The fragrance of His never ending love!

Hello friends!  I hope you all are well and enjoying this bit of end of summer ! 

I had a few spare minutes and decided to make a quick card to share with you.  I used some of the new products available at Our Daily Bread Designs, along with a past release, Fragrance.  I can't seem to get enough of that set!!!  The flowers and sentiment are from the Fragrance set, and I paired them with some new dies: BoHo Background Dies, Stitched Ovals, Faith, Hope & Love Dies, and a past favorite release, Layered Lacey Squares.  The design paper is from the ODBD Chalkboard Paper Collection, and a scrap of pink from my stash.  The beautiful flowers are colored with Copics and hand cut.   It was fun to make this one and it came together quickly, which always helps! :)

So I was reflecting on "the fragrance of God's never ending love", and it started me thinking.... what is the fragrance that pleases God?  

I came across Eph. 5:1-2

^"1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children ² and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."

God was pleased with the  sacrifice Christ made when He willingly gave His life for the sins of the world...  and it was as a fragrant offering.  We're told to love and walk in love just as Christ did.  I think this includes being willing to sacrificially give of ourselves, whether it's our time, our money, our resources.... when we love others sacrificially, I think that's a fragrance that's pleasing to God.

I do wish you the fragrance of God's never ending love!

We live by faith, not by sight!

Hello friends!   I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful August!  I was in TN this past week, where my daughter lives,  and the kids there are already back to school!  What happened to summer vacation??? 

Well today I did manage to get a card made for a couple challenges on Splitcoast Stampers, so I'm sharing it with you here.  I made this one by stamping the newly released ODBD Boho Faith image a few times, using ColorBox Pigment Ink in two shades of pink.  I heat embossed them all with clear embossing powder.  I cut two of them for my background, using the ODBD Vintage Labels Die.  I did the same technique for the sentiment from the same set and cut it with a smaller Vintage Labels die.  One of the stampings I did with a lighter shade of pink, and I hand cut the flowers from that pattern.  I also used the same technique to stamp my butterflies from the Butterfly and Bugs Set, but I did them on vellum, and heat embossed.  They are cut with the matching Butterfly and Bug's Die.  I also cut a Layered Lacey Square from vellum, as well as several leaves from the Fancy Foliage Die set, which I stenciled with ColorBox White ink. I embossed a background with a Cuttlebug folder and mounted that on my 5.25" square base.  I just layered up the rest, some with dimensionals, and kept it simple this time. 

Here's a closer view of the embossing.  For some reason, I'm not getting great photos today so it's hard to see.  The colors on this close up are closer to the true colors as well.  Not sure why that photo above makes the pink background look more rasberryish than it is in real life.

This is such a wonderful verse and can be used for so many card needs.  We all go through seasons in our lives when we don't always see the answers to our questions right away, but our faith, if it's kept strong, will carry us through those tough times, because we have great assurance that no matter what happens in this life, God is still in control.  There's great comfort in that knowledge.  So keep looking up! 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  It's such a blessing knowing you were here!

Welcome to the ODBD August Release!

Hello friends!  Can you believe it's August already?  Time seems to be just racing by!!! I had family visiting much of July, and  I also had a lot of canning to do as the whole garden seemed to need attention as soon as my family went back home. 

However,  believe it or not... it IS August 1st,  and that means another new release from Our Daily Bread Designs!  ... And a new release means more chances to win gift certificates for ODBD stamps!

Three randomly selected winners will each receive a $25 gift certificate to the ODBD Store, to be used toward the purchase of ODBD Stamps found in the "stamps column" of the website just for commenting on the Design Team cards!  You have until August 2, 2015 at 9:00 p.m. EDT to leave your comments on the Designers Blogs for a chance to win!  The Winners will be posted on the ODBD Blog on August 3rd, so be sure to check back there to see if you won!

If you have not seen the full release yet, you can see it HERE.  

For my first project, I chose the newly released Boho Blessings set for my butterfly image and my sentiment.  I used a white Neenah base, layered that with a pretty blue sheet of paper from the ODBD Christian Faith Paper Collection, then a white die cut layer, using the new Boho Background Die.  For my focal point, I used the new Stitched Oval die, embossed with a past release,  the Sunburst Background Die, and I matted the stitched oval with a new die from the Ovals Dies set, which also uses paper from the same paper collection.  I stamped the butterfly image from the Boho Blessings  set with Brocade Blue ink, and die cut it with a past release, Fancy Fritillary Die.  I stamped the butterfly image again on vellum, and heat embossed the design with Kaleidoscope embossing powder, and die cut with the same die.  I love how it sparkles and pulls the blue pattern through, yet gives a filmy shimmery layer on top. 

 I embellished with some pearl flourishes and a tiny blue ribbon, attaching the Thanks sentiment, which is cut with a tag from the ODBD Custom Mini Tags dies set.  

For my next card I used the new Boho Faith set for my image and sentiment.  I stamped the image with VersaMark and heat embossed wtih Stampendous Pearl Luster Rubelite embossing powder.  Although my photo does not show that it's embossed, in real life it's very pretty.  I cut the image with the largest die in the ODBD Vintage Label Die set, then I cut another from white, cut and slightly offset on both sides for a white mat effect.  I did an emboss resist technique on the main panel using inks close in color to the design paper I had used (which also is from the same Christian Faith Paper Collection used above).  I used the new Faith, Hope & Love dies to cut the work Faith out twice... once with white glitter paper, and once with white.  I matted them together with a slight offset and positioned on the main panel.  I used the ODBD Decorative Corner dies to  cut my white cross corner die cuts, and the ODBD Mini Tags dies for my tag.  I used a May Arts dual toned sheer ribbon and white pearls to embellish. 

 To recap: the NEW ODBD products I used today:

I also used the following past releases:

 

If you missed my sneak peek at this release, you can see the details by scrolling down to the next post, but here's the card I shared as a sneak peek.

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I hope you enjoyed my samples using the new and some past ODBD releases!  Be sure to stop by my DT sister's Blogs to see much more inspirtation, and to be sure you have a chance to win!!!

Angie, Chris, Grace, Lisa, Julie, Sabrina, Loretta, Sandee, Silke, Cathy, Amy, Lori,  America, Dawn