I love these roses...

This is still one of my favorite stamps (Hero Arts). Although I've colored it many times, I think this is first time I colored it with the Copic markers.
I made this as a birthday card for a friend who likes blues and peach. True to form, I made it a month before her birthday and she will *hopefully* receive it before her birthday month is over.  I could always play it off and call this a thinking of you, or a friend card since I conveniently left off a Birthday message on the front, right??  :)
 The card is approximately 5 1/2 inch square.

You can stand under my umbrella...

The card says: 

"friendship is shelter from life's little storms"  

I say: It's during the storms and tough times that you discover your true friends.

“May God give you...

For every storm a rainbow, 

For every tear a smile

For every care a promise

and a blessing in each trial. 

For every problem life sends a faithful friend to share, 

For every sigh a sweet song

and an answer for each prayer."

~ Irish Blessing 

To my friends (and you know who you are)--- Thank YOU! 

True Friends

Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends leave footprints in your heart. Eleanor Roosevelt. 

 

This whole "Manly Week" thing started because I needed to send a card to a young man (family friend) as a thank you.  I didn't have any manly cards in my stash that didn't say Happy Birthday or Happy Father's Day. He didn't mind the basket of flowers on the front of the card, especially since there was spendable appreciation inside, but I would have liked to have been more prepared.  Now that I've reiterated that again...  let's get on with today's card. 

My tip of today directly relates to my quest to make a few cards that can be used for any occasion.  You can choose to (a)have no sentiment or message, or (b) choose a non specific saying or quote, or (c) a scripture always works, too. 

This particular "friend" quote is one of my favorites.    I love this friend saying and have used it often for my girlfriends, but this is the first time I thought to use it on a manly card.  ( True Friends and Paisley Background both by Stampabilities).

I double stamped this saying which is why is looks blurred. I'm starting to think this was a bad idea because the colors ( royal blue and black) are too close to each other on the blue background.

Other than that, as you can see, I still try to keep my manly cards simple-- no glitter or flowers or anything like that. : )

 This image was colored with Prismacolor Pencils.

On a personal note: 

It's been a very productive day.  So much so in fact that I'm worn out and I've been ready for bed for an hour or so.  I woke this morning to the smell of tonights dinner.  I cooked my meat overnight in the crock pot.  ( I love my crock pot!)

Today started with my car pool.  Then I returned home and spent a little time in my room making cards. I mailed several packages and cards ( yes I actually MAILED cards), had a positive follow up with my doctor, bought groceries for my daughter, went to her dorm and put a relaxer in her hair (since I left town last week when she was supposed to get her hair done), did my car pool, came home and took a power nap, finished dinner and now I'm blogging.  It's time for bed. 

I've been listening to a lot of Kirk Franklin's music lately.  He's so real down to earth. I'm going to share a couple of music videos of his for you to watch.

True Friends

I never get tired of using this (Stampabilities) saying, but this is the first time I thought to pair it with a footprints(Hambo) stamp! The hands are doing the sign for "Friend".
I also have the sign for "I Love You" stamped on the inside. (both Sarasota Stamps)

I've been thinking a lot about my friends and how blessed I am by them. I get so busy sometimes I think about them but don't always let them know it. I'm going to do another round of "sending" cards this week.
So how about a challenge? Let me know that you've sent a card to a friend this week and I'll get my random number generator to pick a winner. I'll send you card and a small set of clear stamps from Hero Arts. So send the card, and leave a comment on this post by next Friday, July 11, 2008.

Beachy Best Friend and Exciting News

Do you ever get an idea for a card and no matter what you do, you can't make it work? And then there are the times you get a vision and the end product is even more perfect in real life than it was in my mind. This beach best friend card was one of the latter.

Stamps: You're the Best Friend (Embossing Arts), Sea Shells {background}(Rubber Stampede),Sea shell {under netting} (Rubber Stamp Plantation), Starfish ( Biblical Impressions) Card Stock: Craft(SU) Other: Prismacolor pencils, Magic Mesh, jeweled sun

Here is one of the 4 cards I submitted for the Paper Crafts Idol contest. I wasn't chosen in the top 20, so I can add my cards to my blog now. I'm only a little sad that I didn't make the top ten. I just figure that God has something else planned for me to do for the next 4 weeks. I'm really proud of these cards and I need to include them in this blog because it's like a creative journal for me. I thought about adding them in one post, but I think I'll add them gradually.

The exciting part of it is that I do know someone who made the top 20. Julie Korber from Out to Impress, one of my best blogging buddies. She is a very delightful lady, not to mention her obvious talent. We need to get behind her and vote for her each week. After the judges choose the top 20, we get to vote on the next four rounds. They are working on their first challenge right now.

While I'm talking about exciting things... Sarah (Sarosa) is celebrating 7,000 visits to her blog, Encouraging Impressions. Your encouraging comment on Sarah's blog will be your chance to win some cool stamps.