Monday, December 31, 2012

Crafters Of Faith Monthly Challenge

Crafters of Faith is a group of Christian bloggers that met and bonded on SplitCoast Stampers.   Every month, on the last day of the month, we post a card with a theme chosen by a member of our group.  This month’s theme was chosen by Kelly and here’s what she had to say:

For our December challenge, we wish to "SNOW" you our winter inspired Crafter of Faith cards!  Create a card/project using a snowy-winter theme and "ring in the new year with glitter and bling!" Your winter/snow card creation should reflect the beauty of the gift of the season - snow, winter, snowflakes, etc and include bling and glitter to ring in the joy of what will be!

 
When I picked my image, I decided that I would do a spin on the wording “ring in the new year” so I switched it up a little.
 
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Ok, so you might not think it’s as funny and clever as I thought it was but I tried, lol.

My image is a freebie from Dearie Dolls … I just love her digi’s.  I colored it with my Bic Mark-It’s and used my B04 copic for the sky.  The paper is Michael’s Recollections cardstock in red with a green snowflake matt also by Recollections.

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Although you can’t really see the glitter very well, it IS there in the snowflakes.  Here’s a closer look at the sentiment as well.

 

 

 

 

The red bow in the corner is made using Michael’s ribbon that I found on sale one day.

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I added the snowflake brad in the corner to represent the bling.

I forgot to take a picture of the inside but it’s finished off with some white cardstock and a red and white striped glittery ribbon that I adhered just above the bottom of the white cardstock..

That’s it!   Not much to it but it’s all I got, lol.  If you want to check out what the rest of the group made, there is a list of the Crafter’s Of Faith ladies on the right side of my blog.

I’ll be posting more of my Christmas Bonanza cards tomorrow so pop back by and check them out!

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Sunday, December 30, 2012

Christmas Bonanza Day 3

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I’m going to start out today with a card that I wasn’t actually very fond of to start with.  That’s because when I first created this card, it consisted of the house, plaid paper and sentiment and that’s it.  It looked really blah to me and I set it aside.  A few days later I decided to dress it up a little and added the ribbon and puffy snowflakes that I had in my stash.  It is still not one of my favorites but at least it was more presentable.

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This card was a little tedious to make because the hanging ornaments were so small and hard to color.  I added one of my featured freebie sentiments offered in the month of December, and a little ribbon to finish it off.

 

 

Although you have seen this little snowman on a card before, I’ve presented him in a different way on this card.  I used my Silhouette Cameo to print and cut him out then adhered him to the front of the card with pop dots.  The snowflakes were printed and cut with the Silhouette and attached to the card with Scotch Quick Dry glue.  The snowman was colored with a mix of copics and Bic Mark-Its.  .  SAM_0252

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I had the “noel” sentiment already cut out and sitting in my stash so I colored it in with a light blue copic marker and added a black matt to it.

Well, that’s it for another day.  Thanks for stopping by.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Christmas Bonanza Day 2

A few more cards to share with you today…

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Don’t look too close at this one … the hand printing is horrid, lol.    The little snowman is cute, though, isn’t he.

 

 

 

 

 

This next card is one of my favorites.  I just love the little angel girl so much.  Coloring her was fun.  You’ll be seeing more of her on another card later. SAM_0269

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I colored her wings and crown with a silver metalic marker.  Her dress, hair and the Christmas ornament were coloured with copics.

The entire image was created using my Silhouette Cameo  machine.  First I printed the image and then had the cameo cut it, leaving a medium border around it.

 

 

 

Don’t look too closely at this next one, either.  SAM_0250You probably can’t tell but the green flag in the middle is upside down, lol.  I cut it out and then realized that I cut the triangular tip off on the wrong end.  Nothing I could do about it since I didn’t realize it until it was already glued down on the card.  Oh well…win some, lose some, lol.

 

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The baker’s twine is homemade using my copics and some white twine.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I love this trick.  It’s easy to do and much cheaper as well!

The “joy” embellishment is a die-cut that I had in my stash.

So that’s it for now but stay tuned for more a little later on.

Friday, December 28, 2012

The Start Of My Christmas Bonanza

This is a long time coming and I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to share my Christmas cards with you.  Every year I make and personally hand out all my Christmas cards.  This is just the start of the many, many cards I made.  In total, I made 75 cards!  Just to give you a little idea of what it took to do that, I started making these in September.   I really had to step it up in December to get them all done which is part of the reason I was not posting often.  I duplicated some of the styles but never more than 6 of one type – I tried to keep it to 4.  In this post, I will share just a few of the many I’ve made.  Stay posted for more.

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The “Merry Christmas” in the above photo was hand printed by me.  I’ve still got a lot to learn but thought this was a half decent first attempt at adding my own hand printed sentiment to a card.

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The sentiment in the above photo is one of my featured freebies offered in December.

Stay posted to see more of my Christmas Bonanza cards.



No Friday Freebie Today…

I am the proud owner of a brand new laptop which is great for me.  However, this means that I’m not able to produce a Friday Freebie for this week due to the fact that I’m still getting it all set up and haven’t had a chance to download the software I need to create my freebies.  I’m a little concerned that my graphic programs won’t work on this Windows 8 version but I guess I’ll eventually find out, won’t I. So I hope you will forgive me … if all goes well, I will be releasing a new freebie next Friday!

Thanks for understanding :-)

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Walking In A Winter Wonderland

Well, Christmas is over and it’s time for things to get back to some sense of normalcy – whatever that is, lol.    I woke up this morning to a virtual winter wonderland outside my front door. Now some might think this is an “aw” moment – these would be the people who think that snow is a beautiful sight -- but for me it’s more of a “ew” moment.  I could exist without snow, I really could.  I just don’t like it.  And when I woke up and saw that the plow had come down the street and blocked me into my driveway I was not a happy camper!  The only way out was to shovel my way through it.  So off I went, shovel in hand, and started removing that horrible white stuff from my path.  This wouldn’t be such a chore (okay, I’m kidding myself, it’s definitely a chore!) if the 6 other people I saw on my street weren’t happily removing their snow with snow blowers.  To be fair they have every right to do so – I mean, they did pay the $$ to have that privilege, lol, -- BUT it would be nice if, when they had finished their task, they turned to help another … namely ME, lol.   There I was, struggling to get the job done, and not one snow blowing savior came to my rescue.  But a mom’s gotta do what a mom’s gotta do, and, in order to get my daughter to work this morning, I had to finish the job.  And finish it I did … 2 hours later! 

Later on this afternoon, before my husband came home from work, my oldest daughter went out to shovel out a spot on the street for her dad to park in when he came home.  She’s a tiny, little thing – probably weighs about 100 lbs wet -- but she did a great job!  And I’m sure my husband will think so, too!  What a nice surprise for him to come home to!  Here are a few pictures from this oh so lovely (NOT) snowfall.

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The pile of snow in the above picture was twice as high by the time she finished!

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Notice the guy in the background of the above pic who came home while my daughter was shovelling.  See his nice, snow-free driveway and the can of gasoline by the garage door? He was out earlier blowing his snow and I guess he wanted to make sure that he had enough gas for next time so he went out and got some, filled up the snow blower and …. offered to help my daughter? … NO, he finished unloading his van and went in the house, lol.  Sheesh, I would have offered to pay for the gas in exchange for his help, lol.  Ce la vie.

Stay tuned for some pics of my Christmas card bonanza!

Monday, December 10, 2012

Clear It Out Challenge Continues

Week 2 of our fabulous month-long Christmas challenge continues. For all the details and TONS of prizes check it out here.

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Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Clear It Out Blog Christmas Challenge…

The Clear It Out Blog is having a month-long challenge for the month of December.  It’s an Anything Goes Christmas challenge and below is my first card for this challenge.  The image used is by Saturated Canary who just happens to be one of the sponsors for this challenge.  She’s giving away 2 digis to the winner of this challenge.

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The sentiment was made using stick on alpha letters as well as my own handwriting (which needs major improvement). 

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The above image was colored with my favorite tool of choice … copics.  I used the following colors:

Skin Tones:  E000, E00 & E11
Hair: E34, E47, E57
Top & Socks: YG62, Y64, V06, V09
Tree, Buttons & Bag:  G03, G05, G07
Boots:  W0
Skirt:  B91, B93, B95
Candy Canes:  Bic Mark It –Rambunctious Red
Eyes & Lips:  B06, R29

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I added a bow to finish it off and some snowflake brads to finish it off.

Hope to see you at the Clear It Out Challenge Blog where you can join us for this challenge.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

A Few More Christmas Cards…

I just thought I’d share another version of the First Noel card as well as a couple of other cards I’ve made this season.  500-SAM_0163

This one below was made by cutting the shape out with my Silhouette Cameo. 

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Thanks for looking.

Friday, November 30, 2012

Crafters Of Faith Monthly Challenge

Crafters of Faith is a group of Christian bloggers that met and bonded on SplitCoast Stampers.   Every month, on the last day of the month, we post a card with a theme chosen by a member of our group.  This month’s theme was chosen by MaryRose and here’s what she had to say:

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6
Hello, Crafty sisters! Can you believe the holidays are here? I LOVE this time of year! Peppermint Mocha Lattes, twinkling lights, Hallmark Christmas movies...every good and perfect gift pointing to our Savior. My favorite part of the season? Christmas carols. I LOVE Christmas music, and I have so many CDs that I have to start listening to them in October just to fit them all in! LOL I have a few favorites that make it into heavy rotation (Amy Grant, Kathy Mattea, Point of Grace, Sara Groves), and others that are strictly instrumental and fill the house with the ambient sounds of the season (Jim Brickman, Windham Hill's Celtic Christmas, and more). This month's challenge: Make a card based on one of your favorite Christmas songs or carols. (The Bible verse I chose is often associated with Handel's Messiah, another favorite!) Make sure your card has a little twinkle to represent the light of the world. Bonus points to anyone who includes kraft and gingham in their design (just because I LOVE kraft and gingham!)
So there's your challenge! Plug in that Christmas music and get inspired! I'm even learning some Christmas carols to play on my dulcimer.

 
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One of my favorite Christmas Carols is “The First Noel” so I went to my favorite resource for images and googled the song.  I found the perfect image that had an antique’ish look to it so I saved it and printed it.  Then I cut it into an oval using my Silhouette.  I adhered it to a slightly larger, black oval to matte it.  The red paper by Recollections, although not quite gingham but as close as I could get, was used because MaryRose said she was giving out bonus points, lol.
 
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The “Noel” on the bottom right was also printed and cut with my Silhouette. I used a copic marker to color it and washed over the top of it with my colorless blender to try and achieve an antique’ish look.   I adhered a few jewels to the bottom left to give it the twinkle which represents the light of the world.

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I can’t believe Christmas is less than 4 weeks away.  I’m not one who enjoys all the hustle and bustle of the season – in fact, it rather brings me down -- so taking some time out to reflect on this challenge and what this holiday is truly all about was just what I needed.  Thanks, MaryRose. 

I’ll end this post by sharing a poem that I wrote back in 2004…

The Reason For The Season
©  Dec. 21, 2004


‘Twas 4 sleeps until Christmas and all through the town,
much hustle and bustle and madness abound.
The people all scurrying about in a flurry,
in hopes that their shopping got done in a hurry.

The children done school & home for a break,
stirred up & excited, give Mom a headache.
And Dad working steadily to pay all the bills,
how that long list of Christmas gifts gives him the chills.

Soon all had lost sight of the wonderful reason,
why Christmas was such a significant season.
Far off in their minds was that day long ago,
when a babe was sent down to a manger laid low.

His birth was a blessing from the Father above,
given to mankind to show His great love.
A treasure so precious to you was bestowed,
on that day in a stable where love overflowed.

God knew that one day His Son's life would be given,
and into His hands & feet nails would be driven.
Christ would die, rise, ascend to his Heavenly place,
Our sins now forgiven by His mercy and grace.

This is what Christmas is really about,
a free gift of LOVE that never runs out.
There is only one present that truly has meaning,
it's the CHRIST that's in Christmas on Whom the star's gleaming.


I hope you enjoyed.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Clear It Out Challenge…

Well, it’s time for another Clear It Out Challenge and this one is going to be a little hard on the eyes so I’m apologizing upfront, lol.

Theme: Ugly Sweater Time
Stash:  Use your ugly, unused scraps of paper from your stash.

The sponsor for this challenge is Digi Darlas and she’s giving away 5 digis to the winner of this challenge.

I decided to take my scraps and cut them into strips.  I adhered them to the card front to create the background.  As you can see, a couple of the papers were glued on upside-down but I think that just adds to the ugliness of it, don’t you? 

The image is by Digi Darlas and it was colored with copics (YG 61,63,67 / R22 / E000,00,11,29,35 / B01,04,06 / R81,85 / W-0 & Colorless Blender) and Bic Mark Its (Rambunctious Red/Salmon Pink/Spring Green/Lemon Yellow/Prairie Berry). 

I created the sentiment on my printer with PeaMillyMix free font.  I used pop dots to pop-up the image and the sentiment and that’s it!  Easy, peasy.

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Hope to see you at the Clear It Out Challenge Blog where you can join us for this challenge.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

New Feature…

Hi friends.  I just wanted to let you know about a new feature I’ve added to this blog. It’s a “Share With Me” option which can be found on the toolbar just below the header for this blog.  It’s my hope that those of you who use the digital sentiments & freebies I create, will share a picture of the card/layout/project that you’ve created by linking it up through the linky tool.  So check it out … or better yet … use it!

Annoying Mr. “Anonymous”…

I’ve been getting a ton of anonymous response scams to my posts.  I don’t know of any way to stop them other than to use word verification for commenting.  I don’t really want to do this as I fear it will discourage people from commenting and I love to read the comments. Granted, these “anonymous” responses only show up in my email and not on the post itself but I still have to delete them from my inbox.  What to do, what to do?  Do I just leave things as is and continue to delete from my inbox …. or do you have any other suggestion on how to handle this annoyance?

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Challenge Time on the Clear It Out Challenge Blog

Grab all your RED supplies and join us for an anything goes challenge!

Our sponsor this week is Sassy Studios

Break out your tucked away RED supplies and create any paper creation.

Don't forget to link back to the Clear It Out Challenge Blog so you are eligible to win the Sassy Studio prize!

Here’s my card.  It’s called “Keeping It Simple”.  Doesn’t need a lot of explanation since it’s pretty straight-forward.  I figured the background paper (Michael’s Recollections) had enough going on that I didn’t really need to add a whole lot more.

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Hope to see you over on the Clear It Out Blog where you can join me in the challenge.  Enjoy :-)

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Thankfulness…

Good evening, friends.  Today’s post is a card I created for a group that has really been there for me when I needed them to pray for me, encourage me, rejoice with me in the good times and cry with me in the sad times.  Crafters of Faith is a group of Christian bloggers that met and bonded on SplitCoast Stampers.   Every month, on the last day of the month, we post a card with a theme chosen by a member of our group.  This month’s theme was chosen by none other than me.  Here is what I challenged them with ….

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." I Thessalonians 5:16-18

Wow, it's hard to believe that there is only 3 more months left of 2012...where has the time gone?? Some of you may know from reading my blog this week that Autumn is my favorite season of the year. In Southern Ontario it is quickly making its appearance and where I'm from the colour of the changing leaves can be quite spectacular. It's so inspiring--I just love it! Autumn also includes my most favourite holiday celebration--THANKSGIVING!! It's hard not to love a holiday that calls on us to give thanks for our blessings. I realize not everyone around the world celebrates this holiday, and our friends in the U.S. don't celebrate until November, so for this challenge you can choose to make either a card for thanksgiving OR a thank you card for someone who has been a blessing to you. Please use at least 2 designer papers and 1 embellishment, and most importantly, have fun! I can't wait to see what you've created!

 
Although my card is very simple and I’m a day early with my post, I am especially proud of it because it’s the FIRST card I’ve made using my new Silhouette.  The Cameo Silhouette is a machine that is jam packed with the possibilities of so many amazing ways to create.  I’m only just beginning to learn of all the magic it has in store for me.
 
With Hurricane Sandy looming, I whipped this card up just in time to beat the storm’s arrival in my town. Although we didn’t experience anything like our friends in the Eastern U.S., we did have some very high winds and bucket loads of rain.  I’m thankful that the only damage we sustained was a felled fence in our backyard. 
 
This card was made by taking one of the label shapes and welding it together to create the base for the card.  I added a couple of designer papers and an image that I found online and colored with my copics.  The label in the middle was created on the Silhouette as well.  Both the label and the pumpkin image were created with a feature called “print and cut”.  I printed the images on my home printer first and then the Cameo magically cut around it with a slight offset to give it the white border.  Pretty cool, eh.  I tied on a bow and called it a day. 
 
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I’m thankful for so many things.  First and foremost, I am thankful for my Lord and Savior, sweet Jesus. I am grateful He makes all things new!! I am thankful for His presence in my Life and that He calls me into partnership with Him. I am thankful I am His beloved and He is mine!

I am thankful for my sweet husband and beautiful daughters.  I am thankful that God has bound our hearts together in love and that we can share our faith with each other as we all pursue God's universal purpose but also our individual destiny in Christ.

I am thankful that God has brought together women who have the same heart to minister to other women through this group!

I am so very thankful that there is always enough of whatever it is I need in Jesus.

And of course, I'm thankful for my online friends ~  I ♥ you!  May we all live each day with a heart of gratitude. 

My thoughts and prayers are with all who have experienced devastating losses, whether it be a family member or a personal possession, due to Sandy.

PS: If you want to view the cards from the other Crafters of Faith ladies, you can find them listed on the right side of my blog.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

A Sunday Surprise

I sure hope you have had a pleasant and restful weekend and I pray that the Lord keeps you and your family safe if you are affected by this crazy “Frankenstorm”.  Here in Southern Ontario we are only experiencing bucket loads of rain so far and I’m hoping that it doesn’t turn to snow.

So what’s this “Sunday Surprise” all about you may be asking.  I’m excited to let you know that from time to time I will be posting a surprise freebie on Sundays.  This will not be a weekly thing because .. well .. where is the surprise in that, lol.   

I’m delighted to share today’s surprise with you.  It is a free printable bookmark made by me.  Keep it for yourself or share it with someone who loves to read.

This bookmark can be resized before printing if desired.  Just print, cut and enjoy *smile*

DOWNLOAD HERE or HERE

Preview Bookmark 3Digital clipart used was purchased at Digi Web Studio and is the artwork of Alice Smith

Keep checking this blog to see when the next “Sunday Surprise” will be.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

The Friday Freebie…

Time again for another digital freebie.  I’m taking a different route this week and posting a card sketch for you.  I really hope you will enjoy it.  Just right-click on the sketch and save it to your computer.

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Don't forget to come back next week for another Friday Freebie!

Monday, October 22, 2012

And the winner is …

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ME *grin*

I want to thank Nicole Robinson over at Scraptastic Memories for nominating my blog for the Liebster Blog Award.  This is my first blog nomination since I started blogging a short while ago so I'm really excited to be able to share this news with you.  Please be so kind as to check out Nicole's blog.  She's an awesome card maker and has some clever ideas to share!

The Liebster Blog Award is an award that is given by the blogging community to new up and coming bloggers with less than 200 followers. It's designed to be a blog award in the pay it forward fashion to share your dearest and most beloved blogs.

RULES FOR ACCEPTANCE:

Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to their blog. Post the award onto your blog. Give the award to five bloggers who you appreciate that have less than 200 followers. Leave a comment on their blog letting them know that you have given them this awesome award!

PAY IT FORWARD:

So now comes the fun part! I am going to give out 5 nominations, which is very hard....I love so many blogs.   Here are the 5 fabulous blogs with less than 200 followers that I would like to pass the Liebster Award on to:

Congratulations, ladies!  I will be leaving comments on everyone's blog to let you know you have won this award and I hope you will accept and cherish this award as I have.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to follow me!  I hope you have a great day!

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Question Of The Day…

Good happy Sunday morning to you!  It’s a beautiful fall day here in Ontario.  The sun is shining and the leaves on the trees are so gorgeous right now.  As I drove my daughter to work earlier I started thinking about what an awesome artist God is to be able to paint those colors just perfectly on the trees and in such a spectacular way.  I’m seriously impressed, lol.

I have a quick question for you and I would absolutely LOVE to hear your opinions.  As some of you may know, before I got started in paper crafting I was a digital designer for many online scrapbooking stores.  I would love to know how many of you are interested in that area of crafting.  I am thinking about possibly creating digital items such as papers, elements and even card fronts to give away from time to time as freebies but I don’t want to put the time into that if there is no interest.  So please let me know if this is something you would like to see me offer.  Of course, handmade cards will still be my main focus so no need to worry about that. 

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and blessings to you and your family.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Look what I got!!

About a month and a half ago I posted about a giveaway that Kadie at In My Minds Eye Creations was having.  Well, guess what…I won!!!!  And just this week I received my prezzies in the mail.  Take a look at everything I won …

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These pictures really don’t do the haul any justice.  The box was brimming with all kinds of wonderful items.  It cost over $30 just to ship it to me.  I’ve been so anxious for the weekend to get here so I could start using it all.  I don’t even know where to start … I mean, look at all that paper, ribbon, stamps, embellishments and so much more!

I’d really love it if you went over to Kadie’s fantastic blog and show her some love.  Thanks, Kadie!!

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Let’s Dress It Down A Little…

I thought I would share another version of the card in the post below.  Sometimes life can get hectic and crazy (more times than not for me lately) and you don’t have a lot of time to sit and create.  Sound a little familiar? I’m sure I’m not the only one that experiences days like this from time to time.  Here’s a solution … for those days when you’re in a hurry and just don’t have the time to get your stamps & markers out but you still want to put that special handmade touch into your card … just dress it down a little.  Don’t worry, you will still have a lovely card to give away.

See…..

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Happy creating!