Guest Post 1...

Guest Post!

Hey everybody!! It’s Olivia Bell here, in Chloe’s recent contest I won the ability to do this guest post, so, without further ado, here it is! It is about how I recently handmade unique cards to send to a very special cause. I discovered this special cause when my friend told me about a mission trip her sister, Alisha Bonnell,  is taking at the end of May to the country of Ghana. She said that they were both making handmade cards to hand out to all the children at the different places that Alisha would be going to and at some of them, staying for awhile. The #1 and total purpose of the cards is to spread God’s Word to children in a fun and creative way. Each card I made included a Bible verse and/or Christian saying, plus Christian stickers. The most fun thing of all though, was that I made each and every single card unique!  All of this was to hopefully influence a child, in a foreign and unknown country, to the saving power and love of our Creator.

                Before I begin, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Alisha and her sister for inviting me to participate in this! It has been such a joyful experience, one that has opened doors for me, and made me realize talents I didn’t even know I had. So, this one’s for you, buddies!!

Okay! So, in the beginning of this post I’m going to show all the different things I had/needed to make my cards; then after that, I will show all the cards I made after they are finished!

My Supplies

Here is some of the things I used. From left to right you will see my scrap paper tub, different types of scissors, pens, markers, shape punchers, colored cardstock, assorted glue, button jar, glitter, rhinestones, and assorted decorative tapes.

Here’s a closer look for you!

Here is the different colors of cardstock I used towards the end. In the beginning of my card making I had some different types of textured cardstock, which worked really well! This kind was actually different colors on each side! Really neat!

This is the bag that contains a bunch of my different decorative papers.

Here’s a closer look at some of that paper!

This is my accordian file that holds even more decorative paper, stickers, and other stuff.! If you can’t tell, I like craft materials! I have a rather large collection!

This is what it looks like open.

Here is my “grab-bag” you could call it, of different kinds of ribbon I used to embellish some of the cards!

One of my favorite items! I found these glitter heart foam stickers at the Dollar Tree, and boy did they come in handy for the cards! They worked so well!

Here is my tub that holds about half of my rubber stamp collection! I love to rubber stamp! These are just the ones that suited the cards I was making! They’re tons of fun to use! I use them differently than most people, instead of using a one color stamp pad, I decided to color the different elements of each stamp to give it a really unique design!!

This is my paint/brushes assortment! I used paint to do borders, do some designs,  plus to sponge art some of the card’s covers! It makes a really neat design (shown in later photo).

Before your eyes is my one of my favorite items ever! It is my sticker collection box. I am a die-hard sticker collector, it is one of my hobbies! Who’s with me? Stickers rock! I occasionally used stickers on my cards, mostly the Christian ones, but sometimes flowers or butterflys and such.

On a few of my cards I used squares of fabric from some leftover quilt squares we had. It really adds texture and a cool design!

Here’s the colored pencils, glitter glue pens, stickers, and ink pad that I also used, though not as much as other things.

Of course everyone needs to clean up! I used the wet sponge to clean my rubber stamps and to get glue off my work table. The sponges with paint on them were what I used to do the sponge paint design. The cloth was used for drying.

Extras!

Okay! To add some fun to my card-making journey, I had some extras!

This is my awesome boom-box and MP3 Player so I could rock along to my favorite Christian bands! I love Tobymac, Group1Crew, and Brit Nicole (among many others!) !! Who’s with me?

Water is essential (obviously!). You may not have know that I’m a sugar-junky, but, yeah, I am! Ha-ha! I love chewing gum, so it’s just natural to have some on hand while sitting making cards! My favorite flavors (shown above) are the Juicy Fruit Starburst Cherry, and Strawberry flavors. The Extra Green Sour Apple is pretty good too!

There you go!

So, there you have it! Everything I used in the process of making a large number of cards!! Now, for the awesome part!! Photos of the finished product!

The Finished Cards!

Here is a photo of all the cards I made! I hope you enjoy it!

Here is every single one of them displayed together!

Different Types…

These pics show all the different kinds of cards I made!

These are the ones that I glued neat pictures that I cut out  from regular greeting cards that I have collected over time, or pics from a old calendar. They make really nice covers!

Here are the cards where I used little foam squares to make stand-out or “pop-up” you could say, designs! They really make a fun, textured design!

These are the cards where I used sponge paint art (mentioned earlier) and fabric squares (also mentioned earlier). One has a Cross design done in paint, while another card next to it shows some of the glitter heart stickers (mentioned earler too).

Above are the ones where I used rubber stampes colored in multiple colors with washable colored markers! If you decide to try hand coloring your stamps, be sure to use the washable kind of marker, since regular ones may stain the stamp if left uncleaned for awhile.

Cards decorated with rhinestones, glitter heart stickers, and decorative tape!

These are the cards that I decorated with different colors and types of ribbon! That also makes an awesome, textured design!

Okay, so these are the ones I embellished with glitter and glitter glue! Plus, one shows felt, with another a button strand design!

These are the cards that I decorated the covers with paper designs!

Here’s some more of the same kind!

Okay, there you go! All my cards together devided by the different designs!

A Special Extra…

A special thanks to my mom for creating this wonderful card!

I hadn’t even thought of that design, my Mom does a great job!

Packaging Up!

Making the cards took a long while; but now that I look back, the time flew by! Once I went to mail them I was kinda emotional! So much work, going so far away! But, I knew it was for such a wonderful cause, so I forced myself to part with them! Ha-ha! Just joking! I was happy to send them! Although, I was a little sad to see them go…

Here are all the cards, about half in each bag. The bags were to ensure the cards didn’t get harmed during shipping!

And there they are in the mailing box, ready to be shipped!

Information on Alisha’s Mission Trip

The lady who is going on the mission trip to Ghana, Alisha Bonnell, has a Christian blog called “Alisha In Progress” where you can find information on her trip. Also, she has set up on there a GoFundMe account where you can donate funds to help her with trip expenses!

The link to her blog post about her mission trip is:

http://alishainprogress.blogspot.com/2016/01/called-to-africa-2016.html?m=1

The link to her GoFundMe account is:

www.gofundme.com/calledtoafrica16

Definitely take some time to stop by her blog! Be sure to leave a comment!

A Special Thanks…

I want to extend a huge thanks to everyone who helped me with this project, starting with my Lord Jesus. It is because of You that I was created; all of my abilities are gifts from You that I want to glorify You by using to spread Your Word! Nothing I have done, or will do in the future would be possible without You. Second, my parents. Thank you so much for giving me ideas, encouraging me, buying occasional supplies I needed, and just being the best parents in the world! Third, I want to thanks each of my pen-pals who agreed to make cards on their own for the same cause: Beth and Shalom, Sarah Faith, Isabella, Jessie, and Grace! You all will make difference in many children’s lives by the time and energy you used to make those wonderful cards, I can’t thank you enough! And lastly, I want to thank Alisha and her sister one more time for allowing me to partake in the card-making, it really was an awesome experience!

To the Reader….

I hope you enjoyed reading and seeing the photos of all the work I did on the cards!! May God bless each and every one of you and as you continue to serve Him!!

I’d be thrilled if everyone would leave a comment to let me know what they think!

A Note from Clo-

I hope that ya'll enjoyed this guest post!! Thank you so much for doing this, Olivia!!

God Bless!!!!

Clo

#UNASHAMED 

Is. 53:5

(Sorry for mistakes)