Clean Friday

I was supposed to go to church this morning with my family for a presanctified Divine Liturgy (a special Eucharistic service done midweeks during Lent--it is gorgeous! The video clip above is a Russian version of one of the musical selections from the service) but when I woke up this morning, I felt like I'd been run over by a bus, so my husband told me to stay home and rest while he and my son drove up for the service.

(The clip above is a Byzantine version of another musical selection from the service--the two musical traditions are quite distinct, but both are beautiful. There are many different musical traditions in the Orthodox Church, but we all sing the same songs at the same times, just different musical settings.)

The quiet morning did me some good and I'm feeling a bit better now. I spent most of the afternoon and early evening yesterday reorganizing my cardstock after a fruitful Staples run for office supplies to do so. After the Great Cardstock Project was finished and cleaned up, I spent an hour or so organizing our Lenten recipe list into a 4 week Master Menu calendar (see yesterday's post for more details about this project). Today's task was to locate all the recipes for the list and organize by week and day and then to make a weekly grocery list based on the recipes scheduled. That took most of the morning, but it is done now! Luckily, a lot of my Lenten recipes were already typed up from an old Lenten cookbook I put together for our parish in Iowa City a long time ago. There were a few new ones that had to be typed, but all in all, not too bad.


Today's card was made way back in December when I needed a break from Christmas card making. It uses the Charming stamp set, which is still available through April 31. I love this set! The card is CASEd from someone on splitcoast, but I changed the colors a little--the original was Soft Suede and Kraft, which I thought was a little monochromatic, so I swapped in Rich Razzleberry instead, which I thought looked better.

Supplies:
Rich Razzleberry, Kraft cs
Charming, Pocket Silhouettes stamp sets
Soft Suede, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive inks
Kraft taffeta ribbon
Vintage (antique brass) brads
modern label punch
dimensionals

Flower Fancy Sympathy Card

Last night my family and I all schlepped down for a church service called the Great Canon of St. Andrew, which is a wonderful penitential service. Unfortunately, the church in question did not have a choir present but did have a few tone-deaf older guys, so the singing was a little interesting, but it was still good to go. I'd never been to that particular church, although we know the priest there, and it is lovely! The priest is new, young, and energetic, and has made a real effort to reach out in the neighborhood. God bless Father M, who has his work cut out for him.
My other project this week and throughout Lent is to put our house in order. Some of it is third trimester nesting urges, but I'm naturally a person who likes to keep things organized and am always looking for a better way to do things. So this week, while I'm taking a step back from crafting, I'm putting my kitchen in order (I'm also reorganizing my cardstock, but that is another story...)

I admit, I'm terrible about planning weekly menus and coming up with meals in advance, which is a source of some friction at our house. I'm happy to say, however, that I just found a mommy blog that walks me through the process of doing so. My mother has always made weekly menus and I admire it, but I've struggled a lot to do it myself. Part of the problem is that my husband and I have very different food tastes, and what appeals to me usually doesn't appeal to him and most of the "quick" dinner options that are available to many people are not workable for us for a variety of reasons (religious fasting regimens, allergies, tastes, etc). For example, I love hot dogs (I know, I know...) and my husband thinks they are disgusting. He can't even stand to watch me eat them or have them in the house, so I have to reserve my hot dog eating for my mom's house. So there are no quick hot dog nights at our house. Pizza is a whole other fraught discussion. But I'm determined to get to the bottom of this and get my menu planning in order. So yesterday afternoon, my husband and I sat down and went through the first worksheet on the blog to just come up with a Lenten Master Menu. (We will do one for ordinary time after Lent is over--it seems cruel to torment my husband with non-fasting dishes, even in theory, during the deprivations of Lent). My project for today is to organize said menu into day-blocks on a schedule with recipes and grocery lists and such.

But. I do have a card to share today, never fear! I made this card a few weeks ago for some good friends of ours who had some sadness in their lives. It is CASEd from Stacey Schaefer's card for her Curtain Call Challenge Act 2 and I really like the color combination. I think I've mentioned before that I struggle a lot with the Flower Fancy set (the two-step stamping is tricky with that one for some reason) and it was nice to see a card that used the set in a lovely way. I did get out my Stamp-a-ma-jig for the main flower on the panel, but for the rest of the little flowers, I just guesstimated, which worked fine for a background panel. One little stamping tip for the main flower--make sure you stamp off once on the background part or your flower lines will get lost. Ditto on the little flowers, although that is not as crucial. I had to remake the main panel once because I forgot to do it the first time!

I also did a finished panel inside the card (I don't think Stacey did this on hers) and loved how it finished the card! The only thing that was a little picky is that I don't have Mellow Moss or Bravo Burgundy in ink pads, only markers, so doing all those leaves took a bit!

Supplies:
Mellow Moss, So Saffron, Bravo Burgundy cs
Flower Fancy, Thoughts and Prayers stamp set
Bravo Burgundy, So Saffron, Mellow Moss inks/markers
Mellow Moss grosgrain ribbon
Button latte
glue dot

Inspired by Nature while Thinking of You

I CASEd this card from Wendy Hawkinson a few weeks ago and was saving it for the right occasion to present itself, and yesterday it did. There is a retired priest and his wife who live in Nebraska who are dear friends of ours and we just learned that the wife, Lilijah (Lily for short) is undergoing surgery on her liver today. Lily is fond of flowers, pretty cards and old-fashioned letters, so I thought this would be the perfect card to send to her. She has had a lot of health issues in her life and I know she is struggling to keep her spirits up this time, so if you would like to send her a card, please leave a comment with your e-mail address and I will send you their address.Supplies:
Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, Old Olive, Whisper White cs, Old Olive dsp
Inspired by Nature, Thoughts and Prayers stamp sets
Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose markers
Sponge
Wide and scallop oval punches
Open scallop border punch

Vintage Tuesday

I did end up getting a bit of energy yesterday afternoon after walking to the grocery store to stock up for the coming ice/snow storm, so I decided to do Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday Sketch for this week and combine it with Stacey's Curtain Call Color Challenge Act 17. I had an idea of how this card was going to look in my head, but it came out very differently! My idea involved clean lines, simple stamping and a basic layout. I ended up with a distressed, sponged and customized card instead. I like it, though.

I wanted to make a sympathy type card because we have friends who are coming up on the one-year anniversary of their small son's death. He was a few days older than my son, so I think about them a lot. They have an older son and are expecting again, which is a great blessing, but I know they will always ache for and miss their second son with his wide grin and cute dimples.

I made the dsp by stamping the vine from Thoughts and Prayers on So Saffron cardstock with matching ink, and then distressed it a bit by sponging the edges with the same ink. I had intended to use some left over So Saffron dsp from A Walk In the Park, but didn't have enough left to make four squares, but these are the kinds of things that force one to be more creative! The going gray matting, which was the hardest element to incorporate, is sponged on the (distressed) edges with chocolate chip ink to tone it done a bit and make the colors blend into the rest of the card better. I distressed the edges of the matting by running a metal edge ruler along the sides until it started to fray and look the way I wanted it to. I also sponged all the layers with So Saffron and then added More Mustard to the textured piece and chocolate chip to the More Mustard square to make it stand out a bit from the background.

I know you are asking where I got the coordinating More Mustard ribbon, since I can hear you flipping through the catalog from here! I'll tell you straight--I made it myself. I took Very Vanilla 5/8" satin ribbon (new in the Occasions Mini catalog) and first markered it with a More Mustard marker and ran a baby wipe over it to blend it. I still wasn't happy with the coverage, so I took a sponge and my More Mustard ink pad and went over it again, and used the baby wipe a second time to blend everything and that did the trick! I guess this card also works for the Stampin' Connect challenge for this week, which is to punch things out. The circle is the largest Big Shot circle that we have (I borrowed the die from a friend a few weeks ago and cut a bunch of circles for future use...) and the sentiment is punched from the large oval and sponged for dimension. I actually didn't intend to punch the sentiment out, but I stamped it a bit crooked (should have used my Stamp-a-ma-jig, but I was feeling lazy) and while I could have left it, I decided just to add the extra piece to make it all straight.

Supplies:
More Mustard, So Saffron (textured and regular), Going Gray, Very Vanilla cs
Thoughts and Prayers stamp set
Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, So Saffron ink, plus markers in the same
Very Vanilla 5/8" satin ribbon
baby wipe
metal edge ruler
circle die/big shot
sponges
mini glue dot
large oval punch

Clean Monday

Today marks the first day of Great Lent for Orthodox Christians around the world, myself and my family included. This first week of Lent is traditionally called Clean or Pure Week and forms one of the bookends of Lent (Holy Week being the other). There are many extra church services this week, stricter fasting for those who are able, and a general attitude of joyful sobriety as we set ourselves to the task of repentance and spiritual house cleaning.

I am taking a step back from creating this week, in part because of Clean Week, and in part because I do much of my creating on Mondays when I have a baby sitter for a few extra hours in the morning and I'm not feeling great today. Between my mom's great visit last week and a very long and tiring day yesterday with extra church services and driving, this pregnant lady is worn out! I do have some cards to share this week that I made in weeks past, so you won't be deprived!


Today's card was my February swap for the Philly Inkers meeting. Diana Gibbs had posted a picture a while back with some cool ceramic-ware she bought at Ross and my first thought was color challenge! The colors were Certainly Celery, Bermuda Bay and Summer Sun/Crushed Curry. I added in Soft Suede for a neutral and went from there. I got the layout idea from someone on splitcoast, but tweaked it a little to make it my own. I actually love this color combination and would never have thought to put them together! If you are wondering how I did the tree, first I colored the trunk with a Soft Suede marker, then did the leaves in Certainly Celery. I then took a Summer Sun marker and tapped it all over the leaves, but not to cover the green. I did the same thing with a Bermuda Bay marker but less, since it was a darker color. I guess it would be called thumping technique. Since I had to make 10 of these, it was a LOT of thumping!

Supplies:

Certainly Celery, Bermuda Bay, Summer Sun, Whisper White, Soft Suede cs
Itty Bitty Backgrounds, Forest Friends, Great Friend stamps
Soft Suede, Summer Sun, Certainly Celery, Bermuda Bay markers, Versamark
Certainly Celery twill ribbon (retired)

Asian Artistry Valentine

My mom left this morning and I'm a little sad that she is gone, but at least I can look forward to May, when she'll come to help out with the new baby. On Friday afternoon, during my two-year old's nap, we decided to stamp together and use a color and sketch challenge. She ended up leaving the color challenge behind but I stuck with it, even though it was hard to work with! I think the sketch challenge was the hardest part--we used this week's PPA sketch and man, was it challenging! Sometimes those seemingly simple sketches can be the hardest.

I think my card took more than 2 hours to come together! The color challenge I used was the Diva Coffee Break Designs Color Challenge #164, which was to use Bravo Burgundy, Soft Suede and Pretty in Pink to make a Valentine. I ended up giving my card to my husband for Valentine's Day, so even though it is kind of non-traditional, I think it works as a Valentine.


My mom started out with Soft Suede and the rest of the colors, but decided to swap in Going Gray for Soft Suede and Pink Pirouette dsp for the Pretty in Pink. I liked the Pink Pirouette so much, I used it instead of Pretty in Pink myself! That's the beauty of group stamping--you bounce ideas off each other and make great cards as a result. My mom's card turned out so well, I think I'm going to have to CASE it! I've included it in this post for your viewing pleasure:

My card supplies:
Bravo Burgundy, Pink Pirouette (textured), Very Vanilla, Soft Suede cs
Asian Artistry, Baroque Motifs, Sanded stamp sets
Soft Suede, Bravo Burgundy, Pink Pirouette inks
Blender pen
Gold brads
Soft Suede grosgrain ribbon

My mom's card supplies:
Going Gray, Bravo Burgundy, Pink Pirouette (textured), Whisper White cs, Bella Birds dsp (retired)
En Francais, Of the Earth, Itty Bitty Backgrounds stamps
Chocolate Chip, Going Gray, Bravo Burgundy, Pretty in Pink inks/markers
Gray satin ribbon (non-SU!)

Color Q Flowers in Silhouette

When I saw the Color Q challenge this week, I thought, wow, those are pretty colors for an outfit (and indeed, the inspiration came from a collection of gorgeous skirts!) but how will they work on a card? Surprisingly well, it turns out!!

I realized very quickly that the regal rose needed to be a minor accent rather than the main attraction and the muted tones of Close to Cocoa and Blush Blossom needed to take center stage. I also used Mary-Jo Price Williams' Monday Lunchtime sketch for the week (her sample this week is GREAT--I'm going to have to CASE it when I have some time). I originally stamped the flowers/stems in regal rose and chocolate chip, but it looked too bright and monochromatic for the card, so I went back and restamped the image using markers and shading. I did the stems in Close to Cocoa and the flowers in Blush Blossom and then added Chocolate Chip and Regal Rose accents to the edges of the silhouettes, which I think makes for a better image.

Supplies:
Blush Blossom, Close to Cocoa, Regal Rose, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip cs, Candy Lane dsp (retired)
Flowers in Silhouette (retired), Vintage Vogue Labels (SAB), En Francais stamp sets
Blush Blossom, Regal Rose, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip markers, Chocolate Chip ink
Open Scallop border punch, 1 3/4" circle punch
Circles #2 die (borrowed from a friend)
Chocolate Chip 5/8" satin ribbon