Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder

I was trying to make a card last week when I was feeling really crummy and I felt like it was really showing in my work. The flowers did not come out the way I wanted. I kept dropping things, The colors did not seem to turn out the way I wanted. (And so on)

i was so frustrated with it all that I considered just tossing the card out or ripping the flowers off and starting over. About that time, my hubby comes home and sees the card. With out me asking him what he thought, he starts going on and on about how pretty the card was. He even said it was his new favorite. He talked about how much the lady I was making it for would love it. I was shocked.

I started thinking about how we sometimes do things that we don't see the value in but turns out blessing others. 

This new found perspective caused me to look at the card differently. I decided it was not so bad and even took the time to add a few pearl pen embellishments.

So what am I taking from this? Sometimes beauty is in the eye of the beholder so I should not be so tough on my assessment. More importantly, no one sees the frustration that can go along with making the card. All they see is a nice homemade greeting and they appreciate the lesson. :)

Oo La La Butterflies

More Kaisercraft 75 Cents . I just love the soft muted colors.

Not feeling very well so I will keep this post short and sweet.

Hole Heart Cards

I have seen so many cards on Pinterest where the front of the the card had been cut out for a shape to be nested there. The trouble I find with cutting the front cover and attaching the shape to the back page is that there is not much room to write. I decided to make some cards that look like all the others but really just has an extra front panel. The panel and shape are just attached to the front of the card,

I used different techniques to achieve three different looks for the cards.
The first one is really easy.

The second card took a few more steps.

And the third card took a little more effort.

Cut files and templates with instructions are available in my Etsy shop.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/179671404/hole-heart-a2-card-svg-cut-files-and?

Foil Embossed

Another foil embossed card. I embossed some silver heavy duty wrapping paper then went over the raised areas with black StazOn ink. I painted the cardbase, flowers, and butterfly with turquoise Silks acrylic glaze by Luminart. The ribbon was colored with Salty Ocean Distress Stain. Quick and easy but really pretty.

Kaisercraft 75 Cents

Well I bought the Kaisercraft 75 Cents paper line as soon as it came out but am just now getting around to actually using it. I have taken it out of the package and looked at it several times. It is just hard for me to cut into a pretty paper. LOL I realize that the paper is not going to do me any good sitting on a shelf. So I decided to take the plunge and use it. :)

Included lots of layers and some butterflies from one of the extra sheets that I colored and cut out.

The extra sheet looks like this. Kraft paper with butterflies embossed in black.

 I inked it with Distress Ink, added a few marks with Distress Marker, and added a few white dots.

Then I cut them out.

Here is a shot of the inside cover and back. I always like to add finishing touches.