Baby Boy or Baby Girl

Before I start talking about this card, let me just preface it by saying that just because I'm posting a "Hello Baby" card, it doesn't mean I'm going to be saying hello to a baby of my own in 9 months!  Haha, just felt that I needed to get that out there.

I made a card similar to this last year or so because I had used the same duck from the Sandy Lion stamp set and fussy cut it after coloring them 3 different colors.  The card itself seemed kind of bland, so this time I chose to stamp the ducks on different colored paper with the same pattern.  I think it worked out so much better.  I kept it gender neutral by using yellow, blue, and pink 

By using a black layer on kraft cardstock, the colors really get to pop and the patterned ducks are the clear focal point of the card.  I used Pink by Design's set "Big Thoughts" for the sentiment that was actually two separate words.  I really love how easily PBD's sentiments stamp and pick up the ink to transfer.

Time and time again, this Sandy Lion stamp set is still one of my favorites along with the "boy" version of it too.  I just love that I found them in the Michaels clearance section a few year ago and snatched them up really quickly!

Sending Smiles Because I'm Stinkin' Of You!

The hubs and I finally had some time to take pictures of two cards that were made a while back.  I love when I finally have cards to post on my blog and in my Facebook store.  If you take a look there, I'm selling these at $2 a piece to raise some money for Plumpy'nut!  Due to having donated money in the past, World Vision keeps me up to date with the latest ways to help. One of the recent mailings has been about Plumpy'nut, which is a packet composed primarily of peanuts along with vitamins and minerals. A child who's suffering from malnutrition can have just 2 packets a day for 2 weeks to be rehabilitated! It's also something that parents can give to their kids so that they don't have to stay in the hospital, which frees up medical staff and space for others. The packages have a long shelf life and are easy to distribute.  It just sounds especially intriguing because I know just how much longer I can last at work until lunch when I have peanut butter with breakfast, so I'm excited to hopefully have a small part in ending child malnutrition!

This airplane card features an image cut from the Cricut cartride "Boys Will Be Boys" and a sentiment from Pink by Design's "Spring Has Sprung." Clouds were dry embossed for a bit of dimension.  Gotta love that Cuttlebug folder "D'Vine Swirls" that seems to be used quite often in my stuff!

I actually made this card a little over two years ago and posted about it on my blog!  If you take a look back at that post, you can actually see a huge difference between the photography.  That yellow lighting is so difficult for me to look at now, but back then, I thought they were decent!  Thanks to the hubby Howard for helping me out with the pictures and the editing!  What a difference, right?

This skunk card features an image cut from the Cricut cartride "Create a Critter" and a sentiment from Pink by Design's "Woodland Critters."  I absolutely love that little tuft of fur on top of the skunk.  

These are pretty simple and didn't require TOO much work, but I think the adorable cuts can really stand on their own.  Create a Critter still proves to be one of my favorite cartridges.

Hope you enjoyed this brief post!

Cupcake Series #1

This past Monday, Howard and I went to run our errands, which included stops at the supermarkets.  It doesn't always include a stop at Michaels anymore, but I had a 50% competitor's coupon that I wanted to use on 12x12 Recollections cardstock (it's difficult when all the things you want to cut have green, and you don't have anymore green!).  Then I also got an email for $5 off $20 from the Michaels Loyalty program, so I figured it was the perfect time to go (I have never used any of my rewards before).  The Fiskars punches were also 50% off, so I had a general idea of what I was going to get.  When I brought my things up to the front, the $5 didn't come off because apparently the stuff that you used with the coupon doesn't count towards the $20. That didn't bother me that much since I had plans to get the paper anyway.  

So I went around and picked up some stamps that were being clearanced out.  That's the perfect stuff to get because you can't use any other coupons anyway!  I love the two sets that I got.  I had been eyeing the Recollections animal set ($2.99) for like, a year or whenever it first came out because of the bird, the zebra, and the chameleon!  So cute!  The cupcake stamp set ($1.50) was also something I picked up many times in the past as well but never purchased.  Cupcakes are perfect for anything ranging from "thinking of you" notes and birthday cards.    In my basket, I also had a Fiskars heart punch ($6.50 on sale) so I can have an easy punch to use for scraps and for a few card ideas I might like to try out.  To make up the rest of the money needed, I threw in a Versamark marker and a box of ATG tape (hopefully, my last box for a while since I'm participating in a tape share).

Anyway, I really liked the purchases I made especially with the $5 of "free stuff" (I see the tape as the free part since I normally always use 50% coupons on it).  Once I got back, I had some ideas swimming in my head.  I knew I wanted to paper piece the cupcake wrappers.  I chose some patterned paper scraps.

It was nice to do paper piecing to get some variety in cupcake wrappers instead of having to color it myself. Of course, the fussy cutting can take some time, but I like how it looks.

What's interesting is that Howard and I recently picked up cupcake wrappers so that we could make muffins.  We bought the plain ol' white ones because they were the cheapest, and I had a 20% coupon off of entire purchase at Michaels.  These would be so much prettier!  I struggled with the placement of the pieces of the card, but in the end, I decided to do 2 strips of the same patterned paper to bring it all together.  In my eyes, it worked out because I like CAS cards with all the white.  

I used a sentiment from Pink by Design's "Birthday, Birthday," which is a set of so many fonts of "Happy Birthday"!  I love it!  One to fit every type of card or space.  Since I got hooked on the white embossing, I had to do it again!  I think it works, don't you?

Took a while to get this done because I couldn't decide on what looked good, but I was happy with the final result.  Stay tuned for two other sets of cards using the other cupcake wrappers!

Ice Cream Sundae Happiness

This past holiday weekend was spent making 3 different Christmas cards (one was the stocking one I already posted), but after a while, I was kind of tired of Christmas images and paper.  I wanted to do something fun!  I think what inspired me to use different cartridges was the fact that they had carts on sale at Michaels, AC Moore, and Joann.  I didn't buy any new ones even though I had plans to go out early (I'm watching the price of Campin' Critters, and I'm hoping Cricut.com has a sale so I can get some Lites because the Walmart by me doesn't have Lites anymore!).  Instead of spending money, I really sat and examined the images on the carts I already have.  I decided to use the ice cream sundae from the Just Because cartridge that I wanted so much and that my fiance Howard bought for me fairly recently as a surprise!  

I love the idea of having an ice cream sundae in a metallic dish.  It just reminds me of old-fashioned ice cream shoppes (haha, not that I've ever been to one!).  There used to be this restaurant in the Poconos in Pennsylvania called Beaver House where we got parfaits at the end of our meal.  From what I remember, they served them in these tall, metal dishes, and I loved it!  That's why this image was really something I wanted to use.  However, when I cut the pieces out, it seemed a little plain, so that's why I had such fun adding all the faux stitching in different colors using my ultra-fine Bic Mark-It markers.  I really like the added lines.  

I used a Martha Stewart border punch to add a white strip of paper over the striped paper for 2 reasons: (1) I needed something on which I could stamp the sentiment [Pink by Design's "Big Thoughts"] and (2) I had a lot of extra strips of white cardstock since I keep having to trim it down to fit A1 envelopes (when I accidentally bought 1000 A1 envelopes instead of A2!)

Though my cards are typically really simple, I still have a ton of fun making them.  My "real life" friends really like them too since they're still purchasing them from my Facebook store (http://www.facebook.com/loveandsushi).  It makes me happy to make sales especially now as I'm hoping to eventually gift every type of animal available on World Vision (I've decided to set aside 50% of what I make for it).  Right now the goal is the $50 for 4 chickens!  Hopefully, the more cards I make, the faster I can reach that goal!  

Christmas Stocking

This past Friday, I went out to Michaels during the Black Friday sale!  I wasn't going specifically for any major purchases.  My goal was Christmas paper for cards!  I have a lot of paper pads from Michaels already, but none of them worked with Christmas cards that I wanted to make.  I initially found all the DCWV stacks, but I wasn't that crazy about them because there were only 48 sheets in each.  Plus, they were oh-so-pretty that I knew I'd have trouble cutting into them!  Those pages would work better with scrapbooks anyway, in my opinion.  My mom was with me, and she found the huge 180 stack called "Jolly and Bright."  It was perfect!  Tons and tons of pages with different color schemes!  Lots of variety for only $7!  The paper pads were 50% off, and there was an extra 30% coupon that I used on top of it.  Oh, how I love a good deal!

This was one of the cards I made during this Thanksgiving break using the new paper.  The stocking was cut from Joys of the Season, which is a cartridge I had not yet used.  I've been getting better at using the cartridges I haven't touched yet.  Having the Gypsy makes that so much easier.  In the past, I was too lazy to deal with cutting out so many pieces from a certain layer just to get all the right colors I needed.  Gotta love that "hide" feature on the G!  It also makes it so much easier to make multiples AND to use scrap paper.  Even with Cricut Craft Room finally out and being free to use doesn't make me regret having my G at all.  I'd much rather design on the whim instead of having to turn on my desktop and be online.  Wow, talk about a digression ...

After I cut out the 6 stockings, I knew it needed a little extra something.  That's why I added the faux stitching with my white Recollections marker.  Then I added Stickles to the "bell" part of the stockings to add some shine.  I think the background paper works really well with it because it has the same 3 colors.  Plus, I love paper that has text!

I'm actually really happy with how this card turned out.  When I initially cut out the stocking, I thought it was kind of a lost cause.  I'm glad I stuck with it instead of tossing them in my box of cut images!

Cuz Everyone Needs Birthday Cards

This past Sunday was my church's bake sale to raise money for the North American Mission Board and the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist convention.  I've been making cards for that cause, so that's why I haven't posted anything here on my blog for a while.  Thankfully, Howard was able to help me with some of the coloring, and he helped me package everything too.  Boy, I really do love how the boxes and bags from Clearbags.com really make my stuff look even more professional!  Of course, I accidentally ordered A1 envelopes instead of the A2 that I needed, but that's a whole different story.  I also love my PSA Essential stamp that I won from a Casual Fridays challenge back when I still entered challenges!

I stamped the back of all the single cards I've made in the past for challenges.  Some of those sold at the bake sale too.  Since the ink is so wet, I have to make sure it dries before I pack it, so that's why they're spread out everywhere like that.  And yes, my room is an absolute mess from crafting, but I love it!

Anyway, I think my sales were pretty good!  I was able to raise $227 for missions from the sale of my cards, which was almost a quarter of what the English congregation of my church made!  The other things that were available were lunch items and desserts.  I was happy to be able to do something I love for a good cause.  And I was thankful that so many were willing to buy!

Well, even though the bake sale is over and I should be getting back to school work, I can't.  I'm just way too distracted and stressed, so I still crafted today instead of grading papers.  It was definitely much needed relaxation time because I took my time today whereas crafting for the bake sale was a little bit closer to the frenzied side!  Anyway, I'll show you one of the cards I made today.

I had 12 of these cupcakes from Sweet Treats cut a while ago, and I made 6 cards with them for the bake sale the night before because I realized I didn't have many birthday options!  I had one of my friends buy 1 of them, and then another friend bought the box with the remaining 5 in it!  I know a few others wanted this card too, so I made the other 6 today since I still had another sheet of that pattern paper from a KI Memories paper pad.  My cousin already claimed 2 of them, so I had 4 to sell.  After posting them in my Facebook store for just a short while, I'm already down to 1 left!  I really need to make more birthday cards!

I decided to go with blue accents instead of the normal girly colors I usually use.  It might still be a tad girly considering there are big polka dots, but at least it's not all pink and purple.  I used the Cuttlebug D'Vine Swirls embossing folder for the frosting on the cupcake (chocolate frosting, of course!).  I popped up the image using my Oriental Trading Co adhesive squares.  I love how I can use a ton of those on one image and it's okay since they're so inexpensive.  The sentiment is from Pink by Design; I love this set called "Birthday, Birthday" because it just says "Happy Birthday" in many different styles and fonts.  Perfect for any type of card!

That's it for now, but don't worry.  I won't leave this blog for such a long period of time anymore!  Well, at least that's what I'm hoping not to do!

Animal Mini Cards Set!

What a busy few weeks it has been!  My church had its annual coffeehouse on August 13th, so I was busy heading out to the city for rehearsals.  Even though it's been a while since the performance and the encore, I wasn't able to do much crafting because I was doing a lot of sleeping!  Here's a picture of one of the scenes from the musical that my cousin wrote.

I'm the one to the right of the girl speaking.  I'm wearing the dress with leggings and the scarf.  Basically, the musical was about "Peacekeepers" that have super powers to keep a city safe, but things were going downhill as talent stones (what we were wearing around our necks) were being stolen.  In this scene, we had just defeated a bunch of the "bad guys" and were questioning them.  My character was "Chief," so I was the leader of the group.  It was so much fun being able to serve with all of these people at my church even though I was pretty much one of the oldest!  Most of the those that were involved are in high school or just graduated high school.  I loved being able to get to know them.

By the way, our shirts were awesome.  They were designed by my fiance!  He's the one kneeling on the left side of this picture.  He's not actually wearing the shirt now because he was taking care of the sound board throughout the musical, and he didn't sing with us during the finale ("When You Believe" from Prince of Egypt).

Anyway, because of coffeehouse, I hadn't crafted in a while, but I was able to get back to it this week!  Yay! And I got back into it with full force because I made multiples.  And by multiples, I mean MULTIPLES!

I made this mini card set using Sandylion stamps along with Pink by Design's set "Scripted Year."  I kept the sentiments fairly simple so that they could be used for any occasion.  Each card is 3x3'' so it's a nice square size.  The white cardstock is cut at 2.75''.  Since some of the animals were smaller, I used a border punch to add something extra.  

The puppy one is, I think, my mom's favorite even though she doesn't like dogs, haha.  It is really cute though!  Initially, I had this puppy all white, and I only colored in the spots.  However, I tried one out with a lighter brown, and I liked it more as a whole especially as compared to the other cards.

For this sheep, I actually have 2 of them that are different shades of pink because I was testing colors.  I forgot to stamp the sheep in Memento and instead used StazOn.  I had to be very careful not to get everything to bleed.

This mouse one might be my favorite but that could be because I really like the purple as the cardstock color.  I was going to add a piece of cheese in its hand, but I don't know that it would've gone with the sentiment, haha.  

This monkey reminded me why I'm so glad I bought a bunch of different shades of brown when I purchased a few Copics.  I remember the days when all I had was the brown in the Crayola marker set!  It helps to have different shades!

The last one that I did was this little bird.  Thankfully, at this point, I used Memento to stamp, so I had no problems coloring this little guy!

I made 15 of each card and will be selling them as a set of 5.  That means I have 15 sets to sell!  I posted 10 in the store (I don't think all will sell, but I did already sell 2 sets!), and I think I'll be saving the other 5 for my church's bake sale in November.  All proceeds go to the mission fund, and by then, I think I'll have a lot more mini card sets to sell!  I'm so glad to be back into crafting mode!  If only I had a clean room to work in ... maybe I should tidy up today considering the rain that's on its way!  I was going to go to Michaels to pick up Copics with the 45% off coupon as well as some more Recollections paper, but I'd rather not go out in the rain.  Rainy days just seem perfect for staying inside and crafting!

My First Mini Card

I want to make cards every single day, but there are days that I just don't want to deal with the hassle of figuring out how to lay everything down on a card.  However, making a mini card takes away the pressure of having such a huge blank "canvas" mainly because I can make the card the size of the image!  So that's what I've been doing for the past few days.  The first card that I made featured this cute robot from the Sandy Lion stamp set that I found on clearance months ago.  I love these cutesy images!  I colored him in with Copics and Bic Mark-Its.  I have to say that I LOVE Copics because of all the lighter colors and how easy it is to blend (although I do need the correct paper to do this), but I do very much appreciate my Ultra Fine Bics because I don't have to worry about the small parts.  In actuality, the only thing colored with Copics in terms of this robot is the lightest gray.

The layering was easy to figure out mainly because I had made a mini card like this for Howard a while ago, so I just looked at the picture I took of that one to duplicate for these.  It's also super easy to make multiples. I made 8 of this one, and cutting 8 pieces of every color all at once really saves time.  No need to figure out size measurements for each card!  Figure it out once and cut cut cut!  Plus, even something like Corner Chomp-ing takes less time when I do a bunch at once because I keep the tool in a drawer, so I can just chomp it all at once and put it back.

The sentiment is from Pink by Design's "Be Mine" set.  When I first saw the sentiment, I immediately thought about squirrels, but I like that it works with nuts and bolts kinda stuff too.  I initially was going to sell them for a lot less in my FB store, but mini cards still take the same amount of time as a regular-sized card!  Haha, it's just easier working with smaller pieces in terms of cutting (I can use my small Cutterpede, haha yay!).  I really liked holding all 8 in my hands afterwards though ... it's fun to be able to get a lot done by making multiples!  

Have a Flock-Filled Christmas!

On Wednesday, I decided to just take a break from being in the house all day long and head out to the craft stores.  Okay, it's more like I had a $10 off $25 coupon from AC Moore Rewards and was eager to get some sale items even cheaper!  But going out to AC Moore also means going out to Michaels.  I mean, you're out using the car anyway, right?  Oh, and Marshalls ... hehe.  I'm totally digressing ...

As I was slowly making my way up and down the aisles, I came across the little Martha Stewart section and saw that they had flocking on sale for $1.49 a bottle.  Hmm, that seems interesting.  I decided to pick up one bottle of the "swan" because it was the last one in that color and just to test it out.

At home, I opened the bottle and was pleasantly surprised to see just how fluffy this stuff really is!  I could probably just play with it all day long, but in the same way that glitter would stick and stay everywhere, the little fibers of flocking would do the same!  I disregarded the temptation to just pour it all out and have fun, haha.

I stamped and colored a penguin image that I had never used before.  I believe it's Stampendous.  Then I used my Zig 2-Way Glue pen to put glue on the pom-pom and the brim of the Santa hat.

After watching videos on YouTube, I sandwiched it between cardstock and then used the A, B, and C plate to run it through my Cuttlebug.  

A quick shake (okay, a somewhat rigorous shake) of the cardstock caused the excess flock to fall off, and I was left with this adorable image!  Fuzzy hats on those penguins (not sure what's wrong with me; was about to call them pandas ...).

Now that I knew it worked, I was all set to mass produce.  I made 6 cards because one of my friends said she'd buy one of every card in my store, so after setting hers aside, I would still have 5 to sell.  It's also so much easier to mass produce.  As you can see in this picture, I colored the orange in first.  There's no need to put the marker down and cap it.  Oh, well this all occurs after stamping it neatly on the cardstock.  Oh, Memento Ink, how I love thee.

I actually pulled out my lovely Stamp-a-ma-jig so that everything could be aligned correctly since I was stamping it directly on the cardstock.  Whoops, you can also see a potential image that MIGHT show on a future card!  I used an old $1 stamp that I purchased years ago, and I have to say that now that I've been working with both clear stamps and red rubber, I am seeing why there are those who are insistent on red rubber stamps only.  I also understand why some companies make their unmounted stamps on red rubber as well.  The image is so crisp and clear.  I miss using them!  Using the Stamp-a-ma-jig is totally worth the red rubber result.  

Oh, for those who don't know a bout the Stamp-a-ma-jig, basically you line up that plastic against the corner of the tool that can be used by righties or lefties.  Then you stamp the image onto the plastic using the Stamp-a-ma-jig as a guide.  Afterwards, you can place the plastic piece anywhere on the card, lining it up in the right spot, and then have the Stamp-a-ma-jig hold its place as you remove the plastic and stamp the actual image.  Wow, I thought it'd be a lot easier explaining that with words, but I think I might defer to the lovely people who have made YouTube videos on it.

Well, there you have it ... the finished card!  I love the stamp itself, but I'm extra pleased with the flocking.  I wonder if I could flock some snow on this too.  That actually might be a bit easier to do since it doesn't have to be as exact.

Considering how much I enjoyed this, I did go back to Michaels to buy the other 9 colors that they had for clearance.  Yup, I now have 10 bottles.  I was explaining all of this to Howard yesterday, and he was pretty intrigued.  I said that when we're married, I'm going to wake up and find him in the middle of the night flocking everything in sight, even the walls!  Haha, that'd be a funny sight.

Although I made 6 of them, only 4 of them will be going  in the store at the price I had planned.  I'll have to discount 2 of them because they didn't come out as nicely as the others.  They're not terrible, but I don't want to be selling an inferior product at the same price.  I did learn from those 2 cards though!  The mistakes I made were as follows: (1) Don't try squishing the flocking with the cardstock to avoid the hassle of the Cuttlebug; it doesn't stick as well or as neatly, and (2) Don't run the plates through the Cuttlebug one way and then back the other way and/or don't use Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive because it's too thick.  Live and learn! Hmm, what can I flock in purple ... orange ... blue ... or green?!?

Here is the challenge that I'm entering:

• "Gimme the Bird" (use a bird image on your holiday card or project) at Christmas Stampin' All Year Long [Click the first link to see that I'm linked in at #6]

Happy EVERYTHING!

Over the past few days, I've realized that crafting depending on my mood is way more fun than crafting solely for challenges.  Though challenges are great when I've lost my "mojo" and don't quite know where to start, I've gotten to the point where I think I know my own personal style and don't care that much to change it (of course, that doesn't mean I don't want to experiment with new techniques!).  However, sometimes it just happens to be that what I want to do matches a challenge, and that's what happened today!  I was in the mood to work with the Happy Millie digi from Karber.

Since the challenge was to show a hobby or leisure activity, I wanted Millie to hold a watering can to show gardening.  I created a little scene on the card by inking the bottom of the card green, and then using that same cloud technique I used on the "Summer Lovin" Grease-esque card, I made the sky.  In this picture, you can see how I'm kind of spread all over the place as I'm sure most crafters are!  That jar of spongy material is actually from when I crafted YEARS ago.  I still had it, and I actually like how it works better than the Inkssentials stuff!  Of course, it's probably because I'm not using the tool properly.  

You can see everything ready to be assembled though.  All the pieces were cut, and I had the Pink by Design "Spring Has Sprung" set out and ready to use.  Oh, and I also switched to Memento!  Previously I was using StazOn, but since I bought Copics, I had to get new ink.  Let me say that this stuff is amazing.  It's so much easier to ink; it really is a "juicy" ink pad!  I had read other crafters use that word, and I just didn't get it until now.  Before I finish this digression, you can also see my new PSA Essentials stamp that I won from my popsicles card over at CAS-ual Fridays!  Woohoo!  And the Mod Podge is out from the He"ART" Journal pages I did last night for The Greeting Farm.

Okay, so that's the finished card!  I like how it turned out because I think it's my first "scene" card.  Millie looks happy doing just about anything!  I was going to use a spring-time sentiment, but since I put this in my Facebook store, I kept it a bit more general.  Oh, I also added Glossy Accents to Millie's flower in her hair as well as the red parts of the tulips.  And of course, how could I not pop something up on a card?  Haha, it's pretty much a given!  

The last picture is just to show you how I've been taking my photos now.  Howard really doesn't like the clutter in the back of my previous pictures, and I didn't like how things were still dark even though I was using my Ott-Lite.  I tried the bookshelf on the other side of my room that got my direct sunlight, but it's a dark mahogany and wasn't bright enough.  Then I realized I could use the bookshelf next to my crafting table.  I just have to remove my big card box and eyelet box as well as 2 magazine holders filled with supplies from the shelf, and then I have enough room.  What do you think?  Haha, it's a lot easier than having a light box that would have to be set up and then taken down each time!

Here is the challenge that I'm entering:

• Karber Challenge 37 (hobby and leisure activities using a Karber stamp) at Karber Challenge [Click the first link to see that I'm linked in at #4]

Hello Baby!

Now that I started a Facebook page for my friends and family to purchase cards, I have begun to think about what cards people will need for certain occasions.  I immediately thought of a baby card when I saw the cute little duck from the Sandy Lion stamp set I purchased on clearance a few months ago.  I'm so glad I bought those 24 Copics before the price increase that started on August 1st.  I love my Bic Mark-It markers, but it's really lacking in light colors.  I wouldn't have been able to color in these duckies!

I chose the light blue, yellow, and pink because then this card can work for either a baby boy or a baby girl.  The green strip was a bit plain on its own, so I ran it through my Cuttlebug using the D'vine Swirls folder.  I used a Papertrey Ink die to cut out the cardstock for the sentiment.  The sentiment itself is from Pink by Design's "Big Thoughts" set.  They're actually 2 different sentiments, but I put them together so that it wouldn't just say "baby." 

I love popping everything up!  It gets rather addicting.  Haha, is it just me?  I think MOST cards look better with something popped up although I know that's not true for all cards.

I did make only 3 of these cards instead of the 5 I made with yesterday's sheep.  I wasn't sure if these would be as needed.  Plus, I was getting rather tired cutting out the duckies, haha.  Fussy cutting takes a while, but if it's done well, it looks really good!  I wish my students knew how to cut well.  I would totally pull them out of lunch to help me (after a good thorough washing of their hands!).  Just kidding!

The Lord is My Shepherd

Recently, I decided to dig out my old red rubber stamps to see what fun things I had in there.  I haven't used many of them in the longest time, and I knew that there was probably a ton of potential in the many photo boxes I have filled with wooden block stamps.  I found this sheep (Inkadinkado) that I have always loved and knew that I could make a clean and simple card with it.  I stamped it on cardstock and colored it with Copics.  I don't know if you can see it in this picture, but I tried blending.  The front of the sheep's head is a bit darker than the rest.  Because I don't have the special Paper Trey Ink or Neenah paper that works well with Copics, the colors were bleeding and spreading, so that's why I layered on the edges so it would bleed out instead of in towards the rest of the image.  I didn't worry because I was going to "fussy cut" them anyway.

The funny thing is that it took me a very long time to figure out what sentiment to use.  I looked at all my sheep sentiments (ex. "It's all about EWE") and tried to figure out if it was a birthday card or what.  I then took out the Pink by Design "Faith" set, and tried to see if any of them would fit.  Then all of a sudden, I realized that there was the sentiment for Psalm 23:1!  I can't believe that I hadn't noticed it before!  Haha, how silly of me! It just worked PERFECTLY for this card. I rounded the corners to create a softer look, and I also added a dab of Glossy Accents to the patch on the sheep's wool.  

I mass produced this card (and one of them is pink!) so that I could start selling cards!  I finally started a Facebook page today for "Love and Sushi" and hope to sell a few here and there to my family and church friends.  This one is $2.  Do you think that's a good price?  I'm very excited about this card!  It'd be a very good encouragement card!

By the way, what do you think of my new picture taking area?  It's actually one of the shelves of my Billy bookcase from IKEA.  I like the cleaner look of it (as does Howard because he doesn't like clutter in the background at all).  It was still bright out when I took it, but there was no direct sunlight on it, so I used my Ott-Lite also.  Hopefully, it's better than my previous pictures!  Always room for improvement, right?

Here is the challenge that I'm entering:

• Freestyle! - Challenge #5 (any paper project) at Hiding in My Craft Room [Click the first link to see that I'm linked in at #8]