FRIDAY FREEBIE - Sympathy Card

I wish the need for Sympathy cards were not a part of life... but then there would be no life to celebrate.

The mother of one of the ladies in a writing group I belong to passed away a couple of weeks ago. The card I sent was inspired by a card designed by Lisa Ku on SCS. I loved the soft green tone she used. Very serene. This is what my card came together as:

Sorry. I just realized I hadn't cropped this picture. Also apologize for the bit of glare. I took these late at night so I could get them scheduled. I'm as tired of not having anything on the blog as you are of not seeing something new :-D

I used Whisper White and Mint Macaron from SU. The ribbon is from my stash (non-SU) 

I used Thoughts and Prayers from SU. I did a ghost stamp of the image first, then re-inked and stamped directly to the card in a slightly different spot for the layered effect. 

For the 3 accent flowers, I punched those out of Mint Macaron using the tree builder punch then brushed the flowers with stickles and let them dry. Took a matter of seconds. After I adhered them to the card with glue dots, I added the medium SU pearls. 

I used a sentiment from Love & Sympathy on the inside. 

What is your go-to stamp set or color choice when you need to send condolences? I'd love to know.

Creative Blessings!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I hope everyone has a Blessed day. I'll have contractors here for dinner. They are also good friends and I am blessed to have them. 

MIXED MEDIA MONDAY - Fabric Fun!

I saw this fabric at my local store, The Hideaway Quilt Shop, and knew I had to bring some of it home. At the time I didn't have a clue what I'd use the fabric for but I wanted some anyway. 

Then yesterday, when I remembered I needed to get a photo up on the blog I had a thought. These will be perfect as a tactical element on the alphabet pages in the Junk Journal I still intend to do. You can see the explanation of that project HERE  Since the signatures are already in place in the book, I can't stitch to the page but I'm thinking of cutting the tiles out, stitching around them then adhering to the page so they'll have that 'stitched in place' element. 

I thought it funny that after I snapped the picture, I noticed the word EAT stands out. Hmmm.. Does this fabric company have our number or what? LOL

Jean  always gets the neatest fabrics in and I have to contain myself every time I walk in her store. Trust me, as much as I love fabric and that is not an easy task. When we lived in Peoria I could wander JoAnn Fabrics for hours just fingering all of the different fabrics. I've even incorporated fabric into the book due to my editor in just a couple of weeks. My heroine is a fashion designer and she explains why she loves fabric.  

I'm busy with contractors this week but will try to post at least one more time. Yes, I have contractors coming on a holiday weekend. If you'd like to know that story, hop on over to my Journey blog... 

Creative Blessings!

Kelly

FRIDAY FREEBIE - Sympathy Card

I had cause to make not one but two sympathy cards last week. A lady who was my very first daycare child in IL - her grandfather passed away. I'd met him a few times. Very nice man. And his personality flowed down through his family.  I knew I wanted their card to be extra special. I found THIS one on Pinterest. The card can also be found on Stef Perry's blog - Perry Papercrafts

Here's my card:

I chose SU Crumb Cake as my base and added Very Vanilla and Night of Navy. The stamps were from SU sets - Thoughts and Prayers, Love and Sympathy.

The paper is from an old SU mini slab - Print Poetry. Though you can't see it well in the photo I embossed the front of the base with the wood grain EB folder from Paper Studios. The ribbon is from SU Very Vanilla Stitched Satin. I also used the new Stitched Framelits die - Ovals from SU.  I love the softness the Very Vanilla provided.

I'll have the other sympathy card for you next Friday.
Creative Blessings!

MIXED MEDIA MONDAY - Weekly Planner Makeover

I'm back!

This month has been absolutely crazy! Part of the reason is the inspiration for this project. I believe I told you in one of my last posts that I had been given a regular column in a cowboy/ western theme'd magazine called Saddlebag Dispatches. This past weekend I was added to the masthead as Director of Marketing. To help keep track of people I contact and when, I wanted a planner just for Saddlebag stuff... not my main day planner I'll be showing you soon.

I started with this inexpensive weekly planner from Dollar Tree. Normally, I am not a 'weekly' planner person but just for keeping track of who I contact and when.

A couple of weeks ago when Bob and I were in Springfield, I found this Cowgirl slab from Paper House at Hobby Lobby:

You get a sense of the patterns from looking on the cover strip. Lots of yummies plus a couple of cut aparts with sayings on them. I may use some of those on the inside to pretty the pages up but for now I was focusing on creating the cover. I chose these two:

Since this is a 6x6 pad and the planner is 7.25 x 5, I needed to do some piecing for things to fit. I cut the piece on the right in half horizontally, using just the Born & Raised Country.

Then I added pieces from these sheets:

From left to right... the back cover, front cover (both of the remaining two)  

I cut just the swirls from the one on the right to act as accents on the cover. This is what the finished project looks like.

The rose-colored heart paper was cut from an 8.5x11 sheet I've had for ages. The embellishments are from Karen Foster. If you look in the bottom left of the screen you'll see a spot.. That is actually one of these:

I used the brown cowboy hat with the pink band (top center) and cut out a shape to match from a brown scrap from the back cover. I sandwiched lengths of brown and white embroidery floss left over from SU Paper Pumpkin kits between the hat and the matching shape to create a bookmark. I glued the tail onto the spine of the planner before adding the heart paper binding. 

I am not playing a lot until this manuscript is off to my editor.. the same editor who gave me this new job. LOL  Casey and I think alike and have the same work ethic.. nuts LOL

I did get a couple of cards made over the weekend that I'll be showing in future posts. For now, I have a manuscript to edit.

When you leave a comment, tell me what you're working on. I'd love to live vicariously through the rest of you. 

Creative Blessings!

MIXED MEDIA MONDAY - Conference Gifts

Last week I told you about attending the writing conference in Eureka Springs AR. The Ozark Creative Writer's conference is a multi-genre conference and more like a family reunion for me than business. I get to see friends I only get to physically visit with on this particular weekend every year - Always the 2nd weekend in October.

Each year, anywhere from two - four of us share a room. I always put little gifts on the beds for my roomies the day we arrive. Here's what I put in this year:

I was inspired by the treat tubes from the Stampin' Up September Paper Pumpkin kit. I included a single serve instant coffee in each tube. (the second one over is hot cocoa for the non-coffee drinker)

I put a tube in each coffee mug, along with an ink pen, a Linder Truffle, Coffee cup shaped Paper Clip from The Paper Studios and a flash drive. The coffee mugs were from Dollar Tree.

The candles were special this year because of the 50th anniversary of the conference. Each 1/2 pint mason jar holds a led tea light candle. I printed out a verse on Velum:

It' a beautiful thing when a career and a passion come together

Then OCW 2016 to mark the occasion.

I wrapped the neck of each in a strip of burlap ribbon and orange ribbon. The wooden leaf shapes are left over from the August Paper Pumpkin.

Little gifts do n ot take much but can bring a huge smile or warm fuzzy to someone. One of the gals who received a candle jar is my very best friend of all the board members at OCW. Chrissy's husband, Mike, has terminal bone cancer. They say he is on his last round of the meds they can give him... possibly no more than 6 months left. We all hope and pray Mike is with us longer but each day is a whisper to Chrissy of what is to come. She sent me a message after she got home and unpacked, thanking me again for the candle and how much she is blessed.

How can you bless someone with your creativity? I hope you'll create, post and share what you've made. Inspire us all!

Creative Blessings!

Kel