Layers of Color butterfly flew to the teaparty

Mothermark's teaparty today was to make a card with music and a frame. I used my music butterfly and framed it with the green square. The green square started out as a piece of white cardstock. I punched the edges, sprayed it with Honey Dew Gimmer mist, ran it through my cuttlebug using the script embossing folder. Then all the elements were stitched to the card. It looks like it took a long time, but start to finish on this card was about 30 mins. which for me is a quick card.

Red hats for the teaparty

The cards for today's teaparty are all about red hats. The teaparty destination is for a lady named Joyce who has been struggling with health issues with her cancer that have left her with stroke like symptoms. I hope that this card will bring a little joy to her day. I quilled the hat and used a sentiment from Mark's Finest Papers HEART HEARTS HEARTS set. My husband and kids got me a border embossing folder for Christmas. Of course I had to give it a try.

From White canvas to Poppy Field Tutorial

Cindy's teapot challenge was to take the white teapot and use that as our blank canvas. I sure had a lot of fun making this card. I added sewing for the Technique lovers challenge yesterday.
Materials I used:
White cardstock, cheap crayola markers, acetate report folder, spray water bottle, paint brush, heat gun, prisma colored pencils, sewing machine, rub-on flourish, green and turquoise cardstock, black stazon, Mark's Finest Paper TAKE A PEEK butterfly, scissors and Aleene's tacky glue.



I started by drawing on the inside of the report folder with a variety of green markers.

I then sprayed the folder with water and shut it. This is what it looked like when the folder was shut.

I opened the report folder. There are puddles of color. I placed a piece of white cardstock on the puddles. There were lots of white spaces that didn't get color. That is the look I wanted.

I then scribbled on the report folder with blue markers.

How the blues looked sprayed and smashed.

I turned the paper sideways so that I could place only the WHITE part into the blue puddles.

It overlapped just a little.

I let the white cardstock with greens and blues on it dry. I then scribbled on the folder with orange, red, yellow and pink markers.

I sprayed a drop of water on the folder.

Using the folder as my paint pallet, I mixed and matched colors. I then randomly painted splotches onto the cardstock.

I then let the paper dry completely before going on to the next step. I used my heat gun to make it dry faster.

I then took my yellow prisma colored pencil and added some yellow outlines to the flowers.

After outlining with yellow I outlined some flowers with an orange prisma colored pencil.

I then took my black prisma colored pencil and added centers to some of the poppies.

Next, I took my white prisma colored pencil and added highlights to the black centers.

I then took a light green prisma colored pencil and randomly drew grass blades. I let some of the blades draw over the flowers. That gave the illusion of depth.

I then added a slightly darker green followed by an even darker green.

I layered the white cardstock with the green and turquoise cardstock and put on a white cardstock base. I used my sewing machine to do a decorative stitch around the edges.

Of course I had to add a butterfly. I stamped the butterfly from the Mark's Finest Papers set called TAKE A PEEK. I stamped it on white cardstock with black stazon. I heat set the ink with my heat gun. I then just scribbled over the butterfly with yellow, pink and orange colored pencils. I didn't have to color in the lines because I was going to cut it out.

I cut my butterflies out this way. I cut around the butterfly and leave the top at the antennea for last.

I then cut away the part that is next to the wings on both sides.

I cut the inside V last. I leave a little extra room so that I don't accidentaly do an anteneaectimy.

I fix the little extra white by coloring it in with my black prisma colored pencil.

I then make a cut on both wings that goes from the outer wing towards the body, but I stop before I hit the body.

The cuts allow me to bend the wings to give them dimension.

I used rub-ons for the butterfly's flight trail.

I cut out the red flourish so that it would be easier to rub on.

I then glued the butterfly on.

Get Well Wishes for Andrew

Andrew is a little boy who has been suffering from brain tumors. When he started losing his hair to the treaments, his friends on his baseball team, the Elm Grove Eagles, shaved their heads, making them the Elm Grove... Bald Eagles. This weeks teaparty is in honor of Andrew. We are all mailing our cards to him to try and bring him some cheer.

His eye is on the sparrow in my garden

I made this card for several challenges. It was for the Stampin' sisters in Christ challenge to have a bird on our card. It was also for the blooming teaparty of Mothermarks. It was for the sketch challenge, and finally for the Free for all challenge to make a garden card.

Psalm 100

This was made for the TLC to make plaid on a solid stamp, and for MMTPT to bring flowers. I used this watering can set for the plaid. By the time I was finished it was too big to be a card. I ended up making a wall hanging. I added Psalm 100 at the bottom. It is my challenge to myself this week to memorize it.

Hippo Birdie 2 Moo

I drew these party animals and put scanned them into my computer and printed them then colored them. Very quick birthday cards once all the drawing work was done. I made these for Mothermark's teaparty this week.

In His hands

I was listening to this song by JJ Heller yesterday. I love the lyrics that say... when my world is shaking, heaven stands. When my heart is breaking... I never leave your hands.
I decided to draw His hands holding a heart and made it into a stained glass design. I drew the hands and heart separately and added the cross and scanned it into my computer and used microsoft publisher to finish my stained glass design. When I printed it, I went over the lines with an embossing pen and added gold ep. I colored the images with watercolors. This card is also for the Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge to make a card with a house or bulding that showed planning in it's design. My card just is zooming in on a window!

Lilly's Card

I made this card for our Pastor's little girl, Lilly. I found out yesterday that she is having an episode of Bell's Palsy. That must be tough for a little 10 year old. When I gave her this card, she tried to smile, but her face wasn't cooperating. I could see it in her eyes though. She gently touched the roses and butterfly, and I could see she was enjoying it. This is also for the Stampin' Sisters In Christ Challenge to have a critter on our card. Of course I had to use my Layers of Color butterfly.

Let your light shine

The Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge, was by Grace. She challenged us to use music on our cards. This card was also inspired by the MotherMark Tuesday Teaparty Challenge to have a boat or lighthouse on the card. I was thinking about 2 different songs when I made this card. The first song was the hymn LET THE LOWER LIGHTS BE BURNING by Philip Bliss. It was written in 1874 after Philip heard Moody preach a sermon that talked about a ship that wrecked in the Cleveland harbor because the shore lights had gone out. That hymn and sermon remind us that even though God is the lighthouse, it is our job to be the shore lights and to let our light shine to lead others to Christ. Matthew 5:16 says "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." The second song I was thinking about is called Jesus is the lighthouse. "There is a LIGHTHOUSE on a hillside that overlooks life's sea. When I'm tossed He sends out a light. Light that I might see, and the light that shines in darkness now will safely lead me on. If it wasn't for the LIGHTHOUSE this ship would sail no more..."

For the background on this card I printed the hymn on white cardstock. I put ink on the inside of an acetate folder. I sprayed it with water and placed the cardstock with the hymn printed on it inside the folder. It gave the sky the stormy look. I used my heat gun to dry it. After it was dry I took black stazon and stamped my new lighthouse image.(I got 3 lighthouse stamps at a garage sale for $1 this last week. What a buy!) I colored it with prisma colored pencils. I also stamped the birds what were part of the light houses set too. I stamped the flourish from Layers of Color joyful noise set. I made it an easel card. I tied knots in twine to make the stoppers for the easel. I made figure 8 knots. The look of this card made me think of a Thomas Kinkaid painting.

How can I help you say goodbye

I made this for our (Youth Pastor-Worship Minister) Adam and his wife Jessie. They announced this last Sunday that they are moving. It is always hard to have people you love, leave. I am just thankful that I got this set from Layers of Color before they left. I have been on the worship team with Adam since he came. When I saw this set, I thought it would be perfect to make an appreciation card for all his hard work. I also made this for this week's teaparty and last weeks teaparty. The daisies are for last week. The disappearing part on this card, is our youth pastor leaving. It is also for the Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge to add faux stitching on our card. It is also using today's sketch challenge. The lyrics at the bottom of the easel card are from the Patty Loveless song." ...Time will ease your pain. Life's about changing, Nothing ever stays the same. How can I help you to say goodbye? It's OK to hurt and it's OK to cry. Come let me hold you and I will try. How can I help you to say goodbye. You will be missed!"

Dear God, I pray that you will bless Adam and Jessie and the girls. It is hard saying goodbye to them, but I know that you have a plan for their lives. I pray that you will always be first in their lives, and that you are able to use them in a mighty way to impact youth in other communities as much or more than they did here. In Jesus Name, AMEN

My cards this week

I have had a crazy busy week at work this week, so I'm just now being able to upload these cards to my blog.

This was my card that I made on Monday for the TLC for piercing. I pierced the lace panel.

This is for the MMTPT party at the Kentucky derby. I knew right away that I would make a card based on the Dan Fogelburg song "Run for the Roses"

Wednesday's sketch challenge. I drew my lilies of the valley image and turned it into a digital one. I made some more pierced lace.

Thursday WT challenge was to mix patterned paper. I mixed floral and fern paper. I also used the same sketch from Wednesday!

All these cards also were for the Stampin Sisters in Christ challenge to use flowers on our cards. That wasn't much of a challenge for me because most of my cards do have flowers. But I did enjoy thinking about how God makes each of the flowers in His garden. Each one is unique and each one is His special creation.