Grateful Artistic Texture journal

I was inspired to make this journal for my friends after the idea on Pinterest by Sue Plote, This Pink Rooster.  She used the mini treat bag thinlets to cut the holes for binding the booklet together.  I used a piece of crumb cake cardstock for the cover and regular copy paper for the inside pages.  Stamp sets used are Touches of Texture (141934) and Awesomely Artistic (139950).  The outside images are stamped in cajun craze ink.  The dragonfly, flower and sentiment are stamped in basic black archival ink.  I colored the flowers with Stampin' Write markers in crushed curry, cajun craze and basic black.  The dragon fly is colored in rich razzleberry and island indigo inks and stamped with one of the Texture images from Touches of Texture.  The grateful sentiment comes from Endless Thanks (138796).  I made my bow from strands of a burlap ribbon I cut the edge off of and pulled the fibers apart.  The binding is stitched together with cajun craze baker's twine and a running stitch.                                                                                                

   

     

I love how these turned out and I hope my friends will too.  A very wise woman once told me to write down three things you are grateful for every day.  This journal is a great place to do that.  I hope you are inspired to creat one of your own.  Thanks for stopping by.  I'm grateful for all of you and my place to share a little creativity with you.

m&ms Jar of Love shaker card.

Anyone who really knows me knows I am a HUGE m&m fan.  So when I saw where someone had used the Jar of Love stamp set to make an m&m shaker card, I had to make my own version.  I started with a patriotic card and moved on to a Christmas card.  I plan to make one for fall and for the spring as well.  This card features the Jar of Love stamp 141587 set and Everyday Jar (141490) framelits which can be purchased either separately or as a bundle (142342) to save 10%.  The background is stamped using the Touches of Texture stamp set (141934).  I used Real Red, Dapper Denim and Whisper White cardstock along with Real Red (126949) and Dapper Denim (141394) ink.  The jar was stamped on window sheet (114323) with Stazon black ink (101406) and cut using the Everyday Jar framelits.  The jar lit was embossed on whisper white cardstock with gold embossing powder as well as the ribbon and bow.  They are also cut with the matching framelits from the Everyday Jar framelits.  The banner was created with the Thoughtful Banners stamp (141614) set which has a matching punch called the Duet Banner punch (141483) and can also be purchased in a bundle (142330) to save 10%.  The shaker frame was made using the new foal adhesive strips (141825) which make shaker cards so much easier.  The m&ms were made utilizing a punch I had purchased from the m&m store in Las Vegas, Nevada.  

This is the Christmas version of the card.  It uses Real Red, Emerald Envy (141415 cardstock and 141396 ink pad) and Whisper White.  The sentiment for this card is from the Oh, What Fun stamp set (140386).  I used markers directly on the stamp to create the multi colored look.

Thanks for stopping by my blog and taking some time out of your busy day.  I hope you are inspired to create something today.  Crafting is my therapy and I love sharing my creations with all of you.  If you would like to purchase any supplies, please click on the shopping cart and it will take you to my online store.  Please leave me a comment and tell me what you think.  I'd love to hear from you.  Please stop back by.  I'm going to try to be better about posting weekly from here on out.  I've had quite a few health issues and other personal trials going so far this year.  Hopefully, the rest of the year will be much better from here on out!

Thoughtful Branches love is a sheltering tree

I made this card for my 36th wedding anniversary for my husband.  I love the way it turned out and I hope he will too.  I wanted to make something extra special.

I started with a scrap piece of very vanilla cardstock and stamped some splatters on with the Touches of Texture (141934) in cajun craze, and crushed curry.  I then stamped the tree branches from Thoughtful Branches (143530) in Emerald Envy and another in Garden Green.  I cut both out with the tree top from the Beautiful Branches framelits dies (143438).  These are only available until August 31 and I highly recommend the bundle in which you can save 10%.  (144328). This is a very versatile set and will last the whole year through.  I used the balloon celebration stamp set (140675) to stamp a few clouds on a piece of whisper white cardstock to make the card front.  I then stamped the tree trunk from Thoughtful Branches onto the white cardstock after I had set down the tree top to judge the placement of the trunk.  I stamped the trunk in early espresso ink.  I then stamped the trunk onto a piece of chocolate chip cardstock in early espresso and used the coordinating die to cut it out.  I stamped one of each bird in the set using tempting torquoise with a little bit of dapper denim on the wing and delightful dijon on the beak.  I used smoky slate and a bit of sweet sugarplum on the other bird.  In order to shape my tree, I used adhesive foam strips (141825) in the middle section of the tree top and adhered the emerald envy tree on top of the garden green tree top to give it some dimension.  I used a little bit of snail adhesive on a couple of spots on the outside edges to the tree would appear rounded on the card.  Before placing the tree top on the card, I stamped some garden green splotches from the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set (130517) to make the tree seem extra full in the background.

From Sheltering Tree stamp set (137163) I used the swoosh to make the grassy area and used the stems and flower tops to make the flowers.  I also used these pieces on the inside of the card just to add some interest there as well.  The grass is stamped in pear pizazz, stems in garden green and flower tops in blushing bride.  I also used the sentiment friendship is a sheltering tree and used the selective inking technique NOT to ink the word friendship.  I used the word love from Thoughtful Banners (141614) to complete the sentiment to save love is a sheltering tree.  I punched hearts from the heart border punch out of blushing bridge and red glimmer paper (121790).  I finished off the inside of the card with a little stamping and a sentiment from Flourishing Phrases (141534).