A Season to be Thankful

Since I was a little girl, I've had a great passion for history. I've always been inspired by the story of the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving. After many overwhelming hardships the first winter in America, they were assisted by Native Americans to successfully grow and harvest crops, fish, and game for a bountiful harvest the next fall. It wasn't until I was much older that I learned that my grandfather's Halstead family also settled in Massachusetts Bay Colony a couple of years after that first Thanksgiving. So now I feel a personal connection to the story of those early Pilgrims.

After going through any type of hardship, we may feel blessed when the difficulty is over, or even just better. But what if there are no obvious hardships? I see what is happening around the world and feel gratitude for things like safety, freedom, and living in a land of plenty.  I see someone with a terrible illness and my own ailments seem insignificant. Yet, I'm constantly aware of the fact that there is so much more for which I should be thankful than what I actually verbalize to others and to God. I love the scripture that says, "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18." So I'm still working on giving thanks for "everything," good or bad, happy or sad. If you're still reading this, I thank you for your time and attention. May God bless you richly!

Here's another one of my Thanksgiving cards made with Sangria papers.

The inside has the lovely thankfulness word art from this week's Word Art Wednesday post.

6.5" x 5" Card Recipe:
Paper - CTMH Sangria paper pack
Stamps - CTMH "Blessings of Autumn" hostess stamp, CTMH Sangria Workshop on the Go stamps; retired CTMH spring leaves stamp
Inks - CTMH Champagne, Poppy, Pomegranate, Eggplant, Cocoa
Tools - Cricut  Art Philosophy (leaves, circle mat), Cricut New Arrival (stitched circle)
Embellishments - CTMH poppy thicker twine, Pink enamel gems

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Bitten by the Bug 2 - Thanksgiving with Fall Leaves (from Cricut Art Philosophy p.62)
Crafty Creations Challenge #302 - Give thanks
Die Cuttin Divas #242 - Thanksgiving with a die cut  (stitched circle and leaves)
DoubleClick Skittles #35 - Thank you or Thanksgiving
Freshly Brewed Designs Challenge - So thankful
Path of Positivity Challenge #32 - Gratefulness

 
Shopping Our Stash #228 - Thanks/Thanksgiving
Simon Says Stamp - Thanks/Thanksgiving
The Crafty Addicts #4 - anything goes/use die cuts (stitched circle and leaves)
Word Art Wednesday #210 - anything uplifting

Sangria Thanksgiving Layouts

A few years ago I decided to stop putting duplicate holiday layouts in the albums of each of my eight grandchildren. Instead I started specific holiday albums. I take the albums to our family dinners for everyone to enjoy. My hope is that they will continue to get together over the years, even after I'm gone, and can enjoy looking back at their holiday celebrations. In this album I want each family member to be thankful for blessings God has given us, for our special times together, and to celebrate each family member and the love we share.

I made four layouts using the Sangria paper pack in the Workshops on the Go. Here are two of the quick layouts I made up myself using 4" x 6" photos and clusters of the Sangria complements. Because the complement pieces are small, I lay different groupings of them in strategic places on the layout, usually in a visual triangle. When I find a grouping I like, I adhere some and overlap and pop dot others.

The title mat was cut using the negative spaces of the alphabet on the new Cricut Artistry cartridge and the Explore, which allowed me to move it over to the right so I'd have room for the complements. Here's a closer look at the way I clustered the complements:

I'm never caught up scrapbooking (I take too many photos!) but I'm working on previous Thanksgiving photos right now so I can take our album to our Thanksgiving dinner next week. I've started adding flip flaps over the tops of page protectors so I can add many more photos to one layout. The page protectors and flip flaps tend to produce glare so these photos of the pages were taken before I slippped them into protectors.

Here is the other Sangria Thanksgiving layout.  I cut the title in two colors, using Cricut Artbooking. They were cut the same size then slightly overlapped off-center.

Thanks for visiting. I hope this will give you some ideas for making your own layout or album. If you're interested in using flip flaps to add more photos to your layouts, you can find them here.


I'm sharing these layouts with the following challenges:
All Sorts #337 - Anything but a card
Craft Your Passion #288 - anything goes
Fantabulous Cricut #264 - anything goes
Fussy and Fancy #152 - Thankful
Lasting Memories #268 - Thankful inspiration photo
Not Just Cards #26 - anything goes
Shopping our Stash #228 - Thank you or Thanksgiving

Here are the other two layouts that I made using the CTMH Sangria Workshop on the Go. The first is our vacation with family last year to Colorado. The second is my milestone birthday (65!???) celebrating with family at Overland Park Arboretum. Since I didn't make up these layouts, I'm not entering these in the challenges.

A Thankful Heart with Sangria

I love autumn! Our weather has been sunny and pleasant. Only a few trees and my burning bushes have changed color in our yard. Most things are still green. But I'm anticipating beautiful autumn colors soon. Before the cold, gray days of winter arrive, this is a time for which to be thankful!

Here's my first card using CTMH Sangria paper with its lovely leaves. The vellum leaves are from Sangria Complements, and the Pomegranate colored flower is from the Sangria Assortment. The stamp is from the CTMH set Thankful Heart.  I colored the word "thankful" using the ShinHan Sap Green marker.

The inside has a verse that is beautifully scripted from Word Art Wednesday from November 12, 2014:  Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:20. 

What a challenge for us all to remember to be thankful for all things, the obvious blessings and the smallest details that we take for granted as well as the difficult or even heart-breaking trials that come our way. Thankfulness helps us grow closer to God and lets Him help us through the trials.

Thank you for visiting! May God richly bless you and help you recall all you have to be thankful for!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
2 Crafty Girls - Oct. Inspiration board - I used "Fall" and die cut machine
Fantabulous Cricut Challenge #262 -Autumn (used "Artistry" cartridge for die cut frame and mats)
Fan-tastic Tuesday #107 - anything goes (square/rectangle) with twist - autumn colors
My Time to Craft #306 - Autumnal colors
Robin's Fetish #285 - use lots of orange
Stamping Sensations October challenge - colours of autumn
The Crafty Addicts Challenge #3 - Anything goes with Autumn Colored Pallette
Word Art Wednesday #205 - anything uplifting