Filled with Joy

YEAH! Its Friday. I’m sure I am not the only one who is crazy busy with summer being here. Jay and I have a little get away next week!!!!!!!!! Nothing fancy, just some time by the beach. We can’t afford anything over the top right now. We just had to dump some money into a special stove as another means of heating our home since oil is OUTRAGEOUS.  So its going to be just the 2 of us. You know what? We feel GUILTY for going without the kids!

This is the first time that feeling has ever crept in. We are normally, are literally doing a happy dance in the kitchen when we get a minute of alone time, let alone 3 nights-KID FREE! That is countless date time! Much needed, but still we feel bad.

I think since they are older, we know they would enjoy going. Oh well. We plan on doing some other fun stuff like going to a weekend at Story Land, and Santa’s Village. I am just so surprised I feel so bad going without them. I am sure we will get over it once we hear them fighting! LOL!

Anyway…………….I am filled with joy! Hence, the card 😀 I have so much to be grateful for. My family, friends, God and believe it or not-health!! Things are going super 😀 I just feel like I should acknowledge that. We are all quick to complain, so why not be quick to say “Hey you know what? My life is really good right now” So that is me-Life is good. Be happy, thankful and joyful. I would love to hear what is going GOOD for YOU! No complaining-just good stuff.

Speaking of good stuff……………..

 Filled with Joy

It is sketch time here (a little early for those of you who stamp on Friday’s :D)

 Hope you like this weeks sketch! I know I do. I think I may make another!

I have to say I am just totally in LOVE with this card! So much so that this is the Sat. Sketch! Yes, a day early 😀 I have a lot going on so I am sure many of you do too.

 I made this about 2 weeks ago, and have just been nuts since this is a busy week preparing for reveals and whatnot, so it sat, patiently waiting to be photographed and shared with the world 😀

The colors are so rich and pretty together-black, olive, ruby red, and coral.

I LOVE that the middle panel is in the window up on dimensionals-so like a floating layer. You see the bottom layer peeking through. Its a really fun look. I have done similar cards, with the floating layer, before but think this is my favorite.

I have been looking around and doing some shopping since I LOVE happy mail! Haven’t had a delivery in a while, so I was due!

Seems like everyone is using some new stuff from The Purple Turtle Shop. OK I guess I should say that I noticed Debbie is using their stuff! LOL! Well after looking around, and getting curious, I put several sets in my cart! I have been having some fun with all that, let me tell you. I love ALL stamps 😀

I have to say my first inked set was Bold Carnations. I just fell in love with it. As I was browsing the store it really popped out at me. It was very different than some of the silhouettes I had. I like the larger scale this set has, as well as the mix of smaller images. Plus the price was insanely awesome. These sets are like unmounted rubber. They come with a black pad, for you to stamp on. A wood mounted set like that would be TRIPLE the price for the size of the images you get. I was really happy with what I purchased, since I was unfamiliar with their store and products.

I colored the solid flower with my SU! markers, then stamped it. The solid blocks, stamped in black, were colored in with my Copic markers, then punched out.

Anyway-this card quickly came together! I needed an everyday card, and felt this sentiment was PERFECT!! It is from the Sentiments set. I LOVE sentiments, and believe you can never have too many. That set just has a nice mix! I am also shocked at the price-$11.99! That is really awesome.

Now here is another-for another view of what the stamps are like:

 Love & prayers

(OK this is like a PERFECT sentiment for so many difficult times! Don’t you think?)

I know these are so not my usual colors, but that is what I really love about this one. I saw a skirt in the store, and the bold flowers were layered in yellow, red, and black. It was SO striking to me so I went with it. You can see the much larger bold flower stamped in yellow.

Again I used the Bold Carnations set, and Sentiments set. The bird is from another must have set for me (hehehe) Silhouette’s.

I think we all should step out of our comfort zone and try new things. Be it a technique. layout (hint hint) or color scheme. Heck maybe even a new type of stamp! If you haven’t tried UM stamps or acrylic and you really like an image, why not try it out?

I hope this inspired you to do just that. Try something new.

Well I have dinner to make, so Im off and running. If you try the sketch send us all a link here, so we can see your take on it.

Also thank you all so very much for your lovely comments on my PTI project yesterday! Meant so much. I am working on compiling questions to answer in one post 😀

Later!!