Stampin' Sisters in Christ . . . layers

Happy Sunday stampers! It is time for another challenge from Stampin' Sisters in Christ, where all of our challenges relate to scripture. This week's hostess is my dear friend Traci, who has selected this verse from Ephesians 4:29 "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."


Her challenge is to build up your card by adding layers; paper tole, paper piecing, stacking flowers, you name it! And I was able to use a lovely gift she gave me a while back for part of my 'lifting' in the patterned paper in the background. Thank you Traci!


And we have a new sponsor this week, Tami Mayberry, who is donating one of the amazing stamp sets she has designed to one lucky, randomly selected winner who plays along with our challenge this week. You can find more details and see the rest of the beautiful creations by our design team by clicking on the home page here.  


I used this little Frieda image from the Craft's Meow and lifted up sections of her dress, hat, face, hair and shoes with paper tole, although its hard to tell in the photo. You can sort of tell from the shadows on the paper if you care to strain your eyes that much! 


I like the verse Traci has selected for this week and it is a good one to meditate upon because the tongue is so hard to control, isn't it? Words come 'flying' out before we even know it . . . or do they? The thought has to come into our heads first. And notice the verse doesn't say you can prevent unwholesome thoughts from coming into your head, although if they do we're supposed to chase them away, I believe. But it says, do not let it 'come out of your mouths' acknowledging that there is a thought process that precedes the verbalization.


My daughter right now is going through a phase of saying insulting or disrespectful things and then following it up with the phrase "no offense." She knows she is giving offense and disrespecting her parents or that phrase wouldn't be tacked onto the end, and we are working to explain to her that if you have to add the phrase "no offense" then the words are probably better left unspoken or if you have something to say, say it in a kind manner. She is only ten still testing the boundaries of our parental authority. We understand she is in a learning process. 


What is truly sad is adults who engage in similar practices. I have had 'friends' and relatives in the past who would wound with their words; teasing and needling to the point where my temper was about to go beyond a simmer and boil over and then back off instantly with the phrase "just kidding" or "just teasing" or "can't you take a joke?"


We all know when we're on the receiving end of such treatment, the trick is to take a lesson from those times and make sure we're not the ones dishing it out. And we need to make sure that we press our lips firmly together if someone is dishing it out to us, and not retaliate! Let's all try to watch the words before they fly out of our mouths this week and use words and phrases that will build up the person to whom we're speaking. 


Stamps: The Craft's Meow Frieda, assortment of Rubber Stamp Tapestry
Ink: black Stazon, PTI aqua mist and spring moss, Ranger distress ink spun sugar, SU soft sky
Paper: Papertrey Ink kraft, vanilla, white, blue, patterned paper
Other: nestabilities, fiskars corner punch/embosser, prismacolor pencils, flowers, MS border punch, pearl

Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge 116 . . . Praise

Happy Sunday stampers! It is time for another challenge from Stampin' Sisters in Christ, where all of our challenges are based on scripture. This week's hostess is our beloved sister Rebekka who has selected this verse from Job 13:15 "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." Her challenge is to make a card that praises our God and Savior.

My creation this week is actually a junior legal notepad cover; the notepad can be used to keep track of prayer requests or as a thankfulness journal thanking God for the daily blessings he bestows.

I heard something this week on the radio that put Rebekka's challenge and verse in mind.

When I was a child one of the hymns we sang often at church was called "Now Thank We All Our God." The first two verses are as follows:

Now thank we all our God,
with heart and hands and voices,
who wondrous things has done,
in whom this world rejoices;
who from our mothers' arms
has blessed us on our way
with countless gifts of love,
and still is ours today.

2. O may this bounteous God
through all our life be near us,
with ever joyful hearts
and blessed peace to cheer us;
and keep us still in grace,
and guide us when perplexed;
and free us from all ills,
in this world and the next.

Notice especially the first verse, how it is filled with praise to our Lord! Until this past week though, I never had heard the story of the man who penned those lyrics.

His name was Martin Rinkart and he was a provincial clergyman in Ellenburg, Saxony, during the thirty years war. In addition to the calamities associated with any conflict, in 1637 the plague hit his village and in that one year 8,000 people died, including Rinkart's wife. He alone conducted more than 4,000 funerals for the people of that area, in one year. Then the plague was followed by famine, followed by foreign troops demanding 'tribute.' The list or troubles never seems to end.

Like Job, if anyone had cause to whine or bury their head in their hands and sob aloud, it was Rinkart. Yet the hymn you see printed above was his response. As much trouble as we face in our lives, it would be hard to come up with a list as impressive as Rinkart's or Job's. And what is our response? Job's story and Rinkart's story that I heard on the radio, give me some food for thought as to my response when I am facing my own short list of troubles.

Our sponsor this week is Pizzazz Aplenty and you need to visit that shop, some very cool items are in stock. And please do visit our home page where you can read Rebekka's thoughts on her chosen verse and see some great creations from the rest of the design team.

Thanks for looking, hope you can play along!

Stamps: Our Daily Bread Designs (border strip), Clear Dollar Stamps (sentiment), Rubber Stamp Tapestry (pine cones, branches, etc.)
Paper: Olive green, Echo Park DP, PTI vintage cream, Fine Linen, gold
Ink: black, Kiwi Kiss, True Thyme, tan, Ranger distress ink (sponged), chocolate (PTI)
Other: cuttlebug embossing folder, vintage corner die, ODBD die to match stamp

Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge 26

Happy Sunday stampers! It is time for another challenge from Stampin' Sisters in Christ. Our hostess this week is the talented Ceal, who selected this verse from 1 John 4:10 "This is real love--not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins."

Our sponsor this week is Simon Says Stamp, which is donating an exclusive stamp set that you can view on the home page of the SSIC blog here. The challenge from Ceal is to create a Valentine's Day card or project for someone you love letting them know how much God loves them.

This is my Valentine for my DH. Ceal's verse and challenge were the springboard for my verse selection, from 2 Corinthians 9:15, "Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift." My husband and I are both so very thankful for our salvation. When you consider eternity, God's holiness and the fact that He would reach down to us to send His son as an atonement for our sins so we can spend eternity with Him, it truly is indescribable.

Also, I consider my husband one of God's precious gifts to me. He knew who I needed in my life for many reasons. The first gift might be indescribable, but I try to put into words or actions my thankfulness for and to my husband daily. Thanks for looking.

Stamps: Rubber Stamp Tapestry, computer generated sentiment
Ink: PTI Hibiscus, avocado, pure poppy, SU pink, white craft
CS: SU pretty in pink, kraft, vanilla
Other: PTI blush and vintage cream ribbon, fiskars corner punch/embosser, this smudgy sort of gold paint from Gina K that you apply with your finger, gold pen, nestabilities, pearls colored with a copic, cuttlebug folder, chalk

RST Prize and a Tilda

Some people think I am the peggysue who won Vintage Picnic from Papertrey Ink. I am not that peggysue, that is a different person and I wish her all joy from her fabulous prize and much enjoyment utilizing the stamps! That set is on my wish list however.

  Here you see a prize that I did win recently, much to my surprise, from Rubber Stamp Tapestry. The company has a very helpful blog, here, which has tutorials for using their peg stamp sets. I entered a comment admiring a card and voila! won the stamp pads and stamp pegs you see above. I have to admit, I had mixed feelings about this win . . . I really had no thought in my mind of winning a set, I was just leaving a nice comment. I've been missing my dad more than ever with Father's Day so close around the corner . . . but the vintage stamps are lovely and I will put them to good use.  Thank you to Rubber Stamp Tapestry for your generosity and the tutorials which are helping me understand better than ever how to utilize my peg stamps. 

  And the card is just a Tilda using up some scraps I had lying on my desk. I have been organizing my paper into hanging file folders and trying to clear things up in general. I had colored her a while ago and had that exact size piece of DP as a scrap lying about, so I put them together and made a card. Thanks for looking. 

Mother's Day

This is my card for Mother's Day. I haven't worked a lot with blue lately and I've missed the color, so I decided to see what the Rubber Stamp Tapestry cherry blossom set would look like in blue. Its funny that despite owning at least ten shades of blue I didn't find the exact look I had in mind. 

  Thanks for looking. 

Stamps: Rubber Stamp Tapestry Cherry Blossom, Papertrey Ink Ambassador Monogram, Stampin' Up! Belle Toile BG

Ink: PTI Avocado, Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip, Tempting Turquoise, Bashful Blue, white craft ink

Paper: Neenah solar white, SU Bashful Blue, SU DP, other random DP and printed vellum

Other: Spellbinders Labels 4, white satin ribbon, paper piercer, liquid pearls, Fiskars corner embossing punch, Martha Stewart butterfly punch

You Are Loved

I was so excited when I saw the sentiment stamp, "You are Loved" on the Rubber Stamp Tapestry web site, I squealed. That is what our pastor tells us every Sunday before we leave church and it is painted in big letters above the doorway we exit as a final reminder. God loves us. What a wonderful thing!

  I wanted to play with my stamps and get comfortable with the peg style, so created a simple card before doing anything fancy. I would like a more rough edge on the side, if anyone knows how to achieve that, please let me know! 

  Almost forgot to mention a few things . .  the heart shape is a template they sell at Rubber Stamp Tapestry. Just lay it down on your cardstock, take a complementary color of chalk, in this case I used a light SU pink pastel, and dab around the inside edges of the template. When you lift it up, it helps guide you as you stamp.  I placed the heart a bit above card center, because when you put it direct in the center on a clean card, it looks like its too low. And I tried stamping it several times with just avocado, but a few touches of New Leaf really helped bring the image to life. 

  Thanks for looking.

Stamps: Rubber Stamp Tapestry Cherry Blossoms set and 'you are loved' sentiment block

Cardstock: SU confetti white

Ink: Papertrey Ink Ripe Avocado, New Leaf, Hibiscus, Stampin Up Pomegranate, Ranger Tim Holtz Vintage Photo

Accessories: ribbon (Mike's), stickles, distressing tool, RST heart template, SU pastel chalks, cotton ball