First Tag Swap

 Hello There,

I have just participated in my first tag swap with Laura Denison at Following the Paper Trail and I wanted to share my tags with you...it was so much fun to do....I picked a french country theme....we had to make nine 4x6 tags, keep one and send in eight and we were supposed to sign each one....so here are a few photos to show you what I have done...I had a Mary Engelbreit mini calendar that is a tare away desk calendar with the most adorable children's images (she is my favorite children's illustrator) I wanted to use some of the images on something and not just throw them out...they are too cute....I hope this gives you some good ideas of how to do your own tags for swaps you should try it....it's really fun....and these tags can be used in cards or mini albums and even on scrapbook lay-outs....I hope you enjoy them....

This is what the back of each tag looks like....I made a small pocket and added two mini tags to it....

On each 4x6 tag I inked the edges of the tag and the image....

I also punched the lower edge and added a music note paper clip on the side...

Each tag has a ribbon tie on top and a felt flower with a brad in the center...

I also added some rhinestone stickers on the lover side edges....

These tags are relatively easy to make and the illustrated images with the quotes in them are just adorable....

Each tag has a different image and sentiment....

I loved the images so much they were kind of hard to part with....

This is one of my favorites...love the look of the mother and child with the comforter....and the sentiment reminds me of God being our Comforter....

This is the tag I kept....it reminds me to always remember it's the little things in life that are so precious and bring so much joy....and create so many memories....

Blessings
Sherry

Spring Day

Hello There, 

I love spring...it's just sooo pretty....and green...and rainy....I love the new flowers and buds popping up everywhere....it's just wonderful....I hope to do a little planting myself this weekend in between Rebecca's softball games that is....I have posted a picture of a beautiful spring day for you...even the sun feels perfect in the spring...

A beautiful day....

Blessings

Sherry

Sports Uniform Flowers

Hello There,
I hope you are doing well...I have been very busy lately...Rebecca's school softball league has just finished and now her regular league last game is tomorrow night...and then we are into full blown softball All-Star...summer mode...she had a tournament this weekend and then a game Monday night, and tonight (we just got back), and her last official game for the league is tomorrow night....at the game tonight as she was catching...she made a play to throw down to second and get the runner out...it was a perfect throw...but as the ball left her hand...she yelled "There's nobody there"....the ball hit the bag and beat the runner easily......oh well...the game goes on....she has practice Thursday night and then another tournament starts Friday night and will go thru the weekend.....

Life is full of amazing things...moments are fleeting...children are growing up....Life is precious and good and wonderful...even in the midst of pain....Life is good....

I have been brainstorming on how to capture these treasured moments of Rebecca's childhood... I thought of her old uniforms and all the photo's that need to be scrapped....and I thought...I should use this material somehow....in the lay-outs with her photos....

I have been learning about making all sorts of flowers for scrapbooking lay-outs...and I thought I would use some of these flowers...I have just started making the flowers....and I do not have the photos of them in the lay-outs yet....I will post pictures of them as they are finished...

Here is a flower I made out of some of Rebecca's old softball uniform socks that she has worn thru the years...I love all the velvety layers of this poufy flower....

These are really purple...the same material as the flower above...these are spiral roses...

These are some spiral roses I have made from some tie dyed purple and white socks she has worn from a previous uniform year....notice the stained or slightly brown areas...these are actually ground in orange softball field dirt that would not be washed out.....


Blessings
Sherry

Easter 2012

Hello There,


I hope you all are well...we are doing great....the daily routine sometimes takes alot more time than we expect...doesn't it...


I hope you all had a great Easter....it was  a beautiful day and our Sunday service was amazing...then we went out to eat with Holly and Rebecca...then took MaMaw some flowers at the nursing home... she has called me frequently since Sunday to let me know they are really being enjoyed by the staff that takes care of her and her room mate.....God is good.....

These are the roses that Gary gave me for my birthday....just beautiful....

 This year I made Easter bags...instead of baskets.....and I love how they turned out...Gary bought me a new Cricut cartridge called "A child's year"....and it's just amazing...full of beautiful images of children growing up...all the silhouettes you see on the bags are from this cartridge and I popped them out with foam dots....

 Aren't these images adorable.....

So so sweet....I am going to get a lot of use from this cartridge....


when Rebecca opened her bag...she yelled "Yea, bubbles...I love bubbles....and then she ate some of her candy and colored her eggs....there is nothing better than having kids in your life....they bring such joy and enjoyment to our days...I love love love being a mom....I have included the pics of the egg process....if your interested....

Rebecca is coloring her Easter eggs...one of her favorite things to do....

a little unsure of how this color is going to turn out...

thinking about re-coloring this one....have you noticed my photos are fuzzy...I need to clean the lense....

Now getting happy about the results...

Ta Daaaaa we have a winner...the perfect color...and now a clear picture....

carefully checking the color...she is serious about her eggs....I think this picture is supposed to be in front of the one you just saw....

I love that she is almost fourteen and still loves to color Easter eggs....

this is serious work here....interesting when I look at my photos at what I really capture.... I can see the lunch leftovers on the stove....

"Mom,  you still taking pictures...."

She gave me the stink-eye....

Apparently giving me the stink-eye cracks her up....

She is working on her ninja egg....did I mention she is into ninja's lately....

I repeat...serious work going on here....

I love capturing the creative process....

I should do a post of each year she has sat here coloring eggs in this same stool....but that would probably be boring to you...what I should do is a lay-out just for me...oh that would tickle me....:)

This is a magic egg...it has eyes, a beard and hair....that showed up in the dye....we are impressed with this.....love love love those inky fingers....

Blessings
Sherry

Send a Smile 4 kids cards

Hello There,

I hope you guys are doing well.  I have been busy this week making cards and I took a few photo's the other night...to show you...I made 60 cards to send to the kids hospitals that is put together by "Send a Smile 4 kids"...I have their badge on my sidebar....this is a wonderful paper craft project to get involved in....

Basically, they ask you to make a card and leave the inside blank to write in....these are delivered to surrounding hospitals....they don't have any hospitals participating in Texas yet...so I am sending mine to the Iowa address...these cards are given out by the staff and doctors to the children as a form of encouragement to them....and I am blessed to be part of this blessing....

I am sending 59 cards, this time because we had an emergency birthday card need that came up the other day and since it was for a pre-teen friend of Rebecca's we used one of these....most of my cards are for teenage girls...which is where they said they have been coming up short....

Our weather has been kind of sketchy this week....windy, thunderstormy and rain.....so I have not made it to the post office yet....but hopefully by Friday....I have the cards and mini to mail for Alison S. birthday, and the birthday card for Laura D. and now my hospital kids cards are ready....Oh, the joy of a crafty day.....

Here are some of the cards there are many different styles with lots of coloring and fun images....I am sorry the photo is dark....it was very late when I took it and the lighting is dim....I thought it was just me as my eyes were very tired....

Here is another photo of the rest of the cards.....again I am sorry that it is so dark....


Blessings
Sherry

Heatherlee's Wedding

Hello There,
Well, it's Monday morning and it definitely feels like a Monday...we got back from the wedding late so I did not post her card last night...the wedding was beautiful and they were very very happy....everyone looked beautiful, especially the bride....the ceremony was outside in a beautiful tree shaded area...and the reception BBQ dinner was wonderful....and the cakes were amazing...they did a great job with the color scheme and decorations... I just love weddings...the covenant with God is just amazing to be a witness to and take part in...we dropped Holly off at her house...and then MaMaw off at her nursing home and then we headed home...wow, I'm tired this morning...I think I need a nap....I just got back from taking Rebecca to school...this is the start of her last grading semester or quarter....I don't know what they call it....but basically she will get one more report card this year to finish out 8th grade....

and then...

She will officially be going into her high school years....WOW.....time flies when  you are raising children doesn't it....


Here is the card I made for Heatherlee and Daniel Peterman....

I used black cardstock for the base of the easel card...and some  designer papers from my stash to layer the front...the photo is one of their engagement photo's that is one of my favorites....I made the flowers out of the matching paper....I used my tattered floral spell binders die and popped it out with pop dots, the bling is recollection and I had some beautiful beige organza ribbon in my stash that matched perfectly...and then I made the stick pin out of pearls....I love the way it turned out.....

This is a side view of the card to show more of the dimensional details....

and this is the back of the card....this is another of their engagement photo's that I just loved....and I think it made the card...


Blessings
Sherry

Hello There,
I hope this Sunday finds you well....went to church today and it was awesome...and now I am heading out the door for my great-neices wedding...it's going to be a beautiful day....
Love is in the air...and life is good....
May the Lord Bless you Abundantly...

This is her present...I used spellbinders tattered florals and then the leaf one to make the embelishments for the present the black box has her card....I will post the card when I get back tonight...

Blessings
Sherry

Penny Black Card

Hello There,

I hope my post finds you well....I am having a great time in my scraproom tonight...making adorable cards.....I have dipped into my stash of Penny Black images and they are just making me feel sooooo warm and fuzzy inside...so I wanted to share what I have created...I plan on sending this card to the fabulous Laura Dennison from Following the Paper Trail....she recently had a birthday and I wanted to send her some love...she is such a blessing and inspires me to greatness in the craft room....I can see new mini's in my not so distant future...and I am definitely going to do her upcoming tag swap.....

Here is my card....I love this image and the purple ribbon makes my heart sing....I love the butterflies, seem to be using them a lot lately...that's ok I make my cards....my way....Rebecca was watching a Disney movie and I caught glimpse's of it and heard a lot of Elvis Presley on this movie...it's called "Lilo and Stitch"...not new, but new to us....who knew Elvis music was in a Disney movie...not me....
Have a wonderful evening....and I hope you have time to get inky this weekend....

I would like to enter my card in these challenges:
Pennybfriendssaturdaychallenge.blogspot.com-#192 the young ones
Dutchdare-cardchallenges.blogspot.com-#156-dots and stripes
scrappyfrogschallenge.blotspot.com-1st monday in March-seeing spots

Blessings
Sherry

A new card to share

Hello There,

I hope you are doing well....it's Thursday and I am ready to get scrapping again...I have made a card to share with you with a quote from Mother Teresa...I hope you like it...Spring break is progressing well we are sleeping in and staying up late...a good bit of rest and relaxation is good for the soul....

Here is the card...it has a black cardstock base...and I have layered on designer papers in plaid, hot pink, dark purple, olive green and white....I have used some green wire ribbon, and the Mother Teresa quote from Word Art Wednesday, and I have used a spellbinders die called Classic Scallop Rectangle, and I used pop dots to give it more dimension....I inked the sentiment with some Angel Pink Momento Ink...and then I added some butterfly's that I punched out of some beautiful pink wrapping paper from Hobby Lobby...the butterfly punch is a Martha Stewart called 3 in 1 butterfly...this is a lovely punch and very easy to use....I then added a few pink rhinestones on the corner of the sentiment to finish off the card....I love the way this turned out....and I can't wait to give it to someone...but for now it is perched on my work desk...and I am enjoying it....

This is a side view of the card to show you how the butterfly's are layered....

I would like to enter it into these challenges:

Word Art Wednesday-#19
Mojo Monday -#232
Stampin Sisters in Christ-#130
Ladybug crafts ink-Anything Goes
Simon Says- A bit O'green
Sentimental Sundays-#93 go green or recycle
Make it Monday-#80 Anything Goes
Kaboodle Doodles- #110 Show us some green

Blessings
Sherry

A Mini for Alison Schmidlin and a Card for Word Art Wednesday

Hello There,

I hope you all are well and having a wonderful day...I have completed the Mini Album I wanted to send to Alison Schmidlin with her card...I have pictures down below...I love how this mini turned out....and I hope it is a blessing to her...This is the Starbucks coffee sleeve mini I showed you that my friend Christy Faught made and this is my version of her design....I love the size...each sleeve has a tag that slips inside....

I have also completed my card for Word Art Wednesday Challenge I wanted to share with you guys....

We are officially on spring break and we are going to a wedding this weekend for my great-neice...I have made her a card to go with her gift and I love it too....I will post it after the wedding...in case she reads my blog...I don't want her to see it yet....(It's supposed to be a surprise)...

I went to a scrapping crop Friday night with Gina Ploss and her gang...it was fun even though the weather was bad and raining buckets...but, thank God we were all safe and nothing got damaged (my stuff was wrapped in plastic before I went out the door...

I spent most of my crop time working on some cards for the children's hospitals...I think it's called Smile of  a Child or something like that...I'm not sure....anyway I will find out and mail everything out hopefully by Friday....I saw Karen's little chicken card and was inspired (Thanks Karen) it was just adorable and she said she was sending it in...and I remembered this program and now I want to be a part of being a blessing to these kids....

This is the first page of the mini album I used Colorbok "Rosewood" paperpack  and all the bling in the album is from Recollection, the plaid ribbon I won in a blog candy present...

I did alot of fussy cutting with the paper pack for the embellishing and popped them out with pop dots...some of the trim is from Prima, and the stamps are varied if you see one you just love let me know and I will try to go back and look it up for you...

I have found my little pair of postage edge scissors to be some of my favorites for embellishing with...everything is inked with Tim Holtz "Vintage Photo" distress ink...this is one of my favorite colors...I have yet to find a paper color that it does not go well with....there is a prima flower here as well...

The papers are very versatile and Allison's mom said she loved birds so I used a beautiful stamp set I bought called "Spread Your Wings" by Just Rite...it has several bird silhouettes and bird cages and a few sentiments..

The Keys are fussy cut from the same background paper and backed in black and pop dotted...the birdcage is from the Just Rite stamp set and fussy cut backed in black and pop dotted...the opposite page I have added some opaque brown rhinestoned to the centers of the daisies...

The crown is a seperate stamp I picked up at Michael's and the scripture sentiment is a stamp I have had for quite some time....the bling is Prima and Recollections....and the top right sentiment is cut from some of the paper and edged and inked and then backed with black and popped out....I love the effect of this simple technique....

This is the back of the Mini with one of the tags that slips into each sleeve...this coffee sleeve mini is just an adorable size it will fit in a purse or backpack easily....and is quite fun to make...if you have any questions...leave a comment and I will be happy to help...

This is the card that I would like to submit to Word Art Wednesday Challenge...I love love love this sentiment...It's from Mother Teresa....I have found this was a woman of few words...but when she spoke it was profound......I made this Friday night at the crop...I used the paper pack (I can't remember the name of it...but it's in the new book) from Close to my Heart" and a beautiful stamp set called "Childhood Portrait" for the tree and children on the bench...I used pop dots for the layers and a little bling...the foundation of the card is dark blue...I do love the look of this card...so peaceful and serene.... 

Blessings
Sherry

Card for Alison Schmidlin

Hello There,

I hope you are doing well today...we are not going to get rain today...they said 70 percent chance...but I don't see that happening....Rebecca has a softball game at 4:00 today....

I wanted to share something with you...I have a blog friend who has a little girl about to turn 16 yrs. old and she is experiencing quite a few health challenges at the moment...her mom has asked if anyone can, to send a card...for her birthday this month to encourage her and let her know we are thinking about her....

Her details are listed on: Justgivemestamps.blogspot.com

(This is her mom's blog)

Her name is:  Alison Schmidlin 

P.O. Box 990

Dillon, MT. 59725

USA

and she is turning 16 yr. this month...

(sshhhhh don't tell her you are sending anything it's supposed to be a surprise...)

Here is my card I am sending and I am trying to finish a little mini album for her this weekend as well....I remember 16yr...so many things going on in your life....so many memories....in the making...If you can, send her a card....I would ask that you lift her up in prayer and her family too.....I have two beautiful daughters in perfect health....one is 26 yr. and one is 13 yrs....as parents we know how much we pour into our children...and want the best for them....we know the pain of seeing our own children suffering....and feeling helpless....but God....can do what we can't do....please pray for her as if she were your own child.....and believe that God is going to heal her completely...thank you so much for your help....your prayers truly do make a difference.....

Here is the card I have made for Alison Schmidlin...I have used black textured cardstock for the base...and layered on  Websters Pages "Hollywood Vogue and Wonder Fall" papers...they are in a 6x6 mini together....and they are stunning....I used the sketch from MOJO Mondays #231 challenge this week....I backed the flag with some burgundy cardstock...and placed 3 rhinestones underneath the flag....I used one of my Cricut...Art Philosophy cartridges for the scallop half circle on top of the flag...the green ribbon is from Stampin Up...I used some pop dots on the tag....which is just adorable on this card....and I pop dotted the cherry blossom flowers...that I just learned how to make...I really love these little blossoms....and as a final touch I tucked in two tiny feathers behind the tag and cherry blossom....I do not know what kind of feathers these are...my daughter gave them to me as part of a gift....

Here is a side view of the card...I am trying to show you the dimensional layering....I love the look of this card.....
and I added a black chipboard A for Alison on the card with pop dots.....

Here is the inside of the card...I used pop dots to make a little raised pocket for her sentiment...yes, I am a wordy person....so I needed a pocket to put all my words in...I also tucked in a few more feathers....just because...well, just because....
I think it's finished now....

I would like to enter this card in the challenge:

MOJO monday #231 sketch

Blessings

Sherry

2 more games last night

Hello There,

Rebecca had a school game in Alvin yesterday at 4:00pm and she pitched....she was very excited...because she did not hit a single batter...that's progress for her since she has now had two lessons so far...she also got a homerun in this game....which she was not excited about...because generally this should have been an easy out...but due to errors and inexperience on the other teams defense and over throws etc...she made a homerun...but I told  "her hey don't complain we will take it...."the whole team was happy and fired up...the dug-out voices were going crazy with cheering on their teammates at bat...you should have heard all the commotion....very exciting.... the girls played well and won... 8-3...

then... she came home and had to get her Homework MOJO on and get it done...she did grammar and spelling and studied for her math test and then made notecards and studied for her science quiz tomorrow and ate a quick PB&J with chips....

then.....

we switched gears....

she changed uniforms and we headed out to the ball fields in Santa Fe for her league team "Nightmare" game that started at 7:30pm and she was the catcher....she did great....they won....14-8...she was well pleased and hit well and was a WALL...the hilarious part was the umpire was calling a lot of balls last night...which should have been strikes and she kept having to ask him what the count was...because she saw strikes when he called balls......she kept looking back to her coach and her face said it all "are you kidding me..."well, umpires are there to call it like they see it....soooo.....it was a long game....we got home around 9:20 I think she hit the showers and had a whole 20 minutes to do whatever she wanted before bedtime....

I have been blog hopping this morning and just wanted to share how the games went...it's awesome to watch these kids...they want to play....win or lose it's all about playing the game....and these girls have got game....

Blessings
Sherry