Hello stampers! Happy Monday! As you read this post, I am in Pensacola at Copic Marker Certification! I'm so excited to get to see my friends Faith, Pinky and Theresa again, and to meet Dee, Bev, and lots of other stampers! I'm sure we'll be having a blast together!

I am thrilled to show you my very first design for 2RedBananas! Wait til you see all the fabulous sets in this month's release! I'm glad they told me which set they wanted me to preview first...otherwise I would have had a terrible time deciding! You gotta visit what's new at 2 Red Bananas to check them all out!

This beautiful image is from a set called Wrapped in His Love (#3903) which was illustrated by my friend, Jami Bova. When I first saw it I knew I wanted to make a sort of shabby chic old-fashioned card...I hope you like how it turned out! I used markers directly to the stamp to color the flowers, leaves, and branches, stamped the sentiment, and then applied several layers of clear embossing powder over the entire thing. A few minutes in the freezer and a little twisting/bending and it cracks for a nice crackled enamel look. I used October Afternoon's Rain Boots designer papers, a scrap of old crocheted trim laced with crinkle ribbon, and a bow-trimmed prima to embellish. Everything was heavily distressed to give it that age-yellowed, vintage look.

One thing I did accomplish this week was to stamp my card for Spellbinders' final...please whisper a prayer for me and wish me luck! Wednesday is the day the finalists will be invited to join the 2009 Design Team. I'm hoping I'll be one of those to receive a phone call! I'm cheering for Karen and Kelly too!

I'm also excited to tell you that the card workshop that we held Saturday morning at our church was a genuine success! Finally what I've been hoping for and dreaming of (for over a year!) has become a reality! Six women gathered to stamp together, address envelopes and pray over our creations. We made 64 cards in just under 3 hours! Of course, by most card-makers' standards they were very simple, but we were extremely excited over what we accomplished and are filled with eager anticipation to hear the response of the recipients when those first cards hit their mailboxes!