Thank Yous for Church

There were several people at church that I wanted to let know that I was thinking of them so I designed this little card to send out to them. I have these cute flower stickers that I used for the color scheme. I used a die cut to get the Thank You and the star under the a. I used yellow paper and pink paper to add more color. I think they turned out pretty well. I cut the cardstock to fit some envelopes that had been given to me.

Isn't it amazing how just hearing Thank You can make everything feel a little bit better? I know that there are people who do so much -- not expecting anything -- but just a simple thank you can encourage them to keep going. I hope that as a leader people realize that it is important to give compliments and not just "You should work on...."

Hope you have a great weekend -- especially if you're serving at your church!

Glasses & GPC

I've been struggling for a couple months with my contacts and couldn't figure out what the deal was. I just had my annual check-up in June and wondered if it was the new contacts. But after trying different pairs, it just wasn't making a difference. My eyes were itchy (but not red) and at times the contact would fold up into my eye.

So, Friday, I went to the doctor and found out that I have Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis (GPC). Basically it's bumps on the underside of my eyelid. So, there's irritation because the longer you wear the contact the more stuff sticks to it and rubs against the sore eyelid. The doctor said that it's something that takes a while to show up -- probably I've had symptoms for 4-6 months and just didn't know it. He had to flip my eyelids (like what little boys do to gross out the girls!) to see that this was the problem. Women are 5 to 1 more likely to get GPC.

So now I've been doing eye drops and should be back to contacts over the weekend. I CAN'T WAIT! I'm so sick of glasses! He also suggested that I try a different contact solution so I'll do that too. There's no way to really know if this will happen again. They don't really know what causes it.

My friend, Judy

You know, it's interesting when God puts someone on your heart. I had made this card thinking I was going to give it to one of the ladies at my church who's had surgery. But, as I was writing in some of the other cards I had made, God put the idea that I should send it to Judy. Judy & Dave are dear friends of ours from church. Dave has been out of a job since May and very actively looking for a new one. Unfortunately, with the field that he's in, it's more likely that they will end up moving. In any case, we're trying to enjoy their company while we have them here. So, through various events over the weekend, I thought I'd let her know I was thinking of her. I got this text from her, "I got your sweet note today. It was such perfect timing... you have no idea of how it made my day." Isn't it neat how God uses us?

I used this turquoise sparkly paper and added some purple organdy ribbon and a white chip board flower. I wrote on the flower, "thinking of you." I tried to make the flower look like the ones on the background paper.

Birthday Cards for Ellie

My boss's daughter was turning 6 and he asked me to make two cards -- for her party & her actual birthday. Since he calls her Ellie-bug, he wanted one with lady bugs on it. I found this really cool paper that had the lady bugs all around the edge. Then I wrote in the funky font that I like. I used a piece of grosgrain red ribbon that I've had hanging around and also added some ladybug stickers.

The second card he just wanted something to just say "I Love You." With that freedom, I used pink papers and an "e" sticker. There is a piece of pink organdy ribbon too.

He had me make up a couple other cards for some other birthdays too. I just didn't get pictures of them.

It's amazing how when you have to stick to a certain theme how hard it can be, to be creative! I struggled with the other cards I made for him because of the parameters that I had to work with. Sorry I didn't get pictures of them.

First Frog Fix

I was checking out the Pioneer Woman's website the other day and came across an article that has had me thinking (go here). She listed out some things that she's learned while blogging. Now, there is no way that I'll ever have a site like hers -- she has multiple entries a day, but in seeing what she found as valuable, it made me think about the purpose of my blog.

Initially, I only wanted to have a record of the things that I made, but the more that time passes, I realize that other things are important to me too! I've added pictures of family and things that my husband & I have done. I've added pictures of recipes that I've tried. But, in all of this, I've been pretty superficial.

So, today is a new day! I'm going to work at keeping more of a record of what I'm thinking/doing/experiencing as well as the crafty side of me in hopes that it may be helpful in the development of me. I am committing to do better at writing a few times a week.

Continuation of Cards

Did you see this design/papers before?! I'm making duplicates because there are some ladies at work that are recovering from surgery and I wanted to have some cards made up for people to buy.

Instead of the three little flowers, I just did a larger flower and a small one. I attached the flowers with that 3-d tape. It gives a lot of dimension to the card.

I duplicated the papers, but not the design of this one. I wrote out a verse around the edges of this flower (John 14:27a) and think it gives it a little pizzaz.

This one is a design that I've been doing a lot of lately. I'm made it for a friend at church. There is organdy ribbon, a cutsy butterfly sticker, and an "a" for her first name.

This is another one for the stash at work. I wish I had more of those stickers to do this design over and over. But, there was only one flower with the sparklies (I added the sequin), one butterfly with those colors, and the chipboard letter color worked just perfectly (again only one!).

I only made one of this one as I had only one brown die cut flower. I attached both with the 3-d tape to make them stand out. The papers matched perfectly and I just wrote get well soon at the bottom of the card.

Hope you're getting your fill! I've got more cards to make for family with birthdays coming up. Keep on reading!

Get Well & Various Other Cards

The ribbon on this one says Happy Birthday so it was a subtle way to get the birthday wishes out. I used a variety of papers and the "k" is from a set of chipboard alphabet letters that I got on clearanced at JoAnn's.

Here's a flowerdy card that I made for a friend at church. I've had these die-cut flowers for forever and they fit pretty good for this paper.

I made up this simple card for a friend that I've been thinking about lately. It's neat how the greens are so similar. I used white organdy ribbon, but found that I had picked up some wired ribbon by mistake.

This is a birthday card for a co-worker. I used 4 different papers and that wired white organdy ribbon.

I missed getting a picture of the other card that I made with these same papers -- but it was a birthday card for my good friend from church. They both used these same papers and flower die cuts. I liked how the flowers popped out on this design.

I tried to make 2x the amount of cards by repeating the designs & papers. It helps to get a bunch of cards made and since they were going to various people, none are the wiser (except you who read my blog!). See the next post and match up the same ones!