Sweet "Sweet Williams"

I love Sweet Williams. Both my husband and I remember them at our childhood homes. So I bought some plants this year and when I went to plant them, some had popped up from last year - plants that I thought did not make it. I was so surprised because I thought they died before they even bloomed last year.  So now I have a beautiful mix in my flower garden.  Here is a photo of the bouquet I picked yesterday.

For the card, I knew I wanted to use the Sweet William stamps by Our Daily Bread and I knew I wanted to do red, white, and blue.  But then what? I have used these stamps before but wanted to make a cluster of flowers like they grow, rather than just an individual flower.  So here is what I came up with:

I think I like the way it turned out.  I wish you could see the ribbon IRL.  It is really elegant.
If you look at Sweet Williams up close, you will see they have little white stamens in the center so I tried to get a little of that with white gel pen and liquid pearls.  After I cut out each flower, I snipped the petals toward the center and then curled some of them forward. I maybe should have added a few more flowers but I didn't want it to look too heavy.
I used the very simple sketch at Tuesday Morning Sketches.

Hope you enjoy what you see.  Hope you have a wonderful day.

Our Daily Bread - red, white, blue
Simon Says - anything
Sister Act - anything
Crafty Catz - flowers
House that Stamps Built - summer

It Takes Courage To Serve

Here is a card I made to send to one of our Heroes to express some of my thanks.

I used the ODBD stamp sets "Not Forgotten" and "Old Flag Background".  For the sentiment, I just inked up one line of the block sentiment.
I inked up the flag background stamp before stamping and then sponged some blue ink onto the soldier image after stamping it with the cocoa ink.
The sketch is Your Next Stamp:

Challenges:
Kraft Outlet - ink, paint, markers
Created With Love - red, white, blue
Sister Act - anything
Chocolate, Coffee, Stamps - July 4th
Brown Sugar - men or boys
Simon Says - anything
PartyTime Tuesday -anything
Our Daily Bread Design - red, white, blue
Your Next Stamp - sketch
Word Art Wednesday -encourage

Strawberries - Yum

While most of the strawberry fields around us are finished, my few rows in my garden will be putting out yummy berries until September. (I have the ever-bearing variety.)

 This pre-colored image and sentiment are by Doodle Pantry.

Nothing very special about the making of this card.  The sketch is OWH 154
Base is Kraft.  DP is from an old 12 x 12 stack. 

Do you want a few Patriotic digitals?  40% off until July 4.  One for FREE ? Go to Doodle Pantry and get yours. But hurry.  You only have a few days.

Sun is shining, thank goodness. And I think I am over the flu (how does one get that in the summer?) so I think I will go pick some strawberries.  Have a great day  

Challenges:
Craft Your Passion - in the garden
Stamp and Create - summer
Simon Says - anything
2 Sisters - summer
Your Next Stamp - photo inspiration
Repeat Impressions - summer 
Sister Act - anything
Dutch Dare - photo inspiration

Going with Bloglovin'

This is my announcement that I am going with bloglovin"  I have admitted before that I am computer challenged so I hope I get this all correct as I do this.  I have transferred the list of all the wonderful blogs that I follow and if I do this right, you will be able to follow me too !
I have added a follow button in the side bar.

Hope to see your soon!

Hooray For The Red, White, and Blue

AND Hooray for our wonderful heroes in the military service.
I've been making a few cards featuring  red, white, and blue this week.  A few of my grandkids were visiting and one wanted to make "USA" cards.  These are the stamps onee chose so I made a card too.  The stamps are clear stamps but I don't know the maker.

I streaked some white ink onto the Navy Blue background then added some white embossing.  The stars are Verve die cut.  Star designer paper is Doodle Pantry.
The sketch is at Your Next Stamp:

Challenges:
Get Inky - red, white, blue
Your Next Stamp - sketch
Created With Love -Our Daily Bread
Verve - Puddles of Color
Our Daily Bread - red, white, blue
Clearly i Stamp - red, white, blue

A Shining Example

I fell in love with Julee's (Vervegirl) card and just had to CASE it.  I need inspiration like hers to get me out of my box..  The Verve challenge is to use ink, paint, or some other form of color.  I use Prisma pencils a lot and some embossing but it took her card to jolt me into using some white Craft ink, DTP, and embossing.   Here is her card

And here is mine - a tad bit more simple but along the same lines:

The base is Dark Kraft.  Instead of using blue paint, I did Direct to Paper with Close to Cocoa ink .
The stamp and die cut are both Verve.
 As you can see, I really can't get my head around the mixed media idea but I do like how my card came out.

Challenges
Pile it On - shabby
Kraft Journal - ink, paint
PartyTime Tuesday - anything
CASual Friday - off the page
Verve - inks, paint, color
Sister Act - anything
Simon Says Stamp - anything
Word Art Wednesday - anything

Above the Storm

God moves in mysterious ways.  Sometimes we do not understand those ways; they don't make sense.  That is when we rely on our faith ("the just shall live by faith"), on the past, on scripture, on stories God has left us in the Bible, on events in our lives.  Stories of things that did not make sense to the people going through it but which makes sense on this side of the story .
I like the quote on this card because it is a reminder that God is in control.  Nothing takes Him by surprise.  We can trust Him.

the card base is Kraft, first blue layer is Stampin Up's Baja Breeze.  The layers behind the printed piece are Kraft and Blue Bayou.  The printed piece is from the 4.5 x 6.5 Travel Stack by DCWV.
Sentiment is ODBD.
Sketch is Our Daily Bread

Challenges:
Our Daily Bread Design - sketch
Word Art Wednesday
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Kraft
Kraft Outlet - burlap
Sister Act - anything