November Stamp of the Month Cards

 

I celebrated a blessed Thanksgiving with family on both sides this week. I also took a break from making multiples of Christmas cards to post a few needed cards. Here are three I  made with the November Stamp of the Month, "It's the Little Things."It has a variety of flower and leaf shapes that can be combined in many ways.

I hope mine will inspire you to try a variety of colors on the flowers. They can go with nearly any patterned paper. I used the Pathfinding paper and its colors to make these. The first one uses a sentiment from a retired stamp set, but it's one I always need.

 I made this last one using one of the previous Mojo Monday sketches, #369.

I'm sharing these with the following challenges:
613 Avenue Create - #100!! - anything goes (option of calendar)
Amusing Challenge- anything goes (no digis)
Eclectic Ellapu - Purple team - leaves and folliage
Just Us Girls #269 - anything goes
Robyn's Fetish Challenge #240 - anythig goes
Word Art Wednesday #160 - anything uplifting

Give Thanks Card Set

This week we celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday. When I was a girl my thoughts focused on the Pilgrims, their hardships, and the feast they had their second year in America thanks to the help of Native Americans teaching them how to raise American foods. They had much to be thankful for that year. More recently I learned that Abraham Lincoln proclaimed our national celebration of Thanksgiving in the midst of the Civil War, when few might have little to help them feel thankful. Both historic events point us to the idea that we should be thankful in the midst of plenty and in times of trouble. Scripture also directs us to be thankful to the Lord for His lovingkindness no matter what our circumstances are.


Here's a set of cards I made to give to friends and family.

The first card I made uses a new CTMH background stamp, Season of Thanks. I embossed the olive background, inked the stamp with Versamark clear ink, and used green and brown chalk to make the design pop.

The next two cards used CTMH designer paper from Pathfinding instead of the background stamp.  All three cards have embossed background that I sponged with coordinating ink. The verse I used is an older one from Verve. 

Thank you for visiting. May you take time to reflect on the many blessings God has given you, even during hardships or trials. May this week be a time for reflections and expressions of gratitude that will continue all year!

I'm sharing this card project with the following challenges:

Chalk-ah-Lot Cafe #70 - Thanks/Thankful/Thanksgiving with chalk



Frosted Designs Friday Challenge - Thanks with twist -ribbon/trim, twine, washi tape
Fun-day Friday Challenge #67 -from Jo's Scrap shack - Happy Thanksgiving
Great Impressions November Challenge - Thankful Thoughts



Kitty Bee Designs Aloha Friday Challenge #37 - Thanks/Thank You
Open-Minded Crafting Fun Challege #24 - Grateful
Quick Quotes Friday Challenge #45 - Gratitude/Thanksgiving
Sentimental Sundays Challenge #234 - Heartfelt Thanks
Sweet Pea Stampers - Thanksgiving
Word Art Wednesday #159 - anything goes with uplifting message

Quick and Easy Christmas Cards

I recently sold more than 50 of my handmade Christmas cards and now need to replace more than that for myself. I found a really quick procedure to make them using some of my older My Mind's Eye card bases and the newer CTMH "Pear & Partridge" Picture My Life cards. The first set of PML cards I bought came with page protectors that have a variety of 4" x 6" and 3" x 4" arrays to be filled with the cards and photos. Now they've come out with sets you can buy without the page protectors, so I'm on my second set.

These are so fast, I'm totally sold on them! There are three of each 3" x 4" card in each set, meaning I can easily make two more cards after designing one.  I only added a contrasting mat, a small amount of coordinating Christmas paper and a simple embellishment or two. Here are a few samples:

I cut along the top edge of the sleigh so I could insert a "gift" with this message from a Verve stamp: "Christ the Savior is Born."

(The sentiment on the last card was stamped using a long-retired stamp from a long-retired company.)

My favorite Christmas style is traditional, with traditional colors like red and green, so the PML cards help with this style.
Thank you for visiting! Let us be thankful for this blessed holiday celebrating the birth of Christ the Savior.
I'm sharing this project with the following challenges:
As You Like It- favorite Christmas style (traditional/modern) & why
Aud Sentiments Challenge #120 - use a sentiment for any Dec. holiday
Christmas Stampin' All Year #38 - Anything goes (plus comments)
Crafting by Designs - Get Ready for Christmas
Scrapper's Delights Challenge #36 - anything goes/traditional Christmas
Winter Wonderland - Let's get sentimental

Scripture and Lyrics Lesson #19

After no internet connection for most of last week, three days focused on our local craft fair, and a great workshop with a dozen ladies in my cardmaking/scrapbook club, I was ready for some physical and spiritual R and R (rest and recovery)! I added a layout to My Crush album using Patter's most recent scripture lesson revolving around the lyrics from "Something in the Water" by Carrie Underwood. What I really enjoy about focusing on the lyrics and scripture while I create is that I mull over the ideas longer and make new "connections" with the ideas in Patter's lesson and the ones I'm including.

I had never heard the song, so I enjoyed listening to the lyrics. I chose to print the entire song again, this time on a card base that will open. Since all of the pages in My Crush album have differently decorated pages, I chose to use the butterfly themed set of pages to reflect the lyrics revolved around change and stronger. It's across the page from my favorite anniversary photo (inside a flip-flap) taken at a butterfly festival. I labeled the photo using one of the new Skylark Picture My Life cards and some washi tape.

I stamped quotes and scriptures about GRACE from Our Daily Bread Designs and Verve.

  I hand-lettered the word CHANGED and surrounded it with a retired white enamel shape. I stamped the word STRONGER using flaxen ink using the Keyboard Uppercase alphabet.

I especially love 2 Corinthians 12:9:
"And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."
I know that my life has plenty of weaknesses and faults so I'm always thankful that I don't have to be perfect to come to Christ, but that His strength shows despite my weaknesses. Last week I was designing, cutting and packaging 48 two page layouts and 30 cards for my workshop. I always need the entire week with few interruptions and still have to stay up until 1:00 a.m. the night before the workshop. Somehow, Monday through Thursday I had major interruptions digging up bulbs, helping with removal of shrubs, trees, pergola, and patio in order to have three sides of our basement dug up for repair. I just kept praying that God would help me get everything finished, saying I can't do it, but You can, Lord. Amazingly, I finished around supper time on Friday instead of the usual late bedtime. I even woke before the alarm that morning, set up 30 minutes earlier than ever, and didn't get exhausted from all of the activity that day. Wow! That was definitely a God thing! I was SO thankful that His strength helped me despite my weakness and having less time. Oh, and we were supposed to have several inches of snow but only had a few hard-to-see flurries that didn't accumulate! His grace really IS SUFFICIENT!

I stamped the ODBD Butterfly Corner using Twilight ink and colored it with Prismacolor Pencils. I wanted it to be subtle so the verses would stand out more.
Thank you for visiting. May God bless you with the awareness of His strength in you when you feel weak or in need of His grace.
I'm sharing this project with the following challenges:
Anything But a Card #41 - anything goes
Loves Rubberstamps Challenge #127 - Things with Wings
Not Just Cards #6 - anything goes
The Pink Elephant Challenge #277 - anything BUT a card
Triple The Scraps - SLLC14 - #19 Something In the Water
Use Your Stuff Challenge #162 - use stamps



Word Art Wednesday #158 - anything uplifting

Blessed Beyond Measure

Later this month we will celebrate Thanksgiving. Many of us will feast with relatives on turkey, cranberries, and pumpkin pie, to mention only a few of the traditional foods. I used this pumpkin stamp for a Thanksgiving card. Personally, I think giving thanks should be a daily practice. If we think about this, most of us can acknowledge many daily blessings for which we should give thanks to one another and to God, even during difficult times. 


I hope that the sentiment on this CTMH pumpkin, Blessed beyond measure, is one you can identify with. I made two versions of it using a similar design and color palette. I used the rock and roll technique to add a darker color around the edges when I inked the stamp.

This first one is for the Color Dare, Orange plus neutrals and one accent color, olive. I used Goldrush and Autumn Terracotta.

The old hymn we used to sing in church, "Count Your Blessings," says so much about the benefit of being thankful and counting our blessings:

When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.


Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.


When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings—*money cannot buy [*wealth can never buy]
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.


So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.


This week at Word Art Wednesday the beautiful free-to-download crafted verse is from 1 Thesalonians 5:18:  "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."


I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:


Blogger's Challenge - Give Thanks
Color My Heart Color Dare #117 - choose your orange (first card)
Eureka Stamps - Count Your Blessings
Fussy and Fancy #126 - Thankful
Path of Positivity - Gratitude
Wags n Whiskers #141 - Let's be thankful
Word Art Wednesday #157 - anything uplifting

Pink Christmas Deer for Peace on Earth

City Crafters today have a challenge to make a card with a deer. Most of my life I enjoyed looking at deer in a field or in the woods. I've taken my share of photos of deer. They've always seemed graceful and peaceful to me, (except when they've eaten my newly planted bushes or bulbs. We had to put up a six foot fence around my vegetable garden so that they'd stop eating lettuce, strawberry plants, blackberry bushes, etc.) Yet, I still wanted to make this peaceful, feminine Christmas card.

I have a set of PML cards for Christmas scrapbooking, but I'm falling in love with them for card making. My pack of cards accidently had one extra 4" x 6" pink card with a deer, so I embossed one with polka dots, added liquid pearls on the dots to represent snow, and cut out another deer to pop dot it over the deer on the embossed card. The soft look of the deer encouraged me to add soft lace, organdy ribbon, and a sentiment about peace on earth
Thank you for visiting! May God bless you with His peace!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

City Crafter Challenge #236 - use a deer on the project





Craft-Dee BowZ November challenge - anything goes with handmade bow
Craft Your Passion #238 - bright and sparkly
Creative Card Crew #74 - show Christmas Joy
Dream Valley - get ready for Christmas
Love to Create #140 - girly and lacy
Papertake Weekly - Anything goes with option of sparkle or glitter (my liquid pearls)
Through the Craft Room door - anything goes

Mojo 370 Yuletide Carol Christmas Card

I'm working on the Christmas card workshop for my scrapbook club next month. I love the papers in this year's CTMH Christmas paper pack, Yultide Carol.  One of the reversible papers has great images. Using these images will save my friends time - great images without stamping. Here's the first one I made using the fun sketch from Mojo Monday this week.

I wanted this card to be flat enough to mail so I used gold sequins instead of other thicker embellishments.The red poisettia was cut using a Spellbinder's die. the red floral strip at the top is one of the zip strips on top of the CTMH papers.

I used a Martha Stewart border punch that embosses while cutting. I stamped the sentiment on one of the papers with music using the CTMH B1468 Merriest Christmas stamp set.

 

Tank you for visiting! May God fill your heart with joy as you create your own Christmas cards to share with loved ones!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Always Something Creative #86 jff - green and red

Bearly Mine - Christmas Cards

 Crafty Calendar November - It's All About Christmas

Die Cut Divas - Holiday with die cut

Jingle Belles - Christmas card with a creature

 Mojo Monday #370 sketch