Christmas Angel - O Come Let Us Adore Him

We finally finished celebrating Christmas with three of our children's families this week, including eight grandchildren. It's heartwarming to see how they're approaching gifts this year now that they're a year older. The youngest two are in second grade and the oldest is 13. They're now old enough to be patient watching others open their gifts and the oldest let everyone know he didn't need much, didn't want his parents to spend much. And, hopefully, they're growing in their understanding that we're celebrating the birth of our Savior who came to earth to live as a man so that He could someday die in our place to pay for our sins.

As a cardmaker, I was still racing this year to finish Christmas cards and still didn't make enough. While my supplies aren't all put away I've determined to get an early start on next year so this doesn't happen again. Here's a multicultural card I've made for families in my grandsons' Christian school. I used the digi image, "In the Manger," from Mo's Digital Pencil. The sentiment is from a Close To My Heart retired stamp set.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

A Snowflake's Promise #13 - Christmas
Cards und More #148 - Christmas
Creative Card Crew #103 - anything Christmas goes
Creative Moments #83 - Anything Goes/Optional Traditional Christmas
Holly Jolly Christmas - anything goes that's Christmas
The Crafty Addicts #5 - Anything Goes/Celebration
Word Art Wednesday #216 - anything uplifting

Praying for You Card

We live in a time when our world seems to be filled with illness, accidents, disasters and acts of violence.  Some people I know don't watch the news for that reason. I listen in order to find people, groups, or countries to pray for each time I hear the news. St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City did a study a few years ago on prayer and the healing time of patients. They found that those who had people praying for them healed faster, even if they didn't know people were praying for them. I have always believed in answered prayer but it was nice to hear that confirmation.

"Call to me and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know." Jeremiah 33:3

My cards today are simply to share with someone that they have that kind of support in prayer. It's very comforting. 

I made two versions of this card using different Basic Grey papers and a lovely girl from Mo's Digital Pencil called "Zola," colored with Copic markers.

I colored the 2nd card using the Mod Squad Color Wheel Challenge. I chose red, yelloworange, and red violet to color my image.

May God bless you and may you see the power of prayer in your life!

I'm sharing this project with the following challenges:
Allsorts Challenge #306 - Bingo (I used diagonal: sentiment, flower, brad) both cards have a brad in the flower

As You Like It Challenge - favorite alcohol markers - Copics - the brush tip makes coloring a breeze the way I like to color. They also have an amazing group of colors.
Inspiration Destination #29 - anything goes
Mod Squad - Wheel in the Color - I chose red, yellow-orange, and  red violet to color the 2nd card
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge #223 - one for the girls
Whimsy Inspiration #82 - color an image
Word Art Wednesday #179 - anything goes family friendly challenge

Boy Praying Step Card

Before I made today's card I had been finding so many reasons to pray: for direction, for strength, for health, for blessings for  family, thankful for His grace and so many blessings he's given me. The older I am, the more prayer has become this frequent small conversation that goes on throughout the day between me and my "Abba, Father." I can't imagine going through the day without my thoughts turning to Him often in thankfulness or appeal. He knows I'm not perfect and never will be. This relationship is so closely tied to knowing how much He loves me anyway, enough to send His own Son to take my place, dying for my own sins. I wanted to make a card of encouragement for someone else to remember how much we have to talk to our Heavenly Father about.

Earlier this week I mentioned that I wanted to make more multicultural cards. I found some adorable images at Mo's Digital Pencil. Here's one called "Cal" that I couldn't resist. He reminded me of friends that each of my grandsons have at Grandview Christian School. I combined the image with a verse from Word Art Wednesday and the larger sentiment from Our Daily Bread Designs, "Thank God."  The trickier part was combining them into a step card that I'd been wanting to create. I'm still not sure I know ways to keep it standing, but I combined it with some extra support in places and here's the result:

As a masculine card, I kept it simple, without embellishments besides the paper. I didn't want it to be any thicker than it already is.  Now I'm looking at it and wonder if a few buttons would fit the theme and design.  Having a lot of layers is the challenge at Mo's Bronte and Bella's Challenge #218 this week. Here's the side view of the layers.

I planned the back panel and the blue facing part on the middle panel to be the "inside" part of the card where a message can be written on the blue piece:

Here's what the verse on the first panel says:

Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7

In case you can't read the back panel from Our Daily Bread Designs, this beautiful sentiment says:

Happy Moments,

Praise God.

Difficult Moments,

Seek God.

Quiet Moments,

Worship God.

Painful Moments,

Trust God.

Every Moment,

Thank God.

Thank you for visiting. May God fill your moments with awareness of His presence in your daily life and conversation that goes both ways.

I'm sharing this card with the additional challenges:


A Gem of a Challenge #111 - For the Boys
Brown Sugar #78 - Embossing (used Medium Polka Dots folder from the Paper Studio)





Charisma Cardz Challenge #2 - It's a Boy Thing
Digitally Sweet Challenge #72 - Anything Goes (with digi)
Frosted Designs Friday Challenge - Polka Dots (Orange panel - Medium Polka Dots embossing folder from the Paper Studio)
Graph It Color Challenge #4 - Anything Goes/Dark Skin Tones
My Sheri Crafts #125 - Use a Digi
Paper Creator's Crafts #19 - Anything Goes
Totally PaperCrafts #203 - One for the Boys
Word Art Wednesday #116 - Anything Goes with uplifting sentiment