Deer in the Woods

Hi everyone... I was surprised that over a week has already gone by since I wrote my last post. My, where does the time go??

I struggle with neck/back pain and when it gets the best of me, I get headaches. Then after a visit to the Chiropractor, I am good to go for awhile. I am still having pain in my shoulder but I am starting to think I may be getting arthritis - do you think that is a sign of getting older.... nay!! Not Me......

I have made some cards and wanted to share with you one that I made with a masculine theme. The image is from Our Daily Bread and colored it with chalks so I could create a soft look... hard to see that in the photo. I used a corner punch and punched a small scallop circle and cut them to fit over the corners. I also used some Spellbinders dies to create a layered design. Of course I love to use pearls and ribbon.



I made a mistake when I was touching up the photo and it ended up too small. Unfortuneatly, I cannot fix it but at least you can still see it.... LOL

Wishing you all the best

Karen

Twinkle Toes

Happy Tuesday to everyone.

I have been working on this card for a couple days... just struggled with what papers to use, etc but I think it turned out pretty well. I had fun following the Friday Sketchers 146 challenge, what a wonderful sketch. I loved all of the DT's inspiration. I am also entering this card on A Spoonful of Sugar challenge 144 where we needed to use ribbon, pearls/rhinestones and flowers.

I used Radiant Pearls on the butterflies and larger green accent which adds a nice shimmer. I added glitter glue on the edges of the butterflies, small flowers and around the sentiment to add some shinny accents.
I know that most everyone uses Copic markers but due the higher prices, I chose to use Prismacolor markers. The advantage of Copic's is that they have more colors to pick from.

The recipe for this card:
CS - Stampin Up
Paper - floral (unknown), all others DCWV
Flowers - Lg (Prima), sm (unknown)
Punch - Butterfly (Martha Stewart), Scallop circle (Stampin Up)
Image - Pink Toes (Penny Black)
Sentiment - made on my computer
Others: pearls, ribbon, glitter glue, Radiant Pearls & Prismacolor markers

I still have not perfected being able to take a good picture of my cards. Any hints you can share would be helpful.

I would love to hear from you so please send me a comment.

Have a great day
Blessings
Karen

Gecko Magic

I bet many of you are glad that it is Friday... for me, being retired, one day seems to run into the next and at times I seem to forget just what day it is... hmmm, it could be my age too.

I went to use the printer and I ran out of ink - YIKES!!! I am amazed at how depenent we are on our computer, printer, camera, etc. So off I went to go buy a replacement at Best Buy and right next door is Michaels... well I just could not pass up the chance to go take a looksy at what they had. I can ALWAYS find something to buy... this time, I picked up a butterfly Martha Stewart punch (used my 40% coupon) and then some accent pearls and small paper flower roses.

Today, I have a card I made for the Stamptacular Sunday challenge 102. I had to do some thinking on what  image I wanted to use to make this card and found a stamp that I have not used in a long time.

Recipe for this card:
CS & Papers - Stampin Up
Image - Stamp a Mania
Sentiment - verse I created on my computer
Punch - Martha Stewart & Fiskars
Decorative Scissors - pinking
Lg Flower - Prina
Sm Flowers - unknown
Pearls, silk flowers

Hope you like this one. Please drop a comment, I would love to hear from you.

Blessings
Karen

Sunshine & Laughter

Hope this finds you all well and happy. Today was a low key day and I just puttered around the house.

Also, today is my grandson's 6th birthday, they live in Hawaii so we were not able to join in on the festivities but we were able to have a web cam visit this past weekend and watch him open his present from us... oh what fun. I thank the good Lord for web cams, we are able to keep in touch and the grandkids get to know us too.

Meanwhile, I did finish this card for this weeks Mojo Monday challenge 182. I love what the DT members did, they are all so very talented.

This was a great layout and I had fun doing this project.

The recipe is super simple.

CS - Stampin Up

Paper - DCWV

Sentiment - DOTS (DOTS was the name before Close to My Heart)

I finally was able to get my photo s/w program working... yea!! So now I have a watermark on my card.

Until next time,
Blessings
Karen

Birthday Wishes

Hope everyone is having a great day... hard to believe it is already half way through the week.

The irrigation company came by today to get our irrigation going again for the year... oh my, luckily we can turn it off for now, for we have been getting so much rain and it is extremely soggy out there. Oh where is the sun????

Today I wanted to share with you a card I made that I will submit for two different challenges. One is for Sketch 'n Stash 57 and the other one is for Simon Says (anything birthday).

The recipe for this card is pretty simple...

Paper - DCWV

Image - Darcies (this is an older stamp)

Sentiment - created this on my computer

Brads - Bazzil Basic Paper (I bought these from Queen & Co. a long time ago)

Decorative scissors

Until I can fix my photo s/w so I can add a watermark, please follow my copyright rules... many thanks

My sister and I share a Cuttlebug with all of it's accessories, including Spellbinder nesties. They are too expensive for each of us to own one so while she is using them, I have fun challenging myself to use some of my older tools, like Fiskar scrapbooking templates (circles, ovals, etc) and decorative scissors for a finished look. 

Hope you like it and I would love for you to leave a comment.

Blessings

Karen

Pirate Party

Morning everyone... yesterday we had a reprieve in our rain but today it is suppose to hit us hard again. Well that just gives me more time to play, 'right'??

Today I thought that I would share with you a card I made for my grandson's birthday... he LOVES pirates and I could not pass up this adorable digital stamp I found at Bugaboo.

It was a lot of fun to make and I noticed that it fit into the new challenge over at Papertake Weekly where you had to have something in '3's' called Trio Tastic... make sure that you look at the DT cards, they are works of art.

I wanted to add a watermark on my picture but my photo software is not working right now so I will have to see how to fix that, meantime... please follow my copyright rules listed on the sidebar... many thanks.

I look forward to any comments that you would like to share.
Also since I am new to blogging... I would love for you to let others know I exit out here in cyperland. :-)))

Until next time,
Blessings
Karen

Blessings Through the Rain

Hello everyone.... today is a very rainy and blustery day outside, oh so gloomy and I cannot wait until our sunny spring days return.

I decided it was time to start my own blog so I can share with you about my adventures in life and I thought I would start out with sharing with you a little about myself.  I am new to blogging and so I will be learning as I go along.

I have a special love for crafts and so you will see many of them here. I also love to garden, read, spend time with family and friends, take nature walks and most important is my close walk with the Lord.

God has blessed me with a wonderful husband of 36 years and counting, who is a very compasionate soul which is a good thing since he has to put up with me. 

I have two wonderful children who are now all grown up with families of their own, including a total of 5 grandchildren ranging from ages 3 months to 6 years. My goodness, time is going by so quickly.

We have two cats that bring a lot of enjoyment to our lives and each with their own unique personalities - more on that later.

I am a Christian and the Lord has blessed me more times than I can count and I pray for His guidance every day. One of many verses come to mind... this one is from Proverbs 16:9 "The mind of the man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." I tend to be impatient and am always in a rush to make decisions before seeking God's wisdom and in turn pay the price by not having things turn out well. I need to learn to be patient and to first ask God for His guidance. I know that is easier said than done but the rewards are well worth it. I pray that you too will seek Gods guidance before making your own decisions in life.

Did I tell you that I am retired.... well that provides me with a lot of free time and I look forward to sharing with you what I craft, explore, learn or just what tickles my fancy.

Until next time.

Blessings

Karen