Praying for YOU...

Hello there, all you crafty peeps.

It's a beautiful day here, and hopefully, it's a beautiful day wherever you are today. Even if the weather isn't cooperating, hope you are having a lovely day anyway!!!

I have chosen Sundays to be my day to blog and show you some of what I have been working on during the week. I always have more in my stash than I can possibly blog about, but it's fun to pick a favorite and kind of show that off.

So this past week I received a stamp I had ordered from Waffle Flower. I wasn't sure how much I would be able to use it, but I loved it so much I just had to have it!!!. Turned out I made 2 cards with it because the image of the little girl praying fit just right for a person in the hospital, and my granddaughter's first job.

So I am sure that I will find other occasions too.

Here's my card:

 

Isn't she so pretty??? I love it!!!

I know it's not a stamp you could use for everyone, but I am a praying woman and sometimes you want people to know that.

I die cut a circle out of the top layer and then ran it through with an embossing folder. I am so glad to see artists using them again. They were kind of forgotten for a while, but I have quite a few from years ago, and this is one of them. They really do add a special interest to a card AND many artists are finding such interesting ways to use them. I can't wait to try those out.

Next was coloring the girl and the flowers that came with the stamp. The flowers were easy peasy. Too small to do any shading. BUT!!! I dread doing hair. I have much more practice to do before I'm good at it, but I think it came out ok. I used pencils, thinking that would be easier than water color, and I think it was. I am starting lessons on pencil coloring from Sandy Allnock. She is so good. Can't wait to put it into practice!!!

Here's the challenges I am entering with this card:

http://timeoutchallenges.blogspot.com/ inspired by something in my home (Bible)

          optional twist: embossing (dry embossing on front of card)

https://watercoolerchallenges.blogspot.com/  occasions (hospital stay, new job)

https://letscreatechallenges.blogspot.com/ no patterned paper

https://mixitupchallenge.blogspot.com/ anything goes + layering

So this is it for me today... 

Hope you enjoyed your time here.

Please leave me a comment, I would love to know you were here

Elena

I love stencils...

Hello everyone,

It's Sunday, Mothers' Day and it's beautiful here in AZ!!! 

What can you say  about the weather here??? It's beautiful blue skies, sunny and 90+ degrees... You either like it, or hate it!!! But that's what it is almost every day!!!

So about my theme...STENCILS!!! I love them because they're still quite reasonable. They don't do the same thing as stamps of course, but they have a lot of uses, especially for backgrounds. I happen to love backgrounds. Once I got into playing with backgrounds, I just don't want to quit. Of course they're not just for backgrounds, but right now I'm kind of stuck in that mode. One of these days I'll move on and find another technique that I will love just as much! But for now, here's a card I made for a friend and I really liked how it turned out.

For the background, I used 3 different stencils colored through them in different shades of yellow. I love yellow, aaannnddd it plays well with a lot of colors when you want to add flowers. The technique I used for making this background was one I found on "Stamping with Klass" and "Eileen Godwin on YouTube". It explains it really well on YouTube but the card I liked was on Klass' site. I am so thankful for all the designers who share their work on their blogs and YouTube. You never need to run out of ideas... Just scroll around on YouTube and you'll get all you can handle.

The flowers came from a very old stamp from Penny Black. It's a stamp on wood and it's so old that it wrinkled all up when I removed it from the wood to use it on my Misti. I finally had to throw it away and will have to find a new favorite. 

I stamped the image on watercolor paper and cut it out after coloring it.

I used several shades of blue and some purple. It's not visible here but I did add some Wink of Stella on the flowers to give it a little sparkle. I can't make a card without some sparkle!!!

I am entering this card in these challenges:

https://watercoolerchallenges.blogspot.com/

http://pennybfriendssaturdaychallenge.blogspot.com/

http://sirstampalotchallenge.blogspot.com/

http://theflowerchallenge.blogspot.com/

Thank you for taking the time to visit me. 

Please leave me a comment so that I know you were here. 

We all love comments.

Blessings on your week,

Elena

May Rainbow Card Challenge

Hello all you lovely crafters out there,

Hope you are having some nice weather and beautiful flowers in your neighborhood. It is just gorgeous here in Arizona. The cactuses are blooming everywhere. I have seen some cactus' in bloom before, but not in so many varieties as these. God certainly knows how to put beauty even in dry desert places. There is a tree that grows here that is different than any tree I have ever seen. The trunk is kind of twisty and branches out quite a lot. It has no bark. It's as smooth as can be and it is the color of bright green. Not quite neon, but almost. It is in bloom right now with very yellow small flowers that just blow and drift all over. I guess quite a few people are allergic to it. At first I thought that someone had painted them but when we started seeing them all over, we knew that wasn't a possibility. It is just amazing to see this bright green tree with yellow flowers in the middle of fields and roadways. God is a great ARTIST!!!

So, on to my card... the inspiration for the month of May is 

Periwinkle is such a beautiful color. I have always loved it, but it is not available in all mediums. So again, I had to mix some colors together and I think it worked out pretty well. It never shows up as nice on the computer of course, so it's hard to tell.

It is better in real life... promise!!!

This is a new stamp for me from Penny Black. I think one of my very first stamps were from PB, way back in 2005. That's when I made my first album for my daughter's birthday. I knew from the start that once I got my head into this craft, I would probably never quit. And that has been true. I have evolved, gotten into cards, multi-media, even grunge for a time, but I just continue to grow and move. It has become my life style!!! My place of joy, peace and sometimes, escape. I know, we've all been there!!!

This is a water colored card on Bristol paper. I like Bristol because it's smooth. I know a lot of people like the bumpy side but I do not, so I stick to smooth paper.

I also like to make my own envelopes. I love designer papers and when I get to use a paper that goes with my card, it makes me very happy. 

The dark centers are actually shiny gems that have different colors of blue in them. I tried to get them to show up in the photos but I just couldn't. They just look dark.

Thank you for visiting my blog. 

If you haven't already entered a card in this challenge, please do so.

I would love to see what you created!!!

Blessings,

Elena