Thank You

Have you checked out the CUTTING CAFE SHOP yet? Not only has Regina released a new stamp set EVERYDAY ELISHA JEAN AND FRIENDS, but she has lots of fun paper pads and embellishments, as well as stamp sets from her last release.

I have a thank you card to share with you today. I have some people I need to thank for various reasons while I've been laid up with this foot (9.5 weeks and counting!! so ready for this ordeal to be over) and decided to ink up Mikala Ann in the EVERYDAY ELISHA JEAN AND FRIENDS set.

I paper pieced her dress and pockets with Fancy Pants Designs Park Bench paper line. By using a 6 x 6 paper pad, the images are much smaller and perfect for paper piecing. I used Tombow's Irojiten Colored Pencils to color the rest and blended with Gamsol. 

The paper doily is cut with Cottage Cutz 4" x 4" Tea Time Doily cutting die. The little 'thank you' piece was stamped with the sentiment that comes with the stamp set and I added washi tape to the top.  Mono Adhesive Dots was used to adhere everything together.

BFB Together at the Table

• More Info
• Author Bio

Together at the Table by Hillary Manton Lodge is the last book in her Two Blue Doors series. In this book, questions are finally answered that arose reading her first two books. Hillary has a way of making the stories interesting in such a way that you can't put the book down and you want to find out how it all ends and the stories of the characters come together.

In this book we get to see Juliette come to an understanding of what and who she wants in life. This story is full of romance, mystery, family and food. In case you've read the first two, I won't ruin the ending for you. I have enjoyed reading all 3 of the books in this series and while I suggest you read them all, as they can each stand on their own as well.

**I received this book for free from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review.**

The Atonement

I love reading Amish stories, so was excited when I was chosen to read The Atonement by Beverly Lewis from Bethany House.

Lucy Flaud is 25 and considered by the Amish to be past courting age. The mistakes of her past which are secret to all except her parents keeps her from attending 'singing' where unmarried Amish usually attend on Sunday's to find their spouses.

Lucy feels that she has to make up for her mistakes by keeping busy, so she volunteers in everything she can and finds herself coming up short. Her father becomes friends with an 'Englischer' who is trying to live more simple and has lots of questions. Lucy becomes friends with Dale and other members of the Amish faith esp her good friend Tobe who loves her, become worried that she is going to leave the Amish faith.

This was a very good story on the importance of being able to forgive ourselves for our past mistakes just as God forgives us if we ask Him.

I have been a fan of Beverly Lewis for many years and enjoyed this new story of hers.

**I received this book for free from Bethany House in exchange for my honest review.**

29 Again?

Today I am sharing a card created with 4 more products I rec'd this month as a part of the Professional Paper Crafters within Tombow's Brand Ambassador program. I am using Tombow's Irojiten Colored Pencils Tranquil Set and Mono Adhesive Permanent, Graphic 45 Enchanted Forest designer paper, and Art Impressions stamps from 29 Again Set ~4372.

The Colored Pencils Tranquil Set comes with 12 colored pencils, a sharpener, and sand eraser. Each of the pencils come unsharpened and the sharpener sharpens them perfectly, crisp, and clean. The eraser is perfect for taking care of those little "oops" or to lighten the coloring if you change your mind. You can also color a solid image and then use the eraser to make designs into your solid coloring.

I have all the Irojiten Colored Pencils, so along with the colors in the set, I also used Ecru Vp-3 and Ivory Black V-10 as well as Dual Brush Pens N89, 990, and 243 for shading. I like to color with the colored pencils, then blend with Gamsol and then use the Dual Brush Pens and N00 Blender pen to add more shading. 

I raised the image up with Tombow's Foam Tabs and added gold ribbon from the $1 spot at Target.

Coupon Book

I have so much to share in this post. As part of the Tombow Brand Ambassador program, I along with the other Professional Paper Crafters received a wonderful pkg from Tombow and other companies they partner with to create some fun projects with their products. I received goodies from Tombow, Graphic 45, Simple Stories, Fancy Pants Designs, Stampendous!, May Arts Ribbon, and Art Impressions. I will be sharing several project over the next few days showcasing what I have created using these generous donors products.

To start off, I am paring some of those goodies with this week's design team challenge from Cutting Cafe to use files from Regina's album books section. This went in a completely different direction than I had originally planned due to the fact that my craft room is upstairs and I still can't walk yet. So switching gears, I created for you a fun project using Cutting Cafe's Tabbed Organizer Set.

I am a pretty frugal person and use lots of coupons when I can. I normally cut my coupons and just stick them in my purse, but I decided I needed something better to keep them organized. (note: I just used a pony tail holder to hold it closed)

I created this organizer by basically winging it. LOL I cut a piece of cardstock 6" x 6 3/8". Along the 6" side, I scored it every 1/2" and accordian folded it. Then using strong adhesive (Tombow's Extreme Adhesive) I adhered chipboard (aka: cereal box) cut tabs and envelopes.

To each tab page, I adhered designer paper from Simple Stories "Let's Party Collection Kit" with Tombow's Mono Glue Stick. This is my favorite adhesive to use when adhering paper/cardstock to chipboard. You get a great cover, it stays wet long enough to maneuver your paper around if need be, and it is very strong.

 I didn't decorate this much as it is something that would be in one's purse, so you wouldn't want a lot of bling and decor on it. The only "decor" was the label maker "coupons" word.

 I also didn't write anything on the tabs as to what would be in the envelopes as 1/2 through making this, I am thinking of giving it away. What I would necessarily put on the tabs, another might not.

 This is a view of the back. I decided to put a tab in the center back in case I do give it away and I can "sign" it or write something to make it personal.

A big THANK YOU to Tombow and Simple Stories for products to create this project.

Be sure to visit the Cutting Cafe Blog on the 7th and 21st of every month to see the design team's projects in which you can leave a comment to be entered into a drawing to win 3 FREE sets of your choice from the online store.

New Cutting Cafe Stamp Set

Regina at THE CUTTING CAFE SHOP has released a new stamp set EVERYDAY ELISHA JEAN AND FRIENDS and I get to be on her team to create some projects using this set. There are seven others joining me and we are showcasing our projects this week. (see below for a complete list of designers)

For my project today, I created this fun card coloring Elisha Jean. Regina had posted a tip that she stamped her image on kraft cardstock to more easily color Miss Elisha Jean and it worked great! I used Tombow's Irojiten Colored Pencils and blended with Gamsol.

I paper pieced her dress, pockets, and bows with designer paper from Echo Park. To adhere little pieces like this, Tombow's Mono Adhesive Dots is the perfect adhesive.

Here is this week's line up. You won't want to miss any inspiration from these gals. 

may 

1st   Rhonda Zmikly 

2nd   Debbie Fisher **you are here**

3rd   Diane Hover        

4th   Rhonda Emery        

5th   Chauntelle Lee        

6th   Tina Goodwin         

7th   Lisa Bzibziak

Audrey Long will be joining the team as well

An update on my ankle...I've not been doing much as the ligament is not healing. I now have to stay off of it for 3 weeks and then we go from there. I am hoping and praying that I do not have to have surgery to sew it back together, but time will tell. I have some supplies from upstairs, so with all the sitting I have to do, I am hoping to get lots of creating done.