CCEE ~ Red for Anne!

Hi friends!

It's time for a new challenge over at the CCEE Stampers blog,

brought to us by Anne ~ our hostess for May.

Her challenge is "Red for Anne", her favorite color!

For my card, I wanted to create a card with my Neat and Tangled

 Better Together and use red as the main color. 

Red is so vibrant and rich ~ a perfect compliment to give your card a POP!

This card was a bit of a challenge, and a triumph :)

I absolutely ADORE this card!

One of the things I'm trying to learn is skin colors.
I tend to lean towards the peaches and light skin colors because it's easy!

I color with prismacolor markers (and now Azure markers!)

but do have a few Copics for coloring skin (E00, E01, E11)
I had to use a few different prismacolors to create all the friends here :)

 

I stamped out the images and did a bit of masking to create the 

friends standng next to each other.  

Based on the direction of the animels they are holding,

I added them right to left to allow them not to overlap.

 For the sentiment, I fussy cut the word 'you'.

I did buy the matching dies for this set but the word you didn't have one ..

and that's okay! Improvise!

You can see what the rest of the CCEE Stampers created for Red for Anne

this week by heading over to the blog.

Thanks for stopping by!
Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

I'll enter this card to:  WordArtWednesday - 

~Kelly 

2018: Word of the Year

Hello 2018 ~ it's so nice to meet you!

It's that time of year when many of us

chose a word to use as a mantra.

I usual strive towards finding a word that resonates with the year ahead,
one to inspire, to guide, to encourage me.
I ponder a few, scribble them out, start to narrow them down.
And almost always, I can't seem to find one.

Rather, my words find me. 

Like last year.

Sitting in church.

Daydreaming away and BAM!

I heard it {Lord!}

 loud.  and.  clear.

This year, it was a quiet understanding with my word and I.

It washed over me one particular day.

It wasn't even a good day.

But, I smiled.

Because I knew.

My word:  Kindness

I see you, little word.

I hear you.
I believe in you.

I chose kindness because on a {what I call} that day,
when the world was shifting, mine was shaking.
And I made a conscious choice to make a difference.
Not just IN the world.
But IN me.

Every morning, I take my son to school.
As I drop him off, I tell him the same 3 things without fail:

  1.  Mommy loves you ♥
2.  Make today count.
   3.  Be kind to everyone.
Like grace at the table and prayers at night, 
I know he lives by these words and his faith and compassion are singular.

The best way to show example is to BE the example!
 

So for the year ahead, some of the kindness aspirations I have are: 

• I'm recommitting to blogging, visiting YOU, being inspired by your creations and sprinkling kind words!
  

• Practicing more random acts of kindness.  I've planned more giveaways :) It's incredibly enriching to bless someone with a surprise, including unannounced ones picked from a kind comment left on my blog on a random day ♥  

•  Bless your mailbox with card kindness and bringing back SNAIL MAIL!     An actual card, with a postage stamp, on a plane, delivered from me to you!  If I have your address, blessings forthcoming! (if not, let's connect!)  

• Share more random CRAFTS of kindness!  I've learned so much from this creaitve life and hope to absorb, share, inspire, create and pass it on via YouTube and other forms of craft-happi-ness!

 And so so SO much more!

2018 is beckoning me and I feel it's greatness ♥ 

 We can do this, you and I.

The world seems to be going plum crazy ~

and it needs a whole lotta kindness.

And I'm here to do my part ♥

Big hugs, bigger blessings!
~Kelly