She believed.

Hello, friends. I am so glad you are here. This blog post and card are probably the most poignant I've published throughout my entire crafting career. There are several photos and I will do my best to keep the text brief. However, I do want to express my thoughts and emotions attached to the creation of the cards. I truly hope you'll follow with me to the end. It is that important to me. :)

 

For several weeks I've been wanting to use this beautiful headshot stamp from the August 2016 Kit of the Month called "Open your Soul".  It wasn't until I came across my June 2017 Sentiment Kit by Lisa Arana called "she never says never" that I knew exactly what I wanted to create. The background stamp is full of powerful affirmations that any woman would indeed draw strength from. "She believed" is part of a sentiment in the set that says "she believed she could so she did" that pairs perfectly with the background stamp. I masked the sentiment knowing that by using "She believed" it would perfectly compliment the entire message of the card. Indeed it has.

 

 

I had never colored this many images in one day. Nor made this many cards. Once I watercolored the first one I just couldn't stop. I wanted to capture the beautiful essence of many different women. I have never had such an experience in coloring or creating.

 

As I was working on these, many women from different walks of life filled my heart and mind with both joy and sadness. Joy because I know so many women that embody strength, dignity, confidence, compassion and acceptance. Sadness because I also know many women who are the exact opposite yet know better. Sadness also because I know many women who lack the above mentioned qualities for no other reason than they've not had them instilled in them. They've not had the example set before them. They've also been subjected to the women who lack. As women we MUST realize the power we have within us to change the world. To change lives.

 

 

 

We experience life differently. We are diverse. We are beautifully unique. We are a unit. A beautiful powerful unit. We all have something the other may need. Let's embrace who we are as women, friends, and let love motivate all that we do, say and give. My hope is that we give a little more than what we've been given.

 

 

The cards measure 3 3/4 x 9 1/8 and fit in a #10  (4 1/8 x 9 1/2) envelope.

 

 

For those of you who fully read my blog; I thank you so very much. I love being able to express myself through creating and writing, and I love sharing both with you.

 

If I may, I'd love to invite you to follow my blog.

There is a "follow" button up a bit and to the right. --->

(Not the follow by email, it's up just a bit from it.) Thank you so much!

It brings me so much joy sharing my thoughts and creations with all of you!

 

As always~

Thanks for spending time with me today!

Until next time~

Be blessed today, friends!

Bobbie Sue

 

Forgive any grammar mistakes you may find. I am always open to friendly and constructive criticism or correction. Please know, I write my blog out of absolute enjoyment and do not stress over possible minor errors within the layout. I appreciate you, friends!

 



Unity Stamp Co.~ Growing in Unity November Blog Hop

Hello Unity Friends!

I am so excited to be a part of the Growing in Unity Blog Hop! I am just as eager as you are to hop the blogs of my fellow GIU's! I know that I am not alone when I say how thankful I am to have found Unity Stamp Co. The quality of their stamps are unmatched, and the wide range of selection meets the taste of every stamper.
 

I had the best time yesterday creating the two cards I am featuring today. Dawn inspired me to make my first Christmas card of the year! I typically make more of a simple card that I can easily duplicate. Unless I am making a Christmas card for my dearest friends and family. This one is for a niece that I just adore. I know she will love Aubree Girl as much as I loved coloring her!
 

Most of the cards I create using Angie Girls are made with this similar design. I can't seem to get away from it. I just love it so much!

 

 

Images aren't near as clear on the blog as they are on my social media accounts. Links to my IG and FB can be found under my blog name description. I would love for you to visit me there!
 

Here are the details of creating the Aubree Girl card.
 

The card is an A2 cut vertically. (4 1/4 x 5 1/2) My go to and favorite size. The beautiful background paper is from a 4x6 Paper Studio pack called Old World Winter. (I have it in 12x12 too :) I cut just enough to hid the end behind Aubree. I stamped her on a piece of Canson XL watercolor paper and colored her with my Altenew watercolors. I added Sprinkled Sugar Stickles to her waistband, shoes and the top & fluff ball of her hat. It gives wonderful dimension and such a pretty sparkle! After she was completely dry I ran her through my Gemini to cut the border. I think I bought the border die from Lawn Fawn a few years ago. This was before I started keeping all the packing my supplies come in. Lesson learned! I always love the look of adding washi to a corner. And that snowflake! I love it! I keep a nice collection of wooden and metal charms that I buy in small bulk from Amazon. I just love adding them to most of my creations! The sentiment is from Graciellie Designs "Cheery Christmas". I heat embossed it onto a piece of vellum. I wish I had cut the vellum to fit the entire length of the card. I really like that look when using vellum.

This next card I made as a thank you card to give our daughters in-laws. My husband and I are traveling to our farmhouse in Arkansas next week and they will be having us to their home for Thanksgiving dinner. I absolutely adore this cup and pumpkin!

 

Here are the details of creating the thank you card.

 

This is also an A2 vertical size card base. The background paper is from the same paper pack Aubree card was. I tend to pop up the front panel of most of my cards. I love the look and dimension it gives. The cup is called "Pumpkin Spice" and the Pumpkin is "Bountiful Fall". I stamped the cup first then masked it so I could slightly hide just a bit of the pumpkin behind it. I stamped the pumpkin up and back a bit to give the appearance it was sitting on the table behind the cup. I water colored the images with my Altenew watercolors. I simply sketched out the "table top" with the tip of my watercolor brush. I love the look of layering 2 different sized ribbons. The brown one I found at the Dollar Store and the jute one is from Unity. The sentiment is from the September 2017 Sentiment Kit called "Abundant Blessings". It is one of my absolute favorite sentiments. The coffee cup called Fall to Go also has this sentiment just in different fonts. I love them both!  I cut the sentiment out with a deckled die set from Spellbinders. I always forget I have this die set! I really do like it.



For those of you who fully read my blog; I thank you so very much. I love being able to express myself through creating and writing, and I love sharing both with you.

 

If I may, I'd love to invite you to follow my blog.

There is a "follow" button up a bit and to the right. --->

(Not the follow by email, it's up just a bit from it.) Thank you so much!

It brings me so much joy sharing my thoughts and creations with all of you!

 

Here are the details for following the hop and having the chance to win some wonderful Unity Stamps to add to your collection!

I am the last blog on the hop, friends! I hope you have had a chance to visit each one. I know they are all equally as wonderful and unique!  If you've not been to each one, please see the blog hop list at the bottom of this post and prepare to be inspired!

As always~

Thanks for spending time with me today!

Until next time~

Be blessed, friends!

Your hop ends here

Bobbie Sue

 Be sure to go back, visit and leave a comment for any you may have missed!

You came here from~

Brandon Leggitt

Katy Duffy Fowler

Crystal Minkler

Bernia Febin

Shelly McGovern Schmidt

 

Forgive any grammar mistakes you may find. I am always open to friendly and constructive criticism or correction. Please know, I write my blog out of absolute enjoyment and do not stress over possible minor errors within the layout. I appreciate you, friends!

Can you believe?!

Hello, friends!

 

Can you believe these cards are made from digital images!? I didn't even know about making a card from a printable image until I had already been making cards for a couple years. Also, I had no idea how to use them up until 1 month ago! I've still so much to learn, but I have been loving designing cards with these digital images from Polka Dot Orchard! (<~Click to go directly to site). Although I am on the design team, I do not make any type of commission from PDO. I just love her designs and encourage you to visit her website and Etsy store!

 

This card was the first I had ever made with digital stamps. I adore it! Images aren't near as clear on the blog as they are on my social media accounts. Links to my IG and FB found under my blog name description. I would love for you to visit me there!  :)

 

This card is made with the digital stamp set called Sketchy Pumpkin Spice. There are several adorable images with this set. You can never go wrong adding washi to a card! ;) Right?!

 

 

 How adorable is the coffee cup with a scarf!! I'm loving it. Just wait until you see the heart also wearing a scarf! Oh my word. So adorable.

 

 

This is the card that ALMOST didn't get made as the main portion of it went in the trash bin! See the cup and scarf. It was beautifully colored very smooth, crisp and clean. That is until I dropped it in my pool of water I was using as my wash. Hard to tell in this photo, but it smeared it something fierce! I honestly didn't want to color another one so I resorted to retrieving him from the trash bin and reluctantly used him anyway. Looking at it now, I think it worked out quite well! As a matter of fact, when I showed the designer the finished card she said she would never have known it was a mistake if I hadn't told her! I say that day... I won. ;)

 

 

Oh friends, these flowers. I know you are going to want them! I am in love with them! They are from the You are Everything Flower and Butterfly set. There are so many beautiful images with this set. You must go see them!

 

I would love to see what you  make with these digital sets! Feel free to tag me in your creations.

 

If I may, I'd love to invite you to follow my blog.

There is a "follow" button up a bit and to the right. --->

(Not the follow by email, it's up just a bit from it.) Thank you so much!

It brings me so much joy sharing my thoughts and creations with all of you!

As always~

Thanks for spending time with me today!

Until next time~

Be blessed, friends!

Bobbie Sue

 

 

 

Forgive any grammar mistakes you may find. However, I am always open to friendly and constructive criticism or correction. Please know, I write my blog out of absolute enjoyment and do not stress over possible minor errors within the layout. I appreciate you, friends!



Calendar Easel Cards

Hello friends!

 

Here, finally, is the long awaited calendar easel card post! I've battled weeks of being sick to make it here and I am happy to report I am finally on the mend.  The calendar cards I made this weekend did not turn out exactly as I had envisioned, but I know I also wasn't feeling my best. Having said that, I am still quite pleased with them.  I still have several to make to give as gifts.

 

I discovered CEC's in 2015 and have since been making them every year for friends and family. I'll be including several photos in this post which, along with my text, will make it appear quite long. I hope you will follow along with me and read the details! I promise to be engaging. ;)

 

(I will also share a few photos of ones I have made in the past.)

 

I made 3 different versions of the CEC's. I wish I were set up to make videos, friends, but unfortunately I am not. This is not so much a tutorial blog post as it is an inspiration post in hopes you become excited to make some of your own!! I will include some YouTube videos that are very similar to the techniques I use. Once you understand the basics of cutting, scoring and assembling the CEC's you can easily modify the directions to different sizes/measurements.

All stamps used are from Unity Stamp Co. <~Click here to see their collection. I am not affiliated with the company. Just a happy and loyal customer.

The first 2 are pretty basic, but stick with me. ;) They get better.

 

This one I made for my husband's home office desk. The sentiment is from the Oct. 2018 Sentiment Kit by Graciellie Design called "I Am With You".

 

 

I haven't shown him the card yet. I placed it on his desk, and I am eager to see when he discovers it. ;)

 

 

This one I made for my Pastor. You'll notice I kept the first 2 very simple and basic. My husband and my Pastor are very simple yet extraordinary men of God. These fit them perfectly.

 

Many of you have seen this next one on the Unity S&T page when I was asking opinions regarding embellishments. I agreed completely that less is often more. :) I absolutely loved water coloring these images from a Graciellie Design called "Girl in a Garden", The sentiment is from a Graciellie Design set appropriately named  "You Matter". It may be a small sentiment, but oh what a mighty and powerful statement it is. I have used it several times on different projects.

 

(Here is a video (<~~click here) tutorial very similar to how I created this one. I have no affiliate to Stampin Up nor the owner of this video. I am simply sharing for you to learn the assembly of this design. :) 

 

I wish you could see the true beauty of this next one. I love the little tag sticking up sideways displaying the sentiment. Photos in my blog just aren't as clear as they are on my social media pages. Links are located at the top of my blog if you'd like a better photo view. I made this one for one of my daughters. She recently fell in love with sewing so you'll see in the next photo a close up of the sewing machine charm. I know she will love it so. The sentiment is from the June 2018 Sentiment Kit by Lisa Arana called Every Single Day.

 

  

This next CEC is the most basic design, and the first design I learned to create. As a matter of fact, It is the only design I used up until this year. I am showing you several photo views because it is folded quite differently than the other 2 versions I made.

 

Here is a video (<~~click here) tutorial very similar to how I created this style below. I have no affiliate to the owner of this video. I am simply sharing for you to learn the assembly of this design. :) 

 

You'll notice in the photos the different ways you can get the easel to stand by putting foam tape under the calendar or by using embellishments. I prefer the look of letting it rest against the popped up calendar. How bout you?

The sentiment is from the Sept. 2017 Sentiment Kit called "Abundant Blessings". It is such a beautiful and warm sentiment that I use often for pieces that might be displayed in someone's home. The frame and butterfly are part of a chipboard set I bought several years ago from Bo Bunny. I really love the DSP I used on this one. It is from Recollections called Blue Blooms.

 



 

In the photo below I wanted you to see that they are still able to fit in an envelope. I made both A2 and A6 sizes. My advice if you are mailing these would be to put them in their appropriate envelope as well as a larger envelope with a piece of cardboard (or thick cardstock) to help protect it. It may cost more to send, but certainly worth protecting your creation that you no doubt put love into making.

 

See that beautiful vellum envelope? I was blessed in finding a brand-new box of 250 count A6 vellum envelopes at my local Goodwill!  You can absolutely mail a vellum or clear envelope, too!

 



 

Here are a few CEC's I have made over the past few years.  I had forgotten about this size and actually prefer this more squared look.

 

Here is a video (<~~click here) tutorial very similar to how I created this style below. I have no affiliate to Split Coast Stampers nor the owner of this video. I am simply sharing for you to learn the assembly of this design. :) 

 

 

I hope you will make some CEC's of your own. If you do, please share with me! I do have a few extra 2019 Mini calendars. If you would like one please message me on my FB or IG. I would love to send you a couple!

 

For those of you who fully read my blog, I thank you so very much. I love being able to express myself through creating and writing, and I love sharing both with you.

If I may, I'd love to invite you to follow my blog.

There is a "follow" button up a bit and to the right. --->

(Not the follow by email, it's up just a bit from it.) Thank you so much!

It brings me so much joy sharing my thoughts and creations with all of you!

As always~

Thanks for spending time with me today!

Until next time~

Be blessed, friends!

 

Bobbie Sue

 

Forgive any grammar mistakes you may find.  Please know, I write my blog out of absolute enjoyment and do not stress over possible minor errors within the layout. However, I am always open to friendly and constructive criticism or correction. I appreciate you, friends!

Friends of Unity Blog Hop ~ Strength

Welcome to November, friends. My favorite Month of the year!

I was eager to share in this months blog hop because of the "Strength" cue. I knew it would be inspiring and encouraging. I, personally, can't wait to visit all of the blogs in this hop.

My first thought on creating with the cue strength turned immediately to who I am in Christ, and the strength I draw from Him daily. I was so excited to see this verse in the Nov. 13' KOM. The verse name of Proverbs is not part of this kit, but luckily I had this verse in a photopolymer stamp. I stamped and cut it from there. I thought Brandi Girl was a great representation of this verse. I love her mint green skirt, and her brown purse! You?

I do wish photos on the blog would show up as clearly as they do on FB and/or IG. To truly appreciate the colors/design, I invite you to go see the cards on my social media. (Link under my blog heading.) :)

 

I die cut the top with a die from MFT and placed a small piece of DSP I had been wanting to use. I love the added sentiment this little piece of paper added. The washi covers up blemishes that I explain to you in the next few paragraphs lol. I love that I had washi that matched her perfectly!

I stamped her using Clair's Fallen Leaves and then colored her with my Arteza Brush Pens. It was so fun that I plan to stamp her out a few more times, and give her several outfits. She is a beauty to color! I discovered a new technique with my brush pens that I am certain many of you already know, but I'll share for those who may not. I was so excited and so relieved to discover I could go over a dark coloring I'm not entirely happy with, using a lighter marker of the same shade and lighten it up! I wasn't originally happy with how I had colored her purse and jacket. So much so, that I almost scrapped and started over. I love that the lighter marker saved my project.

 

If you notice all of the marking at the top of the paper. I hadn't actually intended on using this specific one for my card. I was just practicing with coloring this lady, and when finished decided that I just had to use her! This is the part where the edge die came in handy. I was able to cut away almost all of my ink practice and cover the last bit with the matching washi. ;) I will never again go against my own rule of practicing colors on a separate sheet of the exact paper I'm creating with.

My 2nd thought regarding strength was who we surround ourselves with. Our circle of friends should inspire & encourage us. We must be able to draw strength from one another. I have a very small circle of friends, and they are often strong for me when I am weak. And I for them. I have discovered this same sense of comradery within the crafting community, as well. For this I am so incredibly grateful.

The selfie girls were perfect for this circle of friends expression of "Strength". This was my first time using these beauties, and I am excited to use them again as a celebration of my daughters and daughters-in-law. I also stamped them with Clair's Fallen Leaves. I've really been impressed with the VersaFine Clair inks and am adding to my collection with each order from Unity!

 

 I feel the reason for the mixed ethnicities are self explanatory. I love to love all. Not just some. It is true; some people strengthen others just by being the kind of person they are. I want to be that person. This is one of my favorite sentiments I stamped using Gina K's Amalgam ink. It's an itty bitty called "Being Kind Strengthens OTHERS".

 

 

I wasn't originally going to make a tag from these beauties, but am very happy with how it all came together.  I cut the tag with my WeR Mem Keepers Tag punch board. It looks smaller in the photo but it is actually 3.5 in x 7.5 in. The punch board only cuts up to 3" in width so I had to help it along, but it helped me to achieve the straight edges!

 

Here I wanted you to see how I stacked the different layers. Both the top and bottom pieces are separate and popped up with foam tape. This tag actually gave me a fit and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to use it. I stepped back, rethought the design, and am very pleased with the result. I love all the different use of dots. I love designing with dots and am very pleased with how they all played out on this tag. I had some dot washi that I forgot to use! Do you ever do that?!

I also colored these ladies with my Arteza brush pens. I typically watercolor with them, but have really been enjoying coloring with them lately. I love this set as equally as I love my Zigs.  The Arteza set has 3 wonderful flesh colored markers, which being a huge fan of Angie Girls, was an absolute joy to discover!

Next weekend I will have a blog with my mini calendar easel cards! I know many of you were eager for the tutorial and photos!

For those of you who fully read my blog, I thank you so very much. I love being able to express myself through creating and writing, and I love sharing both with you.

I hope you have a chance to visit each blog. I know they are all equally as wonderful and unique!  If you've not, please see the blog hop list at the bottom of this post and prepare to be inspired!

If I may, I'd love to invite you to follow my blog.

There is a "follow" button up a bit and to the right. --->

(Not the follow by email, it's up just a bit from it.) Thank you so much!

It brings me so much joy sharing my thoughts and creations with all of you!

As always~

Thanks for spending time with me today!

Until next time~

Be blessed, friends!

Bobbie Sue

There are some pretty awesome giveaways with this hop! Including one from myself! Be sure you comment on EACH blog post to be entered in the drawing. Winners announced during next months blog hop!

(I have a feeling you will comment anyway as a way of support and admiration to the artists.)

 

Speaking of prizes!! Congratulations to Amanda Rhodes for being my winner from last months FOU blog hop! Please message me your contact information.

Friends, please know that our hops are not sponsored. (Although, I know Unity Stamp Co. lovingly approves) Because your support is so valuable and so appreciated, prizes are given from the creators own private stash of Unity stamps.

       The hop started with

Crystal

You arrived here from

Kim

You are here! 

ME

 Please visit

Eileen

 next!

Wynne

Robyn

Dawn

Joyce 

Jeanie

Forgive any grammar mistakes you may find. However, I am always open to friendly and constructive criticism or correction. Please know, I write my blog out of absolute enjoyment and do not stress over possible minor errors within the layout. I appreciate you, friends!