No More Darkness Only Light

Happy Sunday stampers! This week it is my turn to play hostess for the Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge.

You can travel back to the Stampin' Sisters in Christ main blog here to see all the wonderful creations by the talented design team.

The verse I chose is 1 Corinthians 13:12 (KJV) "For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. "

Years ago I worked in downtown Chicago, commuting in from the suburbs on the elevated train, or the El as it is called locally. During my commute, we started above ground, progressed to level with the ground and then traveled underground, through tunnels. As the light source changed, so did the view of my fellow passengers. When you're outside, in the sunlight, the large train windows give you a grand view of the outdoors. In a tunnel, with no outside light source, the interior train lights cause you to see a reflection in the opposite window of yourself and the people around you. It is as though you're looking in a mirror but one with a the dark train walls as background, resulting in fuzzy images and muted colors.

I would often think of the verse from Corinthians, "For now we see through a glass darkly" while I watched the shifting shapes caused by the train's passage through tunnels and sunlight. Obviously I could see the person next to me in full color, 3-D, if I turned my head. That dim reflection in the trains' windows did not diminish their reality, it was simply my view at the time.

Our view of God in this life is veiled; we can't see Him clearly. But just because our view is dim, doesn't diminish His reality or His glory. When we get to heaven, we won't be looking through a dark glass or catching a brief glimpse in a mirror, we will see Jesus face to face. We will know Him and He will truly know us, as no being knows us here on the earth. We will see God's glory revealed in all of its indescribable splendor and majesty. How wonderful! I don't know about you, but I am really looking forward to that.

My stamping challenge related to that verse then, involves one of my favorite techniques or layouts, the shadowbox card. No more shadows, no more dim reflections when we get to heaven!

For your card you can use any theme, any colors, any images you like. I chose a saying from Sweet and Sassy stamps paired up with a Christmas set from Papertrey Ink.

First I stamped the Night of Navy cardstock in navy with the Belle Toile background, then used the star and swirl from PTI's Silent Night set in gold craft with gold tinsel EP. I cut out a few stars from gold moire DP. The sentiment is stamped on a piece of Graphic 45 DP in chocolate ink from PTI. I sponged around the edges of the sentiment so the words would pop a bit more and traced around the word 'light' with gold stickles.

I really enjoy making shadowbox cards, hope you get a chance to play this week too. For a good tutorial on their construction, check out this link to the resource section on SCS.

Many thanks to our sponsor this week, Layers of Color. They are offering a gorgeous set of butterfly stamps to one lucky winner, have a look on the SSCC blog home page.

I am also participating in two blog hops this weekend. The first is one post down, contributions for Operation Write Home and the second is for a faith challenge blog hop, two posts down. Thanks for looking and have a blessed week!