Gatefold Valentine

Yeah, yeah, I know that Valentine's Day was eight days ago, but love is never out of season, now isit? I can't believe this month is almost over!

I want to be sure and share this cute hybrid card I prepared for Digital Delights by Louby Lou -- one of my favorite places to find digital stamps. Uh, and "yes" she did get this card before Valentien's day!

For my complete tutorial, just drop by the Digitial Delights website for a peek. I particularly enjoyed playing with my Copic markers and my SparkleNSprinkle glitters. I especially enjoyed Polly Pippin in Love, the little mouse we find inside the heart. The black dotted paper is from Close To My Heart's Sweetheart Collection (visit my website to see these enchanting papers) too see how easy it is to have the product sent right to your home.

So, what have we learned? The heart holiday may be over for another year, but love lasts forever!

Triple the Scraps, Neighbor

I look forward to our scripture challenges and usually work on them Sunday evenings. It's way too fun.

Our sixth scripture challenge focused on the concept of neighbor. I am continuing to use Close To My Heart products to create my 6”x 6” pages which, by the way, I display from a Seven Gypsies free-standing photo holder. It looks quite stunning. I chose the Parable of the Good Samaritan as my backdrop and focused on Luke 10:36-37 to define the moment.. In light of our own lingering winter and wet spring, I thought that a nautical theme would be appropriate so I used a page from our Majestic Blue Level 2 Paper Pack (X7081C) for our flood or raging waters and a sheet from our Everyday Celebration card making kit for the sky. I used Crème Brulee cardstock to stamp the birds and mounted the project on a 6” x 6” piece of Colonial White cardstock. I used our Springtime (D1415) stamp set for my birds and my umbrella boat. Our added a few details to our needy neighbor to create a sense of distress. As you can see, four of the little birds were piled in one umbrella boat hoping to get to safety while one little brave Samaritan was returning to help his neighbor. I quickly discovered that Crème Brulee was not the best color choice, so I used two Copic markers to adjust my hue: Y38 Honey and Y08 Acid Yellow. I used the CTMH Around the Block (D1377) to form my journaling clouds. I used Outdoor Denim (Z2140) to stamp my clouds and for chalking the edges. I also used pop dots to bring additional dimension to the umbrellas and glue dots for a slightly lesser 3-D effect.

DelCastle Craft Show, Deck the Halls Card

I stumbled across this Fluffles Garland wood-block stamp by Stampendous last year and fell in love with it. Unfortunately, I never had much time to do anything with it, are started designing cards to take to the Delcastle Holiday Craft Show at DelCastle High School next Saturday. I used Close To My Heart Tulip, Chocolate and New England Ivy markers to adhere colors right onto the stamp. After a moistening "huff" I stamped the design onto Areopostale Parchment cardstock (I'm using Up my stash), backed it with brown 8.5"x11" brown cardstock from my stash, and added a sentiment from an old cardmaking set. I colored my little cat and the bulbs with copic makers and blinged it up a bit with Stickles. I also added some pop to the branches with a silver glitter pen.

Stop by our booth at DelCastle Technical High School on Saturday, November 7 to see what more we have created.

GASC: My Favorite Things

Kim van der Sanden of My Favorite Things (http://www.mftstamps.com/) knows her stuff well enough to improvise after she discovered that her class instruction sheets were on the kitchen table in California instead of with her in Virginia. Since she wasn't as together as she usually is when she teaches a workshop, she asked us each to stop by her booth for a free stamp. As fun as the technices were, I was more interested in learning about the Copic markers mentioned in the classroom blurb. Unfortunately, she did not touch on that. However, she did give me a mini lesson about these alcohol-based markers and their use. These two 8" x 8" pages lack the bling I normally add, but I may punch them up a bit when I'm ready to use them. Under the circumstances, it was a good workshop which I am glad I took.