Some Bunny Loves Amalie

A dear little girl, Amalie Mae, sent me the sweetest, most special and beautiful greeting this week through my friend Dawn who is her aunt and godmother. Dawn told her that I could use some special thoughts and prayers, and so she made me a frog. I have it taped to my computer at work. She made a deal with Dawn that if Dawn would pray for her sick and elderly neighbor, Amalie would pray for me. How sweet and beautiful this child is. I wanted to send her something very special in return, so I made this card for her. I used Julee's Mojo Monday week 77 sketch. The base of the card is Very Vanilla topped with a layer of Tea Party DSP. The two rectangular panels are also Tea Party DSP mounted on Perfect Plum. I used Verve's Some Bunny. I gave the bunny a bow from Black Tie Birdies. I used Watercolor Crayons to color the bunny. I put a pearl "necklace" around her neck, but I did this before I ran it through the Cuttlebug to cut it out. Don't ever do that! The pearls flattened! Duh! I left it that way though, and just added another pearl to the bow. I can't wait to send this to my little friend Amalie. I hope she loves it!

Courage and Healing

Lately life has been a bit overwhelming, and I have not had much time to create. I am always happier and more content when I can spend time feeding my creative soul. This one is a 3-fer. Last week's OCC challenge was to add a doodle to your project. My doodles are on the top panel. I used the colors from SCS CC208 (Pink Passion, Kiwi Kiss and Chocolate Chip), and the layout from SC218.

Recipe:

Stamps: Crafty Secrets Clear Art Stamps~Support the Girls
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss, Pink Passion, Raspberry Tart DSP, White
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Pink Passion, Kiwi Kiss
Accessories: Dew Drops, Markers, Dimensionals, MS Lace Border Punch, Mat Pack and Piercing Tool

The inside has a beautiful blessing by Joyce Rupp that reads:

May you desire to be healed.
May what is wounded in your life be restored to good health.
May you be receptive to the ways in which healing needs to happen.
May you take good care of yourself.
May you extend compassion to all that hurts within your body, mind, spirit.
May you be patient with the time it takes to heal.
May the skills of all those who are caring for you be used to the best of their ability in returning you to good health.
May you be open to receive from those who extend kindness, care and compassion to you. May you rest peacefully under the wings of divine love, trusting in this gracious presence.
May you find little moments of you to sustain you. May you keep hope in your heart.

Sweet Sunday Blessings

I have been working all day to try to take this picture, refine this picture, load this picture... I am quite tired of it. I don't know why I am having such a time with it, but I give up. So here it is. I made this for Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #7. You can see the sketch HERE. I am so frustrated with the technical aspect of this card - it really looks so much better "live" than this, but I had to stop fussing. It reall is quite lovely. The recipe is:

Stamps: Verve~Abundant Blessings.
Paper: Bella Rose DSP, Chololate Chip, Kiwi Kiss, White, Pink Pirouette.
Ink: Brown Stazon
Accessories: Dimensionals, Sponge, Markers, Rectangle Nestabilities, Cotton Candy Stickles, Hero Arts Rhinestones, Hodgepodge Hardware, Sticky Strip, Ribbon Originals Alpine (retired).

OCCC The Sea

I have been away for way too long. I have been so busy - went to Vermont with my boys to visit my dear friend Carol and her wonderful family. I went for Copic Certification (woo hoo!!), and I have been crazy busy with all sorts of things. What else is new?? Anyway, I was so happy to have the time to do the OCC challenge today, and I needed to use my new found Copic skills. They surely need to be honed, but I am working on it. This week's OCC Challenge is a sketch - You can find it HERE. Here in NJ, we say "down the shore" for "going to the beach". There is no place I would rather be than down the shore. I bought this stamp set a couple of months back. It was perfect for this sketch, and for working with my Copics.

Here is the recipe:
Stamps: Clear Art Stamps ~ Seaside.
Paper: Kraft, Chocolate Chip, SU Petals & Paisleys DSP (retired), Barely Banana, Riding Hood Red, White, Cool Caribbean (retired), Neenah Solar White.
Ink: Tsukineko Tuxedo Black.
Accessories: Copics, MS border punch, Riding Hood Red ribbon, Dimensionals, Mat Pack and Piercing Tool, Atoyu Spica Glitter Pen, Corner Rounder Punch, Sponge.

Keep Me In Your Heart

It's late, and I always struggle with night time pictures, but I wanted to get this posted. Tomorrow I have to work on valentines for my boys - that ought to make me choose a color other than pink - LOL!! I have to admit though, I love a man who feels comfortable with pink... anyway, I digress. This card is for Julee Tilman's Mojo Monday #73. Ever since I got this wonderful Verve set (aren't they all so incredibly wonderful???), Hundred Hearts, I have been wanting to emboss this hearts border and use it for a frame. This week's Mojo Monday Sketch really lent itself to that idea. I pretty much used the sketch as is for my card - even the colors, which is kind of funny - with just a couple of changes. I love this sentiment so much, and I love the filigree heart from Verve's Hearts on Fire stamped in light pink behind it. The base of the card is Whisper White, topped with a layer of Basic Black. I used SU's Raspberry Tart DSP AGAIN for the background for my beautiful embossed heart frame... I can't help myself. The hearts border is embossed with Versa Mark and White Embossing powder on basic Black card stock, cut out and fashioned into a frame. The sentiment is stamped with Classic black ink and the filigree heart is stamped with Pretty In Pink ink. The 5/8" Double Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon is adhered with Sticky Tape. White Taffeta Ribbon is tied around that and secured with a Euphoria Collection Designer Glazed Brad from Basic Grey. I pierced a border around the card to add a little dimension. Thanks for stopping by!

Voila Valentine

This week's OCC Challenge - Crazy for Hearts - is to create a card using two hearts or more. I watched Ratatouille with my son on Saturday night. I love that movie... The culinary hero, Auguste Gusteau, always puts me in mind of the SU "Voila" Chef. I love him too! I knew just what I would do for my OCCC card... so I got to work tonight on it. The base of the card is Rose Red. I used a strip of Raspberry Tart DSP and bordered it to the left with a strip of Regal Rose punched with Martha Stewart's lace border punch. The main image is stamped in black Stazon, and paper pieced with Basic Grey Bittersweet and SU Raspberry Tart DSP. My chef's platter is silver metallic paper from Creative Memories. I love it because it is so shiny. The hearts on the tray are from "Loads of Love". They are colored with re-inkers and an aqua painter and topped with Stardust Stickles. I used the MS lace punch again to make a "doily" to line the tray. My chef's buttons are black brads from Karen Foster Desgin, Inc. The sentiment is from MFT's Hearts Galore. It is framed with Hodgepodge Hardware and finished off with some Kiwi Kiss satin ribbon. I pierced the top and bottom right corners to add some texture. Voila!

Shadow Thank You

Every now and than I do a SU stamp camp. My dear friend Carol Sullivan, Creative Memories Consultant extraordinaire, hosts. It's always so much fun to spend time with creative women and make beautiful things. Yesterday, I was looking for some inspiration for the fourth project for my camp. I knew I wanted to use the SU Top Note Bigz die and I also wanted to use shadow stamping. Searching on SCS, I came upon THIS gorgeous card by Dannie Graves - perfect for what I had in my mind. Then I saw THIS card on Laura Fredrickson's blog for this week's color challenge on SCS (#213). I took my inspiration from these two wonderful cards and the challenge colors, and came up with mine. The base of the card is Garden Green, topped with a layer of white, then Pacific Point embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder. I cut three Top Notes in Garden Green, white and Green Tea DSP. I stamped the Upsy Daisy flowers starting about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom of the white layer in Baja Breeze and again with Pacific point for the shadow effect. I covered the bottom 1/3 with Green Tea DSP and tied some Pacific Point striped grosgrain ribbon where the stamped image meets the DSP. The sentiment is from All Holidays stamped in garden Green and cut out with the Small Oval Punch. A piece of Hodgepodge hardware is the finishing touch. Thanks for the inspiration Dannie, Laura and SCS!!! My campers really liked this card!