A Pedicure Would Hit the Spot!

It's finally Saturday morning around here! Kinda overcast and SUPER WINDY! March is roaring and spring is in FULL BLOOM! All the trees have buds on them. I looked out the kitchen window earlier in the week and couldn't believe that my peach tree had tiny pink flowers on it. I love it when the trees flower - it's my favorite part of spring!!

I made another card last night using one of the charms from the new charm bracelet set at Pink Papery Studios. It's a digital stamp so you can buy it, download it and stamp with it all in the same day and without having to leave the house!

Each of the charms can be used alone to create hang tags in whatever size you need as they are totally re-sizable! It seems like all the pedicure places around here have an Asian flare to them so it was a great chance to use the Haiku paper from Stampin Up that I've had for months and didn't know what to do with. The sketch is #6 from the Inspirational Card Sketches blog. Dawn is the owner of this sketch blog and they are really phenomenal. She always awes me with her scrapbook pages and almost every single one gets "starred" in my reader. I'm not much of a scrapper so am always on the lookout for pages to CASE. She's also really great at making scrappy cards - and her team is out of the world too! You should check it out - there is a prize this week!

I paper pieced the spa chair and covered her turban and robe in fun flock. The tub was colored bronze with a metallic colored pencil and then painted with Coffee Bean Shimmer It and the bubbles have Pixie Shimmer It. I stamped the tag and then colored it in with a silver Galaxy Marker. I did this about 11 p.m. last night and I can really see in this photo that I must get an OTT-Light again soon!

Have a beautiful Saturday! I'm off to read to the little man for a bit and will also probably end up playing cars - oh the life of a mom with a son!

You're Charming

Hello girls! I hope you are all having a wonderful Saturday! My little man is feeling better as he was running all around this afternoon. So nice to see him happy and giggly again. I've got plans to pick up around here and then I do have to work for a bit tomorrow night. But today I want to share a card with you. Pink Papery Studios is releasing some new images today. Be sure to stop by and see all the new stuff. My favorite is this charm bracelet. I have a huge, HUGE charm bracelet. I always love to see other people's bracelets too and hear all about every charm and it's meaning.

Amy asked us to create a card using the bracelet, to use Shimmer It somewhere and to have a 3D effect. I hope you can see some of the 3D on this bracelet.

I kept my layout very simple so all the focus would be on the charms. I used a silver gel pen to color in the bracelet and edges of the charms. Then each one was individually cut out. This set is designed so that the link on the charm is "open" so that it can be placed right onto your bracelet.

For the heart charm, I just hand-lettered my sentiment, mimicking a typewriter font that might be seen on vintage charms. The star was encrusted with small gems. I have several charms on my bracelet that are pave and they are some of my most favorite!! A simple gem in the circle charm - perfect for a June birthstone!

This next charm was painted with Shimmer It in Rosette and then a butterfly gem laid over it. Enameling is very, very popular right now in jewelry and that was a look I wanted to create. The final charm was embossed with my textile folder, and then the raised areas were painted with a silver Galaxy marker.

Stop by the rest of the Pink Papery Studios team. They have created some really beautiful cards for this release! I will be back later with another card showing another use for this set. I just finished it (Friday, midnight) and pre-scheduling this post. Since I broke my Ott-Light nighttime pictures are just not in the cards!

Have a beautiful day!!

Inspired by the Banana Bunch

Happy Thursday girls!! I hope it's beautiful where you are. The weather has been just gorgeous lately. Hubby did tell me yesterday though that he heard snow in the forecast. That's the Texas Panhandle for you. Snow in March. A cold Spring Break.

Last week started the sneak peeks of the new releases over at 2 Red Bananas. They are such a neat, fun group of girls! I really enjoy getting to chat with them on the PCP group and Jeannete, the owner is my kind of girl. Seriously. She is so attuned to her customers. She mentioned last week that she had new ribbon to add to the store and I told her that I would love to see velvet ribbon. And she emailed me tonight (it's *almost* Thursday here) and told me that she has some coming! And of course, my RSF - that's REAL stamping friend - is one of her designers so you know she's super smart too to snap up talent like that!

This time, Jeanette wanted to really inspire all of us so we were challenged to view all the creations from the Design Team and be inspired by 3 things from 3 designers. I was inspired every single day! I had little notes and sketches on slips of paper all over the house! But I only got one done. I was finally able to use Jami's very first set - and it was so much fun! I love the way the cross is drawn - very rustic and real to me.

My 3 inspirations were:
1. Jami's bow and using Shimmerz (although I I used Shimmer It)
2. Jeanette's color combo of blue and brown
3. Teresa's "overstamping" idea

I wasn't sure if I wanted to just overstamp my quote on the cross or if I wanted to stamp over patterned paper too. So I made 2 cards. This first one is a bit "fancier". I just stamped the cross and then used Moss Petal Shimmer It paint for the greenery. As I was putting the layers together I noticed the I had a small drop of Shimmer It in the corner. I was just going to leave it but then couldn't. So the sweet bird was called in to the rescue. TIP: When I was looking at the stamp, it appeared that my bird was flying the "right" direction, i.e. over my cross. But it was switched. I didn't want him to appear to be leaving, but rather coming. So I inked him up, and then stamped him onto one of my Hero Arts Shadow stamps (do you remember those - from like 8 years ago?) did some huffing and stamped onto my paper. It was a little light but worked perfectly.

My second card uses one less layer and I used the Shimmer It in Pixie this time on the ?scarf? It's really hard to see in the photo though. My paper is really thin and buckled quite a bit with the Shimmer It. I didn't really notice how much until I was uploading photos. The bow technique didn't work out quite as well with this sheer ribbon but it's close. Jami did an excellent tutorial on her blog - her link is in the sidebar (and then she has a spot for all her tutorials)- you should check it out!!

And finally, I want to give some shout outs to my friends Bridget and Jami. Bridget and I got to hang out several weeks ago (I miss you girl! We need to get together again SOON!) and she brought my FETA CHEESE STUFFED OLIVES. Yum! She pays such good attention to things like that. I have been slowly savoring them. And then Saturday I got a package from Jami - with some gorgeous velvet paper - heart it. so much. I am fighting the desire to go get a safety deposit box and lock it up so it is safe. I haven't seen that stuff since our local stamp store closed. miss that. so much. But I'm going to use it!! She also knows that I love, LOVE bling and sent me this little package of "tatoos" that are crystals and perfect for cards. The best part - it is my NAME!!! I squealed - literally and loudly - when I saw it! It's hard to find CASSANDRA vanity anything.

Thank you both for blessing me in such wonderful, incredible, thoughtful ways! I treasure your sweet gifts and I treasure your friendship even more!

I'm so glad each of you are my RSF too! Have a beautiful day!!

Growing in God's Love

Good morning girls!! It's Wednesday and I am actually getting all my posts for today typed well before Wednesday debuts. It's a busy day here on the blog so I hope you've got your coffee, tea or soda of choice. Curl up and sit a spell won't you?

First up is the challenge for Pink Papery Studios. This week's challenge was issued by Jennifer and she suggested we use pink bling in honor of Valentine's day. We get bonus points for using the bling on a notebook or journal to highlight all the things we love, a great suggestion from Amy. When I was in college, I kept a quote journal and still have it on my bookshelf. Love is a direct gift from God and one of the desires of my heart in 2009 is to really make scripture a part of my soul, memorizing it more and keeping it close to my heart. So I thought a journal to record all the scriptures that speak to me would be a great gift to myself!

Amy recently sent us all a package of goodies and I was so excited to get home on Sunday and actually get mine!! I'd been hearing the whole time I was gone about all the goodies inside!! One of them was this cute little journal. It feels like a canvas or a linen. Heres' the back:


Also included in our package was several bottles of Shimmer It paint. I uses Promising to cover the base of my journal and Peaceful to cover a piece of watercolor paper. Peaceful is the prettiest blue color. I used 2 coats on my paper and it's still very sheer, with just a hint of blue. I stamped the tree from Owl Be Green (Cocoa Studio) in Chocolate Chip and then ran the panel through my Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots folder. The edges are scalloped with my border punch from Stampin Up! I used some bling flowers in place of the leaves on my tree and free-handed some grass using Moss Petal Shimmer It. I generated my own sentiment and finished it off with some ribbon!

Here's a shot to show all the shimmer and sparkle. Isn't it lovely?

I am working on the His Holy Name challenge that Patter Cross is doing (link in my sidebar) and she also has a Scripture Challenge. There is also the Divine Design challenge. While I don't know if I'll get a "project" created every week for these, I do want to study God's word and keep it close to my heart. I think this journal is a perfect way to do that!

Stay tuned for my Flutter By card and my Cuttlebug Challenge card too!

First Snowfall

Hello girls!! Can you believe it's Wednesday already? I have my tag for today's Pink Papery Studios challenge. Janna challenged the DT to create a tag using the colors blue, purple, silver and white. I loved the color combo she suggested the minute I read it and was so excited to play. I used the Catch A Falling Snowflake set from the Trafalgarssquare line over at Pink Papery Studios. The more I use this sweet little girl, the more I fall in love with her!! I just love how she is so excited about the snow and trying to catch it in her coat!! I hope you can see some of the sparkle and shimmer in the photos. I am so desperately hoping that I get the light tent I put on my Christmas list. It seems like what works one day won't work for the next 3 around here.

Here's how I created her:

1. Stamped girl using StazOn Timber Brown on my tag (which is really a playing card blank I picked up at a local teacher supply store)

2. Cut out a mask for her and created a simple color wash for my sky using Bashful Blue (SU!) and my waterbrush. I even added a touch of purple to show how COLD it is! I can just imagine her not wanting to come in even though her mommy says it's getting late and cold. Oh to be a kid again and not feel the cold!

3. Stamped the snowflake using Colorbox Silver. When using a stamp like this multiple times, I always make sure to twist and turn my block as I stamp; this ensures that my snowflakes don't all look the same. I then used my Clear Shimmer It and went over the sky again to give it a subtle sparkle, just like itty bitty snowflakes falling down. Added some pearls to the centers.

4. I knew I had some stuff to use for snow so I went digging in my stash and found these cool little flakes from Perfect fX; just some Tombow glue to adhere them I don't know where to get them these days or if you even can as I've had them for YEARS!! But I know that there are other products out there very similar. In the same drawer I found my Perfect Pearls paints which I haven't used in a long time either. I decided to use those for her coat but had to create my own color as the purple I had was, well...let's just say VIVID!! I toned it down with what I thought was lavender but was really blue. Turned out perfect!!

5. I decided that I wanted a few flakes falling in the sky too so placed some random tombow dots and shook on some more Perfect fX. Should've thought about the paint not being quite dry as there is quite a bit on her little coat too. Now she looks like she's playing in a blizzard instead of a peaceful snow. Oh well. I still love this tag.

6. Finished it off with some ribbon, a snowflake button and a little sentiment tag.

Spelling it all out like that makes it seem like this took a lot of time, but it really didn't. I'm so glad you stopped by! Be sure to go check out the rest of the DT and see their tags. They are gorgeous!! You'll find the links in my sidebar. Would you prefer them linked in the post? I know I read almost every blog in Reader so it's nice when they are included. And if that's what you want, then I'll take the extra time to include them. Perhaps someone knows an easy way to include them than having to open, copy and paste links from every blog every time??

Thanks for stopping by today!! I so love having you here!! If you play along in our challenge, be sure to let me know so that I can come check it out! Upload at SCS or PCP using Pink Papery Studios as your tag or leave a comment here!