Blog Awards

I am humbled by the lovely ladies who have fabulous blogs and enjoy my blog enough to award me with the Versatile Blogger Award. Within the last week I have received this award from Kim @ Snippets of Life, Missy @ Quick Chick Designs, and Emily at Cool Cricut Creations. The guidelines are to:

1. Thank the person who gave it to you.


2. Tell us 7 things about yourself.


3. Reward this to 15 bloggers.

The seven things about myself (that I am willing to put in print ;0)

1. I like to sing and dance while cleaning the kitchen.


2. My favorite season is fall especially here in the mountains with the beautiful leaves.


3. I play fantasy football - The Blue Ridge Cookers ROCK!


4. I teach high school math and yes I am a geek Ha...ha...


5. I prefer my apple pie warm with vanilla ice cream.


6. I'll watch the movie Where the Heart Is whenever I catch it on TV.


7. My husband is my best friend.

Now I need to find 15 bloggers to pass on this award. This will be a work in progress. I will add over the next week and strive to complete the list soon. I know just where to start. I've visited so many new sites through the linking party Momo arranged. If you haven't checked it out I strongly recommend visiting her. Again, ladies thank you so much.

I was also granted an award from Ruby @ Handcrafted Simply By Us. For this award I need to add another thing about me to the list. So I will admit that the 8th thing is I am a procrastinator. See I even waited until the last item to reveal this piece of information about me. Actually I start out quite well with with projects but always find myself finishing at the last moment.

I will find 8 bloggers to pass the award to and post them as I go. (I'll try not to procrastinate too long. HA HA!) Lastly, Lisa @ LMD Stampin has awarded me The Thing of Beauty Award. I think the above guidelines covers this award as well. I am suppose to tell 5 things about me and I have given 8; however, one of those things is suppose to be why I like crafting. Well, I like crafting because it is relaxing. I really do feel that it is a retreat for me. Thus the name of my blog. It brings me joy and I share that with others. I am to list 5 blogs to pass the award to. So let's see, 15 for Versatile Blogger, 8 for Stylish Blogger, and 5 for this award. That's 28 blogs (if I did my math right Hee hee). I alos need to link this award to the creator at gracenotes4today. I will make this a link on the image of the award on the sidebar.

I think this covers all of the awards. Again, thanks to all the ladies who have shared this with me. Have a blessed day!

Easter Card

My boys went fishing today so I had some time to myself. Started the morning grading papers. (Best to get it out of the way so I can enjoy the rest of the weekend.) Had a baby shower to attend. My friend liked the card I made here. I came home, watched a movie, visited some wonderful blogs, gathered some inspiration, and started to make some cards. Here is the beginning of my creative process. I wanted to make some Easter cards. I started by pulling out some pastels but it wasn't working for me. I bought some Recollections Craft Cardstock a few weeks ago and decided to use natural colors- brown, blue, and green. I chose the ribbon with brown and blue flowers. I got the stamp this past fall when my DH took me away for a weekend and we found this cute little craft store in Franklin, NC. It is an Inkadinkadoo stamp. After cutting the paper to size and using my gypsy & cricut to cut tags from the TBBM cart I was ready to assemble. Here is the card. After putting the basic design together I decided to add the flowers cut from the Paisley cart. I cut them out at 1.5" and at 1". I brushed all of them with the brown ink and layered three together, punched with my crop-a-dile, and held with a brad. The tag is topped with a small piece of brown ribbon.

The EASTER is made from a SU stamp called Alphabits. I punched each letter out with a 1/4" circle punch. The Happy is actually a Happy Birthday stamp that I masked to get just the Happy part.

Finally, I love this stamp. I wanted an Easter card that celebrated the "reason for the season." The greatest gift of grace and mercy - the sacrifice given on the cross.

Thanks for visiting and may you be blessed with a happy and blessed Easter.

A Swinging Baby Card

I would like to share this baby shower card I made for a friend. I was inspired by Cheryl at Nana's Creative Space in which she had made several swing cards. She directed me to Angela at Simple Creations Paper Crafts who had a video on how to make a swing card. The process is fairly simple and I think the fold is super cute. The parents do not know whether the baby is a boy or a girl so I incorporated all colors into the card. I cut the chick from the Create a Critter cart at 2 1/4". The "Welcome little one" is a vellum piece I found in my sticker binder. I used the Crop-a-dile to puch the holes for the flowers brads and I embossed the yellow pieces with the Swiss Dots folder and my Cuttlebug. As the card begins to open you can see the center section begin to swing. I wanted to put a bow on the chick's head with a little bling but restrained myself to stay gender neutral.

Now the inside is exposed revealing a sweet sentiment also in vellum. As you can see I chose to put the bow on this side. I countered the bow with a cute little frog in the bottom right corner. It is from a micropunch from Creative Memories.

I can see a few more of these cards in my future. It was fun to make and so many different places to be creative. Thanks for visiting and have a blessed day.

A Blog Award

I started this blog to share my cards with others. I never imagined the countless blessings I have received. Ashley from Welch Creations has honored me with a Liebster Blog Award.The Liebster Award is designed to bring new blogs to light. It is a great way to share blogs that might not otherwise be seen or ones you may want to share with others. I am here to honor 3-5 blogs to bring awareness to other wonderful blogs.

As a recipient you must share the love and pay it forward by:

1. Creating a post where you blog about the Liebster Award & reveal your 3-5 blog picks.


2. Let them know you chose them


3. Copy & paste the blog award to your blog


4. Have faith that your followers will rally & show their crafty love back out to those you awarded


5. Have FUN!

Here are my picks:

Karen at The Busy Bug has been making card sets for teachers. I am a teacher and can appreciate the time, effort, and creativity she has put into these cards.

Tami at Tami's Craft Connection has a great blog. Right now it has an Easter theme to its design. She currently is participating in a blog hop with a great Winnie the Pooh card. She also makes cards for soldiers to use to write home.

Terri at MyNeed2Craft has two posts up right now that I think have fabulous cards. One is a sympathy card for a friend. The design is elegant and the picture is great. The other is a card for her daughter inspired by the classic movie Breakfast at Tiffany's.

I hope you take the time to drop by and see these ladies. Have a blessed day.

Monogram Card

First I must welcome all the new followers. Thanks to Momo and her idea to share links to our blogs. I have visited so many creative people and seen some really great work. Thanks for sharing with me your kind comments and time.

I made this set of monogram cards for a friend who is getting married. I found the decorative paper at Michaels and knew she would love the vintage look. I can't remember which cart I used to make the monogram. I think it was the Gypsy font but I also played with Jasmine so I'm not sure. I used my cuttlebug to emboss the flowers behind the monogram.
The black card stock started at 5 1/2" by 8 1/2". The longer side was scored and folded at 3" and 1 1/4" creating a little different fold and look to the standard A2 card. The designer paper was then cut at 5 1/2" by 3" and also 5 1/2" by 1 1/4" to place on the front.

I bundled the six cards with envelopes together using the matching ribbon and topped it with a matching monogram.

Thanks for taking a look and may your day be blessed. Please leave a comment. I love to hear from others.

Sympathy Card

Recently there have been a number of people I know that have lost loved ones. It is at these times that I feel called to the craft corner. While making the card I am thinking of the person, their family, and keeping them in prayer. I pray God grants them peace and comfort for it is through Him and His Spirit that one can grieve and heal from losing someone they love. I wanted to share this card in hopes that it may inspire others and/or give comfort to others.

I used the Cuttlebug to die cut and emboss the frame. The stamp is from Hero Arts and the vellum phrase was from my stash. Thanks for stopping by and may God bless.

"Springy" Birthday Card

I have noticed that several of the blogs I follow and on messageboards shaped cards are popular. Usually I just make the typical A2 card. For this birthday card I decided to make a shaped card. I used the dragonfly from the Paisley cart. I merged a square from Plantin Schoolbook and the shadow of the dragonfly using my Gypsy. I created a mirror image and merged the two images.

The border on the design paper is an EK Success border punch. The tiny butterflies are a Creative Memories punch with some stickles in the center. The stamp is from My Pink Stamper Everyday Occasions.

I embossed the wings of the dragonfly and added more stickles (gotta love the shimmer). I added the bow at the very last and love the way this turned out.

Thanks for looking and have a blessed day :)