My Time to Craft Challenge Blog Inspirational Post

A Bookmark's Tale

Nestled gently 'tween the pages,
Marking time through written ages,
A slender slip, so plain, so small,
Yet holds the weight of words and all.

It rests where stories pause to breathe,
A patient guide that does not leave.
Through chapters vast and poems tight,
It keeps your place in day or night.

It knows the secrets books impart,
The whispered truths, the beating heart.
Yet silent, still, it does not speak,
A guardian for the words you seek.

A ribbon bright, a leather strand,
A scrap of paper, finely planned.
No matter what it’s made to be,
Its purpose sings of constancy.

So let it lie, your journey's trace,
Until you find the story’s face.
A bookmark, simple, yet profound—
A bridge where all your dreams are bound.

stamp set and my Gemini to cut out the focal image. I then made sure to color the edges because I am not a fan of the white border. I then set this aside once again to dry.

When dry, I chose to adhere the focal image to this vibrant shade of yellow cardstock. I used Bearly Arts liquid glue because of quick set up time. I next used an overlapping circles embossing folder from Spellbinders along with a diffuser to get just a subtle impression along the edges. This background panel was then adhered to an A2 card base with more liquid glue.

The final step was to add the sentiment, again from the Infinit Bloom set, with black ink. With that I called the card complete.

For my foreground image I turned to Spellbinders and a set called Campfire Critters. I stamped each of the elements onto a white cardstock with black in and then they were colored with Copic markers. Once the ink was dry, they were fussy cut out and then adhered to the midground panel with more liquid glue.

The last step were to add the sentiment and assemble. The sentiment was was also from the Spellbinders set. This was done by stamping the sentiment in watermark ink, adding white heat embossing powder, and then heat setting it. I then adhered the the background panel to a black cover mat and then the composite was adhered to a white card base. With that, I called the card complete.

This card was created using a couple of my favorite sets. Starting with the focal image, which is a stamp set from My Favorite Things called Rain or Shine (BB-58), I used black ink on white card stock to stamp the image of the little girl and the puddle of water. These I then colored with Copic markers and allowed to dry. Next, I used a pair of scissors to fussy cut out the colored images and then set them aside.

The next step was to create the background panel. I did this by first using an ink blending brush and Distress Oxide in the color Weathered Wood, to get a bluish gray and dreary kind of color. I then allowed the panel to dry.

For the next step I turned to a stencil set from Altenew called Thunderstorm to create the falling rain drops. At first I was just going to use a gray ink and blend it in over the stencil. But then as I thought about that adorable smile on the little girls face I decided that she wouldn’t see the rain like that so I changed my direction.

For the rain I still used the stencil but instead of ink I turned to Glitter Glitz gel from Gina K. With a small pallet knife I spread a thin layer over the stencil and then carefully removed it. I then allowed the gel to dry thourghly. I felt that not only did this option fit more with my design idea but it adds a lot of texture and dimension to the card as well. You can really see what I mean in the close up on the left.

The next step was to create the sentiment, which also came from the MFT stamp set. This was down with VersaMark watermark ink, white WoW! embossing powder on black card stock and then heat set with a heat tool. I then used my Gemini and a label die to cut it to size.

Lastly, I trimmed down my background panel to its final dimensions along with a black mat, using my go to rectangular die set from Hero Arts. These were then adhered together with Barely Arts liquid glue and then the composite was adhered to a white card base. The focal image and the sentiment were then adhered to the background panel with more liquid glue. With that, I called this card complete.

Good day, fellow crafters. Today I present my latest inspirational post as a DT member of the My Time To Craft Challenge Blog. Our theme for challenge # 530 is "Mixed Color Florals" and I decided to once again turn to Creative Expressions gilding flakes for my design. This card was made using the Summer Meadow flakes, which are gorgeous.

For every challenge we, as the design team, attempt to bring you themes and ideas that will test your abilities and, ideally, ignite your enthusiasm to explore fresh ways of thinking. However, what I like most about being part of the team is seeing how we each showcase our take on the theme and sometimes just what the card means to the creator.

I hope you are inspired to enter this challenge and I can’t wait to see your creative take on this week’s theme. Be sure to tag me on your entry and/or comment below so I know to watch out for you. Remember Crafting is Happiness!

To create this card I first began by adhering some white cardstock to a sheet of double-sided adhesive. I then flipped the panel over and removed the adhesive backing. Next using Creative Expressions Summer Meadows gilding flakes I liberally applied them over all of the adhesive. It is very important that once you have it covered you burnish it to make sure all of the flakes adhere and no spot is left uncovered. I did this with my fingers over a paper towel so that I could collect anything that came off to reuse. DO NOT do this step over a silicone work surface as you will never be able to get it off in a usable state and your worksurface will be very hard to clean.

The next step was to use the Hero Arts Hearts and Blossoms cover die and my Gemini die-cutting machine to cut my image. I was already creating a different card with the entire cover plate so I decided to trim the image down to just the bloosoms.

Once that step was complete I trimmed a black mat down to match the dimensions of an A2 card base and then

adhered the cut-out to the mat with some Bearly Arts liquid glue. I then adhered the composite to the card base.

To finish off the card I used a sentiment die and shadow die from my Altenew collection, which after cutting and assemblying, I adhered to the card with liquid glue. With that, I called the card complete.

Note: To support the creation of more content like this, I've included affiliate links for some of the featured supplies. Utilizing these links won't incur any additional costs for you, but it does provide a small benefit to me, allowing me to continue sharing my work with you.

Good day, fellow crafters. Today I present my latest inspirational post as a DT member of the My Time To Craft Challenge Blog. Our theme for challenge #529 is "Fantasy" and when I think of fantasy the first thing that comes to my mind are fairies. This led me to create this beautiful piece.

For every challenge we, as the design team, attempt to bring you themes and ideas that will test your abilities and, ideally, ignite your enthusiasm to explore fresh ways of thinking. However, what I like most about being part of the team is seeing how we each showcase our take on the theme and sometimes just what the card means to the creator.

I hope you are inspired to enter this challenge and I can’t wait to see your creative take on this week’s theme. Be sure to tag me on your entry and/or comment below so I know to watch out for you. Remember Crafting is Happiness!

To create this card, I began with a white Hammermill cardstock, ink blending brushes, and Distress Oxides in the colors of Prize Ribbon, Wilted Violet, and Picked Raspberry. The combination of these three colors and the addition of some white splatter make a beautiful setting sun effect which gives the next stage of creating the foreground silhouette more realistic.

The foreground was created using a combination of stamps. The first was from Simon Says Stamps called Wild Flowers (sss201998), which is a background silhouette stamp. I first aligned the paper in my Misti stamping tool, then aligned the stamp and inked it with VersaFine Claire Nocturne ink. I next stamped my images several times for a clean image transfer, reinking between stamp applications.

The fairy was from an unnamed Globleland set. It had several for me to choose from but I liked the idea of a nature fairy adding her magic to put the flowers to sleep for the night just like in the Disney Tinkerbell movies. I stamped her with the same ink and method as the foreground.

The last step was to use my Hero Arts rectangular nesting die set, to first cut the background panel down to its final dimensions and then I followed that up with a larger die and some more black cardstock to cut out a mat. I then used double-sided tape to adhere the background panel to the mat and then repeated the process to adhere the composite to a white card base. With that, I called the card complete.

Note: To support the creation of more content like this, I've included affiliate links for some of the featured supplies. Utilizing these links won't incur any additional costs for you, but it does provide a small benefit to me, allowing me to continue sharing my work with you.

Good day, fellow crafters. Today I present my latest inspirational post as a DT member of the My Time To Craft Challenge Blog. Our theme for challenge #528 is to "Create your own backgrounds" and I did my best to deliver.

For every challenge we, as the design team, attempt to bring you themes and ideas that will test your abilities and, ideally, ignite your enthusiasm to explore fresh ways of thinking. However, what I like most about being part of the team is seeing how we each showcase our take on the theme and sometimes just what the card means to the creator.

I hope you are inspired to enter this challenge and I can’t wait to see your creative take on this week’s theme. Be sure to tag me on your entry and/or comment below so I know to watch out for you. Remember Crafting is Happiness!

To create the background panel for this card, I began with a piece of white cardstock, bubble wrap, and Distress Oxides in the colors Abandoned Coral, Uncharted Mariner, and Seedless Preserve. For each of the color layers, I dabbed the ink directly onto the bubble wrap and then misted the bubble wrap with water before applying the color to the cardstock. I then set the background panel aside to dry completely.

The next step was to create the party hat. To do this I chose to use a blue, a green, a black, and a pale yellow cardstock that I cut to shape using the Simon Says Stamp Party Hat die set, featured left. This die has three parts, the shadow (black), the tassel on top (pale yellow), and the outside of the hat (blue and green). I am making the distinction because the die that cut out the first two parts is self-explanatory however, to achieve the look of the various stripped hat you need to pay attention to which pieces are where on the die so that you can put them together properly. Once I had all of the pieces in the correct

orientation I adhered them together with Barely Art liquid glue and then set them aside to dry. I then used the same blue and green cardstock along with a more intense yellow to create streamers from the Simon Says Stamp Curly Streamers die set.

The next step was to create the sentiment. For this, I used the Catherin Pooler Party Word die set, featured right, with more of the same green and black cardstock. I adhered the letters to the shadow with liquid glue and set them aside to dry.

The last step was to use my Hero Arts rectangular nesting die set, to first cut the background panel down to its final dimensions and then I followed that up with a slightly larger die and some more black cardstock to cut out a mat. I then used double-sided tape to adhere the background panel to the mat and then repeated the process to adhere the composite to a pink card base. I then adhered the streamers with liquid glue to the background panel allowing for some overhang to provide visual interest. Finally, I adhered the sentiment to the card with more liquid glue. With that, I called the card complete.

Note: To support the creation of more content like this, I've included affiliate links for some of the featured supplies. Utilizing these links won't incur any additional costs for you, but it does provide a small benefit to me, allowing me to continue sharing my work with you.

I next aligned my background panel in my Misti stamping tool then used the Hero Arts Just Floating By stamp set, featured right, and some black ink to stamp my sentiment. While I would have liked to have a heat embossed sentiment on this card, the extra heat from the heat tool would not have interacted well with the paint. The last detail I added to the card was some mother-of-pearl flat-backed pearls to represent air bubbles.

The last step was to use my Hero Arts rectangular nesting die set, to first cut the background panel down to its final dimensions and then I followed that up with a slightly larger die and some blueish-purple cardstock to cut out a mat. I then used double-sided tape to adhere the background panel to the mat and then repeated the process to adhere the composite to a white card base. With that, I called the card complete.

Note: To support the creation of more content like this, I've included affiliate links for some of the featured supplies. Utilizing these links won't incur any additional costs for you, but it does provide a small benefit to me, allowing me to continue sharing my work with you.