Light of Grace

Well, I’m still searching for a new job. It’s been hard changing a career path and going down a new road but patience will prevail. Something will come along eventually.

As for my crafts I’ve been busy in that department. I just finished some moo cards. For those of you who are unfamiliar with moo cards, they are business card size trading cards. Whoa, a little bit of a mouth full there…lol. They’re made just like an ATC but smaller. I’ve got a few here to post.  The theme  was “birds” for a swap I was participating in. I noticed how the style of art changed since my first set of ATCs. A variety of techniques were used to create these. I used alcohol inks for the first time and love the way they leave a colorful pattern. Some have tissue paper overlay, magic mesh overlay and some embellishments. Hope you enjoy….D

Bloom

The others were all made using similar techniques so I won’t bore you with all that, but here are some more for some fun eye candy.

That’s it for the moo cards. They were great fun to make. It always amazes me how being in my craft room and creating relaxes me so much. I’m off for now, but in a day or two I’ll be posting the skinny book pages I made for another swap. The theme was “sea,” so each of us had to make a page surrounding that theme. I chose to do mermaids. Each page was 4×6 and had to have a pocket with a tag. They came out rather nice I believe. So come back soon and see those. Dawn

Well, this is way overdue but I’ve finally gotten the chance to do a new post. Life has kept me way to busy. The bad economy has hit home and I’ve officially been laid off from my job. Thus begins a new job search and it has not been as easy as I thought it would be. It has been said that if your a nurse you can always get a job…not so! Yes, if I wanted to go to a hospital or nursing home, I’m sure I would have a job tomorrow but the pace is just too much for me now and I’m off to find something in the administration form of nursing. These jobs are much harder to find so keep me in your prayers and pray  something comes along quickly.

Today I’m going to add two new ATC’s. These are from the fall swap I participated in with the yahoo group “mini books.” Great group of people, highly suggest you join. Not only do they do ATCs but also lots of other forms of paper crafts like altered journals, fat books, skinny books and other mini books. Check them out…well worth it.

Here’s the Atc’s, the first one titled “friends” has the friend paper in the background and is embellished with an old roman stature sticker, a dragonfly clip and glass beads. The flower swirl was made from a sizzix template. It is one of my favorite templates. The second ATC is my favorite of the nine I made. I  made this with a vintage lady photo and added mulberry paper to frame her silhouette, added some glass ebellishments and a yellow heart shaped paper clip for a final touch. Come back soon. I hope to catch up on some crafts and have more for you soon. The yahoo group is having two more swaps 1) a skinny book swap and 2) a moo card swap. So keep watch these should be interesting. God Bless…Dawn

Well, I’ve officially been told I need to update my blog. My son has noticed that I haven’t done anything in a while. I know I must get up to speed, so keep coming back, I promise a new post soon. I had surgery, mom had surgery and I am in the job market; downsizing has hit the company I work for. Ughhh….not looking forward to this. Updating resumes and forming cover letters has kept me more than busy and taken me away from my crafts. I do have some more ATC’s though and a new card. I’ll get them up in a day or so.

Congratulations to Diane and Marianne for their help in naming the blog. Both get blog candy…Diane got hers but Marianne hasn’t. It’s coming though Marianne, it’s sitting here waiting for you! We really must get together. It’s been way to long. Blessings to all!  Dawn

Hello again. I just decided to update the pictures for the vintage lady card. I used a different camera and the pictures came out much clearer, as you can probably tell if you saw the older ones. Also posting today, another ATC…The background was made using plain cardstock and a script background rubber stamp. I stamped it with Staz On ink to prevent smudging. The “Cherish” poem image was made using another rubber stamp and Staz On ink. The embellishments were added and each mat was outlined with silver leafing pen. I would love to know where each of these cards ends up. The ATC Swap with Yahoo groups consists of 8 ladies from around the US and UK, but unless each lady posts in the group pages I’ll never know who got which one, which if fine. Still looking for mine to come but nothing yet.  Have a great day and God Bless.  Dawn

Hello everyone. Here is the first card to post. It features a vintage lady, framed in scalloped edges from Spellbinders Nestibilites, and put through my Cuttlebug. The largest flower was stamped and then colored with Prismacolor pencils and odorless mineral spirits. The smaller flowers were made from dies put through my Cuttlebug. They also were painted with primacolor pencils and odorless mineral spirits. To add a little bling they were coated with Diamond Glaze and layered to give it dimension. Small pearls are placed in the center of each flower. The surrounding leaves were made with Martha Stewarts leaf punch. I love this punch,  I think the leaves add just a little more elegance to the setting.

A closer view shows the details a little clearer. I also added a bow made with my bow easy. One of my tools I would be hard pressed to live without. I’m too clumsy to create a bow on my own. You can see at the bottom there is a small blue and white beaded embellishment.

The inside was also decorated with mats edged with gold leafing pen.The dotted pink edges on the left were made with the Dots Embossing Folder from Provo Craft and placed through the Cuttlebug. What a great tool that is.

Sorry the pictures seem a little blurry. I haven’t quite figured out why they’re coming out that way. It may be time for a new digital camera. I’ll have to remember to ask Santa for that.

Blessings….Dawn