Combining Challenges ~ Play Date Cafe and Get Sketchy

So I had some fun yesterday with the Play Date Cafe Challenge #40 ~ Black, White and a Splash of Green. I made a card using a fabulous stamp I just got, Hero Arts Flower Wood Background. It turned out okay, a little too dark and brooding I think. I do like the watercolor with Perfect Pearls I used to color the flowers and I tried scoring some lines in the background cs. So here's this first card.....

So since I wasn't really thrilled with this one I looked for inspiration and somehow (I never remember how I end up where I end up) I found the Get Sketchy blog and the sketch totally inspired me, and with the color scheme from Play Date Cafe and some more new stamps here is the CAS card I came up with......

This one was fun to make and I like that I got to do a lot of stamping and masking. It's all stamping except for the green paper strip.

This is the title of Greg Laurie's weekend devotion for today "Doubt your Doubts and Believe your Beliefs". I was really thought-provoking, totally worthy of a Thought for the Day. If you want to read the whole devotion you will find it HERE.


Blessings to you all,
nancy
(don't forget to enter to win the Blog-Candy details HERE.)

1st card: Hero Arts Stamps-S5142 Flower Wood Background, S4878 Old Letter Writing. Inks- Ranger Distress Inks Black Soot, Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters, Crushed Olive. Clearsnap Smooch Pearlized Accent Ink green. Ranger Perfect Pearls Powder- Perfect Pearl, Ranger Mini-Mister, Black and White cardstock from JoAnn's, Ribbon from Stamp Fever. Martha Stewart Scoring Board.

2nd card: Stamps- Hero Arts CG192 Floating Garden cling, H2141 Manuscript Background, K5333 Rectangle Doily, K5209 Butterfly Garden, S5341 Lace Background, K5376 Hydrangea, S5317 Starburst Lace, CL371 Essential Messages. Penny Black 2025M Music Background. Ink-Memento Tuxedo Black. K & Company Citronella Designer Mat Pad.

Announcing Blog Candy to Celebrate Stamp Fever's Grand Opening!

I'm so excited for Stamp Fever....they have a fantastic new location and a gorgeous new store design!
To help promote their Grand Opening Weekend August 13-15 I'm hosting a Blog Candy Giveaway!
So has anyone seen the new Hero Arts Holiday 2010 Catalog?
It looks like this:

How would you like to win a $25.00 Gift Certificate to use for your next order from this catalog? Stamp Fever is sponsoring this giveaway to get the word out to all in the Southern California area that there is a local stamp store that wants to be your destination for crafting fun!

All are welcome to enter this giveaway, here's what you need to do to enter:
1-Visit the Stamp Fever blog and sign up to follow (see my sidebar for link)
2- Leave some comment love there too!
3- If you have a blog add our blog candy to your sidebar or better yet do a post about Stamp Fever!
4- Leave a comment here so I can track all the entries.
You will be entered once for following Stamp Fever and leaving comments, and you'll get another chance by adding this blog candy to your blog.
Deadline for entries is Saturday August 14th 11:59 pm PDT. We will have a live drawing in the store on Sunday to pick the winner of this Blog Candy! Good Luck and Thank You!

Did you hear that Sally Traidman, Hero Arts Artist extraordinaire is coming to Stamp Fever? Mark your calendars for August 28, 2010. You won't want to miss this amazing opportunity! See Stamp Fever blog for more details.

(Disclosure: I teach classes at Stamp Fever and volunteer my time to help at the store and with the blog and newsletter. My compensation is from class fees and discounts on my purchases at the store.)

2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self-discipline.
Blessings to you,
nancy

A Fancy Birthday Card

So I'm making lots of birthday cards....it seems everyone I know was born in August. I also just got some really fun new stamps so I had to ink them up and play a bit. I was going for a fancy look with this paper pieced card.

This one took me most of the day so I will have to increase my speed if I'm going to get all these cards done.

Proverbs 16:20 ~ "Those who listen to instruction will prosper; those who trust in the Lord will be joyful!"
Blessings to you!
nancy

All stamps by Hero Arts: K5315 Birthday Gift, S5324 Simple Frame, S5341 Lace Background. Stampendous-black embossing powder; Ranger- Stickles golden rod, frosted lace; Recollections gems; Stamp-a-ma-jig; Versamark - watermark stamp pad; Memories- black dye ink.

Christmas Colors in July! Finally Another Tuesday Tag....

It's been weeks since I've had either the inspiration or the opportunity to play with the  Tag Tuesday Challenge. Finally I found a little of each and completed a tag. I tried to incorporate each of the themes that I've missed in the last few weeks so I've got faces, hearts and a fun summer photo to go with my red and green color scheme.

 (click on image for better view)

I spent hours yesterday organizing my studio space. I went through all of my scraps and bits of this and that so I would be able to use them. When I saw the theme for this week, I got out the scrap bin and pulled out everything that was red or green. The black and white vintage photo was printed out in green months ago and never used. It is a picture of my hubby's aunt and uncle in a cart pulled by a goat. It was taken in 1929. I added some scrap paper to an alcohol inked background panel. I gold embossed the flourish stamp. The little heart was a scrap and the leaves were punched out of scrap paper as well. (Thanks for the inspiration, Jacqueline!)

Jude 20 & 21 ~ "But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way you will keep yourselves safe in God's love."
blessings to you!
nancy

Hero Arts stamp-Leaf Flourish, Ranger Distress Ink-Barn Door, Versamark ink, Ranger Embossing Powder- Gold
Punches: Creative Memories-hearts border, EK Success-leaf.

Back to Playing at the Play Date Cafe

So I decided this week I was going to break through the creative block and play with the colors at the Play Date Cafe.....then I saw the colors.....

They were a bit challenging to say the least and I wasn't so inspired. (Okay, so I know it's a Challenge, and the colors should be Challenging).  So I scrolled through the cards from the DT, each one a gorgeous masterpiece I must say. Okay, maybe I can do this, I thought, but inspiration wasn't there. I tried a few ideas, that failed miserably, nothing was coming together. THEN, I had the serendipitous moment I was hoping for when I went through my Webster's Pages 6x6 papers. I found the perfect paper, then the Hero Arts Cling stamp Old Letter was just sitting there waiting to be inked up. Suffice it to say, the rest came together and I'm pretty happy with the outcome.

The Hero Arts Heart-Winged Butterfly is stamped over Old Letter Writing and embossed with Marcasite ep to give it some sparkle. Then I painted some Antique Linen Distress ink mixed with Perfect Pearls on the open areas of the butterfly to age the white cs and add a touch more shimmer. I punched the small butterflies out of the reverse of the mat paper using the MS butterfly punch and added some silver pearls. Everything was then mounted to a card base of PTI kraft cs.

I wanted to remind you of this TFTD (thought for the day) post about blessings HERE. It was about that time (the end of March 2010) that I started to end my comments and posts with "bless you" or "blessings". I just wanted to say that when I visit your blogs or flickr galleries I do take the time to pray for you and ask God to bless your day. It is something tangible I can do to return the love and encouragement you all extend to me.
Blessings to you all,
nancy

July Card Chain Challenge

It's that time again to share the fun of this truly global card exchange! This month I made the acquaintance of Rikke in Denmark. You can find her Flickr photostream HERE. She is really nice and we have begun to exchange cards on our own. For the July CCC I loved the Beach theme and made a card depicting my favorite pastime....sitting on the beach.

for the how-tos for this card, see Flickr post HERE.

I made another little greeting to send to Rikke also....

That Hydrangea stamp was literally daring me to do something really vintage with it, so what was I to do? I just got the Canvas Stripe cling from Hero Arts and it has vintage written all over it, figuratively of course.

So now that we got that out of the way.....there is an Oldies radio station that I love listening to and it has a tag line that goes; And the hits just keep on coming! Well it should be amended to; And the blessings just keep on coming to describe my life lately. I'm honored to be a Hero Arts Hostess, amazingly I have a card being published in an online magazine.....and yesterday a package arrived in the mail from Sue Czosek. She had my name for the July CCC. Sue's considerable creative talent is matched by her boundless generosity.
Here's some photographic proof:

Feast your eyes on this exquisite confection....this was her greeting card for me, just a little note, isn't this incredibly beautiful? Okay, stay with me it gets more interesting...Sue sent 2 cards with the beach theme....

I love everything about this card....from the sparkly port-hole shaped window to the alcohol ink lighthouse scene, this is incredible.

Another version of the alcohol ink colored lighthouse, this time in a tri-folded stunner.
And remember I mentioned how generous Sue is? Well this little assortment of crafting goodness accompanied her amazing cards......

She included another lighthouse for me to use along with Webster's Pages papers, a set of fun dog themed sentiment stamps, assorted embellies, twine, flower ribbon and canvas tag. Oh yea, this put a smile on my face!Thank you Sue, you can be sure I will be thinking of you as I play with this lovely new stash of craft goodies!
To take part in the August Card Chain Challenge check out Society of Stamp & Scrap-oholics. It's the delightful brainchild of the irrepressible Deborah Nolan.

Thought for the Day: Proverbs 15:15 "He (or She) who is of a merry heart has a continual feast!" This verse is the inspiration for the name of my blog.
bless you,
nancy

A Little Traveling Music please.......

The challenge theme on the Hero Arts blog this month is Food and Travel and I've got to tell you, I was in a real quandary with this. First, I'm trying not to think about food until I lose this pudge that I've recently acquired. And I'm not so much the traveling type. Like a Hobbit, I prefer my adventures to keep me close to home. That being said I do have some loved ones who are the adventurous type.
There is my sister, Donna, who you know by now is my exact opposite. We have an extremely loving and close sister bond, but we are nothing alike. She is a world traveler and just can't get enough of interesting adventures. She's raced in an outrigger canoe from Maui to Molokai, cycled the coast of Oregon and those are her tame travels. Here's a favorite photo of her in front of Angel Falls in Venezuela....

She was traveling with friends staying in some very rustic accommodations, definitely no room service. She recently took a trip to Turkey and is currently planning her next trip to Vietnam.

Not to be outdone by his globe-trotting aunt, my son Andy took a trip to Thailand in the fall of 2007. He and Kellie were part of a team from Hume Lake Christian Camps bringing the Christian camping experience to missionary kids near Chiang Mai. Here is one of my favorite photos.....

This photo was taken the day they got engaged....while riding in another mode of transportation- the ever popular ox-cart. They honeymooned in Costa Rica following their wedding in June 2008.
And I can't talk about world traveling family without mentioning Ben and his adventures in the Marine Corps. Besides his deployment in Iraq, he spent a year based out of Okinawa, Japan. During that time he traveled on the USS Juneau throughout the Pacific, with stops in the Philippines, Korea, Australia, Guam and many more points along the way.
Here's Ben in a jungle somewhere (possibly Hawaii)....

....and enjoying some local delicacies in Korea...

Well since I have family to do the heavy-lifting so to speak with the travel, that leaves me free to travel in my own relaxed way.....in a good book! Here is my travel-themed card featuring Hero Arts clear and digi stamps, along with Lawn Fawn and a little one from Imaginisce.....

The inside includes a text panel from a 1927 copy of Cyrano de Bergerac printed in French.
For a complete list of supplies and stamps used, please see my Flickr post HERE.

Just so you don't think I'm a complete home-body (really I am though!) here's some photo evidence of me in Hawaii, Kauai to be exact in June of 2003 (yes that was my last vacation).

We were celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary and in this photo we were on the sunset cruise of the Napali coast. Looks like the LOST island behind us. This is a very rare photo of the hubs without a mustache, he shaved it while in Kauai but we decided he looked much better with it.
Thanks for sticking with this excessively long post, I sure hope you enjoyed the world tour provided by my family.
Thought for the Day: more from Psalm 25....."The Lord is good, and does what is right; He shows the proper path to those who go astray. He leads the humble in doing right, teaching them His way. The Lord leads with unfailing love and faithfulness all who keep His covenant and obey His commands."
Cue the traveling music, I'm off to find a good book,
Hugs and blessings,
nancy

Butterfly Sympathy Card

It's always so hard when a dear friend loses a loved one. I think those of us who make cards are blessed because we can create something from our hearts with the intent of comforting and cheering someone who is hurting. When words are hard to find, love can be shared with a special card.

My heart was so blessed by the lovely expressions of sympathy and hope that my dear stamping friends sent me when my dad passed in March. I hope and pray that this work of love has the same effect for my sweet friend who lost her beloved mom recently.
For a list of stamps and products used please see my flickr photostream.
Thought for the Day: More from Psalm 25:
All day long I put my hope in You! Remember, O Lord, Your compassion and unfailing love, which You have shown form long ages past. Do not remember the rebellious sins of my youth. Remember me in the light of Your unfailing love, for You are merciful, O Lord.
blessings and love,
nancy

I'm a Hero Arts Hostess!

It's my first day as a Hostess and I'm already behind, how does that happen? I was so thrilled to be invited to be a Hero Arts Hostess! Some of my favorite people have led the way and I'm up for the challenge. You'll find me at the Hero Arts Flickr Group wearing my official  orange Apron:

Check out the Hero Arts blog for the official announcement and to learn about my fellow hostesses: Joy, Barb, Kryssi, Jenny and Robin. They are very talented and the sweetest ladies, I'm so glad they let me join them!  Tami is the wonderful "Hostess Wrangler" (I think that's her official title) and she is just so wonderful and sweet. I'm looking forward to being a part of this excellent group over the next few months!
Thank you Hero Arts!
So here's my first official Hello card as a Hostess.....

I was very much inspired by the fabulous cards that Lin made with this basket, HERE and HERE. What is more summery than a pretty basket of cherries?

Thought for the Day: from Psalm 25...."Show me the right path, O Lord, point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by Your truth and teach me, for You are the God who saves me."
Bless you,
nancy

It's a Lawn Fawn birthday card for my sweet niece!...and a fun day in Laguna Beach

Here's a card I made for my sweet niece Ashley! Her birthday was last Thursday and her 2 aunts took her and her friend, Katie to spend the day in Laguna Beach.
I love this Lawn Fawn set "Bake Me a Cake":

The photo doesn't capture the sparkle from the gems on each layer very well or the Stickles on the candle flames, but it's there blinging all over the place. Really!
So here's some photo proof of our fun day, just the girls!

Here's Ashley (in white) and her friend Katie at our table at the Hotel Laguna, overlooking the ocean.

After lunch we wandered around the shops, I bought a hat at a fun little hat shop.....

Here's me in my hat, my sister, Donna and sweet Ashley (could someone please tell me why I look like the older sister?)

I snapped a shot of Donna, on the phone with her office....

Ashley and Katie doing their very best Vanna White impression....

And we finished off the adventure with these tasty little butterfly shaped chocolates....

My sister and I are so opposite of each other...she's a business woman, I am anything but. She has the fashionable wardrobe stuffed into her large walk in closet, give me a couple T-shirts and a pair of jeans and I'm good to go. She loves adventure (she's planning a trip to Vietnam), I love to stay home....you get the gist. Well, we were looking at some gorgeous jewelry in a shop and each fabulous piece had been given a fun and descriptive name. Donna and I were standing next to each other admiring different necklaces that were side by side in the display case. We had a really good laugh when we realized the one she really liked was called "Warrior Princess" and the one I was admiring was given the name "Hush". That's us in a nutshell.

Oh and she took one of the fabulous necklace and earring sets home with her.....

I left Hush in the store....just didn't go with my jeans!


Thought for the Day: I love Psalm 25! I'll share a couple verses in each post:
O Lord, I give my life to You, I trust in You, my God!
Do not let me be disgraced, or let my enemies rejoice in my defeat.
No one who trusts in You will ever be disgraced, but disgrace comes to those who try to deceive others.

May the blessings of God be yours in abundance,
nancy

Introducing the New and Improved Stamp Fever!

Here's a sneak peek at the new Stamp Fever store in Orange, California. Linda and I and our dutiful hubbies have been working at getting the new store location ready. I have to give a special shout out to Sue who spent her day off today working with us. I must say I'm pretty impressed with how the original vision for the new store has materialized over the past few days.
Let me know what you think......

here's the front door and our window display.....

 my hubby built all the columns and storage cabinets......

here's the Hero Arts section......

we also carry Lawn Fawn stamps.....

lots of fun stamping tools and supplies, along with Hero Hues layering papers and folded cards and envelopes

(we're still working on getting all the stamps on the shelves) there is a good selection of Great Impressions stamps along with Stampendous, Stampington & Company, Penny Black, Memory Box and many more.
If you are in the area stop in and see us at 388 S. Tustin Ave in Orange. I will be introducing the new Stamp Fever blog in the next few days and also announcing the classes for the Grand Opening in August. (Hint: we have a Hero Arts Artist coming to teach a class!!)
Thought for the Day: Proverbs 3:5-6  ~ "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take." I think of this verse when I remember the evening in February when Linda and I met to check out the possible new location for Stamp Fever. The old store had very little parking, was not in the best location and the store was just so tiny that classes had to be held to no more than 8. When we saw this new location we knew it was where we wanted to move. We sat in the parking lot and prayed that God would show us His plan and that we hoped to move to this new store if it was His will. We believe that He worked miraculously as there was out of state owners to convince and a lot of logistical obstacles to face. Praise God for answered prayer!
bless you and I hope to see you all at Stamp Fever soon,
nancy

Puppy Love- Cards for Grace

Jennifer McGuire is having a card drive for sweet little girl whose twin sister has lost her battle with cancer. I can't imagine the confusion and sorrow that Grace is feeling and it's lovely that Jennifer is organizing this outpouring of love to comfort and uplift her. I was really inspired by Kathy's fun card featuring her furry friend and thought I could do the same with a photo of my little Chihuahua, Tia. Heather has some great ideas too!

I hope Grace is a fan of dogs, especially pampered little princess dogs. For this card I used paper from the Cherry Delicious collection by Sassafrass.  Stamps from Hero Arts: S5435 Graph Background, CL342 Everyday Sayings, CL380 Truly Appreciated (inside message- Sending you lots of hugs...and puppy love!).
I thought I would include this card in Anne's July Challenge: Animals! It couldn't be more perfect since it features my sweet little formerly homeless Tia. Anne's challenge this month benefits "A Place to Bark". It's a wonderful animal rescue organization and operates on private donations. Thanks for checking it out!

Thought for the Day: Psalm 37:4-5 ~ "Delight yourself....in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass."
Blessings,
nancy