Snowflake Joy

It might seem strange to some to make snowy Christmas cards on a day when the temperatures reached 91 degrees, but I think it's the perfect way to think cool thoughts and work on getting ahead. I made a couple of fun, easy ones using a PTI Mix n Mat Snowflake die, a Darice embossing folder, glitter cardstock, and CTMH letter dies.

I put white glitter cardstock behind the die cut panel.

The inside was stamped simply with the retired CTMH Very Merry stamp set.

Thank you for visiting! May you be blessed as you make and give your lovely creations for friends and family!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

A Snowflake's Promise #51 - anything Christmas goes
CCEE Stampers #1822 - use embossing folders
Creative Knockouts #248 - embossing
Crimbo Crackers  #159 - anything Christmas goes
Die Cuttin' Divas #371 - anything goes
The Holly and the Ivy #30 -  anything Christmas goes

Titus 1:2 (WEB)
in hope of eternal life, which God, who can’t lie,
promised before time began;

365 Promises of God - Promise #151:   You can rest in My promise of eternal life, for I cannot lie.

Very Merry Holly Berries

I really like challenges because they give me ideas to focus on when there are so many choices in my stamp arsenal. I made another Christmas card inspired by two previous challenges I saw, one to include holly and another to include candy canes. I knew holly was symbolic at Christmas. Here's what it means:  Legend states that holly berries were originally white, but that the blood Christ shed for the sins of humankind stained the berries forever red. A holly's pointed leaves symbolize the crown of thorns placed on Jesus' head before he died on the cross. Candy canes are symbolic, too. The 'J' can mean Jesus. The white of the cane stands for the purity of Jesus Christ and the red stripes are for the blood he shed when he died on the cross.

I selected a digital stamp I've had from Power Poppy that had both holly and a candy cane. I colored the image with Copics. The sentiment is from a retired CTMH stamp set, Joy to You and Me. The Ruby colored paper from long-retired Sparkle and Shine had a pattern resembling the pattern on the embossing folder I used. I chose to  use this sketch from The Paper Players Challenge: 

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

A Snowflake's Promise Challenge #51 - anything goes

Christmas at Sweet Stampin' May Challenge - anything Christmas goes

The Holly and the Ivy Challenge #30 - anything goes

The Merry Christmas Challenge #22 - anything Christmas goes

The Paper Players Challenge #395 - sketch

Thank you for visiting!  May you be blessed as you create cards to bless others!

Philippians 1:6 (WEB)
being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you
will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

365 Promises of God - Promise #150:   I began the good work in you and I will finish it.

Christmas Peace with Lace and Snow

I'm so glad there are Christmas challenges to remind me to get started on the mountain of Christmas cards that I need every year. I wanted to convey the message of PEACE that our world so desperately needs today. At the birth of Christ the angels brought the message of "Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men."

I made three versions of this blue and silver card using some very old CTMH designer paper with lilac mist diamonds that I embossed with a snowflake border. You have to look pretty hard to see the diamond pattern, but in person, it adds additional interest beyond what plain cardstock would have.  That blue background is adhered to a silver foiled card.

I used a Spellbinders "Peace Sentiment" die set to cut the swirly oval shape with the silver word 'Peace."  On the last two cards below I stacked two of the white die cut to give it more dimension. I used a row of lace on each card and white glitter paper snowflakes punched with a Martha Stewart punch, with a pearl in the middle of each. The card base is truly a shiny silver even though the photo looks black.

The next version has the addition of a silver doily half.

This third one is my hubby's favorite because it has a lacy border on the left.

Thank you for visiting! May you be blessed as you share God's peace with your family, your neighbors, the world.

I'm sharing this project with the following challenges:

52 Christmas Card Throwdown - May stash: Lace
Christmas at Sweet Stampin' - May Anything Christmas
Crafting by Designs - Get Ready for Christmas
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #387 - anything goes/option of silver
Crafty Catz #418 - anything goes/option of Christmas
The Holly and the Ivy #29 - Anything Christmas
Through the Purple Haze #144 - pearls or lace

2 Thessalonians 3:16 (WEB)

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times
in all ways. The Lord be with you all.
   

365 Promises - Promise #41: I will give you peace at all times and in every situation.   

Vellum Butterfly Card

Have you ever made a card for yourself? I often find when I'm sick I feel better if I make encouragement cards. It helps me to revisit my stamps with sentiments that help me put my focus on what God can do rather than how horrible I feel or how much I'm going through.  I'm having a reaction to contrast dye for a CAT scan and decided the only thing that will make me feel better is to create something and get my mind off how I feel. The good news is that the growths in my lung have stopped growing and I won't need additional scans. I'm praising God for this answer to prayer! To find that out was worth having the iodine contrast, reaction or not. I always thought that as a nonsmoker I wouldn't have to face things like lung disease.

I gold embossed the sentiment for this card, "He who kneels before God can stand before anything." This was my reminder to keep praying for the reaction to subside and trust God to do it. I also gold embossed the butterflies and flowers on vellum and colored the backs with Copic markers.

I cut a large oval out of the center of the kraft cardstock die cut and popped up a smaller stitched oval with the sentiment. Here you can see the gold embossing better:

Thank you for visiting today! May you be blessed by the Lord as you bless others with your cards!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

All Sorts Challenge #469 - Insects, bugs, bees, butterflies
Challenge Up Your Life #92 - Gold
Cuttlebug Mania - butterflies and birds
Fussy and Fancy Challenge #212 - favorite florals
Heart 2 Heart May Challenges - Get Creative with Vellum
Word Art Wednesday Challenge #336-337 - anything goes, uplifting

Stamps and dies - CTMH "Chelsea Gardens Cardmaking" stamps and dies (butterflies and flowers), Stitched Ovals Thin Cuts;Sweet 'n' Sassy Stamps "The Future,"  Spellbinders "Classic Ovals,"  "Tranquil Moments" Card Creator (background)


365 Promises - Promise #146:   I will show you the mysteries of My kingdom.

Grand Canyon Adventure Layout

Last month my hubby left on a photo and graduation trip to the picturesque Southwest. Lizzy was graduating from Grand Canyon University with her doctorate in psychology. I was there in spirit. (Long auto trips and camping are too hard on my now.) We've taken decades of wonderful trips rich with memories for me. Now I get the pleasure of scrapbooking his photos. This layout is about hubby's camping in the Grand Canyon so he can get to the rim before sunrise for the best photos. He posted some of his favorites with technical details on his blog, Light through my Lens. Each time I've stood at the rim looking across layers and layers of canyons it was like standing in a great cathedral in nature and worshiping the amazing Creator of such wonders!

I was inspired to use the double page sketch from Stick It Down.

Here are close-ups.

In order to know what size I should cut my Cricut embellishments, I tried something new. I set up two 12 x 12 pages in Cricut Design Space and added photo sizes and pieces to be cut. I wondered why I hadn't tried this before?  This is what that planning file looked like:

When it was time to cut, I hid all of the rectangle/square pieces which didn't need to be cut with the Cricut. Feel free to use my cut file if it would help you.  I used papers from an old set of Fundamentals which had a shiny clear embossed pattern on one side. I thought the shine reminded me of sunrise. The green is from the Fresh Air paper pack. The mountains were cut from Nutmeg and Kraft cardstock. They were images from You Are Here, Flower Market, Artistry, and Camp Out cartridges. The other embellishments are my leftovers from the Fresh Air Complements in the workshop kit and an extra set of the wood Fresh Air Shapes. I also added some New England Ivy Burlap Ribbon under the mountains. The copperfoil trees, star and word banners are showing up as almost black, but here's a close-up showing all the textures:

Thanks for visiting! May you be blessed with sweet memories of your own adventures!

I'm sharing this layout with the following challenges:
Card Mania Challenge #104 - anything but a card
Heart 2 Heart Challenge - Scrapbooking

Lasting Memories Layout Challenge- photo layout with one or more hexagons
Not Just Cards - anything goes
Pause Dream Enjoy - Scrapbook layouts
Stick It Down - May Double Page Sketch

Psalm 30:5 (WEB)
For his anger is but for a moment. His favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning.

365 Promises - Promise #144: My displeasure may last for a moment, but My favor is yours for life.

Atlantic Hearts Sketch #265 in Triadic Colors

I used to wonder why I had to have two autoimmune diseases that kept me home most of the time and why I had to retire from teaching early. I'm frequently convinced that being home gives me a chance to pray for others more than I could while working 10-14 hours a day, teaching, planning, grading. Today was one of those days to pray. My 93 year-old mother-in-law fell in the bathroom and was lying on the floor a long time before anyone found her. Then she passed out again later and needed a trip to the ER. This was the first reason for prayer this morning and several more came during the day. Thankfully, she was merely dehydrated with nothing broken. There were also answers to prayer. I had to make a run to a nearby town to get medical supplies for her and had to fill the empty gas tank on my car, locking myself out. Another quick prayer for help knowing my hubby couldn't rescue me because he had to stay with his mom. The man in the car behind me had been a local police officer and said the police in that town would unlock it for me for free. Within five minutes I was on my way. I love answered prayer! I thanked Him for the speedy answer. I loved yesterday's 365 Promises that said God knows what we need even before we ask.

I had planned on a different card today, but decided to stick to a sketch and color challenge when interruptions kept coming. This sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge and favorite pink papers that follow the Triadic Color Combo Challenge at Heart 2 Heart this week. I used CTMH shades from the red-violet, yellow-orange, and blue-green triad. You can read more about that color theory at Make It From Your Heart post here. I also cut the fun birthday sentiment in two parts for variety.

 

Thank you for visiting! May you be encouraged to know that God is watching out for you, knowing what you need before you ask! (But don't forget to ask!)

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Alphabet Challenge - D for Dots ( Bashful pink dotted paper from Central Park)

Atlantic Hearts Sketch #265

Country View Crafts - Be Humorous

Heart 2 Heart Challenge - Triadic Color Combination

Pile It On Challenge #142 - sports/hobbies or Make Us Laugh

365 Promises - Promise #141:   I know what you need before you even ask.

Poinsettia Peace and Joy

We live in a world in desperate need of peace as well as joy. This Christmas card sentiment has a much deeper meaning than a trite or overused expression during the holidays. I saw another school shooting this week that was violent and senseless. When I was in school, one of our teachers taught us The Golden Rule at the beginning of the year and had it posted in front of the room all year: ³¹ Do to others as you would have them do to you. (NRSV) Luke 6:31. In high school a student would always read a scripture and another would lead in prayer before assemblies. Both schools were public schools.

Teachers and schools can't do that now. Taking the influence of the Bible and prayer out of school may have kept some from being offended, but it also removed the positive influence of Christian values that had been present in our society for generations.  Now we must pray for the Prince of Peace to heal troubled minds and hearts in the parts of our world where violence has destroyed peace and joy.

I made two versions of this Christmas card. Hubby likes the first and I like the second. They were made from DCWV paper, a gold embossed sentiment, gold sequins, and a ribbed gold ribbon.

To make these cards I played with the Power Poppy digital image in Photoshop to change it from a black and gray to an rgb image so I could change the color balance to red and magenta instead of black.

For the inside I changed the hue/saturation of the poinsettias adjusting the light/darkness bar to more light.

Thank you for visiting! May you be blessed as you share the message of Christ's love and peace with a hurting world.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

ABC Christmas - J for Joy and K for Keep it Simple (I chose J)

A Snowflake's Promise Challenge #51 - Christmas anything goes

Christmas at Sweet Stampin' May- Christmas anything goes

Christmas Crafts All Year 'Round - Christmas anything goes

Crimbo Crackers Challenge #158 - Christmas anything goes

Jingle Belles - Holiday ribbon

The 12 Months of Christmas Challlenge #41 - anything goes Christmas

The Holly and the Ivy Challenge #29 - anything Christmas goes

365 Promises - Promise #140: All My blessings will overtake those who obey Me.

SE2 New Product Blog Hop

Welcome to our blog hop featuring the new products in the new Seasonal Expressions 2 Idea Book. If you've come here from Alayne Fleming's blog, you're on the right path. To see the entire list of participants, visit Melinda Everitt's blog.

I chose to highlight ways you can use the newest Thin Cuts dies and papers from Central Park in this idea book. The first one I want to show is It's Your Day. It's perfect for the front of an A2 card.

I had planned to watercolor a background for this die cut, but the paper from Central Park won out as the easy, happy background for a birthday card. I cut the image twice and used liquid glue to match them up for a thicker overlay before attaching it to the card front. I used a little of the white ribbon that's also new in the book. It's thinner and lighter and ties really well with a lovely texture.

Next I wanted to show you a way you can stack the stitched hearts. They come in four sizes, but I used the three largest ones, cutting both the dark and the light sides of the cardstock that matches the Central Park patterns I used.  It reminded me of a quilt block, so I used a light Mink embossed background, cut 4.75" x 4.75." Each set of three hearts was attached using the mini-stapler. The sentiment came from the Festive Birthday Cardmaking Kit.

I made the last example to show you how you can use the stitched shapes as frames. I cut some of the stitched circles then cut them again with a heart shape die in the middle. Those circles with heart cut-outs are backed with a matching circle of Central Park paper and popped up with 3-D Foam dots.  Three of the circles aren't cut again with circles, they have patterned hearts popped on top of them and one has a Bashful bow from Beautiful Friendship Bows. I further embellished with a few Bashful enamel dots from Documented Dots.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this gave you ideas for things you'd like to use from this new Seasonal Expressions catalog! Now you're ready to move on to see what Brenda Lapp has prepared to delight you!

Close To My Heart Card Ingredients:

Papers - Central Park Paper Packet, Central Park Coordinating Cardstock: White Daisy, Bashful, Glacier, Pacifica, Poppy)

Thin Cuts dies -  It's Your Day, Stitched Circles, Stitched Hearts  

Embellishments, White Ribbon, Documented Dots, Beautiful Friendship Bows

Stamps - stamp from G1157  Festive Birthday Cardmaking Kit, A1192 Happy Heart

Inks - Pacifica, Poppy

Tools - Mini Stapler, Rose Embossing Folder, 3-D Foam dots, Thin 3-D Foam dots. Bonding Memories Glue Pen.

When Friends Are Sick

One of my friends scrapbooked with us last month. After she left she stopped by her elderly mother-in-law's apartment  a couple of blocks away to check on her and found she'd had a stroke. She was put in ICU in the hospital, then after a couple of days she was transferred to a nursing home. My friend was told she'd also had a heart attack, then was placed in a nursing home where she developed pneumonia . All of this meant she couldn't return to her apartment or live alone. So a few days ago my friend moved her things and brought her to live with her and her husband. When I see my friend this weekend I'm giving her this card for her mother-in-law. Because of her condition, I didn't want to simply say "GET WELL SOON."  But asking God to help her get through the problem with His Grace is always appropriate. I want her to know that God will strengthen and care for her during this difficult time.

I was thankful for the retro challenge at Southern Girls to use old punches. I used two scalloped squares for the sentiment. The stamp set is CTMH Sending Prayers  and retired papers from Gimme Some Sugar.

Thank you for visiting! May your cards encourage others who are ill or have lifelong conditions.

365 Promises - Promise #128:  My Son took upon Himself all your sicknesses and diseases.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

A Gem of a Challenge #218 - Sympathy or Get Well card
Creative Craft Challenge #107 - Dies or punches
Dragonfly Journeys Challenge #117 - use sequins
heARTful Stamping Challenge - anything goes with stamping
Southern Girls Challenge - use punches

They brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases.” (Matthew 8:16–17)

Butterfly Wreath

It's no secret to family and friends. I love crafting, especially scrapbooking and cardmaking. Yesterday was National Scrapbook Day and I gave myself to craft almost all day. But I began the day with something else I love to do - writing personal notes or letters of encouragement in cards that I send. I sent three yesterday which is as fulfilling for me as making them. It may be a lost art to communicate with pen and ink instead of social media, but I still think it's important. I have a lot of handwritten letters from a long lost grandmother that are still dear to me. Who can ever find a facebook post from years ago with the same kind of personal touch?

Here's the card I made inspired by four challenges:

I used this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch and Color Throwdown

I used the two Cricut cartridges for images, Flower Market for the wreath and Artistry for the butterflies. Feel free to check out my cut file.  I added neutrals, cream flowers and black. I stamped the kraft butterflies with a very old CTMH stamp set, Romantic Backgrounds. I stacked two of the butterflies attached with glue dots. I started to cut cream flowers but noticed some from my stash had tiny wooden beads that matched the kraft cardstock.

I love to dry emboss white backgrounds. This one uses a retired CTMH vine folder. The die cut sentiment is part of CTMH Thankful for You sitting on CTMH Coral Shimmer Trim.

Thanks for visiting! May God bless your crafting and your giving.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #262 - sketch
Color Throwdown #491 - coral, green, kraft, white
Crafty Calendar May Challenge - Things with Wings
Fab 'n' Funky Challenge #392 - wet or dry embossing

365 Promises - Promise #126: My face will shine upon you all the days of your life.

May Stamp of the Month Blog Hop - Classic Summer Bash

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month blog Hop.  If you just came from Alyson Mayo's blog you're on the right path for the hop. You can find the entire list of participants at Melinda Everitt's blog here.

I chose a Cricut Artbooking background that reminded me of the lemons even though that wasn't the original theme of the design. The "HELLO" sentiment was also part of that design. I did add a rectangle from Basic Shapes and welded it to the bottom so it would fit my card dimensions and allow me to wrap the Blue Burlap Ribbon around the sides.

I stamped the jar on vellum and left a half inch border on each side so I could glue only that border to the mat and slightly curve the jar to look more three dimensional.  I used a craft knife to cut a thin slit to make an opening on top of the jar to slide the lemon and straw through. I used tiny glue dots to attach the stamped pieces of lemon to the straw or jar.

I used a second Artbooking background as a stencil and inked two inside areas.

I was also interested in trying the banner with an invitation that our oldest daughter might use to invite guests to one of the fabulous barbeques they have on their new deck. I wanted to include an orange half as part of the banner.

Here's the card I posted this morning. You can see the details here if you're interested.

You can purchase this month's stamp of the month at a discount for $5.00 with a $50.00 purchase or at full price for $17.95 from your CTMH consultant or here.

Now you are ready to see how Jean McNulty used this fun stamp set.

Thank you for visiting!

Other Card Ingredients:
Card 1 - Lemon, Sapphire, White Daisy Cardstock, Blue Burlap Ribbon, Cricut Artbooking
Card 2 - Beautiful Friendship paper pack (Sapphire flowered), Adventure Fundamentals paper, Sapphire, Lemon, Tangerine inks, Thin Cuts Block Alphabet, Bitty Sparkles