Love of Our Lost Ones...Sympathy Card

I hope everyone had an awesome Easter weekend. Quite frankly, the weekend went way too fast! Although, the weather decided to cooperate and we had some nice sunny weather for once. We went to our favorite restaurant, Super China Buffet, and stuffed ourselves and then we went to the park. My son had asked to have our own Easter egg hunt at home so we made sure to buy some treats before heading home. I almost forgot as I was getting the eggs ready that I had bought the kids bug catchers and magnifying glass to use when we go camping awhile back so I used those as their Easter gifts.

Anyway, I got to thinking this weekend that I forgot to post some other things I was working on. That is what happens when you are not connected with the blogging world as much...

I created this vintage sympathy card using one of Elegant WordArt sentiments by Bethany. I found this quote on the SCS website and asked Bethany to re-create this for me. I just love how this sentiment is not gender or age specific.

For this card, I also decided to try out rolling a flower out of felt. First, I cut out a circle then started cutting a swirly on the inside of the circle to make my flower. I know i followed a sketch for this one, but I can't seem to remember which one since this was made sometime late last year.

I'm Baaaacccckkkk! Another Thank You Gift Set...

I've been neglecting my blog again! Sheesh! This work thing is really bogging down my creativity. However, I do love my job. But I thought I would share since I finally formatted some photos in last day or so.

This is a gift set I made for a wonderful co-worker when I started back in October. Yes, it's been awhile, like I said. She has been a great support to me in helping me succeed with my job. We always have such fun when we train together or even just on the phone - LOVE YAH KAE. So, what better way to say thank you than to present her with an altered gift set - can you tell I LOVE making these? LOL. This is just like the one I created for my supervisor (you can see it here). I just love using wordart from Bethany. She has so much talent when she creates these wordart sets. I used the sentiment from the set called Old Testament WordArt pack. In case you have trouble reading the sentiment, it says:

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding; In all thy ways, acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

Proverbs 3:5-6

Isn't this a great scripture? I thought it was such a fitting sentiment because that is exactly how I feel about my co-worker. She is a great mentor.

No real need to explain what I have done here...you can see for yourself!

On a sad note, I just recently read that Bethany will be closing down her wordart store at ScrapOrchard and she is discounting her sets to 50% off! Click here to read her post and to get those wonderful sets while they are on sale. Luckily, she isn't completely shutting down her business, just moving location, but she said it might be awhile before it gets transferred over to the new store site.

I have one more post so don't go just yet!!!

Elegant WordArt by Bethany: Thank You Gift Set

I just started a new job a few weeks ago and it is definitely taking a toll on my blogging. So I apologize if you haven't seen me much here lately. Alot of these posts, I've had stored in my drafts waiting to be published. I found an awesome job only 4 blocks away from where I live. So both my husband and I work pretty close together. It's only part-time and very flexible which I love because I can still volunteer in both of my kids' school activities. I stumbled on this job opportunity several weeks back and have been pretty ecstatic about the possibilities with somewhat a learning curve. With that said, I have taken a leave of absence from some of my DT commitments till the new year to see how much I am going to be able handle. As you all know, creating cards and projects are the fun part...it's the all of the work afterwards like taking pics and posting that is (at least for me) the most exhausting part of the whole process. With the holidays coming abound soon, I am not sure how much I will be blogging because I will be preparing for a 2 week vacation to visit family and friends that I miss very much and creating handmade gifts. But I do want to thank those of you from the bottom of my heart who visit my blog and leave comments (every one of thoe comments always puts a BIG smile on my face - I like it aLOT as Jim Carey would say), or have become followers, or even some of you who like to lurk (like I do) and use my work as inspiration. So don't you go anywhere! I will still be around to posting some things...

What I have for you today is a gift set that I created especially for my new boss. She drove all the way down from the Twin Cities to specifically train me for two days and then went back to the corporate offices the next week. I wanted to find a way to show her my great appreciation for giving me this unbelievable opportunity so I created this...

I know nothing extraordinary...but it is my most favorite combo of all gift sets. What better way to say "Thank You"! All the elements used in this geft set is from Elegant WordArt by Bethany. She creates the most wonderful wordart that is not only great to use for digi scrapping but for creating hybrid projects as well just like this one.

The card uses Calendar Wrap Around and sentiment from the Thank You wordart packs. The Calendar Wrap Around wordart pack also includes 2 date markers you can use to specify a certain date which I forgot to do here. I printed the calendar on kraft cardstock and used my scallop rectangles to finish off the frame using brown cardstock. The card is finished it off with a purple wide grossgrain ribbon and used my nested butterflies nesties to finish off the card. I cut out the bigger butterfly using a transparency sheet (that you can buy from an office supply store) and the smaller butterfly is paper pieced with patterned paper (popped up with a dimensional) and embellished with a button with crochet thread tied underneath.

I created a matching composition notebook that uses digital wordart from the Walks wordart pack. I added the same butterfly embellie to the sentiment.

Last, but not least, I couldn't resist making a matching bookmark which also uses a sentiment from again the Walks wordart pack. I only used the smaller paper pieced butterfly for an embellie on the bookmark so it wouldn't crowd the wordart sentiment.

Digital Stamps: Elegant Wordart by Bethany (Calendar Wrap Around, Walks, Thank You)
Paper: My Mind's Eye
Ink: Computer, Tim Holtz Distressing Ink (Antique Linen)
Accessories: Nestabilities (Nested Butterfly, Classic Rectangles/Scallop Rectangles), Wide Purple Gorssgrain Ribbon, Crochet Thread, Button, Transparency Sheet, RSVP Pen, Composition Notebook

Children May Know...Thank You Card and Check Holder

One of the our neighbors had invited my son to vacation bible study last week. This was the first time he would be attending bible study and was so nervous he wouldn't know anyone. But I kept reassuring him that most likely he will find children who had gone to his preschool and some of the other neighbor kids were attending as well. Vacation bible study was held for 5 days for 2 hours long so hubby and I got a chance to spend some one on one time with my daughter - it was very nice.

On the last day of the class, I made a yummy dessert, Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars, for the kids during snack time and created a two-in-one project that was a thank you card and check holder at the same time. I used the template from Designs by Lisa Somerville (Grad Money Holder Tutorial). She has a lot of tutorials so make sure to check out her blog!

In Lisa's sample, the inside piece almost looks like a bookmark, but because of time constraints (I was trying to finish it within the 2 hour timeframe before I had to pick up my son), I opted not to put all of the frillies at the top. My hubby and I decided to give the church a pretty hefty donation because my son absolutely LOVED going to bible study. So I created a slit underneath the sentiment (way at the bottom) with the SU slit punch to hold the check in place.

I thought a religious sentiment/verse was appropriate for the card so I downloaded some Elegant WordArt by Bethany you can find in this post. She is one super talented gal and has a great eye for putting words together so elegantly! There were 5 separate pieces to the verse so I hope I pieced the whole verse the right way. I used 2 different flower images from Inkadinkado Garden Delight stamp set colored with Stampin' Up markers on both sentiment layered pieces - oh yes, I actually inked some neglected stamps!!! I actually tried the rock and roll technique (I know it's hard to see it in the pictures but there really are two different colors on the flower petals).

When I finally picked up my son, I took a picture of the whole class and handed the card to the volunteer coordinator. After she read the card and message I wrote on the back, she was crying (in a good way)! I think she was just touched mostly because she loved having my son there! He is such a good boy! We are so proud of how grown up he is!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Digi - Stamping!





Digital Stamps: Elegant WordArt by Bethany (Children May Know)
Stamps: Inkadinkado (Garden Delight)
Paper: Memory Block (Inspirations)
Cardstock: Georgia Pacific (White), The Paper Company (Dark Blue)
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Antique Linen), Stampin Up (Old Olive, Positively Pink, Ruby Red, Close to Cocoa)
Accessories: Stampin Up (Paper Piercer, Slit Punch), Offray (Baby Blue Ribbon), Crop-a-Dile

Diving Deeper into the DigiWorld: Elegant WordArt Creative Team

Wowza! It's been such an unbelievable ride down the DT road! I've personally been invited to join the Creative Team at Elegant WordArt by Bethany. It will be an honor working beside the other CT gals. Mentioned in a previous post, I just recently discovered the work of Bethany Harty! She specializes in digital wordart and one truly talented gal - you can see her work at Elegant WordArt by Bethany. I never knew how powerful a sentiment can add to a card/project.

I'll be joining Bethany's team of digi scrappers which I want to dive into one of these days, but they also create hybrid samples as well using Bethany's wordart in combination with digi scrap kits found at ScrapOrchard. It's kind of scary knowing I will be stepping in the digiscrapping world (it looks so intimidating), but I'll be able to introduce them to a whole new side of papercrafting.

To see more of and to purchase Elegant WordArt sets, head on to ScrapOrchard.

More samples to come! Thanks for stopping by!

P/S - Notice my new siggy? You like? I made it myself...finally learning the tricks of the trade on PSE and blogger techniques. Woo hoo!

Elegant WordArt Cards

Since becoming so addicted to digital images and sentiments, I have been on the hunt for some cool images online. Before being introduced to Digiments, digital sentiments were just making their way on the popularity scale along with digital stamps. Michelle, the owner of Digiments, has created some fabulous sentiments.

A couple of weeks ago, a fellow DT member, Laurie Ingram (aka Paperville), introduced me to Elegant WordArt by Bethany Harty. I just love how she has such great vision putting together wordart. You can find freebies listed on the left side of her blog - there is many of them and she adds a new one every week - how cool is that? Bethany ROCKS! Aren't they so breath taking and just so inspirational. If you are looking for more of Bethany's work, you can purchase digital wordart sets including digi scrapping kits in her store called ScrapOrchard - very affordable! Hope to do some digi scrapping one of these days.

The first two identical cards, I used 2 Sketches 4 You: Laura's sketch 30 from July 13. Of course, I missed entering these again. Oh well, most of the time, I'm not in it for the prizes, just the inspiration.

The third card is based from a new sketch challenge blog started by fellow DT member, Leigh Ann Baird (Stamping with Annie B) called Sketch Girl. This is the first sketch challenge that Leigh Ann posted: SG1. Thanks Leigh Ann for the inspiration!

The two cards that have butterfly sentiments (I made 2 of the cards that have the busy flowers on them) were thank you cards sent to my MIL, Mom and Aunt for sending me some goodies for my birthday (I was able to buy some things I've been wanting for awhile - some of the newest Nesties! Yay!!!). And the third card with the Answer to my Prayers sentiment is going to someone really special. She is a follower so hope she misses this post - teehee! I made a special project to match the card that I will post later.

You may have noticed that I have been posting cards with paper you have seen before. I've been trying to be good and use up some scraps before tearing into a new piece of paper. You gotta love those paper pads from M's and Jo's - everything coordinates so perfectly so there is no guessing!