Kreativ Blogger Award

Many thanks to Jane from Craft Therapy for kindly giving me this award! Jane is a very warm and encouraging spiritual sister and friend. She creates the most beautiful art and encourages others to use their creativity as a source of inner healing and positive thinking.

The terms of the Kreativ Blogger Award are to list six things that make me happy, and give this award to six other bloggers.

Six things that make me happy:

1. The fact that God created us, and gave His Son for us so that all may have the opportunity of everlasting life.

2. The love and support of my darling family *including my fur-babes* and friends.

3. The blessing of artistic ability.....whether it is painting, drawing, singing, or playing a beautiful melody on my piano.

4. Nature. I enjoy viewing the mountains, being in wooded areas among the various plants and trees, enjoying the beautiful ocean on the beach.

5. Delicious food that makes the heart rejoice!

I’m honored to give this award to: (in alphabetical order):

Andrea Joseph Sketch Blog
http://andreajoseph24.blogspot.com/

Belinda Del Pesco
http://belindadelpesco.blogspot.com/

Charlene's Galaxy
http://ckandromeda.multiply.com/

Dragon Dreams
http://smullis7.blogspot.com/

Jewelry Elegance by Jill
http://jewelryelegancebyjill.blogspot.com/

Wanda Hentges
http://artbywanda.blogspot.com/

ATC Swap: Family Love and Devotion

Well......you know how I love making ATCs [Artist Trading Cards].  Here is a new one that I created for an ATC Swap.  I am truly thankful for the love and devotion of my family, and this card reflects that.  After making the card, I created a small envelope to compliment it, and for mailing to the recipient.

Mother and Daughter Card Making Project

I have not been able to keep up with my blog as I would like. The boys and I spend a lot of time with Grandma & Papa. Grandma is not in the best of health, so we have to look out for our favorite girl. *smile* She truly is my hero and my best friend. While spending time together, mom and I decided to work on greeting cards to thank those that donated to her kidney transplant fund. We have different cards that we are sending, and this one is my favorite. The reason it is my favorite is because of the time that my mother put into painting it. It is a combination of watercolor and artist pencils. It takes a "long" time to work with the intricate details that she has done with this card. She is not able to see in her left eye, and has to use a magnifying glass or lenses when doing art like this, because of the problem that she has in seeing with the one that she has. So you see.....this card is very special to me. Her work is absolutely beautiful, and I wanted to create the card in a way that complimented the dignity of her work.



I used purple and brown cardstock for the background, and layered it with decorative scrapbooking paper. After cutting the decorative paper to size, I cut an oval shape in the center by means of a template. Two tiny holes were punched at the top of the cardstock with a Japanese book drill . This is for the eyelets that I later insert. I used clear embossing powder and a heat gun to give the decorative paper a clear hard shell. To make it super thick, I went through that process [applying the embossing powder and heating] 5 times. I glued the now hard-shelled decorative paper to mom's beautiful artwork. Now, came time for the brads. With the card open on a self healing mat, I inserted the eyelets through all of the cardstock. They have a new eyelet gizmo that looks far easier to use. Mine is old school....where you punch the whole, insert the eyelet, then hammer like crazy. *laughing* Check out the new tool. It is so much better!

http://www.ehow.com/video_4438473_add-eyelets-scrapbooks.html

Anywayz'....now that I have finished drooling about the new eyelet setter.....the next step was putting yarn through eyelet to add the handmade bead. Last, I added floral embellishments as well as a metal embellishment that says "Peace". To bring a smile to the recipients face when they receive my cards in the mail, I like to create matching envelopes, and sometimes seal them with decorative wax and a tassle.