Card Design: Pattie's Creations Challenge #159…Weddings

Hello there everyone! I'm back here today to announce the next challenge over at Pattie's Creations Design Challenge. This time around for Challenge #159, the theme is Weddings. June is a popular month for weddings; so, if you have any wedding cards to create, here is an opportunity to enter our challenge. However, if you don't have a wedding to attend in the near future BUT you know of a wedding anniversary coming up, then you can go that route instead. That is what I have decided. At the end of April, my hubby and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary and I wanted to make him a special card to honour this special occasion in our lives.

General Project Info:

• This card has been created 100% digitally and then layered in a Mock Up (courtesy of Frisk Shop). It was printed out already but I never had the chance to take a photo of it. 
• Our wedding colours were peach and ivory so I'm happy I was able to incorporate some peach into my card.

FRONT

 

Digital Images Details:

• Heart Wreath With Bow can be found in Pattie's Etsy shop. This image was coloured in digitally using digital colouring, layer styles and 'paper piecing'. Credits include:
• I used an actual heart shape to digitally 'paper piece' the hearts. These shapes are courtesy of DesignerCandies 
• I used a layer style on the bow courtesy of HG Designs 

Digital Embellishments:

• The numbers are courtesy of Danyale Lewis, creator behind Etc. by Danyale. I have changed their colour to suit the purposes of this project.

INSIDE

Digital Sentiment Details: 

• This beautiful sentiment is one I picked up over at Creative Fabrica. 

OVERALL
Digital Paper & Embellishments:

• The papers, tag shape and border are all elements purchased from a set designed by Euonia Meraki purchased as part of a bundle via The Hungry JPEG.
• I have applied shadow layer styles to give certain elements some depth. These styles were designed by Sheila Reid, Pixel Scrapper.

Challenges I am hoping to enter...

• http://www.wordartwednesday.blogspot.ca/ (5E)-- Anything Goes
• http://craftingfromtheheartchallengeblog.blogspot.ca/ -- Anything Goes
• http://craftycreationschallenges.blogspot.ca/ -- Anything Goes
• yourscrapbookplace.blogspot.com -- Always Anything Goes
• https://ttcrd.blogspot.ca/ -- Always Anything Goes

You have until July 4th to enter our challenge which should give you lots of time to get a creation done. Remember the theme is Weddings. I really hope that you will be able to join us. You can enter three times per challenge and of course MUST follow all the challenge requirements that are posted for each challenge (please click HERE to become familiar with all the rules).

Pop over to the challenge blog and check out what my fabulous teammates have offered up for inspiration. Oh and don't forget…Pattie offers up a new freebie the first Friday of the month and it will remain up for approximately two weeks; so, be sure to pop over and check it out as well!

Well guys, that is it for this one. Hopefully it won't be too long before I see you all again.

Until next time,

Motivational Monday & PoP #24 Midway Reminder: SERENDIPITY

 If you are new to my blog and would like to know why I started Motivational Monday, please go HERE.

This will be another packed post as I'll be sharing this month's Motivational Monday passage, a card I created and a couple freebies.  The reflection, my project and one of the freebies can also be found over on the midway post at the Path of Positivity.  This month the theme is SERENDIPITY.  On with today's thoughts... 

Sweet Serendipity

Ah sweet serendipity... that fortunate hapenstance where luck has us finding valuable or pleasant things that we had not looked for or anticipated.  Today I'm going to do something a bit different.  I'm going to share a personal story of how serendipity worked in my own life.

A long time ago, in a small town in central Ontario, a young girl dreamed of what her future might be.  She had always been fascinated with sign language and hoped one day to learn it.  Now when this young girl applied for college she found only one program that she was interested in, among all the courses available at all the colleges in Ontario.  That program would teach her how to work with children who had exceptional needs.  Just after her 19th birthday she received a letter stating she had been accepted into the college of her choice.  With deep joy she let out a little 'whoop'.  However, the next sentence took it away.  While she had been accepted into the college, unfortunately the program she chose was no longer available.  Her poor heart was broken.  Now what was she going to do?  There was only one program she had been interested in.  However, as she kept reading, the letter went on to recommend other programs that might be similar and her heart started to re-mend.  She read through the first two and no interest sparked but then she got to the next one in the list.  As it happened, a new program was being implemented that very year.  The program was called, 'Sign Language Communicator'.  At first she did a bit of a double take and had to read it again.  Sign Language?  Really?  If she'd seen that one listed, it would have been her first choice off the bat.  It seems that serendipity stepped in at just the right moment.  So, this young girl, full of dreams for her future enrolled in the Sign Language Communicator program and toddled of to college that very fall.

Now let me tell you another story.  This time it is the story of a man who was not satisfied with where his life was and decided to go back to school.  This man had always been fascinated with sign language and the deaf community.  In fact, he volunteered regularly with The Canadian Hearing Society in the city he lived in, in western Ontario.  He applied for and was accepted into St. Mary's college in Michigan into their sign language program.  He was very excited.  Unfortunately, it turned out that the tuition was going to be outrageously expensive and since the college was in the States, he could expect no help with funding from the Ontario government.  His poor heart was broken.  Now what was he going to do?  There was only one program he had been interested in.  As it turns out, he soon found out about a new program being offered in his home province and his heart started to re-mend.  He applied to the college offering it and was accepted into the college.  It seems that serendipity stepped in at just the right moment.  So, this man, full of dreams for a different future enrolled in the Sign Language Communicator program and toddled of to college that very fall.

There were twenty some odd students in the program.  Mostly females but there ended up being two men.  One was married and one was single.  Since the class size was so small, everyone got to know each other well although groups started to form.  Mostly, the more mature students hung out together and the younger ones in there own click but everyone knew everyone and all were friendly.  

During the second year of the program, the young girl started to struggle with the actual signing part of the program while the man struggled with the other components.  It seemed natural that these two come together to help each other out and so they did.  Within a month though, their friendship started developing into something else and a few weeks later they became a couple.  Three months later they became engaged, and fifteen months later they were married.  On April 29th of this year they will celebrate their 26th wedding anniversary together.  Neither of these people expected it to happen.  As the man often stated, "he didn't go to college to end up with a wife but somehow it worked out that he found one anyway".

Ah sweet serendipity...that fortunate hapenstance where luck came into play and directed the future of two people's lives.  Neither us these people had anticipated that the college program of their desire would come into existence.  Without that happening, these two people would never have met, never fallen in love and married.  Had it not been for the program opening up at just the right time, their lives would have taken very different paths.  Instead serendipity stepped in and they both found pleasant things that they had not looked for nor anticipated.  The quote by Lawrence Black that I used on the front of my card says it all as it could apply to both circumstances--their college program and their subsequent love:

 Serendipity: 

Look for something,
find something else, and
realize that what you've
found is more suited to your
needs than what you thought
you were looking for.

All I know is that without serendipity coming into play, I would have had a much different life.  Thank you serendipity!

__________________________________________________________________________________

This month our sponsors are...

 Lunagirl

and Sami Stamps

Next up, is the card I made for the midway using an image from Lunagirl.  It was the perfect opportunity to make an anniversary card for the hubs.  So you know what is coming...

HUBS

BACK AWAY

FROM THE

COMPUTER!

FRONT

Digital Image Details: 

• Wedding Day Digital Collage Sheet:  As stated above, this wonderful collage sheet is from Lunagirl.  If you are interested in purchasing this great selection of images, click on the watermark to head over to the page it can be found on in the store.  I decided to frame some of the images and basically create a paper for the backdrop to the sentiment.

Digital Embellishments:

• I created frames for each of the Lunagirl images along with a frame for the sentiment using templates from Sheila Reid, a designer with Pixel Scrapper.  

Digital Sentiment Details: 

• One I created.  Here is a closer look at it...

INSIDE

Digital Sentiment Details:

• One I created.

OVERALL

Paper Products:

• Card base: Michael's Recollection's Cardstock, cream.

Digital Paper Products: 

• The fabulous rich brown paper that I used in the background is one of the great Handmade Papers available through Nicecrane Designs.  I just love these papers.  If you are interested in purchasing this great selection of handmade papers, click on the watermark to head over to the page it can be found on in the Nicecrane Designs store.

Challenges I am hoping to enter:

• http://www.wordartwednesday.blogspot.ca/ (5E)-- Anything Goes 
• http://creativefingerschallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/ -- Anything Goes
• http://yourscrapbookplace.blogspot.ca/ -- Anything Goes
• http://ttcrd.blogspot.ca (2E)-- Anything Goes
• http://craftingfromtheheartchallengeblog.blogspot.ca/ -- Anything Goes
• more to follow

 __________________________________________________________________________________ 

Finally, that brings me to a couple of freebies.  The first was offered up at the challenge start and the second was just offered up today for the midway...

© 2015

The quote has been divided into two just in case you want to split it up and put the first part in a different area.  You can easily pull the two parts together to use them in the same area, as I did for the inside of my card.

Font Information: 

• Windsong  font created by Bright Ideas
• Libre Caslon font created by Impallari Type

© 2015

Font Information:

• Foglihten font created by gluk
• Butterscotch font and Butterscotch_Alt_p_to_z created by Nicky Laatz

Please be sure to click on the images to bring them up into the lightbox in their proper size before saving them.  Click on the font name to take you to a download location.  The first three fonts were listed as free for commercial use at the time this project was made.  The last one, Butterscotch, is one I have purchased as part of a bundle and the licence states that it may be used for commercial purposes.  As such, it is my understanding, that I am within my rights to use these fonts in my creations and offer them to others.  Please refer to my full terms of service for what you can and cannot do with this digital creation.

These word art creations are in png format and published at 300 ppi. They are quite large in order to accommodate different programs that people work with.   If you are a card maker you can always resize them smaller without distorting the quality.   

Credit Notes For These Creations:
© Lisa L. Décosse. PUO. However, you are allowed to use the sentiments on handmade projects that you intend to sell on a small scale basis provided credit is given. You also need to include a credit note and a link to this blog should you use any of my images in your creations and post them on your blog. Please be sure to familiarize yourself with my full terms of use found in the 'Download Instructions & T.O.U.' tab at the top of this page. Of important note:  Please do not share my images with family, friends, etc. Additionally, do not post any images to file sharing services like Box®, 4-Shared®, etc. Instead, please direct people to my blog(s) so they can grab the image for themselves. If you would like to post a watermarked version of the image, please contact me to obtain one.

_______________________________________________________________

I invite you to go and check out, not only, the fabulous creations some members of my Design Team had the opportunity to create over on the Path of Positivity (click HERE for the midway) but also some of the great entries into this month's challenge (click HERE for the challenge).  I also invite you to come over and enter a project yourself, if you haven't already.  There are so many kinds of cards that would work for this theme, including wedding and anniversary cards.  I'm sure that you can think of some situation where serendipity came into play.

Well, that is it for today!  Have a great week ahead everyone! 

Until next time,

Card Design: Digi Darla's Challenges #60--Let's Celebrate and Some Special Freebies

Welcome to my second post this wonderful Monday morning!  Hope you have all had a marvelous weekend.  Time for this week's challenge over at the dynamic Digi Darla's Challenges Blog. This week for Challenge #60 the theme is "Let's Celebrate".  It is time to show us your projects that cover any type of celebration, i.e. birthday, graduation, or the event that I am focussing on today, anniversary.

Now it just so happens that today's celebration challenge actually falls on our 24th wedding anniversary so it is fitting that I showcase the card I created for my husband.  On April 29th, 1989, at 2:30 pm I married my soul mate.  We have most definitely had our ups and downs.  Unfortunately, a lot of downs BUT we have stuck through it thick and thin only to emerge stronger out the other side.  I'd be nothing without this man by my side.

If you are reading this hubby, I'd recommend that if you would like your card to be a surprise, you might want to avoid reading any further and just come back to this post sometime tomorrow.

Don't forget one person will be the lucky winner of FIVE Digi Darla (DD) images!  AND any entries using a DD image get entered into a SECOND drawing for THREE images. So, you could technically win eight images! Imagine the fun you could have with all those digis!  If you do use one of Kim's fabulous images make sure you write DD after your name.

I've used the following digis:

• Digi Darla's Valentine Bears  
• Digi Darla's I Love You solid
• Digi Darla's I Love You open

Here is the front of my card...

Here is the inside...

Here are the card details, I hope I haven't forgotten anything...

General Information:

• Our wedding colours were peach and ivory so I though it fitting to use all the peachy coloured paper. 
• I have used this sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches.

  Digital Image:

• Valentine Bears (front):  The image on the front of the card is Digi Darla's Valentine Bears.  It was coloured using Copic markers.  Bears:   E31, E33, E37, E39 (fur); R22 (ears); BG10, BG15, BG18 (bow).  Flowers:  Y11, Y13, Y15, Y17 (petals and stamen); YG61, YG63, YG67 (leaves).  Balloons:  YR000, YR00, YR02 YR04, YR07.  Clouds:  Colourless blender, N0, C1, C3.  The image was then fussy cut and adhered to the front.
• Now aren't those two of the cutest little bears you've ever seen?!  That's me there on the left and hubby on the right.  Now we're both quite a bit lighter in skin tone but the roundness definitely fits me.  The boy bear should have been slimmer though, but all in all, a pretty good representation of the two of us.  Kim has certainly captured the love in our expressions!
• The balloons were fussy cut and then I added charcoal cross stitch thread to act as balloon strings.  I duplicated the right balloon, coloured it up and used a 1/8th inch 3D adhesive dot to give it added dimension.  
• Clouds (front):  I came up with an ingenious idea for the two additional clouds I used.  I wanted them to have the same basic shape as the cloud "we're" sitting on.  So, you know how you can make conversation bubbles in a lot of graphics programs?  Well, in Microsoft Publisher I used this feature.  I made them the length and flatness I wanted and then created a white square to cover up the little circles that emanated from them so they'd look like clouds.  Then I fussy cut the shapes, coloured them up with the same colours I used on the main cloud and adhered them with three dimensional adhesive tabs to pop them up a bit.

Digital Sentiments:

• 'I Love You' sentiment (inside):  The first part of the sentiment on the inside of the card is a combination of two different Digi Darla images.  The first and third 'I Love You' solid word art can be found HERE, and the middle open word art can be found in the store HERE.
• The rest of the sentence, "Three words I will never get tired of saying!" is one I created and is available as a freebie below in honour of this special occasion.  I've also included the sentiment from inside the card I created for the San's design blog hop and a couple other treats too.  

Paper Products:

• Card base: Michael's Recollection's Cardstock, white.
• Designer Papers:  The cloud paper comes from the Recollection's All Seasons paper pad.  The rest of the DP paper comes from Recollection's Bright and Basic paper pad. 

Challenges I hope to enter include:

• Stamp 'n Doodle -- No Embellishments
• Word Art Wednesday -- Challenge #77:  Anything Goes
• 613 Avenue Create -- Anything Goes/Picture Inspiration Twist
• Creative Inspirations Paint -- Inspired by...Anything Goes
• Crafter's Digital Art Centre -- Anything Goes
• Paper Makeup Stamps Digi Makeover – Challenge #86:  Celebrations
   

Some more challenges may be added to this list later this week and/or month.

So, why not come and show us what you've got by entering in our current challenge this week over at Digi Darla's Challenges?  While you are there please check out the wonderful creations from the rest of the design team.  We always look forward to seeing the delightful creations you come up with.

  Now for the reason the other 300 of you are here...

Six freebie love related sentiments in honour of this special day:

 Please see below for font information, download instructions and usage summary.  Remember that I would love to see anything you create using one of my images.

Well that is it for this post.  Have a wonderful day everyone!

Thank you so much for stopping by.  As I've now added to my comment section, whether you are a regular, here for the first time or popping over in your official capacity as a DT member, please know how much I appreciate the words that you leave behind.  Your encouragement helps me to become a better designer.   I try my best to reply to your comments (when an email address is available) but that is getting more and more difficult as my plate fills up with new responsibilities, new roles, and new obligations.  If I don't get the opportunity to thank you personally, know that I don't take a single comment for granted. Thank you for your understanding.

Until next time,

Fonts Used: 

•  Virgin Love
• 2 Peas Heart's Delight 
• SK Summer Love 
• AEZ Hearts 
• Jenna Sue 
• JLR Simple Hearts 
• Luvable***

Click the font names to take you to a download location.  All fonts but Luvable are commercial use.  Luvable is unknown so be careful if you sell anything you create using this font.

If you are not sure how to copy the image, check out the download instructions page.   If you haven't already, please become familiar with my terms of use found in the copyright tab at the top of this page.  Quick summary of Terms of Use:   

• Do not claim the image as your own.
• Credit 'Decosse's Dynamite Doodles' somewhere on your creation.  You may sell handmade creations using one of these sentiments.  Just be sure to become familiar with my full terms of use.
• Do not share my images with family, friends, etc.  Additionally, do not post any images to file sharing services like Pinterest®, 4-Shared®, etc.  Instead, please direct people to my blog so they can grab the image for themselves.
• If I have signed an image, do not delete my signature.
• Leave a comment on my blog.  It is currently the only way for me to know if any of my freebies are being nabbed.  Additionally, it will help to inspire me to continue to create and offer future freebies.

Note: I apologize if there are any further formatting issues.  This is a scheduled post and we all know Blogger has a mind of it's own.  If it turns out that something looks wonky, i.e.--part of the sentence is a different size, font, or colour than the rest, I'll fix it as soon as I'm able to.