So Jolly

Hello, everyone!  I wanted to pop in with a quick update about my husband's health.  He was misdiagnosed in the local hospital's emergency room in August, and was sent home with some anti-seizure pills and a referral to a neurologist.  At that time, he didn't even know his own name, and he did not have a seizure.  Fortunately, as soon as the neurologist saw him on September 11, he was immediately admitted to the hospital (a different hospital, thankfully).  My husband had a stroke caused by a blood clot, and it has affected his thinking and speech. 

Two days ago, he was transferred from the hospital to the rehabilitation center.  He is where he needs to be, and I hope he can recover fully and come home soon.  In the meantime, I have been making the 4-hour roundtrip by bus every other day.  I've taken a few days off as I'm physically and emotionally exhausted.  I'm hoping to make the trip again tomorrow or Saturday, depending on his rehabilitation schedule. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for his recovery - your prayers are appreciated.

I will not be blogging for a while, but I am committed to Rudolph Day and do not want to miss it. I've cobbled together this quick card by recycling an old holiday card and using some stickers for the sentiment and bird. The snowflake-embossed background (Die'sire Embossalicious Let it Snow) and silver snowflake (Lawn Fawn Stitched Snowflakes) were already made and waiting to be used. 

So sorry I cannot do any blog visiting at this time but I will catch up with everyone later, whenever I am able to have some time for myself. 

I would like to support the following challenges:

1. ABC Christmas S is for Snow UE
2. Cardz TV 66 AG 1/3
3. Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas AG Optional Patterned Paper UE 
4. DL.ART September Linky UE 1/d
5. Happy Little Stampers September AG with Dies UE
6. Hiding in my Craftroom Any Holiday 1/3
7. Lil Patch of Crafty Friends AG 1/3
8. Rudolph Day September 1E C10
9. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday AG 1/5
10. Word Art Wednesday AG w Uplifting Sentiment Wk1 1/5

Thank you for looking at my card! Wishing you a joyful day!

Guest Designer at Cropstop

Hello, everyone!  This is a scheduled post.  As I mentioned in my previous blog post, my husband is going through a health crisis so I have not had time to be online.  Thank you to everyone who has been praying for his recovery - your prayers are appreciated.

I'm happy to be sharing a card today as a Guest Designer for Cropstop!  Thank you to Esther for inviting me!  Each month there is a Cropstop Link Party with a wonderful prize from Cropstop - I hope you'll check it out and join in the fun!  For my project, I decided to make a quick and easy anniversary card featuring butterflies.

Products used:

• Dies:  Memory Box Oriel Butterfly, Memory Box Lunette Butterfly, Poppystamps Butterfly Buttons
• Embossing folder:  Cuttlebug Floral Screen
• Clear stamp:  Sentiment (Hero Arts Everyday Sayings)
• Ink:  Lawn Fawn Peacock
• Patterned paper:  Echo Park Dots and Stripes
• Cardstock:  Recollections
• Equipment:  Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug Spacer A, Cutting Pad B, Replacement Adapter C, Fiskars Personal Trimmer and Replacement Blades, EK Success Craft Tweezers
• Adhesive:  Scotch Advanced Tape Glider and Refills, Ranger Multi-Medium Matte
• Other:  Sequins from my stash

This quick and easy card worked out well for me considering my husband's health, which has left me with little time for crafting at the moment.  I started by die-cutting the Oriel Butterfly from patterned paper, the Lunette Butterfly from white cardstock, and then the Butterfly Buttons from teal cardstock.  I adhered the butterflies together, Lunette onto Oriel and Button onto Lunette.  I embossed a white cardstock panel and stamped the sentiment (I recommend stamping the sentiment before embossing, but I had no problem stamping on the embossed cardstock).  I layered the embossed panel onto teal cardstock and then onto patterned paper.  I finished off the cardfront by adhering the layered butterflies and embellishing with a number of sequins.  Lastly, the cardfront was adhered to a top-folding white A2 card base.

Thank you to Esther at Cropstop for having me as your Guest Designer!  It was fun to spend some time in my craftroom!

I would like to support the following challenges: Butterfly Challenge Spin the Butterfly Wheel with the Letter E (I went with E for Embossing Folder) 1/3; Cardz TV AG 1/3; Crafts Galore Encore September AG 1/3; Crafty Catz AG Optional Butterfly 1/3; Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper September UE; Creatalicious AG Optional Pastel Colours UE; Creative Inspirations AG 1/3; Cute Card Thursday AG UE; DL.ART September Linky UE 1/d; If You Give a Crafter a Cookie 4th Anniversary AG 1/5; Jo's Scrap Shack AG 1/3; Lil Patch of Crafty Friends AG 1/3; Pammie's Inky Pinkies AG 1/3; Penny's Paper-crafty AG 1/3; Poppystamps PSC48 AG 1/3; Simon Says Stamp Monday Stamp it On (the sentiment is stamped) 1/5; The House That Stamps Built Repeat Impressions DCC95 ~ Anniversary; The Outlawz Festive Friday FF090718 Anniversary 1/3; Through the Craftroom Door AG 1/2; Word Art Wednesday AG w Uplifting Sentiment wk2 1/5

Thank you for looking at my card! Wishing you a joyful day!

Holiday Deer

Hello, everyone!  I don't normally share personal information on my blog, but I wanted to let you know that my husband is having a health crisis and I won't be blogging much for the next little while.  Sorry I cannot visit your blogs at this time, but I will do so when I am able to blog regularly again.  I hope that will be soon!  In the meantime, I am sharing a holiday card; I didn't want to miss out on Rudolph Day!

I made this inky background a couple weeks ago. It was created with Distress Oxides on photo paper. I layered each colour using the watercolour ink-smooshing technique and dried in between each colour. It's best to work from lightest colour to darkest. When finished, it had a dull appearance but when wiped with a baby wipe, it became vibrant and all the layers of colour were visible.

Dies:  Memory Box Curved Happy Holidays, Memory Box Leeping Deer, Memory Box Twightlight Snowflakes (silver snowflake), offcuts from Memory Box Snowy Scene (white snowflakes)
Ink:  Distress Oxides (Tumbled Glass, Shaded Lilac, Iced Spruce, Blueprint Sketch, more or less, I made the background a couple weeks ago)

I would like to support the following challenges:

1. Cardz TV 62 AG 3/3
2. Crafty Gals Corner AG 1/2
3. Die-Cut Diva's Silhouettes 1/4
4. Happy Little Stampers August AG with Dies UE
5. Mod Squad AG 1/3
6. Outside the Box Memory Box Challenge 40 Keep Cool and Carry On 1E
7. Pammie's Inky Pinkies AG 1/3
8. Rudolph Day August 1E C10
9. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday AG 1/5
10. Word Art Wednesday AG w Uplifting Sentiment wk1 1/5

Thank you for looking at my card!  Wishing you a joyful day!

Pawesome Kitty

Hello, everyone!  Today I'm sharing a kitty card inspired by rainbow colours - I went with a pastel version!

Clear stamps:  MFT Stamps - Purrfect Friends (cat), MFT Stamps - Catitude (sentiment)
Colouring medium:  Markers
Die: MFT Die-namics Bold Stripes Cover-up
Other:  Sequins and butterfly sequin (stash)

I would like to support these fun challenges: 2 Crafty Critter Crazies AG with Animals 3/5; Cardz TV 62 AG 2/3; Craft Stamper Take it Make It August 2/3; Cute N Crafty Animals 2/5; Dare 2B Artzy AG 2/3; DL.ART August AG Linky 1/d; Happy Little Stampers August AG with Dies UE; Jo's Scrap Shack AG 1/3; Lil Patch of Crafty Friends AG 2/3; MFT Stamps Summer School Rainbow; Mod Squad Butterflies or Rainbow (both) 1/3; Pammie's Inky Pinkies AG 2/3; Penny's Paper-crafty AG 2/3; Show Us Your Pussycats Furrything Goes Cats UE; Stamped Blessings heARTful Stamping AG plus Stamp 1/2; STAMPlorations Summer Theme and Sketch Stamps and AG UE; The Artistic Stamper AG 2/3; The House That Stamps Built Repeat Impressions Anything Goes Challenge ~ A2218; The Outlawz Twisted Thursday AG Optional Twist Primary Colours 1E; Word Art Wednesday AG w Uplifting Sentiment wk2 2/5

Thank you for looking at my card! Wishing you a joyful day!

Coffee-themed Gift Envelope

Hi, everyone!  Today I'm sharing something different!  It's a gift envelope that I made to enclose some happy mail for a crafty friend! (If I can fnd the YouTube tutorial I followed, I will link it.)

Digital images (precoloured): Owl, sentiment (Beccy's Place You're a Hoot), coffee cup, sentiment (Beccy's Place First Day Jitters)

Die:  Cheery Lynn Ivy Strip, double-stitched circle

Patterned paper:  Carson Dellosa

Other:  Doily (gift from Gail S, thank you!), washi tape, flowers (from my stash)

Here's a photo of the back of the envelope.  The flap is kept closed with a velcro semicircle.

Die:  Cheery Lynn Ivy Strip

Clear stamp:  Personalized stamp (Joy Clair custom stamp)

I would like to support these fun challenges: 2 Crafty Critter Crazies AG with Animals 2/5; Beccy's Place August Optional Embellishments UE; Cardz TV 62 AG 1/3; Crafty Creations AG 1/2; Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper August UE; Creatalicious AG Optional No Square or Rectangle Card UE; Cute N Crafty Animals 1/5; DL.ART August AG Linky 1/d; Hiding in My Craftrooom Use Die Cuts 1/3; Lil Patch of Crafty Friends AG 1/3; Pammie's Inky Pinkies AG 1/3; Penny's Paper-crafty AG 1/3; Pile It On New Technique (gift envelope) UE; PINspirational Inspired by the coffee inspiration graphic 1/5; Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Food and/or Drink 1/5; Word Art Wednesday AG w Uplifting Sentiment wk2 1/5

Note to my followers:  I've fallen behind in my blog visiting but I'll be around to see you soon!

Thank you for looking at my gift envelope! Wishing you a joyful day!

Magnetic Bookmark 3

Hello, everybody!  I'm back again today with my third bookmark!  You can see the other two here and here.   There are two tiny magnets to hold the bookmark in place so you will not lose your page.  This is a great back-to-school project so I used a motivational statement suitable for older kids and teens, but it would be good for anyone working toward a goal.  I got the idea to make magnetic bookmarks after watching this video here.

Instead of using patterned paper scraps as in the video, I created a cool background with Distress Oxides on scraps of Photo Paper.  I layered each colour using the watercolour ink-smooshing technique and dried in between each colour.  It's best to work from lightest colour to darkest.  When finished, it had a dull appearance but when wiped with a baby wipe, it became vibrant like you see here.  I was inspired to try this technique after watching this video here.

Stamp:  STAMPlorations A Little Progress - Typografia Motivate
Die:  Gina Marie Stitched Rectangle
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Distress Oxides (Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Mermaid Lagoon, Salty Ocean, Iced Spruce, Picked Raspberry, more or less, I was playing)
Other:  Neodymium Disc Magnets 5mm x 1mm (ebay), photo paper scraps

This photo shows how the bookmark looks when open and where the tiny magnets have been affixed behind the inky panels (approximately):

Here's how it looks in a book, held securely in place:

I would like to support these fun challenges: Cardz TV 60 AG 3/3; Craft Stamper Take it Make It August 1/3; Crafty Friends AG 3/3; Creatalicious AG Optional No Square or Rectangle Card UE; Creative Craft Cottage No Patterned Paper 3/3; Creative Fingers AG 2/3; Crop Stop Link Party 42 (Distress Oxides can be purchased at Crop Stop here) 5/5; Cupcake Inspirations Back to School 3/3; Dare 2B Artzy AG 1/3; DL.ART August AG Linky 1/d; Jo's Scrap Shack AG 3/3; Mod Squad Back to School 1/3; Pammie's Inky Pinkies AG 3/3; Penny Black and More Something Beginning with B (bookmark) 1/3; Penny's Paper-crafty AG 1/3; Pile It On New Technique (Distress Oxides on photo paper) UE; Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Back to School 1/5; Simply Create Too Make a Bookmark; STAMPlorations Summer CUTplorations UE; STAMPlorations Summer Theme and Sketch - Stamps and AG UE; STAMPlorations Never-ending Anything Goes Challenge; The Artistic Stamper AG 1/3; Through the Craft Room Door AG 2/2; Word Art Wednesday AG w Uplifting Sentiment wk1 1/5

Thank you for looking at my bookmark! Wishing you a joyful day!

Magnetic Bookmark 2

Hi, everybody!  I'm back again today with another bookmark!  I made three of them - you can see my first one here, and stay tuned for one more.

There are two tiny magnets to hold the bookmark in place so you will not lose your page. This is a great back-to-school project so I used a motivational statement suitable for older kids and teens, but it would be good for anyone working toward a goal.  I got the idea to make magnetic bookmarks after watching this video here.

Instead of using patterned paper scraps as in the video, I created a cool background with Distress Oxides on scraps of Photo Paper.  I layered each colour using the watercolour ink-smooshing technique and dried in between each colour.  It's best to work from lightest colour to darkest.  When finished, it had a dull appearance but when wiped with a baby wipe, it became vibrant like you see here.  I was inspired to try this technique after watching this video here.

Stamp:  STAMPlorations What You Get - Typografia Motivate
Die:  Double-stitched Rectangle
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Distress Oxides (Squeezed Lemonade, Picked Raspberry, Worn Lipstick, Abandoned Coral, Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, Broken China, Twisted Citron, more or less, I was playing)
Other:  Neodymium Disc Magnets 5mm x 1mm (ebay), photo paper scraps

This photo shows how the bookmark looks when open and where the tiny magnets have been affixed behind the inky panels (approximately):

Here's how it looks in a book, held securely in place:

I would like to support these fun challenges: Crafter's Castle AG Optional Elegant or Shabby Chic 1/3 C10; Cupcake Inspirations Back to School 2/3; Pile It On New Technique (bookmark with magnets) UE; Southern Girls Stamping 1E C10; STAMPlorations Summer CUTplorations UE; STAMPlorations Summer Theme and Sketch - Stamps and AG UE; STAMPlorations Never-ending Anything Goes Challenge

Thank you for looking at my bookmark! Wishing you a joyful day!