Sunshine in my pocket

Extra Long “Growing” Card

By KariV on September 27, 2013 in Paper Crafting

I have been taking the Insider Card Class with Kristina Werner and Jennifer McGuire and friends. It has been AWESOME!! I am truly enjoying each day of this 4 day class…and I wish it wouldn’t end!

Here is one of the cards I was inspired by Kristina to make:

It’s a happy, cloudy sky card with vibrant flowers. THEN, when you OPEN it…

It grows and grows and grows!

I used Paper Smooches friendly flowers stamps as well as Autumn Flowers stamps, Stampin’ up ink pads and Distress ink to make the sky. Inktense watercolor pencils are my favorites right now for coloring in these flowers. The “Hi” and those stars are heat embossed with gold embossing powder.

I thought this card would be perfect for my daughter who is pregnant (aka “growing” a baby)…what do you think?

Loving this card class, Kristina & Jennifer!!

Linking up to Paper Smooches challenge and Simon Says Stamp challenge.

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Fantastic and Easy Fried Rice (Guest posting)

By KariV on September 24, 2013 in Uncategorized

I’m guest posting over at Mom Endeavors today! It’s my all-time favorite Fried Rice recipe that you can make at home. If you like fried rice, you may be surprised that you can make it just as delicious as those teppanyaki restaurants (yum!)

So head on over here to check it out. And while you are there be sure to leave a comment or well-wishes!

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Wishing You Sunshine card

By KariV on September 24, 2013 in Uncategorized

Hello! Today I’m sharing a sunny card with you, as a part of the Verve Card Challenge! The challenge is to use “TIC TAC TOE” as the inspiration for your card. So, x’s and o’s, hugs and kisses, grids or circles.

So I pulled out my absolutely FAVORITE Verve stamp set, called “Let It Shine” and put together this tic-tac-toe inspired card:

My nod to the theme is the “X” stitching around the embossed cloud paper and the “Os” in the yellow background paper (My Mind’s Eye). Then I adhered the little sunshines in a grid or “tic-tac-toe” arrangement.

Aren’t those little suns adorable?! I love the sentiment too: Wishing You Sunny Days. Now doesn’t that just sound like me? (I have to admit, I was a little excited to find this stamp set.)

I used Inktense watercolor pencils to color in those suns. And added dots around the sentiment tag to imitate the clouds.

That chevron ribbon paper matches the thread almost exactly (I promise)…even though it looks a little darker in these photos.

I used pop dots to add dimension to the suns and the sentiment. Tic-tac-toe three in a row means you win, right?! What a cheerful card. See you next time!

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Dose of Sunshine Monday — What if listening

By KariV on September 23, 2013 in Inspiration

Yesterday at church we discussed helping people, “rescuing” them…and someone brought up the idea that maybe we could help people by simply listening.

I think that there is definitely something to that. I know that just a little listening, understanding, discussing, and encouraging can go miles to helping someone (or even saving a life).

What if our only real assignment is to listen carefully?

But not just listening for others; Listening for OURSELVES. When we stop to hear God’s plan for us, we can see miracles unfold. Take some time to listen today…you decide what to listen to. What do you hear?

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You Make Me Smile card

By KariV on September 22, 2013 in Paper Crafting

Aren’t eggplants a funny vegetable. They really seriously make me smile. That is what inspired this card today, well, that AND the Paper Smooches Color Story card challenge. The colors they chose are called “Fresh Fall:”

With those colors to work with, I immediately thought of my Paper Smooches “Vegtastic” eggplant stamp. It is a funny little stamp, but it always makes me smile. When I got this stamp set, I wondered what I would EVER use that eggplant for. This challenge was perfect! Here’s what I came up with:

I watercolored the eggplant and used some purple glitter glue on a few of them. (Don’t touch yet…wet glue!) For the sentiment I used the “YOU” stamp set from Simon Says Stamp. The cloud die cut is also from SSS.

Look at those cute little shadows the eggplant makes…I popped them out with pop dots. A little washi tape makes the fun pennant banner. Those eggplant veggies *might be having a little party.