A wonderful Digi Designer - Phindy's Place! :)

Coffee of the Day - Vanilla Macadamia

Good morning! I hope that you are finding this is a beautiful day! I woke up this morning feeling so gloriously blessed. Not in a financial or material sense by any means, but I am surrounded by the most precious family & friends a woman could possibly have. Our dogs and cats make me smile every single day. I see God's majesty in the nature all around me as I gaze out the window. I have met the most phenomenal people through this 'hobby' I call papercrafting. How could I possibly be left wanting? :)

I would like to take this post to introduce you to a most amazing artist, Philomena O'Neill, also known as Phindy. Her digis just make me smile - really BIG! they most certainly bring out the 'awwwww...... how sweet!' factor! Her store is called Phindy's Place and can be found on Etsy - and you know how much I love that spot!!! :) I have 2 projects to show you today, both of which I am entering in a few challenges. I will list those at the end of the post. These are some wonderful NEW images for me, and I was so excited to get ahold of them! n fact, the 'Cheep Cheep' image is a freebie to the members of her PCP group, so if you aren't one yet, what are you waiting for?! :D

My first card uses the image called "Counting Sheep. Isn't it just adorable? (the image, not my card... giggles!) The papers for both cards are from the Prima Nursery Tales collection. The edges of the main image were first sponged and then edged in frosted stickles. A good cyberfriend of mine, Dru, of Garden of Dreams, uses such pretty glitter on her vintage items. I am going to try to do more of that, so this is something NEW for me. Also, while I was enjoying the '12 Tags of Christmas' over on Tim Holtz' most inspiring blog last month, I saw him doing some REALLY neat things with stickles - none of which was just leaving the stickles in the plain line that comes straight from the bottle. He was always smooshing it around - so I tried that, too. another NEW thing for me. Added some wonderful vintage buttons from my stash and a bit of luscious satin Anna Griffin ribbon with a little pin. The card base edges are inked with white craft.

For the second card, I am using the brand spankin' NEW image 'CheepCheep' that just came out yesterday for all of the PCP members, as I mentioned above. I added some baby ric rac and gorgeous Prima trim. That beautiful flower is also a Prima and one that I just received as well, so it is NEW to me, too! A bit different than the Prima flowers I usually use, so I am trying to step outside of my box a bit, but still keep to my style. The card base edges here were also sponged with the white craft ink.

Now you may be wondering why I keep emphasizing all of the NEW stuff here........ well, some of these challenges are all about NEW beginnings and fresh starts. So I am trying out some NEW techniques, NEW products, NEW designers, and at the same time remember that every morning starts out with NEW mercies. Thank you, God for that! :) Your grace astounds me Every Single Day!!!

The challenges:

Cute Card Thursday - All New

Paper Take Weekly Challenge - New Beginnings

Fussy & Fancy Friday Challenge - New

Stampin' for the Weekend - New Beginnings

Cards for Men - New