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October 23, 2015

Peek-a-boo Leaves ~ Reminder for House of Cards

Hi everyone,

Thanks for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments. I'm honored to have you here and I truly appreciate each of you more than you know!

Can you believe we're halfway through October already? It's scary how quick the month and indeed the year is going!!! The holidays will soon be here, but more about that later. I've got another House of Cards challenge inspired card for you today. Yep, I know, it's the third I've shared with you this month, but if I can't spoil you, who can? If you missed the first two, you can see them here and here.

I've used the same design elements for this card, the Woodgrain TIEF, Vintage Leaves stamp and die bundle and For All Things stamp set from Stampin' Up! that I used for the first two...


Card: Cajun Craze, Whisper White and snippets of Vellum
Ink: Cajun Craze and Jet Black StazOn
Stamp set: For All Things
Tools: Woodgrain TIEF, Deco Labels Framelits

Challenges...

Texture and/ or Fall Colors at House of Cards
#206 AAG at Word Art Wednesday
#199 AAG at Pixie's Snippets Playground
#221 Favorite cutting machine at HIMCR

Whatever you're doing this weekend, have a great one. I'm taking a bloggy break next week, but I'll be back Saturday, November 1st with another creation, so I hope you'll join me then.


October 21, 2015

My Tips Pictorial for Lea's Lantern

Hi everyone,

Thanks for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments. I'm honored to have you here and I truly appreciate each of you more than you know!

The lovely Lea Denton's tutorial is great and really easy to do. With her permission I'm sharing some tips on how to create the versions I've shared with you here and here. In this post I'll describe what I did differently to create the lantern base, using Lea's tutorial as a guide, and then in the pictorial I'll show you how I added in the stamped vellum.

Here's a reminder of what I've used to create both of mine...
Card: Cajun Craze (cut as below) and Vellum (4 pieces of 2 3/4" x 4 3/4"
Ink: Cajun Craze and Versamark
Stamp set: Vintage Leaves
Tools: Simply Scored, Leaf Framelits, White Embossing Powder and heat tool
Adhesives: Tear & Tape and Tombow

Score the lantern base using the following recipe from Lea...
2 pieces of card cut to 6½" by 11 5/8
Scored on the LONG side at 3", 8" and 11"
Scored on the SHORT side at 3" and 6"
Mark the middle of the two 3" squares and score to the point (as almost visible in the first pic below)

Here's where my version differs from Lea's...

For both of my versions, I ONLY folded the small section on the long side, so that the pieces would fit through the BigShot (Lea cut her apertures by hand).

Stamp the chosen leaf image from the stamp set randomly over the top and middle sections of both pieces.

Using the die, cut the leaf out of both panels and repeat with the second piece. 

Fold and burnish all other score lines and adhere the two panels together as shown below...

With the outside of the lantern face UP, lay a piece of vellum on top of the first cut...

Using Versamark, stamp the image onto the vellum using the cut aperture as a guide. Repeat for all 4 pieces, putting the stamped image to one side, in order..

Keeping the pieces in order, cover with White EP and then heat emboss. Flip the lantern base to the wrong side and adhere vellum in place, using either Tombow or Tear & Tape...

Complete the construction using Lea's tutorial for the top closure...

I hope you've enjoyed the pictorial. I love the lantern and plan on creating some for Christmas, which I'll show you nearer the time.

I'll be back on Friday with another creation, so I hope you'll join me then.

October 19, 2015

Lea's Lantern #2

Hi everyone,

Thanks for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments. I'm honored to have you here and I truly appreciate each of you more than you know!

Today I'm sharing another version of Lea's Lantern after sharing my first with you a few weeks ago. While I LOVED the first one, today's is even better...


Card: Cajun Craze and Vellum
Ink: Cajun Craze and Versamark
Stamp set: Vintage Leaves
Tools: Simply Scored, Leaf Framelits, White Embossing Powder and heat tool
Adhesives: Tear & Tape and Tombow

Challenges...
#150 Autumn Colors at Crafty Cardmakers
#284 AAG at Craft your passion
#146 AG at 613 Avenue Create

I'll be back on Wednesday with some tips on how to create the lantern relatively quickly, so I hope you'll join me then.


October 16, 2015

October Awareness Month ~ Baby Loss

Hi everyone,

Thanks for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments. I'm honored to have you here and I truly appreciate each of you more than you know!

Today's card is another Awareness Month creation, this time for baby loss. While there are just two birds on it, I've created it in honor of my three angels, Hannah Louise, Joshua James and Toni-Louise. All three passed away before they were born and I'll forever treasure the time I had with each of them.

I am so blessed to be their Mama, and I'm even more blessed because in passing, my precious little man Josh saved my life, thanks to the discovery of a previously undiagnosed condition. While the grief and pain I feel at their loss will always remain with me, I am comforted, not only by the fact that they are together, but that they are always with me and on the day my Lord and Savior chooses, we will be reunited.

The verse I've used, from Stampin' Up!'s Trust God stamp set, says it all... "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding."


If you, or someone you know has experienced the loss of a child, whether in pregnancy or in childhood, I'd be honored to create a similar card in their honor for you. Please contact me by email at emlouisef at gmail dot com. Similarly, if you've been touched by my post and would like to speak to me, in absolute confidence, about the issues raised, please do. I'm here for all of you, whether you're a regular reader, or this is the first time you've read one of my posts. You can reach me either via email or at the Ministry page.

Card: Whisper White
Markers: Calypso Coral and Coastal Cabana Stampin' Write (retired, from the 2013-2015 In Color pack)
Stamp set: Trust God
Tools and embellishments: Woodgrain TIEF, Bird Builder Punch, Deco Labels Framelits, Basic Pearls
Adhesive: Tear & Tape and Stampin' Dimensionals

Challenges...
#205 AAG at Word Art Wednesday
#198 AAG at Pixie's Snippets Playground
AG at TTCRD

Whatever you're doing this weekend, have a GREAT one. I'll be back on Monday with another creation, so I hope you'll join me then.


October 14, 2015

October Awareness Month ~ Breast Cancer

Hi everyone,

Thanks for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments. I'm honored to have you here and I truly appreciate each of you more than you know!

Following on from Monday's Domestic Violence Awareness Month post, today's card has been inspired by another cause that's so close to my heart, Breast Cancer Awareness. While my experience is again first hand, thankfully my lump proved to be a harmless, if large, cyst, that I still have to this day.

The terror that I felt when I found it while soaking in the tub will always remain with me. The week long wait for the hospital appointment was and will remain, the longest, perhaps scariest week of my life. That might surprise you a little, given what I shared on Monday, but it's partly because of the timing of the scare that I consider it to be the scariest. For the first time in my life, having escaped the abuse a few years earlier, I felt in control of my life. The lump, the uncertainty, sort to shatter that. The doctor I saw at my GP's office the morning after finding the lump, was also pretty certain that it was cancerous.

So what did I do? I did the only thing I knew by then to do. I faced my possible cancer head on and started fighting it immediately, at least mentally. I had to. I had to prepare myself for the worst and be strong for those around me, who I was more concerned about than I was for myself.

Thankfully as I've said, scans showed the mass to be a harmless cyst, that I still have. I can't describe how I felt upon that news. I was obviously relieved, but more than that, my thoughts were again for my loved ones. We'd faced it and gotten through it together.

There are certain times of the month when I feel the cyst more than others, and yes, in the back of my mind is the possibility that it might turn nasty at some point. If it ever does, I'll be ready for the battle, just as I was soon after I found it.

The sentiment on the card is perfect for someone who has been so supportive of me and indeed the card is winging its way to her right now.


If you've been touched by my post and would like to speak to me, in absolute confidence, about the issues raised, please do. I'm here for all of you, whether you're a regular reader, or this is the first time you've read one of my posts. You can reach me either via the Ministry page, or by email to emlouisef at gmail dot com.

Card: Whisper white
Ink: Melon Mambo
Marker: Strawberry Slush Stampin' Write (retired, from the 2013-2015 In Color pack)
Stamp set: Me = Grateful
Tools and embellishments: Boho Chic TIEF, Bird Builder Punch, Deco Labels Framelits, Basic Pearls
Adhesives: Tear & Tape and Stampin' Dimensionals

Challenges...
#205 AAG at Word Art Wednesday
#198 AAG at Pixie's Snippets Playground
AG at TTCRD

I'll be back on Friday with another Awareness Month creation, and I'll again share some more of myself with you, my beloved readers and friends, so I hope you'll join me then.


October 12, 2015

October Awareness Month ~ Domestic Violence

Hi everyone,

Thanks for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments. I'm honored to have you here and I truly appreciate each of you more than you know!

October is, among other things, Domestic Violence Awareness Month. I myself am a survivor of such abuse and therefore as soon as I was invited to the Hop to Stop I knew I had to take part.

While only my closest friends know of my experiences a number of years ago, I've decided to share at least some of my story here. I'm a double survivor. Yep, I got out of one abusive marriage only to find myself in another, where the abuse was worse. In both the abuse was both physical and mental and yes, I still have the scars today.

That said, I don't dwell on the negative. I got out and I don't see myself as a victim, although in the immediate aftermath, I perhaps did. And yes, there has been many times since them when the mental scars became almost too much. But thanks to the AMAZING support of those who do know my history and perhaps a little to do with my own inner strength, I'm still here. I am a survivor.

While my experiences don't define who I am, they have, all of them, helped shape me into the woman I am today. It might sound strange, but I look upon them all as a blessing of sorts, because they have given me an insight and real understanding of what others in similar situations are going through, which is particularly helpful within my Ministry.


If you've been touched by my post and would like to speak to me, in absolute confidence, about the issues raised, please do. I'm here for all of you, whether you're a regular reader, or this is the first time you've read one of my posts. You can reach me either via the Ministry page linked above, or by email to emlouisef at gmail dot com.

Card: Whisper White and Rich Razzleberry
Ink: Rich Razzleberry
Stamp set: Me = Grateful
Tools and embellishments: Bird Builder Punch, Decorative Dots TIEF, Deco Labels Framelits and Basic Pearls
Adhesives: Tear & Tape and Stampin' Dimensionals

Challenges...
The Hop to Stop at The Damsel of Distressed
#198 AAG at Pixie's Snippets Playground
#204 AAG at Word Art Wednesday

I'll be back on Wednesday with another Awareness Month creation, when I'll again share a little more of myself with you, my beloved readers and friends, so I hope you'll join me then.


October 8, 2015

Lea's Lantern

Hi everyone,

Thanks for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments. I'm honored to have you here and I truly appreciate each of you more than you know!

The project I'm sharing with you today is my first attempt at a lantern that was created by my very talented Stampin' Sister, Lea Denton, AKA the Crafty Spark. Lea has created a couple of them already, one for Halloween and one for Christmas, both of which can be found on her YouTube channel.

I've gone for a fall theme for mine, using the Vintage Leaves stamp and die bundle from Stampin' Up! that you've been seeing a lot of on here recently...


Card: Cajun Craze and Vellum
Ink: Versamark
Stamp set: Vintage Leaves
Tools: Simply Scored, Leaf Framelits, White Embossing Powder and heat tool
Adhesives: Tear & Tape and Tombow

Challenges...
AAG at TTCRD
#72 AG at Beyond Grey
#80 AAG at Crafting From The Heart

I'll be back on Monday with another creation, so I hope you'll join me then.


October 6, 2015

Texture Tips for House of Cards

Hi everyone,

Thanks for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments. I'm honored to have you here and I truly appreciate each of you more than you know!

I'm honored to be representing Design Team Team 2 at House of Cards and bringing you some tips on how to add even more texture with embossing folders than is perhaps at first obvious. I LOVE using them and for both my original card for this month's challenge and the one I'm sharing with you today, I've used the Woodgrain Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (TIEF) from Stampin' Up!

Once embossed, card can be used with either the raised image upward (embossed) or downwards (debossed). I've used both for today's card, cutting the embossed layer with one of the Deco Labels Framelits...

Here's a reminder of the card I shared on October 1st at the start of the challenge...

Challenges for today's card...
#203 AAG at Word Art Wednesday
#144 AG at 613 Avenue Create
#49 Word Play at AAA Cards
Thankful for You at Incy Wincy Designs

I'll be back on Thursday with another creation, so I hope you'll join me then.


October 1, 2015

Texture and/or Fall Colors for House of Cards

Hi everyone,

Thanks for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments. I'm honored to have you here and I truly appreciate each of you more than you know!

It's the first of the month and that means it's time for a new challenge over at House of Cards and this month we have a great theme for you: Texture and/or these fall colors...


For today's card I've chosen to use both texture, by using the Woodgrain TIEF from Stampin' Up! and vellum and one of the colors, in this case Cajun Craze from SU...

Card: Whisper White, Cajun Craze and snippets of vellum
Ink: Cajun Craze and Jet Black StazOn
Stamp set: For All Things and Vintage Leaves (available in a bundle with the Framelits
Tools: Woodgrain TIEF, Stampin' Sponges, Leaf Framelits and Deco Labels Framelits
Adhesive: Stampin' Dimensionals and Tombow

Challenges...
#203 AAG at Word Art Wednesday
#196 AAG at Pixie's Snippets Playground
#141 AG w/ twist of black at Artistic Inspirations

The House of Cards DT is hugely talented. Please do stop by some of my teamies and show them some love too.
Whatever you're doing this weekend, have a great one. I'll be back on Tuesday with another creation, so I hope you'll join me then.