A New Love

For years now I have been one of the many women who was busy scrapbooking and documenting family history, but lately I have been finding it very difficult. The kids are at the ages when I don't get a lot of photos, sweet hubby and I are far too busy with work to do much that was worth documenting, and the amount of time that it took to get out all of my supplies and actually create something was just something that did not exist in my personal calendar.

With all of that said..... I still found myself with a desire to create and a HUGE guilt about all of the supplies that I have stored away that were just gathering dust.

This week I discovered a new love......one that would still allow me to use my creative energy AND my supplies, but could be done with a smaller amount of time---- cardmaking!

I have seen many ladies posting pics and tutorials online for cards and I even jumped in and tried it a time or two, but I just didn't feel really good about the results. That changed this week when I created THIS card.....

Recently our women's church group met and asked me to create a special card that could be sent to a women's charity, along with a love offering. Given those facts, and the fact that Valentine's Day comes this month, I thought this design would be perfect.

I bought the Spellbinders at Christmas- one of those personal splurges that I allowed myself.  These are the Spellbinders Majestic Elements Opulent Ovals- I LOVE them!! (I think I may have to splurge on several more Spellbinders.)

I dug into my stash for the following items: cardstock: 2 different patterned papers, a border punch, a flourish stamp, a distressing ink, a pink dye ink, a heart stamp, 5 rhinestones, and pink Stickles. I even dragged my sewing machine out so I could stitch the panel to the paper below.

I definitely think that I will be making more cards- guess I better head over to Pinterest for some more creative inspiration! If you have some comments to share about my card.... or if you have some great cardmaking advice, I would really like to hear from you!