Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge 52 . . . make 'em laugh

Happy Sunday stampers! It is time for another challenge from Stampin' Sisters in Christ!
And just a reminder, tomorrow is the Stampin' Sisters in Christ one year bloggaversary! We're having a special hop with fun prizes, so be sure to stop in again tomorrow.

This week's hostess is thankful Randi, who has selected this verse from Proverbs 17:22 "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." (NIV)

Her challenge is to make a clean humorous card, let's see some laughter!

You can check on the home page to see the wonderful creations by the DT, one of them did make me laugh out loud! And our sponsor this week is DeeDee's Digis http://deedeesdigis.blogspot.com/. She has some very cute stuff!

This week was far from humorous in our house, in fact we had a lot of tears, lots of hugs, lots of upheaval. I was not feeling humorous at all this week. BUT we have a funny movie out from the library, a family favorite, that we intend to watch tomorrow night and I do know that smiling and laughing a cheerful heart, can help cure a lot of ills or ill feelings. So my card doesn't exactly qualify as humorous, its meant for someone who was going through stuff with us this week and could use a pick me up.

Won't you join us though? Pull out your funny stamps or funny sayings and help us laugh!

We hope you do, blessings to all of you for a good week, and please do stop in tomorrow!

Mark's Finest Papers August Release: Owl Be There

Mark's Finest Papers' Design Teams are celebrating our NEWEST STAMP RELEASE with a Blog Hop. Our very talented Design Teams have created exciting paper crafts for your inspiration. With the addition of New Design Team members to inspire you, this is going to be a really fun-packed Hop!

We have 4 New Stamp Sets Released today: Tweet Blessings, Flourished Sea Creatures, Regal & Proud, and Owl Be Here. For your convenience, all 4 stamp sets are available for purchase TODAY!

For your chance to win BLOG CANDY, (a set that will be released NEXT month), visit and comment on each of the following design team members' blogs on August 10, 11, 12, and 13, 2010. On Saturday, (August 14, 2010), a winner will be chosen FOR EACH DAY from those participants who visited all the blogs listed for that day. (There will be four different winners, one winner for each day.)

THAT MEANS IF YOU MISSED A DAY, YOU STILL HAVE OTHER CHANCES WIN! And, you can go back and comment on each day's blogs, as the winners will be chosen Saturday morning!

Now for my projects. The owl image in this set made me think of camping trips we made when we were younger . . . of girl scout camp in those musty cabins, of sleeping bags with plaid lining . . . anyone else remember going to a pine lodge in Wisconsin? Anyway, I so wanted to make a luminary the minute I saw the owl and I found a piece of plaid paper in my stash that reminds me of the lining in a sleeping bag we once owned. I had tons of fun with it. First shot is in the daytime and I took a picture of it lit up in the dark.




Next I wanted to try my hand at a CAS card. Now here is where I have to thank my children for being so very helpful . . . we have our house for sale and when we have a showing they all run around and 'put things away.' The problem is, they just stuff things into any nook and cranny they can find. I've lost the electric bill and found out later someone put it in the Betty Crocker cookbook, the phone bill, my address book . . .and someone mislaid this stamp set that I had out. I inTENDED to use that cute little swirly owl stamp on this card but poof! Someone has put the stamp set away who knows where. You know when I'll find the stamps . . . some time next week long after the hop is over! Anyway, I had washed this stamp after making the luminary and still had it, thank goodness, so I used it on this card, which took almost no time to make. Just a little pop of color, a sentiment, and I have something ready to put in the mail. Thanks for looking. Happy hopping and good luck!


Here then is the hop order. Friday, August 13-Owl Be There
August Guest Designer ~ Wendy
Nancyruth
Lois
Vicky
Jeanne
Anne
Debbie
Peggysue . . . that's me!
Faith
Susan
Judi
Connie
Emily
Karen
Patty
Roxie
Vicki
Liz
Julia
Claudine
Joanne T
Joanne G
Mark’s Finest Papers

Mark's Finest Papers August Release: Regal and Proud

Mark's Finest Papers' Design Teams are celebrating our NEWEST STAMP RELEASE with a Blog Hop. Our very talented Design Teams have created exciting paper crafts for your inspiration. With the addition of New Design Team members to inspire you, this is going to be a really fun-packed Hop!

We have 4 New Stamp Sets Released today: Tweet Blessings, Flourished Sea Creatures, Regal & Proud, and Owl Be Here. For your convenience, all 4 stamp sets are available for purchase TODAY!

For your chance to win BLOG CANDY, (a set that will be released NEXT month), visit and comment on each of the following design team members' blogs on August 10, 11, 12, and 13, 2010. On Saturday, (August 14, 2010), a winner will be chosen FOR EACH DAY from those participants who visited all the blogs listed for that day. (There will be four different winners, one winner for each day.)

THAT MEANS IF YOU MISSED A DAY, YOU STILL HAVE OTHER CHANCES WIN! And, you can go back and comment on each day's blogs, as the winners will be chosen Saturday morning!

For this first card I was trying for a landscape effect. I had a specific person in mind when I made it too, my son, who is making good decisions even when he knows that some of the adults in his life will not agree . . . in short, he's becoming an adult and I'm very proud of him. For the landscape I stamped the image in brown stazon and then used watercolors to blend in a sky and the purple for the mountains. I do enjoy the color purple but don't use it enough.


For this second card I made a polished stone background. I elongated the stamped image a bit by coloring in with a black copic marker, it just seemed to fit the circle frame a bit better . . . I think I still need more practice with my copics! Thanks for looking, enjoy hopping and good luck!


Here is the order for Thursday, August 12-Regal and Proud
August Guest Designer- Wendy
Nancyruth
Lois
Vicky
Jeanne
Anne
Debbie
Peggysue . . . that's me
Faith
Susan
Judi
Connie
Emily
Karen
Patty
Roxie
Vicki
Julia
Liz
Claudine
Joanne T
Dawn
Lynn
Mark’s Finest Papers - http://marksfinestpapers.blogspot.com

Mark's Finest Papers August Release: Flourished Sea Creatures

Mark's Finest Papers' Design Teams are celebrating our NEWEST STAMP RELEASE with a Blog Hop. Our very talented Design Teams have created exciting paper crafts for your inspiration. With the addition of New Design Team members to inspire you, this is going to be a really fun-packed Hop!

We have 4 New Stamp Sets Released today: Tweet Blessings, Flourished Sea Creatures, Regal & Proud, and Owl Be Here. For your convenience, all 4 stamp sets are available for purchase TODAY!

For your chance to win BLOG CANDY, (a set that will be released NEXT month), visit and comment on each of the following design team members' blogs on August 10, 11, 12, and 13, 2010. On Saturday, (August 14, 2010), a winner will be chosen FOR EACH DAY from those participants who visited all the blogs listed for that day. (There will be four different winners, one winner for each day.)

THAT MEANS IF YOU MISSED A DAY, YOU STILL HAVE OTHER CHANCES WIN! And, you can go back and comment on each day's blogs, as the winners will be chosen Saturday morning!

For this card I chose the sea horse image and made a simple card using a piece of designer paper I'd been hoarding for a long time. I stamped the seahorse directly onto the paper and colored it in with prismacolor pencils to match the paper tones, so this came together pretty quickly. Dressed it up with some ribbon and a fabulously cute charm. Mark's Finest Papers has a great selection of charms to go along with so many projects, I always have fun with charms!



Here is the hop for Wednesday, August 11- Flourished Sea Creatures
August Guest Designer- Wendy
Nancyruth
Lois
Vicky
Jeanne
Anne
Debbie
Peggysue . . . that's me
Faith
Susan
Judi
Connie
Emily
Karen
Patty
Roxie
Vicki
Liz
Julia
Claudine
Dawn
Lynn
Joanne G
Geri
Joanne T
Mark’s Finest Papers

Mark's Finest Papers August Release: Tweet Blessings

Mark's Finest Papers' Design Teams are celebrating our NEWEST STAMP RELEASE with a Blog Hop. Our very talented Design Teams have created exciting paper crafts for your inspiration. With the addition of New Design Team members to inspire you, this is going to be a really fun-packed Hop!

We have 4 New Stamp Sets Released today: Tweet Blessings, Flourished Sea Creatures, Regal & Proud, and Owl Be Here. For your convenience, all 4 stamp sets are available for purchase TODAY!

For your chance to win BLOG CANDY, (a set that will be released NEXT month), visit and comment on each of the following design team members' blogs on August 10, 11, 12, and 13, 2010. On Saturday, (August 14, 2010), a winner will be chosen FOR EACH DAY from those participants who visited all the blogs listed for that day. (There will be four different winners, one winner for each day.)

THAT MEANS IF YOU MISSED A DAY, YOU STILL HAVE OTHER CHANCES WIN! And, you can go back and comment on each day's blogs, as the winners will be chosen Saturday morning!

For this first set we're showcasing today I just fell in love with the little birdhouse image. It reminds me of so many things; the cuckoo clock my grandmother bought me when I was little that hung on my bedroom wall, the elaborately decorated sugar cookies we make each Christmas.

For this first card I used the cookie image because stamped in white on brown paper it reminds me so much of a frosted cookie, especially when you pair it up with a bit of liquid pearls for extra dollops of 'frosting.'



For this next card, this is one I previewed for a technique lover's challenge on splitcoast stampers, but hadn't yet posted it on my blog. This is a t-slide card and once again, the birdhouse image reminds me so much of a cuckoo clock. For this card I paper pieced the image and then put the sentiment on the inside of the slider.



Hope you enjoy hopping! Here is the hop order for this release, for Tuesday, August 10-Tweet Blessings

August Guest Designer~Wendy
Nancyruth
Lois
Vicky
Jeanne
Anne
Debbie
Peggysue . . . that's me
Faith
Susan
Judi
Connie
Emily
Karen
Patty
Roxie
Vicki
Julia
Liz
Julia
Claudine
Joanne T
Mark’s Finest Papers

Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge 51 . . . a timely word

Happy Sunday stampers! Its time for another challenge from Stampin' Sisters in Christ. This week's hostess is the talented Lisa Hjulberg who selected this verse: Philippians 3:13-14 "Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

Her challenge is to make a card of apology or one reaching out to someone and encouraging them to put the past behind them and move forward.

Our sponsor this week is Simon Says Stamp which carries a huge selection of items in their store, including the MFT line, or My Favorite Things. I saw this stamp at CHA last week and with Lisa's challenge in mind, thought it would be a good one to add to my collection.

Please check the home page of our blog to see the rest of the design team's creations and to read Lisa's thoughts on her chosen verse.

A word, fitly spoken is like apples of gold in frames of silver . . . from Proverbs. That's what this challenge made me think about . . . that word sorry is such a powerful one. How often do we need to use it but we're embarrassed or proud or feel the timeframe for saying it has passed? Yet that pair of words, I'm sorry, fitly spoken can provide an immense amount of healing or restoration.

More than likely there is no statute of limitations on that word 'sorry.' But the rest of the verse Lisa selected is so important to remember, particularly for me, personally. That once the apology is spoken, when repentance is in full swing, that we need to let the past go and move forward with our tasks, to keep marching on our walk. I find it harder to forgive myself than others. That only makes me a doormat for satan. How he enjoys making us relive over and over in our minds those times we've failed!

Just as we need to exhibit forgiveness and kindness towards those who have wronged us, so we need to extend the same to ourselves when we've fallen and repented.

Hope you find the time to play along with us this week, we look forward to seeing your creations.

Stamps: My Favorite Things
Ink: black memento
Paper: Basic Grey Kioshi, lavendar, ocean tides, moss green, white
Other: prismas and gamsol, ribbon

Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge 50

Happy Sunday stampers! It is time for another challenge from Stampin' Sisters in Christ! This week's hostess is the devoted Rebekka, who selected this verse, from Isaiah 40:31 "But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up on wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint."

Her challenge is to use an image of a bird or birds of any kind.

Our sponsor this week is the Digi Doodle shop and she had several bird images to choose from, if you look at the original post on Stampin' Sisters in Christ you can see the other lovely cards by our design team.

I chose this image from a new Northwoods stamp I bought while shopping with my friend Karen. The store had only the one stamp of this image and we both liked it and were politely trying not to buy it in case the other person wanted it. But she insisted I get it.

And I wanted to use this stamp to mention how friends can lift each other up. She surprised me that day with a gluten free cheesecake she made herself. That is the first bite of cheesecake I've had in ten years. It involved a lot of research on her part for the recipe, and purchasing special, expensive flour to make it. Her thoughtfulness and kindness buoyed me up for at least a week.

Two, this is the only stamping I fit in all week. I know everyone is super busy with summer activities, here is no exception. Although mine could be an all-season activity really, I have been painting trim because we are trying to spruce up the house. We have it for sale and are waiting for a buyer.

A house sale is such a tiny thing compared to what a lot of my friends are facing. Just this week we talked with relatives or friends who are facing cancer, death threats, a wayward child in a gang, long standing illness, job loss . . . I know you have a list like that at your house too. If not yourself, people you know. And you've experienced how the weight of these things can wear you down. There are days you might feel like you're carrying a fifty pound sack on your back, mentally.

The only refreshment, the only help we can find is in the Lord. Think about having those mental weights lifted off, about having the kind of strength that allows you to run and not be weary! Turn to the Lord and He can provide that rest, that peace, that strength for you regardless of what you're facing, to help you continue to carry on. And not just carry on trudging one step at a time, but running! Joyfully! Wishing you that joy, strength and peace this week.

Stamps: Northwoods, sentiment by PTI
Ink: black, kaleidacolor green set
Paper: aqua mist, new leaf, white
Other: a ton o' prismacolor penciles, gamsol, stickles, aqua mist ribbon, new leaf buttons, scoring tool