Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge 72 . . .Its new!

Welcome, welcome to the second Sunday challenge of the year and challenge 72 for Stampin' Sisters in Christ! This week's hostess is dear Grace, who selected this verse from 2 Cor 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things have passed away; behold, all things are become new."

Her challenge is to use the theme of "NEW" and interpret it as you want: new year, new life, new birth, new supplies, new house, etc. Please tell us what you use to fit the challenge. Our sponsor this week is Clear Dollar Stamps, do they have the stamp sets on their site, and supplies too! Check out our main blog to see the creations by my other design team sisters as well as for your chance to win $15 in stamps from Clear Dollar Stamps.

My card uses a new sets of stamps I received from Mark's Finest Papers and pansies make me happy, they are new. This card also serves as the first new challenge of the year for the Papertrey Peeps blog, a thank you to Terri (such a sweetie) for organizing our group and getting the challenges going.

Too many things are new in my life to represent them on one card or piece of artwork. We moved to a new state, we have a house new to us. My oldest children ALL are away and I've entered a 3/4 empty nest phase which is very new and I'm still adjusting. My oldest daughter is getting married and I will have a new son-in-law, whom we love already. All this newness represents big changes in our lives.

But that is what life is all about really. Life means change. Each day is new, each breath we take is a new breath, each moment a new opportunity to think about our blessings and our purpose here on earth. Each morning we wake with a fresh, new opportunity before us to make the most of this life we've been given! God's mercies are new every morning. Think about what a gift that is!!! Once you accept Jesus and become a new creation through his sacrifice to you on the cross, the slate is wiped clean, everything is new! Except the Lord's promises, those are as old as the first page of Genesis and with each 'new' phase we enter in life, we can hold those promises close to our hearts. That just fills my soul with such joy!!!

Whatever newness you are facing this year, I pray you embrace it in the love of Jesus Christ. We hope you have a chance to join us in our challenge this week and throughout the year, we enjoy seeing your lovely creations fill the gallery each week. Thanks for looking and have a great day.

The colors of my challenge were inspired by a challenge blog I found this week, I think the letters stand for Create For Fun, it is called CR84FN. Their new challenges post on Sundays as well, so my card doesn't technically 'count' CR84FN10 but they had selected lavendar, aqua, yellow and green, which immediately put the pansies into my mind.

The sketch I found on the Shabby Tea Room blog site, it is their 44th challenge this week, thanks for the sketch inspiration. Lots of great art to be seen there.

For the Stampin' Bs challenge, you were to use a die cut on your card! I used the deckled rectangle nestability and Labels 14 (and three edge punches too, those ought to count extra!)

Crazy For Challenges C4C70 issued a challenge to incorporate a thank you in your card . . . well, my card is all about thank you to Terri!

I stamped the image on white cardstock, cut it out with a deckled rectangle nestability and then painted the images with watercolor crayons. I edged the cardstock with a gold marker and then coated the surface of the image with Tim Holtz Rock Candy . . . stuff. What is that stuff called? The rest is pretty self explanatory. I had a lot of fun making my card, hope you can play along with Stampin' Sisters in Christ this week!