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Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Whimsical Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes!

Happy Wednesday, my dear crafty friends! Two cards in two days... color me sparkly! :o)

Today is a VERY special Whimsical Wednesday! New adventures are beginning and I am honored to tell you that Stephanie has asked me to stay on for another term! I am ecstatic. She is coming out with a new stamp line, so stay tuned here and at her Whimsical Designs home for the release week date! It will be coming VERY soon. :o) I am blessed to have the opportunity to showcase her stamps as a member of her Design Team... and let me tell you, you are going to love them! I am eager to begin creating with them. :o)

Additionally, Stephanie has posted a Design Team call. :o) There are some permanent Design Team positions and Guest Designer positions open. Visit Whimsical Designs for the details. :o)

And now, let's get crafty! The challenge this week is Anything Goes! Whatever strikes your fancy, we'd love to see it! :o) This card I'm about to share with you is a record, my friends. I literally had two hours to craft. TWO. That's an insanely small window for me to come up with a plan and execute it. There was fear, I tell you. I even said I couldn't do it! But then... my heart said, "JUST DO IT!" Make like Nike! You know what's funny? This is the quickest and simplest card I've ever made, yet it still portrays the message that was on my heart. Card-making is a beautiful thing!

"Love Heals"

I had to take this picture in the dark (which was funny), but hopefully most of the sparkling details still shine through. (The entire main base is sparkly.) Despite the time crunch, I had a message to share. One of the primary reasons I bought the Wall Decor and More cartridge is because of this dancer. I've longed to use her, but was a bit apprehensive. Many of you know portions of my dance status. Suddenly, I just *needed* to use this beloved dancer. But with such a short time frame, I freaked myself out wondering how I could do it justice. I mean, this is DANCE. The first thing that came to me is that love heals. From there, I knew nothing else mattered. Whatever was with it was icing on the cake. The sentiment and dancer were there, and that was enough to propel me onward.

Love is healing my body... and I hope to return to the stage or studio where a powerful performance can inexplicably bring healing love to someone in the audience, whatever it is that they need. Emotional or spiritual healing... all art forms innately possess power if you're driven by a heavenly force. And as is stated, love never fails. :o) Our sweet dancer here has released a trail of sparkling rhinestones as she gives her heart to her audience, whether it's an audience of One or a full house. Her sparkling love has burst into this red and green filigree design, accented with rhinestones, to carry out the (sparkly embossed) message that love heals. The filigree design from Storybook is actually cut in half because I made it far too large, which proceeded to somewhat make it appear as a magical Christmas butterfly. That aspect was unintentional, brought to my attention by my boyfriend when I showed him my completed card. So perfect! My explosion of love just so happened to morph a bit into a butterfly! I am tickled sparkly pink.

The lacy card design is from Elegant Edges and I embossed the sparkly Core Couture cardstock with my favorite snowflake folder. She's dancing in a winter wonderland, her body steady and secure upon the red ribbon dusted with 'snow.' But you guys know me... that's not merely flowy red ribbon. It represents the healing power of red love, flowing to us and then through us. While I love the crisp red against the pristine white regardless of theme, this is Christmassy for a purpose. My hope is that the day we celebrate the ultimate gift, I will be able to dance as a gift to and from the Lord. This is my third year saying something of that nature. Maybe this is my year. :o) See how the dancer's arabesque has extended beyond the lacy border? She's breaking through barriers. :o)

I did not intend to make this post long, so forgive me. It all went into the making of this card, so I wanted to share. :o)

I hope you'll play along with us this week and link up your Anything Goes project at the NEW challenge home of Whimsical Wednesday's: Whimsical Designs. I would love to see your creations! Our fabulous sponsor this week is my fellow Design Team member Nanne of Nanne's Creations. She is donating a marvelous variety of Webster Pages scrapping supplies to one random winner who participates. Thank you, Nanne! :o)

Be sure to dance on over to Stephanie's blog to see the rest of the Design Team's projects! Thank you for visiting me today. If you persevered through this entire post, you deserve a cupcake. :o) (Or even if you didn't... because I like to share cupcakes.)

One final thing... it's almost FRIDAY! It's nearly time to celebrate the opening of Cindy's Scraptastic Designs with our kick-off blog hop! Hope to see you there, my friends. :o)

Key Recipe Components:
 * Cricut cartridges: Elegant Edges, Gypsy Wanderings, Storybook, Wall Decor and More
 * Cuttlebug embossing folders: Swiss Dots, Winter Wonderland pack
 * Paper: Core'dinations, DCWV
 * Spellbinders Nestabilities: Labels Four
 * Sentiment: Computer generated
 * Ribbon: Hobby Lobby
 * Miscellaneous: iRock, Stickles (on sentiment embossing)

Photobucket

19 comments:

  1. Beautiful and powerful card Karen.Love the red and white combo,really sets your dancer off.
    Jayne x

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  2. This is such a beautiful card! I love everything about it! Just amazing!! Tfs and have a great day. :)

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  3. Gorgeous, my friend. Clean and Simple and GORGEOUS. I see a butterfly (your boyfriend is right) holding the healing power of love, and pouring it right into the dancer in the form of sparkly rhinestones. I know (because I read EVERYTHING and you made me weep - again) that this wasn't your intent, but on first glance, that's what I saw. And I love it. :)

    This card is almost autobiographical for you, right? Because someday, whether on earth or in Glory, you WILL dance again. And someday, whether on earth or in Glory, I'll be there to see it. :)

    Well done my sweet friend (and in TWO hours too - you are my hero!). :)
    Nita

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  4. Oh Wow this is just so beautiful, simple but outstandly beautiful:) Sandra H

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  5. Beautfiul card! I love the embossed snowflake background and dancer.

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  6. Karen, this is absolutely beautiful! I love your dancer and I loved reading your story...equally beautiful! You are so talented...very inspirational!!!! Thanks my friend!
    hugs,
    joni

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  7. What a beautiful card and I love the lacy card..thought you had punched the edges at first till I fully read your post..LOL Now, I need to get that cart..
    Hugs
    Nanné

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  8. Oh Karen, what an inspiration you are... I so love reading your posts.. I pray you have a "BEAUTIFUL" day... hugs from ukiah

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  9. MY SUNSHINE!!!

    OMJJJ!!! I LOVE YOUUUUUUU!!!

    *clings to you cause I just read your most gorgeous reflection and my eyes are super filled with happy tears* My most precious sis...this card is just one hundred percent pure love. When ever I look at that beautiful graceful dancer, all I see is my Sunshine soaring across the dance floor. That gorgeous girl with the blessed gift from above is YOU my sweetest Karen. She represents everything God has planned for you...and what a sparkling dance future it will be! I am glowing with pride just thinking about it!

    And you know what Sunshine? Not only will your dancing more beautifully than ever before through God's healing grace in the very near future, you are already dancing every single day right now through your gorgeous kindness and love that you share with all of us who are fortunate enough to have you in our lives. Your daily dance of selfless generosity and inspiration is one that would make THE One more proud than you can ever possibly imagine.

    *gently scoops up the Christmas flutter-by and tucks her in your pocket* She wants to come give you giant happy hugglers straight from my heart to you today!

    God bless you my sweetest little sparkling dancer...*twirls you in celebration*

    My whole heart always and always...

    ~~~ Christina :)

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  10. "Let them praise His name with dancing..." Psalm 149:3

    Forever super squishers for our sweetest Karen who leaves all our hearts dancing in the glory of the Lord's presence through her sparkling love.

    ~~~Christina :)

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  11. Karen, this is a beautiful card. I love the simple message of love it represents. Someday you can dance and my Ray can play and sing his worship songs he has written to Jesus! I can hardly wait. Hugs, Pam at http://craftycards4u2.blogspot.com/

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  12. This is beautiful Karen! I love the simplicity but elegance of your card. I love the pretty embossing in the background and the dancer looks so graceful:) Beautiful story my friend!
    TFS!

    Sherrie K
    http://sherriescraps.blogspot.com

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  13. I know how freaked out you were about getting this card together. I am so glad that you did it because it show you that you can produce fabulouslness<--(not sure if that is a word but I love the way it sounds so I am using it) no matter how much time you have. Thank you for pushing yourself so hard to get this to me, you are amazing. This card is so elegant and touching! I love that she is reaching out so far and is extended over the lacy border..has such a powerful meaning. Before I read your post I thought instantly that that was a butterfly...so I agree with your sweety, and I LOVE it. Great healing color combo, wonderfully sparkily, and the perfect mat. I could gush on, you know I share your love for dancing..so this card has really touched me deeply!

    Onward...I am looking forward to having you as one of the continuing Whimsical designers. It is always so exciting to come visit your blog and see what wonderful creations you have to share with us. Thank you for your support, friendship, and the inspiration you bring to WW. Hugs!

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  14. This card is so pretty! I love the shape of it! Both of my daughters would love this card too since they are both dancers. I'm so glad Stephanie asked you to stay for another term. I love seeing your projects! :)

    Karen
    craftedwithlovebykaren.blogspot.com

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  15. Hi Karen,FANTASTIC job with your BEAUTIFUL card as always!I LOVE the dancer and the embossed snowflake background,SO PRETTY!Have a SUPER day my friend!!:)

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  16. First of all, congratulations on continuing on with Whimsical Wednesdays, Karen! So deserved - you are incredibly talented and creative! And oh my, this card is breathtaking! Your story behind it brings tears to my eyes! As usual, your details are just stunning...the trail of rhinestone sparkles as she gives her heart to the audience, positioning the dancer so she is breaking barriers...everything is just perfect! Love, love, love this my sweet friend! Absolutely gorgeous :)

    Lisa
    http://indymermaid.blogspot.com

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  17. beautiful card karen your symbolism is perfect :) have a great day :)

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  18. This is just gorgeous Karen! When I first saw it, before reading your full post, I thought, "oh my goodness, this is Karen as that dancer, and she is healing." I really and seriously thought that! I can see all the sparkles and love them on top of the snowflake embossing, so great job in taking the picture in the dark! It is wonderful that you proved to yourself that you could accomplish another work of art in the two hours you had! Excellent work my sweet friend!
    xx

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  19. Karen I am so pleased you are with both Stephanie and Cindy teams. When I do find a moment to blog in my busy year ahead, it will be the first place I head and I will look forward to seeing you there too! I know you will do a fantastic job of both stamps and digis and can not wait to see you perform your perfecto ballet of craft... like the world class bloggerina. x

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Thank you for leaving some love! Have a beautifully blessed day. :o)

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