Playing with blendabilities!

 

This Grad card is for my niece, she is a barrel racer and her life is all about horses!

So a horse card for Grad is a must!

I once again used the blendabilities markers;

 I love how they blend and you can't see the transition from one color to the next color!

Blendabilities!!!

I love the blendabilities markers!

This is my first attempt with them and I found them very easy to use!

I have been wanting to get markers that I can use with my mixed media, that don't bleed;

I am so glad I waited!!

For the background I put versa mark right on the embossing folder,

 then I used white embossing powder!

I cut the letters with my sizzex alphabet set, then off to my sewing machine for a line of stitches!

 

The markers are really easy to use but watch a video first before you order them!

Your image needs to be stamped with the memento stamp pad or the outline will bleed.

Plus you can order a marker that will lighten certain areas!

Way too fun, I wonder what I will make today!

Happy Mother's Day!

 

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there!!

I am not going to lie, Mother's Day can be the hardest day of the year for me.

I have spent many Mother's Day's crying my eyes out.

Sometimes church is the hardest place to be!

You hear about all the Mother's that were and are amazing and know that you are lacking!

It's not true, it is a lie from the pit of hell!

Mom's are amazing, I am amazing!!! (I can't believe I said that)

Who else loves us at our worst and still sees the best (besides Jesus)!

My Mom passed away 3 years ago, May 1!

She was not perfect and we had lots of conflict especially in my teen years

but what I miss most is that unconditional Mother love!

No one loves me like that anymore, hubby is amazing but its not the same!

I get A LOT of things wrong with my kids and they do A LOT of things wrong, lol!

But  I love them like crazy and I can always see the best in them!

I heard once that people won't remember what you say but how they feel when they are with you.

I don't remember all the things my Mom and I said to each other

 but I will never forget how she Loved me!!!

 

Another grad card!

the layout is again right out of the Stampin Up catty!

Graduation time!

 

Card #2 of the 6 that I need to make for grad this year!

I love this card, it is so bright and cheery!

This is the first time I have tried to dry emboss stampin Up's metallic cardstock, 

I love how it turned out!!

I got the layout for this card right out of the 2013/14 Stampin Up catty,

I did a few different things to make it my own.

If you are like me, I couldn't figure out how they got the pieces to fit.

I just started piecing it together, as I got to the end I started to cut to size with my scissors.

At the end you just cut all the outside edges.

The center doesn't have to perfectly line up because you can't see it anyways.

I just about forgot to mention the little silver ribbon on the button.

I unraveled some of the bakers twine and used just the silver;

I love how it is crinkly!

I love adding stiches to a card!

 

This is the last card from my card making session!

I love having my sewing machine set up in the spare room so I can just slip in sew and leave!

I don't have to drag the machine out of the cupboard and plug it in, etc.

Just yesterday, I had a young man ask if he could live with our family tell the fall.

My first thought, I am not going to lie, was my sewing machine, very selfish I know!

I think we all get used to our space and when you add someone to that space,

 there would be some sacrifice for everyone!

I thought I was a selfless person but nope I am not!!

This card was very simple, I used the Brights DSP collection!

I took the sequins off the ribbon strand.

It's grad time!!

We have 6 people graduating this year and I have one card, it's a start, right?

I have been trying to get better at taking pictures of my cards, 

not something I find very easy!

I have been reading different blogs but it is like a foreign language.

My girls are both photographers but I forget what they tell me by the next time I take pictures, oops!

 

Homemade buttons!

 

I was making this card and really wanted a pacific point button but didn't have one.

Then I remembered my clay and button molds and voila! 

Very easy to do, you take some white clay and mix in some reinker,

make sure you wear gloves!

Once you have the desired color and it is all blended in push it into a mold

 and let it set for 20-30 min, then pop it out!

For the balloon strings I just used a black marker.

I am so Excited and I just can't hide it....!!!

 

I just ordered all sorts of fun new products and I am bursting at the seams!!!!

I am so excited, I just can't hide it..... and I did lose control, oops!!!

There are just so many great new products, I ordered the whole blendable alcohol marker set.

I almost bought the copics this winter, I am so glad I didn't!!!

Plus I ordered supplies for project life which Stampin Up just came out with!

You can tell I am a wee bit manic, by all of my exclamation's!!!!

Wow, lets see if I can come down enough to tell you about this card!

I like this card, very gender neutral but I will use it as a guy card!

For the background, I used a sponged with white craft ink on it and just rubbed it on the card stock.

I also sprinkled some white embossing powder on the background, 

just to give it a bit of a different look.

The, Happy birthday, is also embossed!

  Colors: Crushed Curry, Island Indigo, Early Espresso

The dreaded Guy card!

 

I am excited to have some masculine cards in my card box.

I don't know why I dread making them, maybe because they are not as sparkly!

I love this card and the inspiration came straight out of the current Catalog!

For the bits of gravel shooting up I just used the large end of my Crumb Cake marker.

My sewing is a little crazy, totally unintentional but it works for this card. 

Birthday wishes!

 

I am so happy to have my card box full of cards again, 

birthdays just seem to pop up and I like to have a card ready.

I love all the layers on this card!

The bottom strip of paper is actually embossed with the chevron folder, 

hard to tell in this picture.

I also used the spritz tool with Early Espresso marker on the main card stock.

I got the idea for this card right from the current Stampin Up Catalog!

The Catalog is such a great resource for ideas; 

I am very excited for the new catalog!!!

Wedding Card!

I love this ribbon, I have used it on countless cards and a mixed media canvas!

 

Supplies: Dress up framelits, flocked DSP (from previous catty), Basic Rhinestones, basic pearls, Vanilla, crumb cake and basic black cardstock.



Sympathy Card!

For this card I actually cut out a page of the bible, see it on the bottom layer.

Seeing's how it is a sympathy card I felt it was appropriate.

The background is stamped with the wood stamp.

And I used my favorite die cut, butterflies!

 

Last night we went to the movie "Heaven is for Real".

It is really good and if you haven't seen it, you should.

After the movie my 16 year old daughter asked if it was real

I said yes this actually happened with a four year old boy.

I think if my daughter had known it was a real story at the beginning she would have enjoyed it more.

It really is an amazing story of God great love for us.

The little boy that plays the part is adorable!!

Masculine Cards, oh my!

I don't know why masculine cards are so hard to do!

Maybe because men don't really appreciate a card!

For these cards I goggled sunsets, I wanted them to be somewhat accurate.

Very easy to do, you just use a square of a sponge, I buy mine at the dollar store and cut them up.

Then you press the sponge on the ink pad then rub it on the paper, easy!

For the sun, I punched a circle out of a sticky sheet so it wouldn't move as I was rubbing ink.

I used just a piece of paper to get the straight line,

I always do the black last!

For the sunset use the lightest color first.

The animals that I stamped aren't solid so I filled them in with a black marker.

Simple and pretty!

I Love this card, it is simple yet so pretty!

I now have a sewing room, so it makes it very easy to add a few stiches on a card:

which you will notice I do often now.

This winter I remounted most of my wood stamps,

to clear mount which made lining up the words so much easier!

 

Supplies used:

old olive, whisper white, tempting turquoise, tangerine tango, Daffodil delight and melon mambo cardstock and ink.  Rhinestone basic jewels, button and butterfly punches, bigz butterfly die and  butterfly embosslit.  I also used the chevron folder for the one butterfly.  Everyday flexible phrases, and Happiest birthday wishes stamp sets.



How God sees us!

     As I was painting this canvas I saw this scripture in a new light!  

      Our son has been going through a dark place doing dark things

but as I was painting,

I thought,

God you see my boy as beautiful and with no flaws, wow!!!

Somehow we think if we are doing everything right,

 then this scripture is true!

 no!

It is true, no matter what, whether we are living right or not! 

 So as I painted,

I thanked the Lord,

for how beautiful my kids are!

I thanked God that he made them without flaw!

 I love how the spirit of God can shift your thinking!

Spring has arrived!

 

Since the beginning of March I have been hearing people say, "I don't think we are going to get spring" and I would reply, "I am pretty sure we will"!  The seasons come and go but they do for sure come every year, Spring always comes! 
Yesterday I was out cleaning up all the dead plants, leaves from last year and I was amazed at the new life.  Just a couple of days before it was winter, with snow and the whole bit and now there was already plants growing, bees were buzzing and there were lady bugs, Everywhere!  When you live in Saskatchewan you learn to go with the flow because it will probably snow again and actually it is in the forecast but the fact is Spring is here.
I was pondering all of this and I thought, we always hear about this next move of God, how it is going to surpass anything the previous generations have ever experienced.  We pray for it, we hear preaching about it and I think sometimes we just think it will never come but like Spring it will come and one day it will be winter, cold and lifeless and the next day it will be here, with new life and miracles and we will be in it. 
I was also thinking about how we say Jesus will come back but we don't live like he will come tomorrow.  He is coming back it is a promise and it very well could be tomorrow or today and we will be like, He is here, wow, I am sure we will be surprised but we shouldn't be because He said He would be back.

 

After all that I do have a card for today!





I finally used my sticky rounds, I bought them probably a year ago and have never used them,

 until now!

If you haven't used them it is the same material as the sticking tape, really sticky,

that ribbon is not going to come off!

Also a first time use is the lace tape!

Products used:

Stamp set: Happiest birthday wishes

Cardstock: Crumb cake, melon mambo, Chocolate chip, Whisper White, Marina Mist and Old Olive

Ink: Chocolate Chip ink pad and marker 

Happy birthday!

It was really hard to capture how this card looks in person, on camera.

The butterfly and the Happy Birthday are both embossed with silver embossing powder.

I used Pool party ink and CS, Summer Starfruit ink, Soft Suede ink and Vellum paper.

For Stamp sets I used Papaya Collage and Happiest Birthday Wishes.

I should also say, this card was not inspired by me it came right from the pages of the current Stampin Up Catty.

I actually did quite a few cards by copying the samples.

The Catty is great for getting inspiration!

Back at the card making!

I haven't made any cards since before Christmas and my stash was VERY low.

It was my mother-in-laws birthday last week and she loves my homemade cards,

 so I made her up a package of ten cards!

I also made 2 of each cards, plus extra ones, so I will have lots to blog about in the next two weeks.

All summer long, I look forward to crafting!

We have a very large yard that requires quite a bit of work and by the end of each day I am too tired to craft.

Sad to say, I never really took advantage of the winter months and here I am in the spring with lots of

yard work to do, oh well! 

My Mom loves all things antique, so I tried to gives this card the  antique feel.

For the first time, sad to say, I used my envelope board to make the envelope, it makes it so easy, a must have for every card maker out there.

I can't tell you the name of this DSP, it is from a previous catty.

I used very vanilla, marina mist CS, Soft Suede ink, rose ribbon and pearls.

I don't think you can get the rose ribbon anymore, I have to say it has been by far my favorite ribbon!

 

Watercolors and faces!

It has been sooo long since I posted last.  I have been so tired, that I have only been managing the daily needs of my family and if I did have the energy to make cards I didn't have enough energy to blog about it.  Hopefully I am coming out of my slump.  I have been playing with my watercolor crayons and watercolor paper, so fun!  I don't know what I will do with them but everything doesn't have to have a purpose.  I just simply feel better when I create, it is like I am connecting with my inner spirit man.

This is the first girl I did, not very realistic but I didn't want her to be.

I painted this girl on a bible page, Is. 40, I put gesso where I wanted to watercolor. 

At my ladies prayer group we were praying about how we seem to make everything harder than it needs to be and that if we just spend time with Jesus, He lifts us up on wings of eagles high above all our worries.

I really need to do this more!!!

I taped this picture to the inside of my prayer journal, as a reminder!

My last girl!  I really like her, she looks a bit like me with the streaks of gray, my eyes aren't as cool though!