Cards for troops!

I know I talk too much, but it's kind of my special talent ;) Hey, I happen to make a living with communication! But I've decided the cards can speak for themselves today, so here is mostly cards, less talk!

Each card represented a different challenge over at SCS' WishRAK but we also were supposed to try and use something we've received through WishRAK. I chose my favorites here, but I made 13 new cards and am sending a total of 35....including my eagle card from my sketch. Want to send some cards you don't want/need? Email me and I will mail you an address! More is better!

Card recipes are in my album {kimmet123}at SCS if you want to see everyone's cards. Just type in WR4thCC08 plus numbers 01-17 after that (eg. WR4thCC0806 to see all the anniversary challenge cards) into the search. Anyone can see them without even joining, I think. Try it!

The first card was my fav! It uses Kim Hughes' Fall Silhouettes set from Cornish Heritage Farms! It was so fun to plan out the circles on the card! The other images are Gina K, Karen Lockhart, and of course Magnolia stamps! What fun!!


















What do you think about this less talking thing?? Yeah, me neither!! ;)

A few challenges

Morning all! Finally, the right kind of challenges!! (As opposed to the stressful kind!!) I had some time to myself yesterday, so I made a few cards for a challenge over at CHF. Kim Hughes is one of the AMAZING stamp artist and card designers over at Cornish Heritage Farms forum and there is a Kim Hughes Blitz challenge going on this weekend. Saturday's challenge was called "Wonderful Wings". We had to use one of her "winged" images in our card. I made two for this challenge...Here's the first:

You can find a tutorial for this card on Sharni and Clair's blog, as well as a few other places. I've always wanted to make a Onesie card and finally decided yesterday was the day!! I used all Prism Cardstock and Kim Hughes' Cute curls and Scripty word sets. The eyelets are actually a deep pink color, although they came out red in the photo. I used Mahogany Distress Ink by Ranger.

Here's my second try; it's a card for my DH for our 25th anniversary in November...inside says "...all over again... Happy 25th!!" (Shhhh...don't tell...I'm hiding it 'til November). These images are from Kim Hughes' Fall Silhouettes collection at Cornish Heritage Farms. The base of the card is actually a clear acrylic that CHF sells. IT IS THE BEST AND THICKEST ACRYLIC OUT THERE!! It comes in 8.5 x 11 and if you want a good product to stamp on...get some! You can make two A2 cards per sheet! This card was inspired by another designer I admire: Lisa Silver. Check out Kim's and Lisa's blogs for inspiration!! It's guaranteed!!

It's crazy humid and hot here in NY, so stay cool, won't you?? Have a grand week!!

PS Also check out what's going on over at Clear Artistic Stamps....new releases that are beautiful!

Blog Hopping with PTI!! Welcome everyone!

Welcoming all blog hoppers!
As anyone who reads Frog of Faith knows, I love Papertreyink! Tonight is a very special event over at PTI...on the 25th of every month, Nicole and PTI are sponsoring a "Blog Hop". Twenty five blogs are being "showcased" and those who choose to participate are challenged to create a card according to the...well, challenge! This month, Nicole has asked Forum member bloggers to create a project using bits and pieces of her newest designer paper Father Knows Best. I didn't land on the randomly chosen "showcased" list, but she has invited any and all blog hop participants to post a link over at the forum...So! What you see above is my challenge project!

My inspiration:
Making a quilt on a line was my first thought when I saw the patterned paper squares Nicole gave us to work with...I once came upon a framed quilling project similar to this several years ago at a women's retreat. I always felt it was a card waiting to happen! Then I saw the designs, the challenge and **POOF!** the ideas came back and TA DA!

BLOG {HOPPER} CANDY ALERT: All the images you see in the card above are Papertreyink...I used many sets...How many, you ask?? Can you guess?? Comment with a guess on this post and for all the correct guesses posted by 5 pm Saturday evening (EST), I will choose a random winner and will send you a roll of Papertrey's new ribbon color, Lemon Tart!

For the watering can, I embossed clear EP onto one of the patterns from PTI's Pink Patterns DP and my favorite little grasshopper was stamped onto a dotted pattern from the sleeve of a papertreyink package I received (never waste GOOD DP...even on the packaging!!) I also used PTI's Perfect Match inks: Aqua Mist, Blush Blossom, Berry Sorbet and Spring Moss. Some of the images are faint on that last quilt, but I didn't want to reink them...they are darker in real life and I like them! The only paper I used that isn't PTI is some Brown Prism paper behind the third quilt. The calligraphy, and the ant, are my creations :) If you click on the image, you'll see it much better!! I also added some dimensionals under the left edges of each "quilt" to make it look like the little breeze the words were riding on was blowing each quilt....kind of hard to see in the picture! What do you think?? To see more creations for the challenge(and if you are a forum member), click here. What fun! More creations with PTI treasures!

Here are two more cards using PTI images. Both of these cards use Green Thumb...one of my favorite sets....there's my grasshopper again!! The second card uses one of PTI's newest colors of ribbon and CS, Summer Sunrise as well as her March release color, Berry Sorbet (CS). All ink on these cards is SU.

And hey, here's my last project for the post...this is actually for my Backgrounder Blitz challenge over at CHF (I used the scalloped lace BG'er) but I'll put it here because I used PTI ink, (Berry Sorbet) and cardstock, AND stitched ribbon(both Summer Sunrise)! The pattern for the purse was from Nichole Heady's blog and it uses an acrylic card box cut in half (purchased from PTI). I use these beauties for gifting 3x3's. Aren't they GREAT?!

Wow! I'm so glad you stopped in to visit! Feel free to drop in any time...maybe we can share a gelato or a caramel latte next time! Hope you have a lot of fun on the rest of your blog hopping adventure! I know I am! Don't forget to leave a comment and a guess for some blog candy!

Be well and blessed, honored friends and guests, alike!

Americana and some music :)

HI! Thanks to those of you who checked out my picture gallery over at CHF! I don't think I've put all of them on my blog before, but many of them have appeared here once before. Here's a few more cards I've made for the Backgrounder challenges over at Cornish Heritage Farms....



This is my Americana kisses card! I have loved red, white and blue (and thus flags) since I was a kid...my mom's birthday is July 4th! And I LOVE fireworks! So anytime I can use red, white and blue for anything it's a good time!


This challenge was to use the "kissing" technique...that's where you ink up a backgrounder, then using a solid stamp like my houses, you press the two together so that you end up with ink on the solid stamp from the backgrounder!! Instant smooching!! Then you stamp your solid stamp onto paper and voila...a designer image!! The stars were almost solid images...they actually have vertical lines...when I inked up and kissed the Canvas BGer from CHF, it made a grid-like pattern...cool, huh? The wide strip behind the stars and houses is the actual BGer design. I used the Primitive Beginnings set again (love it!) for most of the card, although the flourish is from SU's Baroque Motif. What think ye? :)

Here's a card that required stamping a backgrounder on something other than paper....I used acetate to make a little 3x3. CHF is actually going to sell really GREAT, heavy duty acetate in 8.5x11" sheets for cardmaking, and let me tell you....this is GOOD! I use overhead projection sheets and they really aren't heavy enough to use. They work, but it will be nice to have it be a good quality "stock". I am excited to use the new stuff...it comes out on Friday with the BGers I think...I'll let you know!

Anyway with this card I used CHF's Music BGer and, although I'm trying to use only CHF stamps for their challenge, I HAD to use this little "note" for the card...it comes from an old SUtag set. I really like the look of it. Simple and kind of elegant.

Thanks again for taking a peek! More to post tomorrow, if I can carve the time out!

Blessings, all!!

Blitzed!

Hi all! {FYI in this post: BG and BG'er stands for Backgrounder} ;)

Vacation is over and life is back to swimming in the raging river of activity....it's hard to just jump in the turbulant waves after being out for a few weeks, but after a bit of paddling, you get back in the tide of things! Okay, enough water analogies! :)

I did have quite a bit of stamping time over the break (the most time since last AUGUST!) and I have been posting cards for a "Backgrounder Blitz" over at Cornish Heritage Farms forum.They have the BEST unmounted BG'ers EVER!! You should see all their designs!! Check them out >>here<<. I wanted to post a few here today and over the next few days, so you can see what I've been up to! I've also been DOING a lot of "away from the computer" activities as SPRING IS HERE! So forgive my lack of "here-ness", SBS9 sisters and friends...I'll do better soon!

Here's two of my creations for the BG challenge at CHF:

The first challenge was a sketch card and I used CHF's Primitive Beginnings set. It is a very Americana set with a lot of "olde world" appeal. It also seems to fit well into the latest 'grunge' movement in images. The BG'er is retired.

This card was the day 2 challenge. We needed to use a partial BG image on a card. The tulips and Victorian BG are also all CHF and the sentiment is from their Delicate Wings set.

Doing these challenges really stretched my creativity with using Backgrounder stamps! The reason CHF is having this "party" is that they are unveiling a new release of Backgrounders on Friday, which is when these "Backgrounder blitz" challenges are done....by the way, if you want to join in the fun (sorry it took so long to mention it! Oh, and you need at least one CHF BG stamp to participate) you can have a chance to win one of their BG'ers! Even if you DON'T have a BG'er...check out the forum's gallery....it is FULL, FULL, FULL of inspiration and beauty!!

To see the BG cards specifically, type BC01, BC02, BC03, BC04, or BC05 into the search and you'll see mine and others. If you want to see my gallery cards, the album is named kimmet123. Hope you get a chance to take a peek!!

I better go...the river calls!!

Blessings, all! God is so good!

More to share!

Happy new year, everyone!! We had a great time welcoming in the new year with some good friends in our town's church, playing games and watching a movie...we saw Secondhand Lions...if you haven't seen that movie, I suggest you rent it...I loved it! Great family movie!

And here I am again...to share some of my card making mania! I know Christmas is over, and you have all finished your cards and such, but it's never too late to get inspired for next year! On Splitcoaststampers, they have a Christmas card challenge...you make just 10 Christmas cards a month , same or different, and by Christmas next year, you are all set for cards! What a great idea! No, I probably won't do it, but I could!! And so, I hope these cards inspire you!

Most of you know that my DH (that's darling hubby!) is a letter carrier. He receives nice thank yous from his customers on his route. He has been very blessed this year, as many of his "people" love and appreciate his smile in all kinds of weather and how he will go out of his way to bless them. Of course, he wants cards to thank them and of course he wants HANDMADE cards!

Awww, forced to stamp! Poor me! Tee hee! Today's post highlights all the cards I made up for him....I actually had to keep making more as he was REALLY blessed on his route! The warm winter wishes card above used CHF's Prizm Ice Gold cardstock....BEAUTIFUL, addictive stuff!!! Hard to see well in the picture, it is white with a gold undertone. I actually ordered it by mistake, but I LOVE it! I used SU's Warm Winter Wishes stamp set and Frost Blue Kaleidoscope ink pad. I also used Encore's Metallic Gold ink as well as SU's gold cord. I think it came out pretty...warm and cold at the same time!


Now this card is my favorite I think! I GOT A
CUTTLEBUG for Christmas!!! It's a cool "press" machine to emboss paper in just seconds!! It was number ONE on my Christmas wish list, and my hubby got it for me!

So, you will be seeing LOTS of use of it in my cards! The background of this card is embossed with the D'vine swirl folder and I used Gina K's Got snow? and Let it snow stamp sets. I colored with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol mineral spirits. I used SU's retired Liquid Applique for the snow falling....isn't it adorable? Notice the boy wearing my two favorite colors...Kermit green and Syracuse orange :)


This next card was also "cuttlebugged" with D'vine
Swirl (I only have two embossing folders so far!) And this card also uses Gina K stamp set, Punchy words. The holly paper is from a Walmart DP pack my girl gave me for Christmas :) and SU's Real red paper is the card base and strip. I used Perfectly Clear stamps for the bric-a-brac strip inked with SU's craft white ink; I added a bit of glitz with SU's Dazzling Diamond glitter while the ink was wet. Love that sparkly stuff! I punched the scallop and edged it with the white ink. Simple, yet kind of elegant, don't you think?




Finally, I made this card using some DP I bought from Current, Inc. a million years ago! I added some gold snowflakes from SU's Warm Winter greetings set as I used the Ice Gold paper for the tag and inked the Make merry stamp in the metallic gold ink (stamp from SU's tag set). The beautiful ribbon is from Hallmark and the cardbase is Real Red. A gold brad for the tag and I was done!

Do you know that I made more cards for his Thank Yous than I made for us to send out? That's what happens when you make 10 at a time....hmmm....maybe that Christmas challenge is something I should do!!

Well that's it for today! I have some projects to show you later in the week, so stay tuned! I wouldn't want to overwhelm you! (Who me??) Isn't this so FUN!? (By contrast I must now work on my lecture notes for the grad class I am teaching this Spring semester...love augmentative communication and all, but it's not as FUN as stamping!)

Hey, feel free to leave me a comment! Lots of you send an encourageing email, but it's nice to know you've been here! I check in when I can!

Blessings to you all, for today and for all of 2008!

Kim

PS The "spots" on the pictures are not on the cards...my camera has ghost spots that turn up here and there...gotta figure that one out! :)

A great reason to LEAP!!! (a lot!)

It's been a really good week....a short school week for my students due to the holiday weekend, but so fun!! And we had a conference day today learning more about working with kids with autism in the public schools, and the speaker was great, so with that double reward, it went fast!! And the weather?? G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S!! The fall colors are out and it is sunny and beautiful!!! It's supposed to be a great weekend overall

And my reason to leap?? I am a winner!!! (Well, yes, God's love and being His child makes me a winner everyday....but I mean, I won a contest!) If you are a stamper and you haven't yet visited Cornish Heritage Farms store and blog yet, you gotta!! This week, Liz had a 'treasure hunt' introducing a new line of Kim Hughes stamps...we visited blog and blog of their new designers (14 stops in all), collected clues and signed up for drawings to win FREE STAMPS!!! And I won one!! Yippeee!!!! You see, CHF has the most awesome backgrounder stamps at such GREAT prices!...I get mine unmounted and using an acrylic block, make awesome impressions...they are so versatile!! Here are my presently owned BGers (stamper's lingo for backgrounders) from CHF:

I already have 14 (um, yeah, a LITTLE obsessive!!) , and the stack of them is only 41/2 inches high!! So EASY to store! (That's how high 4 of my wood mounted BG stamps stack!) And then you only need one acrylic block for all of these; you just reuse the block over and over! Wanna see a card I made with one?










This card uses stamping Up's Friendship's Journey, but the BGer is CHF...Victorian Flower BG. So pretty!! This card is being sent out for a swap I'm taking part in on CHF's forum. Swaps are cool in that you send out and are sent four cards and you get to experience techniques, cool stamps and cards to give away or be inspired by...AND you get mail! How COOL is THAT?? Oh and now you know all that.....


Wanna see the CHF BG stamp I won?? Here it is!! This makes 15!! Love it!


The owners of CHF, Richard and Liz have a farm, which is out west...click here to read their blog...and Richard tells me that this is an image of an actual cheesecloth from some cheese they made on the farm!! Being a person who loves to learn stuff like that, I am so pleased to have a story to tell when I send a card made with the image :)

I love winning stamping stuff....feeds my obsession!!


I am also happy for this weekend to attend the Letchworth State Park Craft show....I live minutes from the "Grand Canyon" of the East and every year my mother in law Joyce and I go and wander and eat....so fun! The weather being so good, it will be crowded, so we are going early. Hopefully, I can post some pix of the leaves changing...still early yet for peak, but still PRETTY!

So hey, what are you all up to this weekend?? Hope it's special! Feel free to comment on my blogs....I'm going to try to post more regularly and maybe sometime soon post some blog candy!! Wouldn't that be a blast?

Be well and blessed this week! God is faithful! Be sure to pray for our soldiers and our president and other government leaders this week! If we don't, who will???

Yes, I'm still leaping for joy!

Welcome back to my blog (for me, too)!! Well, I've learned that blogs are funny things....I love to read them and I'm really glad I started mine, but then it greets me everyday with a blank page.....not unlike the day the Lord had made today! And then the obligations come in and then the choices are wide and open and things get juggled and the list grows and morphs and here we are...end of September!! These certainly have continued to be busy months! We have thankfully "recovered" from our Algonquin wilderness trip! (Let's just say we weren't the ONLY Leaches in the water!!) I promised a pic or two so here you go! You'll see one of the sites we stayed in and what early morning looks like on the water. See our ultra light tents??? You pack really really light when you carry everything everywhere everyday!! All the water you see....we paddled through and back!!
We got back from Canada and spent a week downloading our stuff, our knotted muscles, our brains, our pictures and our days!!












Now fast forward to September and along with getting back to school, this last month I've been planning for our church's yearly missions emphasis for the month of September...the last four Sundays! It's been a lot of planning and juggling speakers and fun and exciting mission focused stuff....but it is time consuming....today was the last day and it was just AWESOME!! We had speakers this month that minister in China, all of Latin America, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Japan, Kenya, South Africa, the middle East, Egypt, Turkey, Kazakhstan, even in Rochester, NY and every country in between! When we realize that God has given us the charge of spreading his word of love, peace and redemption for eternal life to the entire world, I get fired up!! :) (My husband will tell me this is the first sign of trouble! :0

But I loved the summer, finding time to stamp, usually late night when I'm just not tired enough for bed...I've recently joined the Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) forum on Splitcoaststampers.com and the WISH RAK as well....so I get to send lots of cards and grant image wishes to people I don't even know!! It's such a blessing to use my stamps to make others happy! If you are a stamper and have never been to SCS it can be overwhelming at first--it was to me....so I decided to take it one step at a time....and what a wonderful group of people! I have already received three welcome to SCS RAKs, one welcome to Wish RAK from my mentor, Dorothy and some Bella images, too. Being part of this reminds me that I have a big family of people I DO know who don't get enough cards from me, so I am going to start RAKing them and see what happens!! (Good things always do!)

Since school has started, though, even finding time to sit in one spot and breathe is hard to do! So stamping has taken to only the weekends....at least til soccer season quiets down! I did manage to stamp a few cards for a swap I am in on the Cornish Heritage Farms forum; I'll try to post a pic of one as soon as the recipients receive them! I did make a card for a sympathy card swap, but neglected to take a picture! Here are some cards I stamped this summer:



This was a b'day card for my friend Sandy....the stamps are Gina K's sea friends and the sentiment is Hero Arts. I used all in colors '08 from Stampin up and some Cuttlebugged paper my friend Kathy G let me emboss with her machine (I am SO getting one for Christmas!!)

My favorite part of the card was the little guy on the envelope....I drew in the cupcake (tee hee!)






This one I made for a "Cards for the troops" contest. I love this God bless America 9/11 commemorative stamp from Stampin up. The backgrounder is Cornish Heritage Farms (retired) and the 'hero' word is my own handwriting! SU Brilliant blue and Real Red are the inks and the sentiment is also Hero Arts.

Please please pray for our troops in all the world...we just had another young man from our church go out and we want the hand of God over all their lives!! We cannot thank them enough for their daily sacrifices!!

Well, I should go do my homework now! I am so hoping to check in more often and share my cards and musings! thanks so much for spending some time here! And thank God for another new and shiny day tomorrow to fill with new and exciting stuff! Blessings to you and your family!!

PS Forgive the space issues on the blog....I'm still a newbie with layout and what I see on preview is not what I set....ah well, at least it shows up :) Thanks to God for the blessings! :)