Aurora Wings Mid-Challenge Inspiration

It's mid-challenge inspiration day for our Black and White with or without a Splash of Color Challenge at Aurora Wings.  I've chosen the gorgeous Angel of Sympathy available HERE on Aurora Wings.com and HERE on Etsy.  I've made an easel card using the Santa's Book die from Precious Marieke.

Here's a closeup of Angel of Sympathy.  I've colored her with Copics using nearly the entire range of Neutral Grays.  The "splash" of blue on her sash is B91,93 and 95.  Although I've made a sympathy card she also works well with all sorts of prayers, Bible verses and words of encouragement.  I've also seen her used as a Guardian Angel door hanger for a new baby with a bedtime prayer.  Isn't she beautiful?

As you can see, she's fussy cut and popped atop the book pages.  The white layer is attached at the center and outer edges to give it a bit more dimension.  I had a bit of trouble deciding on a background.  I couldn't find DP or a stamp that looked appropriate.  I was thinking perhaps just some illegible script and even tried an embossed script background, but the scale was off.  She took up a bit more space than I'd imagined and my placement of her made a sentiment sort of awkward, as well.  I finally found my "Rays" embossing folder from Tim Holtz, which looked to me like heavenly light, so I added a punched dove and die cut swirl from Taylored Expressions.

The sentiment is one I've used before and is one of my favorites.  Have to say it does leave me a bit teary eyed, though.  I added two more doves and a row of blue flat backed pearls to hold the easel.  Although I would say this is not my favorite type of card to make, I don't think there's a more beautiful image available anywhere.

Be sure to visit the Aurora Wings Challenge Blog to see the gorgeous inspiration from the Stella team and come play along.  You'd be surprised to see the many ways we've chosen to add a "splash of color" or not.  Coloring in grayscale is loads of fun and fabulous practice for learning to shadow since you don't have to make so many color choices.  Hope to see you there.

Here's how to keep up with all that's happening at Aurora Wings.

Aurora Wings Challenge Blog (current challenge runs through May 19th)

Aurora Wings Showcase Blog

Aurora Wings Etsy Shop

Aurora Wings Digi Shop 

Aurora Wings FB Group 

Aurora Wings FB Fan Page

I'm entering this in the DL.Art May Linky Challenge, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #81 AG, A Gem of a Challenge #218 Get Well OR Sympathy, the Outlawz Tuesday Color Challenge Shades of Gray with a Pop of Color, Crafty Calendar May Things with Wings, Creative Fingers #146 AG, Simply Papercraft #57 AG, Pause Dream Enjoy #18 Lots of Layers, Word Art Wednesday Weeks #332 and 333, Scrapy Land Challenge #89 AG w/Die Brands SL sells, A Perfect Time to Craft May AG, Dies R Us #96 Flowers, the World Wide Open DT Challenge (April 15-May 12), Your Scrapbook Place May AG, Digi Choosday Wk 18 AG, TTRCD AG Wk starting May 1, 613 Avenue Create May AG, the Corrosive Challenge #5 May AG, Creates and Makes #21 AG, Create and Inspire AG/optional dies or stencils, Jo's Scrap Shack #232 AG, Crafts Galore Encore May AG, Creative Craft Cottage May #107 Dies or punches, Incy Wincy May Things that Fly, Do-Al(l) Creatives May #17 not square/rectangle and the May Classic Design Team Open #25 AG.

Handmade Flowers

Well today I'll be re-entering the land of the living and getting some much needed work done on me at the hair salon.  It can only make me feel better, right?  I did manage a card for a couple of Outlawz Challenges that involved embossing,dies and a punch that I think turned out pretty neat, though.

You can enter up to 2 times for Twisted Thursday and the twist is "handmade flowers" which I mentioned before is a rarity for me. This time I pulled out my several year old (but never used) Sue Wilson 2 part flower die.  I rarely work with vellum either, but I was really impressed by designer Andrea Norris's heat embossed (yeah, I WISH I could do that) vellum flowers that I cut the bottom of the petals from vellum and layered over with blue card stock.  The flower centers are prills and I've added leaves cut from a Sizzix Dogwood die set also from vellum.  I layered them over a Butterfly Frame from Die-namites and added a Martha Stewart punched butterfly and tiny pearls.  The mat was embossed with my Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder and I added a bow of crinkle ribbon from DL.Art.  I backed the aperture cut with a Spellbinders Oval with vellum and added a silver sticker sentiment.

This also works for the Outlawz Tuesday Color challenge Tic Tac Toe board as I used the middle row across of Emboss, Add Lace or Ribbon and Use Punch or Die Cut.  My row doesn't have a color but I picked blue from the board.  It would have worked for the left row down, as well, but I wanted to keep the card monochromatic so I cut the leaves in vellum instead of green.

I'm also entering this in the 613 Avenue Create April Challenge using the optional twist, vellum (woohoo!), the DL.Art April Linky Challenge, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #80 AG, Dies R Us #65 Springtime, Scrapy Land Challenge #88 AG w/dies Scrapy land sells and Simon Says Wednesday AG.

Aurora Wings Double Showcase "Weeping Rose"

I'm thrilled to be joining the Aurora Wings Showcase Team for the double release of two new glorious Aurora Wings stamps.  This beauty is called "Weeping Rose".  My first thought was a sympathy card because of the rather sad look on her face, but this image is much more versatile than that.  I instead chose the sentiment Thinking of You so it could be used, not only for sympathy, but a variety of occasions.  the elegance of the image called for a special mat so I used my spellbinders Enchanted Labels 28 and backed it with shiny gold card stock.  The layout is simple, just DP from Graphic 45, another later of gold and a simple white card.  The only embellies are matte gold half pearls in the corners and some gold rosebud stickers at the top.

Here's a closeup of "Weeping Rose".   She's colored with Copics, and although my first inclination was to go in with pencils for more shading and drama, I decided I liked the soft monochromatic look here.

I got a new dimensional medium called nuvo Crystal Drops this past weekend which work like Liquid Pearls but have suspended glitter in them.  I thought this was the perfect project on which to try them.  Yummy!  I've also added Diamond glaze to her lips, but for the life of me could not get them to shine in a ic.  It's a rather gloomy rainy day and lighting has been a challenge, (especially with the shiny gold card stock I used.

Please visit the Showcase Blog for more inspiration and check out my next post HERE, for my project with Crown of Roses.

And here's the fab Coupon Code for this weekend. Don't miss out!

And GWP with NO MINIMUM!  WOW!  Isn't she ADORABLE?

Here's how to keep up with all that's happening at Aurora Wings.

Aurora Wings Challenge Blog

Aurora Wings Showcase Blog

Aurora Wings Etsy Shop

Aurora Wings Digi Shop

Aurora Wings FB Group

Aurora Wings FB Fan Page

I'm entering this in the Simon Says Wednesday ATG Challenge, the Outlawz Twisted Thursday ATG/ATG, the Outlawz Saturday Paper a la Mode Flower Power Challenge, Crafty Gals Corner ATG, Inspiration Destination #109 ATG, Artistic Inspirations ATG, Crafting from the Heart ATG, 613 Avenue Create ATG, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends ATG, Crafty Friends ATG, the ABC R is for Recipe Challenge using Sentiment, Digi Stamp, Pearls, Dies and Flowers (in the image), Crafting With Friends ATG (#3of3), and Simply Papercraft ATG.

Thinking of You (in Memory of Lillie Charleston)

Yesterday I said a final goodbye to my dear friend, Lillie Charleston.  I got to know Lillie on the Cricut Message Board back in 2008 and was honored to serve on several design teams with her throughout the years.  She was a strong woman, a wonderful mother, a talented crafter, and a true and loyal friend.  She made me laugh...a lot, and I still can't believe I'll never pick up the phone again and hear her say, "Hey there girlfriend, whatcha doin'?"  

Gotta say I struggled with this card for her family.  Lillie made the most beautiful sympathy cards.  We used to laugh and say they were her specialty. They were always very elaborate, but beautifully done and I'm afraid I got a bit carried away with the die cuts trying to make something special in her memory.

The beautiful image is Angel of Sympathy by Aurora Wings.  There was no question in my mind which image I wanted to use.  She's colored with Copics with glittered wings and fussy cut and popped on multiple layers of iridescent card stock cut with Spellbinders Elegant Labels Four.

I found the inside verse on the net.  It said:

Tenderly

May time ease your sorrow

Gently

May friends ease your pain

Softy

May peace replace heartache

And may only warmest

memories remain

It was a beautiful service.

R.I.P. Lillie

Dilly Beans For the Boys Challenge

This week at Dilly Beans we're asking for anything boyish.  Megan has some adorable new images in the SHOP that make it easy to do those often challenging cards for boys.  I've chosen #499 Noah.  My card inspired by a young man who tragically lost his life.  His name was Forest and he had a big heart.  He suffered pain and abuse until he was welcomed into the home of a loving family but when he left those loving arms to return to his original home, his life was taken, way too soon.  We can only pray he has found eternal peace.

Please join us at Dilly Beans this week and make a card or project for a special boy.
I'm also entering this in the Sparkle and Glitter with Rick St Dennis Rememberance Challenge, the DYSU Leaves and Trees challenge, Cards for Men Anything Goes and the LEJ Designs Die Cuts or Punches Challenge.

Whimsical Wednesday Back to Basics Challenge

I'm always anxious to see what the next Whimsical Wednesday Challenge is, even if I'm unable to play along. This week's was intriguing; create a card using "old school" methods (meaning NO Cricut!) My Cricut was the start of my paper crafting, so I really didn't have a stash of "old school" stuff before I bought it, but that didn't stop me from accumulating monstrous amounts of stickers, rub-ons, etc, just because they looked cool to me. One thing I do have a history of is decoupage, though. There was a store in my town, when I was in high school that sold multiple images of various scenes and objects to fussy cut and pop to make 3-D artwork and I bought several copies of a Model T car and spent hours cutting away and assembling the layers to mount in the lid of a jewelry box for my first love. I'm thinking that was the start of my infatuation with dimension. Although my card is not nearly as detailed, I used the same method with several copies of a botanical print from the Julianne Designer Mat pad from K& Co. The striped paper behind is also from that stack.

The color scheme and dimensional layers are quite subtle so I decided to make this a Sympathy card. I guess my "old school" element, besides the method itself, is the peel-off sticker sentiment that I colored with my Copic marker to match and mounted on Petite Scalloped and Petite Oval Nestie die cuts. The only embellishment are some adhesive pearls. Be sure to stop by Whimsical Wednesday to see what the fab DT has cooking, and remember, the challenges run for two weeks so there is plenty of time to play along. (OOOh, this makes 2 in a row for me, yahoo!)

The Cuttlebug Spot - Sympathy Cards

This week at The Cuttlebug Spot we were asked to do Sympathy Cards (or apparantly also Thinking of You cards, you lucky participants, because I had a hard time here.) With all of the cards I make, I just don't do sympathy. I can't, and I feel terrible about it too because I've had the occasion recently and just froze up. Had I made this one I probably wouldn't have sent it anyway because it's pretty darn foofy (suitable for the Pope? Ha Ha, Margie!) but I was determined to use a bunch of stuff I bought awhile ago and had yet to even open. Those things include the Spellbinders Cross set, the Lattice Pendant and Lattice Border and one of the 5x7 embossing folders from the Cricut Companion Sentimentals Cuttlebug set. The lacy corners come with the pendant, the rectangular panel behind the layered cross is the cut out center of the Lace Door Embossing Plus folder and of course the computer generated sentiment is on yet ANOTHER of the Fanciful Labels (that one's getting a workout!)

I layered up a storm and actually do think it turned out quite pretty. Maybe I'll just change the sentiment (First Holy Communion, Christening?). Be sure to stop by The Cuttlebug Spot for a glimpse of the more tastefully simple and elegant cards done by my DT sisters. And if you're not inclined to do Sympathy, you can still play along with a Thinking of You card as long as it's embossed and is NEW (come on you guys, back posting isn't fair to those who really take the challenge!) and you may win a $20.00 gift certificate from Custom Crops.