Paper Smooches Designer Drafts: God Will Guide You

When I saw this week's sketch at Paper Smooches - I immediately envisioned a small sailboat on a big sea.  My idea was that we are so small, but God is so big and will always be our guide!

I started out with "mistier" colors, but they were getting lost in all of the white space.  So I checked current challenges and liked the red, blue and kraft at Pals Paper Arts.

I wanted to pull out an old picture and show you our sailing experiences, but I think I have opened every folder on my computer and can't find it.  It's a wonderful shot of my two boys in their younger days on our sailboat with snow-covered mountains in the background.  Our boat is docked at the Frisco, CO marina on Lake Dillon right at the summit of the Colorado Rockies.  So it's a very unique sailing experience.  It can actually be fairly difficult as the winds swirl unpredictably and can be very strong.  Here are a couple of other pictures that I found from 2004 when we were all so much younger.(Notice that the mountains don't look huge - that's just because the boat is docked at 9,000 feet up!)

• Stamps: Paper Smooches Wicked Nauticool, Spiritual Sampler
• Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake
• Ink: Stampin' Up Pacific Point, Real Red, Memento Black
• Accessories: Papertrey Ink Woodgrain Impression Plate, Ellen Hutson Iridescent Water sequins

Fusion: Allow Faith to be Your Guide

This is my second post today.

I needed to quickly throw together a confirmation card this morning.  I had tucked some links to confirmation cards into my inspiration file and I planned to totally CASE something because I really didn't have a lot of time.  I just couldn't do it.  I used to totally CASE all the time (and I mean totally copy cards without any adjustment to make it my own.)  Don't get me wrong, I CASE ideas all the time - I'm great at putting a bunch of ideas together on a card - I'm not so great at coming up with my own creative ideas.  I was fairly proud of myself when I realized I don't copy anymore!

I like the FUSION challenge this week and it was perfect for my card.  Obviously I used the layout.  I was also inspired by the muted colors and twine in the inspiration photo.

• Stamps: Paper Smooches Spiritual Sampler
• Paper: Stampin' Up Crushed Curry, Island Indigo, Sahara Sand, Fancy Pants Park Bench 6x6 dsp, Simon Says woodgrain paper
• Ink: Versamark
• Accesories: Stampin' Up Butterfly punches, Papertrey letter dies, Zing white embossing powder

A New Day at Joyful Creations

As I promised yesterday, my blog has had face-lift.  If you are viewing this in a blog reader - be sure to bring up my actual blog and see the changes.  I am absolutely thrilled.  The wonderfully talented Jackie Rockwell, who is taking a break from her personal blog, is still offering graphic design services and I decided to treat myself.  Don't you love her design??

Jackie is great to work with too.  You can be as involved in selecting themes, colors, fonts, etc. as you want.  Personally, the only thing that I really had a big part in is the colors.  She directed me to a great website - {design seeds} and I paged through until I found something exciting.

I also requested the butterfly.  If you have been with me a long time, you know that this blog started because of a church card ministry that my mother started and named "Joyful Creations".  I've always loved the symbolism of a butterfly - death and resurrection - and wanted to include a butterfly as long as it wasn't cutesy.  I love what Jackie came up with.

I did want to re-open my blog with a few cards - using my new blog colors and butterflies!!  The first is a send out to Jackie - you are amazing!


Then I have a bright and cheerful birthday card for Seize the Birthday!  I got the Small Circle Burst from Memory Box and haven't had a chance to use it - it seemed perfect for this sketch challenge!

Then I did one more card to represent my Christian cardmaking roots.  This card uses the current sketch at retrosketches.

Thank you so much for checking out my blog!!   I am so over the moon excited by my new look, if you are even thinking about getting a new look for your blog - be sure to check out Jackie's services!
You Are Amazing

• Stamps: Verve Amazing Wishes
• Paper: Stampin' Up Poppy Parade, More Mustard, Bermuda Bay, Sahara Sand
• Ink: Stampin' Up Sahara Sand
• Accessories: Memory Box Tessatina Border, MFT Fishtail dies, Stampin' Up Butterfly Punch and white Taffeta Ribbon

Enjoy Your Special Day

• Stamps: Papertrey Ink Beautiful Butterflies
• Paper: Stampin' Up Poppy Parade, More Mustard dsp
• Ink: Stampin' Up Poppy Parade
• Accessories: Papertrey Butterfly Signature Series die, Love Lives Here die, and Hawaiian Shores button, The Twinery Caribbean twine, Memory Box Small Circle Burst die

God is Our Refuge

• Stamps: Verve single - Psalm 46:1
• Paper: Stampin' Up Sahara Sand, Poppy Parade
• Ink: black
• Accessories: Stampin' Up embossing folder (retiring this month!), Paperrey Love Lives Here die, The Twinery Caribbean, Divine Twine Cheery, My Mind's Eye Twine Ginger

A Few of My Favorite Things...

This is a weekend of farewells.  Yesterday was my last post for Dynamic Duos and today I say goodbye to the Sweet 'n Sassy Design Team.

I have had the honor and joy of serving on the Sweet 'n Sassy Design Team for the past year but, very sadly, this is my last official day.  As we all know, life often has surprising and exciting new plans for us and with the changes in my life, I simply do not have the time to give my Sweet 'n Sassy cards the focus that they deserve.

I love Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps and wanted to give you a few samples of what I so love.

First, Rhubarb and Cocoa...two of my favorite  characters!!  Here's Rhubarb all dressed up for Christmas!!  Cocoa is an absolutely charming mouse with his own line of stamps.

Second, Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps do cute well, but they also have a variety of lovely and elegant stamps.   (Thanks to my friend Kris for this color/layout inspiration.)

Third...Christian stamps!!  Many of their stamps are beautiful enough to stand alone.  There are also a large array of gorgeous florals and birds and wedding and baby sets and more, each of which includes Christian sentiments.

I do love Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps and they will continue to be an important part of my own card making! 

Rhubarb Santa:

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Rhubarb's Christmas
• Paper: Stampin' Up Lucky Limeade and Raspberry Ripple, TPC Studio Sweet Christmas dsp
• Ink: Memento Black, Copics
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Lucky Limeade ribbon, Papertrey Ink Simply Chartreuse button, Martha Stewart bow punch
• Challenge: Sketch from Technostamper

Harvest of Blessings:

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Autumn Collage, Friendship Background, Vintage Postcard
• Paper: Stampin' Up Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, River Rock
• Ink: Stampin' Up Early Espresso, River Rock and little sprinkles in Cajun Craze, Summer Sun and Old Olive
• Accessories: Prima Wood Buttons

Trust in Him:

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Our Refuge
• Paper: Stampin ' Up Crushed Curry, Authentique Essentials dsp
• Ink: Stampin' Up Early Espresso
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake seam binding and scallop border punch, unknown embossing folder (sorry...there's no name on it!)

His Love Reaches to the Skies

I've been toying with the idea for this card since last Tuesday.  Loved the idea...hated everything I did.

The inspiration was this week's CASology Cue Card.

The idea was simply a kite with a beautiful saying from Our Daily Bread Designs:

Your love O Lord

Reaches to the heavens

And Your faithfulness

to the skies.

Psalm 36:5

This morning it dawned on me that I was going too "expected" with my colors...using blues for the "sky".  It's not horrible but it doesn't do justice to the beautiful saying.  The kite looked plain - I tried gems and buttons and bows...but nothing worked.

I've recently had blog friends use black as the ocean, and another did a purple sun, and another used a red background to a winter tree (obviously you should go blue or lavender with snowflakes!!??)  Unexpected touches that really made the cards.  So I went hunting for a color combo that I liked and landed on the second Fab Friday challenge.

What an elegant color combo!  And I was thrilled to play along because I also played along with their VERY first challenge two weeks ago!  So here's what happens when I put a gray, tan and yellow kite in the sky.  It added the elegance and uniqueness that I was missing.

I did add a coating of glitter to the gray part of the kite and a few gems to give it the sparkle it deserves!My apologies to the ladies at Fab Friday.  They are all Stampin' Up demonstrators and, other than the paper, I didn't use anything Stampin' Up.  They don't require Stampin' Up so I am entering this anyway.   But I do want to thank them.  I had sort of ignored my Stampin' Up stamp collection for awhile, but then I made a Stampin' Up card for their first challenge and since then, I have made seven more!!

• Stamps: Our Daily Bread Faith, Papertrey Ink Up, Up and Away (kite string)
• Paper: Stampin' Up Basic Gray, Sahara Sand, So Saffron
• Ink: Stampin' Up Basic Gray, Sahara Sand (kite string)
• Accessories: My Favorite Things kite die, Close To My Heart Bitty Gems, Martha Stewart Fine Crystal Glitter

LIM: One Layer Foliage

This is my second post today.  It's just a short

scroll down for my CASology and Stampin' Royalty card.

It's one layer week at the Less Is More challenge.  Normally, I am not great at one layer.  I love CAS cards, but one layer can be really tough!  However, I had Stampin' Up's French Foliage set out already and those leaves are so gorgeous they can stand alone on a one layer card!!


This is just an itty bitty card - I never used to make small notes, but as I am crafting more and more for my use (vs. the church cardmaking if you've followed my blog for the last few weeks!) - I think small cards to tuck into cookie trays or other small gifts would be very handy.
The slight color change on the leaf is actually some Champagne Mist shimmer paint.

• Stamps: Stampin' Up French Foliage, Blessings from Heaven
• Paper: white
• Ink: Stampin' Up Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint (made by Tsukineko), misc gems

CASology Cue Card: Green

This week's CASology Cue Card is "green".  That keeps the option pretty wide open!!  I do so love green.

I was feeling inspired to make a card dedicated to those affected by the troubles at the church (see yesterday's post).  So many families have left that church and so many others are still there but are hurting.  I saw these leaves and this sentiment - which is clearly directed at autumn leaves - but I thought it made so much sense in this situation.

I spent some time playing with the leaf - multiple colors, crumpling, "sueding", etc., but the simple fact is that the detail on it allows it to stand alone.  It is die cut and I slightly rolled the edges.  It does have three inks on it including some gold on the edges although that isn't real clear from the photo.

I want to thank everybody who responded yesterday via comments or email.  So many good ideas!

I also realized that I forgot to say "thank you" to all of my blog friends and all of you who don't even know that I rely on you.  With all the church troubles, I have been very bad these past few weeks at commenting.  But I do read your blogs and it never fails that I smile, laugh and ooh and aah through your posts!!!

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Season of Change
• Paper: Papertrey Ink Ripe Avocado, white
• Ink: Papertrey Ink Ripe Avocado, Stampin' Up Old Olive, Delicata Golden Glitz
• Accessories:Sweet 'n Sassy Season of Change dies, misc gold cord

Be Still and Know

It's my day to post on the Sweet 'n Sassy blog and I decided to celebrate an anniversary.

One year ago, Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps asked me to be a guest designer.  They sent me two stamps to play with - Beauty by the Sea and Ocean Paradise.  I most amused - after all, what does a Colorado gal know about the ocean - but I had a great time playing along.  Now I serve on their design team and get the fun of playing with their new sets each and every month.  But I decided to go back and play with this original set...



Although it's not as easy to see as I had hoped, there is tulle stretched across the window.  I also used an impression plate to give it a pebbly look.

I made this card for the Friday Mashup challenge and I actually did the full mashup - a sketch and a lazy summer day theme.

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Ocean Paradise and sentiment from Peaceful Swans
• Paper: Stampin' Up Marina Mist and white
• Ink: Stampin' Up Marina Mist
• Accessories: Papertrey Ink Impression Plate, Nestabilities ovals, crochet thread, tulle and miscellaneous beads

I Am Blessed by You

Well...I'm on my last day of absolute peace and quiet.  My teenager comes back this evening after five days of worship and service with 35,000 teens.  I am so looking forward to hearing his stories!  ( My husband and youngest are still at a lacrosse camp until the end of this week - and the teenager will be at marching band camp 9 hours a day - so I still have lots of time to myself before real life is back.)

So many of you told me that I would miss them all - I laughed.  But it turns out that I did.  Perhaps it has more to do with everything that happened around here while they were gone.  I spent hours glued to the television, mourning the losses at the movie theater and wishing I had my family to hug.  Every time that I sat at my craft table, I saw the Archivers bag with stash that I had purchased after I dropped my last family member at the airport - that Archivers is a block from the movie theater.  It made it all so close, yet still utterly unreal.  It is beyond imagination that those murdered ranged from 6-years old to 51-years old, including so many in their teens and twenties.  My prayers are with everybody touched by this tragedy.

On a smaller scale, there were so many issues relating to troubles at my own church.  One of my husband's favorite sayings is that Jesus did not just come to comfort the afflicted, but also to afflict the comfortable.  And I think Jesus thought that my little church has gotten a little too comfortable.

I spent the first few days of my quiet time just catching up - digging through the piles on my desk and either deciding to throw out the cards that never quite came together or working on them a little more.  I had the pieces to this card cut but never quite found a way to finish it.  Yesterday, it came together - I'm not sending it to anyone specific, but it goes out to all of you who sent loving words to my inbox this week...

• Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps Tag Blessings
• Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake dsp and cs, Raspberry Ripple dsp and cs
• Ink: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake and Raspberry Ripple
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Raspberry Ripple ribbon, My Favorite Things Fishtail Flags, Martha Stewart doily tags

Purse Inspiration by The Alley Way Stamps

Every two weeks, the good folks at The Alley Way Stamps brings us an inspiration photo.  I am a new member of their design team - in fact, I don't really start until August, but I couldn't let this one go by!!

Head to The Alley Way Stamps blog to see what the rest of the design team members did with this purse - you will be in awe of the rays of sunshine that you will see!!
I had the inspiration photo in mind when I stopped at Archivers a couple of days ago.  (A quick update on my time without a single male member of my household being home - after dropping the last one at the airport - I made a bee line for Archivers!!)  I had no time limits, no one to complain that I took too long - so I browsed each and every aisle.  As I found things, I had the time to shop for things that coordinated.  For example, the papers on my card come from completely different companies.  And..with my scraps from this card, I found beautiful velvet flowers in the grays and yellows to make a different card with the same paper. It was wonderful!
Also, while at Archiver's, I ran into a lady who recognized me from a time that she had visited my church cardmaking group.  She wanted my blog name so she could find out when the next time was.  I handed her the blog name - but them immediately realized that I don't put times and dates on my blog - and I should.  So many of you have emailed that you are nearby - I would love to have you join us.  Please realize that 3/4 of our church cardmaking group aren't from our church - just people who want to gather, chat, learn new techniques and styles, but with no sales pressure.  Any one is more than welcome!! So here's the details.
Cardmaking at Joy Lutheran Church7051 E. Parker Hills Court, Parker CO The first Thursday evening of a month, 6:30-8:30    and/orThe Friday afternoon after that Thursday, 1:00-3:00
Cards are designed and precut.  You make three of a card and you get one free!  Many of the cards come from my blog so you can get a taste of what will be available to make. Our gatherings range from small and intimate to large and raucous, just depends on people's schedule!!  Just drop in!!

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Priceless Joy (butterfly) and words from Jibber Jabber and Chatterbox
• Paper: Stampin' Up Bermuda Bay and So Saffron, WeRMemory Keepers Down the Boardwalk (stripe), My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline Dolled Up (wood)
• Ink: Versmark, Memento black, copics  (see my sidebar for downloadable Copic charts for matches to Stampin' Up and Papertrey paper)
• Accessories: Papertrey Mat Stack 1 die, Stampendous Ivory Pearl embossing powder

IMPORTANT NOTE: For those of you that emailed me regarding the impression plate on my Free As A Bird card - it IS Papertrey Ink, but it is called SUNRISE, not Sunshine.  They do have an impression plate called Sunshine but it's circles.  Hopefully none of you ordered incorrectly (although I also love the Sunshine plate - it's lots of fun!)


Edited to Add: Colorado needs your thoughts and prayers again.  The mass shooting at a movie theater last night was just a block from the Archivers store that I mentioned.  There are 12 people dead so far and 50 people injured - ages down to 6 years old. 

 

A Sketch and ColourQ

This is one of those rare cards that made itself.  I started with the colourQ challenge and assumed that I would make a Christmas card.  I saw the splitcoaststampers sketch challenge and knew that my new doily die would be perfect for the bigger circle.  As I was pawing through my stash for something Christmas, I saw the cross and realized that this could all come together for a rich, elegant and meaningful card - perfect for our church card racks!

(Did you notice that the watermark given to me by Sweet 'n Sassy uses the same cross that I used on the card!!??)

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Elegant Blessings and Our Refuge
• Paper: Stampin' Up black, white, Crumb Cake, Real Red, Pear Pizzazz
• Ink: black
• Accessories: Quickutz Dainty Doily die, misc ribbon and gems

Something Shiny for Less Is More

I'm having a fabulous day with lots of cardmaking!

This is my third post - if you are here for Dynamic

Duos, it's just a couple of posts down!!

When I first got this set from Sweet 'n Sassy, I saw copper.  I have no idea why.  But it sure made it easy when today's challenge at Less Is More is Something Shiny!

Just copper and white.  I embossed onto vellum hoping to give it a misty look.  The white is embossed with a Papertrey Impression Plate to give it a little texture.

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Make a Wish and the sentiment is from Joyful Heart
• Paper: misc copper, white and vellum
• Ink: Versamark
• Accessories: Papertrey Canvas Impression Plate, Zing Copper Embossing Power, Stampin' Up copper cord (retired)

The Lord bless you and keep you.

I have one last card that I made for the church card racks for confirmation, although this card could really work for any time.





I particularly love two things about this card:
1. Love that sentiment set - I just got the set Faith by Unity - and I love it.  It's full of classic Bible verses but done in a slightly more contemporary font.
2. Love the bird - without a doubt this is the best purchase from Joanns $1 bin that I have ever made.  Here's the entire set. Can you see the sparkles?  Of course, every time that I make a card, I make at least four of them for the church card racks - so I spent $4 on the birds.  And...if you live in the Denver area and shop at Joanns at E470 and Gartrell - I bought all that they had...sorry!

BIG NEWS: The downloadable Stampin' Up Copic Chart on my sidebar

has been updated for Copic matches to the brand new in-colors!!!

• Stamps: Unity Faith
• Ink: Papertrey Ink Classic Kraft and Pinefeather
• Paper: Papertrey Ink Classic Kraft, Pinefeather, White
• Accessories: Papertrey Ink Kraft ribbon, EK Success border punch, Crafts-Too Embossing Folder, Studio112 Adhesive Chipboard. misc gems

Grace Be With You - all in yellow!

I have been avoiding this week's Less Is More challenge because it's "yellow" and I find yellow very hard to work with.  But I decided to full embrace it and use yellow along with today's Hump Day challenge which is "tantalizing tone on tone".


 
There is a spritz of gold glimmer mist on the image panel.  (I think that is what is causing it to look so orange in the above photo!)



I also used today's Splitcoast Sketch Challenge.  The sketch is actually what started my entire card this morning as it seemed perfect to showcase a wonderful sentiment.

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Nature Silhouettes and Graceful Calla Lilly (sentiment)
• Paper: Papertrey Ink Lemon Tart and Harvest Gold
• Ink: Papertrey Ink Lemon Tart, Harvest Gold and Stampin' Up Daffodil Delight
• Accessories: Nestabilities label, Papertrey Ink Harvest Gold button, Tattered Angels Gold Glimmer Mist

Graceful Calla Lily with Unscripted Sketches

He giveth more grace as our burdens grow greater...


We had a very unexpected death in our congregation and it made me very aware of how low our church card "sales" racks are on sympathy cards.  There is so much comfort in sending and/or receiving lovingly handcrafted cards - I have been very focused on creating the right cards for this situation.  I haven't even taken time to post them...until today.

This incredible stamp has been sitting on my desk waiting for the perfect card.  It's beautiful, simply from an image perspective, and the words on it are so very meaningful for many situations.  It begins with "He giveth more grace as our burdens grow greater" and continues on about strength and afflictions and our Father's love and mercy.  I've imagine it beautifully colored, but somehow today's Splitcoast Ways to Use It challenge: Monochromatic Masterpieces spoke to me.



Stampin' Up had a very early In-Color called True Thyme.  When they brought back River Rock, I was very disappointed they didn't bring back True Thyme because it's the perfect monochromatic complement.  I am hoarding my True Thyme just for these situations.
I am also playing along with a challenge that I've never played before - Unscripted Sketches.  There was a piggyback challenge to this that, unfortunately, I didn't notice - use something recycled.

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Graceful Calla Lily
• Paper: Stampin' Up True Thyme, River Rock CS and dsp (the older dsp)
• Ink: Stampin' Up True Thyme, River Rock (sponged on edges), a few Copic accents
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, Cuttlebug embossing, Nestabilities Oval (to cut the left half of the image)

To God be the GLORY!

A morning glory set...and one of the sentiments is "To God be the GLORY!"...how totally perfect!!

As I looked at photos of morning glories, I saw that the inner section absolutely glows.  I wasn't quite sure how to capture this.  I tried pink and yellow glitter pens and really like the way it turned out.

I used today's sketch challenge at Splitcoast Stampers:

• Stamps:  Sweet 'n Sassy Morning Glory
• Paper: Stampin' Up Concord Crush CS and dsp, Lucky Limeade CS
• Ink: Memento black and copics
• Accessories: Martha Stewart border punch, Stampin' Up Oval and Scalloped Oval punches, The Twinery Honeydew Twine

FYI: If you downloaded my Copic charts with matches to Stampin' Up

and Papertrey (see the sidebar), be sure you have the most recent copy,

dated February 2012.  It adds the great matches from the new Copic release.

Let Go & Let God

I was pawing through my supplies looking for something entirely different when I came up with this stamp and it spoke to me.  I have had a very difficult time this year letting go of my own expectations of my life. 

• I have an unemployed husband (but no worries, we are in MUCH better shape than so many others in this situation - I am just tired of having him around the house!!). 
• My oldest son is now home being home-schooled (a blessing - but I am already tired of having him around the house too!!) 
• I'm heading back to school to freshen my credentials to find employment so I can get out of the house since everybody else seems to be here!! (I did have a career prior to a family, but it's been 12 years)

I had definitely envisioned a more stable and relaxed life.  (Of course, I had also envisioned myself 30 pounds lighter - but I am working on that!)

Life really isn't bad...I have my God by my side and I know with all my heart that He has a plan for me.  But I do have to be reminded of that once in awhile - even if it is by a rubber stamp!!

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Let Go, Let God and Serene Silhouettes
• Paper: Stampin' Up Groovy Guava, Early Espresso, Afternoon Tea dsp
• Ink: Stampin' Up Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi and Early Espresso
• Accessories: Nestabilities Circle and Scalloped Circle, Martha Stewart ribbon

Cards for First Communion

My pastor asked me a few weeks ago to do 24 cards for our kids who are taking their first communion this weekend and, of course, I waited until the last minute.

I find this type of card so difficult to do - a serious occasion...for kids (5th grade)...for boys AND girls.  I want a few special touches on the card, but yet I have to make a lot of them so they need to be quite straightforward.

I have definitely felt better about my first communion/confirmation cards in the past.  I like this card, but I think it fails in the "appealing to kids" category.  But...as my husband pointed out...the kids will see it for about 10 seconds, then their parents will decide what to do with it!

• Stamps: Club Scrap Sacraments, cross is Clear Dollar Designs
• Paper: Stampin' Up Rich Razzleberry, black and white
• Ink: Black
• Accessories: Cuttlebug border embossing, Stampin' Up Razzleberry ribbon

Color Throwdown for Less Is More

I have had this Cuttlebug embossing folder and the Ribbon Banners set aside as a great match for an elegant CAS card.  I had envisioned a beautiful floral, but...if you have been reading my blog...I am challenging myself to make a huge dent in my box-of-stamps-that-will-not-be-put-away-until-they-are-used and there is not an appropriate flower in that box.  But there is a set of beautiful crosses and with this week's Color Throwdown challenge, it all came together!

I am also using this as my ninth card for the Less Is More challenge to get 1000 entrants.

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Crosses of Hope
• Ink: Stampin' Up Early Espresso
• Paper: Stampin' Up Very Vanilla, Regal Rose, Early Espresso
• Miscellaneous: Cuttlebug embossing folder, Nestabilities Ribbon Banners, gems colored with copics

The Spirit of this Peaceful Season

I just LOVE this stamp.  I saw it on Tammy's Stamp Happy blog and got it right away.  The layout of my card is exactly like Tammy's, but hers is a wonderful combination of reds, krafts, big bows of crinkled seam binding and a red button...gorgeous.  I have a lot of red in the cards that I have already made for our church, so I decided to go for a royal color.

• Stamps: Verses Rubber Stamps


• Paper: Stampin' Up Whisper White, Concord Crush CS and dsp, Silver CS


• Ink: Stampin' Up Concord Crush


• Accessories: gem, ribbon from Michaels, long rectangle nestabilities