Joy through Sorrow

Yesterday was just a blue day for me. I woke up feeling sad and then several things happened that added to that sadness. I was thankful when the Holy Spirit directed me to Psalm43:5 The cure for my depression, my sadness was to put my Hope in HIM!!! I WILL PRAISE HIM!!!!! After making this I was encouraged. I am thinking of sending this to a friend who is struggling with a lot of issues right now. I am also uploading it to Word Art Wednesday.

His Strength

This card was made for this week's Word Art Wednesday. I choose to focus on this sentence. "I love you O Lord my strength." There are so many days when I am not strong. I am barely surviving. If I was having to rely on my own strength, I would be a failure. I was encouraged by 2 Corinthians 12:9... "My grace is sufficient for thee;for my strength is made perfect in weakness." What a paradox. I am strongest, when I am weak and let God use His strength. I choose to use this crocus image. A flower isn't the first image in my thoughts when I think of something strong, but any flower that can push up through the ice and snow and bloom when there is a chill in the air is a Strong flower. I made this card for a single mom in my church. She is a strong lady in a lot of ways. It takes a special person to be both mom and dad to her two kids. She doesn't ever complain. This week she was struggling with overwhelming sadness. I hope this card will encourage her. The inside of the card reads... I see better days ahead.

Joy! It might be closer than you think.

On Tuesday of this week, I woke up to a grey, drizzly, foggy day. My husband, a long haul truck driver, had been gone for 4 weeks. I woke up just feeling sad and sorry for myself. Happy and Joyful were not words to describe me as I was driving my youngest to school so that he could be there by 7:00 a.m. for a science club meeting.The rain was coming down and I had the windshield wipers on as I was driving around the corner of my house. A little blue bird who had been sitting on the road flew up right by my window as I drove by. The thought that struck me as I saw him, was I had almost missed seeing this little bird who was right in front of me because I was distracted by the rain and my own thoughts. Sometimes Joy is like that little blue bird. It is there in front of me, but I don't see it because I let other, unimportant things distract me. The scripture that I used on this card is one of my favorites. I have it on my bulletin board to remind me that joy is coming if I don't feel it now. I experimented on the background. I printed the sheetmusic on tissue paper, by taping the tissue paper to a piece of printer paper, and running it through the printer. I then ink spray smashed the tissue paper. I then crinkled the tissue paper up and glued it to a piece of cardstock. It is hard to see in the photo, but there is a crinkly texture.I then printed the verse and ink spray smashed it as well as a scrap of lace. The little bird is a Mark's Finest Papers bird. I think he is a chickadee on pussy willows. But for my card he is a little blue bird on a branch with leaves. I stamped the pussy willows twice to add some depth. Some are glued straight to the tissue and some are curved and not attached to the background. It is also hard to see, but the scripture strips are also curved. The center parts are up about 1/4 of an inch and are only touching at the ends. I am sharing this card with Word Art Wednesday.

Merry Christmas to everyone! I pray that you have a wonderful blessed day celebrating our Savior's birth!

Joy to the World

Joy to the World , the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the World, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.


292 Christmas have come and gone since Isaac Watts wrote this song in 1719. The words still move hearts. In a world with no hope, no peace and no joy, a little baby was born. That little baby was Jesus, Emanuel, God with us. I love the part that says "let every heart prepare Him room". There are so many things that we prepare at Christmas time. We prepare the gifts, we prepare the food, we prepare the decorations... do we stop to prepare our hearts? The stamp I used on my card for today, I bought many years ago. Not your typical Christmas sentiment, but I really like it.

"Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2:14) This is the scripture that Miesje, picked for us this week. Her challenge is to make a Christmas card/project that shows the true meaning of Christmas. Our sponsor this week is Our Daily Bread Designs.

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

MFP -Blog hop NEW PINES

Hello! Welcome to Mark's Finest Papers a Heinrich Company's December Blog Hop!

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

Pucker Up Featured December 13

Pussy Willows Featured December 14
Ice and Snow Featured December 14

New Pines Featured December 15

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! We will announce all four winners on December 16, 2011 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. The winners will be chosen at 11PM EST on Thursday December 15, 2011.


Lois
Vicky
Anne
Connie
Linda
Karen H.
Patty P.
Geri
Dawn M.
Marilynn (This is Me)
Chrissy
Karen K.
Pam
Debbie
Brenda T
Bonnie
Harriet
Tammylee
Silvia
Mark's Finest Papers

Here is my project using this set. I made a simple bookmark. I stamped the sentiment and trees with versamark then heat embossed gold ep. Added a white base and gold ribbon. It went together really quickly, but I had so much fun making it. I forget how much fun it is to heat emboss.

MFP blog hop - Pussy Willows and Ice and Snow

Hello! Welcome to Mark's Finest Papers a Heinrich Company's December Blog Hop!

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

Pucker Up Featured December 13

Pussy Willows Featured December 14
Ice and Snow Featured December 14

New Pines Featured December 15

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! We will announce all four winners on December 16, 2011 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. The winners will be chosen at 11PM EST on Thursday December 15, 2011.

Lois
Vicky
Anne
Connie
Linda
Karen H.
Patty P.
Geri
Dawn M.
Marilynn This is me :)
Chrissy
Karen K.
Pam
Debbie
Brenda T
Bonnie
Harriet
Tammylee
Silvia
Mark's Finest Papers

Tiny little pussy willow. Softer than a baby's pillow. Sometimes when I stroke your fur. I almost hear you purr.

I thought that was such a sweet little poem about pussy willows that I wanted to share it with you. For my card I decided to do burned glue technique on the pussy willow blossoms to add texture. I love the sentiment. I know I will use it alot.

I was inspired by this cover to Jennifer Haines Piano Solo album called Christmas Magic.

I love this song called Winter Snow Song. It is my new favorite Christmas song.

MFP December blog hop - Pucker up

Hello! Welcome to Mark's Finest Papers a Heinrich Company's December Blog Hop!

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

Pucker Up Featured December 13

Pussy Willows Featured December 14
Ice and Snow Featured December 14

New Pines Featured December 15

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! We will announce all four winners on December 16, 2011 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. The winners will be chosen at 11PM EST on Thursday December 15, 2011.

Lois
Vicky
Anne
Connie
Linda
Karen H.
Patty P.
Geri
Dawn M.
Marilynn This is me :)
Chrissy
Karen K.
Pam
Debbie
Brenda T
Bonnie
Harriet
Tammylee
Silvia
Mark's Finest Papers


For my project I made a topper for a bag of lemon jelly beans. I used yellow gingham and the lovely lemon.

Growing up in Arizona, my grandparents had citrus trees in their yard and we had a lemon tree in ours. I loved getting fresh fruit off of the trees. We made what we called "battery acid". It was a combination of all the citrus fruits that we had picked, grapefruit, oranges, lemons... My folks have a lime tree in their yard now. I loved that juice mixture chilled over ice. I also have fond memories of when the lemons and orange trees would be in bloom. That is one of my favorites smells. When I saw this set the song "Lemon Tree" Sung by Peter Paul and Mary was going through my head. I was listening to it as I was making my project and thought I would share a link to it on youtube.

Oh and Happy 20th birthday to my daughter Johanna!!!!! I made this little candy bag for her, for her birthday.

Happy Birthday Jesus

It is my priviledge to be the hostess this week for Stampin' Sisters in Christ.

On Tuesday, my oldest daughter Johanna turns 20 and on the next Tuesday my other daughter, Kristina turns 18. Since they were little girls I have tried to make their birthdays special. A friend of mine who also has a December birthday told me to never wrap their presents in Christmas paper, but to use birthday paper to make sure they felt special. One year I saw a cartoon on a bulletin board at a church that we were visiting. It had two scenes the first portrayed a little boy sitting on the ground with a sad face while all his family was by the Christmas tree. The next scene showed that same little boy with Jesus kneeling by him and saying “I know how you feel, people forget about my birthday too.”

Parties, trees, shopping, lights, presents, food, snowmen, cookies, movies, candy canes, reindeer, elves, Santa… the list could go on and on of all the things we add to Christmas. Those things are all fun. I am guilty of being caught up in some of these traditions. But I love being reminded about the real reason to celebrate. The other day, my daughter Johanna and I were on a road trip and the two of us were listening to Christmas music on the radio. The song “Happy Birthday Jesus” came on.
Happy Birthday Jesus
I'm So Glad Its Christmas
all The Tinsel And Lights
and The Presents Are Nice
but The Real Gift Is You.

Happy Birthday Jesus
I’m So Glad Its Christmas
all The Carols And Bells
make The Holiday Swell
and it's All About You
Happy Birthday Jesus
Jesus I Love You!
I pray that in all the busy crazy days ahead that you don’t forget what Christmas is all about. It is about the Lord of all creation coming to earth to be born as a tiny little helpless baby. To live a simple, but sinless life and then die a horrible death on a cross for you and for me because he loves us.

Luke 2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.





My challenge for everyone is to make a birthday card in honor of Christ's birthday. Our sponsor this week is Simon Says Stamp. Make sure to check out what all my Stampin Sisters have created this week. I know you will be blessed.

Angels among us

My wonderful sister and friend in Christ, Lisa chose these verses this week:

Matthew 1:20-22, "But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, 'Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.' All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 'The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel' which means, 'God with us.'"


Here is Lisa's challenge:
Make a card/project depicting an angel


I made mine a pocket card with an angel on a bookmark. It was really hard to photo with rain outside but it is super sparkly.

Yesterday my oldest daughter and I left home at 3:00 am to drive 4 hours so that we could see my other daughter compete at the Iowa State dance competition in Des Moines IA. As we were driving home last night we were both very tired, and I know that God sent his angels to watch over 2 tired drivers. This song "Angel's among us" by Alabama came on the radio and I knew I had to incorporate it into this week's project.

This week's sponsor is Clear Dollar Stamps. Check out what my other STAMPIN' SISTERS IN CHRIST have done this week.