Glory To God Masculine Christmas Card

The blackboard/chalkboard look has been pretty popular. I was glad to find a stamp from Our Daily Bread Designs, "Glory to God," that has a Christmas message with this look. I decided to make a masculine card that uses simplicity and glorifies God with the artistic Scripture verse and the images. I especially liked the way the image includes a cross, reminding us that Christ didn't just come as a baby, but was the perfect sacrifice that could take our place, paying for our sins - the perfect Christmas gift for all eternity!

The image is scissor distressed and matted with kraft cardstock that I debossed on the edges to make it frame-like. I used some long-retired red plaid paper and black button brads from Close To My Heart. The corrugated Kraft star is also retired from CTMH and has a current cork star on top of it. The large striped black and white grosgrain ribbon seemed perfect for a masculine card, especially when knotted.

Thank you for visiting. For my friends in the U. S., Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
4 Crafty Chicks #170 - Christmas
Charisma Cardz #46 - Christmas
Crafty Ribbons #72 - Anything Goes with ribbon
Holly Jolly Christmas - One for the Boys
Inspired by Stamping - use ribbon or crochet trim
Oldie But a Goodie Challenge - ribbon and/or lace (button brads over a year old and paper several years old)
Ribbon Carousel Challenge #87 - Holidays & Celebrations
Shopping Our Stash #121 - Holiday or winter
Word Art Wednesday #108 - Anything goes with Scripture or uplifting verse

Twist of Faith #65 - Three Color Combo

(I'm having internet connection problems, so my posts might be short until we get this straightened out.)

This week at Twist of Faith we're making cards that have three colors. We are being sponsored by Stamp Art Design by Kathryne. I chose her image called "Merry Berry" and use the colors Red, Green and Brown.  I colored it with Copics and pop dotted it on a New England Ivy Cricut Art Philosophy shape that I embossed with holly. I sponged Olive ink over the raised portion. The button is tied with red waxy flax. All of the papers are old, retired Close To My Heart papers.

 

I love the inside sentiment that I've posted before. It's the legend of the candy cane that I found on internet and typed.

 

 

 

May God fill your heart with His joy as you prepare to celebrate the coming Christmas season!

 

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Bitten By the Bug2 - Christmas Card using the Cricut

Christmas Card Challenge #52 - Faith 

Crafting from the Heart - #1 - Anything goes

Crafty Blogger's Network - Christmas

Kaboodle Doodles #199 - Buttons and Twine

Lexi's Creations #104 - Christmas

Word Art Wednesday #107 - Anything goes with Scripture, uplifting, or encouraging text

 

 

 

Little Love Notes "With Heart"

Do you ever write little notes for your family members? I like to leave little notes to my hubby in different places where he'll see them. I wanted to make some type of little notes to give to our kids so they can leave notes for our grandkids in their lunch boxes or backpacks. Doodle Pantry images and empty tea boxes gave me this idea:

Below are samples of the six designs I used to make the 24 cards in each box.

This was so easy and relatively quick to make thanks to the Doodle Pantry images and a printer. I used 4" x 6" blank index cards but had to trim them to 5.5" so that they'd fit in the boxes when they were folded to make 4" x 2.75" cards.  I set my printer options to print landscape and figured where they needed to be so that they would be centered on the front of the card. I didn't change the size of the images.  I scored the printed cards at the 2.75" on my Martha Stewart scoring board - very quick! I included four cards with each image in each box, making a total of 24 cards in each box.

I printed two of the papers that came with the digi set - the light blue dotted paper and a blue and dark green pattern that I used on the sides. I printed one 8.5" x 11" cardstock sheet of each pattern. Those two sheets were the amount I needed to cover three boxes. I'd give you the sizes I cut, but I've discovered that boxes of tea are all different sizes. The brand I use is "Choice Organic Tea." I painted all of the corners of the boxes with red craft paint before adhering the printed cardstock. I tied some wide red organdy on each box so that I could hang a tag with one of the pictures. They fit nicely inside some metal rimmed tags I'm trying to use up.

Now they're ready for little happy love notes to our grandkids! I hope these give you some ideas of your own. I'm about to make some more to sell at my last Holiday Craft Fair.

This set of images, "With Heart," is available at Doodle Pantry at a discount this month. Part of the proceeds go to Operation Write Home which helps military service men and women send home notes and cards to their families.

Thanks for visiting!

I'm sharing this project with the following challenges:

Creative Fingers #12 - Anything Goes + option of metal (my tags)
Cute Card Thursday #296 - Anything but a card
Delightful Challenge - Anything but a card
Digitally Sweet Challenge #63 - Anything Goes
Hanna and Friends #185 - Little Presents
Quick Quotes #33 November - Gift Ensemble (cards + boxes)






 

ODBD Christmas Angel Cards

Each year I give my oldest daughter a card with an angel and sometimes an angel for her tree. We both share experiences, like near car accidents, where we are thankful for angels who are watching over us! So I make a number of angel cards for each Christmas. Here are two I made with a retired "Angel" stamp set from Our Daily Bread Designs. My initial inspiration for this card came from the glittery striped paper from DCWV "All Dressed Up" and the Christmas Carol sentiment "Hark the herald angels sing, Glory to the Newborn King."

Recipe for 6.5" x 5" Christmas Card:
Papers - (retired) CTMH Jingle, Ruby CS, Black CS, Colonial White CS(for image), White Daisy CS & Black Gitter Paper; DCWV "All Dressed Up" glittered paper stack
Stamps - ODBD "Angels" for image and sentiment
Inks - CTMH Slate, Black
Copic Markers - E00, R81, R43, RV23, W1, N2
Embellishments - CTMH Sparkle Holiday shapes (star) & glitter gems
Tools - Spellbinders lacey ovale, 5/8" circle punch for corners


Here's the second one:

The papers (except the striped one) from both cards are retired from Close To My Heart. Both cards use the pink star side of one of the Jingle papers. I chose the scrap of retired "Evensong" from CTMH for the background of the second card because it reminds me of a stained glass window, the perfect backdrop for faith-based Christmas images.

Recipe for 2nd Christmas Card:
Papers - retired CTMH "Jingle," and "Evensong," Colonial White CS, Cranberry CS
Stamp set - ODBD "Angel" for image and sentiment
Inks - CTMH Black, Saddle
Copic Markers - E00, E30,  W1, Y32, YG03, YG11, YG23, YG63
Accessories - CTMH Sparkle Holiday Shapes (stars), retired CTMH "Ivory" organdy ribbon

Thank you for visiting. May angels watch over you! May you find joy in the true meaning of Christmas!

I'm sharing the first card with the following challenges:
4 Crafty Chicks - Anything Goes
Aud Sentiments Challenge #94- Any Sentiment
Brown Sugar #69 - Anything Goes
Charisma Cardz #46 - Christmas
Crafts 4 Eternity -Recipe #151 - Glitter and sparkle
Crafty Hands Challenge #3 - Sparkle and bling
Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light Challenge #179 - Holiday
Polka Doodles #47 - Inspired by a Christmas Carol ("Hark the Herald Angels Sing")


 

Butterfly Thank You Cards

With so many thoughts about Thanksgiving, I decided to expand the idea of this holiday to giving thanks to others with Thank You cards. I made 6 similar ones using the CTMH paper pack "For Always" that I have out to work on wedding layouts for one of our daughters.

I love the bright, clean feel of these colors together.  I made up my own sketch so that I could use the black patterned "zip strips" on the edge of the paper. The stamp set used is "4 My Friend." I cut the two layers of the flowers and the butterflies using Cricut Art Philosophy.  The top flower layer has an old black brad and pop dot to add dimension. The butterflies were cut at 1" and 3/4" then tied together with black crochet thread. On one set of the cards I debossed the small white panel and on the other set I embossed the front of the card itself, which I think I preferred in the end.

I'd like to thank you for visiting and may God fill your heart with thankfulness!

I'm sharing these cards with the following challenges:

Creative Belli #183 - Thank You (used old jar of black brads)
House That Stamps Built DCC1120 - Giving Thanks
Lexi's Creations #103 - Thanks/Thanksgiving
Melonheadz Friends Challenge- Give Thanks
Milk Coffee Challenge - Thanksgiving/Thankful/Thank You's
Papertake Weekly - Giving thanks
Parade Your Crafts #8 - Grateful

Doodle Pantry Little Bethlehem Christmas Card

I was cleaning up my scrap space and bagged several sets of paper scraps that I had sitting out with what I thought would be coordinating papers. I'm so far behind on Christmas cards that I've made several today. This is my favorite. It uses Little Bethlehem image and sentiment from Doodle Pantry that was previously a digi designed by Laurie Wilson that she's transferred back to her own store, Doodle Pantry. I actually used the colored image, but added colors to it with Copic markers. I printed and colored two copies and fussy cut the second one to pop dot two of the buildings and tree tops. The papers and image were also distressed using scissor distressing or inking.

 I used my version of the Mojo Monday sketch #320 for this week, rotated and slightly modified due to size constraints.  I think the polka dotted scraps I used are from My Mind's Eye. The rest is from CTMH. The sentiment on the outside and the first one on the inside are part of the Little Bethlehem set of images. The matted sentiment inside is from Our Daily Bread Designs "Christmas Verses." The inside polka dotted paper is retired CTMH.

As you make and give Christmas cards, I pray that you, too, will keep the true meaning of Christmas, the gift of our Savior, in your heart. May God bless you as you create!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
Crafty Bloggers Network  Christmas
Crafty Calendar November Challenge - All things Christmas
Crafty Sentiments Designs - Christmas
Twisted Tuesday #63 - Pop dots (under front buildings and tree tops) and polka dots (3 designer papers)
Mojo Monday #320 - sketch
Stamps & Fun = Creativity#178 - use a digi
Word Art Wednesday #106 - Anything goes with Scripture/encouraging/uplifting verse

Twist of Faith #64 - With Thanks

The card today is a Thanksgiving card for one of our daughters and her husband. He recently lost his job and started his own tree trimming business. It's been amazing to see how they've been learning to trust God as he gets lucrative business every day and on the weekends! (I must also trust God and not quickly volunteer to offer financial assistance.) How beautiful it is to see God's amazing provision! My card today talks about thanking God for unknown blessings already on their way. What a unique perspective on trust combined with thankfulness!

This week our challenge at Twist of Faith is to make a card With Thanks!

Our blog has this scripture that encourages us in our challenge theme!

"It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to Your name, O Most High"

Psalm 92:1

 And one last reminder...

Your creation should also include a scripture, uplifting verse or positive words/quote that will suit your creation and our theme!

Our sponsor is Eureka Stamps! They have generously offered one random prize winner 5 images of their choosing!  I used their image, "Harvest Basket"  along with the sketch from Mojo Monday #320 rotated to horizontal orientation. I love the way the Eureka image is pre-shaded when you get it. It makes coloring with Copic markers so easy and fun! The Thanksgiving sentiment is from a long retired CTMH stamp that I curved on the block so it would fit over the handle of the basket. The papers are the CTMH Huntington set plus some Vineyard Berry to match the satin ribbon.

I added a Scripture from Verve and a unique CTMH Thanksgiving sentiment on the inside:  "Because your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise you. Thus I will bless you while I live; I will lift up my hands in your name." Psalm 63:3-4.  The other side is the one that says, "Give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way."

Thank you for visiting and I hope you'll join our challenge with your own creation of "Thanks."

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Mojo Monday #320 - Sketch

Card Mania #34 - Autumn Colors
Craftin' Desert Divas Linky Party - Happy Thanksgiving
Eureka Stamps #66 - Thanksgiving



Get Inky - Thanks and Thanksgiving
Lexi's Creations #103 - Thanks/Thanksgiving
Paper Nest Dolls Challenge #17 - Give Thanks
Whoopsi Daisy Challenge - Thanksgiving/Harvest/Thank you's
Word Art Wednesday #106 - Anything goes with Scripture/uplifting/encouraging verse





 

Give Thanks

It was serendipitous to find four paper scraps sitting on my workspace together that seemed to work well together. I used them to make this card with two stamps and a die cut that were also sitting on my workspace waiting to be put away. The Verve sentiment is wonderful encouragement for any time, and especially to direct our thoughts toward recognizing God's goodness to us.

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good' His love endures forever. 1 Chronicles 16:34"

 I recently heard a minister speaking about this. He said we must keep in mind God's love and good plans for His children so that even in difficulty, we'll be thankful knowing that something good will come despite the pain or difficulty. He said focusing on His loving kindness and being thankful helps take our mind off of our pain or difficulty. Wow, my joints and muscles needed that! He gave an example that I could identify with. Even in great pain, you can reassure someone else later that you've been there, you understand. This can bring great comfort to that person to have someone who understands.

I used an unknown piece of My Mind's Eye and a variety of old, retired CTMH papers and embellishments. It was fun to use the rock and roll technique with Honey and Vineyard Berry inks to stamp the leaves around the sentiment then sponged Olive ink on the edges. I tried something different with the ribbons. I tied two vineyard berry organdy ribbons around a Garden Green grosgrain ribbon that had been folded over on the left, then added three olive buttons on the right.

Thank you for visiting! May the Lord bless you with a thankful heart that sees His blessings beyond the difficulties of this life.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Card Makin' Mamas - Thankful Tidings (focus on sentiment)
Crafty Ribbons Challenge #70 - Anything Goes with Ribbon
Delightful Challenge - Thankful
DL.Art Thankful Thursday #121 - Encouragement
Jo's Scrap Shack #26 - Anything goes
Little Miss Muffet Challenge #73 - Seeing Dots
Paper Pretties #284 - Give Thanks
Simply Create Too #50 - Give Thanks
Stampin' for the Weekend - Autumn /Fall Colors
Word Art Wednesday #106 - Anything Goes with Scripture or uplifting/encouraging sentiment

Perfect Sentiment Challenge #100 - Christmas Sketch

This week at the Perfect Sentiment Challenge we would like you to create a Christmas card using our fun sketch. We are being sponsored by Pattie's Creations. I used her lovely image called "Merry Christmas Lamp Post." Her prize is 3 free digis for one lucky winner this week.

 

The papers are from My Mind's Eye "Merry" collection and I colored the image with Copics. Because the image is a decorated lamp post, I wanted a sentiment about light, so I made one up that starts on the front and continues inside.  I wanted the message of this sentiment to draw attention to Christ's love that can fill our heart and our life with His light, to show us how to live and to lead others to Him.

 

 

You are welcome to use this sentiment if you want. Here it is as a jpg. I separated it as the front sentiment and the inside sentiment below. You should click on it to get the larger format, then right click to do a "save as."

 

 

I used this sketch that we'd like you to use to join in our challenge this week. It has so many possibilities!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
Addicted to Stamps #69 - Punches (Martha Stewart snowflake) and dies (Spellbinder's lacey oval)
A Gem of a Challenge #105 - Gems, gems, gems
Deep Ocean Challenge #64 - Winter
LEJ Designs #79 - Season's Greetings
Paper Playtime - Sparkle (on ribbon and heart sparkles on snowflakes)
Ribbon Carousel Challenge #87 - Holidays and Celebrations
The Ribbon Girls - add Sparkle (glitter hearts on ribbon and red sparkles on snowflakes)
Word Art Wednesday #105 -

Twist of Faith #63 - Lots of Layers

Today and tonight we will have our coldest weather of the season so far.  I always feel sorry for the animals on our farm when they're hit with the first really cold night. Tonight the temperatures will be down to 13 degrees. This is one of those times when we like to wear lots of layers of clothing and stay inside where it's warm!

Today our challenge at Twist of Faith is to make a card with

Lots of Layers!

Your card should also include a scripture, uplifting verse or positive words/quote.

Our blog is sharing the following verse:
 

"Let all that I am praise the Lord. O Lord my God, how great You are!  You are robed with honor and majesty."

~ Psalm 104:1 ~

 

Our sponsor this week is MelJen's Designs, who will be awarding a 4 uncolored images to our winner. I used her image called "Pretty Poinsettia" which was perfect for making an image in layers to go along with layers of patterned papers that I used.

 

I thought this Sweet Sketch #231-101from Sweet Sketch Wednesday went perfectly with our challenge for making a card with lots of layers:

 

 

I printed the poinsettia image 4 times and colored them with Copic markers (YG03, G24, G94;RV29, R29, R35, R89, Y15), cut, and layered four parts of the image, attaching them with dimensional glue dots in the middle and slightly curving the unadhered edges to highlight the four layers.

 

 The papers are from Graphic45 and Basic Grey. The ribbon on the left is velvet, but doesn't show the rich texture in our limited lighting on this cloudy day. In addition to layering paper, I layered two bows, one with ribbon and the black crochet thread bow in the button.

 

Last Friday I was typing lots of Christmas card sentiments. You can also find some free ones on internet by doing a google search. I made up my own sentiment for the front of this card:

 

 

I saved my sentiment as a jpg in case you'd like to use it. You can click on the sentiment below to get the larger image, then right click on it to do a "save as" and put it in your own sentiment folder. Before printing, you have to resize it to print it the desirable, smaller size.

 

Thanks for visiting. I can't wait to see your card with lots of layers. I know you make them! Please share yours with us at Twist of Faith this week!

 

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

 

 

Crafty Blogger's Network - November/Christmas

Lady Anne's November Challenge - More than one layer

MarkerPOP Challenge #34 - Anything goes if colored with markers (Copic)

Stamping Sensations -  November challenge = Christmas

Sweet Sketch Wednesday - sketch 231-101

Word Art Wednesday # 105 - Anything Goes with Scripture or uplifting/encouraging verse

 



 



 

 

 

 

 

 

Operation Write Home #198 and Fundraiser

Many years ago I worked for Headquarters 2nd Region ARADCOM at the Air Base in our town. I had worked as a civilian for the Air Force the summer before I got married and lived in apartments with lots of military families. It gave me a new understanding of life around a military base, but even more so, life alone when your husband is shipped overseas (and you aren't). My first husband and I wrote love letters to each other EVERY DAY. I went home to an empty apartment every night, ate dinner alone, studied for classes I was taking twice a week, and wrote a long, lonely letter. I also got a long love letter in my mailbox every day. The second time he was shipped overseas, I asked my dad if I could move back home until my husband came back. Loneliness can be a killer!

That's why I have a heart for our military and their families. It's a difficult thing to be separated. Communicating takes many forms these days. I think our servicemen and women have an advantage now with internet, Skype and email. There's no long delay waiting for that letter. But a handwritten message in a lovely card says things that a computer can't.

I have previously sent cards to Operation Write Home (OWH) to help fill this need. Tomorrow in the U.S. we are celebrating Veterans Day. To honor our military service men and women I made this card using sketch #198 and one of our images and sentiments from a special bundle of sets at Doodle Pantry, Missing You and With Heart. We are doing a Nov 10-30 fundraiser for OWH in conjunction with our sponsorship.

Both sets bundled together for $5.00 and OWH will get 70% of the profits from each sale during Nov. 10-30.  We will post our results the first week of December. On Dec 1, the bundle will no longer be available, however the 2 products within it will be split and sold individually, and we will continue to reserve a small portion of proceeds of each product sale thereafter to be donated to OWH on a regular basis.  AND we will periodically add new products to our OWH fundraising category that will benefit OWH in the future. Announcements will be made as new benefit products are added.

Operation Write Home does an amazing job helping separated families to stay connected. I'm sure it involves a LOT of POSTAGE and handling costs. I hope you'll lend a hand by purchasing this set and making cards that will help our service men and women keep that love connection strong!

Here's my card using the OWH sketch that inspired it:

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
A Gem of A Challenge #105 - gems, gems, gems
Alphabet Challenge - T for Twine
Bearly Mine #111 - anything goes
Charisma Cardz Challenge #44 - anything goes
Craftitude #52 - anything goes-use twine
Cute Card Thursday #294 - Animal magic
Divas By Design - use a digi
Sister Act Card Challenge #32 - anything goes




 

Sparkle and Shine Card Workshop

What a blessing it was to be with both old and new friends today. We made 15 Christmas cards, rotating around the church basement from station to station.

Here are the last eight cards our scrapbook club made today for Christmas using the Close To My Heart Sparkle and Shine paper pack, chipboard complements, and a variety of stamps.

The middle one on top is my version of a CTMH workshop card, as well as the one under it. Three of them are from the card patterns in the Make It From the Heart books which takes the guesswork out of designing and knowing what size to cut the paper. The top right and bottom right cards are my own design to use chipboard trees and ornaments. If you went home with one or two cards unfinished, I hope this helps you complete your cards.

Thanks for visiting!

 

Mojo Monday 318 Sparkle and Shine Card

The most important thing about Christmas is that God's Son, Jesus Christ, came to live on earth as a baby, grew to teach us how to live and then took our punishment for our sins when He died on the cross. Only the perfect, sinless Son of God could be sacrificed this way. There is so much more to this history than just a sweet birth story. We have added so many traditions to the Christmas holidays that they can distract us from honoring Him the way we should. I'm making this card to focus on the fact that Jesus is the Reason for Christmas. The image I chose shows so much love, appropriate for the One who came to show us perfect love!

I made this card for a Christmas card workshop for tomorrow, but I wanted to highlight it separately since I used a  Mojo Monday sketch.

This sketch was perfect for the CTMH stamp set, Mary and Babe. I didn't stray much from the original sketch. I used the Sparkle and Shine papers plus a black mat that I hand cut. The fun tag came from Cricut Artbooking cartridge cut at 4.25" for my 6.5" x 5" card. I stamped Mary and Baby Jesus with Slate ink and the sentiment with Black. The tag was sponged with ink with Whisper, a lighter gray. The Juniper banner/tag was cut at 6" x 2." The Ruby hearts were cut using the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge at 1.5" and 1.25." I tied the tag with a gray satin ribbon.

 

Thank you for visiting my blog today. May God bless you as you celebrate the birth of His Son. May the love of Christ grow in your heart at Christmas and all through the year.

 

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

 

C.R.A.F.T #232 - Christmas

Crafty Bloggers Network November challenge - Christmas

Crafty Little Fairies - Christmas in November

Created With Love - Christmas Reds and Greens (Ruby and Juniper)

Mojo Monday 318 - sketch contest

Polka Doodles - use a Christmas tag

Ribbon Carousel Challenge #87 - Holidays and Celebrations

Word Art Wednesday #105 - anything goes with Scripture, uplifting/encouraging sentiment

 

 

 

 

Perfect Sentiments Challenge #99 - Thanksgiving Sketch

Here in the U.S. we'll be celebrating Thanksgiving this month. It is a time to reflect on the blessings God has given us this past year. We teach children in school our history of Pilgrims coming to America in 1620 to have religious freedom and how difficult it was to start a new home in a cold wilderness, a difficult winter, with half of their numbers dying. We rejoice that Native Americans helped them in the spring to plant crops, fish, and hunt so that they prospered enough to have a large celebration of Thanksgiving after harvest. Four years later, some of my family came to America to join more Pilgrims, also seeking religious freedom. A few years later my husband's O'Dell family moved to the same town, Concord, Massachusetts, then part of Plymouth Colony. Knowing this gives me an even stronger connection with the struggles of the early Pilgrims.  I admire their determination and the strength they received from their faith in God. I love sharing this story with the younger generation of our family so that they may, in turn, pass on their history and faith with their future families.

Where I live, we get together with family and have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner that includes turkey, dressing, cranberries, sweet potatoes, a variety of vegetables, and ends with pumpkin pie. Fortunately for me, I'm allergic to most of it and will eat a much smaller meal. But I still enjoy baking a turkey for everyone else. The aroma fills the house for hours and gives me so many memories of days gone by and family members gone to be with the Lord.

So I had to include a turkey with our sketch today.  The Challenge: create a card with a Thanksgiving theme following this sketch. Don't forget your sentiment. 


 Robyn's Fetish, our lovely sponsor, will provide a prize of 5 images to the random winner.

 Here's our fun sketch:


























Here's my "Turkey" take on our fun sketch:

I used the CTMH Huntington paper pack with its warm fall colors. I cut the leaves using the Cricut Artbooking cartridge "b" key. The turkey, from the stamp set Perfect Fit -  Thanksgiving, was cut with the Cricut Artiste, then stamped.  The sentiment "Happy Thanksgiving" also comes from that same stamp set. The leaves were from CTMH and are long retired, but not from my drawer. I added some Crème Brulee and Olive inks to the leaves as well as a small bow tied with Harvest Assortment Baker's Twine.

The inside sentiment is lovely word art that I saved last year from Little Birdie Blessings. I lined the top and bottom with "Huntington" zip strips.

"From the fullness of his grace we have all received one Blessing after another." John 1:16.

Thank you for visiting and may God bless you and increase your awareness of the many ways He's blessed you. May your heart be filled with thankfulness no matter where you live!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Cuttin' and Stampin'  #44 - Giving Thanks
Die Cut Divas - Holidays and Celebrations
Everybody-Art-Challenge #252 - Autumn
Going Grey with Scrap Creations - Give Thanks
Path of Positivity #8 - Thankfulness
Ribbon Carousel Challenge #87 - Holidays and Celebrations & spooled item Baker's Twine
Rose Blossom Garden #15 - Fall/Thanksgiving theme and leaf flourish from Artbooking "b" key
Scrapping Everyday Miracles - Thankfulness
Shopping Our Stash #126 - Thanks (leftover paper and some very old leaves from my stash)
Word Art Wednesday #104 - anything goes with Scripture or uplifting/encouraging verse



 

Twist of Faith #62 - In Remembrance

I was "absent" from my blog a lot lately. I had the privilege of being a crafter at a large craft fair in a local church last week. It was so much fun to visit with other ladies who also love crafts and to see what each shopper liked. I did find that I need to make many more sympathy cards for others as well as for my own use.  This week the challenge at Twist of Faith can be interpreted in any way - In Remembrance. My interpretation was to make a Sympathy card.

I was glad that My Sheri Crafts and Kaboodle Doodles also encouraged us to make Sympathy or Thinking of You cards, since they are such an important way to reach out to others in their most difficult days.

I loved the sentiment I found on our sponsor's website. It was perfect! It's called "In Sympathy Sent."

Our lovely sponsor is Digi Darla's Designs! Our random prize winner will receive their choice of  FIVE images! 

 

 

I used this sketch #283 from Sketch Saturday this week:

 

 

 

One issue I've always had in making sympathy cards is how to make it lovely and cheering without seeming inappropriately cheery. I used some retired paper from Close To My Heart that I'd been saving for wedding cards, but the floral gray, chocolate, cream, and peachy colors seemed perfect and soft for a sympathy card as well. Since that paper had butterflies and birds, I cut out a butterfly using the Cricut Artiste cartridge, then I backed it with gray patterned paper from the same packet and inked the edges. 

 

 

 

The inside has the rest of the sentiment from Digi Darla's Designs and a Scripture that I typed.

 

 

If you'd like to save my word art to use in your own card, you can left click on it to enlarge it, then right click to "save as." I saved it as a large jpg, so you can make it smaller to fit the size you need.

 

 

 

I hope you'll join us. Be sure to share your card creation with scripture, or uplifting verse or quote!

 

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Blogger's Challenge - Things with Wings

Brown Sugar #66 - Things with Wings

Chocolate Coffee and Cards #51 - Bugs and little critters -  butterfly

Flutterby Wednesday #259 -  any winged creature

Kaboodle Doodles #196 - Tribute to a Loved One

My Sheri Crafts #122 - A Little Comfort - Sympathy or Thinking of You

Sketch Saturday #283 - sketch 

Word Art Wednesday #104 - anything goes with scripture or uplifting/encouraging sentiment

Doodle Pantry November Release - Old West Sheriff

I'm happy to share two cards with you today that should appeal to some of my grandsons. Two of my grandkids were cowboys tonight at their Halloween Trunk or Treat at church. I wasn't surprised at their choice because I fell in love with the old west when we made several trips to Jackson, Wyoming, and the Grand Tetons. That's why I chose to make cards using "Old West Sheriff."

I had found this cool "Cowboys Ten Commandments" online so I used it inside this first card:

I used the patterned papers that come with this set but experimented by printing the gray ones on cream paper instead of white. The jute ribbon and metallic Durables Artisan Studs are from CTMH. We were having thunderstorms when I took the photos so I didn't get enough light to show off the gold glitter pen highlights that I traced over the lines in the badge.

This second card uses some woodgrain papers from My Mind's Eye and birthday sentiments that I made up for the front and the inside. The word "Wanted" is included in this digi set and has so many possibilities such as birthday invitations as well as other types of sentiments.

 

 

If you have any Western-lovin' cowpokes among your family or friends, you will certainly want to consider this set. I hope my examples are helpful! God bless you and thanks for visitin'.

I'm sharing these cards with the following challenges:

Word Art Wednesday #104 - Anything goes with Scripture or uplifting/encouraging sentiment