Our Daily Bread Design's "Scene It" Card

The challenge this week at Our Daily Bread Designs was to create a scene. I wasn't sure I could, but one of the ODBD stamps that I have spoke to me about a "sheltering place" where my husband and I have enjoyed hiking and I knew I had enough stamps to try. I used a total of five stamps to create the scene. I stamped with Versamark and colored the images with chalk (chalk popping technique). I stamped the verse from the ODBD Scripture Collection 2 with Ranger ink. The couple didn't show up too well stamped in chalk so I stamped them with Black ink on dark brown Bazzill cardstock and cut them out. They are so much darker it reminds me of someone at the edge of the shady woods who is backlit by the bright sunshine. The final image was so big it nearly filled my 6" x 6" card, so the overall design is quite simple.

This scene reminds me of hikes we've taken in the Tetons on the trail to Swan Lake and Heron Pond. We'd walk at least a mile past Jackson Lake, through tall trees that would creak and sway when it was windy. Of course, we eventually learned to watch for bears, but most of the time, alone in the woods, there's the awesome closeness to God that I enjoy in those remote places. It reminds me of Bible camp in the summers as a child when we'd have a devotional time in the woods.  I always wish I had paper and pencil to record the hymns that play in my head as I soak it all in. It's an amazing place to give thanks. Then when you step out of the woods beside the lake and walk toward the view of the Tetons, there is the evidence of the power of the Creator who made such majestic beauty. As an occasional couple or family pass by, you can almost read the same awareness on each of their faces. You can't go there and remain unchanged. It's been a year and a half since I walked that trail, but part of that place, that worshipful experience, resides in a corner of my heart and mind forever. The important thing is realizing every day, in every ordinary experience, that Christ is in me and also practicing His presence. That's a way He is the shelter from the storms of life and that's one way He gives me peace.

6" x 6" card recipe:

Paper - CTMH Colonial White CS; Basic Grey "Origins"

Stamps - Our Daily Bread Designs "Scripture Collection 2;" CTMH "Bliss" (couple), "Beautiful Things" (scenery elements)

Ink - Versamark, Ranger, Memento Tuxedo Black

Other - Pebbles Ink chalk -Earth Tones; CTMH jute, wooden buttons; Papertrey Ink - thin twine in buttons