Spring Thank You

I was asked to make a thank you card for our guest speaker for the Mother Daughter tea we have coming up next weekend. I find that I struggle to make cards for people I don't know. Add that to the fact my mo-jo has been seriously missing lately, I was just happy that this card is decent!



I didn't distress or ink any of the edges because I was going for a simple clean look. I did pierce the corners to give it just a little something. Looking at it now I think perhaps I should have inked them at least, but the card is still cute.

For the center strip I used white embossing ink to stamp flowers onto the green cardstock then added bridal embossing powder. I stamped my Thank You sentiment on vellum to layer on top of it. I layered a Spare Parts flower on top of a bazzil flower, add a little clear gem, and viola! A springy thank you card!

Cupcake

It looks like I'm back to averaging a post a week. What can I say... life tends to get hectic! Things may pick up here though, as I have quite a "to-do" list in card creating. Today I'll share one I've worked on in my spare moments over the weekend.



I used Sketch #48 from the Sketch Saturday Blog to get me started. (I really do love that sketch!) The card isn't my usual colors, but I saw the Basic Grey paper at Hobby Lobby and new it was perfect for a birthday type card. I've been playing around with Bic Mark-It markers that I had found at Sam's club. They are seriously lacking some softer colors, but I'm still learning to work with them. I can't afford Copics (over $6 a marker!) so I make do with what I have!

Chocolate Butterflies

I have had a major creativity block for the last... oh... let's say MONTH! Life has been a bit stressful with the arrival of surprise orders for my husband, sudden need to sell our house and the list goes on and on. Yesterday was a cloudy, near gloomy day, but I thought it was the perfect soft lighting for a photo shoot. I took my daughter down to the river by our house and had fun photographing her. I just have to say that I absolutely LOVE my digital camera. I sit there and click away, knowing that if I take twenty pictures and get one perfect shot, it's all worth it!

So today, after coming home from church I announced that I was going to go play, and wouldn't you know it, a layout came to be...


Unfortunately my lightbox is disassembled at the moment, I was unable to properly capture the "yummy"ness of this layout. It's so rich, delicate and sparkly! It's pretty in real life. This type of layout is not my usual, I used a sketch from Creative Scrappers to get started. But I'm pleased with how it turned out. I think my daughter will like it to. :)

Kids at Play... and a personal note

I suppose the personal note will come first. For those that don't know, my husband is in the US Army. Last week we got notice that our expected tour of 5 years has gotten cut 2 years short. My husband has to report to his new duty station July 10th. So I have been rather busy with trying to get our five bedroom house ready to be shown to perspective buyers. Unfortunately it is taking up near all my time. I have been working on a few charms and things in the rare spare moments I get, but I don't have anything to show as of yet. So, if this blog is slow, you know why. There's quite a few challenges out there I want to do, but unfortunately other responsibilities come first. Not to mention my in-laws are visiting next week!

Anyhow... I made this 12x12 spread a couple months ago. I created it to submit to a popular magazine. Since I have not heard from them, I figure I might as well share it here. I really do love this layout, and I spent a LOT of time on it!



I love the bright primary colors on this layout that I drew out from the background of the pictures. We had gone to the Burger King on base one very cold February Day. I got in with the kids and did my best to catch the life and energy that our children seem to have an abundance of. I chose to lay the pictures on slight angles to give the feel of movement. The sprinkling of brads and curly q's help to keep the "fun" in the layout.