With Deepest Sympathy!

Hello my friends!  I decided to share one more sneak peek with you before the ODBD release tomorrow!  I played along with the sketch challenge today over on Splitcoast Stampers.  It lent itself beautifully to totally flat mailable cards, which I do need very much right now.  Almost everything on this card is being released tomorrow!  The sentiment is from a set called Carried to Heaven, and the morning glories were cut out from a larger image in a set called Glory.  The design paper is from a new paper collection called Rustic Beauty Paper Collection, and the Angel wings are from a new die set called Angel Wings.  The sentiment is cut with a new set of Die Labels called Vintage Labels, which coordinate with this month's Vintage Flourish Pattern Dies.  The only past release I used is the border, which is from the Beautiful Borders Die set.  I stamped the morning glories with Memento ink and colored with Copics, and just tried to keep them light to match the paper, but I did add some sparkle with my Spica Pen in yellow.

I'm in a big hurry today, so will have to keep this short... but I hope you'll be back tomorrow to see the incredible samples the DT has been working on, and maybe have a chance to win some yourself!

Blessings,

A Sneak Peek!

Hello friends!  I hope you are enjoying a wonderful week!

I am popping in to share a quick sneak peek at a few new goodies being released by Our Daily Bread designs on May 1st!  This card was made today for the Splitcoaststampers color challenge.  I used 2 new stamp sets, Sheltering Angel (an old Irish Blessing) and Holy Angels (the wings).  The design paper in the background is from a gorgeous new set of ODBD exclusive dp... Rustic Beauty Paper Collection, and the die I used to cut out the sentiment is a new die set, Vintage Labels, which coordinates perfectly with April's Vintage Flourish Pattern Dies.  I also used a past die release, Quatrefoil Design (for the pink panel in the upper right corner).  I used a base of craft, the rustic beauty design paper, and some ivory card stock,which I cut with a Spellbinders Label 23 and then embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder.  I ran my Distress ink pad over the embossed areas for the added green.  I also stamped the angel wings in VersaMark behind the sentiment, then lightly sponged with chalk pastels in both pink and lavender.  I sponge distressed all the layers with Distress ink and added a wrinkled seam binding and Wild Orchid flower. 

Our area is bracing for some pretty rough weather over the next couple days.  I hope you and yours are safely sheltered in... and that our Lord keeps you all safe if you are in the path of these storms!

Hope to see you back here Thursday, when the entire design team will be sharing some amazing creations with the May sets!

Blessings,


  

I Know You Can Do This!

Hello friends!!!
I'm sorry I have neglected my blog these last few days!  I've been super busy and I'm also trying to work on the new release for May!  So I just haven't been able to share much of what I'm working on yet!  However, I thought I'd share this one I made for the card rack at church.  This image is Flourishes, the sentiment is Sweet 'N Sassy, and the embossing folder is SU!.  The paper also is SU!.  I added some stickles to the center of the flowers after coloring them with Copics.  Quick and flat!  Just what I need for the card rack!!!

Have a wonderful day!!!

Blessings,

My Grace is Sufficient for you!

Hello friends!

Today we are taking a look back at Our Daily Bread Designs April Release.

 This card is a step back in to a style I have always loved but have not been doing as much lately... collage with a vintage feel.  I'm so enjoying the new April release and having lots of fun finding different ways to combine them!

For this card, I used the Chalkboard Lattice Background, Flourish Label Borders, Chalkboard Vine Background, The Cross stamp set, Vintage Floral Pattern Die (labels), Ornamental Cross Dies, Chalkboard Paper Collection, as well as a past stamp release, Bird Border and Corners.  I had so much fun!

To create the card I cut my top fold base from Baked Brown Sugar card stock to make a 5.5" square card. I layered on some pretty designer paper from BasicGrey called Serenade, after stitching some mixed stitch styles on it.  I then stamped the Chalkboard Lattice Background on a piece of blue design paper, using Brushed Corduroy distress ink and matted the panel in more baked brown sugar.  I cut up a piece of Starbucks coffee cup wrap for the corrugated layer.  I stamped the Chalkboard Vine Background with Sage Shadow ink on some pale yellow and tan mottled design paper from the same pack.  I then stamped the frame from the Flourish Label Border set with brushed corduroy and cut with the Vintage Floral Pattern Label.  I also used the next smaller Vintage Floral Pattern Label die to cut the Chalkboard sentiment from the Chalkboard Paper Collection and I adhered that to my sage label.  I found a shipping tag in my stash and thought that would look good in this collage as well, and I love this sentiment from The Cross set, so I stamped it at the bottom of the tag and added a little decoration by stamping the tiny bird corners from the Bird Border and Corners set.  I then took a piece of embossable copper and cut it with the Ornamental Cross Die.  I embossed it with a Sizzix folder, and then  I punched a hole in it and tied it on to the shipping tag with the string from the tag, kind of like a charm.  It needed something in the upper right corner, and with the cute little birds on the designer paper, I decided to use a bird sticker I found in my stash.  The sticker had a yellow floral bird and this pretty linen overlay so I traced the body onto some more of the paper I had stamped the Chalkboard Vine Background on, cut it out, and then added the original linen overlay onto it after sponging with sage shadow ink.  I perched him on the corrugated and added a few page pebbles.  

Here are the April Release products I used

I hope you like it! 

For more inspiration using the April Release be sure to visit the ODBD Blog and visit my DT sisters!

 Chris * Stacy * Julie * Dawn * Lori * Sabrina * Cathy * Sandee * Wanda

The Cross, A Challege, and a Hope!

Hello all!  I hope you are all doing well!  It's been a wet couple days where I live, and I had to drive home from TN in some pouring rains... but thankfully I got home safe and sound after spending some quality grandma time! :)

Today's color challenge on SCS was to use Very Vanilla, Pink Pirouette and Pistachio Pudding.  I had all those colors and used them in my card stock.  The dessert option for this challenge was NO STAMPING!  EEEks!  That was tough but I did it and will put my sentiment inside.  This actually went together very quickly with this month's gorgeous dies from ODBD.  I used the Ornamental Crosses layering a couple different ones up with dimensionals, and Vintage Flourish Pattern Dies, also layering the green layer up on dimensionals upon the vanilla base.

The little flowers are from the Ornamental Cross Dies and the greenery is from the ODBD Custom Fancy Foliage Dies.  

The only embellishments are the May Arts silk bow, and some Recollections bling for the flower centers.

I am entering this in this week's ODBD Shining the Light Challenge... He is Risen with pastels.

With this holy week ahead of us... let's focus our eyes on the cross, and what Jesus did for us there.  Let's thank Him for His indescribable gift, mourn for the pain  our sins caused Him to suffer,  and then let's rejoice together as we celebrate His resurrection on Sunday!  If it were not for the resurrection... we would have no hope!  But He did rise from the dead, and conquered death and paid the price for our sin so we could have a hope and a future eternally with Him in glory!  Hallelujah... what a Savior!

A Precious Gift from God!

 Hello friends!  I hope all is well with you all!!!

Today I want to share a card I made a couple weeks ago but just have not had time to share with you here!  This was to honor fellow SCS stamper, and uber talented Loll!  I used the SU! Fifth Ave. flower and the sentiment is from Su! Refuge and Strength.  I just love this big rose image and I had a lot of fun coloring it! 

I stamped the rose on watercolor paper and watercolored with SU! markers and an aqua brush.  After coloring it, I spritzed it lightly with my water mister, then I added some rain drops (as in the Sound of Music... raindrops on roses.... these are a few of my favorite things!) by adding drops of Crystal Effects.  The leaves are the ODBD Zinnia and Leaves Die and I curled them over my piercer to give some dimension.  The flower and leaves are both popped up with dimensionals.

I kept it CAS because that is how Loll stamps.  I am trying to get more comfortable with the CAS style, but when you see her work, you are definitely inspired to try it.  In actuality, I like to try all styles and am really trying NOT to get stuck in just one style.  I'm stretching and trying to reach in to some not so comfortable zones.

The thought occured to me that we need to do the same thing in our own lives.  Are there areas of your life in which  you would love to try to grow?  Often, our fears of the unknown, or stepping out of our comfort zone will keep us from ever taking that leap and stretching to new heights.  This is also true of our spiritual lives!  Is there something God is telling you He'd like you to do... but you're afraid?   

Today's Blessing:

 Deuteronomy 31:6

Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

Words Cannot Say...

Hello friends!  I hope you are all doing well!!!

Today's challenge on Splitcoaststampers was "I'll Take that Slice".  We were to cut away a part of the front of our card and this is what I came up with, using the cutaway on the inside.  I used Kraft card stock and Memento Black ink to create my patterned papers.  I used ODBD's Chalkboard Vine Background and Chalkboard Lattice Background, as well as No Words and Ornate Borders and Flowers sets.  I cut the two labels with ODBD's Vintage Flourish Pattern Dies, and the matting behind them is a SB Majestic Label 25.  The edge is cut out with a SB A2 Bracket Border.  The flowers are from Wild Orchid and the punched boughs are Martha Stewart.

Here is how it looks closed:

I'm going to keep my post short today as I'm getting ready to have some sweet grandma time with the kids... I hope you have a wonderful weekend!!!

Today's Blessing:

1 Chronicles16:8

Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim His greatness.  Let the whole world know what He has done.

May I be Willing Lord...

Hello friends!  I hope you are all doing well!!

Today I'm sharing a card I made for two challenges on SCS, and this week's Word Art Wednesday, which is always anything goes.    One of the SCS challenges was  the TLC, which was to make an embedded die.  This is basically when you use the negative part of the die cut for your frame, and then piece the cut out back in.  I used this technique on the cross die cut, which was cut using the April ODBD release, Ornamental Crosses Dies. I stamped my violets image from The Lord has Risen (a past release) onto the cut out cross, colored it with Copics and inserted it back in to the cut away area.  The label it is on was cut with one of the dies from the Vintage Flourish Pattern Die set, as is the background die.  I embossed the panel with a Sizzix embossing folder, which was the other challenge, the Clean and Simple challenge.   I mounted it all on a piece of the ODBD Christian Faith Paper Collection designer paper.  For the image, I stamped the violets image with Memento ink and colored with Copics and hand cut it out. I stamped the sentiment from The Cross set, and I popped up the label on dimensionals, as I did also with the main panel.  I also used the Flourish Labels Border stamp set to stamp my border with Dusty Concord. 

One of the things I love about the new dies, including this background is that you don't need much embellishment when you can have such a beautiful focal point just by die cutting!  Since I was entering this in the CAS challenge, I did not add one embellishment, and it is totally flat for mailing.

The sentiment on this card is a thought provoking one!  What does it really mean to take up our cross and follow Him?

Luke 9:23 

And He said to them all, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

In context, I believe the above Scripture is referring to our daily need to identify with Jesus Christ as our Savior.  He later said that if anyone is ashamed of Him before men, He will be ashamed of him before the Father.  I also think one of the strongest implications is that we must deny ourselves, putting Him and His priorities first and foremost in our lives.  Denying ourselves is, lets face it, one very difficult task for us! We all have our own agendas, burdens, pains and sorrows, but they should not be what identifies us, or gives us our purpose.  Jesus and HIS agenda should.  What I love most about the sentiment is how it addresses our need to bear our cross DAILY.  I believe the Lord uses this word because he knew that this commitment is a day to day, even moment to moment surrender of our wills to His.  Are we always successful in this?  Well, I doubt it!  I know I'm not!  However, my heart's desire is to be surrendered to Him, to identify with Him as my Savior, and to not be ashamed to stand up and say so.  
 Thank you so much for stopping by and visiting with me today!  Have a blessed week!

 

Lead Me to the Cross

Hello friends!  I hope you are doing well!  I seem to be fighting something and hoping it doesn't completely "get me"!  Gotta love those spring time bugs!

Anyway... I wanted to share a card I made for the sketch challenge at SCS this week.  I chose to use this month's release from ODBD, Chalkboard Word Art Background and stamped it twice with Marina Mist ink, so that I could cut it out and add the second panel on top, with the words just carrying on to the next layer.  Well.... it didn't work quite as I had hoped, because subway type chalkboard art is not always lined up with every letter exactly in line with the next.  It's that way by design, but when you cut it up, add a mat and then try to line it up, it looks like it's off.  I fiddled and fiddled with it and if I got one of the lower words looking better, then a top word looked off... and on and on, so this was the best I could do with it.  (Note to self... don't ALWAYS pick the hardest way to get there, Grace!)  LOL!

Anyway... I did have fun playing with new ODBD stamps and dies besides the background.  I used this month's The Cross for my sentiment and cut it with the ODBD Antique Labels and Border Die.  I also cut and layered several sizes of crosses from the Ornamental Cross Dies.  I inked two of them with Marina Mist to match my background.  I popped them up on dimensionals on a mat cut with the new Vintage Flourish Pattern Dies.  LOVE this die set!!!

 I submitted this particular sentiment to the set because at the cross is where I need to stay!  I need to constantly remind myself of not only all that my Savior did for me at the cross, and what that means for my future, but who I am in Christ now, because of that cross!  It's kind of like my card... even if it's not straight, perfectly aligned, etc.... it can still be a blessing to to someone. As His child, even in all my many imperfections, I too can be a testimony to all that Christ has done in my life and all He can do in your lives!  He made something beautiful out of all the imperfections, and He dearly loves me as His own!  His Word says He rejoices over me!  He loves me!  He has plans for me... to give me a hope and a future!  Wow!

One of my many favorite songs is "Lead me to the Cross" by Hillsong.  I included a link to a Utube video that I think will bless your heart.  Enjoy!

Lead Me To the Cross by Hillsong

Welcome to the April Release!

Welcome to the ODBD April Release!  If you have not had the chance to view the entire release yet, you might want to pop on over to the ODBD Blog to see it next!  There's tons of inspiration for you to enjoy as well!

Prize Information:

Three winners will be randomly chosen from the comments left on the designers blogs to receive a $15 Gift Certificate to the ODBD Store, to be used toward the purchase of ODBD Stamps.  You have until April 2, 2014 at 9:00 p.m. EDT to leave your comments!  The Winners will be posted on the ODBD Blog on April 3rd, so be sure to check back there to see if you won!

Now on to my cards.  My first card (above) was made with the Chalkboard Fan Background,  Chalkboard Paper Collection, Vintage Flourish Pattern Die, Ornamental Cross Dies, and a past release, Antique Labels and Border Die. 

To create the card I started with a yellow base, and matted with black.  I punched the lower edge with a Martha Stewart punch I've had for years but still love.  I stamped the Chalkboard Fan Background with VersaMark on Black card stock, and heat embossed in white. This gave almost a silver effect.  I then cut and embossed a piece of white card stock with the  Vintage Floral Pattern Die, using the large background die in the set.  I matted this over the chalkboard fan background.  I used the Antique Labels Die to cut my sentiment panel from the Chalkboard Paper Collection,  and backed it with a yellow Vintage Floral Pattern Label from the set.  I popped the sentiment panel up on dimensionals, and added some flowers and a sheer black ribbon.  I cut three crosses from the Ornamental Cross die set, one in silver, one in yellow, and one in black, and used the black as a "shadow" and the yellow on the other side as a highlight behind the silver cross.  I added the cross to the top of my floral spray.  A few little black gems finished it off.  

Here is my second card:

 For this card, I went a completely different way!  I used The Cross Stamp set, as well as a past release, Bird Border and Corners.  I also used The Ornament Cross Dies, the Vintage Flourish Pattern  Die,  a past release, Beautiful Borders Dies, and the newly released Christian Faith Paper Collection.  I also used Spellbinders Label 7 to cut my Bible out.

To create this card I started with a white base 5.5" square top fold base, and cut a black mat and then a square of the designer paper from the Christian Faith Paper Collection. I chose the names of God sheet.  I cut the Vintage Floral Pattern background die from that die set and adhered that on to the designer paper.  I then cut the two largest sizes of the SB Labels 7, one from black, and one from white.  On the white one, I lightly penciled a straight line across (so it could be erased later), where I could line up my verse, because I knew I wanted to split the verse in to two parts to cover both sides of my "Bible".  I used tape to cover the part of the stamp I did not want inked, inked up the part I did want, and with a mask to cover any stray ink on the part of the page I did not want stamped, I pulled off the inky tape, and then went ahead and stamped the first part of the sentiment.  Then I masked the other side to protect the part of the page I didn't want inked, and stamped again the same way using the second part of the verse from The Cross set. I then stamped the Bird Corners from the Bird Border and Corner stamp set, all around the outer edges of my pages with distress ink.    I scored the center of the Bible and used my scorer to roll the pages over to break some of the fibers so I could create that "open page" look.  I then hand cut the brushed gold layer using the die's outer edge as a template.  I hand scored a few page lines and cut the upper corners to look more realistic of how an open Bible's pages would look.  I adhered a 1/8" black ribbon to the back of the pages and adhered the entire book together.  After that I cut a black and purple tiny cross from the Ornamental Crosses Die set and adhered them on the page with the black offset just a little as a shadow, and added one tiny gem stone.  To finish off the card, I cut a border from the Beautiful Borders Die set, and I cut it apart to make two borders.  One I adhered to the top of the Vintage Floral Pattern, and one to the bottom.  I added some pretty white trim, a white May Arts wrinkled ribbon bow, and then added another shadowed cross to the bow, using the same black and purple shadowing technique.

Here are the new ODBD products I used today:

 I also used these past releases:

 In case you missed my sneak peek, I thought I'd repost that card here too:

For a list of materials for this card, just scroll down one post.


Thank you so very much for stopping by!  Please be sure to stop and visit each one of my DT sisters so you don't miss a chance to win!!!  

Chris * Sandee * Grace * Stacy * Dawn * Julie * Lori * Cathy * Sabrina * Silke * Wanda * Angie * Audrey * Lisa 

 

Blessings,