Eureka blog hop!

Welcome to the next stop on the Eureka blog hop! If you are arriving here from Ceal's blog, then you are at the right place! If not, you can head back to QKR Stampede for a complete hop order. This month’s theme is St. Patrick's Day!

Who was St. Patrick really, anyway? I enjoyed getting to know a little about him as I prepared to make this card.

I colored the Shamrock border with gel pens, after embossing it with gold. The quote is computer generated. The clover underneath is cut out (after embossing gold on gold)from the clovers image, (Ceal's card uses the full image) which has an alternate solid image as well, solid shamrocks.

Thank you for stopping by, now it’s on to Kristine for the next hop stop!

Blog Hop: Valentine's Day

Welcome to the next stop on the Biblical Impressions blog hop! If you are arriving here from Jessica S.'s blog, then you are at the right place! If not, then head to the QKR Stampede blog for a complete hop order. This month’s theme is LOVE!

I chose to make a Valentine's Day card; Biblical Impressions has a wonderful variety of hearts, and this string heart is one of my favorites! The text stamp is available on this full sheet.

I embossed the heart on a circle cut with Nestabilities, then used an exacto knife to cut out the center. Then I embossed the heart again on red vellum ... though I think perhaps the effect of a neutral vellum would have been even nicer ... and attached it to the other side. I used foam dots to raise the circle.

Thank you for coming by, now it's on to Ceal for the next hop stop!

The uniqueness of a snowflake

I know, I know, snowflakes are white, and winter skies are blue! But as soon as I saw these stamps from Eureka, I knew I wanted to do pink and brown. No logical reason just pure whimsy! Actually, I had some Distress Embossing Powder in Tattered Rose (the ink color used), and my plan was to emboss the snowflake. But mystery of mysteries, it was nowhere to be found. I was really, really set on using the powder, so I literally searched for days, even though I could not afford the time. I never did find it, but my stamp room is a bit more organized at least! Last minute, I thought of the pearls, which of course, makes my non-conformist card all the stranger. And to top it all off, my husband informed me that snowflakes are hexagonal, not octagonal!

But perhaps it all fits together anyway ... we are indeed uniquely created by God; we don't need to fit into the world's idea who we should be, or what we should look like, we are made in His image!

The snowflake may be found HERE, and the text is HERE.

ICTHUS

I love this image from Biblical Impressions (scroll toward bottom of page). This fish symbol is sort of an ancient times acronym; the letters stand for Greek words that mean Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior. Shortly after the time of Christ, intense persecution was inflicted upon Christians by the Roman Empire, and this symbol was a way of communicating with another believer that they were in like company, and could be free to talk of their faith.

I used twinkling H2O's to color, though when doing the earth toned fish, I realized that I did not have enough colors. So, I used markers, then lightly brushed a neutral H2O over the spaces so that they would have the same glimmer. I'd recently been deploring the lack of nice magnets on our refrigerator, so the smaller ones I mounted onto dominoes, and attached to magnets.

Masculine Birthday Card

Because of the college classes I'm taking, I tried to get a good head start on cardmaking this year, and had today's Biblical Impressions design team card finished a week or two ago. However, as is very typical for me, I suddenly remembered a family birthday - myhusband's - is today! It's almost a family joke how I tend to forget my own family member's birthday cards until last minute! So Saturday morning found me hastily making a card while my husband shoveled the driveway! Bruce is not really into cards, but some time ago he saw me with a stack of notecards I was beginning to color in, and he requested I make one for him to give someone ... but he liked the black and white, and asked me to put just the smallest dash of red somewhere on the card, and leave the rest without color. Remembering that, I decided to make him a card with the same color scheme, though I did use some grey as well. I used the plaid stripes (second row) and the happy birthday for a simple, masculine look.

Snowman Block

When I was making this Snowman card last week - about the only snowman I've seen in this strange winter - I had some blue, white, and silver plaid ribbon that I thought would make a really nice blue and white card. The snowman is so charming, he doesn't need any coloring. But then I decided to just add a little color by doing paper piecing with the scarf (using a red marker every other panel). Oh, and wouldn't it be great to do the hat in with black glossy cardstock? And by the time I had embossed the hat portion of the image, it seemed obvious I should continue with the rest of the snowman "parts". I am a word person, so I put this greeting of blessings underneath, backed with a scrap of the same paper used for the scarf.

Biblical Impressions Blog Hop!

Welcome to the next stop on the Biblical Impressions blog hop! If you are arriving here from Jessica B.'s blog, then you are at the right place! If not, then head to the QKR Stampede blog for a complete hop order. This month’s theme is winter!

This was a fun card to make! First, I used a square punch on a scrap of paper, to give me a “frame” to stamp in; I also could have created a frame with four post it notes. I stamped the upper part of the pine grove repeatedly (re-inking only after stamping several times) inside the punched out area. Then I sponged blue ink for the sky, and removed the scrap. Next, I used white embossing ink to stamp the snowflakes repeatedly over the image (stamping off onto scrap paper before re-inking so as not to get colored ink mixed into the pad), deliberately allowing a little overlap into the white space of the card, and embossed with white embossing powder. I then embossed the Thank you in white, cut out the oval, then sponged the same blue ink over that. I used the cuttlebug to emboss a snowflake panel, which I then tore and glued to the panel, attaching the layered oval.
This could very easily be a card without layers. The thank you could be embossed right on the card, sponged over, then masked with an oval. Multiple snowflakes could be embossed in white down the side, the mask removed, and then the outer edges of the card sponged in blue.

Thank you for coming by, now it's on to Jessica S. for the next hop!

P.S. Jessica is going to mention the lack of snow we've had here in Western NY ... but it's coming down hard this morning! So pretty!