Sunday, May 29, 2011

Technique Lovers Challenge Hostess TLC327

If you are looking for the Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge Scroll down to next post.












My friend Holly asked me to be the hostess for Splitcoast Stampers' Technique Lovers Challenge. I was very excited to be asked. I put together this video tutorial showing how






I made my 6 fold cards. I was inspired by this card by Nikki. The couple of cards that I have made using this technique have been met with great reviews by the recipients. I think everyone loves cards that "DO" something.










SSIC91 Ecclesiastes 3:14

This week's Stampin' Sisters in Christ scripture comes from Ecclesiastes 3:14
"I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him."
This verse follows the verses that talk about the seasons of life that we go through...
There is an appointed time for everything.
And there is a time for every event under heaven—
A time to give birth and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
A time to kill and a time to heal;
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn and a time to dance.
A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.
A time to search and a time to give up as lost;
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate;
A time for war and a time for peace.

When we go through happy seasons we sometimes take God's control of the situation for granted, but when we come into a sad season, we sometimes question why God allows them to happen. With the tornado that hit Joplin, and with the earthquake that hit Japan, with so many people hurt, I am sure there are those who asked why God allowed those things to happen. I don't know the answer to that question. The question of "WHY?", I am sure, has been asked by everyone of every generation. Solomon was trying to figure out the Whys. Solomon's answer, "I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him." shows that he was aware that God is in control, men don't have the power to add or take away from God's will. I find such comfort in this thought. No matter what is going on, my God is still in control!! When I feel out of control, I can rest knowing that my God is still in control. When I am sad or lonely, my God is still in control... Do you see a pattern? I just need to be reminded of this truth from time to time!





The challenge this week is a sketch challenge.






Here is my card using this sketch.







Check out what my Stampin' Sisters in Christ have created.







































Thursday, May 26, 2011

American Made collage



I made this card for 2 challenges: Ways to Use it Challenge to use stars. and Stampin' B's challenge to make a collage card. I used the images from Mark's Finest Papers set called AMERICAN MADE. If you had told me a couple of years ago that I would be making collage cards, I would have laughed. They were extremely hard for me to make. They are getting a little easier. I just try to think of different textures. On this card the lace, corderoy, raffia, twine and charm add a lot of different texture. Sewing also helps add to the collage feeling.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011


I made this card for this week's Card Patterns 116 sketch by Nina Brackett. I also made this for the color combo challenge 324 at SCS. My camera had a hard time capturing the true colors of this card. (Overcast day no sunshine... hate taking photos without natural lighting.) I used Mark's Finest Papers sets... Brick Wall and Daffodil and Anise. I also tried my first french bow on this card. I really struggled with it. I hope practice makes perfect! Have a blessed day!

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Stampin' Sisters in Christ Proverbs 10:20-21

Proverbs 10:20-21 "The tongue of the righteous is as choice silver, the heart of the wicked is worth little. The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of understanding.”

Last week I talked about being in the valley. This week I felt like I was walking through the lowest valley, I have experienced. I was away from my computer for several days so I wasn’t able to comment on a lot of cards this week. For 3 days, I helped my husband take some of our trucking equipment to auction. We had hoped that the results of the auction would help our trucking company survive. I watched the auction on-line and as one by one our trucks were auctioned off, I kept saying “Big Money” and hoping that they would sell for a lot. They didn’t.

It made me think of this song by Nicole Nordeman called Gratitude.


Daily bread, give us daily bread.

Bless our bodies, keep our children fed
Fill our cups, then fill them up again tonight
Wrap us up and warm us through
Tucked away beneath our sturdy roofs
Let us slumber safe from danger's view this time
Or maybe not, not today
Maybe You'll provide in other ways
And if that's the case . . .
We'll give thanks to You
With gratitude
A lesson learned to hunger after You
That a starry sky offers a better view if no roof is overhead And if we never taste that bread
Oh, the differences that often are between
What we want and what we really need
...But Jesus, would You please . . .


The phrase “Maybe you’ll provide in other ways” went through my head. I still have faith that God will provide, but it is hard when it is ALL on faith, no sight of what He is planning. I would like to say that as soon as I said "I trust you God" that all my problems went away and I was happy and singing and the perfect Christian woman. Instead I was still struggling to hold my ground against a wall of depression that was closing in on me. Last night, I felt like my “Perfect family” was falling apart. My kids were fighting, my husband was in the other room depressed himself and I was overwhelmed with sadness. If ever I needed encouraging words, it was last night. I spent hours crying out to God, literally. My oldest daughter came into my room, hugged me and spoke words of encouragement and hope to me. Her words were like the treasure of choice silver that I imagine Solomon was thinking about when he wrote the words to this proverb.


Grace has challenged us to make an encouragement card for someone with a touch of silver on it. The sponsor this week is My Favorite Things.


I decided to make my encouragement card in the form of a get well card. I made this one Jim, who is one of our drivers who had open heart sugery this last week. I used the 6 fold technique. The truck was from Mark's Finest Papers set called Big Boy Toys.



Check out what my Stampin' Sisters in Christ have created.




























Sunday, May 15, 2011

Stampin' Sisters In Christ - 5-15-11

I will lift my eyes to the mountains –
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
The Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip.

He who watches over you will not slumber;
Indeed, He who watches over Israel will
Neither slumber nor sleep.
Psalm 121 1-4

The contemporary Christian music artist, Chris August has a song called Canyons. The first part goes. “…Mountains and valleys the ups and the downs I go through. I will rejoice in you Jesus no matter the view.” Isn’t that an awesome thought? God allows us to go through Mountains and Valleys, ups and downs.


It is my opinion that the author of this Psalm knew what it was like to be in the valley. “I LIFT MY EYES TO THE MOUNTAINS”. The only way you can lift your eyes to the mountains is when you are in the valley. If you were on the mountain and lifted your eyes, you would see sky.


“WHERE DOES MY HELP COME FROM?” It has been my experience that I am more ready to ask for help when I have reached the bottom of the valley, than when I am on the mountain. When I am on the mountain I tend to get complacent and I take God’s help for granted, but when I am hurting, and I know I can’t fix things on my own, I cry out “HELP!!!!!”

I love the answer to the previous question.
“MY HELP COMES FROM THE LORD. THE MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH!” In the evenings, my family gathers together in our living room. There isn’t enough space for everyone to have a seat so sometimes we end up on the floor. When I get down on the floor, I need assistance to get up.(I’m not as young as I use to be.) When I ask for help, I don’t ask my youngest son, because he isn’t strong enough, yet, to help me. I ask my oldest son, who is almost 6 ft tall. He has the power and strength to help me. In the same way, when I am down in the valley. I don’t want help from this world. This world doesn’t have the strength. I want help from the All-powerful God. The very God who created everything.

“HE WILL NOT LET YOUR FOOT SLIP” Have you ever been mountain climbing? I grew up in Arizona and I loved climbing mountains. Sometimes when you climb the path is wide and fairly easy to climb. At other times, the path gets really narrow. If your foot were to slip at these times, you could plummet down the mountain and be seriously hurt, if not killed. When reading this verse, I imagined climbing out of the valley and being on that narrow path. How comforting that God is watching over me and won’t let my foot slip! He is protecting me and keeping me safe.

“HE WHO WATCHES OVER YOU WILL NOT SLUMBER; INDEED, HE WHO WATCHES OVER ISRAEL WILL NEITHER SLUMBER NOR SLEEP.” Living in a small town in Iowa, I don’t have many fears when night falls and I try to sleep. The town is fairly peaceful. When 10 o’clock comes, even the traffic lights go from their regular cycle to flashing red lights. There is almost no traffic on the streets. I have lived in a big city though. When I lived in Phoenix, Arizona, it wasn’t nearly as peaceful. I lived downtown, and I heard police sirens all night long and at least once a night I would hear the Police helicopters fly over my apartment. Traffic never stopped. There was always someone on the roads. But even all that chaos can't compare to what some people endure. I can’t imagine living in a war zone. I can’t imagine trying to sleep knowing that the “Enemy” could attack at any time. I think the only way I would be able to sleep is if someone was standing guard. I would want someone responsible, who wouldn’t fall asleep, and who would wake me if there was any trouble. Well, while I don’t live in a physical war zone, I do live in a spiritual war zone. I am glad that I have a protector who watches over me all the time aren’t you?

The challenge this week is to make a card with a tea/coffee cup or pot.

I used my FLORAL TEA set by Mark’s Finest Papers. I stamped it with black stazon and water colored the flowers. I then used porcelain paper technique on the cups. When they were dry I added craft foam behind them to make them have dimension. When I saw what the challenge was, this joke came to my mind and I just had to use it. I used my computer to print it. I made a pocket on the inside to hold a teabag.






The sponsor this week is The Craft's Meow. The prize will be a stamp set designed by the talented Nina Brackett.




Check out what my Stampin' Sisters in Christ have created.


















Friday, May 13, 2011

Card for Zach -MFP BLOG HOP day 4 - American Made



The card that I made for the hop today is for a very special little boy named Zach. Zach, is in my cub scout pack. I was his leader last year. Just a week ago, he was diagnosed with leukemia. The boy scout troop that my boys are in are giving money to help Zach’s family with expenses like fuel. He has to drive 100 miles to get his treatments. This card is a twisted easel card, and it has a pocket in the inside for putting the money in. I have a tutorial for it on Speedy TV.




Isaiah 40:28-31
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.



Welcome to the MFP May Blog Hop! This month, we are releasing 4 NEW SETS!

Our New Sets are: Here Comes the Grad, Big Boy Toys, Magnolia Wedding, and American Made.For your convenience, all 4 stamp sets are available for purchase TODAY!
We have a NEW Blog Candy Contest! BE A GUEST DESIGNER!***
What do you need to do to qualify? Just comment on the Design Team blogs during the blog hop. The winner will be announced on the Mark’s Finest Papers blog on Saturday, May 14, 2011. ***See the MFP blog for all the contest rules and PRIZES!

FRIDAY, May 13, 2011: American Made
Emily-
Karen-
Patty-
Roxie-
Vicki-
Liz:
Claudine-
Dawn-
Guest Designer, Crafty Math Chick
Guest Designer, Pat
Marilynn-
Peggysue-
Connie –
Emily N.-
Neva
Silvia
Patricia
Chrissy
Karen K.
Pam
Mark’s Finest Papers

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Magnolia Wedding- MFP May Blog Hop Day 3


I watercolored the magnolia and cut it out and popped it up on craft foam. I added striped dp, lace, ribbon and pearls. The sentiment was printed on the dp. After it was all done, I wished I had used different paper for the sentiment. The stripes are ever so slightly off from the sentiment. I printed the sentiment using my computer. The pearls are hot glue pearls.


This is the wedding cake card I made last week using this set.


I love how versitile these MFP sets are.


Welcome to the MFP May Blog Hop! This month, we are releasing 4 NEW SETS!


Our New Sets are: Here Comes the Grad, Big Boy Toys, Magnolia Wedding, and American Made.For your convenience, all 4 stamp sets are available for purchase TODAY!

We have a NEW Blog Candy Contest! BE A GUEST DESIGNER!***

What do you need to do to qualify? Just comment on the Design Team blogs during the blog hop. The winner will be announced on the Mark’s Finest Papers blog on Saturday, May 14, 2011. ***See the MFP blog for all the contest rules and PRIZES!

Thursday, May 12, 2011-Magnolia Wedding

Lois

Vicky

Dawn L.

Anne

Emily

Karen

Patty

Roxie

Vicki

Liz

Claudine

Dawn M

Karen K.
Pam


Marilynn

Geri

Lynn

Neva

Silvia
Guest Designer, Crafty Math Chick

Guest Designer, Pat

Mark’s Finest Papers

Big Boy Toys MFP May Blog Hop



My card for today is a modified view master card. If you would like to see a tutorial there is one on Splitcoast Stampers I used three of the sentiments from this awesome set. I watercolored the truck image.

Welcome to the MFP May Blog Hop! This month, we are releasing 4 NEW SETS!


Our New Sets are: Here Comes the Grad, Big Boy Toys, Magnolia Wedding, American Made.For your convenience, all 4 stamp sets are available for purchase TODAY!

We have a NEW Blog Candy Contest! BE A GUEST DESIGNER!***

What do you need to do to qualify? Just comment on the Design Team blogs during the blog hop. The winner will be announced on the Mark’s Finest Papers blog on Saturday, May 14, 2011. ***See the MFP blog for all the contest rules and PRIZES!

WEDNESDAY, May 11: Big Boy Toys

Pam

Lois

Vicky

Dawn L.

Anne

Peggysue

Connie

Claudine

Dawn M.

Marilynn This is me

Geri

Lynn

Emily N.

Patricia

Chrissy
Karen K.
Pam

Guest Designer, Pat
Guest Designer, Crafty Math Chick

Mark’s Finest Papers

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Here Comes the Grad. MFP blog hop for MAY day 1

Welcome to the MFP May Blog Hop! This month, we are releasing 4 NEW SETS!

Our New Sets are: Here Comes the Grad, Big Boy Toys, Magnolia Wedding, and American Made.
For your convenience, all 4 stamp sets are available for purchase TODAY!

We have a NEW Blog Candy Contest! BE A GUEST DESIGNER!



PLEASE READ THIS CAREFULLY!


All Blog Hop participants will have the chance to win a Month Long GUEST DESIGNER position on our Senior Design team! That’s right! ONE lucky winner will receive a Guest Designer package that will include June 2011’s Four New Release sets, a selection of Premium Papers, and beautiful embellishments. The winner will also receive a Guest Designer Watermark, Blog Button and have the choice to participate in the June 2011 Blog Hop!
What do you need to do to qualify? Just comment on the Design Team blogs during the blog hop. EACH DAY that participants comment on all the Design Team blogs, their name will be entered once in the random drawing. Each participant has the opportunity to have his/her name entered up to four times. (There are four days of the blog hop, so there are up to four entries per person.) The winner will be announced on the Mark’s Finest Papers blog on Saturday, May 14, 2011.



TUESDAY May 10, 2011- Here Comes the Grad
Lois
Vicky
Dawn L.
Anne
Peggysue




Today is my day to be featured on the Mark's Finest Papers Blog and I am not on the hop, but I just had to share these cards. I used colors of our local High School. This graduating class is in between my two daughters, and they both have a lot of friends that are going to graduate this May. I better get busy. This set is going to be used alot!!!














































Sunday, May 8, 2011

Mother's Day 2011


Happy Mother's Day. I would like to take this time to thank my mother, Lois, for all she has done for me. She is an amazing Christian woman. You are my best friend Mom! I would also like to honor my Mother in Law Cris. She is another wonderful Christian woman. I am honored to have you as my friend. I would also like to say thank you to my 4 wonderful children. You are a blessing to me!


Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time.



This is the scripture that Sabrina picked for this week's devotion. There are so many beautiful things . A few that came to my mind were flowers and music and cards.



Flowers: They are so pretty when they are getting ready to bloom, but wait on God's timing and they get even prettier. Have you ever taken a bud and forced it to open before it was ready? I have. The result is a smooshed, ugly mess, and the flower dies before it can really live up to it's potential.



Music: If I were to write a song, and you listened to it before it was completely finished, you might hear a phrase or two that you liked, but you couldn't appreciate as much as when you hear it finished.



Cards: I can take pretty embellishments, and dp, and lay them all out on my desk and they are pretty by themselves, but can't compare to how my card looks when it is done and all the elments come together.



To me this is how our lives are. If we look at eachother, we can see glimpses of what the Creator is doing in our lives, but that can't compare to how we will be when He finishes the work on us.



I love this verse:
Philippians 1:6
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.



Sabrina's challenge was to make a card that uses beautiful things on it. I used designer paper that I thought was really beautiful. I added pearls, flowers and a butterfly (Butterfly is from Mark's Finest Papers set called Daffodil and Anise). I got the idea of adding the white circles as baby's breath from this tutorial by Kittie Caracciolo.


Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge with sponsor this week : Simon Says Stamps



Check out what my Stampin' Sisters in Christ have created.



































I hope you can come join us at Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

And we KNOW that in ALL things God
works for the good of those who love
him, who have been called according
to his PURPOSE. Romans 8:28

To me there are 3 very interesting words in this passage. Know, All, and Purpose.

KNOW. I love that it says that we know. Not that we wish, we hope, or we think. To me it is so comforting that I can know that God is working things for my good even when I don’t see how. I love the saying “I don’t know what tomorrow holds, but I know who holds tomorrow.”

ALL. The word All in it’s very nature is inclusive. It is the good AND the bad. The big things AND the little things. It is easy to see how God can use good things to work for good, but harder, if not impossible to see how he used bad things to work for good. Sometimes God gives us a glimpse of how he used something bad to work out for our good and then there are other times that I believe we will have to wait until Heaven to see the big picture. One of the times I was able to see His working things for my good started 16 years ago. I was 3 months into the pregnancy when Nikki died. I was devastated. My baby dying, to me, was a very bad thing. How could God use this for good? I was then blessed about 2 months later by being pregnant again with my son Joshua. Joshua is now 15 years old. He is a wonderful young man who loves Christ, and is one of my biggest blessings.

PURPOSE. To me suffering is a little easier to bear when there is a purpose behind it. I hate to run or exercise, but I will “suffer” running because I know the purpose is that by exercising I’ll be healthier.

When my life is going out of control this is the verse I go to for hope and strength to continue. It is my anchor verse. The past 6 years have been extremely difficult for my family. My husband and I have been running a small trucking company and truck repair company. We have had a lot of losses. We had a tornado take one of our farm buildings (insurance did not cover it.) We had our shop tools stolen (insurance did not cover it).We had lightning damage to our home appliances (insurance did not cover it).The economy and especially the high fuel cost have affected us greatly. Every week for the past several years, I have been sure that “This week is the last week we will be in business.” But every week God has seen us through. I have enjoyed working with my husband, who sees this business as his ministry opportunity. Every year we help with Operation Christmas Child. We truck the boxes from our location to the drop off area. That is just one of the many ministries we have supported. My husband also sees it as a ministry because he can provide jobs that affect about 30 families, and that we have the opportunity to show Jesus to them. The employees are like family to us and this last week “our family” was hit hard. Because of serious life threatening health issues we lost 6 drivers. We only had 12 to begin with. We have very hard decisions to make in the next couple of days. With all this happening, I am comforted by KNOWING that my God is still in control; that these problems fall into the category of ALL things; and that my God has a PURPOSE.

A piece of white cardstock rests comfortably in a drawer. Sometimes it can be a little boring, and sometimes friends move out and he is sad but for the most part, life is good. Then one day the creator takes him out of the drawer. He is confused. Before he knows it, he is cut, punched, pierced, heated to high temperatures. Why is this happening to him? How can these things work for his good? He is put in an embossing folder and rolled through a machine. He is marked, stamped, painted, colored, sewn and glued. When the creator is done what started as a plain piece of cardstock is now a card. The creator takes a picture of the card and posts it to her blog. Her friends leave comments. The creator knew that ALL the things (that includes all the “painful” things that were done to the cardstock… piercing, cutting, punching…) were going to make that plain piece of cardstock it into a beautiful card.




Our wonderful sponsor this week for STAMPIN' SISTERS IN CHRIST is


CLEAR DOLLAR STAMPS They have offered $15 in clear stamps.



My challenge for this week for the Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challege was to make a card that didn't use designer paper.


I challenged myself ever further to make a card that started just as a piece of white cardstock. This card has 3 layers. The base is white cardstock. The second layer is white cardstock that I took a green marker to and then embossed using my dotted swiss embossing folder. The top layer was white cardstock that I stamped green flourishes using green ink and




I then ink-spray-smashed the white cardstock with markers and when it was dry ran it through the cuttlebug using the script embossing folder. The Iris was was stamped on white cardstock that I ink-spray-smashed using purple and blue markers. The iris is from a




I then cut the iris out and used the paper tole technique to add layers to it. I punched out the lace using my SU border punch. I added a thin strip of white cardstock that I colored with my green marker to match the green layer. I also used that green marker to outline the sentiment square.



Check out what my Stampin' Sisters in Christ have created.