a little too late..

to qualify for the Stampin' Sister in Christ challenge for the week (to use flowers on a card), but it does qualify for Sentimental Sunday's Bloomin' Gorgeous challenge.

I had been contemplating this card all week. The ladies from my church were hosting a wedding shower for my son's fiancee. I knew I needed a card - to incorporate flowers was easy. I just didn't get a chance to get to my stamping until late Saturday.

We had spent all day working on the invitations; everyone had left; my husband went to bed and I headed down to my stamping area. I had a design in mind - all I needed was to put the pieces together.

The vine/flowers is a free image from clker.com. After colouring it (I used my BIC MarkIts), I cut out the ovals (nestibilities) and then went searching for a suitable sentiment. I found the quote online and using my photo editing software, I designed the sentiment to fit inside the oval. My dear son came into the office just at this point, so together we chose the fonts and placement. Thanks C - you have a great eye for design!

To give it a little more pizazz, I pulled out the leftover pearls from the day's activities and then added the green ribbon as a final touch.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look!

blessings,

thoughts of blessing ...

I found myself thinking some more about the Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge for this week and found my thoughts turning toward a few more Scripture verses.

Jesus promises that we won't have peace in this world... that's not a very wonderful thought to put into a card... can you imagine making a card for a friend... "Oh and by the way, things aren't necessarily going to get better. Jesus said He didn't come to bring peace, but to bring a sword (Matthew 10:34)"

And yet, Jesus came as the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6), and in Isaiah 26:3 we read, "You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you". And again in John 14:27 we read, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."

What wonderful promises that we have been given! Contemplating some of those thoughts, I found my way back to the beginning of the Old Testament, to the book of Numbers, where God instructs Moses in how Aaron is to bless the people of Israel. I cherish these verses:

"The LORD bless you
and keep you;

the LORD make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you;

the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace."

That inspired me to try another card. I created the sentiment in Word using various fonts. I love the vintage look these days so attempted to bring that into the card as well using lace that I found in my sewing basket, ribbon, primas and buttons from my stash. The DP is K&Company that I picked up at Wal-Mart a few weeks ago.

Thanks for stopping by and may the Lord bless you today!

a focus on Scripture. . .

I enjoyed last week's challenge at Stampin' Sisters in Christ so much that I knew I wanted to play again this week.

The thoughts that Lisa shared are some that have been ruminating in the back of my mind for a while already. It's so easy to say, "don't worry.... just trust... God's in control... " but when life turns upside down, it's a lot harder to put those words into practice. It's so hard not to be anxious. It's so hard not to worry.

The challenge this week was to make a card/project about prayer and/or peace. My first thoughts turned to Ps. 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God". It's a life verse for me and has some deep personal meaning. I thought I'd create a card depicting a pastoral scene or something that would reflect serenity. I couldn't find an image that I liked well enough to use.

After searching and thinking and surfing the web for ideas I began to think about the verses in Luke 12 where Jesus speaks to his disciples and says,

"Do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well."

With those verses in mind, I found a perfect digital image that I could use. It's actually a colouring page for children, but I knew it could also work beautifully for what I had in mind. I took all day to colour and cut out the birds and flowers, giving the image lots of dimension. (You can see some of that dimension in the 2nd photo).

But then I was stuck. The image was really too large to use on my regular 5.5x4.25 size card.

What to do? A little more pondering and the idea of using a larger card might work. I wanted to keep the dimension of the robin & flowers.

Out came my x-acto knife and i carefully cut out a window, panes and all. A little searching through my stash and I found the paper to trim the card front. Nestibilities, pearls, primas, ribbon, & lace from my stash to finish.

Here you can see some of the dimension of the card: the flowers are one extra layer, the robin is two layers.

I'm quite happy with it now. My husband asked, "Who is it for?" hmm... I really don't know. Now I'm stumped, again!!

I've been all alone. . .

this evening - a rarity! Two of the family are enjoying the Roughnecks game (at least I hope they're enjoying it) and three are attending a college student's 4th year guitar recital.

I looked forward to these few hours all day and knew that I would spend some (if not most) of the time making a card or two.

A phonecall from a dear friend this past week inspired me to check out the SSCS Challenge - it was to use the word "love" in a card or make a card that spoke of "love". I was contemplating that concept the last few days and as my time alone neared I saw a young friend's status on Facebook. It gave me the idea that perhaps a card would be welcome - after all, she's just left home for 5 months of training.

So, with her in mind, I made this card. The paper is all from my stash; the image is a free one from Sliekje that I coloured using my Bic Mark-It markers. I need to practice a little more with shading, but generally, I'm pleased with the result.

My prayer is that after it has flown its way to Hawaii, our dear friend will be blessed and encouraged to know that she is dearly loved!

a card for Easter

I'm glad I had a few minutes this afternoon. I realized yesterday that the days had flown by and it was now Good Friday / Easter. I still have to make Easter bread - I guess I'll be baking tomorrow!!

but for today, I managed to get a card made for my folks. Since we're spending the day with them on Sunday, I can hand deliver it ensuring a timely delivery!!!

I picked up a Copic blender pen this week so tried to use it with my BIC Mark-Its. I think I'm OK with the result, although I do understand I need LOTS more practice!

I used a digital daffodil image and layered with So Saffron. Ribbon is some from my stash. Sentiment is also computer generated.

Well, my time is up. I need to start dinner. We're having ham & mashed potatoes with carrots & salad - an early Easter dinner :-)