MFP July Blog Hop Day 2 Be Wild and Free

Welcome to Mark's Finest Papers a Heinrich Company's 

    July Blog Hop! 

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

Asian Delights Featured July 17
Wild & Free Featured July 18
Garden Art Featured July 19
Hot & Spicy Featured July 20

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! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!) All four winners will be announced on July 21, 2012 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) The deadline for commenting is 11PM EST on Friday July 20, 2012.

I haven't made a waterfall card in a long time. These small animals
seemed to me to be the perfect size
to place on a waterfall card.
To make the background of my card,
I took my brayer and I wrapped rubber bands
around it. I then rolled the brayer using brown ink.
I randomly rolled the ink. The end result kinda
looked like leather to me. 

I have always used THIS TUTORIAL by Dawn to make my
waterfall cards. She makes it so easy. 

 

 

 

 

 

MFP July Blog Hop Day 1- Asian Delights

Welcome to Mark's Finest Papers a Heinrich Company's 

    July Blog Hop! 

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

Asian Delights Featured July 17
Wild & Free Featured July 18
Garden Art Featured July 19
Hot & Spicy Featured July 20

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! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!) All four winners will be announced on July 21, 2012 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) The deadline for commenting is 11PM EST on Friday July 20, 2012.

 

I stamped the cherry blossoms from the MFP - ASIAN DELIGHTS set on a piece of white cardstock, colored them in, and cut that cardstock into 3 panels. I sewed paper lace over the top. I used paper tole technique on the cherry blossoms cluster. I stamped the symbol and sentiment for peace on a piece of white cardstock and matted it with maroon and black cardstock.  As with any flower cards I make, I just can't help myself. I have to add a butterfly. I used a butterfly from the new MFP set called GARDEN ART, that will be featured on the 19th.

This is a card I made last week using the same set, with special stitching and pearls.

Sparkle

My Stampin' Sister in Christ, Miejse picked the following verse for this week.

Matthew 5: 13 - "You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot."  

After reading this scripture this week, I googled uses for salt. I was amazed at how useful salt can be.

 Did you know you can clean your coffee pot with salt and icecubes?

Did you know you can sprinkle salt on spills on the inside of your oven

 and when cooled makes cleaning the spills up easier?

Did you know you can kill the pain from a bee sting by making a paste

 of salt and water and putting it on the sting? 

 I can tell you that I didn't know these things. The sad thing about when salt looses its saltiness it is worthless.

This verse paraphrased is that it isn't good for anything, pour it out on the gound.

This scripture comes from Jesus's teachings from the sermon on the mount. He was using salt and light as an example of how our lives should be witnesses to the world around us. 

 Matthew 5:16 says "In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.." 

 I  know that there are some people who believe that their good deeds will "save them" But the bible says that

no matter how many good deeds I do, that won't save me. Only my faith in Jesus will save me. So the question is why do we strive to do the good deeds if it isn't for salvation? If we do good deeds then people will see and give God the glory. I want to live my  life so that when judgement day comes, God will say to me "Well, done good and faithful servant."

You may have noticed a trend with my card making lately. I have a lot of pounded flower cards

I was talking last week with my sister about the smashed flower cards I have been making. I told her

 I would be making her a card so that she could see how it looked. I'll have to admit that I am falling in love with the chicory flowers. I have been learning all I can about them. I have a friend who is a wild edibles expert. So I asked him how you can eat the chicory plant. He told me you can eat the flowers,

 leaves and the root. The root, he told me can be dried and roasted and ground up. It has been added to coffee for many years.I told him how well it pounded, and the best part was that it was 

"FREE FOR THE PICKING" .

I actually started this card on Friday, inspired by the free for all challenge at SCS, to make a pocket card.

I thought I would make a simple pocket card and that would be that, but this card kinda took on a mind

 o

f it's own. The fact that I was going to be sending it to my sister made all the time that I put into it not seem to matter. I would estimate that it took me about 4 hours to make this card. 

Miesje's challenge this week is  to add sparkle to our card. 

I hope the pocket part of my card still counts as part of the card.

This is how the card looks inside the pocket.

.

This is how it looks with the inside card pulled out of the pocket.  The scripture on the card was a preprinted scripture on vellum that I stitched to the front. I love this scripture about there being a time for every purpose. The little charm hanging from the ribbon, was done melting "#6" plastic. I thought that the sentiment 

"Oh , the joy of spending time with friends!"  (even though it is a sentence fragment) goes well with the scripture on the card. It also reflected how I felt about visiting with my sister, even if we can only communicate through texts, phone calls and facebook.

 Close up of the sparkle on the pocket of the card. I added glamour dust to the butterfly's wings and added want2scrap rhinestones for a trail.

Our wonderful sponsor this week is::The Stamps of Life. One winner will receive free stamp set of winner's choice of up to $12.95 value


Check out what my Stampin’ Sisters in Christ have created to share with you.
Candace
Diane
Jerusha
Kris
Linda
Michelle
Miesje
Peggysue
Sandie
Traci

I love this song. It is such an encouragement to me to know that I'm never alone.

Asian Delights - Sneak Peek

I'm sharing a sneak peek at a set that will be released 

this month by Mark's Finest Papers. It is called

ASIAN DELIGHTS

The cherry blossoms and the symbol for love are from

that set. Since I can't really read this symbol, I really 

hope it is correct and doesn't say something bad. I'll have to ask

my brother in law who is Japanese if it really says love or not.

When I see Chinese symbols, I think of the people 

who get tattoos, not knowing for sure what they say or mean.

I made this card to go along with several challenges.

1. Color Combo Challenge  383 @ SCS.

2. Sketch with a twist #2 @ MFP Speedy TV

3. Swirls and Pearls Challenge #14 @ Creative Card Crew

I stamped the cherry blossom and Chinese symbol using "Cabin Fever" Adirondack ink.

I stamped them on white cardstock. The white seemed to stark, so I made myself

a glass of iced tea and took the tea bags and  pounced the bags over the flowers. That is

why it has a mottled look. I love tea bag staining. The long vertical piece was done by wrapping rubber

bands around my brayer. I used the same "Cabin Fever" ink for the rubber band stamping.

I added my swirls by embossing another tea stained piece of cardstock. 

The little pearls were pearl beads that I glued onto the flowers.

The sketch with a twist challenge was to use 3 patterned papers. I used a light pink patterned paper

a raspberry patterned paper and the rubber band "handmade" patterned paper.

I don't usually have brown thread to stitch with on my cards, but I had

brown thread in my sewing machine because a project

that I was doing for a friend.(I was actually using my sewing machine to

sew on fabric.) It has been a long time since I've sewn anything but paper! LOL.

Pop up card for Donna

The technique lovers challenge this week at SCS was to make a pedestal pop up card. I used the same dp on the inside as well as the outside. For the outside of my card I used Mojo Monday sketch # 249. I added three pearls at the bottom right hand corner for the sketch, but also for the pearls and swirls challenge for Creative Card Crew. Challenge #14.

My mom's good friend Donna, who I have known my whole life, is going for a double mastectomy this next week. I was saying prayers for healing as I was making this card for her. 

Banana Bread and Moccasins

I get the pleasure of hostessing the challenge this week at

 Stampin' Sisters in Christ.

I hope you enjoy reading

 what the Lord place on my heart this week.

What do banana bread and moccasins have in common? The Lord used them as illustrations as I was meditating on the following bible verse:

 Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future

BANANA BREAD: How important are plans anyway? In May I was making banana bread for my family. I have used the same recipe for over 20 years. I got in a hurry and wasn’t reading the “plan” very closely and almost forgot to add the sugar. I had the mixture in the pans before I realized it, but fortunately I hadn’t cooked it yet so I could fix it. It made me wonder if sometimes in my familiarity with scriptures, that I “miss” something from God’s plan.

Now back to the banana bread illustration. What would have happened if I hadn’t even looked at the recipe, even though someone had taken the time to write it down? What would have happened if I just tried to put the general ingredients together, in amounts that I determined?  The result would have been a disaster. Who would be to blame for my banana bread turning out badly, me or the person who wrote the recipe?  God used inspired men to write down His plan, the Bible. The world does things on its own, disregarding the Bible, and then blames God for all the disasters.

MOCCASINS: My son Joshua is going to scout camp in a week and needs a pair of moccasins for a ceremony. Most of the boys make their moccasins by buying a premade kit. Problem for Joshua is that he wears a size 16. No kits that size that we could find. No patterns either. I only had a limited amount of vinyl to make his shoes. If I messed up there wouldn’t be enough vinyl to fix my mistakes, so getting it right the first time was really important. I searched the internet for “plans” and I asked my father-in-law for advice because he has made moccasins before.

The first thought that I had about the moccasins was,  that if a small piece of vinyl was so important to  “get it right” that I would invest that time looking for a plan, how much more important it should be for me to search the Bible to “get it right” when it comes to my soul? 

The second thought came to me when I asked my father-in-law to give me advice based on his experience. I was thinking about the importance of learning from older women who have been following God’s plans longer than I have, and the responsibility that I have to teach those younger than I.  

Titus 2:3-5 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

I hope you are encouraged to take time this week to read God’s word and read His “plans”.

Our sponsor this week is Doodle Pantry 


Here is my challenge: make a project
 that follows this PLAN:
 (at least) 1 circle or oval element, 
(at least) 2 different papers,
 and (at least) 1 embellishment





The embellishment that I used
 on my card  was a little plastic charm
that says "Birthday Greetings"


It was made with a piece of  .plastic.


I made a video tutorial on how I made my charm.

I thought I would share this photo of Joshua and his moccasins.

 Not too bad for our first try.

Check out what my Stampin’ Sisters in Christ have created to share with you.
Candace
Diane
Helen
Jerusha
Kris
Linda
Michelle
Miesje
Peggysue
Sandie
Traci

Chickadee on Chickory

The past several mornings as I came into the parking lot at work, I noticed a bright yellow chickadee sitting on the chickory plants between our trucking facility and the foundry next door. Yesterday I sat and watched as it sat and ate the seeds from the chickory plant. Today I was able to get this photo of it. It was taken with my cell phone, so it isn't the best quality. I'm so thankful for simple blessings. Thank you God for allowing me to see this little ray of sunshine and for allowing me to capture it with a photo to share with others.

Something new

Hostess this week for Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge: My talented friend Linda

Her Scripture that she choose is:

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. John 13:34-35

I don't know about you but I think that this commandment of Jesus is one of the hardest things to do. Impossible without the Spirit's help.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.1Corinthians 13:4-7

For the most part, I would say that I love the people around me. I love my family and friends and church family. but there was one person this last week that I really struggled with loving. I'll admit got me really angry. He said things that hurt my feelings and I'll admit I could read off the list of this man's wrongs. The last thing I wanted to do was to LOVE this difficult person.We all have those people that are difficult to love.I was convicted that I had not kept this commandment when I sat down to read the scripture that Linda choose. I had to ask God to forgive me and to fill me with love for this person. When I did that my anger subsided and I was able to forgive that man. Is there someone that you are struggling to love? I pray that you let the Holy Spirit love that person through you, because what is impossible to do on your own can be done with God's help.

I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13

Linda's Challenge: Use something NEW on your project

I really struggled with Linda's Challenge because I didn't think that I had anything NEW. But as I contemplated her challenge I found Newish things to do.

I have done the pounded flowers before, so how could that be NEW? Well, I researched the names of the actual weeds that I used and learned something NEW.

The little yellow flowers are called BIRDSFOOT TREFOIL.

The little blue flowers are called CHICORY.

The leaves are from the plant called QUEEN ANNE'S LACE.

This is how they looked before I smashed them.

How the paper looked after they were smashed.

For my card I also used a new Sketch. I found this sketch here: The House that Stamps Built. I am going to enter this card in their sketch challenge. (Repeat Impressions Sketch J2712)

It is hard to see the sketch unless you look at it close up. The diagonal panel of the sketch was done with a strip of paper lace.

The paper lace was the only product that I could think of that was sort of new. My daughter's friend gave it to her in May and I was drooling over it so my daughter Johanna gave it to me in May for my birthday.

It kinda feels the weight and consistency of a dryer fabric softener sheet.

The other NEW thing on my card was inspired by my Stampin' Sister Michelle. She always finishes her cards so nicely. She does the insides as well as the outsides. Something I rarely do, so to do that on this card was NEW to me. I put another sheet of pounded flowers on the inside as well as Philippians 1:3 for the sentiment.

I really liked how the first card turned out that I made a second one.

If you look really closely you can see the scalloped and zig zag stitching. I'm entering these cards in The Card Caravan Challenge : THCCC22 which is a stitching challenge.

The recipient of the second one was my friend Chantel. Chantel has directed the local children's theatre productions that my kids have been in. Every year I have made her a card to thank her for the time she volunteers to give the theatre experience to kids. She has a shelf at her house that she has my cards displayed. I'll admit when someone tells me that they keep my cards, I tend to put a little extra effort, time and care into those cards.

This is a photo of my son Joshua and Chantel after today's performance of BUGSY MALONE JR.
Joshua was stage manager and also helped with set building, lights, and sound. He loves working with Chantel.

Here is a photo of Chantel and my son Kaleb, who had the role of FAT SAM in the play. (Funny because he is very tall and skinny)

Fat Sam and his gang of bad guys.

The whole cast. That is a lot of kids to teach and direct. My friend Chantel did an amazing job with these kids.

 Digital Delights by Louby Lou is our sponsor this week.

Check out what my Stampin’ Sisters in Christ have created to share with you.
Candace
Diane
Helen
Jerusha
Kris
Linda
Michelle
Miesje
Peggysue
Sandie
Traci

Society of Stampaholics

 

If you are a stmpaholic, you really should check out  Deborah's blog,  Society of Stampaholics.

Peaceful card

 

Sometimes a camera doesn't do justice to a card.  This is one of those times. The floral background was done doing embossed pounded flowers technique with clover and chicory flowers. I stitched the card together with a decorative scalloped stitch. The sentiment is a Mark's Finest Papers sentiment from the set Daffodil Greetings.

 

This is the inside of the card. I printed this scripture using my computer. You can see the back side of the scalloped stitching.

Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge 145

Psalm 46:10 "Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."  This is the scripture that my friend and stampin' sister Kris picked for the Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge.  This is one of my favorite psalms. I love how it starts out ..."God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble."  I love the next two verses.  "Therefore we will not fear, Even though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though its waters roar and be troubled, Though the mountains shake with its swelling." Can you imagine the headlines and news shows if the mountains were picked up and were suddenly in the ocean? A few years ago when the Mississippi river flooded, I got to see rushing water first hand. Fortunately I haven't experienced earthquakes. I know that floods and earthquakes can be fearful events. So can losing your job, having a the doctor tell you that you have cancer...the list could go on and on because there are so many troubles in this world. I don't know how those who don't know Christ survive. Who do they turn to when the troubles come? Who is their refuge?  I don't have the answer as to why we have troubles, but I do know where to turn when the troubles come. My God is my refuge. He is my safe place. He is my help when trouble comes. 


Kris's challenge is to : Use flags/banners in your creation.

 A couple of Sundays ago, my boys along with their fellow scouts participated in a flag day ceremony at our local Elks club. They have done this for several years. The Elks in return make a generous donation to the boys for their summer camp fund. It is my pleasure to make the thank you cards for the group. I knew I was going to need to make one soon, so Kris's challenge was just the reminder that I needed to make a thank you card.

My son Joshua is in the back row all the way to the left. My other son Kaleb is also in the back row, standing in front of the yellow flag.  

Joshua is kinda hiding behind the black flag in this photo. Kaleb is second from the right.

To make my thank you card, I used a retired- Mark's Finest Papers set called American Made. The blue dp was sitting on my desk. It was the scraps from my card a couple of weeks ago with the campfire and stars. (It was time for me to clean up.)


The sponsor for this week is Kelly Little. One blessed winner will get a grab bag of stamps.





Check out what my Stampin’ Sisters in Christ have created to share with you.
Candace
Diane
Helen
Jerusha
Kris
Linda
Michelle
Miesje
Peggysue
Sandie
Traci

 I was blessed listening to this song based on this Psalm. I know you will be too.

Final Day of MFP June blog hop

Welcome to Mark's Finest Papers a Heinrich Company's 

                        June Blog Hop!

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

Welcome Poppies Featured June 19
I'm In Stitches Featured June 20
Island Life Featured June 21
Silly Shells Featured June 22
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! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!) All four winners will be announced on June 23, 2012 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) The deadline for commenting is 11PM EST on Friday June 22, 2012.

Lois
Vicky
Anne
Pat G.
Karen H.
Patty P.
Mary
Marilynn This is me.
Pam
Debbie
Nancy
Bonnie
Kathy
Brenda
Toni
Tangii
Thrifty Stamper
Sue
Kelli
Janine
Tammylee
Janis L.
Mark's Finest

I was inspired to make a tag album after

seeing this amazing one by my friend Michelle.

I stamped the lighthouse from yesterday's set called

Island Life. I stamped the shells from Silly Shells. I painted the shells

with watercolors and the big pink one has champagne paint over the

top of it.

This close up view is a little blurry but 

it does kinda show the shimmer of the paint on

the shell.

I took several scriptures from the Bible about the sea and printed them on my computer.

I then stitched them to the alternating dp.  

I also stamped the shells over the printed scriptures with brown ink.

This one is Revelation 5:13

This one is Nehemiah 9:6

 This one is from the set Island Life  -  Job 9:8

Psalm 96:10-13

 This shows them spread out.

I left the backs empty, so you could see the paper, but left

the opportunity to add more scriptures if I choose to.

These are the following winners of my comment challenge yesterday. They each will win a pretzel knot.

 #6 Mary917

#15Designing with Debbie

#19 Elizabeth Hart

and
#21 Janis.



I have not ever heard a shark or a starfish or an octopus sing praise to God, but Revelation 5:13 says that all those creatures along with many others will all Praise Him. I love this song called Praise Him. We sang this last Sunday and it blessed me, and I hope it blesses you too. I also hope you had a great time with this month's blog hop.