Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #296 Proud of You

I am so happy to be a new member of the Design Team for Tueday Throwdown and equally as proud to make my debut with the delightful Sami Stamps!

The theme for this challenge is "Proud of You."  When my eyes lit upon  Valentine Feathers, my mind went into overdrive as I think this is an extremely versatile (and cute) stamp. One of the great things with this stamp is the ability to add your phrase to those hearts Valentine Feathers is proudly perched on. I've simply colored with pencils and metallic gel pens to those head feathers. For fun I made it a wobble action card.

Now to decide if I will use it for a nephew who just earned his masters, another  who will soon be a first time father, another that enlisted in the navy and attending naval school, a friend's birthday (as in proud of another year under the belt) or ... the list is a long one because there is much to be proud of in life.

Thank you to Sami Stamps and visit  any of the following for additional stamp selections:

Sami Stamps blog

Sami Stamps Shop

Sami Stamps Etsy shop

Now make me proud and enter the challenge!

Barry's the name

I have a friend, a good friend whose husband is a sweetheart. I fondly call him Barry for he has that sexy, smooth voice (yes it is sexy) much like Barry White. Sometimes I don't think he realizes how much he impacts those around him. Laid back, always willing to help and he scores extra points because he is just the right amount of attentiveness to her crazy, card making friends.

Well Barry had surgery and now sports 2 new knees that will take him anywhere he wants to go. I wanted to make him a get well type of card that hopefully will make him smile even more than he already does.

I started with an image from Doodle Dragon Studios (Dustin Pike) , love his drawing. I'm not sure of the name for the stamp and couldn't find it in my quick search; I always like to give credit to the artist. It's colored with Copics and the sparkling kneecaps are Art Institute Glitter called Diamonds.

In creating the card I once again had the help of a certain 4 year old.  This time we made background papers with Twinkling H2O paints and more than a random amount of table salt. They actually turned out really nice even though the table salt only had a minor effect. Guess that's why they say to use sea salt.

Even if  Barry or his wife see this post, there is still a surprise involved that I won't reveal here.

Without further ado, here is another card made by a grandma and grandson. Enjoy and feel free to wish Barry continued progress with those new knees as I will pass those wishes along.

Close up to show the shimmer.

Parting thought:

"I'm never gonna quit, cause quitting' just ain't my schtick."

      Barry White

MFP Stamps Challenge 20

At MFP they were holding a challenge, #20 to be exact. Click here to go there. Sorry, could not resist that. The challenge was to use half  die cut and they even included a tutorial to help you out.

I decided to do another card for my nephew who graduated from Naval boot camp Thursday night. I had to take liberty with the challenge because not one of my dies worked with my intended focal image of a sailor. So my sentiment is my focal point and the sailor is eye candy. This challenge also agrees with my habit of only revealing half the sentiment. After all, you have to give them a reason to open the card all the way!

Here was my entry for MFP Challenge #20, unfortunately because I had trouble photographing the foiled paper I was to late in entering. Sigh...

Thanks for letting me play along and who knows, I might get another one done because this was fun!

Oops, rest of sentiment is "Congratulations!" in case you wanted to know.

Sunny days

Happy Mother's day to all! What a beautiful day it is here. Hubby made a wonderful meal and lots of hugs from the little man. Free time on my hands today as daughter and little man went off on an adventure for a few hours. Love them both but what a gift! It allowed me to check out the Tuesday Throwdown challenge and create a card. You can find their blog with challenges here. Go ahead and check it out, I'll wait.

Okay, did you go poke around? I certainly hope so. When I saw the challenge for Welcome Spring I knew it would involve flowers. Since the sponsor is My Grafico I poked about and found a cute pastel umbrella clip art.

Printed two of the umbrellas and cut one with a small border and fussy cut the second. Pulled out the trusty foam pad and shaping tool to add curve on the fussy cut image. Glued it to the umbrella with a border, turned it upside and added real ferns from Darcie Co and strawflowers I have in my stash.

Background of clouds and hills is the same stamp, just turned the opposite way from Stamps by Judith as were the scrubby brush stamps. Add a few more strawflowers and sentiment from The Angel Company (still sad they are no more.) Glued the flower filled umbrella and called it done.

Now scoot along and check that challenge out! After all it ends at 3 p.m. Monday. Of course that means there will be a new one on Tuesday...




Parting thought for the day:
                                                  All art is but imitation of nature.      Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Finishing up business

In a previous blog post, found here: Onward I Go, I was working with little man on a Mother's Day card for his mommy. In the process of making her card, we did more than one background and he picked the one he wanted. Today, I am finishing business by showing what I did with the remaining backgrounds. All were made in the same way; chalk,VersaMark ink, embossing powder.
While the results are beautiful in person, I found it very hard to capture the colors with a camera so please forgive my poor photography skills.

Here we go:

I also made another card for my nephew in boot camp. This one was the worst to photograph! I actually have been debating about showing it but what the heck! The lion was stamped and embossed on rust cardstock and then lightened with bleach. The card it is mounted to is actually a craft paper color. I think the new light bulb in my lamp is causing my problem with colors; it's a new energy efficient bulb. I can only say it did not save me any energy with all the different ways I tried to capture the correct colors!

Parting thought for the day:                                                                                                                   Do the best you can, and don't take life too serious.

                                                             Will Rogers

Friendship

True friends are the ones who never leave your heart, even if they leave your life for a while. Even after years apart, you pick up with them right where you left off, and even if they die they're never dead in your heart.     unknown

On Thursday morning a lovely person I called my friend passed away. She fought a courageous battle. I cannot say she lost the battle for I believe she is in heaven, free from illness and pain, reunited with loved ones that went before her. I also believe a little piece of her spirit remains with anyone who knew her. That said, there is still a big hole in my heart for I will always miss her. We were "thick as thieves" growing up and as happens when we age, life often kept us out of touch. When we did connect, it was if no time had passed while we chatted long into the night or more correctly, into sunrise the next day. The hole in my heart comes from the times where life kept us apart and that she will never know how much I cherished her.

There has been a mental debate on whether I should post about this as I really don't know what proper etiquette is. I decided to post because I know so many card makers, me included, struggle with sympathy cards. She left behind family members I also care about, I made some cards for them and have decided to share with you in the hopes they might be a bit of inspiration when you are in need of a sympathy card.

My first card:


My second card:


My third card, using the Northern Lights technique::


My fourth card:



I was blessed with knowing and will forever cherish being her friend...