joy

While making Thanksgiving cards, thoughts about the upcoming holidays kept popping up. One thing led to another and an idea for an Advent card came to mind beginning from a glassine bag by Melissa Phillips that had stayed with me.

The card is going to my two young great-nieces who love the colors purple and pink, which works out perfectly for an Advent card. I planned on sending it to them the third week of Advent so that I could use the word “joy” on it. The die cut is glittered using Heather’s MIM#141, applying glitter via heat embossing. After several attempts at different variations, I ended up mixing fine glitter into clear embossing powder and heating that. It required extra heat to melt, so the paper did get scorched. I’m sure that Ayla and Zoe won’t notice.

I don’t like to push my beliefs on others, but, since this is an Advent card, it really needed a verse or prayer that had something to do with Advent. (My niece and her family are the same religion as I, so I wasn’t concerned with insulting them in any way.) The prayer that I had on hand was too advanced for my great-nieces, so the Internet came to the rescue. I found a song, sung to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, that hit just the note I wanted.

So often cards do not turn out the way I imagine, but this surpassed my imagination. It shares a message of faith while being fun and girly. Even better, when I showed the card to my daughter, she started crying. No, I am not a horrible mother. It was the reason for her tears that touched me. Brianna immediately thought of my mom when looking at the card and shared, “Grandmère would have loved this card. It would have brought a smile to her face.” And that is one of the reasons why I make cards.

nancy

thank you

A few weeks ago, one of my religious ed students and I had a conversation about rainbow bracelets and the friendship bracelets from my daughter’s generation. Last Sunday, Amanda came into class with a rainbow bracelet she made just for me. I wanted to let her know what her kindness means to me, so I thought a fun card in bright colors would be just right for a note.

My inspiration for the card came from two places – a sketch from Studio Calico’s Sunday Sketch based on a layout by Shanna Noel and Dawn’s MIM#139, which is to create a square frame with Papertrey stamps. The arrow from tag-its #11 was used for the frame.

Thanks so much for taking time from your day to visit my blog.

nancy

blessed

Last week’s Make It Monday was the starting point for a card for my DRE. This week’s influenced the design of a card for a fellow fifth grade catechist and her husband. A mood board from Studio Calico’s LOAW picked the colors for me.

 

Pam and Kevin allowed me to vent after my challenging class last Sunday. More than that, they offered me sound advice and pushed me to move forward rather than giving the situation just one more week. I often need that nudge.

One of the things that I enjoy about card making is the ability to put a piece of my heart into the process. I like to think about the recipient of the card while choosing colors or sentiments or even while taping down a strip of paper. Cards seem to be my version of a prayer shawl.

I always like to add a little something to the inside of the card, even if it is a strip of washi tape. On this card, the dotted paper used on the front added a pleasing softness inside, so I went with it. And those little pumpkins are just cute.

Enjoy your weekend.

nancy