Welcome to Your New Home!

My people will live in peaceful dwelling places,

 in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.

Isaiah 32:18

My son, a Marine Captain (USNA ’05), recently returned from his third deployment – the first two to Iraq and this last one to Afghanistan.  He’s now to be stateside for a while.  He has found a townhouse to rent near where he is stationed and has been re-united with his canine friend who was just a pup when they were separated last year.  Dear Friends in another state were kind enough to care for ‘my Granddog’ while my son was away, and they are now happily back together.  Argos is a Belgian Shepherd and I wanted to include him in a card I was designing for my son and him.

I found a photo of a Belgian Shepherd online and transformed it into an .svg file with my SCAL2 program.  I made 2 cuts of it so I could cut the legs and tail further and give it a 3D effect with Pop-Dots. I used Glossy Accents for his eye and nose.

I used a ‘bare tree’ .svg file that I got quite a while ago and then added punched and inked leaves, adding dimension.  I cut the Birdhouse and Flourish(CWV/PCW .svg file.)  I cut a Bluebird .svg that I’ve had for a while, adding ‘flowers’ to the leaf flourish with glitter paint and Glossy Accents for clear dimension. 

I used a piece of ripped paper, ink and a small make-up sponge to make clouds and grass.  A piece of discontinued wallpaper completed the landscape at the front.

I typed the sentiment in WORD, printed it and punched it with an EKSuccess punch, adding a black punched piece to offset it.

I sent it and it arrived to ‘Welcome My Guys’ to their home on their first day there!  Not much I can do from across the continent, but I hope it conveyed a bit of my Enormous Love for them…

What things do you do for someone moving into a new home?  All ideas welcome -  I have other ideas for others in my life who have recently moved, also…  

If you are having trouble finding a specific .svg cut file, let me know and I’ll see what I can do for you – I enjoyed making the dog for this project and I’ve made several other images for other projects.  ;-}

NOTE!!
I've just discovered a great blog to connect with and have linked up to her 'Inspire Me Mondays' -
Stop by there and visit the creativeness shared!     Create with Joy -    ;-}   This week I am #99 !!

Black/White-Peridot-Book Pages Theme!

And why do you worry about clothes?  See how the flowers of the field grow. 

They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon

 in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.

Matthew 6 : 28, 29

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Peridot

Peridot is said to host magical powers and healing properties to protect against nightmares and to bring the wearer power, influence, and a wonderful year.  As peridot is a gemstone that forms deep inside the Earth and brought to the surface by volcanoes, in Hawaii, peridot symbolizes the tears of Pele, the goddess of fire and volcanoes.  Today, most of the peridot supply comes from Arizona; other sources are China, Myanmar, and Pakistan.  This gemstone comes in several color variations ranging from yellowish green to brown, but most consumers are attracted to the bright lime greens and olive greens.  Peridot, in smaller sizes, often is used in beaded necklaces and bracelets.

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Welcome to the Weekly Challenge post in connection with www.CookingwithCricut.com  !  It was my turn to choose the Theme for this week’s Challenge.  I thought…  It’s August…  The birth gem for August is Peridot…  I love Black and White…  I love using Book Pages in creative ways…  Thus, the Theme for today’s Challenge is to use a combination of these three elements in some way in a Project!

Then I thought…  My Special Friend has a birthday this month!  So I designed this card with the giving of it to her as my inspiration –

Card Closed

Card Open

I began with an 8.5 x 11 piece of white cardstock and designed the finished card to fit into a 5.25 x 7.25” envelope.  (Recollections card sets)  I cut out portions of the 4 corners to make 2 large flaps (sides) and 2 smaller flaps (top and bottom to which I attached the ½ Doily and trims).  I used the PCW 14 Pt. Doilies .svg file, cutting 2 of them at 5.25” and then cutting each of them in half – one set for the front flaps and one set for the inside sentiments.  I cut semi-circles from a heart-shaped paper doily and adhered them to the flap doilies (they don’t show much…)  Next, I punched 2 pieces of black cardstock trim, one for each flap, for over the paper doily.    I used the ‘negative’ of those punched strips on the inside of those flaps.

Card Open and turned over

Front flap detail - outside

Front flap detail - inside

I cut flowers from book pages using the PCW 5 Pt Flower  .svg file.  I inked the edges and connected the petals with a black brad, attaching them to the front flaps.  (For this project, I actually scanned pages of verses from a book I didn’t want to ruin, then used PSE 10 to make the pages as white as I could, in keeping with the colors of today’s Challenge.  I usually use Old book pages which tend to be ‘yellowed’ and OK for some projects.)

I cut the Peridot and B/W patterned papers to fit on the front flaps and inside center panel.  I used a corner rounder on all pieces.

Center panel - inside

I printed the sentiments on a 3” circle shape in WORD, then cut it out, then cut it in half, one for each inside flap on the doily sections. 

Sentiment - Inside left panel

I used the PCW Dressform .svg file for the inside panel.  I made a skirt overlay from the netting that vegetables/fruits come in at the grocery store!  I have a stash of various colors –

Dressform - closeup

Flowers - closeup

I added ribbon and gems at the waist and a heart-shaped gem in the heart-shaped hole on the bodice.  I decorated the center panel with book-page flowers, tiny (Recollections) flowers and gems.  I adhered the heart, cut from the bodice, to the sentiment page.

When the card is closed, I put a ribbon through the loops of the 2 doilies and tied a bow.  I used an extra piece of the 14 pt. doily (one I’d initially cut in the designing process, but kept for other purposes) to ‘stamp’ the negative design on the envelope. I’m excited to send this card to My Friend soon!

Card Closed

Envelope

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When I chose today’s Theme and began designing this card, I didn’t know that I’d be making a wedding shower gift and wedding gift for her son and new daughter-in-law in basically the same color-scheme!  (There is the additional color of Lavender...)   Here is the Shower gift card I enclosed with the gift -  

Their wedding invitation arrived and I began playing with ideas in my head…and I thought I’d share what I eventually came up with for them – A keepsake of their invitation. 

Wedding gift - Frame

Closeup - upper left

Closeup - lower right

Wedding Gift Card

Wedding Gift Card -closeup

The invitation was a card printed on both sides, so I made a copy of it.  I understood that the bride was to wear a gown of slightly off-white and the attendants would wear black gowns.  Lavender and moss green would be the flower and accent colors.  I put the copied invitation in a black frame and added the  PCW Flourished Corner Bracket on 2 corners, adorned with book-page flowers and tiny (Recollections) flowers and gems.  It was to be an outside wedding in AZ and the photos I’ve seen prove it to have been a Lovely occasion!

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Thanks for popping in to this week’s CWC/PCW Challenge and then here to My blog!  Now – You make something with this week’s Theme and then link your project at CWC.  Happy crafting!  See you next week!  If you see anything on my blog that you have questions about – or anything that you’d like me to re-create for you, please feel free to contact me!  ;-}

Be on the Lookout for information regarding the 'Taste of Summer" Blog Hop on August 18 and 19!!

All About Parents...

The living, the living – they praise You, as I am doing today;

 parents tell their children about Your faithfulness.

Isaiah 38: 19

Welcome to this week’s Challenge!  The Designers decided that this week’s Challenge would be to make something ‘All About Parents.’  I decided to use one of the few photos that I have of my parents taken in the early 1970s.  The original photo was quite discolored and yellowed.  I fixed it the best I could in Photoshop Elements.  It still has a bit of a green cast, and since olive green was one of Mama’s favorite colors – and the color of her eyes – I found a lovely set of papers to use with it.  (DCWV – The Family Connections Stack)  One piece has a faint, tone-on-tone design and the companion page has a ‘family tree’ diagram entitled, ‘Pedigree Chart.’

I used the CWC Oval Flourish Frame on the front of the photo and the Oval Scalloped Frame Background from the CWC Celebrate Sophisticate set.  After cutting it out on my Cricut, I embossed the flourished frame in my Cuttlebug.   Because doing that made it rather flimsy, although I like how it looks, I then put a coat of Mod Podge on it – and I like it even better!  I inked the edges of the scalloped oval for underneath it.

I decided to incorporate several ‘positive representations’ from my parents as design elements.

            *  To represent my Dutch heritage, I used the new CWC Tulip Flourishes 5 pattern at the base of the frame and also in the upper right corner.  I used tiny PopDots to raise the center part of the tulip blossoms.  I used a deep red wallpaper for them.

            *  There are 5 jeweled, buttoned flowers in graduated sizes representing the 5 of us siblings.  I am the eldest, then boy, girl, boy, girl.

            *  Music was a big part of our life, so I included a bit of old sheet music that I have scanned and can change the color as needed in my PSE 10 program.  I used an EKSuccess punch.

            *  Mama was a wonderful seamstress and taught me to sew at an early age – thus the spool of (Timeless Twine) thread, needle and the quilt pieces.  I faux-stitched around the edges of the paper, using my WeRMemoryKeepers perforator and then going around with a fine, black Sharpie.

            * Education and reading was important to Daddy – thus, the ‘book page’ flower using the CWC 5 Point Flower pattern.

            * Mama was a country girl, but she taught me how to be a ‘lady’ – thus the Lace at the bottom.  I inked it sparsely with Spanish Olive and then spritzed it with water to give it an ‘aged’ look.  When it was dry, I attached it with my ATG.

            *  I made a Velum envelope, inked the edges with Spanish Olive and put a light olive green card in it for journaling.  More cards can be added as necessary.

 

The colors are more vibrant in person, but this is the best I can do with my iPhone and PSE 10 – Some turn out better than others and I don’t quite know what makes the difference…

Thanks for visiting this Challenge!  Now it’s Your turn to make some kind of project ‘All About Parents’ and link it up over at CookingwithCricket.com -  Happy reminiscing!  See you next week!!