"Thankful" ~ Pastor Appreciation Card

October is Pastor Appreciation month and this past Sunday our church held a Pastor Appreciation day.  I made this sweet little card, not only for the Pastor but for his wife as well.  I truly believe that both need to bee called and anointed in order for the Pastor's ministry to be successful.  I wanted the card to have a masculine feel but with feminine elements so that it would be appropriate for the both of them.  I wanted them to both know how loved and appreciated they are.

Video Tutorial for the card.

Materials Used:

From WalMart:

Colorbok 8 1/2 X 11 Cardstock - Craft

White Cardstock

Colorbok 6X6 Paper pack - Darling Jewel

Aleene's Tacky Glue

From Dolor Tree:

Assorted Sequins

Baker's Twine

From Etsy:

MayMay Made It Stamp Set - Define Emotions

MayMay Made It Stamp Set - Sweet Stuff

"Handmade By" Custom Product/Gift Tags

God bless my darling husband!!  He sees all of the things that I make as works of art and was very bothered by the fact that I didn't sign or label my hand made goods in some way that let people know I made them.  Due to his encouragement I decided to purchase a "Handmade By" stamp.  Off to Etsy I went to find the perfect stamp that would suit my taste and personality.  I was so pleased to find one that featured a butterfly.  The butterfly has long been a symbol I relate to.  It represents to me the struggles we go through before we emerge in beauty and take flight.  I had been using my stamp on the back of cards and other paper crafting projects and then it occurred to me that I could make tags to put on items I've crafted that couldn't be stamped, like knitted objects.  The idea of tags utilizing pretty scrapbook paper came to me so off to the computer and Cricut I went!  After a long search, I settled on a fairly simple tag design with just a little flourish to it.  These tags can be customized in so many ways to adorn any hand made object.  I hope you enjoy the tutorial.

Video Tutorial for this project.

Products Used for this Project:

From WalMart:

Colorbok 8 1/2 X 11 Card Stock - Craft

Colorbok 6X6 Paper Pack - Hootenanny

Colorbok 6X6 Paper Pack - Darling Jewel

Satin Ribbon

Elmer's Spray Adhesive

Cricut Cartridges/Images Used:

Lovely Floral: Tag1

Lovely Floral: Tag1-s

Lovely Floral: Frame4-s

From Etsy:

Handle Mounted Stamp from MyCustomStamps

From Amazon:

Ranger Archival Ink - Watering Can

Simon Says Stamp ~ October 2015 Card Kit of the Month ~ Card #3

It is off the chain how this Card Kit of the month has inspired me! LOL  It has sparked my creativity to create cards and I absolutely love the resulting product. Here is just one more example of a beautiful card creation as a result of the elements found in this Card Kit.  I hope you enjoy seeing it and how I made it as much as I enjoyed making it.  Video Tutorial for this card.

Materials Used for the Card:

From Hobby Lobby:

Hot Pink Cardstock

From WalMart:

White Cardstock

White Pigment Ink

White Satin Ribbon

From Amazon:

Bic MarkIt Alcohol Markers 

From Simon Says Stamp

October 2015 Card Kit

Wow - White Pearl Embossing Powder

From Etsy:

Personalized Stamp

Humorous Get Well Card

A very special young man in our lives just had surgery for scoliosis and we wanted to cheer him up as his surgery approached.  There was already so much worry and heavy emotion weighing on him and his family that it seemed like even a momentary smile would be helpful and healing.  I had the thought "Straight as an arrow" running through my head for days whenever I thought of our young friend and the outcome of his surgery.  I ran with the idea of "straight as an arrow"  and this is the card that emerged from the vision.  Video Tutorial 

I was already sure of God's grace in this situation and the positive outcome and I wanted to spread that encouragement to him and those around him.  Please remember to pray for the young people around you who are going through something.  Your prayer could make all the difference in the world to them.

Materials Used:

From WalMart

A2 Card and Envelope

6 X 6 Paper Pack - Darling Jewel

Craft Paper Card Stock

Elmer Craft Glue

Cricut Cartridges

Southwest - Arrows

Arrows - Arrow8, Arrow1, Arrow6, Arrow3

Cricut Fonts & Basic Shapes - i

Twinkle Toes - Audition

Street Sign - Straight, Curve, UTurn

Family Album - F5 (Font)

Fall/Autumn Anniversary Card

I just started to work with water colors and it is a learning process and I have A LOT to learn! But all that said, I wanted to do something original and beautiful for my husband for our 20th wedding anniversary and I thought making him my very first water color piece of art was pretty special.  He is the sort of person that will really appreciate not only the hand made aspect of this card but also the fact that it is the first of a particular art medium that I am working with.  I know there are lots of mistakes in my water color technique and I still have lots to learn but I'm looking forward to it.  I really enjoyed making this little piece of art no matter now amateur it is!  Video Tutorial for this card.

Products Used:

From WalMart

A2 Card and Envelopes

6 X 6 Paper pack - Darling Jewel

Hampton Art Stamp Set - "To" & "From"

Black Ink Pad

Craft Paper Card Stock

From Etsy

Inspired Stamps 4x6 100% Photopolymer Stampset Labelmaker Alphabet set

from GodBlessYourArt Etsy Shop

From Amazon

Watercolor Pencil Set with Watercolor Paper Pad

Water Color Brushes

Cricut Cartridges

Create a Critter 2 - LdyBgHrt Leaf

Thanksgiving Table Decor - NpkRg1-s

Autumn Celebrations - Acorn

Go Canada - Sktchwan

Polymer Stamp Storage Box DIY

I have been going through the process of organizing my craft room and coming up with storage solutions that are made from recycled materials.  My goal has been to get everything set up in such a way that my supplies are handy, stored sensibly, in pretty containers that were made with recycled materials and of course without spending lots of money.  This is one of the many storage solutions that I've come up with that was unexpected.  I was opening my mail and my monthly Birchbox subscription came in on the same day as some photopolymer stamps.  I realized that the Birchbox shipping box was (with a little tweaking) was the perfect size to store my new stamps in and any future stamps I purchase.  So off to the craft room to re-purpose a shipping box with scissors and decorative tape!  That is literally all I did was refold the box, trim a little off and secure it and decorate it with patterned tape.  So simple, affordable, pretty and most of all just right for my stamps!!  Here's the Video Tutorial to show you how I changed the folds of the box, trimmed it and reconstructed it.  Let me know in the comments if you would like to see more of my craft room organization.

Congratulations ~ Wedding Card ~ Die Cutting ~ Stamping

If you are keeping up with my projects, then you saw the beautiful platter we did last week as a wedding present.  Well, I couldn't very well give that hand made personalized gift with a store bought card, now could I?  Lol, but seriously, I was really inspired by this couple and their journey and of course my creative juices were flowing so I set out to make a personal and unique card to go with their personal and unique wedding present.  I truly don't ever know exactly what design I am going to do when I sit down to make a card.  I just start pulling paper out that I feel fits the occasion and person/people that the card is going to and the rest just flows from there.  The ideas for sentiments, scriptures, images, patterns all just start coming together piece by piece.  I wish I could say my process was more organized than that, but the truth of it is, I really don't have a plan.  What you see on camera is literally what came to me minutes before I turned it on.  You are watching the process as it unfolds with me.

 I have made a great effort to keep my most needed items at hand and organized so if something is not working, I can switch gears and grab another item quickly and keep the flow going.  This card really came about like that.  Adhesives, as you have seen if you've watched my card videos, has been my biggest struggle.  I'm working on it and exploring different options and what works and doesn't work for me.  But I've got to tell you, when all else fails, Elmer's Spray Adhesive saves the day and gets the job done.  You may want to make a "spray box" to use with it though.  It does get everywhere if you don't control the over spray.  So, with all that said, on to the good stuff!! Video tutorial for this project.

Front

Inside

Materials Used

From Walmart

Hampton Basic Rubber Stamps - Congratulations and Mr. & Mrs.

A2 White Cards

Jolee's Boutique Le Grande Dimensional Stickers-Faith Hope And Rejoice

12 X 12 Paper Pack - French Prep

From Hobby Lobby

Tim Holtz - Paper Stash - Motif Resist

Cricut Cartridge

Kate's ABC's - BabyGirlFont1