Catching Up

Hi there!  I'm catching up!  This post is jam-packed with pics of cards that I've made for the shop, Arts Plus Gallery. Of course, the Mother's Day ones are not there anymore, but the rest are for sale, if you are interested.

Do you like to sew?  I found out about a non-profit group called, Dress A Girl Around The World, and they can always use our help.  A couple of kind ladies at my local church told me about this organization.  They need volunteers to help sew simple dresses to be given to girls in need around the world.  In one particular case, according to the lady I spoke with at church, there are young girls in Africa who walk a long distance to school.  There are uniforms the girls need to wear when they get to school, but they are not allowed to bring the uniforms home; those need to be kept at the school. Since these children are so poor, they do not have proper clothes to wear on the journey to and from classes. Because they are defenseless and barely-clothed, they are often attacked on the road. Breaks your heart, doesn't it?

That's where Dress A Girl Around The World comes in.

They ship pretty, simple dresses made by volunteers like you and me to the children. They get to keep their very own dress, and can wear it under their school uniform. You've got to see the sweet faces on the website's home page. Those kids have likely never seen such beautiful clothes, let alone owned them, and there's something really awesome about these dresses:  each one is sewn with a Dress A Girl label on the front.  This helps keep predators at bay, because it shows that these girls are being cared for by an organization and are LOVED.  What a wonderful way to share love with little ones around the globe, and help them stay safer.

I hope to sew some of these dresses myself soon.  If you are interested in helping the organization, please visit their website. Thank you, and God bless you!

Thanks for stopping by!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Tulips for you

Lots of flowers make appearances on this eclectic card.  The background patterned papers are from K & Co., and there's a panel of recycled calendar paper behind the sentiment.

I used an oldie but goodie Floral Background stamp from Stampin' Up! in Purely Pomegranate ink on the calendar piece.  The gold-embossed medallion is from SU's  Simple Delights.  The sentiment and tulip postage stamp are from Inspired By Stamping. I have repurposed the tulip postage stamp from this magnet project, and also used a couple of them here.

The focal point was covered in Crackled Glossy Glue from Ranger, to give it a weathered look. Instructions are on this original post.

Thanks for joining me today!

Christmas at the North Pole

A Christmas card at the end of May?  Sure, why not! I make 'em all year long. :-)

This is one of my favorites, because it's so frosty-looking.  The background is a piece of white glitter cardstock, the perfect backdrop for a North Pole scene.

Below is a better look at the glitter, and a tiny tag made with

The stamp set I used is Winter Groves by Paper Smooches.  I did go back over the penguin with a black marker after I stamped him.  It helped give it a much darker, deeper color.

Hope your summer is going well so far!  We've spent a lot of time in our pool.  A vacation is not in the cards for us so our backyard is our oasis, and I really enjoy spending time in it with my favorite people in the whole world. :-)

Custom Seashore Love anniversary card

Summer approaches, and here in New Jersey, we think of trips to the Shore (not the beach, it's the shore!).

A friend asked me to make a seashore-themed anniversary card for his wife, because they were married on a beach.  Aww, isn't that romantic?

I pulled out some shell stamps, sequins, a flourish die, inks, sequins and pearls, and set to work.
There's also a bit of wax paper on here, from the kitchen drawer. It's barely there, but it represents the foamy edge of water on the sand.

The seastar (starfish) and sand dollar stamps are from Blockhead Paper Arts, the scallop shell is from Golden Acorn.

The sentiment is from Wplus9's Mehndi Medallions set. Beneath the sentiment, I inked sandy colors, swirled on with a sponge (Distress Inks - Ranger), and stamped with Stampin' UP's Itty Bitty Backgrounds to look like grains of sand.

Can you see the wax paper 'foam' lapping at the shore?  The white flourish die cuts are from My Favorite Things, and they too represent the foamy water.

I love making cards like this!  I am glad you stopped by to take a peek at it.

Have yourself a wonderful day!

Hello, Campanula

Hello there! It sure has been a while since we've seen each other here. Life has been very busy, and family always comes first. I've made some time to craft, but there's been no free time to meet you here on my blog. So, finally, hello again, my friend. :-)

I am woefully behind on sharing things I've created, but we'll start with this for now. It was made sometime last year. What makes me happy about this card is the subdued color palette. In fact, these are eyeshadow colors I like to wear: taupe, cream, plum.

I used a beautifully patterned paper in the background (from Webster's Pages), and in the center of the card, a cluster made of many things. There's a pierced tag, topped with a seam binding bow, some sparkly sequins, a scalloped circle die cut from plum patterned paper, a 'hello' sentiment from Altenew, and a pretty campanula flower die cut from K & Co.

There's also a scrap of crochet lace, and a scrap of kraft paper that had been punched with a Martha Stewart border punch.

Before I go, I want to share a song I just heard for the first time, on the radio yesterday:  "West Point To Arlington". It touched my heart so very deeply. The lyrics remind me that our soldiers deserve respect and gratitude; many have to give the biggest sacrifice of all in order to preserve the freedoms we take for granted. My heart is ever grateful to them, and to their families.

The song was written by a friend of Captain Andrew M. Pedersen-Keel, who was killed while on duty in Afghanistan.

West Point To Arlington is a new song by American country singer Ward Davis from the album Operation Song: West Point To Arlington and was released in the spring of 2017.
(source: http://new-country-songs.com/ward-davis/west-point-to-arlington)

You can listen to the song on YouTube, or on this website:
http://new-country-songs.com/ward-davis/west-point-to-arlington

May it touch your heart, too.

This weekend is Memorial Day in the USA.  Enjoy the holiday with your loved ones, have fun, and be safe. Tell a soldier how much we appreciate what they do for each and every one of us.

God bless you,