Tortoise Shell Father's Day

I wanted the green background print to look like a tortoise shell - for some reason I woke up thinking about that ( :

To get the look, I took Wild Wasabi paper, and stamped the background print from Fresh Vintage in Early Espresso. Then I crumbled the paper up and sponged on Old Olive, Certainly Celery and Soft Suede. I covered with versamark ink and heat embossed; then embossed it with the vintage wallpaper EF. wheeew!

The boot is stamped in Early Espresso, and colored with Cajun Craze, Early Espresso and blender pens. I sponged Soft Suede and Early Espresso around the image.

The ribbon is some old SU twill tape I had - I stamped it with the background image from the Fresh Vintage set in Soft Suede to give it a worn look.

Get Well Soon

I made this get well card using the Nature Walk and FreshVintage stamp sets.  I stamped the Fresh Vintage pattern on the background using Pool Party  and Wild Wasabi ink and then ran it through the Big Shot with the Square Lattice EF. Used the Vintage Wallpaper EF on the Wild Wasabi. After I stamped the bird and colored using markers and blender pen, I embossed with the Square Lattice EF. Trimmed it with victoria crochet ribbon and designer series button. I took a very small trimmed edge of baja breeze paper and ran through the button holes to look like thick thread; then used tacky tape to stick the button to ribbon.

Apothecary Sympathy

Another card I wish I didn't have the occasion to make.  Because the family has such a love of life, gardening, and Jesus, I decided it should also be colorful with flowers.  Used my fav - apothecary art with labels framelits, bitty banners framelits, and the vintage wallpaper EF. The sympathy and friendship stamp is not SU - it's from My Sentiments Exactly (a very stamp).  SU papers used are cherry cobbler, daffodil delight, very vanilla, and watercolor paper. Ribbon is also daffodil delight. I used the marker layering technique to color the flowers.

Sympathy & Prayer

This is a card that I wish did not need to be made. My step-cousins 5 year old son died in a tragic accident 2 weeks ago. His name was Rhett and he was a beautiful, energetic boy that loved life, Jesus, and bright colors.  He would tell anyone that would listen about Jesus, and he had the utmost confidence in his child-like faith. Rhett lived the type of faith we are supposed to live as christians. So because Rhett loved colorful things, and because his mom loves green and purple, this is the card I came up with. We all use the phrase "life is so short" as more of a figure of speech. But never have those words had so much meaning and never have those words been so hard to swallow. It reminds me that each day is a gift, and the silly things that I grumble about or worry about, are so small compared to eternity. We have so much to be thankful for!

I am reminded of Romans 8: 38 - 39 

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

Faux Leather Deer Coaster

I made this coaster in a set of 4 as a christmas gift last year.  My friend reports they have received many compliments and "where did you find those" question.  To create the aged leather look, I took a piece of crumb cake cardstock and sprayed lightly with water, then crumbled it up.  I flattened the crumbled paper out, then inked the crumbled creases with soft suede. Then I stamped the deer from nature silhouettes set using black stazon ink. I ran it through the big shot using an embossing folder similar to snake skin pattern. I affixed the paper to the ceramic tile using mod podge and glossed over the image using mod podge.