Contentment- 2 cards 2 different styles

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (NKJV) Philippians 4:13 

That is a great verse. Right? 

It can be used standing alone because Christ does give us strength to endure all sorts of trials. But how often do you see this verse with the proceeding verses?

Philippians 4:11-13 New International Version (NIV)

11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Paul the letter writer to the Philippians and also to us, is letting us in on a secret. He is telling them and us how to be content. It is through Christ's strength. that we can be content. I can tell you it is a struggle that I am having to work on.

Are you like me do you see a stamp set and think.... Oh I NEED that. This old set from Stampin' UP was one of those sets that when I first saw it, I was thinking I NEED that. I saved money and was able to buy it. You would think that after acquiring this NEEDED stamp set that I would use it all the time. Well, that would be a logical conclusion, but I have only stamped with this set a handful of times. I have been trying to challenge myself to get out old sets and use them. One of the best ways I know to beat the WANTS is to truly be thankful for the HAVES.  I saw two stamping challenges that inspired these cards. One was 

Crafty Catz Challenge #413 

.which is Anything goes with CAS as a desert option.

and 

SumMore Fun Mood Board #26

I thought that this little girl holding the flowers looks a lot like the flowers on the mood board. I tried my hand at a CAS design. Success, well not exactly. 

  

This was my first attempt. I used colored pencils to do her dress. I used burned glue technique and sharpie markers for the flowers, and I watercolored the sky and ground. I had sketched an oval lightly with a pencil. I had the oval at a slight angle. And then I watercolored the sky. Everything was looking good and then I accidentally dropped a drop of watercolor where it was supposed to be all WHITE. Well, I had spent a lot of time coloring this little girl already so I cut her out.  Added some layers and cheese cloth, brads and twine. But not to give up I gave it another try.

This is my second card. I stamped the sentiment in the corner. I like it my CAS card. but the other card is more my style. I won't give up on CAS. I just wish it was easier for me to do.

SDC296 and several SCS challenges card

Happy Friday. I hope you have had a blessed week. I have not felt the best with the migraine headaches this week, but I still feel blessed and know that God is taking care of me. I made this card for my good friend Paula who recently lost her mother in law. I combined several challenges to make it.

First Challenge was for:

 STAMPBOTIQUE DESIGNER'S CHALLENGE SCS296 Flowerbundancet

Also for these 3 Splitcoast challenges:

MIX273-Orange and Turquoise

F4A426- Go ahead get Fussy (fussy cutting)

WT684- Bug's life (use a bug image)

I added a challenge of my own to use a set that hasn't seen ink in over a  year. I pulled out this set.

It is 16 years old. Wow how time passes. It was one of those sets that I just had to have and I probably haven't used for at least a year.

I was blessed to get to facetime craft with my good friend Pam. She used the same set on her card. I love how we were doing the same challenges, using the same set and just how different the cards turned out.

Check out HER CARD.

For the mixability I used colored pencils, watercoloring, glitter, markers, and burned glue as my mediums.

You can see the burned glue in the center of my orange flower. I burned the glue and used a black sharpie marker to color it.

Because this set cuts off the tips of the dragonfly's wings and the flower petals and leaves are also cut, when I wanted to pop up the images, I had to do some free hand drawing to complete the wings petals and leaves. I really like how they turned out. I don't think you would have noticed if I hadn't pointed it out.

I have been kind of on a pop out kick lately just because they are so much fun to make without being that challenging.  Here is a video that shows the dimension of my fussy cut elements, the glitter on the dragonfly and pop out part on the inside.

Unity Stamps Sketch card

 Unity's Show and Tell challenge on Facebook
 Be Inspired Sketch Challenge April 12-April 26

I made hand made hydrangeas for the little circle part of the sketch. Here is how I made them. I started with a circle punch. I added Aleene's tacky glue to the circles and using tweezers, I heated the glue with my  heat gun until it bubbled and burned.

I used an old Martha Stewart hydrangea punch to punch out blue and green cardstock. You can see the burned glue in this next photo.

I used a piece of foam and a stylus to cup the flowers.

This next photo shows some of the flowers cupped and others not.

I glued the cupped flowers to the burned glue with more Aleene's tacky glue.

I wanted the hydrangeas to has a little sparkle so I added diamond glitter to the blossoms

 Here is how they look an the card.

This is how the inside of the card looks. It has a pop up center.

STAMPlorations Thank you card

When you have a crazy spring with snow on Sundays for three weeks in a row, things can get a little crazy. This last week the company that my husband works for had an EASTER egg hunt/party for the employees' kids or grandkids. My daughter came to visit and brought my sweet little guy up so he could have fun at the party. Here is photo of Noah and Grandpa at the party. 

I wanted to make them a thank you card for all the thoughtfulness that went into the planning of this party. I decided to use the following sketch:

For the Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2 challenge # 134

and I used STAMPlorations BLOOMING BUDS

This card had brads, cheesecloth, pearl stick pins and black glitter for the centers of the flowers. Since glitter is so hard to photograph, I made a super quick video to hopefully catch some of the sparkliness.

Banner on Tag

The Splitcoast Stampers TLC686 challenge was to hand draw a banner.

I made this tag by layering several different coordinating papers. I drew the banner onto designer paper. I outlined it with a black sharpie marker. I cut it out and glued it to  piece of cardstock to make it sturdy I added paper springs to the bottom of the banner to give it dimension. I stmped the sentiment and added white highlights.I like using the stamp set that I did because it looks handwritten when I add the white highlights. I splattered the tag with white acrylic paint. I added hand made roses, brads, twine and tulle to fi

nish off the card. I used 2 different STAMPlorations stamp sets.

I used TRENDY BUTTERFLIES

and 

BLOSSOM LIKE A BUTTERFLY

Wedding card

I made this card as a wedding card for my aunt. I found a piece of paper in my scraps that had the words, LOVE, LAUGHTER AND FRIENDSHIP,  FROM THE HEART , and I LOVE YOU. Perfect for a wedding card right?

Trio of floral cards

I made these cards yesterday. I would have posted about them, but I got too carried away creating them. They were so much fun to make. I used a STAMPlorations set called:

BLOOMING BUDS

I have lots of flower stamps that I have loved over the years of stamping, but this set was one of the most fun to use. There were lots of things that I loved about this set. I loved that there were 3 different flowers to choose from, so I could stamp, mask, fussy cut... to make a variety of bouquets. The flowers especially the largest one work well with 3-dimensional piecing. I loved the variety of leaves that you could choose from too. But what I loved the most was the stem stamp. It is flexible and you can shape it as you place it on your acrylic block to make the stem go however you want it to, to make your floral arrangement.  Take a look at the trio of cards that I made with this set. 

The Simon Says challenge this week is to make a card inspired by a myth, fable, or story. I was inspired  by The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. 

The Dragonfly Dreams challenge is PINK. 

The Word art Wednesday challenge is always anything goes.

what's the scoop?

Check out my post on the STAMPlorations Blog  I show how I made this card.