Tags and Tots!!

I have two quick projects I needed to get on here...the first one is a complete and shameless CASE from Sharon Johnson's No Time to Stamp blog! (Please click on my sidebar blog favorites). I needed a few baby cards for the women I am a "mentor mom" to in my church's support group for moms of preschoolers. This paperby Webster's Pages is beautiful and vintage, but has always perplexed me how to maximize it for a regular A2 size card. This has two prints on the front, and then the scraps decorating the inside. The ribbon is a beautiful drapey silk from Sharon's
Stamp Simply Ribbon store. She has a wonderful selection of ribbons that I just droole over, plus stamps, papers, and more!
The second project is a Christmas tag for Waltzingmouse's "Tag, You're It" challenge. I used a SU! set, embossed the cardinal in burgundy embossing powder, covered the tag with pretty Jovial papers by Basic Grey, added some Baker's twine and a button...this is a hodge podge of products and I love the way it turned out...but the recipient better not throw it out as this took as long as a card to make!!

Thank you for the encouraging words for my parents in my last post!! I so appreciate those and the prayers...thankfully Dad's surgery went well and he and my Mom will be at the Care Center for at least a month, so a long recovery ahead! I was so glad to be able to go and see them for a week and am sure I'll be back before long!

Hope you're having a great mid-week...and thanks so much for stopping by!!

Hope You Can Cling To

Well, I am on my way over the mountains to take care of some "business" at home. My Dad is being admitted to the hospital on Tuesday for his second total knee replacement surgery. My Mom will be admitted tomorrow to the care center waiting for my Dad to join her. I am thankful that between my Dad, family, and local health services, my parents have been able to live at home. With Mom in a wheelchair, she has been helped tremendously with home health providing everyday care needs like showers...but now that Dad won't be there to help, she has opted to go there. The thing about my Mom is...she is a blessing wherever she goes. She is cheerful, sunny, encouraging, gentle...my only regret in this visit is I will be sharing her with the care staff instead of able to spend some one-on-one time which is very rare! (as in not once in the last 20 years. So I am feeling a bit sentimental right now.
Anyway, it will be good to be there and help out for a few days!
Today's card is for two challenges on Splitcoast Stampers (SCS)...one by my friend, Cindy, (Mothermark), for this month's Breast Cancer Awareness drive..."Hope you can cling to." What a fun challenge, "Let's Dabble in some Scrabble" make a square card with at least 4 squares and some letters...well I got some of that right! Oh, and of course pink...and today's inspiration to be inspired by this cookie site here.

My inspiration cookie is the top row, second from the left! And it is guilty, I tell ya, of making me hungry for one. Now, aren't you glad I identified the culprit?
Thanks for stopping in...until next time~

Emerging Leaves

It's been a beautiful fall here...but the thing about this wonderful season in Colorado is it can all be over too soon! If we have a drenching rain, or a couple of very windy days...poof...it is over! So while I am thankful for the beauty inherent in this season, my gratitude is not based on the changing weather patterns, or the seasons, but on those things which do not shift with the changing winds, but are anchored deep in my soul. My faith, my love for family, my trust in a good God that sometimes allows bad things to happen for the purpose of growing me up and establishing my deeper in His word and His promises.
This card is for two challenges, the Flourishes October sketch challenge here, and Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge this week to make a thank you card. You can click on the SSC blog on my sidebar to view the entire challenge!
The stamped background in my oval is Flourishes "Thank You" set, the Leaf swag is SU! Country Blessings...and the technique is "emerging color" found on this week's Gina K's Stamp TV. I used Tim Holtz distress inks for the colors.
Thanks for stopping by, and wishing you a day full of blessings!

My Daughter

 

I had a great time experimenting with my camera and trying to capture the changing seasons...and with a subject as pretty as this, it made my job much easier!
This is our daughter, Erin, who is in her junior year at college and living away from home. My time with her is pretty special!

Splendor in Steamboat

 

Just wanted to share one of my photographs taken around Steamboat Springs...caught a close-up of one of the last of the Autumn leaves clinging to the branch on a crisp cool day!

Hopeful Daisies

Today's card was made for two challenges. The Flourishes newsletter issued a challenge in conjunction with World Card Making Day to make a card any other size than a typical A2. This card is 4 1/4 x 6 1/2. There were extra entries given if the card had pink and also had a ribbon. I think I got the pink in, can you see it? You can find the challenge here.
The second challenge is this week's Waltzingmouse Sketch challenge here.
For my card, I used the Flourishes stamp set, Gerber Daisies and SU! for the sentiment. The cute button is handmade from Tessa Ann's etsy shop. The image was colored with various shades of copics, and I used a different method for the flower centers, you just pounce the marker lightly, which I did with two shades of pink. I left some spots white and then also went over with a signo gel pen to add a few more white spots. I like the way this highlights the flower centers. Scoring was added to frame the image.
Thanks for stopping by...we have a cloudy day here and a bit cooler weather. A perfect day to be here visiting with you!