Freshly Made Sketches #319 & Encouragement

Some of you must wonder what I do that I don’t have time for many cards.  I adopted one of my grandsons, and he’s only 6.  Quite a handful for someone in their 60s, at least I think so! lol  I also have 2 sons, 3 daughters and 10 other grandchildren! 🙂  Four of my granddaughters live right down the street and their family doesn’t have a car so I do all the driving.  Plus I manage cards for 4 hospitals!  There is seldom a dull moment in my house! lol

You may think all this time I haven’t made any cards, but I have 🙂  I’m going to show you some of my cards today, because my theme is Encouragement cards.  A number of people have asked about Encouragement cards, so I’m going to show you some, and give my advice for making them, and it’s easy! 🙂

First off I want to show the card I made for Freshly Made Sketches #319, I will also post it on the Send A Smile 4 Kids challenge blog 🙂  Here is the #319 sketch:

And here is my card:

What can I say, my cards aren’t really exciting, I make them for kids, I try to make them cute and fun 😉  What can be more cute and fun than this adorable little panda?!  You can get it free from Stampin’ Up! with a $50 purchase during Sale a Bration! 🙂  I bought the cute envelope paper at Snap Click Supply Co.  I got it last week on $1.00 Wednesday.  They have rotating digital products for sale every Wednesday 🙂  I saw the paper and knew right away what I wanted to do.  I fussy cut my little panda.  As always I kept close to the sketch and my card is clean and simple 🙂

Now for some other cards I’ve been making:

This is mostly digital papers that I printed with my computer and printer, but you could use paper stacks.  You could use any paper, with any theme.  People seem confused when I say Winter theme cards.  These are Winter themed Encouragement cards.  Winter papers with Encouraging sentiments 🙂

Also Winter themed with Encouraging words.

I made these Winter themed Encouragement cards with older (teen, pre-teen) kids in mind.  All Stampin’ Up! products.  These are certainly not the only type of card that is Encouraging.  Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer all have nice papers and images that can be considered Encouraging 🙂

I’m including some cards from Vicki Luebke of IN 🙂

Now click on the images to enlarge and read some of the sentiments.  Some of my sentiments were rubber stamps and some printed off my computer.  I’m pretty sure Vickie’s were computer generated.  It works out great if you can size them so they fit into punches or dies that you already have.  Please no hand written sentiments.

There are many more sentiments that you can find or print.  Great Job, Good Job, Have a Wonderful Day, Wishing you Sunshine, You Did it, Congrats, Be Brave, Be Strong, Be Happy, Smiles, Hugs, Enjoy Your Day, Make Memories, Have Fun.  If you can think of anything that might be good for Encouragement, feel free to add it to the comment section!

If you still have questions, you can ask in the comments or email me for a more personal answer 🙂  I plan to make more Encouragement cards for other Seasons.

Thank you Vicki for letting me share your Encouraging cards!

I hope you all have enjoyed these cards! 🙂  Thanks for coming by whether you send in cards or just join us for inspiration, I appreciate your interest! 🙂  I hope you can come by again! 🙂

It’s was warm earlier this week but we’ve fallen back down to the single digits 😦  Hence my signature of snowmen! lol  Spring is coming…….sometime…….wait for it! 🙂

Advertisements

Freshly Made Sketches #311 & guests

Hello! 🙂  It seems like I never have time to make cards myself anymore 😦  But I made one today, plus I have guest cards to share, I hope you’re ready! 🙂

My card will be submitted at Freshly Made Sketches #311 I will also post it on the Send A Smile 4 Kids challenge blog 🙂  I’m thinking this card would be good for a teen 😉  Here’s this weeks sketch:

Here’s my card:

I thought it was a little hard to see, so I took the photo again with a green background.

It’s hard to tell about the silver accents in either photo I think 😦

Well, on to my guest donors 🙂  First I have Deborah Caldwell of MI 🙂

Thanks Debbie for these great Christmas cards! 🙂  I love to get cards early for a holiday! 🙂  Some of our kids need to mail their cards and I like to have plenty of time for them to get where they need to go 🙂

Next I have Janelle Klapperich of SD 🙂  Janelle sent her cards in Oct. so I have some Fall and some early Christmas to share 🙂

Thank you Janelle for the great cards and the early Christmas! 🙂

Now I want to share some cards from Trish Cudney of MN 🙂  Trish sent in Winter cards! 🙂  Winter cards are really important, Christmas isn’t the only thing going on during Dec., Jan., and Feb.

Lots of Thinking of You, and “no sentiment” cards, these can be used for anything in the Winter! 🙂  Really cute examples of layouts and look at those same images with different layouts and papers, you know I love those! 🙂  Also, don’t be afraid to send up to 10 of the same card.  I have 4 hospitals now and can divide them up 🙂

Thank you Trish for sending some early Christmas cards! 🙂 Trish shared that the papers she used were 6×6 pads from Echo Park, “A Perfect Winter” and Carta Bella, “Cabin Fever”.

I appreciate you all and the wonderful cards you send for our kids! 🙂  I can’t imagine our kids without holiday and general cards, I don’t even want to 😦  It must be so exciting to receive a card while in the hospital! 🙂  You are the ones spreading those smiles, be proud! 🙂

Thanks for coming by today and looking at the great cards that donors share! 🙂  If you are part of our group, I’m so glad you’re here! 🙂  If you just come by for inspiration, I hope you found some! 🙂  I appreciate every one of you!! 🙂

Please take a few minutes and check out both of the blogs linked above for more card ideas! 🙂  Hope to see you again soon! 🙂

 

 

 

Freshly Made Sketches #308 & SAS4Kids

OMGoodness, it’s been too long again! 😦  I thought when school started it would calm down here……not so much 😉  But, I made a card!  Big laugh for those of you who send in cards for my hospitals!   Yes, I made one card! lol  And I’m going to enter that card at Freshly Made Sketches #308.  Here’s their sketch 🙂

Those of you who know me, know that I stick pretty close to the sketch, so here’s my card:

Everything on this card is Stampin’ Up!  Almost everything is from the new Holiday catalog that you can see here on my page, upper right.  The sentiment is from an older set, but still Stampin’ Up!  I used the new Christmas Quilt Stamp set, Quilt Builder Framelits Dies, Quilted Christmas 6×6 Designer Series Paper, Stitched Felt Embellishments and the Quilt Top Textured Impressions Embossing Folder.

Quite a mouthful, but I can hardly wait to use it for other occasions than Christmas!  Also used is Cherry Cobbler and Garden Green Cardstock, and one of the sheets from the Designer paper stack.  I hope you like it 🙂

Now, on to my guests! 🙂  First I have Janelle Klapperich of SD 🙂

Thank you Janelle for these great Halloween cards and I love the Dinos! 🙂

Next, I have Andrea La Vigne of TX, who has a blog of her own that you can see here 🙂

Ok, the last one on the right, is because I just thought they were so darn cute! 🙂  Not for Halloween, just because 😉  Thank you Andrea for these wonderful cards, these are sure to please! 🙂

Last is Lillian Abrams from MI 🙂  Lillian says she has a friend who colored a lot of the cards and then she put them together, great job ladies! 🙂  Now this is a set up to get you in the mood for……..Christmas! 🙂

Thank you Lillian and your friend for these wonderful cards! 🙂  Look at all the girls cards, we need some boy cards 😉  Boy images are so hard to find 😦  Although I’m sure they would like Santa and the snowmen! 🙂

Thank you ladies for all your effort and dedication! 🙂  You make the world kids live in a better place! 🙂

Thank you all for coming to visit today, I hope you found some inspiration, and had some fun! 🙂  I appreciate every one of you, even if you don’t make cards! 🙂

I hope to see you again! 🙂

Doodle Pantry & Send A Smile 4 Kids

I’ve been sick for a few days, and I’m afraid it may get worse, before it gets better 😦  Probably just a cold, I don’t understand how they can make you feel so miserable! 😦

I have the new Stampin’ Up! Holiday catalog near the top on the right side of my page! 🙂  You can order now if you’re interested, I’d be happy to be your Demonstrator! 🙂

I hope everyone is well and enjoying the beginnings of Fall ! 🙂  I love Fall and I have a number of cards to share with you today! 🙂

First is my card for the Doodle Pantry sponsorship of Send A Smile 4 Kids! 🙂  I will enter it in both blogs 🙂

Hmmm, it looks blurry here, but if you click to enlarge, it looks just fine 🙂 I used some misc. paper on the right, a couple stickers on the left, and an digital image by one of our sponsors, Doodle Pantry! 🙂  To make the card, I used Thinlits-Circle Card die (retired) by Stampin’ Up!  It’s so easy to make this cute card ! 🙂

 

Now for some fun SAS4Kids donor cards! 🙂  First I want to show some cards from my friend,  Jill Blasche of TX 🙂  She has made some great examples of Fall themed cards that aren’t Halloween.  She also has sent in some cards made for two of my hospitals and then changed them up just a little, so they can go to my hospital with no embellishments 🙂

SAMSUNG DIGITAL CAMERA

Ok, the orange one looks kind of Halloween, but it doesn’t have to be 😉  Both cards are made two ways.  On the orange card, it’s made with googly eyes on the left, and on the right, it has just card stock eyes.  On the leaf card, on the right, you can see she used some string and a button.  On the left there is a paper button and just a strip of card stock in brown.  All of the cards are great and with minimal effort, changed into a card with no embellishments!

SAMSUNG DIGITAL CAMERA

Again, the black card could be Halloween, but it has a general sentiment.  The black card on the left has ribbon, and the one on the right has card stock that looks like a ribbon 🙂  The pumpkin card has a nice Fall theme, with a general sentiment.  the one on the right has ribbon and three gems.  The one on the right has green card stock and three punched holes to represent gems, very clever 🙂

SAMSUNG DIGITAL CAMERA

Two more that look like Halloween, but have general sentiments, and two more that are very Fall looking 🙂

SAMSUNG DIGITAL CAMERA

SAMSUNG DIGITAL CAMERA

Four general cards included in the box, I love the birds! 🙂  Thank you Jill for all these wonderful cards! 🙂

Next I have cards from Diane Herniman from ON, Canada 🙂  Diane makes wonderful cards with flowers from her garden and her dog, birds, and other live or flying things in her yard!

SAMSUNG DIGITAL CAMERA

This is the front and inside of one of Diane’s cards.

SAMSUNG DIGITAL CAMERA

SAMSUNG DIGITAL CAMERA

On the left is the front and back of the card, and on the right is the inside 🙂

SAMSUNG DIGITAL CAMERA

SAMSUNG DIGITAL CAMERA

All card fronts, gorgeous photos! 🙂

SAMSUNG DIGITAL CAMERA

SAMSUNG DIGITAL CAMERA

On the left are two fronts and on the right is the envelope and card front 🙂  Thank you Diane for your beautiful cards! 🙂

Next is Yara Baird from WA,and she has a blog you can visit HERE.  Yara may have sent to other volunteers at SAS4Kids, but she is new to me 🙂 Yara has sent in a wide variety in her box! 🙂

SAMSUNG DIGITAL CAMERA

Summer all the way to New Year! 🙂  Thank you Yara for your wonderful cards! I know the kids will enjoy these cards! 🙂

I know, it’s a long blog, but I’ve been gone a while 😉  One last donor, and that is Vicki Luebke of IN 🙂  Vicki sends in a lot of cards, she is really good with encouragement cards! 🙂

Great cards, Vicki, wonderful selection! 🙂  Thank you Vicki for your continued support of our kids! 🙂

All of the card makers on my team are talented and generous!! 🙂  I couldn’t do my job without all of you! 🙂

It’s taken me two days to finish this or more, I can’t remember, I hate being sick! 😦

I want to thank all of my cardmakers and everyone who has stopped by today for some inspiration! 🙂  I hope to be back soon with a brain that’s not filled with oatmeal!

Merry Monday #197, Easter & SAS4Kids

This has been a horrible month for me! 😦  I had Strep Throat, a cold, and now a Sinus infection! 😦  I am not a happy camper:(

What cheers me up is to make cards, sort cards, box cards & send cards!  Actually, anything that involves cards makes me smile! 🙂  So I’m here to share some Easter cards with you! 🙂

First, my card, is for Merry Monday #197.

One of my card makers used this embossing folder by Darise, I loved it so much, I had to get it!  It folds up at the corners and looks like a photo frame:)  Here’s a side view:

For this card I used the Darise Embossing Folder, I think it’s actually called Photo Frame.I used Stampin’ Up! Real Red cardstock, White Glimmer Paper, and Wink of Stella clear glitter brush.  I used a digital image from BellasScrapsnClips on Etsy.  One more photo to show you the Wink of Stella:)

I put the Wink of Stella on all the snow, I think it looks really pretty! 🙂  Next I have some guests with Easter cards! 🙂  First up is Cyndie Reis of CA:)  Cyndie has sent in cards a couple of times now:)

Aren’t these cute!?  The colors, the papers the cutouts, all are so adorable! 🙂  Thank you so much Cyndie for finding us and sending cards in! 🙂

 

Holly Blaskie is a repeat sender from MI:)

Pretty colors and images, the kids will love these! 🙂

I love these papers and colors, so Springy! 🙂  I adore this little lamb from Stampin’ Up! so cute for Easter! 🙂  Thank you Holly, your cards are always wonderful! 🙂

 

Lastly I have Lee Mae Elkins of WA:)  Lee Mae has her own blog that you can visit here, http://boxesofdogs.blogspot.com/

Lee Mae has sent in a wide variety of cards and very few duplicates, where does she find the time?!

http://boxesofdogs.blogspot.com/

http://boxesofdogs.blogspot.com/

Some really great cards for the boys, and the ones on the right, I think would be great for teens:)

http://boxesofdogs.blogspot.com/

http://boxesofdogs.blogspot.com/

Simple layouts, but great papers and images make them special! 🙂

http://boxesofdogs.blogspot.com/

http://boxesofdogs.blogspot.com/

More cute cards! 🙂

http://boxesofdogs.blogspot.com/

http://boxesofdogs.blogspot.com/

These cards are adorable, love the papers and images!

http://boxesofdogs.blogspot.com/

http://boxesofdogs.blogspot.com/

I love all of these cards!  The two on the left are so different from the rest! 🙂  The two on the right are also so stinkin’ cute!  Thank you Lee Mae for sending so many different cards, I know the kids will love all of them! 🙂

Well, I’m exhausted and ready for bed!  Maybe I’ll take a nap and get up again, who knows;)  Thanks so much for coming by today, I really appreciate your interest! 🙂  I’m hoping to get well at some point soon so I can get back to some kind of schedule.  I’m sorry if I’m not as cherry as usual:(

I’m wishing all of you a very Happy Easter, I hope you can enjoy it with people you love! 🙂

 

The Friday Mashup #242, Valentines

Hmmm, I was hoping that when I came back, so would the “old” way to add a post.  No such luck:(  I’m forging ahead with the “new” way to add a blog post, so I hope it goes faster than last time:)

Welcome back! 🙂 I have another card and I have a guest as well:)  So first off, I have my card that I made for the Friday Mashup #242.

The Mashup Challenge this week is:

• Create a project for your Valentine.
• Create a project featuring a Candy image.
• or Mash it Up!! and create a V-day Candy themed project

I didn’t take this photo straight on so it looks a little strange, at least to me;)  Everything is actually straight and even:)  I made this card with Stampin’ Up! Gorgeous Grunge (retired), Rose Red & Blushing Bride ink, and a stamp that I know is Stampin’ Up!, but I’m not sure of the set.

The main image is from Fred She Said called Valentine’s Day-Better than Chocolate.  Behind the heart, I used Baked Brown Sugar, and the background cardstock is Blushing Bride, both by Stampin’ Up!  A little different from me, but I love the finished card! 🙂

 

My guest today is a repeat sender, Vicki Luebke of IN:)  Vicki sent a few Valentine’s in this box, but mostly she sent Winter themed cards:)  Because I made a card with Fred She Said today, I’m going to show you her Winter cards because she also used a lot of Fred She Said images:)

All of the Fred She Said images are listing in the shop under Christmas, here is the main link:)

Aren’t these cute?!  I love when the same image is used in different ways!  This is called Emma the Skating Elf.  I also love that she used 4 of the 6 colors available in the set! 🙂

On the left is Emma the Snow Angel.  This was a special request by me for Tracey the shop owner, wasn’t that sweet of her?!  I love it! 🙂  On the right is Catchin’ Flakes, this one reminds me of my brother when he was small:)

The image on the left is Hat Tipping Snowman, and the one on the right is Winter Westie.  Most of these sets also come with the plain digi that you can color yourself:)  Vicki has done a great job with her designs! Even though the snowmen have the same layout, they look very different:)  All of these cards are great! Even if they went to kids in the same hospital on the same unit, each child would feel they have a special card!

I have a lot of FSS images!  I think this is the first image I bought, and it’s still my favorite, this is Emma the Hugger! I, myself, have used this image many times, it just makes me happy! 🙂

I have a few more from Vicki I’d like to share:)

Vicki does an excellent job of making encouraging cards, and they’re so cute! 🙂

Aren’t these adorable?!  I believe all these images are from Dollar Graphics Depot.  All of their images are only one dollar!  I love Vicki’s clean and simple designs! 🙂

These are the last images for Vicki today.  Both of these images are rubber stamps from Stampin’ Up! (retired).  Thank you Vicki for sharing your talents with our kids!  All of these cards will be donated to hospitals through Send A Smile 4 Kids! 🙂

Thank you to Vicki and all card makers who make and send cards for our kids! 🙂

Thanks for coming by today, even if you don’t send cards, I hope you’ve gotten some inspiration for your own cards! 🙂  Hope to see you again soon! 🙂

 

Merry Monday #187, Valentines & SAS4Kids

It is COLD where I am, and I made a Christmas card, but we’re also going to look at some Valentines today, so lets get started! 🙂

First, my card is for the Merry Monday Challenge #187. The theme this week is plaids:)

I love plaids! 🙂  I actually use them a lot, just not lately:(  So here’s what I made:

I made a card like this one a while back with a red Moose.  I liked it so much, I decided to use the green fox:)  Everything I used came from a digital store on Esty.  I actually took the image over to a photo program and made the plain green from one of the fox’s stripes.  Then I ran that plain green through my Cuttlebug using an embossing folder from Stampin’ Up! (retired).  I also used a sentiment from Stampin’ Up! on the top right.  It’s hard to see because it’s from Teeny, Tiny, Wishes;)  I wanted to keep the sentiment small to not disturb the scene:)

After embossing my paper, I rubbed it gently with a nail file to bring out the white.  Pretty easy:)  I plan to make a lot of the plaid animal cards for next Christmas!  I think they will be great for guys in my Send A Smile for Kids hospitals! 🙂  People tend to think of kids as small, and I understand that, but we also serve “kids” up to 18, sometimes 20.  Please keep them in mind when making cards! 🙂

 

Now for some extra fun today, I have a guest who has sent in cards many times! 🙂  She sends her cards down all the way from Canada, Diane Herniman:)  I always feel the need to tell people you don’t have to make cards like Diane’s!  Diane’s cards are unique:)  I’ve never seen anyone make cards like hers!  That doesn’t necessarily make her’s better than any of yours, just different:)  I appreciate all the different styles of my card makers and I know the kids do too! 🙂  So enjoy Diane’s cards, and don’t feel that I compare them to anyone elses:)

I, personally, have three hospitals.  One of my hospitals has asked for cards without embellishments.  Here is how Diane has chosen to address that problem:)  The first card on the left, is a copy of the second card!  She made the second card with lots of stickers made with foil and they stick up a bit.  She just copied it and now there is a card without embellishments;)  Great idea!

Here are the insides, the card on the left is “flat”, and the card on the right has a big foil sticker!  Both are great cards, and I’m sure whoever gets them will be happy! 🙂

Here are the backs of the cards.  If you’ve never seen Diane’s cards, she uses every available surface for the kids enjoyment.  The one on the left is the “plain” one and the one on the right has the same type of foil stickers:)  Great job Diane, I would never have thought of doing this! 🙂

How about this one?  Boy cards are so hard for me sometimes, Diane does a great job! 🙂

I’m always surprised when I get a box from Diane:)  She calls this a ordinary card:)

I’ve never seen this type of card before!  At the top is how it looks when you start to open it.  They how it looks closed, and finally when it’s open.  What a great, fun card! 🙂  I had to see more of these!

Cards for boys and girls, yay! 🙂  I think boys will find these just as much fun as girls! 🙂

I don’t like to pick favorites, because I love them all, but I have to say this one is my favorite! 🙂  Click on this map to enlarge it and see all the 3D items on here! 🙂  Amazing work Diane! 🙂  I don’t know how Diane thinks of these things!  I’d love to see the face of the boy that gets this one! 🙂

No pressure Diane, I don’t expect something this flashy all the time, but it’s fun to open these cards once in a while! 🙂  Thank you Diane for thinking overtime to come up with great ideas!  I could never do what you do!  I have them here in hand and I still couldn’t copy them if I tried!

 

I hope you all enjoyed Diane’s cards:)  As you might imagine, Diane doesn’t send a lot of these cards.  I still need you, all of the card makers on my team, to make and send cards.  Diane usually send 24-28 cards, and that’s great!  But, remember, I have three hospitals, over 300 kids!  I need you, and I appreciate everything you do for our kids!!! 🙂

I get excited every time I get a box of cards! 🙂  I can’t wait to open them and see what you’ve made! 🙂  Every card I receive is a special gift for a child! 🙂  Thank you for supporting our work with SAS4Kids! 🙂  Please be sure to take a look at our SAS4Kids challenge blog! 🙂

Thanks for coming by today! 🙂  I hope if you don’t send us cards, that you are finding some great inspiration here! 🙂  Please come back again for some more great cards! 🙂