I'm here for you - LF WCMD & YCU Challenges

Hi guys! Hope your week is off to a good start. Halfway to the weekend :) YAY! I’ve been exhausted this week - plain old tired out. I took a mini break from my craftiness to recharge - gotta do that sometimes. I was not feeling totally inspired and basically knew that meant to give it a rest for a quickie. Otherwise I wouldn’t be happy with anything I created. Ever feel like that?

Anyway. I’ve been dying to submit something for Lawn Fawn’s World Cardmaking Day Challenge - to make a card AND SEND IT.

It ends today - so, I’m getting this in right in the nick of time. Also, I’ve really wanted to play along with the Young Crafters Unite #2 Challenge - to create an envelope to go with your card.

I’m entering today’s card into both challenges ;). With out delay, here is my card:

and with it’s envelope:

Lawn Fawn’s challenge wasn’t too awful hard for me. For the most part, I like to make cards & sent them right away. I usually have an idea of whom I’m making it for and sending it to before I even start the card/concept. And I always love (but have never tried) the idea of matching envelopes to the card - so personalized.

I made this card for my mom. Last week, Thursday, she got the not great news that her current Chemotherapy had stopped working. She’d been on it for 8 rounds (basically 7 months) and it was working great, 2 months ago, she had a PET scan that said her tumors (which are in her lungs) had shrunk by 50% and some were even dissolving. They kept her on it for 2 more months until another PET scan, and this one showed that they had grown a bit and now there is also a spot on her Liver and Pancreas. Sheesh.

She knows God’s in charge. He’s leading her somewhere - I know that too - but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that this news is scary to me. We just have to continue to rely on him, not our own understanding. She’ll start a new Chemo tomorrow. I’m going to sneak this card into her purse today at work so when she leaves & finds it, it’ll be a little smile in her day.

On the inside of the card I wrote “Remember that you were given this life because you’re strong enough to live it” - a quote I found online somewhere and wrote it down. I like it. To make the card, I started of with Neenah Kraft paper and stamped the cute clouds from Lawn Fawn’s Partly Cloudy Set (using Papertrey Ink’s white Ink) and when the ink dried used Glossy Accents to randomly glue Papertrey Ink buttons on them. I made rainbow stitched raindrops and added gems & pearls to the end of them. My mom is a seamstress, so the stitching really say “mom” to me ;).

For the envelope, I used the cute closed umbrella - also from Lawn Fawn’s Partly Cloudy set and stamped it in various inks (Jenni Bowlin, Colorbox, and Versafine). I also added the sentiment (to the card & envelope) “I’m here for you” from Lawn Fawn’s On the Mend set.

That’s it. Thanks for having a look. If you can remember, will you please lift my mom, Kathy, up in your prayers? I would really and truly appreciate it. Hope your day is great friends.

Snowy Window Card for the Paper Smooches Spark Inspirational Challenge!

Good morning friends! Hope all is well out here in the blogasphere. I suppose I’m recovering from this cold - slowly but surely. Thank God!

Ok, onto another note. Did you know that Paper Smooches has their very own challenge blog - it’s called Paper Smooches Sparks? Hello! How did I not know about this!! Just found it yesterday! I only have 2 sets of Paper Smooches Stamps so far, but really love them. You all know how much I love Lawn Fawn - and they are of the same high quality - and their images are truly SO original and fun - their fonts are also adorable!!

Ok, I don’t know if it’s tacky adding a project made with no Paper Smooches Stamps, but I was totally inspired by their inspirational photo and wanted to join in on the fun, so I’m giving it a shot! I'm also trying out for their DT call - fingers crossed ;). Here is a look at the inspirational photo:

So cute right?!? With it in mind, I created this:

and here is an inside view:

Here's a standing up view:

and a laying down view...

Cool huh? I really adore how it came out! I was at Michaels this weekend, and found some cute ArtC glitter. I’ve been wanting it for a while - but just couldn’t justify paying $5.99 for it, no matter how cute the little bottles are!! Anywho, Michaels a variety of them on sale - 60% off - I couldn’t help but grab 3 different sets!! Some of the sets come with beads too & they’re all so cool! I thought they’d be perfect for this project.

Onto the card: So to make this, I started by making the glittery window/pocket using clear acrylic “paper” (also found at Michaels) and Martha Stewart’s clear {chunky} glitter & the ArtC glittered hearts. Used my sewing machine to stitch it all together so it’d be nice and sturdy! Then I went to work stamping my Frosty Friends (all Stamps on this card are Lawn Fawn’s Making Frosty Friends and all patterned paper is Crate Paper) and paper pieced them. Next I set them aside and stamped the same images onto what would be my (inside) card base.

Then I stamped a few snowflakes from the set with Versamark Ink and heat embossed them using AC’s Zing in White. Next, I added the paper pieced snowmen to the card base along with their pretty bows (dark pink = The Twinery & light pink = Trendy Twine).

Then I cut a square window into the front of the card base (this was done by trial and error and I now have quite a few little scraps of this paper laying around... why don’t I just use a ruler already?!?). I glued the snowy window to the inside of the card with Glossy Accents and then covered it in Crate Paper. I stamped the sentiment using my (new) fave Jenni Bowlin ink - Robin’s Egg - and used a finger inker to also ink up the edges in the same color. I finished it off with the same twine as the bows attached with Tim Holtz’s Tiny Attacher. I love it. I’m going to make some more window glitter cards tonight if I’m feeling up to it. Maybe Halloween cards this time. OOOHHH the possibilities! Well, that’s all for me today - thanks for peeking!