Leave it to God!

I really like stamp sets that I create a scene with. The lily pad lake bundle is such a set. I have not had to much time to play with this set yet and so I decided to pull it out and give it some love. I wanted to create a scene to show calmness and serenity.

This stamp set also has amazing greetings that speak calmness to me as well. Leaving everything to God is easier said than done, but when I stamp this sentiment I am reminded that it is all good. He has everything in His hands and I can put aside all worry and anxiety. One thing that helps promote calmness in my life is creating. Whether that is coloring, stamping, water coloring or scrapbooking I feel so relaxed when I create. I hope that when I send this card the person who receives it also feels that calmness come over them and remembers that God has it all in His hands. Let it all go and let Him carry you.

So if you are having a stressful day try to take a little time off for yourself and create, color and relax. Be calm and leave it to God!

Practice, practice, practice

This sweet baby stamp set makes the most adorable baby cards! I am officially hooked on this set. I stamped many of the images in my momento ink pad and went to town coloring them and so you may see a few more ideas in the next couple weeks. I also like that Stampin' Up has matching framelits that cut the images out for you. Makes my life so easy and so neat and clean looking as well. I have tried to master the fussy cutting however, I still need a lot of practice. I know that they said you should hold the scissors with your dominate hand and while cutting move the paper with the other. I still do not get the smooth edges that I am looking for. I will continue to practice and I am sure it will come some day, until then I will enjoy using the framelits. Another thing that I love is watercolor and I also continue to practice that. I helps to see many people out there who are so encouraging and say that practicing does help. So I continue to practice and hope to get better.  For this card I practiced a simple watercolor background. I then wanted to add a little more texture and so I used the stitched label framelit on the watercolor panel. I like how it made an additional layer of depth. I colored the baby and the swing with stampin blends. Don't forget that if you purchase the framelits with the coordinating stamp set you receive 10% off.

Here is a close up of the stitched label framelit die as well as the coloring that I did on the image. Have a wonderful crafty day!

Love my dogs

I love my dogs and I am sure many of you do as well. I also love pretty much any dog stamp set, as many of you do as well. So with that being established who wouldn't want to combine love and dogs. The sweet little dog from the Bella and friends stamp set just gets me every time. This dog is so cute. It also helps that I too have a dog named Bella and she is just as sweet and maybe even cuter.

Yup she is adorable! Anyway I know that you came to see a card and not hear me bragging about my sweet little dog.

I colored the puppy and fussy cut her out and when I attached her to the card I added the ruff, ruff from the happy tails stamp set. I thought it looked like the dog was saying love you too! How often our dogs say that to us through out the day. Enjoy the love your puppy gives to you today and everyday. 

One more card of love

I forgot to post this card that I had made for Valentines day. You could easily make this card for an anniversary or even change the colors and make for a wedding. Love is what it is about! It is a simple layout and actually no stamping is involved. I water colored the background so that the images were not just on plain white card  stock. I thought this made the frame really pop out. I also used the negative image that is cut out from the heart from the card the other day. It makes kind of a eclectic shaped heart that I just love. Let me know what you think of this simple and no stamping card.

My stamp club shows love

One of my stamp club member approached me recently and suggested that we make cards for the local nursing home for Valentines day. What a wonderful idea! She so graciously opened her house for us to meet and stamp a few cards. I wanted to make the card simple enough that everyone could stamp multiplies as well as for men and women. The hey love stamp set is perfect for that! Since the images are line drawings I decided to stamp the ape on smokey slate so they would not have to spend time coloring and could make more cards. I think that the cards turned out so cute and when I dropped them off at the nursing home they were so thankful. It is so nice to share our love of card making with those who may not have gotten a Valentine this year. It is so important for everyone to feel loved and cared for. I now plan to make cards for a local shelter for unwed, pregnant women for Mothers day.Thank you to my stamp club for helping make the day special for many elderly in our community. They are truly a special group of ladies that I feel so privileged to know.

What  simple act of kindness can you share with your cards today?

Late Valentine card

I don't know where time goes. I have so many Valentines cards that I wanted to share with you but just did not get them posted. Hopefully you don't mind a few card ideas for cards of love. They actually don't have to be Valentines cards they could just be cards of encouragement. The first card uses the hey love stamp set. I think the images in this set are so cute and I love the fun greetings. I also love to color and so this is an even better set. I stamped a few of the images and colored them not really knowing what I was going to do with them. So decided why not put them all on one card and using my stitched shapes cut each in a different shape. I think the card is fun and playful and perfect for a male card.

For the next card I used a few scraps that I had on my desk. So many times I cut something out, stamp something or paint something but it does not get used. I always save those and think maybe someday I will use them.  Well today is that day. I love when I can use a few scraps and make a card that looks cute. Does anyone else do this?

I hope you had a wonderful Valentines day and that you enjoy these cards. I had so much fun making them. It is so much fun to make things that you can give to people to bring joy into their lives. Have a great day!

Sale a bration second release

Hi Everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful Valentines day. Today Stampin' Up is offering a second release for saleabration. They have added a few more items that are adorable! You can check out the website to see the new catalog and you may order them today. Let me know if you have any questions. Have a great day.

Need a baby card?

Today I have made a cute and adorable little baby card. It can be given as a boy or girl card. This card I added the cute greeting "mama's boy" and so if you wanted to make it for a girl you could use another greeting from the stamp set. It was so easy to make and I love the way it turned out. Sometimes I feel like simple cards are just right.

How sweet is that little onesie? I just love how cute it came out, colored with the Stampin' blends and then I added the cute little heart from the stitched label framelits. I wanted the onesie to be the focus on this card and so I layered it with the stitched shapes framelits, and the scallop punch. For the background I used a piece of whisper white and randomly stamped the little accessories from the set with the pool party ink and then used the eyelet framelit to finish off the bottom edge. I mounted it all on the pool party cardstock that I had embossed with the sparkle embossing folder. Finished it all off mounted on a piece of thick whisper white cardstock.

I would love to know what stamp sets you like to use for baby cards? Enjoy!

Hey Love

It is that time of year to start making a few Valentines.  If you are like me you like to share your love with those important people in your life. And since I am so blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life I have made some quick and easy Valentines with Stampin' Up note cards. It is so easy to make a card with them because they have taken all the work of making the card and finding an envelope for you. Stampin' Up note cards come prescored and with matching envelopes. I just combined them with the Hey Love little critters, a few scraps of my neutral designer series paper and a few punches and cute little card are done.

I tried to get a picture of all the cards together, however I was not very successful.  I have included a close up of each of the cards for you.

This set makes a nice set of cards. I used all the images from the set and they all coordinate so well. I colored them with the Stampin' blends.This set is great for males, females, young and old. Hopefully this will give you some quick and easy ideas for Valentines for you to create.  Let me know what kind of Valentines you like to make.

Lilypad Lake

 Can you believe that January is half over already.  Before we know it, it will be summer. This stamp set and matching framelits make me think of summer. Growing up in Minnesota there was always a lake to walk around and enjoy. The true sign of summer were lilypads on the lakes along with the beautiful duck, geese and other birds that would be in the water.  It really reminded me of my younger days in Minnesota. It brought back so many wonderful memories.

The stamp set is lilypad lake and lakeside are the name of the framelits. If you order them together you receive 10% off, what a great opportunity to save. And if you order them now during saleabration you just need to order $6 more to receive a FREE item from the saleabration catalog. 

I had a watercolor panel that I had made a while ago and it was really dark and solid. Not the colors that I wanted for the project I was working on at the time. It was perfect for this card. I used the framelit to cut wavy lines for the water and then I put pool party card stock behind it for the look of water. (I kept the wavy lines to make another card, I will share that another day)  I used the memento black in so that I could color the bird and boat images with my stampin' blends. Using the matching dies to cut these images out made it so easy.

The greetings in this set so beautiful.  Any of them would be great for an uplifting card to send to a friend or relative who is having a hard time. I think it is really important to share our cards to encourage the people in our lives. It could make their day just a little bit special. If you know of someone who needs a little happiness in their day make them a card. It doesn't have to be fancy, just a little note so they know someone cares and thought of them today. Enjoy!

Sweet Baby Boy

This little set just melts my heart. The sweet baby stamp set along with the coordinating framelits (bouncing baby framelits)  you can make this cute little blanket to swaddle your baby.  If you order the set and framelits together you receive 10% off.  The dies not only cut the shape of the blanket they also make the score lines for you. I used the neutrals (night of navy) designer series paper to make the blanket. I also like that it is double sided and so you can see both designs when folded. The rest of the card is pretty easy to follow. I used night of navy for the layer on the white base and stamped the "its a boy" in night of navy in the background. For the greeting I stamped night of navy on white and used another cute die that comes in the set as well. It makes the cute ruffle on the bottom. I just couldn't resist even though it is a boy card. The heart that I used to close the blanket is from the stitched label framelits. I have found that this framelit set goes well with the sweet baby set as well.

Here is a close up of the baby and the blanket. I water colored the little baby and the cute little bear hat.

This is a close up of the cute eyelet ruffle. I think it adds so much to the greeting and the bottle to help balance out the card.  Enjoy!

Country Home

Do you find that there are some stamp sets that when you get them you realize just how much you enjoy them?  The country home stamp set was that way for me. I thought it was adorable in the catalog and so I ordered it, come to my surprise I now can't stop using it. I love the greetings, the fonts and the images.  They are great watercolored, colored with pencils as well as stampin blends and just stamped with no color at all.  My favorite card that I made with set is the one below.

I just can't get enough of this cute milk jug! I looked online for the colors for milk jugs and I saw so many different colors that I thought why not watercolor them all different. I love the rustic feel that this portrays. The greeting fits so well on the top and my card was finished in no time.  I have been working on my watercoloring. It is not as easy as it looks.  There are so many amazing watercoloring artists online, I could watch them all day.

I have also included a close up of the milk jug.  My watercoloring is a work in progress, but I do like the way that this turned out. I used the ink refills with the aquapainter for this. Using the neutral colors and then added some splatter to add to the rustic look. I am so glad that this stamp set was carried over from the holiday catalog. I really hope you enjoy this card!

Great videos

Stampin' Up! has created a few videos to introduce the new products that are available. I have included a few today and then I will share a few more another day.  You can always visit the Stampin' Up! website to see videos.  I love all the wonderful ideas that they share. Enjoy!