Word Art Wednesday Card Challenge

Last week was a very busy week for me and this week is shaping up to be fairly busy.  I thought about skipping the Word Art Wednesday Card Challenge this week BUT I knew that if I skipped it this week, then it would be easy to skip it again, and again, and again.................you know the rest! 

I have been participating in the challenge for about a month and do enjoy coming up a card design each week.  So, I finally found a few spare minutes last night and started the card design.  I put the finishing touches on it just a few minutes ago.  I am deviating from the sentiment that was suggested and instead have used "Count Your Many Blessings".  Any uplifting sentiment qualifies for the challenge. 

While working on this card, I was reminded of all the blessings in my life.  I'm so thankful for Jesus Christ and the sacrifice that He made for sinful me.  I'm also blessed with a sweet husband (25 years!), a wonderful church family, precious friends and family, and good health.

Supplies used:
printed background paper and green paper for tag - 7gypsies (Conservatory collection)
butterfly stamp (Papaya Collage stamp set), ribbon, dahlia embellishment - Stampin' Up
Count Your Many Blessings stamp - Stampabilities
forever friend stamps (Framed stamp set) - Papertrey Ink
all other supples are from my endless "stash"!!!

Glue Dots Pinterest Contest

I have entered 3 of my cards in a contest sponsored by Glue Dots. My entry is on the Glue Dots Pinterest board entitled "Glue Dots Contest". Please visit Pinterest and "like" my entry (the pin of 3 cards....one has a butterfly on the front).

Voting ends at noon on Wednesday. Here is the link to the Pinterest page  http://pinterest.com/gluedots/glue-dots-contest/

Stamp It! Cards Congratulations Challenge in the Moxie Fab World

To promote PaperCrafts Stamp It Cards special edition magazine, Moxie Fab World is having a "Congratulations" card challenge where stamping is the primary technique.  I decided to go with a monochromatic "theme" also.  Here is a picture of the card that I created for the Stamp It! Cards Congratulations Challenge in the Moxie Fab World

Supplies used:

Summer Starfruit card stock, ink and ribbon - Stampin' Up

bird stamp - Natural Beauty stamp set (retired) - Stampin' Up

JOY stamp - Framed stamp set - Papertrey Ink

frame stamp - Papaya Collage stamp set - Stampin' Up

Let's Celebrate stamp - Stampendous

Get your craft on and enter this challenge too!



His Eye is on the Sparrow.......

Here is my entry for this week's Word Art Wednesday card challenge.

A Bible verse is not being used this week but words from a song, "His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me." The basic theme of the song is taken from scripture - how we should not worry or be discouraged.....God takes care of the sparrows and He will take care of His children.

I encourage you to read Luke 12 which talks about how we are not to worry nor be totally consumed with the things of this world. Instead, we should be seeking first the kingdom of God and those things eternal or spiritual. Luke 12:29-31 states:

     "And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you." (NKJV)

In our fallen nature, the above commandment is not easy to accomplish. We are to prone to worry about this, that, and the other. That is why daily Bible reading, prayer, and fellowship with other Christian's are so important.  It helps us stay focused on what is truly important.

Supplies used for card making:
Summer Starburst card stock, ink and ribbon (Stampin' Up)
Frame stamp - Papaya Collage stamp set (Stampin' Up)
Bird rubber stamp - Natural Beauty stamp set (Stampin Up)  ***Retired***
Joy stamp - Framed stamp set (Papertrey Ink)
Background paper - Olde Curiosity Shoppe collection (Graphic 45)

Bazzill Paper Giveaway at Ribbon Carousel Blog

The nice folks at the Ribbon Carousel Blog is having a giveaway!!!!  Go here and enter to win a Bazzill Paper sampler pack!!!  And if you win.......feel free to share with me :o)

Card Challenge - Word Art Wednesday

I'm entering this card in the weekly Word Art Wednesday card challenge.

The suggested Bible verse for the challenge is from Isaiah 54:13:

 "And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord;
  and great shall be the peace of thy children." (KJV)

Each Wednesday when the Bible verse is posted for the weekly challenge, I look up the verse in the Bible and read it along with the entire chapter from which the verse is taken. The book of Isaiah is one of my favorites because of all the prophesies about Jesus. Not only is his birth foretold in Isaiah (9:6) but also his death (chapter 53).

Chapter 54 tells us of the Lord's grace, mercy and sovereignty in the lives of his chosen people. Verse 17 states,

"No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.".

What a privilege to be called a servant of the Lord. Another blessing is knowing that my standing before God is not based on my righteousness (I would be condemned!) but on the righteousness of Christ. As Romans 8:1 states, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

When we are taught of the Lord, as mentioned in verse 13, then we can have peace knowing that Christ became the perfect sacrifice for sin and that, as a Christian, I am no longer under the wrath and condemnation of God. Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift.....the gift of salvation through Christ Jesus.

Supplies used for card making: butterfly "specimen" (Graphic45 Olde Curiosity Shoppe collection), small butterflies (Graphic 45 Botanicabella collection), black/cream check background paper (Graphic 45 Domestic Goddess collection) and red background paper (Webster's Pages Perfect Motifs 6x6 collection).  The bottom of the card was embossed using the Stampin' Up Textured Impressions Embossing Folder.

Twine Giveaway Alert!!!!!

Take a hop over to the Whisker Graphics blog to see the cute spools of twine that they are giving away.  I use twine quite a bit for embellishing my handmade cards.  They have some great colors!!!!

Tennessee Stampers and a summer card

A few weeks ago I found out about a Yahoo group called Tennessee Stampers and immediately requested to join. This group has 247 members and I believe the majority live in the state of Tennessee. They have stamping activities (card swaps, get-togethers, etc).

I signed up for the Card of the Month (COTM) swap. July was the first month for me to be involved in this. The originator of the swap, also known as the hostess, assigns 1 name to each participant. So, I make a card and send it to my assigned recipient and I receive one handmade card from someone.

Sometimes a theme is assigned for the card swap. There was no theme for the July swap. The card that I received for the July COTM swap was a patriotic card.

Here is a picture of the card that I made for my recipient of the July swap.

Anyone interested in joining this Yahoo group can go here to request membership in the group. The name of the group is TennesseeStampers if you need to do a search.

Time to get your craft on!!!!!

Webster's Pages Giveaway!

There is a great giveaway going on over at the Webster's Pages blog

http://websterspages.typepad.com/webstershome/2012/07/prepare-to-gasp-win-our-new-perfect-accents.html

The cameos that they are giving away are so adorable and would be great embellishments on handmade cards (if you can stand to part with them!).

What is Love?

The Bible verse for this week's Word Art Wednesday card challenge is Deuteronomy 6:5:

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.". (NKJV)

To continue on...... "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up." (Deut. 6:6-7)

WOW!!  We are commanded to love God with all our heart, soul and strength. Isn't this hard to do? Our first love usually is 'self'.......then maybe we put God next on the "people to love" list.

The world's view of "love" is totally messed up. That view is "I'll love you if you love me." or "I love you because I can profit off of you or you have something that I need."  And when you disappoint me or are no longer of benefit to me, I don't love you anymore.  How else can you explain the broken homes and relationships that are commonplace in the world today. The world does not know what true love is.

What is True Love? Or maybe I should ask "WHO is True Love?" The answer is God....

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." (1 John 4:7-11  NKJV)

WOW again!   We can love only because God first loved us. When we stop to think about God first loving us and sending Jesus to die for us, while we were yet sinners and God's enemy, this should cause us to love God even more. When we love God more than anything, then the words of Deuteronomy 6:6-7 will be manifested in our daily walk. We will keep His Word and commandments in our heart. We will teach His Word to our children. We will meditate on His Word and speak it to others throughout the day. And we will love one another with a Christ-like love.

One way that we can show love to others is by encouraging them......maybe by sending them a hand-written note to let them know that we are thinking of them.

 Here is the card that I am entering in the challenge. The hydrangea was cut out of some paper that I found at Michael's last week. They had packets of 6x6 papers (12 sheets in a packet) in their dollar bins!!  These were Paula Deen brand. (I guess Paula has ventured into the world of papercrafts!) The background paper that the hydrangea is attached to is from My Mind's Eye 6x6 "Dwell" collection and the green piece with the Bible verse is the reverse side of the background paper.  A blue bow was added to the neck of the vase.  I glued the hydrangea directly to the background paper and used foam tape to attach the Bible verse.

And here is a little secret.....I found the "Dwell" collection (6x6 pad) at TJMaxx!!!!  $2.99!!!!  They have a nice little colletion of papercrafting supplies (paper, adhesives, ribbon).

I hope this inspires you to encourage someone this week with a handwritten card.

Stampin' Up Spotlight

Next week I am having a Stampin' Up workshop.  These are always lots of fun....a gathering of friends, making cards, eating, laughing..............I'm looking forward to the workshop and have started my "wish" list. 

I became acquainted with Stampin' Up a couple of years ago and I am very satified with the products they sell.  Anyway, this really isn't a "commercial" for Stampin' Up, it's a blog post to show you some cards that I've made recently with Stampin' Up product.

I made this card last week for a friend who had surgery.  The inspiration for the card came directly from a Stampin' Up catalog.  Okay, one more "plug" for Stampin' Up......the catalogs that they issue also includes some really cute card and scrapbook ideas.  Alright, back to blog mode.  Here is a photo of the "thinking of you" card

Aren't those kites absolutely adorable??  I stamped them on white card stock, cut the images out and attached them to the front of the card with foam adhesive to make them "stand out".  The polka dot heart was also punched out and attached with a glue dot.  The stamp set, "Send Me Soaring", includes the kite stamps, clouds and some sentiments (although not the "thinking of you" sentiment that I used on the card).

And here are several cards using the "Tea Shoppe" stamp set from Stampin' Up.  The inspiration for these cards came from the Splitcoast Stampers website.

(The birthday stamp is a Stampin' Up product but not part of the Tea Shoppe stamp set.)

(The 'happy birthday' stamp is a Stampin' Up product but not part of the Tea Shoppe stamp set.)

And finally........my favorite (the sentiment on this one IS part of the Tea Shoppe stamp set).

I love the quote by Louisa May Alcott, "Stay" is a charming word in a friend's vocabulary. 

I hope this post has inspired you to "get your craft on!"

Hope

I'm entering the card below in the weekly card challenge at Word Art Wednesday.

The suggested Bible verse for the challenge (which ends at midnight on Tuesday) is Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." (NKJV)

Here is the card that I'm entering.......

Supplies used:
Stampin Up Sizzix 'Stripes' embossing folder
SU striped grosgrain ribbon (retired)
Graphic 45 Papers (flower/bulb image) Botanicabella Collecton (I *LOVE* Graphic 45)
SU large tag paper punch
SU extra large tag paper punch
The Paper Studio rainbow crackle round gemstones

This is my second week of entering the card challenge at Word Art Wednesday. I am enjoying the challenges and trying to incorporate a mini-devotion using the challenge Bible verse when I post my blog.

As I read the challenge verse this week, the word that jumped out at me was 'hope'. Usually when we use the word 'hope', it is used in a way to convey our wish that something might happen....as in, "I 'hope' it rains."

In reading through the entire chapter 29 of Jeremiah, we are reminded that Israel has been taken captive by Babylon. They had turned their backs on God. Jeremiah 29 is a letter written to the captives by Jeremiah. The words of the letter are not Jeremiah's words but those revealed to Jeremiah by God. Verse 11 speaks of a future and a hope for Israel. This 'hope' is NOT a "wishful" hope (maybe they will get out of captivity) but a certainty, a done deal (after 70 years God delivered them from captivity).

Jeremiah chapter 29 is a great picture of the grace of God. Grace that God even now continues to show to sinful man as we are delivered from the captivity of sin. Jeremiah 29:13 says, "And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart."  It is only through the grace of God that our hearts are changed so that we want to seek him.

In a world of hopelessness we can have hope.  Our 'hope' is Christ.  Again, this 'hope' is not something wishful but something absolutely certain because of the finished work that Christ accomplished on the cross. 

My hope is built on nothing less,

Than Jesus' blood and righteousness.

I dare not trust the sweetest frame,

But wholly lean on Jesus' name.

On Christ the solid Rock, I stand.

All other ground is sinking sand.

All other ground is sinking sand.

(words by Edward Mote)