Hope Shines Through

I wrote to an old friend today that so much has happened in the world since I wrote her last month. There have been hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions as well as terrorist acts all over the world. I have a friend who beat lung cancer, then had to go back for more surgery when it produced a brain tumor. Friends from church have been in and out of the hospital. The one constant through it all has been the knowledge that God loves us and wants us to turn to him during trials. That gives us a ray of hope that can shine through all natural or man-made disasters.  I wanted to make a couple of cards for breast cancer awareness that uses one of my new stamp sets, Inspired Words. I used this sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge this week.

I used two shades of pink (with a little Glacier for contrast), Bashful and Smoothie. Both of the papers, the smoothie ribbon  and the flowers are retired.

The sentiment was stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with Silver embossing powder. The shiny sentiment inspired me to mat the sentiment, ribbon, and the Artistry Cricut cut ribbon with Bashful Glitter Paper.

The first one I made with a different Cricut cut ribbon and flower. I decided to use it so you could see the ribbon type from the Flower Market cartridge.

Inside each card I put this verse of encouragement about Hope from Romans 15:13a:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Atlantic Hearts Challenge # 232 - sketch
CCCDigi Creations Challenge #82 - Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness
Heartful Stamping Challenge - anything goes with stamping

Camping in Yellowstone - Be Still My Soul

This summer my hubby went camping in Yellowstone National Park in an area with no electrical hookups, etc. It's the area close to the bear population so he decided not to take any food of any type so he wouldn't attract attention from hungry bears.  Before he left I started reading a Kindle book, The 1959 Yellowstone Earthquake. I thought he might want to read it since it was in the area where he planned to stay and since this there were nearly 900 earthquakes in the area from June 12 to the end of the month. There was even a larger earthquake in early July on the Montana side. Of course, none of those details impressed him like they did me. I was the one who took two geology classes in college and visited Alaska to see the results of their biggest earthquake in 1964. I think hubby was mainly concerned about bears.

Bears, earthquakes, volcanoes and other natural disasters, like the flooding this week in Houston, can certainly steal our joy in this life. I'm thankful that I can lean on God and His Word when worries or fears threaten my peace. I frequently lean on the verse that says, " You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." Isaiah 26:3. I chose the card sentiment, be still my soul, which echoes the words of a lovely old hymn, because it simply expresses this truth. In addition, in the woods I always found a sense of calm and being close to God in His lovely creation.

The Heart 2 Heart Challenge initially inspired me to make a card depicting camping. I used the new CTMH Cricut You Are Here cartridge. If you have that cartridge, you may use my cut file here. I sized the images to fit a 5.5" x 4.25" card so I could use a sizzix embossing folder that was that size.  I used a brayer and juniper ink to thoroughly ink the side where the spaces between the trees is raised. When you emboss, the trees stand out and stay white, like aspens, although the proportion to my cricut elements is not realistic since aspens are thinner, smaller trees. I embossed the sentiment from the new CTMH stamp set, Inspired Words. I matted the finished scene on black then mounted it on a 6.5" x 5" card base. I plan to send it tomorrow to Jerry and Judy Worthley, an evangelist and former missionaries, who've had a camping ministry across the country and at their own place in the Colorado Rockies.

I'm also sharing this card with the challenge at Dragonfly Dreams (animals), Challenge Up Your Life (summer), Craft for the Craic ( include triangle shape), and Cards 4 Guys (beginning with a D-deer)

Thank you for visiting! When outward circumstances come to steal your peace, may the knowledge of God's presence and His working for your benefit bring you confidence, calmness,  and joy during your trials.

I must end my post with the words of the sentiment's hymn because I've been humming it the entire time I made the card and wrote this post.

1 Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide,
who through all changes faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

2 Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
to guide the future surely as the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
all now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
his voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.

Annual Inspirations New Product Blog Hop

Welcome to our blog hop featuring new products from our CTMH Annual Inspirations catalog. It's always exciting to see a new idea book and all the new artwork! You may have just come from the lovely artwork of  Brenda Lapp. If so, you're on the right path. If you'd like to see the entire list of participants, Melinda Everitt has the list here.

 

The new Idea Book has a Cut Above Golden Moments Card Kit. It's ideal for someone who wants a quick, gold embossed, beautiful card. They're  quick and easy to make.

I decided to take some of mine up a notch by coloring the gold outlined image using alcohol ink markers.** I also added Bashful Glitter Paper strip and Gold Sequins so they looked like my style. I made the first one vertical with the enclosed die cut sentiment banner stamped with one of the inexpensive M stamps, M1187 Thinking of You,  that fits the shape, like the examples given.

 The second one I changed to a horizontal card with a different sentiment shape.

Today two of my friends from high school are celebrating their 48th anniversary, so I chose a sentiment in honor of their years together from the new stamp set, Inspired Words, that includes 10 scriptural sentiments and 10 single words.

Here's an angle that highlights the beautiful gold embossing that it comes with. You can also see that I matted the sentiment with the new Gold Foil Paper. It's heavier than cardstock and makes a good mat. I also used a 3/8" strip of the new Bashful Glitter Paper since that's the new color of the year.

I hope you're getting lots of great ideas! Now you're ready to move on to Michelle Loncar's blog. Thank you for visiting!

**ShinHan Touch Twin Markers used: R140 Light Orange, RP198 Tender Pink, P282 Peony Purple, G46 Vivid Green, GY234 Leaf Green, Y49 Pastel Green, 0 Colorless Blender

New Products:

Bashful Glitter Paper, Gold Foil Paper,  Thinking of You , and Inspired Words: