A Personal Praise and another Christmas card!

Hello friends!  I hope you are all well! 

I just got home from an Oncologist appointment that has been laying heavy on my heart as it was to get the results of all the tests he ran over the past 2 weeks and whether he thought I was healthy enough to move on to the chemo regime he had planned.   First of all... I just have to give God all the glory for answered prayers!  The PET scan was basically clean (only a couple little things that don't really change much).  I knew my chances of it having gone in to my lymph nodes were very high and I was even warned by the Dr that due to the tumor's size, it was quite likely it had metastasized to other organs, which would have really affected my long term outlook.  It has not!  Praise the Lord from whom all blessings flow!!!  So I start a year long Chemo and Biological drug regime on Tues am.  I will go every 3 weeks to get 4 different chemo and biological drugs for 18 weeks. I also will go once a week for a year (if my heart can take it), for a biological drug that they infuse the same way, but it's not supposed to put me down as much as the chemo drugs will.  It does pose a risk to the heart so that is another prayer request.  Also after the 18 weeks on chemo, I should be having surgery and radiation for 5-6 weeks.  I am so encouraged today, and I now have determination that I can make it through this.  It's going to be a long journey, but I know He is with me!  I have to thank all of you who have been praying for me as He hears and answers prayers! I would cherish your continued prayers as I begin treatment.  I know there will be a lot of difficult days, but I am so resting in His loving arms right now and I can't even express how grateful I am for how He has answered our prayers!!!

Today I'm sharing another Christmas card I made before all these tests began, using some great new dies from Our Daily Bread designs, as well as one of my all time favorite sets, You Will Find Refuge (the bird image).  

I stamped the bird image and lightly colored with Copics, then cut with the Custom Chickadee Die.  I used a craft base, then Always Artichoke, then white which I embossed with a Darice Pine Embossing folder.  I die cut the pine boughs from the new Lovely Leaves die set and the pinecones are from the new Pinecones die set.  The pinecones are two part, so I did the background in a darker color and the top part with craft. I then added Dazzling Diamond glitter liberally to it all.  I die cut the Merry Christmas Word dies from a slightly darker brown shade and adhered.  To embellish I just used some red twine and some clusters of red pearls.  Simple, but I love it because Chickadees are my absolute favorite birds! I love watching their acrobatics and just the wonder of how God has provided for even these tiny little birds!  If he cares that much for them, I know He cares for me!  The name of this set (You Will Find Refuge) comes from Ps. 91:4.  I went back to read the rest of this chapter and found it touching my heart in a special way today.  Here is the first part of the chapter:

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say to the Lord, My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!  For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence.  He will cover you with His feathers and under His wings you may seek refuge.  His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.  You will not be afraid ..."

Thanks so much for stopping by, for your prayers and notes of encouragement!

Merry Christmas in Blue and White!

Hello friends!  I hope you are all doing well! 

To update you a little on my situation... things continue to get more complicated as we go along it seems.  I have seen the Oncologist who upgraded the size of the tumor by double, and doubled the length of time on the 4 drug chemo/biological meds before surgery.  As of now I should be starting chemo in about 2 weeks.  I have many appointments between now and then to see if I am healthy enough for the full on chemo he is recommending.  When all that is back I meet with him again and we start the plan in motion.  I so appreciate all of you who are praying for me and have encouraged me on this journey.  I do know God has a plan for each of us, and that nothing happens to us that hasn't sifted through His loving hands first.  So I continue to pray not only for healing but that He will go before me (as I know He will) and that He will glorify Himself through this.

Today I'm sharing a card I made using some of the Nov. release from Our Daily Bread designs.  For this card I started with a base of Neenah Solar White and matted with Midnight Muse card stock, then another white layer and on the top blue layer I stamped the new Snowflake Border Background stamp in Craft White and heat embossed in white.  I die cut a Beautiful Border to sort of look like icicles. I added a strip of white paper I embossed with a thin Cuttlebug folder, and to that I added the Nov. Small Bow die, some greenery from the Lovely Leaves Dies, and the Windowsill Candles Die, all done in white.  In the center I used the new Merry Christmas Word dies.  It makes a pretty card up in not too terribly much time.  I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed making it!

I don't really know how many more cards I will be making in the coming weeks, so if there isn't much activity from me, you'll understand why.  I will try to update you on how it's going as I'm able.  I do cherish your continued prayers. 

Welcome to the Our Daily Bread Designs Nov. Release!

Hello friends!   Welcome to the Our Daily Bread Designs Nov. release!

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 "ODBD stamps column" of the website just for commenting on the Design Team cards!  You have until November 2, 2015 at 9:00 p.m. EST to leave your comments on the Designers Blogs for a chance to win!  The Winners will be posted on the ODBD Blog on November 3rd, so be sure to check back there to see if you won!

For my card above, I used the new Flourished Merry Christmas stamp, the Snowflake Border Background stamp, and some great new dies:  Lovely Leaves,  Pinecones, and Small Bow.  I stamped the snowflake border background using Colorbox  pigment ink and then heat embossed with Kaleidoscope embossing powder.  In real life it's sparkly but I cannot seem to capture that on my photos!  I cut a window out of that using the ODBD Custom Vintage Labels Die.  I stamped the Flourished Merry Christmas sentiment with a slightly darker shade of Colorbox ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.  I placed the window over the sentiment with foam dimensional tape.  I matted that with some aqua paper from my stash, and adhered that to a white base.  To make the greenery I used more of the aqua scraps and some Soft Sky paper to cut out die cut pine boughs and I used soft sky and white to cut out the two layers of the pinecone dies.  I then glittered them all with Dazzling Diamonds glitter.  The paper bow is made using the new Small Bow.  I cut two of the tails so I could wrap them around the corner a bit, and I added some aqua glitter to the bow.  

 

For this second card, I used the new In The Highest stamp for my verse, and the design papers are all from the Christmas Card Collection 2015.  This pack of paper is so fun because it includes background papers, layering papers, images, and then lots of little tags and sentiments, and that's what the smaller sentiment above is... design paper cut out and matted.  My card base is an old SU! color - Cranberry Crisp, and the green card stock is Mellow Moss.  The embellishments are mirrored gold die cuts, cut with the new Lovely Leaves dies, and some gold twine and half pearl stickers.  

I just love Christmas cards that use Scripture!  There are many messages we love to send our friends and loved ones at Christmas, but the real reason we celebrate is that God sent His one and only Son to be born as a man, to live as a human,  even though He was God, to be tempted, beaten, spat upon, hated and rejected, and eventually to be killed in the cruelest way possible, so that He could pay the ultimate price for our sins!  God loves us that much!!!  I can't imagine the pain it must have caused Him knowing what Jesus would have to go through, and I can't imagine how difficult it must have been for Jesus to walk this earth and  to be separated from His Father... to become sin for us!  But I do know He did that for me, and for all who would believe and receive His salvation, freely given!  

I pray that each of you knows Him as Savior today, and can truly celebrate the real reason for the season!  Oh I know there are many arguments as to when Jesus' birth actually occurred, and we don't know exactly when it took place, ... but the real important point is, that we take the time to joyfully celebrate His gift to us and thank Him for His sacrifice! 

Now, just to recap, here are the new products I used today:

Thank you so much for stopping by!  

Please take a moment to visit my DT sisters for more inspiration:

Cathy * Dawn * Julie * Robin * Amy * Lori * America 

* Sandee * Lisa * Sabrina * Grace * Silke * Chris * Angie