“She was beautiful,
but not like those girls in the magazines.
She was beautiful for the way she thought.
She was beautiful for the sparkle in her eyes
when she talked about something she loved.
She was beautiful for her ability to make other people smile
even if she was sad.
No, she wasn’t beautiful for something as temporary as her looks.
She was beautiful deep down to her soul.
She is beautiful.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Let’s teach this to our daughters
and granddaughters
and sisters
and friends.
I couldn’t wait to make a special card to celebrate these two cute lovebirds. They are a Perfect Pair.
My youngest son is a groomsman in the wedding, and we are looking forward to celebrating this special day. Nick and C.J. were “roomers” in college and have remained good friends.
Candace is a country girl at heart and their wedding has a rustic theme, so I loved using some leftover burlap ribbon and lace from Jake and Colleen’s (my oldest son and daughter-in-law’s) wedding two years ago for this special card.
I had recently seen Dawn at Petals. Paper. SimpleThymes make a twine wreath and loved the look. Thanks for the great idea to CAS Dawn! (You’ll be seeing another card next Sunday for The Paper Players Challenge #262 using this twine wreath too on a completely different card).
Well…. lucky lucky me – I won! Woohoo! Happy dance! 🙂
So I was excited to see what the next challenge is, and this card is an entry for the CYCI#63 challenge. It’s a sketch challenge, and here here is our sketch:
I tried to stay pretty true to the sketch. What do you think?
For this card, I used the following materials:
StampinUp’s Just Sayin’ Stamp Set “hey there” stamp
StampinUp’s Just Sayin’ Framelit Die Set bubble die
StampinUp’s Gorgeous Grunge Stamp Set “ink blot” stamp
Jillibean’s You’re Tweet Stamp Set “little bird” stamp & “happier than a french fry” sentiment stamp
StampinUp’s Pumpkin Pie Orange Marker (for birdie’s beak)
StampinUp’s Adventure Bound Designer Series Paper “brick wall” paper
StampinUp’s Very Vanilla and Black Card Stock
Inks: Stazon Black, SU White Craft Ink, Versa Mark, SU Tempting Turquoise
White Embossing Powder
Wink of Stella Clear Brush
Have a great day – in fact, I hope your day is Happier than a Bird with a French Fry!
By the way – have you ever seen a bird with a french fry?? I can say I have first hand! A couple of years ago, a friend took me to this very specific “special” french fry place on the boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland. We got a batch of fries and were walking along talking, when out of nowhere and in no time at all (I hadn’t even tasted one fry yet), a bird swooped in to grab a fry, startling me to the point of throwing the fries in the air. When they fell to the ground, about 50 hundred gabillion birds appeared, and the fries disappeared in about 1.5 seconds. And to top it off……… the stinkin’ bird POOPED on my shoulder in the process. So after that fiasco, I went to the ladies room to “wash” off my top, and back we headed to buy more fries. When we arrived at the shop, it had closed for the day…..
I never did get to try those fries. But the birds sure were happy! 🙂
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
PS Happy Birthday Aaron! With love from Aunt Jodi ❤
I’m going to a baby shower this weekend, so I had fun using the same technique I used for my Watercolor & Painted Petals Note Card to make this little bitty Rubber Ducky card.
I used the rubber ducky stamp from StampinUp’s Something for Baby stamp set and embellished with a white gel pen and pearl for the eye.
I can’t get enough of this fun technique and know I will be doing more of it.
And speaking of having fun and making cards, I had a few chicksover one night this week. We ate chicken fajitas and Cadbury mini egg blondies, washed it down with some wine and G&Ts, stamped, and made…
some CHICKS! (Easter Chicks that is!) So here we are… Chicks making Chicks! Thanks to Head ChickStacey for leading our “class.”
Isn’t that the truth? I daresay no family is perfect, but isn’t it wonderful when we are blessed with friends that are so special they are like family? Our “chosen” family.
I just got back from spending a wonderful week with one of my “friend families” and had to make a special card to thank them.
For this card, I used StampinUp’s Painted Petal stamp set. Instead of just stamping the flower onto the card stock, I wanted to give it more of a loose “watercolor” kind of look, so after inking up the stamp, I spritzed it lightly with water, then stamped the flower image. I like the effect. Then I just mixed a bit of water with some ink and flicked it on with a paint brush for the random speckles. I’m also loving the stitch embossed effect that the Lil Inker Designs rectangle framelits creates and achieved on this somewhat CAS (Clean and Simple) design. And dang it, I just couldn’t help myself and had to add a couple of tiny pearl embellishments. 🙂
Happy Friday to you and your families – the ones you were assigned by birth – and/or those you chose!
Decorations down…. thank you notes sent… the holidays are over.
Now it is another New Year. A time for renewal, hope, dreams, clean slates, reflections on the past, goals for the future.
For the first time, I “mass produced” a batch of cards. I had many thank yous I wanted to send in appreciation for wonderful friends and family – good times spent together, generous and meaningful gifts exchanged, love and appreciation expressed.
I designed a card I liked that I thought would be somewhat easy to duplicate 15 or 20 times. I’m happy with how they turned out, but the important part was the handwritten message inside – a message of appreciation and gratitude. I love sending thank you notes. They are probably my favorite…. Maybe because they are becoming such a lost art and etiquette. Mostly because it is an opportunity to let the recipient know how thankful I am to have them in my life.
Thank YOU my lifeinbetween.me blog friends! I am thankful to have you in my life.
I went a little nuts last night with glitter and napkins!
When I first started seeing these glitter napkin cards, I poo-poo’d them thinking cards made of napkins take no talent, no effort, no creativity……
Then I went to a class where we made one recently. I almost didn’t go, because I didn’t want to make cards from napkins – being a bit of a snob about it I must admit…..
Well – now I am eating my words, because I had so much fun making these cards! It’s okay if something is a little easier, a little less creative sometimes….
as long as you enjoy it… and I’m actually kind of excited with how these turned out! All made from paper napkins!
I am excited to share this simple, but beautiful technique, because I think many of you might enjoy trying this method to making homemade cards that doesn’t require a lot of equipment and materials. And if you like do a “production-line” style of getting a bunch of the same thing done at once, one pack a napkins can make a ton of beautiful cards. In fact, each individual napkin makes four cards!
Besides some card stock and some pretty napkins you can get at the dollar store or craft store or wherever you might find paper products, the only other things you need are a VersaMark stamp pad, some type of adhesive tape, Heat & Stick Powder, and glitter (I used Stampin Up’s “Dazzling Diamonds” Dahling) :).
There is a great video tutorial on Youtube done by a Stampin’ Up Demonstrator from Canada, Tina Weller that you may want to watch if you are interested in learning how to do this:
Tina talks about using a specific type of Stampin’ Up adhesive sheets, but I just used double faced tape and/or the glue tape runner you can find at any craft or drug or variety stores and completely covered some white card stock with it to adhere the napkin.
I made all of these cards last night, and I pretty much love all of them! 🙂
If you haven’t bought, made, sent your holiday greeting cards, you may just want to try this fun and easy technique.
And if you are interested in purchasing any Stampin’Up products, just let me know, and I can hook you up. 🙂
HELLLLOOOO Friday! Always happy to see you! And especially this Friday, because tomorrow is Girlfriend Camp (GFC) with a few of my favorite “girls” coming to the house. I guess thinking of GFC got me in a crafty mood (though I probably should have been cleaning or cooking for the girls this week!) I thought a sunny hello with a yellow and orange SU Blended Blossom and a denim bow was fun, and liked how this card turned out.
Since I was feeling “crafty” – I have a “Three-fer” this week on my usual Friday card posting.
This card was a fun new technique to try for my stamping and crafting friends. I first sponged some pink and blue and brown on whisper white card stock. Then I chose a fun chevron embossing folder, which I spritzed with water (on the side that does not have the print of the name on it), pressed my sponged paper in – ink against water – briefly – then dried to give this fun effect. I then layered it on with complimentary colored card stock, added my favorite “Hello” stamp from my StampinUp “Hi There” set by inking with Versamark and then embossing in gold. Finished it off with a bow of soft twine and a couple sparkly sequins.
This third one was totally just winged out of trying some new stamps. I got the Stampinup What’s Your Line and Just Sayin sets, so just started goofing around here. I stamped some of the random shapes in Crisp Cantaloupe, Pear Pizazz and Crumb Cake inks (are you hungry now?) on SU Watercolor paper (I have to say – I was trying to just use some cheaper stuff I had and can’t believe the difference in quality!). I then spritzed it all with water and put some coarse sea salt on top while it dried. I then embossed the Hey There in Gold on translucent parchment and again embellished with some soft twine – the thinner this time and gold sequins with a dab of crystal effects. Layered it up and even put a strip of the water color paper on the inside. I kind like it. It is a softer style.
Just for fun – which one do you like best? No right answer – just curious…
Woohoo! Not only is it Friday, but it’s a holiday – Independence Day! An extra day off work and a day to celebrate.
I was inspired to make a red, white, and blue celebration card and already gave it to someone special.
I’m having fun with a more abstract look in my card making lately using watercolor paper and spritzing and splotching. I’m loving white embossed on vellum too – and touches of gold string. And lately, most every card uses the “Gorgeous Grunge” stamp in one way or another.
Hope you and yours enjoy the long holiday weekend…
It’s so sad that they are only around for about two weeks of the whole entire year, but boy they sure do make their statement when they are here.
Though they are done for the year, I was inspired by a great stamper (and friend) who made a beautiful card recently using the SU Pleasant Poppies stamp – Cindy Brumbaugh at CindyLeeBeeDesigns.
For this card, I also used a fun watercolor and sea salt technique I learned from Patty Bennett (and her dad 🙂 ).
I finished it with one of my favorite new sentiment stamp sets – SU Hi There – for a cheery Hello.
Hello Friday!
Glad you are here, because you are bringing with you some of our favorite peeps to spend some time with us.
Your room is ready, Joyce and Rob.
See you soon Gary and Cindy and Jack and Kathleen!
the creative life in between 