Hope - John 4:10, 13, 14

Isn't Sunday a wonderful day of the week? I think it is. Saturdays is when we mow the lawn, do laundry, clean the house, grocery shop and go to the occasional grandchild sporting event. We also always go to Mass on Saturday nights, Jerry cantors and I often to the readings and am a Eucharistic Minister at the Saturday night masses. So on Sunday mornings we relax with the paper and coffee and enjoy the day together. It is time once again for the Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge. Great way to start a Sunday isn't it? I also look forward to reading everyone reflection.


The scripture verse this week was picked by Grace. She had a wonderful choice again this time. It is taken from the book of John chapter 4 verses 10, 13, and 14. Be sure to read her wonderful reflection on the main page - worth the read!

"10Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, 'Give me a drink?' you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." 13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; 14but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

The challenge this week was to make a card that uses water either in image or in the verse. I chose to use the image of the birds drinking the water. It is the living water of Jesus that allows us to have hope. I chose the words Hope is Faith because it is something that I believe and have experienced this week. Hope is so important. Those who are ill have to have the hope and faith that God will either make them well or give them the strength that they need to endure. For those with broken relationships have to hope and have faith that God will help heal that relationship. I personally have been hoping and praying for something like that for a long time and I did have the faith in God that the day would come when that hope would become reality. This week the first step was taken to begin to heal that relationship. I think that if we do have hope, especially with the tough stuff, we stop working and praying for a better result, in essence, we give up. I do not believe that God ever wants us to give up - he wants us to have faith.

This was a fun card to make - I love the image and have used it before. All the details for the card are below.


Keep the hope and faith alive dear friends - until next time!

Recipe: 

Stamps: Spring has Sprung and Hope is Faith - GinaK Designs

Paper: SU Sahara Sand

Special Paper: SU designer paper pack

Other: Spellbinder Die Labels Eight, Ribbon from Michaels, Rhinestone Stickers
Challenges:
StampTV: Sketch
Jugs49: Sketch 

 

Smile

Doesn't this image make you smile? I often think that God smiles at us and our antics. What do you think the duck is saying to the snail? Or perhaps the duck is listing to the snail! We don't really know; but I am someone who would like to know.

The scripture  for the Stampin Sisters in Christ Challenge this week is from the book of Genesis (1:26). God created all the animals and I do sometimes wonder why we have yucky bugs or scary alligators. I am a questioner - why does God allow bad things to happen - why are there so many sad things? Why is my one daughter mentally challenged - why is my mother suffering with the aftereffects of the strokes - why is my friend going through the horrors of cancer treatment? So may questions. I have learned, however, that some of the answers come with time and some we may not know until we join Him in Heaven - in the meantime SMILE, we are loved and He is in charge. 

This card was made with a stamp set from GinaKDesigns called Spring Has Sprung. The DP is from the BasicGrey paper pad called Lime Rickey. I also used Pure Luxury Wild Dandelion and Turquoise Sea from GinaK. I colored the image with Copics. Have a great week and don't forget to SMILE! 

Baptism Card

This upcoming weekend is a busy one for us, but a good kind of busy! We have our granddaughter's first communion (uploaded the card earlier this week) and the next day is our grandson's baptism. When I was making the 1st Communion card I stamped 2 doves, 1 on white CS and the other on vellum since I was not sure which one I would use. So today I had to make this card and really struggled with how to make it. I finally took  the bird bath image from Rupa's Spring Has Sprung (minus the birds), colored it in and then added the dove that I had already stamped. I love it when that happens! Water is a symbol of baptism so I thought it would work well. I also made this card for the sketch challenge on StampTV. Thanks for stopping by!

THANKS

This is one of the 2 cards that I have been struggling with. I like the colors although it would not be my first choice for color combo. I tried to make one of the paper flowers that Nina Bracket taught on her blog - but I failed and will have to tr it again. So I used a store brought flower that I really did like because it has some sparkle to it. It is a simple card that I kept trying to "embellish" more. I finally decided to say okay - stop - accept - upload. So there you have it, my personal conversation with myself. This card used only 2 colors - Lemon Drop (GKD) and Tempting Turquoise (SU). I inked up a Cuttlebug folder and colored a cute butterfly from the GKD stamp set called "Spring has Sprung". This card is for the Card Pattern Sketch61 and for the StampTV April release color challenge. Thanks again for stopping by. I do not think I will be back tonight. Hope to see you tomorrow. Have a good Monday.  

Cherish Life

I love flowers and being outside. This past week or so I have had a cold and those headaches that often go with it. Right now hoping and praying that it does not become one of those dreaded sinus infections. Anyway, I realize that I often do not appreciate or cherish the simple pleasures of feeling good, having energy, and being among God's wonderful world of flowers which was the challenge on SCC this week and also for a StampTV challenge of course! This was a sketch challenge and it did not flow the way that some cards do. It required a lot of playing with and laying out and trying different embellishments. Regardless this is the finished product. I used the Spring Florals and Spring has Sprung stamp sets from Gina K Designs. The card stock was also from her - called Ocean Mist and Lemon Drop. The DP came with the Spring Mix StampTV kit. Love it all! Thanks for stopping by. God Bless!