As for me and my house . . .

Happy Sunday stampers! I am on the fly as I prepost this (on Friday) trying to get ready to go out of town with the hubby and youngest child. I do love the verse that Candace chose for this week's challenge at Stampin' Sisters in Christ, from Joshua 24:15, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

For this challenge you are to create a card or project focused on the home, such as a housewarming card, or decor. I have a card here that has a house on it . . .:) And it uses some of favorite homey touches, lace, gingham, blues and reds, a button, some stickles.

What does that verse mean to you? Are you following that verse in your heart and in your home? Not perfectly, because no one is perfect, but are you reading your bible together? Attending a local church regularly? Reaching out to serve the poor and needy when you can? Building your relationship with the Lord? I really hope so and if not, what better day than today to make that a goal for the rest of the year?

Thanks for looking and hope you get a chance to play along this week!

Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge 21

Happy Sunday stampers! This week's hostess at Stampin' Sisters in Christ is Pamela and our sponsor again is Simon Says Stamp. Great storefront, I've always had excellent service from them. One lucky winner this week will win a lovely wedding stamp set as pictured on the main SSIC blog. Hmm, I have a daughter getting married . . . could come in handy!

Pamela's chosen verse this week is Hosea 6:1 "Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds." The challenge is to make the broken look beautiful . . . create a mosaic, or tear apart and stitch back teogether. In some way, have your image look broken.

There was a great tutorial for a mosaic technique on Splitcoast Stampers a few weeks ago. For myself, I have chosen to do the cracked glass technique. It is a favorite of mine. And I found this lovely sketch on the Taylored Expressions blog, its her sketch challenge for the week, #97.

Hosea is such an interesting, sometimes confusing but always beautiful book of the bible filled with a message of hope. We are represented in Hosea's wife who keeps on sinning and yet each time, the Lord takes us back. If you haven't been into Hosea lately, spend some time there. I read a wonderful book by Francine Rivers based on Hosea called Redeeming Love. If you want a really good read (and we're deep in snow, so what better activity for a snowy weekend afternoon than either stamping, or curling up with a cup of hot cocoa and a good book?), pick this one up and make sure you have some tissue handy.

I can't tell you how often I mess up in my walk and feel like a cracked vessel. The Lord is calling to each of us, every day. No matter what you have done, no matter what you might be tempted to do in the future, God's mercy and love never fails. The blood of Jesus Christ can wash away your sins and take that cracked image you might see in the mirror and make it whole again. He has done that for me and He can do that for you. Ask any one of us on the design team and we'd be happy to pray with you or tell you our own personal story of God's redeeming love. Thanks for looking.

Stamps: Inkadinkado bird

Ink: Tim Holtz vintage photo, weathered wood

Paper: Bo Bunny, SU Pomegranate, PTI Ocean Tides

Other: versamark pad, clear EP (I applied six layers), sponge, ribbon, PTI scarlet jewel button, Martha Stewart branch punch and chunky glitter, petite scallop circle nestability, Fiskars corner punch

Abandon all taste ye who enter here . . .

Okay, maybe its not quite that bad, but the word that strikes me when I look at this card I made is . . . garish.

I think I need to lay off the gold glitter embossing powder for a while. Amazing how glitter works either for you or against you . . . I have a card in mind using these stamps in softer tones and I'll try that when I have time. The last card that I made using glitter in the post before this one turned out with a subtle shimmer which was what I wanted. (please look at that card, I like that one!) Perhaps it is the reflective DP . . . hmmmm. Anyway, I was anxious to enter a cool sketch challenge on the KL blog here. She is giving away a nice prize! And I wasn't sure I'd have time to stamp again before tomorrow, so here is my entry. Thanks for looking. You can take off your shades now.

Stamps: Crafty Secrets, Rubber Stamp Tapestry (sentiment)

Martha Stewart punch, randomly assorted and ill-begotten DP, pearls and buttons which would have been happier on another project.

Butterfly sympathy

What can you say about sympathy cards? They're hard to make, at least for me. I tried to lighten this one up a bit by using the DP that is a light shade of gray/blue with white.

The butterfly is from an old SU set, Ageless Adornment. I really like the images it contains. You'll notice that my butterfly faces the opposite direction of the stamp when you use it on paper. I chose the stained glass technique for this so the image is in reverse, because once you stamp it on acetate, you apply the glitter (one color at a time) on the side of the acetate where you have ink. Then when you mount it on your card you flip it, so the glitter won't rub off. I used seven different shades of glitter on this image although it is hard to tell in the photo, you can see variation in color in person. All shades of blue and gray and black. The sentiment is from Clear Dollar Stamps Christian Sympathy set. The backing paper is silver, not gray, but a light silver so it has a bit of a shimmer to it. Thanks for looking.

Stamin' Sisters in Christ challenge 20

Happy Sunday stampers! This is a new week in a new year and time for a new challenge from Stampin' Sisters in Christ. Our hostess this week is the lovely Laurie who chose the verse

2 Cor 5:17 "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

The challenge is to make a card for a new baby or a new Christian. A few members of the design team challenged each other to make both types of cards, so I selected this free digi image from the Sew Many Cards web site (our sponsor this week).

I think this fish in an ornament is so cute! I used it first for the new baby card . . . I don't know anyone right now who is pregnant, but I'll have this in my stash if anyone receives the gift of a baby girl!

And for my new Christian card, I chose a piece of cuttlebug embossed paper sent to me ages ago by my dear friend Misti, which is loaded with variations on 'congratulations.' I put the phrase, 'the best is yet to be' because when you start walking with the Lord, amazing things happen. And the image? Well, Jesus told us we'd be fishers of men!

For the baby card I covered the bubbles with crystal effects and in the second card covered the entire clear 'glass' ornament with crystal effects and sprinkled some Martha Stewart blue glitter on the bottom before it dried, so it kind of looks like a shaker, maybe?

I do think that's a great verse to start off the new year. It doesn't matter what is in the past in terms of who we can be in the future. In Christ, all things are possible and He makes all things new, including you! Have a great week, hope you can play along.

Winter green Tilda

Do you have 'happy' and 'sad' stamps? I've noticed when I'm sad I reach for my Tildas. I've been paper piecing four of them the last two days and it soothes something inside of me. I seem to pull them out when I'm feeling a bit blue.

This fits a sketch challenge at Just Magnolia. I bought this gorgeous, wide ribbon at Michael's a few weeks ago intending to help use it to dress up a Tilda and went searching for a sketch this morning that would suit it. I know it is awfully large, but such a rich ribbon. You can see the sketch challenge here.

I used PTI's Damask Designs on gold cardstock from Gina K's, embossed in gold with gold tinsel embossing powder, to try to match the nature of the ribbon. Tilda is paper pieces with a piece of SU DP, sorry, don't know the type. It has tiny red dots in it, so part of her sleeve is red. Martha Stewart branch punch in two types of gold paper for some of the embellishments. If you look at the sketch there are five graduated circles on it, I used roses with a jingle bell to make a large cluster since I didn't have a large jingle bell and the height would make it near impossible to mail this card if I did. Then I used different sizes of rhinestones for the two smallest circles.

So what are your New Year's traditions? When the kids were younger we used to sit down and make a list of all the things we were thankful for from the previous year and what we would be praying for in the year to come. Its hard to corral them now that most of them are so much older, but I find today a good day to reflect on the blessings of the past year and there are many. Thanks for looking and have a safe, happy and health new year!

New Year's Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge #19

Happy Sunday stampers! This card is up a bit late today. . . we were up late last night. Combine the fact that I was laboring under the delusion most of yesterday that it was Friday, with an emotional bubble that burst late in the evening, and you have a late post.

Anyway, this is for challenge #19 with Stampin' Sisters in Christ, and our lovely hostess this week is Lisa who has chosen the verse from Psalm 25:4-5, "Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior and my hope is in you all day long."

The challenge is to create a New Year's Card. Lisa tells us that as we embark on the new year, let all of our resolutions include focusing on God's word and teachings and following the path He has laid for us.

Our sponsor this week is the Cutting Cafe and they are donating any three digi sets to one lucky winner. Check out the main blog here for more details, or visit the Cutting Cafe here. The owner donated some new year's digi stamps to the entire design team and I had a favorite picked out right away, the verse on my card, do you see it? What a great resolution and I thought it fit in so nicely with Lisa's verse. Because God is love and following the path he has laid out for me means in part loving the people he has placed in my life, more, and deeply, each year that passes.

The new year is a great opportunity to practice that! The penguin is a Memory Box stamp and the paper is from Papertrey Ink. Thanks for looking. Happy stamping!