CropChocolate Design Team June Layout

This month's theme is 'All About Me'. I needed that since this is the one person I rarely focus on in my pages. Here is my take shown on this two page layout. I decided to go with the musical notes and took liberty with the ME.

All papers and alphas are from Fancy Pants.  The music notes are Recollections and the flowers --I can't recall.

This is the base paper used and I tried to mimic the lines of a staff although they get buried under the photos. I used the Martha Stewart Crown border punch.

Next, I added the photos after matting them to white card embossed with the TH Music Texture Fade Folder.

Both of the larger photos are cards with space underneath for hidden journaling and/or personal photos. I die cut the center and turned it around and glued it back into place to add a decorative element. The butterflies and leaves are from Mrs. Elizabeth's line. One opens to the left and the other to the right.

The remaining elements were added. The 'All About' are Making Memories flat sticker alphas and I matted them to black to bring them out a bit. Wanted to use my white Thickers but had packed them away. 

These are photos of me over the years. Many taken at school and I never know quite what to do with the leftovers. Well, here they are!!! There are more small ones that will go inside the card...So how many looks can one person have? If you are judging by me....MANY!!! I love changing my look. The most recent photo is the one under the word Smart. It was taken in Feb/March of this year.


Thanks for stopping by. Remember to keep inking in the name of LOVE.
Until then.

CropChocolate Design Team May Layout

Hello everyone. I wanted to share with you the project I created for CropChocolate. I had purchased one of their Basic Grey grab bags and grabbed the Obscure Collection. Can I say that this is the one I did NOT want? I had to find a way to be creative with it and make the collection work for me. This is what resulted.

I started by preparing my photos and their mats. I cut using the largest label and then drew around the outside of the die to get the layering mat. I roughed up the edges and used Walnut Stain Distress ink.

Three different Martha Stewart punches were used to add accents to the layout.

This is what it looked like prior to adding in the torn black cardstock. All of the other paper is Basic Grey.

The photos were layered on top of the black. I used a white pen to add stitch lines around the bottom of the photos and to write the date.

The letters are also from the collection and I added dots to one side of them just for a little bit of pizazz since it was sitting on the black and looking a bit dull.

I used the arrow on the right with the dots on the opposite side to push your eye back to the finished design.

This was definitely work for me on this one. I wanted to only feature the collection. On that note Mission Possible and Accomplished. I was so jazzed that I pulled five more photos that I plan to use for 2 two-page layouts using Obscure. 


Until then.

An Empty Tomb

Good Morning, Afternoon, Evening to all and Happy Easter. Today is the day that we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus the Christ. My son and I spent the evening last night watching the Ten Commandments. That has been a tradition of my family for many, many years. As each year passed and I watched again and again, I understood more and more about Jesus, suffering, and having the faith of a mustard seed.

Wanted to share with you a portion of a story that I lifted from Awesome Stories.com. If you do not subscribe to them you really should. Each month you are sent stories, clips, and video links from history. It is an Awesome resource. lol. The hot links will take you to photos, paintings, definitions, maps or video clips. Enjoy.

This chapter is An Empty Tomb

AN EMPTY TOMB

After Jesus was buried, religious leaders wanted to make sure no one stole his body. They went to Pilate and said:

We remember that while he was still alive the deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise again.' So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.

Pilate agreed to their demands.

"Take a guard," Pilate answered. "Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how." So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

On Sunday morning, the first day of the week, some of the women went to look at the tomb. They found it empty, with the stone rolled away. The guards had been frightened "and became like dead men."
Calling some of the disciples, the women returned to the tomb. Mary Magdalene stayed behind when the others went back to their homes. Looking inside the tomb, she:

...saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying?’

Never expecting to see Jesus again, Mary Magdalene responds:

‘They have taken my Lord away...and I don’t know where they have put him.’ At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize it was Jesus.

Jesus asked her:

Why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?

Thinking he was the gardener, she asked Him to tell her where the body was so she could retrieve it. Not until Jesus said,

"Mary,"

did she realize who He was.
Trying to touch Jesus, Mary Magdalene reached out for him. Jesus reproached her:

Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.

Further reading helps me to understand that Jesus had to ascend to Heaven so that the Comforter could come, The Holy Spirit.  This is a day of rejoicing and celebration. If you are a believer, praise God, if not search your heart to find what it has to show you. If you invite God to enter into your life, He will. There is no way that you will be able to come in contact with the Lord, and remain the same.

Happy Easter and all praises unto the Risen King.

Until then.

More Simple and Easy Cards

Hello everyone. I think I am on a roll here. I have been cranking out the cards lately. Made up a slew of them for Operation Write Home. I will share about that in a later post. This one will be a quickie.

Aren't they luscious? More of the American Crafts Cardstock and white embossed papers. I hit the one in the center with some Mustard Seed Distress Ink. Used some dew drops (solid colors) in the centers of the flowers. The musical ribbon is from Prima. Love these!!!!
Ok, here is another view.

I will add greetings as needed. These cards are still cute and machinable--- without having to be charged extra postage. The paper hiding out in the background is the Springtime Collection from Echo Park that I picked up from CropChololate.com.
Have fun making your own quick cards to have on hand for just about any occasion.
Until then.

Easter

Easter this year will be a bit hard for me. It comes the day after my mother's birthday. For those of you new to my blog, my mom passed away in August of 2010 and my emotions are still very raw. I have been filling my time by crafting and learning more than I ever wanted to know about animals--dinosaurs in particular. My son went to see the Circus on Sunday with friends. He said that he wished they would have more entertainment and less animal acts.  He said that way they won't have to take them from the wild where they belong. He has such a kind spirit and reminds me so much of my mom.


I sent out the following cards to family and friends for Easter. Written inside was a personal sentiment from me with the MS family Corner punch to give it a bit of pizazz. And a Spring picture of my son and me. I had six more that still needed to be assembled and they missed the photo shoot. One managed to sneak in without a tag.

These cards were a joy to create. Lots of  layers and textures. The bunny is from Give a Hoot and the grass from Walk in My Garden. The animal print paper is American Crafts.

Had to incorporate some of my Martha Stewart punches and my Sakura stardust pens. The bunnies are all very sparkly.

Thanks for stopping by and don't be a stranger.
Until then.

Simple Cards

This will be quick. Just wanted to share some cards that I made to have on hand for any occasion. I plan to stamp out lots of sentiments and cut them using some of my Spellbinder dies and attach the sentiment as needed.

The paper bottom is from American Crafts. The white pieces have made nice with a Sizzix folder. The fiber is Prima and the flowers and buttons are Making Memories Great Escape set. I did ink the flower petals just a bit.
Keep inking in the name of love.
Until then. 

Using what you have

This post is dedicated to using up what you have. I realized that I had been in a shopping frenzy...a bit of self imposed retail therapy if you will. Then I saw a video of a woman who was out of control with her shopping and placed myself on a strict diet: Use up what you have.

These are the result of my marbling technique. Love the Martha Stewart punch used on this one. Isn't that background awesome. All it took was a few different colors of Distress Inks and a fabulous embossing folder.

 

I love the way these turned out. I decided to stamp the same image on the background paper and spritzed with a bit of Glimmer Mist. I cut out the flowers, put them through various embossing folders, inked them and popped them up on foam dots. I used the Fiskars Threading Water punch on the bottom. Cute.

Keep on inking.

Until then.