Altered Santa Hat for Craft That Divas Facebook group

Here's the picture's of the Altered Santa hat I made for my partner Jesenia on the Face book group called Craft that Diva's.  I love being a member of that group. Everyone is so friendly, helpful and so talented!  It's a wonderful community to be a part of.   I bought the hat a Hobby Lobby along with the spray of leaves.  Actually I got those from a few different picks but you know what I meant.  I basically was able to get all my supplies while there at Hob Lob.  The flower was on clearance and on the back it has a pin and a hair clip so you could either wear it in your hair or on your blouse.  I thought the color was perfect to match this Santa hat.  I used a gold glittered snowflake ornament and the little wool bird is also an ornament.  But who says you have to use everything you find for the purpose it was intended?  I love to find new and creative uses for the objects I find to craft with. 

Here's a pic of the Christmas card I included in Jesenia's package for her and her family.

And here's the video if you want to take a closer look at the Santa hat and the card.

Thank you for stopping by my blog and checking out my project.  I hope Jesenia likes her hat.  I'll be back soon with more cards and I'll have an upcoming post featuring all my Christmas cards for this year so keep on the lookout for that.  Till next time I hope you are all living a Blessed life.  Much hugs and love, Amy K.

Happy Birthday card by request for Cassidy Gardner's Memorial

I waited to post this card till December, the month that marks one year that a precious angel of only 18 years of age was so violently ripped from our lives by a careless, driver under the influence of multiple substances.  He's  not the important one and I refuse to make this post about him.  God sees him for all that he is all that he's done and we all have to stand before him one day and answer for our sins here on earth.  This post is not just to share a card with you but to also take a minute and remember this beautiful young lady.  Her mother asked me to make her a card for her 19th birthday even tho she's not here to celebrate with us.  She wanted to put the card up at the grave side as part of the memorial to her birth.

  

I warned you, She's beautiful.  Like all teens she liked to take selfie's for face book.  She was special for who she was and at the same time she is ordinary.  Just like all the other kids now days.  Isn't that what all teens wish for?  To be perfectly ordinary?  They don't yet understand how wonderful it is to be an individual.  They don't want anything about themselves to stand out as strange or different.  Cass was special in that way because she knew what she liked and set out to get it.  And yet ordinary because she didn't yet realize her own potential.  So sad that she never got to discover her own self.  You know like we all do sometime in our 20's.  She loved her siblings so much and she was a delight to spend time with. I had the benefit of having her come and stay with me on a few occasions.  She once spent the whole week with me while her mom was out of town.  I must admit, I didn't hate it:)  I thought it would be strange for Brian and I, who are with out any children of our own, to have a teenager in the house with us for a week.  She was wonderful.  She was well mannered and polite and tied up my tv with that teenage MTV nonsense but I loved having her here.  I would have just kept her if I could have.  Cassidy had an interest in Scrapbooking and she would spend time with me in the craft room when she came to visit.  She once called me and asked me to help her make some birthday cards for her friends in school.  Typical teenager that she was, she waited till the last minute and had to come over to my house late at night and I think we quickly made two or maybe it was three cards.  I find it stressful to create with some one putting me on a time crunch but It was ok and we had a ball that night.  I loved teaching her about products and what different tools and supplies were capable of doing and how to make your supplies work for you and I tried to teach her about many different styles of paper crafting and I urged her to find her own voice and style of creating and that she didn't have to follow my style just because I was teaching her.  She did good and she liked to look through all the different papers and supplies I had until she found one that spoke to her. I even found myself, when out craft shopping, picking up a paper pad or two with her in particular in mind just because I thought it might be more her style than mine.  We worked on a few mini albums too.  I loved it when she would come to me for help with school work or when she and her mom would ask me to take her senior photos.  I loved to take her picture.  God, that child made beautiful pictures.  I just wish I had some of them on this computer to show you but my old computer crashed or something but I can't get the pics off it but I made copies for Cass and her mom.  So they are not lost.  Proms and It all started with me taking her photos for the 8th grade dance.  Then there were beauty pageants and basically I got to be a part of all her milestones from 8th grade on.

So not to keep you waiting, here's the card and the holder I made so that Wendy, her mom, could stick it into a pot of flowers and it would be able to stand among the flowers.  I also sprayed it with a clear sealer to protect it from the weather and maybe last a little longer.

This second photo shows a close up of the clip I made to hold the card in a flower arrangement..  

 I even sprayed it with the clear sealer because the flowers are paper.  The leaf that looks white here is actually a clear sequin leaf but the sealer made it turn white. Oh well, what cha gonna do? lol

God Bless you Cassidy and Keep you and Hold you in his arms forever in His glorious Kingdom above.  We will meet again one day.  We will know each other by the smiles that we share.  Love you child/adult.  and I love your family and I pray God's love and grace comforts them in your absence.

Thank you for taking time to read this heartfelt post today, Thank you especially to those of you who stuck around till the end.  God bless you too!  Till next time, much love and hugs, amy k

Shabby Chic birthday card made for member of the church

Got another card made for a member of the church.  It's, you guessed it, a birthday card!  Are you guys getting sick of birthday cards?  I honestly don't know where I keep coming up with ideas for new cards.  I think sooner or later maybe they will all just start to look the same lol.  I hope not, that would be sad.  Speaking of making all the cards the same, I'm trying to get about 50 Christmas cards made and soon.  I bought one of the Close to my Heart card making kits for Christmas and it comes with patterned paper and cardstock and card bases and envelopes and stamps.  A few other embellies and basically everything you need except ink and I've got that covered. The problem is that it only makes 15 cards, that's alright because I have the stamp set and I have all the patterned paper that I need so I used that to make about 15 more but I get so bored making the same cards over and over. There are three designs in that cardmaking kit and I've changed the patterned paper and I've even changed the layout but I was just sick of those cards and that color palette so I just started making my cards one at a time making each one different.  So look forward to a long post coming up this month show casing all my Christmas cards that I've made this year.

This card was made for a Wonderful lady in our church family by the Name of Dottie Fray.  She's a real sweet heart.  I was happy to make this card for her.  I used one of the 4.5x6.5 I guess you would call them mat stacks, from Hobby Lobby.   It's by the Paper Studio. Wait and I'll tell you the name of it......OK, it's the Kirby Teesdale stack and then for the dressform stamp, it comes from the Whimsy Stamps "A Touch of Elegance" stamp set.  I stamped it in dark brown chalk ink from clearsnap and the corner die cut and the square lace diecut are from the cricut but I'm unsure of what cartridge they come from.  The sentiment is also from the same stamp set and I punched it out with an ek success punch.  I went around all the edges of all the pieces with a pink distress ink. Then added the little flower that I made with punches and book pages.

I hope you like Dottie's card, I hope she liked it too. lol.  I've got to run, lots to do today and the day is getting away from me already.  I've spent way too much time online today. hehehehe.  I'll try to be back soon with another card. till then, Much love and hugs, Amy K.