and supplies.....!!  :)

Thanks for stopping by!




Stamps : Hero Arts (Speedy Recovery and Antique Engravings)
Paper : SU! Garden Green, PTI Smooth White and Basic Grey DP
Ink : Memento Tuxedo Black, Versacolor Green Tea and Burgundy
Accessories : Prismacolor pencils, EK Success small butterfly punch

Niece's Birthday Cake

This cute design was a card I created for my niece in Canada.  She is 16 this year (hard to believe!) but I think she still likes pink!  I don't have too many birthday specific stamps (must buy more stamps... must buy more stamps.... as if I need an excuse!) but I found a Whipper Snapper set from a couple of years ago that had the right kind of birthday cake image.

I added color to the cake using my Prismacolor pencils.  They really are my medium of choice right now - I just can't seem to get Copic coloring right.  What I really need is a Copic class in the Alabama area, but I don't think they have ever come this far south - I'd probably have to go to Atlanta.

I hope you've had a good start to your week?

Stamps : Whipper Snapper (cake), Stampin'Up! (sentiment)
Paper : Basic Grey DP, SU! Certainly Celery and Rose Romance, PTI Vintage Cream
Ink : Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories : Hero arts small gem, pink ribbon from Michaels, SU! Scallop border punch

Birthday Hearts

You may recognize this layout from the card that I posted back on Monday.  It is a simple easy-to-create design that can work for any occasion.  I have had this patterned paper for a while and I was trying to find the perfect card to try it on.  It is perhaps more suited to valentine's day, but I've made it work for a birthday card for my niece.  Purple/pink combinations are some of my favorites and I love the cute little flower next to the sentiment for an added bit of bling.

Enjoy your weekend!

Stamps : SU! Birthday sentiment
Paper : Kaisercraft DP and PTI smooth white
Ink : Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories : ACMoore white organdy ribbon, EKSuccess small scallop border punch, Marvy large circle punch, Kaisercraft flower gem

Sunshine Hummingbird

When I created this card at the weekend I was not sure how it would eventually turn out.  I had so many different colors of blue cardstock on my desk at some point I was getting frustrated.  It took a long time to find just the right combination.  I like blue and yellow as a color combination - they seem to look really fresh on a bright white background.  My mother-in-law so liked this one she wanted to take it home with her!  She didn't take it though because she wanted a different sentiment on the front.  I guess I will just have to make another one now.....

Hope you are having a great week!




Stamps : Stampin'Up! (Hummingbird, Flowers and sentiment)
Paper : SU! Ballet Blue and Brilliant Blue (retired I think)
Ink : Memento Tuxedo Black, SU! Brilliant Blue
Accessories : Prismacolor pencils, EK Success Scallop border punch, Hero Hues blue gems

Marigold Butterfly

At the weekend I finally got to go to the only Stamping Store here in Birmingham, Sir-Stamps-a-Lot.  It was great to finally see new stamps sets in real life rather than looking at everything online.  I was inspired by a lot of Hero Arts sets and also their layering papers.  I had some Christmas money that my sweet husband said I could spend on supplies so I took a long time in the store making up my mind exactly what I wanted to purchase.  After more than an hour I had finally made up my mind.  I could probably have stayed longer!  That night I ended up creating five different cards inspired by my purchases and all the samples that I saw on the Hero Arts website.  This is a CASE of a card that I saw and thought that I could create something similar.  I had so much fun that I created three more cards the next day.  Wow!  That's eight cards in under 24 hours.  I must have found my Mojo again!  Thank goodness......

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps : Hero Arts (butterfly and sunflower)

Paper : Hero Arts layering papers in Beige

Ink : Tim Holtz Wild Honey and Walnut Stain distress inks

Accessories : American Crafts dotted brown ribbon, SU! Organdy cream ribbon, SU! scallop border punch, Prismacolor pencils