Memorial Day Blessings.... His Soul Goes Marching On

Coffee of the Day - Maple Walnut

Happy Memorial Day to all of my friends here in the good ol' US of A! :) and a big howdy do to everyone else who stops by as well! :)

I come from a family filled with soldiers. some of my cousins are still in the military. so today is one of special significance to me. one of my uncles was killed in combat and many friends have fought in our various wars. I always stop to remember those who have given the greatest sacrifice to our country as well as those who serve.

it doesn't matter what anyone's political views are - there are still people all around the world who are serving in the military in some form or fashion, putting their lives on the line, regardless of politics. and they should be thanked & lifted in prayer. just my opinion of course.

for my card today I used a vintage postcard image by Ellen Clapsaddle. I have quite a collection of vintage postcards myself, but rarely put them directly onto cards or projects. I prefer to print out the images if I can find them in the public domain. This particular postcard was posted yesterday over at Little Birdie Blessings. she shared several that were quite lovely and very appropriate for today.

Papers are a combo of Authentique's Glory and Pride collections. ribbons and trims come from a fabulous May Ribbon Club Assortment I was blessed to win from Really Reasonable Ribbon. I dyed the whites the give them a more shabby feel.

the bark stars and flowers are all from Live and Love Crafts. some of the flowers are Wild Orchid Crafts, but I think the poppies are their own private stock. I also hand dyed 2 of them red to match my papers. buttons are all vintage, ticket is from my stash, and postage stamps are some I saved from mail received. they come in so handy on projects like this! the tag was embossed then lightly inked to accent the stars. I think this is one of my favorite embossing folders!

Hope your week is off to a great start! thanks for stopping by!

Challenges:
Really Reasonable Ribbon - red, white, and blue with ribbon
That Craft Place - shabby chic
613 Avenue Create - anything goes or create your own: 1. image, patterned paper 2. die cut (little arrow in upper left corner is a die cut) 3. dry embossing 4. flowers, buttons 5. square card, twine, ribbon
Hiding in My Craft Room - any holiday (Memorial Day)
Creative Corner - anything goes
Robyn's Fetish - anything goes
Penny's Paper Crafty - anything goes
Party Time Tues - anything goes
Incy Wincy - all or nothing (I went for ALL!)
The Crazy Challenge - use ribbon or lace

Celebrate Christmas with Jellypark! Blog Candy Winners, too!

Coffee of the Day - Hazelnut

Today begins a new challenge over at Jellypark, and Mel was kind enough to invite me to be a guest designer! it was truly a delight to be back playing with the fun images found at Jellypark, so thank you for the invitation, Mel!

the theme for the month of November is Christmas. I do hope you will play along! my former teamie, Lisa Sumpter, so do stop by to see the great cards she has made. :)

I made 2 projects, both using papers from the My Mind's Eye Winter Wonderland collection.

for my holiday tag, I used the cutey image 'Skater Girl' and fussy cut her once I had finished painting. shimmerz paint adds shine to her skates while stickles add a bit of texture and sparkle to her hat.

the tag base was embossed using the Cuttlebug Snowflakes folder. several shades of ink were watercolored for the bg, and then white craft ink was applied to the snowflakes. blue glimmer mist was lightly sprayed over the top.

snow mounds were cut from lyrics I printed of the song, 'Let it Snow.' shimmery Mr. Huey's spray was added and stickles was applied to the borders. same treatment for ice skating pond oval.

pom pom trim, button, baker's twine, silver cord, tag, sequins, and vintage holly leaves complete the tag. can't wait to add this to a gift at Christmas! :)

my next project is a card implementing the popular chalkboard look. I used the 'Christmas Window' image by Jellypark. lots of sparkle and shine on the main image thanks to shimmerz paint and stickles!

I created the chalkboard tag by drawing lines with a white gel pen and then lightly sponging white craft ink over the entire tag. embellishments include baker's twine, gorgeous wide, white ribbon, buttons, a Petaloo poinsettia, and holiday lights created with dies by Memory Box and matching paper. I added crystal effects to the lights to give them extra gloss.

thanks so much for stopping by! it was wonderful to be crafting again! hopefully it won't be so long between times in my craft room.....

I also now have the winners of my Pinktober Blog Candy. it took me a bit to figure out how to get piccys of the random.org generator, but finally have them! I need the following 3 people to get in touch with me at (jenscull at yahoo dot com) please:
3. Terriavidreader
7. stef h
4. Mel H :)

Thank you to everyone who entered! I wish I could give all of you a prize for being so fabulous!!!

Challenges
Tag:
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Extra - anything Christmas goes
Emerald Faeries - non-traditional Christmas colors
Mema's Crafts - anything goes
The Crafting Cafe - not a card
Pile it On - feeling cool
Christmas at Sweet Stamping - snowflakes
Crafts 4 Eternity - tags & tickets
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - sparkle (shimmerz paint, glimmer mist, stickles, sequins)
Crafty Calendar - all about Christmas
Little Claire's - Christmas
Catch the Bug - anything goes
Brown Sugar - anything goes
Delicious Doodles - Baby, It's Cold Outside
MAWTT - winter
Paper Shelter - Christmas
Crafting for All Seasons - Tag It
Digi Stamps 4 Joy - anything goes
Divas by Design - anything goes
Simon Says Stamp Wed - anything goes
Word Art Wed - anything encouraging goes
Creative Card Crew - bows
Craft-Dee BowZ - anything goes w/handmade bow
Crafty Boots - music
Eureka - buttons and bows
Incy Wincy - buttons and bling (sequins)

Card:
Papertake Weekly - sketch (turned on its side)
Animal Fiends - It's Cold with an animal (kitty)
Bearly Mine - Christmas Cards
Emerald Faeries - non-traditional Christmas colors
Really Reasonable Ribbon - anything goes w/ribbon
Pile it On - feeling cool
Crafty Ribbons - tag w/ribbon
Crafts 4 Eternity - tags & tickets
Crafty Calendar - all about Christmas
Little Claire's - Christmas
Brown Sugar - anything goes
QKR Stampede - 3 of a kind (buttons)
Sister Act - any card goes
Aud Sentiments - 2 or 3 words sentiments
MAWTT - winter
Crafting for All Seasons - Tag It
Crafty Creations - brads, buttons, or bows
Divas By Design - anything goes
Penny's Paper-Crafty - anything goes
Simon Says Stamp Wed - anything goes
Word Art Wed - anything encouraging goes
Creative Card Crew - bows
Craft-Dee BowZ - anything goes w/handmade bow
Eureka - buttons and bows

Baby Boy Diaper Fold Card

Coffee of the Day - Irish Creme

I have to begin by apologizing for the quality of this photo. I tried my best to scan the card, but because of the puffiness of it, it just wouldn't scan properly. that left me with the only option of my phone. and all of you know how very shaky I am when it comes to taking pix. I did my best, but no amount of photoshop can fix the monkey behind the camera! ;)

anyway, this card was great fun to make, even if it did cause me a bit of grief from time to time. I found a wonderful diaper card template on Aly Dosdall's blog. That lady has some awesome talent! Part of the problem is my shaky hands. my tremors have gotten to the point I dread cutting anything out. but I did my best. I could go on and on about all of the mistakes I made on this card, but you don't want to hear about that. you put up with enough whining from me as it is. ;)   I'll just hope that our nephew and his wife can instead see the love we have for them and their new son each time they look at this card rather than all of the problems with it.

designer paper is My Mind's Eye Gnome Sweet Gnome, embossing folder is Cuttlebug Swiss Dots, cream ink is My Favorite Things, and fab buttons & linen thread are SU!  olive ric rack is from my stash, so I apologize that I don't know mfg.

Challenges:
Allsorts - all about the boy
Brown Sugar - anything goes
Challenges and Candies - embossing
Crafts 4 Eternity - anything goes
Sister Act - anything goes
Crafting with Dragonflies - baby
Cuttlebug Mania - dotty (swiss dots embossing folder)
TTCRD - anything goes
Challenges 4 Everybody - anything goes
Glitter 'n Sparkle - use some blue