My Life is Changed Forever

  Six months today, I said "good bye" to my favorite person, my dearest friend, my husband.  He died suddenly.  After having him as my "better half" for 51 years, I am truly now just half a person.  There is no way to describe the loss, the hole in my heart, the hole in my life.
  Things that were important to me aren't any more.  Things that held my interest bore me.  I used to spend hours looking at blogs, reading blogs, looking at cards by other card makers, entering challenges.  I haven't made a card these six months.  I used to make several a week but I can't conjure up any creativity yet.  I can't even get myself to color with my Copics.
  This grief process is hard and long.  I wonder daily how am I going to live the rest of my life without him.  I miss him and I miss what we would have shared together.  But in my intense grief, I take refuge in the Lord.  He is my Comforter.  He is the One I turn to multiple times each day.  He knows my pain;  He empathizes with me.  I know He will take me through this Valley of the Shadow of Death and eventually I will come through the valley to joy again.  The journey is hard.  I don't like it but God has allowed it, so I do choose to not give in to despair. 

  I'm not sure I have any followers left and because I am not entering a challenge, most will not even read this post.  But I'm posting anyway to let you know why I have been away from Blogland.
  I will be back - some day.  Just not yet.

It's Been A Long TIme

It has been almost a month since my last post and that long since I've made a card.  Say what?  Quite a bit going on in my life lately, not to mention that the MoJo is gone.  So I made a card today to send to a friend.  Not crazy about it but hopefully I can get back in the groove soon.
I am tired of winter - wind, snow ice.  Yesterday was the first day in three weeks that the wind wasn't blowing us off the planet so I walked a bit outside.  Hyacinths and Tulips are up out of the ground.  How do they grow in freezing temperatures?  Autumn is my favorite season until I go through Winter and then Spring is my favorite! haha
All that to say that I wanted to make a Spring card to send to my friend in another state and I always think Daffodils when I think of Spring.

The image is a Power Poppy Digital Stamp which I colored with Copics and Prisma pencils.
I don't use ribbon very often but I used two strips of grosgrain to highlight the yellow of the flowers.

Hope you are seeing signs of Spring where you live. The wind is back again today but the sun is out.

Simon Wednesday - anything
House that Stamps Built - anything
Allsorts Challenge - favorite season
Word Art Wednesday - anything
Power Poppy - use a PP image
Words 2 Craft By - best friends
Creative with Stamps - friends

Another Masculine Valentine

After I broke my two fingers a few weeks ago, I didn't think I would be making the 26 Valentines that I wanted to make.  But I really do like making one for each of my children, their spouses, and my grandchildren so I forged on.  A few are very simple but because I like to make these cards special every year, I just worked a little slower than usual.  (I should have thought about the word slow a few weeks ago.  But my daughter-in-law said it was a great impression of Superman - just no altitude!) Anyway, I am finishing up with the Valentines - only two more to go.

The heart and the ticket are both Unity stamps.  The background and wood grain paper are both patterned paper. 

Challenges:
Power Poppy - love
Allsorts - love
Word Art Wednesday - anything
Double D - hearts
Stamploration Love Bloghop

Stamploration theme - hearts

Kat Scrappiness - use at least one heart

Floral Valentine

Only a few more Valentines to make.  I'm in LOVE - haha.  In love with making these cards!  But by the time I get done with them, I will probably be sick of hearts.
For this card I used my new stamp by Stampin' Up! , my freebie during the Sell-a-bration sale.  I really like this stamp; I will be showing more cards with this stamp in the near future.

 After stamping, I cut out the front panel with a Stamploration Wavy Stitch die.  After I adhered  the hearts ( another Stamploration die) onto the card, I saw that it was not centered so I cut out another strip of hearts, cut off a few and added them to the left side of the full die cut.  (That probably doesn't make sense unless you see the original die cut. If you can't stand the suspense, go to the Stamploration online store and look it up. 😀)
Image is colored with Copics and Prisma pencils.

Challenges:

Power Poppy - love
House That Stamps Built - pink or red
All Sorts Challenge - love
Double D - hearts
Stamploration Love bloghop -

Stamploration theme - hearts

Stamploration - Cutploration

Stamploration Never ending Challenge

Kat Scrappiness - use at least one heart
Die Cut Divas - love is in the air
Word Art Wednesday - anything

Super Feminine and Fun Card

Try and try again.  That is what I have to remind myself when it comes to shaker cards -  my track record has not been so great.  But I'm happy to report that this one is actually a success - the sequins insides actually move around!

 The heart is an un-named die which I cut out four times, adhering the window piece between two layers and then using two more cuts to raise it up off the card.  The patterned paper is digital paper by Doodle Pantry.  I cut the arrow and the "you" with MFT dies.  Lace around the heart covered up some of the layers of the heart and is adhered to the card with score tape.
I think my granddaughter will like this - very girly and fun.

Challenges:
Simon Wednesday - anything
Die Cuttin Divas - anything
Die Cut Divas - love is in the air
Dies R Us - use red
Stamploration - theme/hearts

Stamploration - love blog hop

Word Art Wednesday - anything
Time Out - photo inspiration
Kat Scrappiness - use at least one heart
Simon Monday - use red

Many Uses of Hearts

Valentines Day is not the only day for hearts.  I needed an encouragement card today so I made one with a heart, capitalizing on that word in the verse.

Today is busy with cleaning and caring for grandkids so I went with a simple card using the sketch at House that Stamps Built.

The patterned paper lent itself nicely to strips so I cut three and layered them onto Rose cardstock.  The heart frame is made by using two heart shape dies (unknown brand) . 
The card seemed too plain so I adhered a strip of gems and put two single gems on the heart.

Challenges:
Simon Says Monday - Love is in the air
Simon Says Wednesday - anything
Die Cuttin Divas - anything
Die Cut Divas - Love is in the air
Allsorts - love
Time Out - photo inspiration
Stamploration - theme

Stamploration - Love bloghop

Kat Scrappiness - love, use at least one heart

Valentines for Boys

Here is another Valentine for another grandson.

The center panel that I cut with a Die-namics Stitched Rectangle die is a digital stamp by TLCreations.  I blended two Copic colors to try to match the dots on the designer paper.  The black hearts are punched, the dots are cut with an Elizabeth Crafts Design die.

Challenges:
Simon Monday - love is in the air
Die Cuttin Divas - anything
Power Poppy - masculine
House that Stamps Built - anything
Word Art Wednesday - anything
Crop Stop - anything
Stamploration Love Blog Hop

 Stamploration CAS

Simon Wednesday - anything