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

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

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

Bon Voyage!

My world traveling sister has new trip planned! We are polar opposites my sister and I. I'm totally okay with sticking close to home. A trip to Hawaii every 10 years or so suits me just fine. Donna, on the other hand, can't wait to see far-flung parts of the world. She is definitely not your average all-inclusive beach resort type of traveler. Her recent travel destinations include: Turkey, Venezuela, Vietnam, Bhutan, Thailand and Greece. She'll be off again next month so I made her a special card!

Any guesses where Donna is going?

InLinkz.com

I have an old world atlas from the 80s that is no longer relevant so I used the appropriate page as my patterned paper and matted it with the Lawn Fawn paper.

blessings,
nancy

(Tanzania and Rwanda are on Donna's itinerary for this trip)

You Shine!

It's good to be inspired to play in a challenge again! I saw Donna Mikasa's fabulous card for CAS(E) this Sketch challenge #30, this morning and immediately had an idea for this week's sketch!  I saw a layout by Wilna on Two Peas earlier in the week and got inspired to use her "string of sparkles".

InLinkz.com

I didn't have sequins so I made my own by gold embossing a chunk of Versamark on cardstock and punching 1/8" and 1/4" circles along with die cutting the tiny star from Summertime Charm Lawn Cuts. I used crochet thread in cream as my "string". The paper is Studio Calico (I'm sorry I don't what collection as I just have random sheets :)

Here's the sketch for the challenge this week:

blessings,
nancy

Trying a little Art Journaling

I took the plunge and got an art journal. I looked around alot and I finally settled on the Dylusions Creative Journal by Ranger. I liked the size and the plain cardboard cover. It has a manilla pocket envelope inside to hold sketches, ideas and bits and pieces to create with. I also got some Distress Paints, Dylusions Ink Sprays and a couple Hero Arts Stencils. I already had some Claudine Helmuth Studio Paints and Multi Matte medium so there was no more excuses not to get started.

Here's the new loot:

I wanted to just play with this first page, I really had no plan for what this would look like when I was done. Probably not the best start, ha! I'm hoping my process will become more refined and the final pages will look more polished but for a first effort I think I'm pretty pleased.

I did lots of doodling. I found it's hard for me to just let go and doodle, my need for perfection is very strong and doodling just doesn't fit the mold. So as a first attempt I'll give myself a passing grade and hope to play with more abandon next time! And yes, there will be a next time! The title, a favorite Bible verse was computer generated with a freebie font called Pea BMad.

Supplies:

InLinkz.com

If anyone is interested, I will be adding a step by step photo tutorial to a new tutorials blog page soon. I'll let you know when I get it done.

blessings,
nancy