Joy

Our Christmas this year will look very different. I didn't have hubby get any of the 15 boxes of decorations out of the attic. I have only put out the things that were stored in closets, etc. We are leaving the 16th for a week-long Western Caribbean cruise with our son and his family (4 kids ages 16, 14, 13, 7)! So we really won't be here for the holidays. I am so excited though to get to spend this quality time with my family. We enjoy playing games, reading, and of course going on excursions away from the ship. It should be filled with lots of Christmas 'joy'!

And that brings me to my most recent card - an entry into Limited Runs Progressive 10 Challenge. If you enter the challenge using their selected image, you get the next challenge's digital image free. Their images are cute and sometimes even a bit edgy!

I created this card by dry embossing the card front with Darice's Tree with Pine Cones embossing folder. I inked the edges and colored the embossed images with colored pencils. I used Spectrum Noir Sparkle markers on parts of it also. I colored the digital image with the Sparkle markers except for the cat. Colored pencils on the cat. I used Marvy Snow Marker on the cuff to give it the texture. I added a few dots around the image, I mounted the image with foam squares and added a bow and a sentiment. I matted the card front and mounted on cardstock. It was a little time-intensive but made a cute card!

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends                    Always Anything Goes
Polkadoodles Crafting Challenge          Anything Goes
Word Art Wednesday                            Anything Goes
Hiding in My Craft Room                     Christmas Colors 
A Perfect Time to Craft                         Anything Goes
The Crazy Challenge                            Christmas is Coming
The Crafty Addicts                               Anything Goes/Christmas
Whoopsi Daisy Digi Challenge            Anything Goes/Digi image

May your Christmas be filled with the Joy of the Lord as we celebrate His birth.

Friends We Don't Forget

Down through the years, there have been a handful of friends that left behind specks of glitter on my heart even though miles now separate us. These are the friends that, when we get to talk, it feels like we just talked yesterday even though it may have been months. These are the friends that make me smile when I remember our time together. They are a sweet blessing from God! They have left glitter on my heart! I'm sure you have a friend like that too.

So when I saw this cute image from Limited Runs Stamps, I immediately knew what I wanted to do with it and what sentiment I wanted to use. Sometimes it is just that obvious!!

I colored the image with Copic markers then added lots of stickles. I also sprayed the background paper (that I pulled out of my scrap bin) with glitter mist, cut a lace trim from the same bg paper and added stickles to it as well. I mounted the image on a piece of paper from my scraps that I die cut into a scalloped oval using mounting squares to give dimension. The sentiment is stamped with black onyx Versafine ink then embossed with clear embossing powder. I finished the card off by adding a trail of stickles from the image to the top of the card. Last, I coordinated the envelope by adding a trail of stickles across the bottom. I can't wait to send this card to a friend!!

This card is entered in the following challenges:
Limited Runs Challenge 9                            use the designated digital image
Little Miss Muffet Challenge 174                anything goes
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends                           anything goes
Polkadoodles Crafting Challenge                 anything goes
Word Art Wednesday                                   anything goes
Hiding in my Craft Room                            use some scraps
Crafty Friends Challenge Blog                    anything goes
A Perfect Time to Craft                               anything goes
The Corrosive Challenge Blog                    anything goes
Simply Create Too                                      favorite color combo (turquoise/green)

Zephaniah 3:17

"The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save, He takes great delight in you, He comforts you with His love, He rejoices over you with singing."

Do you believe that God is with you...all the time? Which means the things that appear to be distractions, nuisances, or bad luck are often God's hand of protection. We just experienced this yesterday. I had worked and planned for 3 days to prepare for our 5 day camping trip in our RV. Everything was loaded and we are off - to a beautiful campsite on the lake just 15 minutes from our house! We get there, plug in to the electricity....and nothing comes on. Clint notices dirt dauber mud in the amp box and it appears that this has blown some fuses. We had to move the RV from our waterfront site to another one until they could get the dirt daubers cleaned out. We had a sweet 16 birthday party to get to, so we were just going to run the air conditioner from the generator for our sweet furbaby while we are gone. BUT, the air wouldn't come on with the generator so we had to take Sadie to the party with us. On our way back to the campsite we stop and buy fuses, then replace them when we get back. Our friend comes out to help us get things running when there is suddenly a bright flash of light and a loud bang. I run around to the back of the RV to make sure the boys are okay. They are, praise God, but the electric line had had a split in it and had created the explosion the minute it rubbed against something metal. Had it not been for the dirt dauber distraction that blew the fuses, we might not have discovered the split in the electric line. We are told it could have smoldered and caught fire...possibly with us in it during the night. Praise God for nuisances and distractions!!!

We had to come on home and take the RV to be repaired this morning, but we should be back out to our original site by this afternoon...safely enjoying God's beauty!

More Watercolor Fun

I always seem to turn my watercolor pieces into 'girl cards' and I guess it's because of the colors that I choose - brights - pinks and oranges and yellows, or moody - soft blues and greens. So I was determined to make a more masculine card using my watercolors.I chose blue, brown, yellow and a touch of black. I did a salt water wash over the watercolor paper first, then added the colors. Since I had masked the smaller square that I watercolored, I was able to stamp my grassy images onto the watercolor paper around my colored block. I stamped in black versafine then clear embossed to make the images stand out. I stamped and embossed my sentiment as well. I added a few sequins to finish off my card.  Have a wonderful weekend!

I entered this card in the following challenges:

Watercooler Wednesday     birthday
Simon Monday Challenge      birthday
Little Miss Muffet                 anything goes
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends     anything goes
Stamping Sensations            stamping and anything goes

CAS Watercolor

Yay!! It's almost the weekend. It's funny...when you're retired like my hubby and I are, there's not a lot of difference between the weekdays and the weekend (except Sunday of course) yet I still look forward to the weekend. I guess because there are not meetings, volunteering, appointments, etc. on the weekend. So to my non-retired friends...Hang In There...the weekend is coming!

And that brings me to the card I made today. I was playing around with different watercolor techniques including sprinkling salt on my piece. I didn't quite get the results that others in the tutorials seemed to get, so I'll keep playing around with it. But I did like the way this piece turned out. I used kosher salt on this watercolor piece done in pink. I put the color on the paper then pulled it down so that the color faded out to a much lighter pink. While it was still wet, I sprinkled some Kosher salt on it and let it dry. 
I got this new Downton Abbey chandelier die that I wanted to use, so it seemed the perfect match for CAS Watercolor Challenge for August using Salt! I cut the die out of black and added some Diamond Stickles to the crystals and the candle tips. My sentiment came from a Stamps of Life set. I used a border punch then adhered the watercolor piece to my card. Done! Sweet and simple. I'm sure I'll find a 'friend in need' to send this card to.

I entered this card in CAS Watercolor August challenge.