That's A Lot!!!

Hello friends. This is a special card for my hubby.  This sentiment says it all. lol   This is the More Than Chocolate set from Deedee's Digis.  It's another one of Deedee's terrific $1.00 sets.  I adore these little sets.  You can afford to buy a new set for any and every occasion or just because.  I apologize for my poor pictures.  I had to take them very early in the morning before the sun was bright enough to give me the best natural light.   It made the white areas have weird shadows.  I used a Cuttlebug Embossing folder on the lower portion of my card.  I tied a bit of hemp through my button to add a slightly masculine touch.  My hubby will be okay with all of the pink on the card, because it's from me and he knows how much I love pink.

This close up view of the chocolate shows the bit of shine on it to make it look more like the real thing.  Are you craving chocolate yet? lol  I colored the image with Prismacolor markers, Prismacolors pencils, gel pens and glaze pens.

Here's the rest of the sentiment on the inside of the card.  Isn't it a perfect sentiment for a chocolate lover to give to someone they love?

I'm so sorry I haven't been getting around to visit and comment on blogs.  I'm battling several physical problems above and beyond my normal ones and to be honest I've been feeling awful.  I'm undergoing tests.  My afternoon out with hubby on the weekend was absolutely awesome, but a bit too much for my strength right now.  It was so worth it though. :)

Blessings

•  A very uplifting testimony from a young woman who has been through severe physical battles.
• Hubby found some good, used books for me.  I love to read.
• Unexpected phone visits with several family members.
• Safety driving to the Dr. in a bad storm yesterday while I was feeling terrible.

I believe my pretty little bird I spotted the other day was an Orchard Oriole.  They only pass through this area during migration.  They like sweet foods and we have humming bird nectar out.  It has been disappearing at an extremely fast rate, so we suspect the Orchard Oriole has been enjoying it. :)

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

A Sunny Day!

Hello friends.  I hope you all are enjoying your weekend.  I've been having a fabulous weekend!

I made my card with an old stamp from Hippo Heart.  I made the yellow layer of my card using the Polished Stone technique.  It's layered on a dark green card.  I used a charm with the word "Dream" on it for my sentiment.  I sponged around  the image with a sea sponge.  I love the texture a sea sponge gives.

 I heat embossed the image with gold embossing powder and watercolored it with Tombow makers.  To do this, scribble the Tombow markers on an old plastic lid and pick up the color with a waterbrush or wet paint brush.  Then paint in whatever watercolor style that pleases you.

 Here are some samples of the Polished Stone techniques papers that I made.  The picture doesn't show them at their best, because I took it at night.  Some are made with dye re-inkers and some are made with alcohol inks. You'll notice that I didn't add any metallic ink to the yellow paper.  It was easier to match the yellow paper to my colored image, but I think the papers with the metallic inks in them would look gorgeous as backgrounds for cards with sentiments as their focal point.  Here are a few links to learn more about the Polished Stone Technique: Stamp tv, Split Coast Stampers, Sara Janes Studio.

Today's Tip:  I save the paper that has been printed on from our computer printer.  I use it as a mat under my paper crafting to catch adhesive, ink, paint and other messy things that I don't want on my desk surface.  Once I've used the paper for a mat it's ready for the recycling bin.  This way I get double use out of a sheet of paper before it gets sent to the recycling bin.  Another small way to help keep our planet green. :)

Challenges:
Top Tip Tuesday
The Crafty Pad
Paper Sundaes
Scrappy Frogs
Allsorts
Pattie's Creations


Yesterday My husband and I spent a wonderful afternoon together.  One of the things we did was have a picnic at a park at the beach.  It was a perfect day for it- warm and sunny, but not hot.  We didn't go down on the beach itself, because it was too windy there for the Trigeminal Neuralgia in my face, but I did  snap a few quick pictures of the ocean from the boardwalk.  The ocean was extremely calm - no surfers - one man in a kayak fishing. :)

I never grow tired of the beauty of the ocean.  I'm so blessed to live this close to it.

Blessings

• The chance to spend special time with my best friend & soul mate, my hubby, yesterday.
• A fabulous answer to prayer that I'll elaborate more on as I can!!!
• Another precious phone call from my little niece.  Such a great surprise. :)
• A safe trip for our friends that were traveling a long distance.
• I saw a beautiful new species of bird out back yesterday morning. I have to do more research to find out what it was.  It sure was pretty and one I've never seen in 29 yr. of living here.

Have a marvelous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly