Ceal's Birthday Blog Hop

Today we are wishing a very happy birthday to Ceal, of the Stampin' Sisters in Christ design team members for the past six months. She has a wonderful heart for the Lord and has contributed not only beautiful creations each week for the challenges, but also wonderful thoughts about the scripture passages selected. We wanted to celebrate her special day with this birthday blog hop!

In addition to the card, I have brought beverages to the party! For those who are still experiencing cooler weather, there is a bit of hot chocolate!

For those of you who are lucky enough to have warmer weather (as we do this week!) a bit of lemonade helps with the refreshment!


Ceal, I have to admit I smudged the white on the sentiment . . . but the concept and good wishes behind the card are heartfelt! Hope you have a very special day and get to enjoy some of your favorite things! Now on to Randi Barrett's blog to see what she has brought to the party!

Stamps: Stampin' Up Blooming with Happiness, Polka Dots and Paisley, and . . . a daisy set and the name escapes me
Ink: White craft for stamping, pink pirouette and another pink for painting in the flowers, also only orange (is this a disorganized list or what?)
Paper: Pink pirouette, kraft, white, PTI raspberry, random DP
Other: lacy bit from Flourishes, white gel pen, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, glitter

Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge 32 -- On Wings as Eagles

Happy Sunday stampers! Time for another challenge from Stampin' Sisters in Christ! Our sponsor this week is Our Daily Bread Designs. Our lovely hostess this week is Kris, who selected the verse from Isaiah 40:31 "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

For her challenge you are to 'mount up' parts of your images in layers, using the paper tole technique if you like. You can see all the wonderful creations from the entire design team and read Kris' thoughts on the main blog here.

I used a Northwoods stamp, it really is quite a large image on the entire block, but I used just a portion of it. I had to go out of town or I would have added a sentiment but ran out of time. That's the nice thing about timed postings, every post I've had all week was pretimed or scheduled for a particular day because I knew I wouldn't be home . . . ah, the wonders of blogging.

You know what I find interesting about the verse Kris chose? It holds out a promise of gaining strength, of running without being weary, but to get there, it says we must 'wait upon the Lord." Wait. Waiting. That isn't something we do well in America. We count the number of people in the grocery line ahead of us. We get impatient if there isn't a pump open at the gas station and we have to wait for another car to move. We're so busy doing, running, striving, achieving . . . when do we make the time to wait upon the Lord?

It doesn't say, 'those who go to the gym with the Lord,' 'those who train with the Lord,' or 'those who tug impatiently on the Lord's shirt sleeve.' We wait . . . for the Lord to move, for His timing, His plan. Spend some time with the Lord this week, just some quiet time, the two of you. Ask Him what HIS plan is for you this week, what kingdom work He has in store and then be calm and patient and wait upon His answer. I know it is hard to find that place some time. We have a walk-in closet in our bedroom and sometimes that is where I go, I literally go in the closet and shut the door, shutting out the lights, the noise, the distractions, for some quiet time alone.

That is where our strength comes from, that is where we are renewed, when we spend time with the living water. And when we do, we will 'renew our strength.' We are talking about our faith walk here, our ministry, renewing ourselves in a spiritual sense. And when we try and strive to run on our own power, that's when we run dry, that is when our steps falter. Praying for a week of renewal for each of you so that you can soar on wings like an eagle.

Papertrey Ink March Blog Hop

Can you believe another month has rolled around since the last PTI blog hop? Last month, CASEing the design team, was a lot of fun. This month the challenge was to use buttons.

One of my favorite fruits is the apple and one of my favorite sets so far this year is Through the Trees. This might be obvious and its probably already been done, but I thought a mixture of scarlet jewel and pure poppy buttons would make a nice apple crop on the tree from the stamp set.



I used DMC 906 to tie the knots for the apple 'leaves' and stamped the stem in chocolate with the leaves of the stamped tree in new leaf and the edges rolled in avocado. Layered it on pure poppy and new leaf with that speckled white paper as the base. Added a bit of red gingham ribbon around the corners and stamped a sentiment from Every Day Button Bits . . . it is a get well card because as you know, an apple a day . . .

Thanks for looking and happy hopping!

Stamp: Papertrey Through the Trees, Everyday Button Bits
Paper: New Leaf, Pure Poppy, white and speckled white
Ink: chocolate, new leaf, avocado, black
other: red gingham ribbon (SU), PTI buttons in poppy and scarlet jewel, DMC 906

Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge 31 - A Clean Heart

Happy Sunday stampers! It is time for a new challenge from the Stampin' Sisters in Christ blog. This week's hostess is the talented Ceal who selected the verse, Psalm 51:7-10 "Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness, let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."

Her challenge is to create a clean and simple card or project, otherwise known as CAS. You might be able to tell that is a real challenge for me, although I do try sometimes! I hope you have fun with it.

Our sponsor this week is Simon Says Stamp, they have a great selection of things over the, you can check out the store here.

For my card I used a new set released by Verve called "Let it Shine" and a Plain Jane stamp with a verse from Psalm 84:11. We have snow here, in fact it snowed allllll day yesterday. Isn't a view of the sun a welcome sight? I needed to create some sunshine in my craft area! But when we don't see the sun in this world, we can carry the Son of eternity in our hearts. And we can rest in the assurance promised by a verse like Psalm 84:11 or Psalm 51.

I didn't exactly use a simple technique but I used a simple layout. This is a recessed tray card. I stamped the verse on acetate and used just three shades of glitter from the Martha Stewart pack to give the word "Sun" a bit of shine and sparkle. I colored in the sun in the corner with copics and then it just needed a little something more so I added the ribbon border treatment. Thanks for looking. Have a great Sunday!

Papertrey Peeps Challenge #4. . . Okay to CASE

It is my turn to play hostess for the next Papertrey Peeps challenge. Just FYI, I DID do a card for challenge three, but I never linked a post back to the blog, so I'm sorry if it seems like I skipped one, I didn't!

I chose the easy route, CASEing! This challenge invites you to CASE one of Nichole's projects from one of the last two releases, using a set NOT issued during that release. Choose your own colors or keep them the same, the rest is up to you. I selected her project from the March release in this post here that used the Dahlia set and the new color. I liked the layout, the idea of stamping on vellum, the glitter, the buttons . . all of it. I had Nichole's photo of her card in my blog but took it out because I just don't want someone to thinkits mine, it isn't! Check out the Papertrey Peeps blog group here and play along if you can!

Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge 30 - Peaceful Sleeping Baby

Happy Sunday stampers! This week's challenge hostess at Stampin' Sisters in Christ is Helen P (for peace!), who also seems to like to change her name depending on the week. :) This week's inspiration verse is Psalm 29:11 "The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace." Helen's challenge is to make a card/lo/project using a peaceful image or a verse about peace. You can check out the rest of the amazing creations by the Design Team here. Whiff of Joy is our sponsor this week, one randomly chosen lucky winner will receive the stamp shown on our home page, I believe it is Willow reading a story. A very peaceful image.

I chose an image I've used before from Mo's Digital, that just seems so peaceful to me, you look at it and feel rested.
I made this baby card for a wonderfully talented woman who blesses us occasionally with her singing at our church, when she isn't traveling to perform. Recently she and her husband had a little baby boy, so although I do not know her personally, I am going to send this to the family to thank her for sharing her talents with us on Sundays. I was listening to one of her CDs while I worked. :)

She is from Trinidad-Tobago but her husband is not, so I tried my best to make a good color representation of their lovely baby. I need more practice at working darker skin tones, if anyone has any good tips for prisma colors that will help, I sure would appreciate it. I used a combination of three colors, with the darkest shade dark umber, although I need to have gone a few shades darker, just didn't know how.

A baby in its mother's arms (unless its hungry!) is at peace . . . and when we rest in our Father's arms we can experience that peace too, the type that 'passes all understanding." We have such a good God who wants only the best for us, including peace instead of worry, restful instead of restless minds. Pray and cast your cares upon Him so you can feel that peace and joy this week.

I just learned how to make a tent card this past week, isn't it a fun format? The little row of ducks and the corner stamp are from a Crafty Secrets set. Papers are Paper Studio I bought at Hobby Lobby layered on Spring Rain and Soft Stone from PTI, little strip of white velvet ribbon along the side and Martha Stewart lace border punch. Thanks for looking.

Roses near my window

Another tent style Tilda card, this one is my favorite because I love roses . . . as though you didn't know! Details for how to make this style card or this technique are on the Just Magnolia blog.

I used DP I found at Hobby Lobby, sentiment is from a PTI set, Giga Guidelines I believe and then this is the same Tilda I used yesterday. Thanks for looking! This was a fun style card to make.

Tent style Tildas

I went a bit nuts with the latest challenge on the Just Magnolia blog, I actually made three of these tent card Tildas, but the other I won't post until the recipient opens it up! This was such a neat format for Tilda, although the one problem I encountered was I had to use the largest size of nestability available to make the opening, otherwise you can't see Tilda's feet. :) And on that particular card I wanted it framed. You'll find directions to this challenge on the blog if you click on my link.

The first card is for Mothermark's Teapot Tuesday challenge as well as the Oh Alice! blog challenge to paint the roses red. Mothermark is asking us to send our tea party cards to a young woman in Colorado who not only is pregnant for the first time (major excitement!) but in her second trimester discovered she has Hodgkin's Lymphoma (not good!!). So this will go in the mail tomorrow and you can read about it on her blog post here if you would like to make and send a card too.

The colors I used fit a neat new challenge blog called Oh Alice! based on Alice in Wonderland. You really should check it out, the challenges are a lot of fun although this is the first chance I've had to play. This week is 'painting the roses red' and the color challenge involved purple blue and red (check, check and check.)

On the second card I used orange and blue for the latest Papertrey Peeps challenge. True, I didn't use any PTI stamps, but hey, I was on a roll with Tilda and couldn't stop.

All Tildas colored with prismacolor pencils and gamsol, using a variety of paper and embellishments, blah, blah, blah. Thanks for looking! And many thanks to the friend I was talking to on the phone who reminded me how much easier it is to color in your images to match your paper choice, rather than coloring an image and rummaging through scraps to find an appropriate piece of DP which usually proves impossible! :) You know who you are!!

Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge 29 . . . Joy

Happy Sunday stampers! It is time for another challenge this week from Stampin' Sisters in Christ and this week I am the hostess. I chose for my verse
Isaiah 12:6 "Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you."

My challenge is to create a card that displays joy or joyfulness.

This verse might seem like an odd selection for today; there has been very little joy in many parts of the world lately. Earthquakes, war, tsunamis, unemployment, foreclosures, deadly storms . . . there is no shortage of trouble in the news. Looking closer to home, is there trouble under your own roof, in your own heart? My husband said himself this was an odd week for my challenge verse to post because it has been very challenging personally. Nothing super serious, just unpleasant people where I had to set boundaries, and I HATE setting boundaries. I do doormat so much better than assertive. Challenges with finances, challenges with children, family, work . . . nothing out of the ordinary for most families but just a drag on my happiness quotient.

Therein lies the difference. Happiness is distinctly different from joy. Happiness is earthly bound, joy is from the Lord.

This verse serves to remind us that our joy should not be based on our emotions, circumstances or events. Our joy is based on who our God is. The verse tells the people of Israel to shout aloud and sing for joy, why? "For great is the Holy One of Israel among you." We serve a great God, mighty and awesome in power. He is the Holy One of Israel, holy or set apart, unique, distinct. There is none like Him.

If you're having trouble getting to the shouting aloud part, sing out loud instead. Turn on the radio or pop in a favorite worship CD and sing, sing, sing while you work and feel the joy start to fill your soul.

Whenever I hear that verse, inside my head Darlene Zschech is saying it in her Australian accent. I was privileged to hear her perform live years ago at Willow Creek Community Church, bought the worship tape and played it and played it in my car until I wore it out. There is nothing like a good worship tape or CD to put you in a joyful mood. I might not be happy, but my joy is in the Lord.

Stamps: Inky Antics
Paper: white, random pieces of DP, watercolor paper, lemon tart
Ink: black
Other: Lemon tart satin ribbon, koh-i-noor pencils, gamsol, prima flowers, stickles

Compose a Card . . . Winter Blues

I've noticed in the last few weeks that I have started to whine a bit about the weather. Let me take a nanosecond to think about it . . . yup. Waste of time. The weather isn't going to change just because I want it to. I've lived in this same area my entire life--46 years worth of experience ought to tell me how long winters usually last. So today I made this card for me, to remind myself that the only thing I can adjust about the weather is my attitude. That's why I chose this particular sentiment from Through the Trees. A sour attitude makes for a sour person while a pleasant attitude helps contribute to being a more pleasant person.

Becky Oehler's latest challenge (#6, find it here) was a bit of a stumper for me until I thought of the snow. I did have some stone cardstock but not enchanted evening so I used SU's Not Quite Navy instead. Forget about dark ribbon too unless its brown. I was attracted to the different shades of blue within the inspiration scene, so I mixed up the colors a bit underneath the swirl of white embossed snowflakes. Instead of a button I used . . . what else? A snowflake! And then a little rhinestone in the lower right hand corner for balance and a tiny pop of bright color. I do think snowflakes are beautiful and each is unique in its own way, even when they persist in gathering en masse on my lawn and in my driveway. Thanks for looking!

Stamps: Hero Arts, Stampin' Up, Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: Not Quite Navy, Soft Stone
Ink: Distress Inks in Faded Jeans, some other blue and SU Not Quite Navy, black, white craft
Other: random ribbon, snowflake embellishment, rhinestone, white embossing powder

Compose a Card challenge 5

Okay so I'm a day late, but that's okay, I was really intrigued by this color combination and I think polka dots make life happier. :) So I tried my hand at a card for Becky Oehler's last challenge. Yup, the new one is posted, you should go check it out here.

So I used Autumn Blessings, because I thought the flowers might look cheery in red with an aqua-ish sort of vase. I have trouble coloring these flowers but I think I'm getting better. Copics are challenging! One day I'll take a class. So, I also used polka dot background red on white and white embossed on red. I needed a get well card and this did come together pretty quickly.

Stamps: PTI Autumn Blessings, Polka Dots
Ink: black stazon, Pure Poppy, white craft
Cardstock: Pure Poppy, white, Aqua Mist
Other: white ribbon, copics, embossing powder