a journal marker...

to hold my place in my journal. There's nothing more frustrating than having to flip to the next blank page...

The image is a free one provided by Digis by Phooka. I altered it slightly, adding a book. The title of the book, "The Camino". I went to see The Way this weekend with my daughter and while the movie wasn't the greatest, it did get me thinking about what it might be like to walk the Camino de Santiago. I spent Sunday afternoon reading about the Way of St. James and then in the evening put together this journal marker.

A close-up view:

The image is coloured with my copic markers. I distressed the edges to symbolize the fatigue and weariness that a pilgrim might feel when walking The Way. Image is layered on panels of black to coordinate with the black elastic.

This journal marker is my entry in CDAC's Progressive Challenge.

Again, thanks for stopping by. It's always pleasure to have you visit!!

Blessings to you on this day.

and this is how I spent...

my Sunday afternoon. I had received an image from when I was on the Gingerloft DT and hadn't used it yet. I felt guilty for not having used it on something so had been thinking about it for the last while. Then today, during the sermon, something that was said caused my thoughts to wander and I began to think about using a door along with The Crafter's Corner challenge for new beginnings.

Doors open to new things. Doors opened for me this past year to start something completely different - something completely new. In that sense, doors symbolize new beginnings.

As I searched for an appropriate sentiment, my thoughts took a slightly different turn. I found a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, "God enters by a private door into every individual". How true. It is a private door that each of us have - and when God knocks, we each have a choice. We can open the door to Him, or not. If we allow Him to enter, we have the opportunity of a new beginning.

With those thoughts rambling about in my head, I began to piece together this card.

With thanks to:

• Glenda for giving me something to CASE
• Tami at Gingerloft for the image
• Emerson for the quote
• and most of all, to God for leading me through open doors.

took some time this evening. . .

to relax. It's been a crazy busy couple of days as I tried to tackle a whole lot that had been " back-burner-ed" this fall. Among some of that was sorting through, tossing & filing the many stacks of paper that I had everywhere. I had some awesome help from my daughters as they sat on the floor with me, sorting through everything. It feels good to start the next semester with some of that under control.

Then today I spent the afternoon with my sister and my brother, shopping thrift stores and Costco. His cargo van is packed to the brim; he heads back home in the morning. It was good to see him, even if only for a short while.

After dinner I took some time to work on a card that I had wanted to start. It's for a challenge at The Crafter's Cafe. The challenge was to use the theme New Year/New Beginnings. You could interpret that any way you wanted. That was a challenge in itself. Which way should I go with it? In the end, I decided on a baby card knowing that there are a number of young moms in our church that are expecting another baby this year. In fact, the daughter of my friend is due shortly. She already has a daughter - I'm hoping her baby will be a girl and that I can use this card for her :)

The sentiment is an altered version of Lindsay's Stamp Stuff; the image is from Firecracker Designs by Pamela.

Again, thanks for dropping in!

I have enjoyed...

the last two weeks. No assignments. No mad shopping. No crazy pre-Christmas craziness.

but. It's also been two weeks of rearranging the downstairs and of trying to catch up on everything that got pushed to the back burner while I focused on the immediate & urgent.

I finally sat down to make a couple of cards this past week. I realized that I'm not enjoying this much. Instead

of being an inspiration, the pressure to create is stifling my desire and my creativity. And with another term of school starting up in just a few days, I want to be able to spend my time creating because I want to and not because I have some deadlines to meet.

Please don't get me wrong. I have loved being part of the DT; it has been a real honor. However, I have done some reflective thinking this past month and I honestly don't think I have showcased Tami's images as well as I would have liked.

So with much sadness, these are the last cards that I will be making as a Design Team member for the Gingerloft Challenge blog. I have enjoyed working with Tami but because I don't think I am doing justice to her images I feel I need to step away for the next while.

That's a long preamble to what I have to show you today. oops.

Here is my first card:

The challenge was "Anything Goes". I combined this with the Progressive Challenge using the snowglobe images provided by Crafty Ann. The lighthouse and sentiment are both images by Tami. The image was colored with my Prismacolor markers, using mineral spirits for blending. Paper is from my stash, as is the ribbon.

The second card uses the second snowglobe image by Crafty Ann along with the Skating with Friends image by Tami. Again, the paper and snowflake brads are all from my stash. This time I pulled out my copic markers to color the image. I decided on a minimalist approach, giving it just a hint of color.

Thanks for stopping by. As always, I'm glad you took the time to visit.