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

Divas by Design . . . Die Cuts and Punches

Happy Wednesday! It is time for another challenge from Divas by Design. I am betting everyone can participate in this one, the challenge is to use die cuts and/or punches. I don't know of a stampers who doesn't own a fine collection of these!

Shaped cards are big right now, it seems and I've seen quite a few that call for using the Spellbinders Nestabilities Grands. They ARE quite grand and I like them, but my pocketbook does not, so I try to find ways to use what I have. I do own quite a few of the nestie sets that are regular size and for this card I took the largest die from the Labels 4 set and traced around its outside for the largest layer on the white cardstock. For the green striped layer I cut a strip of paper so that it would just barely slide through the die and fed just one end through the half the die so I would get a cut on one end, but not both . . .I am going to have to post a picture to make it clear I think.

I have punched daisy shaped behind the prima roses, not sure you can see them. And I used a large Martha Stewart edge punch for a floral 'fence' where my little Frieda is picking flowers. (from The Craft's Meow).

I paper pieced Frieda and colored her with copics. Thanks for looking and hope you can play along! The rest of the design team blogs can be found as listed below!

And whooops! I forgot to mention that the Divas are looking for a guest designer! You will find all the deets on the blog link I posted above, so give it a shot!

Rebekah

Jacqui

Bettina

Laney

Anita

Sarah

Polaroid 2-Step Masking

I cannot recall if I've had a chance yet to play in the Make it Monday techniques posted on the Papertrey blog, but this week I did! Yay! It is so nice not to be traveling so much so I can get inky and crafty.

This week's Make it Monday is a Polaroid 2-step masking and you'll find the directions where I highlighted the link. The only thing I don't like about this is how long it takes my white craft ink to dry, but then again I have humidity issues in the basement. I'd like to try it again and play around more with the framing and the stamps I use there, in this instance I used Turning a New Leaf. The focal image is Autumn Abundance and I used prismacolor pencils. I chose kraft paper because I like the tone I get with the prismas on that paper.

Thanks for looking! Happy stamping!

Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge 95 . . . Free in Christ

Happy Sunday stampers! It is time for another challenge from Stampin' Sisters in Christ! Today's hostess is the ever youthful Miesje who selected this verse from Galatians 5:1 "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."

The challenge is to make a red, white and blue thank you card. I always enjoy working with red, white and blue, I just think they are pretty colors together, bright and cheerful. I had this set out for another project I posted yesterday and decided to try the tulips in red, white and blue and I like the result! However, for the entire layout and embellishment scheme I totally CASED a Debbie Olson card from February. She lives across the lake from me, so one day I might take a 118-mile swim (perhaps a jet ski?) and get her to teach me how to color properly with copics.

I had a few conversations this week that relate to the verse Miesje selected. One was with a friend yesterday who grieves over the fact that someone close to her won't accept the gospel message. They say openly that they don't want to accept Christ as savior because it would mean they would have to change their lifestyle.

I have known many other people who held this opinion, who feel as though to become a Christian means entering a life of bondage somehow, of eternal servitude. But that verse and many others point out that through Christ we have freedom from the bondage of sin!!! It compares sin to a yoke of slavery . . . what does that mean exactly?

At our old church one saying there was "choose to sin, choose to suffer." Sin always has its consequences. Sin seems so appealing at first, so easy and so widely accepted. But soon that sin ensnares us and we cannot escape, it becomes a yoke around our necks. I am sure you are able to think of many examples on your own, but for just a few . . . spending beyond your budget and the credit card bills pile up, drinking a bit to forget your troubles until the alcohol bottle is too hard to put down, cheating just a little on taxes until the IRS comes calling. What about the fallacy of 'recreational' drug use? In one area of the country I read about this week, where methamphetamine became popular, child abuse and domestic violence rose over 100% above previous levels. The police were overwhelmed and social services could not keep pace.

It doesn't matter whether the sin seems 'big' to us or 'little' in comparison to others, all sin is the same before a holy God. And we and the others around us suffer the consequences of that sin. Worst of all, sin separates us from God. Christ is the bridge, He paid the price for our sins on the cross and set us free from that bondage.

And far from a life of thankless, cheerless servitude, when we accept Jesus we become beloved sons and daughters, joint heirs with Christ. (Romans 8:15-17) Life is ours to enjoy, on both sides of heaven. Sometimes I think ideas are better communicated through music, there is a great song that I love to sing at the top of my lungs (alone in the car or in the shower) by the Newsboys; Free to Run. You can find it here on youtube.

Thanks for looking, have a great week! We look forward to seeing your red, white and blue cards decorate the gallery!

Papertrey Ink June blog hop

Can you believe its time for another Papertrey Ink blog hop? I haven't had a chance to participate much lately, but this month found the time. Below is the inspiration photo, quite colorful, and I had just been playing with my kaleidacolor pads a few weeks ago, so I pulled them out again for a few of the cards below.



For this first card I pulled out Giga Guidelines and a few kaleidacolor pads in Fresh Greens, Desert Heat, Cool Carribbean and Berry Blaze, to mimic the colors in the striping in the inspiration photo. I added an accent strip of Martha Stewart black glitter.
For this card I colored the tulips and the jar with the colors from the inspiration photo (dark to light green, blush, yellow, oranges, reds, pinks and aqua) using prismacolor pencils and put in one poofy element in the bottom right corner of the card with the pink ribbon. (Friendship Jars, Friendship Jar Spring Fillers, Background Basics: Botanicals, Say it With Style)


Using the kaleidacolor pads I repeated the word 'happy' from the Enjoy the Ride set and then used Birthday from Giga Guidelines, and it introduces the aqua or bright blue color with Turning a New Leaf. I almost had enough stickle colors to match the ink choices. In the case of the light green I had to use a container of yellow icicle stickles as I had no good color match. See the little pink accent at the bottom left? That was a oops as my strip of green was too short for the card. I'd like to say it was some deliberate artistic element, but it isn't.

That's it! I would imagine the hop is going to be a very colorful one considering the inspiration photo and I had fun this past week creating. Looking forward to seeing all of your artwork as well.

Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge 94 . . . doodling

Happy Sunday stampers! It is time for another challenge from Stampin' Sisters in Christ! This week's hostess is the lovely and talented MariLynn, who selected this verse from Hebrews 11:1, which says "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. (KJV)."

Our sponsor company is Our Daily Bread Designs which is offering a $15 gift certificate to one randomly selected participant in this week's challenge, which is to use doodling somewhere on your card.

I doodled all around the white space for my duckie and then doodled in a small bee buzzing nearby. I love this little duck stamp, makes me happy every time I use it!

Anyway, all you have to do is doodle to play, hope you find time this week! I honestly have no idea what MariLynn's devotion is going to be or the connection between the verse and doodling so I will be as anxious to read it on Sunday as you will! And I know she will have some precious thoughts to share, so I'm going to leave it to her. (I'm preposting).

Have a blessed week!

Stamps: Hambo, MFP (sentiment)

Paper: who knows . . . picked it up out of my scrap pile

Ink: black

Other: scor tape, glitter (that's always fun to use, any excuse will do), flower, corner rounder