Thursday, June 20, 2013

Guest Designer at The Die-Cut Divas!

I totally spaced out this week, must have something to do with turning another year older. I'm really honored to be featured at Die-Cut Divas! Dawn, Arlene and Hannah are friends from the Hero Arts Flickr group, some of the first online friends I made when I first ventured online. Please check out their fun blog, there's an interview and they even shared some photos of my craft room!

Cards for guys and boys is the theme this month and even though I'm surrounded by men, I struggle with cards for them. Here's one I'm pretty happy with:


I used my favorite Lawn Fawn stamps and dies and some fun Studio Calico papers. I had stamped and colored the ferris wheel and ticket from Admit One previously, then die cut them. They were in a tin with lots of other pre-colored pieces waiting to be placed on the right card!
Lawn Fawn: Say Cheese Lawn Cuts die, Admit One stamps and dies

Please drop by Die-Cut Divas and leave them a comment or two. You will also find a photo tutorial I did for another card HERE.

blessings,
nancy

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Happy Father's Day

"A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society."
-- Billy Graham, Christian Evangelist
Today I'm appreciating the good fathers in my life. My husband who is a godly example for our sons, my father-in-law who raised his children to know God and my son, Andy, who is following in their faithful footsteps.
Here are the cards I made for these wonderful men:
For Pops, my FIL:
Lawn Fawn Blue Skies stamps and dies, Dad's Day
For Andy, I added some fun overlays and text to a photo taken on Mother's Day this year:
Photo editing: PicMonkey
inside of Andy's card
Simon Says Stamp For the Record stamps and dies

I've already posted Al's Dr. Who card but I thought I would share it again today:
Lawn Fawn Dad's Day, Stay Tuned, Bannerific stamps; Bannerific die, Circle Stackables dies
It's been said that "the most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother". Here's to all the dad's out there who lead their families with love and integrity.
This is my fourth father's day without my dad, I miss him and I miss spending this day with him.
blessings,
nancy

Monday, June 10, 2013

Photo Editing Fun with PicMonkey

I'm so sorry it's been so long since my last post. I've been busy playing with new {stuff}. I just don't have anything I can share with you yet.

I did get to spend the evening with a really cute little boy last week. Uriah borrowed my camera to take a picture of his dad (my son Andy). It was a little blurry but a fun photo so I thought I would have some fun playing with different effects in PicMonkey.

Here's the original photo snapped by Uriah (I've cropped it and added a dark edge already):


Some of my favorite effects:

B&W with an area of color

bokeh

light ray- this one reminds me of Dr. Who for some reason

can't remember what this one was called, but I really like it :)

colorful bokeh overlay

I made up a collage of all the different effects together:















I'm working on how I can use this in a dad's day gift for Andy.

I would encourage you to check out PicMonkey. Even if all you ever use it for is to resize your card photos I think you will love it!

thanks for stopping by!

blessings,
nancy