Great Spangled Fritillary- I think

The butterfly at the top of this post, was dead when it fluttered next to my daughter's feet. She was fueling her truck up at the gas station when she noticed it. She picked it up and brought it home to me. It is gorgeous with it's little spots of silver on the wing. Wow, what a wonderful creation that God made. I spent a lot of time looking at butterfly images trying to determine what kind of butterfly. I narrowed it down to a couple of choices and my son Joshua and I thought it most resembled the Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly. I really wish I knew an entemologist so I could know for sure. I made two cards using my Mark's Finest Papers butterfly from the set DAFFODIL AND ANISE. I tried to mimic the real thing. I really like how both of these cards turned out. The top card used SC339 sketch and the second one used MOJO197.

Thank you Sunflowers

Miesje picked this verse for this week’s devotional.

Galatians 5:1 "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. "

What a wonderful blessing to be free. I love THIS song by the Newsboys. We sing it often at our church. What an admonition to stand firm and not become slaves again. I spent sometime thinking about ways that we can be slaves.
To me it seems that as a society we prefer the word addiction to slavery. I have a friend and coworker who is a slave to smoking. Just this last week we had a conversation about how she would like to quit, but how her addiction controls her life. I have another friend who is a slave to alcohol. She knows that it is bad for her, but she still drinks. I’ll admit it is easier to see other’s slavery than it is to see my own. It made me think of the following scripture from Matthew 7:1-5 1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
So I asked God to show me my plank. What are my addictions? As hard as it is to admit it, I struggle with my slavery to food and my slavery to my computer. As soon as I wake up I think about food. I think about food all day long. This slavery to food has added extra weight and health problems like high blood pressure.
My addiction to my computer became evident to me the other day when we lost internet all day because a cable was cut. I found myself going to the computer to check several times to see if it was back.
It seems that I justify my addictions by comparing them to others. I want to think that mine aren’t as bad as others, because:
1. I have to eat, everyone has to eat.
2. I need my computer to get my work done.
When does something that we need become our master? When it takes priority in our lives to the will of God. My prayer this week is that Christ will take first place in my life, and that the Holy Spirit is the controlling force for my days.

The challenge this week is to make a red white and blue thank you card. The winner will get 3 digis from Ginger Loft. Tami gave me this digi to make my card. I love butterflies and sunflowers so I had a lot of fun making this card. Last year my kids and I saw some red sunflowers growing by a barn.

This is a close up of one of the sunflowers.

I used burnt Aleene's tacky glue technique for the center of my flowers.
Check out what my Stampin' Sisters in Christ have created.

Chris

Grace

Kris

Linda

Lisa

Miesje

Pegggysue

Rebekka

Sabrina

Happy Father's Day! I hope everyone has said... "I love you." and "Thank you." to their dads if they still have them around.

“You’ve got to see it to believe it.” Have you ever heard that expression? I have a story to share with you. When I was little I was blessed to live near my grandparents and my cousins. One day my sister, my brother and I were playing ball with our cousins in my grandparent’s big back yard. Our game got interrupted when the ball rolled near my grandparent’s Airstream trailer that they stored in their yard for when they went camping. My cousin Alissa touched the trailer as she was reaching for the ball. As soon as she did that, she got a shocking jolt. She jumped back and screamed “I’ve just been shocked!” We gathered around her and taunted “Did not!”, “Did too!” was her response. One by one we ALL had to touch that trailer and get shocked because we had to SEE FOR OURSELVES.

My daughters and I love watching crime tv shows, like CSI. (Probably because my dad is a forensic pathologist and my brother works as a tech in a crime lab.) In all these shows there is a common theme. The police have an idea who committed the crime, but it is their job to collect enough EVIDENCE that the jury will SEE and BELIEVE them.


The scripture I choose to share with you this week is:

Hebrews 11:1 Now FAITH is the substance of things hoped for, the EVIDENCE of things unseen. (KJV)


How do we get the kind of Faith that is so strong that it is our evidence? The Bible says in Romans 10:17 “So then Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” That is how it starts. We can read the Bible. We can then ask the Lord to help our Faith to grow. Like the apostles did (Luke 17:5 And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our Faith.”) and like the father of the possessed child did ( Mark 9:24 Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do BELIEVE; help my unbelief.”)

My prayer is that God will strengthen your faith this week. My challenge for you is to make a card that shows the “EVIDENCE” that you were the creator by doodling on your card. Here are a few suggestions to get you started: dots, swirls, lines, and faux stitching… I look forward to seeing what you create.


I stamped Mark's Finest Papers- Poppies,poppies,poppies and did paper tole with Aleene's burnt glue for the centers. My doodling is very subtle. I doodled with a black pen around the edges of the lighter brown dp. I used my scalloped border punch along the blue panel and around the circle for the Stampin B's challenge to use a border punch.

Here is a close up on a piece of gray cardstock so that you could see what the doodle looks like. It is a dot with a line that I call the ER Life line machine. It is a straight line with a squiggle and a straight line. I really like this kind of doodle because you don't have to be exact. If your straight line isn't exactly straight that is ok and if the squiggle is different from the other squiggles that is ok too.

Our wonderful sponsor this week is Our Daily Bread Designs.

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

Chris

Grace

Kris

Linda

Lisa

Miesje

Pegggysue

Rebekka

Sabrina

Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge - Father's day cards

For this week's Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge the scripture that Lisa chose was:

(Eph 6:2-4 NRSV) "Honor your father and mother"--this is the first commandment with a promise: {3} "so that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth." {4} And, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.


What kind of father do you have or did you have? Kind? Mean? Rich? Poor? Smart? Dumb? Caring? Critical? There are all kinds of earthly fathers, and no matter how hard they try they aren't perfect. Still God doesn't just ask, but commands us to honor them. He gives us a promise with this commandment "So that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth." I know lots of people that harbor anger against their parents,. Sometimes that anger is justified, sometimes it isn't. This scripture admonishes the fathers to not provoke your children in anger. The bad thing about holding on to anger and unforgiveness is that it destroys your health. It hurts the person holding on to the anger way more than it hurts the person that they are angry at, still Satan encourages us to be angry. God wants us to forgive our parents and honor them for the position that He placed them in. Not for their good, although if we are obedient, I think they will benifit as well, but the main reason is for our good. God knows what is best for us, even we don't understand, or it goes contrary to what the world says.

The challenge this week was to make a Father's day card or a card that honor our Heavenly father. I chose to make a Father's day card for my father Phillip. Growing up my dad loved collecting western themed artwork. These images made me think of him.

The sponsor this week is Simon Says Stamp.

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

Chris

Grace

Kris

Linda

Lisa

Miesje

Pegggysue

Rebekka

Sabrina

Mark's Finest Papers June Blog Hop- Floating Along

Hello! Welcome to the June 2011 MFP New Releases Blog Hop!

This week's new releases are: All Aboard, Poppies Poppies Poppies, Sand Surf Relax, and Floating Along.

For your convenience, all these sets are available TODAY at Mark's Finest Papers.

So, do you want to WIN today's Featured Stamp Set: Floating Along? (If you don't want to wait to win, you can always purchase the sets right away! We'll substitute a set from NEXT month's release if today's winner has already purchased this set!)

For your chance to win: Comment on the following Design Team members' blogs TODAY before midnight EDT. There will be ONE random winner chosen from the comments on today's Blog Hop blogs. That winner will win Floating Along. We will announce the winner's name on tomorrow's blog post.

Emily
Nancyruth
Neva
Silvia
Faith
Claudine
Dawn
Marilynn
Patricia
Chrissy
Karen
Pam
Joanne
Kittie
Sharon-Guest Designer for June
Mark’s Finest Papers

Mark's Finest Papers Sand Surf Relax blog hop

Hello! Welcome to the June 2011 MFP New Releases Blog Hop!

This week's new releases are: All Aboard, Poppies Poppies Poppies, Sand Surf Relax, and Floating Along.

For your convenience, all these sets are available TODAY at Mark's Finest Papers.

So, do you want to WIN today's Featured Stamp Set: Sand Surf Relax? (If you don't want to wait to win, you can always purchase the sets right away! We'll substitute a set from NEXT month's release if today's winner has already purchased this set!)

For your chance to win: Comment on the following Design Team members' blogs TODAY before midnight EDT. There will be ONE random winner chosen from the comments on today's Blog Hop blogs. That winner will win Sand, Surf, Relax. We will announce the winner's name on tomorrow's blog post.

Emily
Nancyruth
Neva
Silvia
Faith
Claudine
Dawn
Marilynn (You are here)
Patricia
Chrissy
Karen
Pam
Joanne
Kittie
Sharon-Guest Designer for June
Mark’s Finest Papers

This is my card using this marvelous set. Last week I had a dream about it. (That is when you know that stamping and card making take up a big part of your life when you dream about them.) I pictured a polaroid photo that someone might have taken on their vacation before digital photos. :) (So I was thinking old people like me!!) I stamped the shells and colored them by watercoloring. I cut them out and used porcelain paper technique on them. I also shaped and curved them so that they resembled real shells. The background was brown paper that I crinkled up and distressed the edges to make it look like an old treasure map. I doodled around the edges and made that "X" all treasure maps have. I added raffia to look like grass that might be growing along the shore and I added twine with a figure 8 knot. I made this masculine card as a thank you note for my sons' boy scout leader. He took them camping this last weekend and had to put up with a lot with high temperatures, high humidity and rain in the tents... I really appreciate all that the voluteers with boy scouts do!! They are amazing!

Mark's Finest Papers June blog hop day 2

Hello! Welcome to the June 2011 MFP New Releases Blog Hop!

This week's new releases are: All Aboard, Poppies Poppies Poppies, Sand Surf Relax, and Floating Along.

For your convenience, all these sets are available TODAY at Mark's Finest Papers.

So, do you want to WIN today's Featured Stamp Set: Poppies, Poppies, Poppies? (If you don't want to wait to win, you can always purchase the sets right away! We'll substitute a set from NEXT month's release if the winner has already purchased this set!)

For your chance to win: Comment on the following Design Team members' blogs TODAY before midnight EDT. There will be ONE random winner chosen from the comments on today's Blog Hop blogs. That winner will win POPPIES, POPPIES, POPPIES. We will announce the winner's name on tomorrow's blog post.

Lois
Dawn
Anne
Peggysue
Connie
Emily
Karen
Patty
Roxie
Vicki
Liz
Geri
Lynn
Lagene-Guest Designer for June
Mark’s Finest Papers



This is my card for the hop. It is another 6 fold card. I really like how it turned out.

This may just be one of my favorite stamps set of all times. I have already shown you some of these cards, but for the hop, I put them all in this one post so that you could see them all together.

MFP June blog hop day 1

Hello! Welcome to the June 2011 MFP New Releases Blog Hop!

This week's new releases are: All Aboard, Poppies Poppies Poppies, Sand Surf Relax, and Floating Along.

For your convenience, all these sets are available TODAY at Mark's Finest Papers.

So, do you want to WIN today's Featured Stamp Set: All Aboard? (If you don't want to wait to win, you can always purchase the sets right away! We'll substitute a set from NEXT month's release if today's winner has already purchased this set!)

For your chance to win: Comment on the following Design Team members' blogs TODAY before midnight EDT. There will be ONE random winner chosen from the comments on today's Blog Hop blogs. That winner will win ALL ABOARD. We will announce the winner's name on tomorrow's blog post.

Lois
Dawn
Anne
Peggysue
Connie
Emily
Karen
Patty
Roxie
Vicki
Liz
Geri
Lynn
Lagene-Guest Designer for June
Mark’s Finest Papers


My card for today is another 6 fold card that I made using the All Aboard set. The belly band has the railroad tracks and the crossing sign. Here are the views of my card:

This is a card I made last week using this set. This is such a versitile set.

MOJO194 Poppies Birthday Card

I made this birthday card using MOJO194 sketch. I made this for my friend Lindsey who has her sweet 16th birthday today. It uses Mark's Finest Papers set called Poppies, Poppies, Poppies. It is going to be released tomorrow. Check back tomorrow for June's blog hop.

Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge for 6-5-11

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. John 13:34-35

This is the scripture that Linda choose for this week.
The first thing I noticed about this passage was the word "commandment". Not just a good idea, not just a suggestion, not something you do if you feel like it... No it is a commandment. Something we MUST do. Especially if we are followers of Christ.
This isn't always easy. God places people in our lives that we just don't "FEEL" like loving. This was very evident to me this last week. Sunday night, a group of teenagers vandelized our house with toilet paper, chocolate syrup and peanut butter. It was such a mess. It was made even more serious with the fact that my daughter is extremely allergic to peanut butter. I can tell you that I didn't "FEEL" like loving them. I was angry and upset and I didn't "FEEL" like praying for them or forgiving them. I had to ask God to give me the strength to do it. Is there someone that you need to pray for, or forgive? You can ask God to give you strength through his holy spirit. He doesn't command us to do the impossible without giving us the strength to do it.


Matthew 19:26
And looking at them Jesus said to them, “ With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

The challenge this week was to use something new on our cards. I used a new stamp set called Poppies, Poppies, Poppies. It will be released this week by Mark's Finest Papers. I hope you like the sneak peek at this set. I used an old technique in a NEW way on the center of the flowers. Many years ago Aleene used Aleene's tacky glue and burned it with a candle to make the glue bubble and harden like leather. Instead of using a candle, I used my heat gun. I put a drop of Aleene's tacky glue to the centers of my flowers and I heated it right away before it dried. The glue bubbles up and then goes back down and it gives a lot of texture.

CLOSE UP VIEW OF BURNT GLUE

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

Chris

Grace

Kris

Linda

Lisa

Miesje

Pegggysue

Rebekka

Sabrina