Lessons I've Learned -- World Card Making Day

This is World Card Making Day.  I'm participating as part of Timeless Twine.  There's other great inspiration on the Timeless Twine blog today you'll want to check out.  This month is also Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  Like many of my cards, there is a story.  I haven't lost anyone real close to me to breast cancer, but I did lose my mother to a malignant brain tumor when she was 73.  I was thinking of her the whole time I made this card:

I learned many things in the 18 months my mother lived and died with her cancer diagnosis, and this sentiment pretty much sums it up.  I had to let go of many things.  I said good-by to her in many ways, many, many times.  But I never loved her any less.  I just lost her bit by bit to a horrible disease.  So, this card is for my mother, and all the many other people I know who have been affected by cancer.

The butterfly and sentiment are a Stamp of the Week from Unity Stamp Company.  I heat embossed the butterfly and used Perfect Pearls and water on it. The papers are from Close To My Heart.

The beautiful Timeless Twine is Bubblegum Pink, and it's on sale for breast cancer awareness month.
The Twine-istas are having a blog hop on Tuesday, and it all starts on the Timeless Twine blog.  Come join in the fun, inspiration, and prizes!

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges:

Operation Write Home -- World Card Making Day -- Love

Sister Act Card Challenge -- ATG

D.L. Art -- October Linky Challenge
Crafty Catz -- All Sentimental

It's Been Fun! With Sweet Stamps

Greetings, all my crafty friends.  August is fast coming to a close, which means my month of guest designing for Sweet Stamps is ending.  I have enjoyed it very much!  I have one final card on the Sweet Stamps blog today. This week's challenge is a birthday challenge.  Everyone needs a supply of birthday cards, so make one and enter the challenge!  I used several Sweet Stamps on this card, including my favorite butterflies.  Here's what I made:

 

 

I used one of the Artsy Fartsy stamps (AF4), "French Calligraphy" to create the background layer on this card, my favorite "Fanciful Butterflies" set (S600), and "Fancy Birthday Stacked" (9099D) for the Sweet Stamps images. The doily is also from the Sweet Stamps store. It is a Cheery Lynn die, Eastern Star (DL230).  It cuts beautifully!  Designer papers are My Mind's Eye The Sweetest Thing Bluebell 6x6. The ribbon is from 3 Girl JAM and the stick pins are by Close To My Heart.  I made the butterflies by heat embossing with clear embossing powder on Outdoor Denim card stock, then mixing various Perfect Pearls colors with water and painting it on.  The embossed areas resist the paint mixture.  I love the effect. The card is on a CTMH Outdoor Denim card stock base. I think this would be an enjoyable birthday card to receive, how about you?



BUGS! For Get Inky! Stamps

A new challenge starts today on the Get Inky! Challenge blog.  The theme can be anything -- as long as it includes a bug. 

I've been working with Perfect Pearls lately, so decided to continue with that line of thinking, and used one of the newer Get Inky! Stamps releases, Love Bug.

 

 

 

I find that the Perfect Pearls show up best on darker color card stock.  This is Close To My Heart outdoor denim.  All the butterflies and bugs, along with the sentiment are from the Love Bug set -- it's a real cutie!  I stamped using Versamark ink, then brushed various colors of Perfect Pearls on the bugs where I wanted the color to be. I made sure to leave room for the sentiment, then used the same technique on that.  All the leftover powder can be dusted off with a larger brush.

I mounted the outdoor denim card stock to a piece of textured white c.s., and that is adhered to a crystal blue card base. Hope you like my "buggy" creation!

FWF - and a Copic Class!

Hurray! It's Friday! And a very special Friday at that! Back in July, for my birthday, my husband paid to send me to the Copic basic certification class and the Copic intermediate certification class in Minneapolis, MN.  Those classes are today and tomorrow.  Yes! I'm so excited! Yesterday, I drove 2 1/2 hours to get to the hotel/conference center where the classes will be held.  I'm camped out and ready! Let the fun begin!

And, speaking of fun, I have a card to share with you today that was a lot of fun to make!

Last Sunday, we got together with my in-laws at a restaurant, and they picked up the tab.  I figured the least I could do was make them a pretty card.  So, Monday, after work, I whipped together this little pretty for them:

 

I used the Unity set, "Butterfly Beauty" on this.  It was one of the first Unity sets I ever bought, in the old brown boxes.  I love the 4 butterflies in this set.  They all emboss beautifully, and that's what I did with this one.  I heat embossed on black cardstock using clear detail embossing powder. Then, I mixed Perfect Pearls and water together in four different colors, and painted them on the butterfly.  The areas that were heat embossed resist the color, and this is the result.  Neat, huh?  I added the sentiment (a CTMH retired set), and some Close To My Heart bling, and voila, the thank you card was complete and ready to go. Well, it was after I rounded 2 corners and wrote a message inside.

Now it's time to practice my Copic coloring skills.  Sooo stoked for this!!!  Have a great weekend everyone!

 

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

 

Inky Impression Challenges #121

Crafting by Designs "Anything Goes"

AUD Sentiments Challenge #87

Sister Act Card Challenge "Anything Goes"

The ABC Challenge "T is for Thank You"

Just Be Creative Linky Party - Anything Goes