Many Thanks

Hello.  I took a break from crafting last week, it wasn't a restful break, it was more of a keep my sanity break.  We had a large auction last Thursday and Friday here at the farm.  We are no longer dairy farmers, we are now crop farmers.  It was a super hard decision, I still walk around our empty farm crying.  I wanted to get back to creating, so today I decided to participate in this weeks CAS(E) this Sketch and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge, which was anything goes.  We had so many of our friends to help us through last weeks emotional rollercoaster that I need to start making thank you cards to send to them.  Here is this weeks sketch:

I was excited to use some new stamps for my card.  I love the Altenew Peony Bouquet stamps and dies, especially since some of my fondest memories of my grandmother growing up include her and the peony bushes at her house.  

 I layered four different Close to My Heart inks using the four different layer stamps for the flowers, they were Blush, Hollyhock, Tulip, and Vineyard Berry.  For the leaves, I layered 3 Close to My Heart inks, Sweet Leaf, Topiary, and New England Ivy.  I made a card base using Papertrey Inks Pale Peony cardstock. I matted it with a white cardstock that I embossed using the Honeycomb embossing folder from Stampin' Up!  The sentiment from Lawn Fawn I stamped with Close to My Hearts Archival Black ink and cut it out using a scissors.  I hope this card conveys to my dear friend who came and made sure we had food to eat during our action and days following how much we appreciated everything she did for us.

CAS(E) Birthday Card

Hi, I'm glad you stopped by.  I made a few different versions of this weeks sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch.

I combined it with this weeks Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Happy Birthday.  My color inspiration was from a picture a friend posted on Facebook of a parakeet.

Supplies Used:

Stamps:  Happy Birthday, Just Because - Close to My Heart

Inks:  Black - Close to My Heart, Lavender Glaze - Taylored Expressions

Cardstock - Papertrey Ink

Dies - Skinny Mini Party Borders - Taylored Expressions

Be Still

Hello!  For today's creation, I combined this weeks sketch at Freshly Made Sketches and the color challenge at the Color Throwdown.  Here's a look at the sketch and the colors:

I used my new stamp and die from Papertrey Ink on the sentiment.  I wanted to stamp the stripes in the background.  After some looking, I finally found this stamp in a Christmas set from Close to My Heart.  I cut the "God" part of the verse out with the matching die.  I cut it with both black and gold paper.  I layered the black beneath the gold to give it a shadow.  It made the gold stand out better.  For the rest of the sentiment, I opted to stamp it with Versamark and heat emboss it with black embossing powder.  

I'm also going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog.  This week, it's anything goes.

Supplies Used:

Stamps:  Jingle Borders - Close to My Heart, Inspired: God - Papertrey Ink

Inks:  Buttercup, Pear - Close to My Heart, Aqua Mist - Papertrey Ink, Versamark

Die - Papertrey Ink

Gold Metallic Paper - Creative Memories