Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge 100 . . . creatures

Happy Sunday stampers! It is time for another challenge from Stampin' Sisters in Christ! We are welcoming two guest designers for the month of August, Traci Major and Teresa Kline! Both of them love the Lord and create beautiful things and if you visit the main blog you can see all the creations from each member of the design team! I am your hostess this week and I chose this verse:

Psalm 148:7-10 “Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding, you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds. . .”

Wishing you a blessed Sunday in the Lord! Have you had a chance to go to church today? We all hope you have a place to connect with members of a local body of believers and join them in worship.

We can worship the Lord any time though, not just in church. The psalms can be soothing, encouraging or even exciting! Imagine if our ears were on the right frequency to hear all of creation praising the Lord, as it talks about in this psalm!

In 1 Chronicles 16:23 it says, “Sing to the Lord, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day.”

“Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and all that move in them!”
Psalm 69:34

“The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork.”
Psalm 19:1

However, the job of praising our creator also is ours, in fact it is primarily our job. In Luke 19:40 Jesus said that if men should hold their peace, or not praise God, “even the stones would cry out.” Let’s not outsource that job to a stone, let’s use our voices and praise Him!

Each of the design team members has a wonderful praise song linked in their blog post, or song to recommend that will get your heart moving closer to the Lord in worship.

I love to listen to praise music as I create! I have so many favorite songs, but one that I like that we sang at the church we attended before we moved is a Chris Tomlin song, “Sing, Sing, Sing.” You’ll find it here on youtube.

Once you’ve enjoyed your praise tour, in this week’s challenge we invite you to use any type of creature from tiny (like an ant or a bug) to a very large creature (whale, or elephant) on your card or project. Our sponsor this week is Doodle Pantry, and I used one of their ant images in my card. I colored them with prismacolor pencils and covered them with crystal effects to make them shiny, because ants are usually a bit shiny. I colored the leaves with prismas as well and used some paper scraps to piece together a background for them. Have fun and enjoy singing!

Divas by Design . . . Summertime!

Summer is here! And the Divas by Design challenge blog invites you to make your summer themed card for this next two week challenge period.

The divas have a lovely crop of summer cards on the main blog here for your viewing pleasure and we do hope you'll join in! The sponsor this round is Di's Digital Downloads and you will see a lot of cute bears and summer images in the design team creations. I look like I missed the memo, was out of town taking care of my mom for a few days.

I chose pink lemonade as an iconic summer symbol, although if you like it you can have it any time of year. I used the wrinkle free distress technique to make the lemonade with spun sugar and worn lipstick Ranger distress inks. Drew in some ice cubes using a silver gel pen so they wouldn't be too prominent. Tried to make it look as though frost was covering the top of the glass, you know how your cold drinks sweat a bit in the heat when you're outside, so I put rock candy crackle on the upper part of the jar. Don't know if it looks like a drink or if the glass looks like it is going to shatter. :)

Thanks for looking and hope you can play along!

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Friendship Jar, Stampin' Up Fresh Fruits, Flourishes borders

Ink: black, Ranger distress spun sugar, worn lipstick

Paper: DP, white, pink, yellow

Other: PTI impression plate, ribbon, lace, Rock Candy crackle, silver gel pen, buttons

PTI Stamp a Faire challenge 10, CPS 228

Squeaking in under the wire, Papertrey Ink has one final challenge for Stamp a Faire, number ten, where you are to stamp one image underneath another overstamped image, using a lighter color for the background layer and a darker color on top.

I chose Background Basics: Botanicals in versamark on Fine Linen then overstamped with one of my favorite PTI sets, Life, in kiwi kiss, lavendar moon, plum pudding, poppy, ballet blue, celery and violette.

The sentiment is from a new set called "Encouragement" from Layers of Color that I couldn't wait to ink up, has a great assortment of scriptures and sentiments that I know I'm going to find very helpful.

I sort of followed the newest sketch from Card Positioning Systems, number 228, it was a great guide to get started on this project, along with the PTI challenge. Thanks for looking, have a great evening!

Other paper layers are rustic cream, baja breeze and kraft with a touch of SU DP and some seam binding ribbon, PTI chartreuse button and twine.

Papertrey Ink blog hop July 2011

Papertrey Ink July blog hop yo! This was an inspiration photo hop and from the inspiration photo I took the imagery of the window, chose the mums to play off the flowers in one of the pillows. The white impressed base of the card from the scored bench in the photo and the medallion on the other pillow in my aqua background stamped with guidelines images. I have just a touch of orange as a nod to the orange curtains. The wee bit of ribbon and fine linen button are a play off of the shades in the window. I had a lot of fun with this and hope you did too! Looking forward to hopping later, have to feed the family first!

Thought I would show the pencils I used to color in the vase and flowers. Thanks for looking!

Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge 99 . . .black and white

Happy Sunday stampers! It is once again time for another challenge from Stampin' Sisters in Christ! This week's hostess is the uber-talented Grace, who selected this verse from Isaiah 55:8-9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Her challenge is to create a card in contrasts of either black and white or ivory and black.

Our sponsor this week is Layers of Color! I was traveling and had to get my card together in a hurry. I had some LOC stamps on their way but they arrived while I was gone, I am anxious, however, to ink them up. Especially! the sentiment set that one lucky winner will receive who plays along this week. I ordered it first thing, I LOVE it!

As I said, I was traveling and have no other thoughts to share on the verse this week other than Isaiah is full of beautiful passages and I know Grace's thoughts will bless you.

Hope you can play along, we look forward to seeing your creations in the gallery!

Papertrey Ink Stamp a Faire challenge

This is for the Papertrey Ink Stamp a Faire challenge number nine, to look at a stamp or use it in a new way. I am not sure this qualifies, but the first thing that came to mind is that when you drive around in the summer, you see all sorts of creative holders for flowers and yes, I've seen people use cars as planters.

So instead of the car you drive, this is my car as planter, complete with the rust you'd accumulate if it sat a while in the yard in the elements. Thanks for looking, happy stamping!

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Enjoy the Ride, Garden Variety

Ink: black, kiwi kiss, new leaf, hibiscus burst, pure poppy and tumbled glass

Paper: Spring moss, soft stone, white, patterned paper scraps

Other: ribbon, glitter, button, nestability, rock candy crackle, copics

Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge 98 . . .let's dance!!!

Happy Sunday stampers! It is time for another challenge from Stampin' Sisters in Christ and this week our lovely blog founder Kris is the hostess who has selected this verse from 2 Samuel 6:14 "And David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, and David was wearing a linen ephod."

Her challenge is to make a card that 'moves' (i.e. tilt card, slider, pop up, waterfall, etc.) You can check on splitcoast stampers for lots of great resources on cards that move; the reason I have two shots of my card is to show the motion, I made a tilt card, first time for me, and the lowest sunflower blossom moves.

Our sponsor this week is Designed2Delight @ http://designed2delight@blogspot.com and one lucky winner will get a $10 gift card to her store.

In this verse of 2 Samuel, we're actually picking up part two of a short story about David; this is his second attempt to bring the ark back to its rightful place. The reason the first try failed is a story for another day, because in his second attempt, David finally got it right and this scene focuses on David's whole-hearted devotion to praising the Lord as he returns the ark to Jerusalem. As king and ruler of the entire army, he might have considered himself too dignified to dance before the ark, but not so.

One of his wives, Michal, daughter of Saul, chastises David for his behavior, but his response to her shows where his heart is; in verse 21 and 22 he tells Michal, "I will celebrate before the LORD. ²² I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes."

All of creation praises the Lord, as it says in Isaiah 55:12b "the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands."

The king of Israel danced, the trees of the fields even clap their hands, how have you worshipped and praised the Lord lately?

We invite you to create a card that moves for this week's challenge, looking forward to seeing your projects in the gallery!

For my card I chose to use the tilt card tutorial from splitcoast, you will find directions to their resource section here. I like the image on this stamp because it reminds me of illustrations from some old story books my mom had when she was a small child, dating back to the 1930s, so I chose retro style papers and colors for this card. Thanks for looking and have a great day.

Stamps: Mark's Finest Papers "Planted with Love"

Ink: black archival

Paper: kraft, blue, green and don't know the manufacturer of the DP

Other: prismacolor pencils, PTI button, Fiskars edge punches, velvet ribbon

Mark's Finest Papers July release . . . Adirondack Summer

Adirondack chairs are extremely popular here in the summer and they are sold in all colors of the rainbow! A family friend recently rescued some chairs from the 50s I believe and painted them in shades of blue, pink and green, yellow, red, all sorts of colors, so I used those as the inspiration for my cards. They have a home facing the lake . .. we live four blocks away from the water, I love how it changes color almost every day, all different shades of slate, blue, gray, teal, you name a shade of blue or gray and I think it appears in that color at least once a year! Sometimes CAS works for me depending on the inspiration of the moment!
The first card uses the wrinkle free distress technique with Ranger distress inks, I used painted shutters, broken china and a lighter blue, cannot remember which, sorry! Overstamped the image in black craft ink and embossed. All of these are very simple cards, they don't take long! Thanks for looking! And if you are trying to win this set from today's hop, you need to visit and comment on the blogs I have linked below. Good luck!

And . . .since chairs have legs, here is another shot at the LIM or Less is More challenge for this week, yay! A one layer card!

For your chance to win: Comment on the following Design Team members' blogs TODAY before midnight EDT. There will be ONE random winner chosen from the comments on today's Blog Hop blogs. That winner will win Adirondack Summer. We will announce the winner's name on tomorrow's blog post.

Emily

Nancyruth Neva Silvia Faith Claudine Dawn Marilynn Patricia Chrissy Karen Pam Joanne Kittie Mark’s Finest Papers

Mark's Finest Papers July Release . . . Lilacs in the Summer

Hello stampers! Mark's Finest Papers is still having the new release blog hop! I am not in the hop today, but the list is below. My card here is also featured on the main designer blog, where you will see other artwork using this new set! Tomorrow also I am not on the hop, but I have a few projects to show you that are not on the main blog, using tomorrow's new set, so you can stop by if you want a look-see. Thanks for stopping!

In the card above I was going for a journal/sketchbook type of thing. I used some twinkling H20s on my project and I think it made it too dark, I would have been better off leaving it alone!

For your chance to win: Comment on the following Design Team members' blogs TODAY before midnight EDT. There will be ONE random winner chosen from the comments on today's Blog Hop blogs. That winner will win Lilacs in the Summer. We will announce the winner's name on tomorrow's blog post.

Emily Nancyruth Neva Silvia Faith Claudine Dawn Marilynn Patricia Chrissy Karen Pam Joanne Kittie Mark’s Finest Papers

Mark's Finest Papers July release. . . Planted with Love

I'm sure you've seen photos on other blogs showing the colors they used on their images and while I am still an amateur when it comes to the copics, I thoughts I'd do the traditional 'cup o'markers' image so you can see which shades I used, except for the random ciaos in the mix. I really like the watermelon image, it makes for a cheerful card.

For this card I tried to make a bit of a scene, the sunflower image to me could double as a sun standing along. There is a stand-alone sunflower image in the set, that one was a bit large for my plans, so I stamped and cut out one of the sunflowers from the seedpacket for mine. Tickets are big right now, I don't have a ticket punch or die, I wanted my sentiment on that sort of shape. I took an old SU punch I own and cut off the half circles on either side of the rectangle . . . if any of you own this particular punch you'll know which one I'm talking about. Worked like a charm! Those crows crack me up, I'm looking forward to seeing what the rest of the design team does with them too.

There is something else worth mentioning besides the stamps. Mark's Finest Papers is offering a new Neutrals Pack that has some great layering weight colors that retail for $7.99 and include:

80lb Speedy the Cat Black Linen

80lb Deepest Mahogany

100lb Deep Gloss White

80lb French Vanilla Bean

80lb Hazelnut Tan

100lb Chip Board (Kraft)

80lb Gray Storm

The link to the paper is right here!

Hello! Welcome to the July 2011 MFP New Releases Blog Hop!

This week's new releases are: Little Birds With Big Mouths, Planted with Love, Lilacs in the Summer, and Adirondack Summer.For your convenience, all these sets are available TODAY at Mark's Finest Papers.

So, do you want to WIN today's Featured Stamp Set: Planted With Love? (If you don't want to wait to win, you can always purchase the sets right away! We'll substitute a set from NEXT month's release if today's winner has already purchased this set!)

For your chance to win: Comment on the following Design Team members' blogs TODAY before midnight EDT. There will be ONE random winner chosen from the comments on today's Blog Hop blogs. That winner will win Planted With Love. We will announce the winner's name on tomorrow's blog post.

Lois

Vicky Dawn Anne Peggysue Connie Emily Karen Patty Roxie Vicki Liz Geri Lynn Mark’s Finest Papers

Mark's Finest Papers July release . . . Little Birds with Big Mouths

Hello! Welcome to the July 2011 MFP New Releases Blog Hop!

This week's new releases are: Little Birds With Big Mouths, Planted with Love, Lilacs in the Summer, and Adirondack Summer.For your convenience, all these sets are available TODAY at Mark's Finest Papers.

So, do you want to WIN today's Featured Stamp Set: Little Birds With Big Mouths? (If you don't want to wait to win, you can always purchase the sets right away! We'll substitute a set from NEXT month's release if today's winner has already purchased this set!)

For your chance to win: Comment on the following Design Team members' blogs TODAY before midnight EDT. There will be ONE random winner chosen from the comments on today's Blog Hop blogs. That winner will win Little Birds With Big Mouths. We will announce the winner's name on tomorrow's blog post.

Lois Vicky Dawn Anne *Peggysue*--you are here right now! Connie Emily Karen Patty Roxie Vicki Liz Geri Lynn Mark’s Finest Papers

For the first card I found a challenge blog just this week that calls for "Less is More" or LIM. With me, less is more or a one-layer card is near to impossible for me to create, so I hope to play more often and challenge myself! The challenge this week was to do something with legs, well, birds have legs, so this qualifies. I don't know if ribbons are allowed, I'll wait for someone from that blog to come tell me yes or no.
Supplies:
Vanilla cardstock
Antique Linen, Broken China, Vintage Photo Ranger distress inks
Ribbon, sponging, scor-pal, corner rounder, SU chalks, cinnamon stickles

For the second card I had fun with my prismacolor pencils, it is just a fun image to color.
Supplies: Rose, yellow, aqua, white cardstock, Stella and Rose DSP, retired SU DSP
Black ink
prismacolor pencils, spellbinders nestability, button, ribbon, Fiskars corner punch/embosser, edge punch

Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge 97 . . . favorites

Happy Sunday stampers! It is time for another challenge from Stampin' Sisters in Christ. We enjoyed seeing all the CAS creations in the gallery last week. This week's hostess is our sister Rebekka, who has selected this verse from James 2:18,19 "But someone will say, 'You have faith, and I have works.' Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe and tremble."

Her challenge is an easy one, you get to choose 'what works for you,' your favorite embellishment, embossing folder, spellbinder, image, whatever is a favorite for you.

I like patterned papers and this package (Cosmo Cricket DeLovely) has been a favorite of mine for a while. I am finally using it up and as fellow hoarders, I'm sure you understand what I'm talking about when I say it is tough to let that last bit slip through your fingers, but there will be a new favorite paper soon. Also, when I am sad I like to 'play with my paper dolls.' They are favorites when I'm down, so I pulled out one of my paper dolls, this Frieda stamp from The Craft's Meow and dressed her up in bright colors. I also don't function well unless I have a good sketch, so sketches are one of my favorite ways to try to scrape together some mojo and I found a sketch on Card Patterns (sketch 123) that helped me out.

I am certain that Rebekka is going to have some wonderful thoughts to share in her devotional, which you will find here. I was fighting a bout of food poisoning and didn't gather together any additional thoughts this week. Also on the home page you will see the design team's lovely creations and see if you can guess what some of their 'favorites' might be! Our sponsor this week is Simon Says Stamp and we do appreciate that.

Hope you find some time to play this week! Thanks for looking.

I am entering the following challenges:

CMC Copic Challenges: I used at least five different shades on Frieda's hair to get reddish tints in the brown

Alphabet Challenge Blog: J for Just one word . . .my single word is Love

Stamp Something: Bugs and Butterflies

Crazy 4 Challenges #95: Summer!!!

One Stop Craft Challenge #139: Summer

Wee Memories: Summertime

Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge 96 . . . CAS

Happy Sunday stampers! It is time for another challenge from Stampin' Sisters in Christ! I am the hostess this week, and our sponsor is Clear Dollar Stamps! They are offering a $15 gift card to their store to one randomly selected winner. I used this cute little hippo stamp I received with an order I placed back in January, I believe. My bible verse and thoughts for this week are as follows:

Psalm 46:10 Be still and know that I am God.

Before you move one more word forward in this message, go get your bible and open it.

Now that you're back and you have opened to that passage in scripture, go find a solitary place, read the word and pray. Have a conversation with the Lord.

We feel privileged to come here every week and share encouraging words, share our artwork and then view yours in the gallery. As Christians we are to encourage one another in our walk. (Proverbs 27:17, 1 Thessalonians 4:18, Galatians 6:2 as some examples.) However, I feel a burden on my heart that as a nation, as Christians, we are not turning to the power source.

A few weeks ago we had a huge storm that knocked a limb out of a tree. These are hundred-year-old maples so you can imagine how huge the `limb' was, and the storm knocked down the power lines and the entire town was blacked out for over 24 hours. What would have happened if I'd shaken our lamps, yelled at the light switch on the wall, "Why aren't you doing anything? Where is the light you are supposed to provide?"

The lamp, the cord, the switch, these all are elements that connect TO the power source, but remain simple conduits. We, the members of the Stampin' Sisters in Christ team love you as sisters in Christ, but HE is the power source—Christ Jesus. We are not it. Neither is talk radio, facebook, food, the phone, TV, all the things we use to draw our minds away from our troubles, places we turn to as a panacea.

So for this week I want to encourage you to spend time every day in the Word. God wrote a book—read it. God wants a relationship with you—work on it. Find a quiet place to read the bible and pray to God, not with a laundry list of please bless this one and please heal that one; which are all important prayers; but in addition, take the time to be still and to listen for His response, for His will and purpose for your life, and yes, to feel His love wash over you. Go and be still.

God is in all aspects of our lives, even the hustle and bustle, but in quiet times we often hear him best, as it says in I Kings 19:12 "And after the fire there was a gentle whisper."

This week's challenge then is a CAS card, be still and listen for that gentle whisper.

Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps main image, Papertrey Ink Turning a New Leaf

Paper: Aqua mist, gray, white, scrap of Doodle Bug Designs

Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Certainly Celery, black

Other: copics, linen thread, scalloped rectangle nestability