J'ADORE JUST-RITE

This time last year, the ground was covered with snow, but spring has shown up early in Connecticut now. The temperature is in the 70s. I should be outside clearing the garden beds and enjoying the early crocuses and daffodils, but Just-Rite's Challenge #068 (one color plus black & white) lured me back into the studio.

I took inspiration from Tosha Lyendekker who made a rosette from the Just-Rite Cast All Your Cares border. It really is the most beautiful border.



Materials used:

Just-Rite Stamps:  Cast All Your Cares, Fleur de Lis Labels Twenty, Musical Notes Labels Twenty

Spellbinders Dies:  Labels Twenty

Paper: Queen & Co. Flourish, Bo Bunny Passion Fruit Flourish, Paper Pizazz Bright Tints Swirl

BLUE FLOURISHES

I am in love with the Cheery Lynn Designs corner dies; not only do they dress up the corners of cards, but they can be combined to make beautiful designs. This is my entry for Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge 19 - Add a Flourish. Even if the corners don't count as flourishes, the fanciful and tropical flourishes should.

I'm also entering this in the ODBDSLC100 Aqua or Topaz plus Our Daily Bread Scripture, Sentiments or Quote challenge. I used the verse from Joshua 29:11, a promise I cling to frequently, and part of ODB's For the Graduate stamp set.

Materials used:

Stamps: Our Daily Bread's For The Graduate 

Dies: Cheery Lynn B166 Lace Corner Deco F, Cheery Lynn Fanciful Flourish, Cheery Lynn Tropical Flourish

Paper: K and C Watercolor Bouquet Blue Swirls

ST. PATRICK'S DAY IRISH DANCER

I was thrilled to get an e-mail yesterday from Sandy Hulsart to say I won the Cheery Lynn Designs Doily Challenge with my last-minute swan entry. Lots of sweet compliments, a $20 gift certificate to the store, and a badge to put on my blog.  What fun!

Today, I want to share the St. Patrick's Day card I made for my granddaughters. I tried a center-fold card for the first time, and I know each section should have a decoration, but this seems a bit busy to me.  What do you think?  On the other hand, I absolutely love Mo Manning's Irish Dancer digital stamp, and the girls will, too. 

I only had room to put the first part of the prayer found on St. Patrick's breastplate, so here is the whole thing. How wonderful to be encompassed by Christ.
 

Christ be with me
Christ before me
Christ behind me
Christ in me
Christ beneath me
Christ above me
Christ on my right
Christ on my left
Christ where I lie
Christ where I sit
Christ where I arise
Christ in the heart of every man
who thinks of me
Christ in the mouth of every man
who speaks of me
Christ in every eye that sees me
Christ in every ear that hears me
Salvation is of the Lord.

I thought you might get a kick out of seeing what my desk looks like in the midst of designing a card: creative chaos.

Materials used:
Dies: Spellbinders S$4-310 Labels Eighteen, Memory Box 98186 Ringed Buckle, Cheery Lynn B117 Fanciful Flourish
Digital stamps: Mo Manning's "Irish Dancer," Waltzing Mouse freebie "St. Patrick's Greetings"
Paper: Reminisce ShamRock!
Flowers: by Prima and Boutique Fleur
Copics: E01, E02, R22, YR04, YR09, YR18, G03, G05, G14, G17, G20, G24, G29, C0 


Challenges entered:
Mo's Challenge #125 - Try Something New
Make It Colorful #47 - Green

DOILY SWAN AND FLOWERS

Cheery Lynn designs pop right out of the dies if I add a layer of waxed paper between the die and the paper, so I end up with a fragile waxed copy of everything I cut out. I can't bear to throw them away, because they are so delicate and pretty.  So I figured out a couple of ways to use them.  


 






First, I gathered with needle and thread the waxed paper version of  Border Carnivale into a flower shape, tied the ends together, and sprayed it with glimmer mist.






But what to do about the doilies?  I had dozens of them.  Here's idea #2: I took the head of Cheery Lynn's Emperor Swan, colored it, and added it to a mixture of waxed paper and copy paper English Tea Party doilies.  I folded each one in half, and then again in thirds; I mountain-folded the middle third again to give a three-dimensional standing effect to the swan.   I've entered it into the Cheery Lynn Design Doily Challenge as well.

What fun!  Now what shall we do with the Cheery Lynn Sunflower Doily? 

SECRET GARDEN

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett was one of my favorite childhood books. I read it aloud to my daughters, and I look forward to reading it aloud to my granddaughters. I think we all dream of a little place tucked away that no one else knows about, except maybe one or two special friends like this chipmunk. The adorable B-Line stamp of the little girl on the mushroom just begged to be inserted inside multiple frames to suggest a magical world only just glimpsed.

I'm entering this in the Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge 18 - Doilies.  I cut apart the Cathedral Lace Frame, reserving the outer part for another project, and used it to mimic wrought iron gates, albeit in pink. The outer edge of Cheery Lynn's  Emperor's Swan die is the interior frame, encircled by two copies of Cheery Lynn's English Tea Party Doily. The flowers, of course, are the large and medium rose dies. This time I used distress reinkers on coffee filters. Finally, to continue the theme and pull the design components together, I de-embossed a Sizzix leaf folder and enhanced the veins with VersaMagic chalk ink.

I'm not sure this card is going anywhere.  I may just sit and dream about magical, secret worlds inside the garden wall.

Materials used:
Stamps: B-Line Designs Chloe (ZBB120E), Stampendous Chipmunks (L076), Stampscapes Leafy Branch (277F), Stampscapes Reeds (067B), Art Impressions Vine (D-2062)
Dies: Cheery Lynn Cathedral Lace Frame, Cheery Lynn English Tea Party Doily, Cheery Lynn The Emperor's Swan, Cheery Lynn Medium and Large Rose Paper: K&C Que Sera Sera;
Sizzix Fall Set Embossing Folders
Copics: E00, 02, 35, 51; R02, 12, 20, 22, 27, 35, ; B00; BG05