Lemons & limes...

Hey everyone!  I hope this Tuesday morning is a good one for you so far!  I am preparing for a wedding that I am photographing on Saturday.  Making sure my equipment is all ready to go....getting some inspiration from my favorite wedding photographers across the country...planning out what I am going to wear....all that fun stuff.  I am so excited to photograph this wedding!  The couple has put so many wonderful details into the day, and the main area we will be doing their formal portraits in has kind-of a Secret Gardenish feel to it....it is going to be fabulous!  Everything is going to be outdoors, and we are slated for a 30% chance of thunderstorms...so I am just praying that no matter the weather, this wonderful couple gets their perfect day. 

I have a couple of cards to share with you today!  First up is my card for CPS Sketch 171.  How CA-UTE are those glittered lemon and lime slices?!!  I just adore them!  This is a newer Renaissance by Design stamp set...and I just love it!  The sentiment is just something that I randomly typed up.  I don't think I have ever heard it anywhere before....but I'm not totally sure.  So- I am not going to completely take credit for it, but it sure is a cutie of a sentiment.  I kind-of like it! ♥

"Lemons & Limes" supplies: 

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics
Paper: Sassafras
Stamps/Ribbon: Renaissance by Design (Summer Fruits set)
Ink: Clearsnap (Pigment: canary, lime)
Glitter: DecoArt
Jewels: Doodlebug Designs (green) & Westrim Crafts (yellow)
Button: Doodlebug Designs
Font: Century Gothic (MS Word)
Corner Rounder: EK Success
Embossing Machine: Cuttlebug by Provo Craft
Embossing Folder: Pop Culture border by Provo Craft

Instructions:  Cover the front of a white card with yellow polka dot paper, and round the bottom corners.  Stamp the lemon & lime slices on white cardstock, and cut out.  Cover them with glitter, and set aside to dry.  Round the bottom corners of a white cardstock block, and print the computer generated sentiment in the lower right corner.  Dry emboss a border towards the top of the block using the Cuttlebug & a Pop Culture border folder.  Tie ribbon around the top, and add a button to the middle of the bow.  Adhere the lemon & lime slices right above the sentiment, popping the lime slice with dimensional adhesive.  Accent below the sentiment with three jewels.  Adhere the entire block to the front of the card using dimensional adhesive. 

This next card uses Card Patterns Sketch 68, which is really great this week!  It is also for the latest Embellish Magazine.com challenge (yellow, brown, coral with labels).  Here is what I came up with! 

"Friendship Grows Here" supplies: 

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics

Paper: October Afternoon & Scenic Route

Stamps: Gina K Designs (Lovely Labels set) & Renaissance by Design (Curly Tree set)

Ink: Clearsnap (Pigment: chestnut, & Chalk: yellow cadmium, rose coral, dark brown)

Ribbon: Renaissance by Design

Flowers: Prima 

Jewels: Westrim Crafts

Corner Rounder: EK Success

Diecut Machine: Cuttlebug by Provo Craft

Steel Die (large scallop): Papertrey Ink

Instructions:  Fold yellow script paper in half to make card base, and ink the edges.  Cut a scalloped edge to a brown polka dot paper block, and ink the edges.  Adhere the block to the front of the card.  Round the corners of two pink paper blocks, and ink the edges.  Adhere side by side to the middle of the brown polka dot block.  Stamp the label to white cardstock, and cut out.  Stamp the sentiment to the middle, and accent with jewels.  Tie ribbon around the lower part of the card, and accent the bow with paper flowers.  Adhere the label to the front, tucking the lower left corner under the bow. 

Josh and I watched these movies in the past week: 

I was surprised that I actually liked Alice in Wonderland....but I actually really did!  I think they did a great job with it....and Johnny Depp played a great Mad Hatter.  Josh was a trooper watching Leap Year with me, because it is more of a chick flick....but I think he liked it as much as he could.  I really liked it....and I REALLY want to go to Ireland.  :) 

Speaking of going places....I made a decision last week that has been about 3 weeks in the making.  I am going on a missions trip to Kenya, Africa with a group from my church this coming December for 14 days.  

 It is a really big decision for me, and one I didn't and don't take lightly.  I have never traveled internationally, and it is a pretty large financial commitment....but I really had a strong feeling about going when the church started talking about it.  It is a smaller group of people going, which I think will actually be nice.  We plan on working in a school for the first few days, and then we head on to an orphanage.  One of our pastors and his wife have adopted three sons, and the youngest is from Kenya.  The location of his native tribe was recently found, and it has always been in their plan to take him to Kenya to meet his native tribe at some point.  So, we will also be traveling to their location and helping with whatever they might need.  I am so excited to see what God has planned for us to do on this trip, and selfishly....what He has planned for me to do, and what an amazing impact this will have.  I thought I would be terrified at this point....but I have so much peace about going.  Now it is time to start raising money, and we will be fundraising all summer long together! I think it is going to be great.  I have thought that I might start an Etsy shop and sell my cards to put towards my trip.  I already sell cards at my mom's boutique, and Josh's parents are looking for some places to sell them in Texas as well.  So- let me know if you think that would be another good way to raise some money.  I haven't ever sold anything via the web...so I am just unsure of the whole thing.  So- if you could, keep us in your prayers as this trip unfolds over the summer.  I am really very excited about it! 

Here are a couple of albums that I have been listening to lately: 

Loving this new Band of Horses album, even though there has been grumbling that it sounds different from their previous albums.  I don't think it sounds that different.  Plus- change is inevitable as a band gets more popular and adds more people into the mix.  I think it is a great album!  The Eclipse soundtrack is still growing on me...I don't think it is as good as the other two.  It is still a good album...don't get me wrong, and I will probably like it more once I see where the songs are in the movie.  And Band of Horses is on it, which is always a plus in my book!  Yay! :)

Well, I think that is everything I have to share with you today!!  Thanks for reading all my rambling and randomness....you are wonderful! 

Until later,

~Lea