Hope Grows

** If you are looking for the Stampin Sisters in Christ Challenge card please scroll down **

Today I am going to post another one of the cards I made as Theresa's Guest Designer using the stamp set that was released this month called "Hope Grows" sold by GinaKDesigns. I have had such fun with this stamp set. This card was made using some of GinaKs pure luxury Lemon Kiss and Fresh Asparagus card stock. I used an impressibility folder to emboss the card stock. I took the branch stamp and cut out a few of those to layer behind the the circle with the daisies. The ribbon and the buttons were from GinaK. I colored the flowers with Copics. I am also using this cad for the challenge from JUGS 35 to use dry embossing. Thanks for stopping by - I will be back tomorrow night with another card. I hope you all had a nice Memorial Day weekend, I certainly did!

Growing in Love

The verse this week (Hebrew 11:6) is very powerful! Faith - what in incredible word and what a challenge to us! I tried to explain the kind of faith that we must strive for to the 4th graders at school. I asked them how sure they were that they would be picked up from school, they all said that they were very certain. I told them that this is the faith in God that we all need to have. I know that we also need to have that faith in each other in our relationships. Jerry and I were involved with World Wide Marriage Encounter for many years. One of the statements that we spoke and lived is that "Love is a Decision", it is a decision that we have to remake all the time. I have complete faith in the fact that Jerry loves me - I also have complete faith in the fact that I NEVER walk alone, Jesus is always with me. WOW - what an awesome thing that is!

On this Memorial Day Sunday - I wish you all faith and love - totally! This card was rather a quick make this week. I was very busy at work and at home also. We have a houseful of company coming for our Memorial Day lake party. Lots of family and friends. Have a wonderful day and I will be back next week. This card was made with several different stamp sets, all from GinaKDesigns. There were: Organize It, Spring Florals, and Heartily Yours. The designer paper was from the Cosmo Cricket Earth Love paper pack and the green and gold were Pure Luxury from GinaK. God Bless!

Miracles Blossom

Here is the second card from the GKD release party last night. It was a great party with such incredible new products being released. I put in a larger order than I should have! And I couldn't get it all! There is more that I want, to be honest, I want it all! This card was made with some of my SU papers. Both the DP and the matching cs. I used Nestibilities Label #6 for the main image and some pearls to accent. I stamped the butterflies on vellum so that I could reverse the image. This was before I saw Gina's StampTV tutorial on making these butterflies fly the other way! I made a lot of these vellum butterflies so that I had 2 that were not ruined! Lots of delicate cutting. The paper flower was made with the Blossom Nestie and I placed the button in it with some DMC floss. Thanks for coming by - I will have more in the days and weeks to come. So many ideas - so little time!

Guest Designer for Theresa!

I have been holding this secret and have been soooo excited. I have been jumping up and down and my dear husband is just shaking his head and saying kind words about my creations. He is so good about always telling me that they are "Beautiful Honey"! I have been kind of nervous about whether they are good enough considering the fact that EVERYTHING Theresa does is so incredible! 

Yes, I was asked to be Theresa Momber's May guest designer for her newest stamp set "Hope Grows"! It is being released tonight on StampTV at the release party. I have had so much fun with these stamps - they are so versatile and so many techniques can be used with these stamps! I will be showing the cards here in the coming weeks. Tonight I am showing 2 of the cards. I hope you like them! I am heading back to the party now! Come on by.

 I made this owl card using the GKD Pure Luxury Ivory and and Chocolate. I stamped the branch image as a background on the ivory with Memento Brown. The designer paper is from Basic Grey - Cappella. I used the rectangle  Nestie. I stamped the owl 3 times and placed them close together (they are hugging)! I popped up the second owl and the wings. I also cut the green leaves out. The was just simply placed. This was the first card I made. More are made and will be posted.

Memorial Day

** If you are looking for the Stampin Sisters in Christ Challenge card please scroll down **

Today is just a quick upload and entry. I am stamping lots of cards which will be posted soon. This one was done for Tina's last color challenge on StampTV. The colors were to be red, white, and blue. Great choice the week of Memorial Day. I had very little time so I just threw a quick card together. It is a patriotic birthday card, right? I used some digital paper from GinaK, the cupcake is from the Sweetest Blessings stamp set also from GinaK. I had that ribbon from some clearance rack and I used some liquid applique for the cupcake. Almost looks good enough to eat! Now who do we know who has a patriotic birthday? Hmmm. Maybe my dear husband would like to buy this card from me? Maybe he would trade it for a nice order from GinaK? Maybe he will read this post and get the hint! Have a great week dear friends - more uploads are coming!

Blessed

Happy Pentecost Sunday dear friends! It is time for another challenge from Stampin Sisters in Christ. This week we are going vintage. The scripture message states that we are all " as an unclean thing" but the next verse says that "You Lord are our Father; we are the clay and you the potter". It is often good to read the verses before and after to get a better understanding of the verse.  My husband and I went to Mass tonight and the message was wonderful. Being Pentecost Sunday the focus was on the Holy Spirit! Father talked about having to listen to the Holy Spirit and how can we listen if we always have i-pods in and the tv on. In order to really hear we have to have quiet time. Quiet time to reflect on our many gifts and how to use them, quiet time to really hear where our gifts are needed. We can't keep them to ourselves - they must be shared! May we all treasure those times when we are really listening to Jesus.

This card turned out better than I thought it would! I love that! I found the DP in my old Stampin Up stash and decided to "play" with those colors. I partnered that with some green and red. I distressed the edges and did a lot of sponging. I made the paper flower with a stamped image piece of coral cs. The stamped image is from Vintage Backgrounds from Nina Bracket sold by GinaK Designs. I used several gem brads, some red ribbon, a branch punch from Martha Stewart. The words are from a set called "Thanks a Million" also sold by GinaK. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful week!    

Butterfly Garden

Now this was a fun card! I say that a lot don't I? Well, it was. One of my favorite stamp sets is "A year of flowers" by Melanie and sold by GinaKDesigns. Then yesterday a package came in the mail with some new Basic Gray paper packs and in there was this paper in the Porcelain Paper Pad. Is that not the most wonderful print? I fell in love with it and it cried out to me to be paired with the rose! So I made this for a couple of challenges. The butterfly was added for the Stamp TV challenge this week and the sketch layout was for Sketch Girl18. Perfect for what I wanted. I also used Nina's Lovely Labels. I used both A year of flowers and pressed flowers which made the card really easy. Like two set stamping that I used to do. I highlighted the rose with a couple of Copic markers. I snagged the butterfly from Spring Mix. There are three buttons and I put a pink dewdrop in the center of those buttons for a different look. It worked. I appreciate you coming by. Have a great rest of the week.  

Happy Birthday DH

This weekend we had the joy of babysitting 3 of our grandchildren (7, 5, 2 yrs old)! They were so wonderfully good but it did not allow much time for stamping! Over on StampTV there is the Monday color challenge and I have known what I wanted to make but I had not completed it until tonight - after the kids were tucked in with prayers and kisses! The color challenge was black, white, and gray. Easy! I had my image stamped (Eclectic Summer by GinaKDesigns) and embossed and the card stock cut. The layout was being difficult and I only had 30 minutes left!!! Quick checked some other challenges that I frequent for a sketch layout - aha - thank you Card Patterns Sketch #64! I was on a roll - threw it together, took the picture and loaded it on with about 2 minutes to spare! That was a close one! 

Now why would I choose that image for my DH 60th birthday? You see we raised our 8 children in this big wonderful 8 bedroom house that we had added onto several times and had finally decided to move into a smaller 4 bedroom house on a lake. We sold the first house to our second son and moved in here just 2 months after our last son left for college. We did NOT experience empty nest - we re-experienced each other! One of our favorite ways to spend time together is to go out on our boat and chug around the lake and just talk. So this card is for him - my friend, my lover, my dear husband of almost 39 years! Happy Birthday Jerry!

Sing

Happy Sunday and welcome once again to the Stampin Sisters in Christ Challenge. This week is all about singing. My husband is the cantor at our church and sings his joyful praise every week and several times during the week to practice. I, however, cannot sing - - I am serious - - I really cannot sing! So I use my gifts in anther way. I teach religion at the school where I work, I am a Minister of the Word which means that I do the readings at mass about once a month. Isn't it wonderful how we can all use the gifts that we are given in such unique ways to give thanks and praise. I am a fan of contemporary Christian music and this school year my theme for my class was "Thank You" by 33 miles (the link will bring you to YouTube with song and lyrics). It is a song with a daily reminder to Thank God for everything. 

Okay - on with the card. I had so much fun making this card! I have had this image for quite a while and not used it. When I saw the challenge I knew exactly what I was going to use. The little girl image is called Heart Sing Jolline from MFT. I used the musical score from the set called Vintage Borders by Nina Bracket which is sold by GKD. I colored her with Copic markers and popped up slightly her hair. I used a few flowers that I had for some embellishment. The DP is from October Afternoon's Ducks in Row. I think that about does it for this week. I will be back next Sunday with another card. See you then and thanks for stopping by.

Funny Girl

Gina is looking for her new Center Stage Spotlight Designer for the upcoming May release. The challenge is to think of a favorite movie and make a card about something in the movie that inspired me. Well...... My favorite movie is Funny Girl, I loved the music and the sense of humor and the love story. My favorite part of the movie was when "Fanny" was on the tugboat going to meet her man and she was singing "Don't Rain on my Parade". Remember that part? So here is where my "WELL" comes comes in. I tried the card with the sailboat - just didn't quite cut it so I just went with the elegant look of Barbra and the musical score in the background. Somehow I just had to go with the red, black and white. I used several stamp sets for this card. I used Sew Pretty by Asela, Vintage Backgrounds by Nina, and Vintage Borders also by Nina. It was not a difficult card to make once I gave up on the tugboat!I used some oval nesties and some red twill ribbon to make the flower. I had some gems for the center of the flower and for earrings. I used copics to color. Thanks for stopping and I sure do appreciate the chance to win. Stop by Stamp TV and click on the blog on the right hand side to see the incredible other cards that wanna be designers have created - they  are awesome!!! 

Calla Lilies

I love flowers and the Calla Lilies are so beautiful and elegant. I made this card for the sketch layout on StampTV. I popped up some of the lily blooms for dimension. I used the buttons as an accent. I do like the way it turned out although I did have my doubts a time or two. Originally the background and the DP was intended for for my SSCC entry for this week's guest design spot. But it just wasn't hitting me right. So I made the one down below for that and was left with the bits and pieces. Then I saw the sketch challenge on StampTV, added the Calla Lilies and there it was - a new card. Ah... another task completed. I used the By Your Side stamp set by Asela sold by GinaKDesigns. Thanks for the visit, I always love hearing from you!

Sail Away

** If you are looking for the Stampin Sisters in Christ Challenge card please scroll down **

I hope all you moms had a great Mother's Day. I heard from all of my children and had visits from some. Had some wonderful time on the lake with some of the grandchildren, what could be better than that? I made this card for a couple of challenges. The first being for the color challenge on StampTV and the other is for CardPatterns #63 sketch challenge. I used the GinaK Turquoise Sea and Innocent Pink card stocks. To be honest, I was not real crazy about the color combination but it turned out better than I thought it would. I used the paisley cuttlebug folder to emboss the layer and then inked it. The ribbon was int he bottom of a drawer and I have no idea where or when I got it. I wish I had more of it. I had the button in my pink button container and I paper pieced the boat from Tami Mayberry's Boy Oh Boy stamp set sold by GinaK. Thanks for the visit!

Faith is....

F

Faith is knowing - - and living accordingly through worship and lifestyle. It is not always easy to hold that faith foremost in my heart and mind and that is something that I strive for constantly. I can look at the ocean and I see the vast expanse of God's love for us. I see the shells on the beach and the beauty and uniqueness that God creates and I often overlook. I knew that I somehow wanted to make a card that had an image of that vast love and beauty.  The challenge for this week on Stampin Sisters in Christ Challenges (SSCC) is to create a card using brown, blue and white. There are a lot of variations in those colors so have fun with it.

Melanie Muenchinger's stamp set "Gifts from the Sea" (sold by GinaKDesigns). came to mind when I reflected on the scripture and the challenge for this week and my card just begged to have these images of the shells. Wanting to show the vastness of the ocean I found the smaller image of the sailboat and threw that on there. I know, I know; the shells are a bit large on the beach in proportion with the ocean but that is just the way it is going to have to be. I used some of GinaK's Tan Leather card stock for the beach. In fact, when I was playing with a bleaching technique a while ago I accidentally put this card stock on the dish that had the bleach for just a second and a corner of the CS got a discolored. I did not throw it away and found it when I was looking for beach colored paper! That just reaffirms why I never toss the mistakes and scraps into the garbage!

So here is my card for this week. Thanks for coming by for a look and I will be back next week. Until then - God Bless and I hope everyone has a wonderful Mother's Day.

Happy Birthday Peggysue!

 

It's a birthday party for Peggysue! Another first for me so I hope I do it right in wishing a happy birthday on this Birthday Blog Hop. In case you get lost or a link is broken you can always re-find your way at Stampin Sisters in Christ home. You should have come here from Kathy's place. I have some wonderful chips and salsa to share - looks so festive, don't you think? Sure hope no one is allergic to tomatoes and a few zesty peppers?!? It does have a bit of a bite to it! Here is a card made just last night for you Peggysue! I thought that for a May 5th birthday (my son's birthday too!) that I would make you a fun card from the bottom of the sea. I did notice that you liked roses but you get to see those all the time! How often do you get to swim with this little beauty? The stamp set is called Quite a Catch from GinaKDesigns. I do hope your birthday is filled with God's Blessings! Now hop on over to Lisa's for your next stop! 

Feel Better

This card came together so nicely, which is a good thing since this was a very busy weekend with a granddaughter's 1st communion and a grandson's baptism and the family gathering at my house yesterday. So here I am back at work writing on my blog during my "planning period" at school. Shhh... don't tell anyone! I made this card for 2 challenges - the first being for the StampTV color challenge and the second for JUGS31 sketch challenge. The stamp set I used was from GinaK's Spring Mix. I used some snipped brown yarn for the inside of the flowers. The DP is from BasicGrey's Nook and Pantry paper pack. I also used a Cuttlebug folder for the brown panel. I suppose I better get some planning time in... Thanks for stopping and for your comments. God Bless!! 

SSCChallenge

T

Hello fellow stampers! Happy Sunday and welcome to my first ever guest designer blog post! I was so excited to be asked to do this that I made 2 cards and then I couldn't decide which one to send so I sent both! Here is the first one I made. Knitting always reminds me of love. Living in Florida there is not often a need for knitting sweaters and scarves but I did it anyway when my children were little. I also sewed most of their clothes, they often matched. Ah - the good old days! 

This card was made with a stamp set designed by Nina Bracket called "Nana's Needlework" and is sold by GinaK Designs. The designer paper was from BasicGrey called Nook and Pantry. I made the bow from little strips of ribbon and colored the yard with copics. I used some wood patterned paper for the baskets using paper piecing. The buttons were found in my pink button container. Yes - I really do organize by buttons (and just about everything else" by color. 

The second card was also made with Nana's Needlework only with this one I used the wonderful quilt image. I actually made many quilts for quite a few years with my sister. We had a great time doing that and even sold a few at local craft shows. I paper pieced the quilt with DP from SU. The ribbon bow directions I found on this blog. (through Nina's blog where I first saw this flower style) It does require some drying time and strong glue. These were both fun cards to make and sewing on them was bringing back some wonderful memories. 

Now hop on over to SSCC and upload your card for the challenge. Just do something with sewing, you can sew on the card or use a sewing theme and do some faux sewing using a piercing tool. I look forward to seeing all of your entries! Have a Blessed week! See you next Sunday.

Guest Designer!

I am so excited! I was asked to be the guest designer for the month of May on Stamping Sisters in Christ Challenges! Yup - it actually happened, I never thought I would be chosen to have the honor of guest designer - I see all the amazing things that people make and never think that my cards would stand out as special (well maybe one or two of them! :-). When I was asked, a couple of weeks ago, I ran down the stairs to tell my very wonderful and supportive husband! He hasn't seen me much since then because when I am not at work I am up here trying to create the "perfect" cards to share (I will let you know if I actually do, create a perfect one that is...). 

Stamping Sisters in Christ Challenges is a wonderful challenge site with a message and very talented ladies! I love reading the scripture for the week and then creating a card for that and the challenge associated with it. SSCC has been one of the few sites that I regularly participate in challenges for so it is with great excitement and a few nervous butterflies that I ask you to join me in those challenges over the next month. A new scripture, challenge, and card sample will be posted every Sunday both here and on SSCC. Thanks for the visit - see you on Sunday.