SSS35 Candle Light Pocket Card

Are you ready for Christmas...I'm getting there, but still have quite a bit to finish up...I still have a few decorations to put out, Christmas Cards need to be written and mailed, and my dining room table is full of presents waiting to be wrapped...and then, my house is in desperate need of a cleaning...gotta get things ready for my daughter and her family to join us for Christmas dinner.

This year I plan to begin a new family tradition...It is an idea I found on an Internet crafting website... I bought a new cream colored linen table cloth and plan to have everyone who joins us for dinner write a message with their name and the date onto the table cloth using a fabric coloring pen. I 'hope' to embroidery all of the messages, but if I don't, the fabric color pens are permanent ink, so the messages should remain even after washing. My plan is to continue using this same table cloth each year adding new messages from each person joining us that year....isn't this a fun idea! And, while at the dentist last week, my dentist's assistant and I were talking about Christmas traditions and she mentioned using this same tradition with her family for almost 20 years...she said they were already working on their 3rd tablecloth because the others had no more room for messages...what a wonderful way to preserve the memories of these special times with family and friends!

So....what about you...do you have special family traditions for Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays....I would love to hear about your traditions, if you would care to share them with us by commenting on this post.

Well...today I've posted my card for The Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge with a Spin....The spin: you have to include a 'pocket' somewhere in the design of the card. It can be a pocket on the inside or front side...anywhere you desire to add a pocket on the card. I decided to put the pocket on the card front and included a Tag as part of the sketch design.

The Candle/Rose Image is a digital image from 'Fred She Said Designs'.....I purchased the colored version and all I had to do was print it out and then I added just a little more sparkle by coloring areas of the image with my Copic Spica Glitter Pens and then adding just a little Crystal Effects on the candle area. This was a major 'time-savor' for me! The website also offers the image in outline form so that you can color it yourself, if you wish to go that route. This purchase included a couple of different images and a few sentiments,they were all very good and worth the price of $3.37. I used one of the verse sentiments on the back of the tag...it is pictured at the end of this post.

The "Merry Christmas" sentiment is from one of my Paper Pretties Stamp Sets...I had it out on my table and decided to use it for this card...I love the font used for this sentiment and find myself going to this stamp quite often.

You will find the Sketch Challenge at 'The Sweet Stop Blog'...just click on the Badge located on my sidebar and it will take you directly to the blog. And of course I would encourage you to visit the blogs of all the Sugar Babies...they have posted some fabulous cards for this sketch challenge! These ladies have fantastic talent and if you are in need of some sweet inspiration...you HAVE to go check out their blogs....you will not be disappointed!

As we celebrate with family and friends, take time to remember the Birth of Jesus--who is after all....the reason for the season!

Merry Christmas to all...
Barbg(WV)

Back View of Candle Light Tag with Scripture Verse Sentiment.

Thank You

Hopefully all of you are having a wonderful week and are spending some time with your family and friends. Since the husband of my best friend passed away recently...for me, spending time with family and friends is much more precious...realizing again, we have no guarantee of even one more moment, much less one more day, with those we love. My husband and I will be celebrating the life of our friend, Paul, this coming Saturday during a Memorial Service. Our friend, who is no longer with us...Our friend, who's earthly battles have now ended...Our friend, who is now in the very presence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ...We will remember you and will be thankful for the life you shared with us.

It is only because of God's grace that I'm allowed another day to think about His love and be thankful for His blessings in my life.

I am also reminded of how fortunate I am to not only have the privilege of serving the Lord each day, but also to have friends and family who encourage me through prayer and when necessary, aren't afraid to 'roll up their shirt sleeves' and 'get down and dirty' once-in-awhile. I could never accomplish the many tasks I do each day without their help and encouragement.

With this in mind, I decided it is time to make a few Thank You cards for some very special ladies at our church who have been faithfully 'serving the Lord with gladness' for more than 35 years. The faithful and loving spirit of these ladies is evident to all those who's lives they touch. 'My' ladies range in age between 76 and 88 years old....many of them are widowed but a few still have their, first and only, husband at their side....all of them have endured times of trial and testing within their lives and yet all will be quick to assure you God has been and continues to be, faithful through it all. Their love and service has been a huge source of inspiration in my life and over the next few weeks I hope to make each of them a card expressing my gratitude for sharing their life and testimony with me....I so wish each of you could know these ladies...I'm sure you would love them as much as I do!

Today's card features a 'Stamp of the Month' Image from Paper Pretties. I've had it for a little while, but this is the first time it has been inked...'bout time, don'cha think', Christie (for those who don't know her, Christie is the Pretty Mama of the Pretty Girls)!

To share a little of the Card D-Tails:

The dress is paper-pieced, times two! Meaning, I stamped the image one time on 2 different pieces of pattern paper...one image is cut out and attached to the stamped image...the second image is cut out and then I attached only segments of that piece to the first...hopefully that makes some sense...feel free to ask questions if you need more info. I also paper-pieced the bow in her hair, but I think it would have looked better if I had just colored it with my markers.

Sophia's hair, face, arms, and legs are colored with Copic Markers, but you will notice that I got a little too 'heavy handed' on her face...I tried 'cleaning it up' some using my colorless blender, which usually works pretty well, but not so this time...so I just left it as is, I think it will be OK.

I added a little felt flower with a white pearl in the center, to the flower portion of the image.

Used a couple of punches, added a few red pearls, added an Organdy White Ribbon to which I added the 'Thank You' sentiment (it is included with the image) as a 'tag' tied with white string.

Base Cardstock is PTI Select White

Pattern Papers are DCWV 'Mi Casa'

Inside the card I used a sentiment from Sweet N' Sassy's 'True Friend' set...a couple pieces of pattern paper and a few more felt flowers and pearls. I attempted to use one of my Copic Multiliner pens to make a curvy branch for the flowers, but that silly pen wasn't working very well last night, it kept 'skipping'...oh well.

Just a Reminder:

Tomorrow (Thursday) is Free Digi Day at Sweet N' Sassy Stamps...be sure to visit the website and grab it while it's free...after Thursday, the 'Free' offer goes away!

You will find the links for 'Paper Pretties' and 'Sweet N' Sassy' on my sidebar.

Be sure to spend time with family and friends

and then,

Make time to create but remember to have fun and enjoy the experience!

Barbg(WV)

Pretty Dancer

I've had this Prettie's Image colored (with Copic Markers, of course) for quite awhile. Last night while going through some of my papers, I found this pretty and sparkly patterned paper from a DCWV Paper Stack and thought it would work well with my little Ballerina Girl. Deciding to keep the design fairly 'clean and simple', there are not a lot of elements to this card. The card base is Shimmery White from Stampin' Up! The little 'skirt' is covered with clear micro beads...makes it look really sparkly while adding a little dimension. I layered the main image with the new shade of Pink from the IN COLOR selection of Stampin' Up cardstock. I then added a few pink rhinestones, a large pink/yellow paper flower from Prisma, a beautiful vintage Pink button from PTI along with a simple little bow using a rose colored string from "No Time To Stamp Online Store'! For the inside of the card, I just added a simple border using the same pattern paper as is seen on the card front. That's it...simple and easy...nothing fancy.

Hope you like it.

Don't forget about my PMSSC01 Sketch....See http://gotpms.blogspot.com/2009/07/sketch-debt.html

Until next time,

Make time to create but remember to have fun and enjoy the experience!
Barbg(WV)

Hula Wishes

(click on the pictures to enlarge image for better viewing)

This card was made using the July Stamp of the Month, 'Aloha', from Paper Pretties (listed in my sidebar).

Each week, Danielle, one of the 'Prettie Girls', posts a challenge. Quite often it will be a sketch challenge, but once-in-a-while, it will be something different. The most recent challenge, PCW63, was to use the colors aqua and yellow along with a 'mystery' color....the mystery color being 'your' choice! Since my Aloha stamp had just arrived in the mail, I decided to ink her up and use her for this challenge. After stamping the image with Momento Tuxedo Black Ink onto Neena Solar Crest White Cardstock, I colored her with my Copic markers using the colors of the challenge along with a Bold Pink as my 'mystery' color. Well then... I had to decide on a 'lay out'...so I quickly browsed through some of the older challenges and decided to adapt the PCW56 (I think that was it, I'll have to check to be sure). My final layout is pretty close to the challenge with one exception....I added a bunch more flowers and opted not to use the sentiment on the card front.

The sentiment is computer generated and added to the inside of the card, along with a few more pieces of pattern paper (love, love, love my pattern papers), floral ribbon and pearls.

That is basically it....and I think the final result is fun and cheerful.

To learn more about Paper Pretties, click on the link in my side bar.

So until next time,

Make time to create but remember to have fun and enjoy the experience!

Barbg(WV)