Peaceful Rest

Hello everyone and happy Sunday! I hope you are having a wonderful weekend! Today's Stampin Sisters in Christ challenge is brought to us by our guest designer, Miesje! The Scripture she chose this week is:

"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

What a wonderful and comforting verse! Have you ever felt burdened beyond what you could bear? Have you ever felt that you would just break under the weight of it all... or experienced such intense pain that you wondered if you could go on? It is at those times, when we realize how powerless we are in so many ways... and it's also those times when we realize how powerful our Savior is! Not only is He fully able to hear our cry and heal our wounds, our pain, our burdens.... but He is standing ready to relieve us of the greatest burden of all... that of our sin. He loves us with a love that is pure and unending. In love, He provided the way for us to be released from the weight of guilt of all our sin... past, present and future.... and He did that by giving His own life for us. He offers us the greatest peace and rest imaginable... free for the taking! What's even more amazing about the Christian life is that once we give our hearts to the Lord, He also gives us a peace that surpasses all imagination.... He is the source of our deepest joy! We can face uncertain days, difficult days, painful days, knowing that this earth and it's trials are but a drop in a bucket compared to the riches He has for us in glory, and we find strength to help in time of need!

Miesje's challenge to us is to make a project that symbolizes what brings you rest or peace. It could be flowers, an ocean, music, mountains, sitting with a friend, or just reading a book.

Well, while the greatest source of peace for me is knowing my Savior, spending real time with Him, walking in relationship with Him.... I wanted to use this image to represent the peace I feel when I have time to get away from my usual duties to just sit by the ocean and listen to the waves, watch a sunrise or sunset, watch all the beauty of nature and be reminded that even nature calls out of the love and creativity of our maker! It's so comforting to know that that same God who created the seas and the dry land, the expanse of sky and the sun, moon and stars, also created me! He created me in His image to do good things... and gifted me in just the way He wanted so that I could do what He wanted me to do.

So for today's project, I used stamps from Our Daily Bread designs, Serendipity and Verve. The image is one I got for Christmas and adore, but have not had time to ink up, from Serendipity. It so represents what I love to do when we visit our "home" state of Maine. I cut it out with a Spellbinder's Label 11 and colored with Copics. The verse is from Verve and is a plain Jane stamp, which I stamped directly on the dp with Lavendar Lace Ink. The matching bookmark uses a Scripture from Our Daily Bread designs Customer Favorites Series 1. I used this gorgeous Memory Box Poppyfinch dp on Baja Breeze paper, and Baja Breeze ribbon. The punches are Martha Stewart around the page punches. For the bookmark I used the same punches and sponged my sentiment in Baja Breeze, and tied a little hemp twine at the top.

Our sponsor this week is Simon Says Stamp and they are donating a fantastic set "Relax Vacation" which you can see on the Stampin Sisters in Christ post.

We'd love to have you play along... if you do, please place a link to the Stampin Sisters in Christ Blog in your post, and place a direct link to your project on the SSCC thread.

Be sure to check out the rest of the Design Team for more inspiration for this week's challenge!

Here's links to the rest of the team to make it easier for you!

Chris
Cindy
Linda
Randi
Peggysue
Lisa
Miesje
Rebekkah

Thank you so much for looking and for your sweet comments! They mean so much!

I'm linking this to the following challenges:

*Little Red Wagon- Nestabilities
*One Stitch At a Time- lace, ribbon, bows
*By the cute and girly-warm summer days
*Ooh La La Creations-simply summer
*Drunken Stampers- Summer Theme
*Lexis- layers
*Creative Card Crew- to Die for
*PIO- favorite things- image, Scripture
*Incy Wincy-use punches

Midnight Madness Sketch with Jer.29:11

Hello everyone! Tonight I have a card done for the Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge. This was a great sketch, as always... but I really had to enlarge my center element because I wanted to use this wonderful verse from Verve, Jeremiah 29:11, which says " For I know the plans I have for you, " declares the Lord, "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future". What a wonderful verse!

My DP is K& Co as is the pretty die cut that I stamped the sentiment on. The brushed gold is from The Paper Co, and the base is Mellow Moss. I heat embossed using Ranger Super Fine Detail Gold Embossing Powder. The lower edges are punched with an EK Success punch and the little flower elements are also diecuts from the same pack, glitzed up with Magenta Stickles to match the top one which already had glitter. The "hanger" at the top is a Spellbinders Die Cut which I cut and embossed in the Big Shot.

Hope you like this and enjoy the refreshing words from God's Word!

Thanks for looking!

Praying for you with sympathy color challenge and Mojo Sketch

Today I used the color challenge from SCS which was to use Pink Pirouette, Rose Red, and Basic Grey. I also used Julee's Monday Mojo Sketch. See a link to her challenge in my right side bar and play along!

I need two sympathy cards this week and they are the hardest cards for me to make. These however are going to friends whose loved ones knew the Lord, and we have the assurance they are now resting in the arms of their Savior. No more pain and illness... just pure joy in Jesus! We miss our loved ones here and now, but how wonderful to know we will be reunited one day!

I used designer paper by SU!: Bella Rose, and SU! Rose Red. My grey is The Paper Co. and the white is Georgia Pacific. I stamped my sentments in Archival Jet Black and the K&Co butterfly in Rose Red. I stamped the butterfly twice and glued one down, then glued only the body on the second one, lifting the wings slightly. I used a Martha Stewart edge punch and a ribbon slot punch for my Rose Red Ribbon. I also added some silver Dew Drops for the side in two sizes, and in the small size for the butterfly trail.

My sentiments are: Sweet 'n Sassy (With Sympathy), Verve (Praying for you) and on the inside I used a sentiment from Verses Rubber Stamps. I stamped that sentiment right on the Bella Rose DP. I hope it will bring some comfort to my friends to know they are in my prayers!

Thank you for stopping by! I so appreciate it!

Happy Easter to you all!

Hello everyone! I didn't get to stamp today but I thought since I'm going to be gone for a little over a week, I'd show you a couple of Easter cards I made with the new Verve set that I won. It's called Everlasting Life and I just have loved using it! I have already used it 'til it looks old!!! Anyway... here are a couple cards I made and mailed out.

I started out making everyone a different card... but after about the first 8 I decided I needed to streamline the process. The clean and simple card on the left is the one I settled on for a quick finish. I stamped the sentiment right on the card and only layered the oval nesties for the cross image. Inside both cards I stamped the words to John 3:16, which is also a part of this set. It was just perfect for my Easter cards. The card on the right is just a little "more" but very similar. I used three layers for the oval, and three for the sentiment panel. The dp I used on both cards is from Papertrey. The solid green is also Papertrey "Spring Moss", as is the ribbon.

I wish I had taken pictures of the first eight but I was in such a rush to mail them as they were going out of the country, that I forgot to photograph them. Oh well... next time, right?

I will be missing in action next week. My kids are coming tonight and we'll be busy, and then I go back with them Sun. afternoon for the week to help them with phase 2 of their move... getting out of storage and into their home! I'm so happy for them to have this behind them. It's been a long hard process, but they are just about home now. I look forward to catching up with everyone when I get back!

I hope you all have a blessed Easter and I hope you will find some time to thank the Lord Jesus for what He did for us! His love for us in unmeasureable! Rejoice!!!

Verve Mojo Monday Sketch # 81

Hello everyone! I made this card LATE last night for Julee's Mojo Monday Challenge. See my right side bar for a banner link to the challenge if you'd like to play along!

I used my new Verve set... remember that I won a set during the last blog hop? Well.... this is the one I chose for free! It's called Everlasting Life, and I just love it!!! The cross in this set is gorgeous and I made about a dozen cards with it which I have already sent out, and there are some wonderful sentiments and also it has John 3:16, which I used inside most of my Easter cards. LOVE this set! But this time I chose the flower in the set. I thought it went well with SU! Rasberry Tart DP. I used Regal Rose as my base, used a top fold, and used Watercolor paper for my image and sentiment panels. I stamped in Archival Jet Black and I watercolored with inks and a paint brush. I stamped the flower twice and colored twice, then cut out the biggest flower and the bud, and paper toled them with dimensionals. I matted these panels with Kiwi Kiss. The ribbon is SU! Pretty in Pink, and there is a layered Prima, brad, and three dew drops which I attached with mini glue dots.

I'm pushing the calender on getting this mailed on time but it's going out today! Hope it makes it in time!!!

Thanks for taking a peek at my blog, and I hope you like this springy cheery Easter card!

Flower Pot Pocket Card for Easter

Hello everyone and a happy Monday to you! Today's Technique Lover's Challenge on SCS was this cute little Flower Pot Pocket Card. I LOVE this technique!

Lynn linked us to Stephanie Luman's blog for the tutorial on how to make this. You can find that here.

The tutorial called for using a Sizzix die cut for the flowers but since I don't have that, I just cut flowers out of my DSP. This DSP is from the Paper Studio. I also used the Paper Sudio Kraft for my base. I added leaves cut with the SU! Sizzix Die Cut and a Martha Stewart Leaf Punch and cut these from green scraps I found in my stash. My Insert is stamped with a new Verve Stamp (Everlasting Life) on Georgia Pacific White. I added some ribbon and bling and done.

I hope you like this spring project and you might want to check out the tutorial and try it for yourself! Thanks for taking a peek at my blog today!

Verve Project Parade: Eggstra Special

Happy Thursday everyone!

Today I decided to play along with the Verve Project Parade, "Eggstra Special". I wanted to do something *different*... not the usual bunnies etc. I wanted a way to give the true meaning of Easter, while still making something pretty and springy in nature. I came up with this design on my own. I don't know if anyone else has done this before, but there are so many "baskets" out there that it's quite possible it has been done, I just haven't seen any. I'm going to attempt to tell you what I did to make this in case you'd like to try it.

I cut two of the largest scalloped oval Nestabilities out of Papertrey Spring Moss CS. I also cut a 1" wide strip 6.25" long. This forms the body of the basket. I then cut an oval of K&Co. Embossed Vellum and attached to the front of one scalloped oval with vellum tape.

In the 1" wide strip I cut 2 slits with my Fiskars finger blade, about 3/4" from each end. I passed a piece of ribbon through these slits, punched a hole through paper and ribbon and inserted sparkly brads. For mine, I left enough ribbon to cover the brad and attach to the inside of the strip, giving a finished off look.

I applied a very tiny bead of Tombow Metal Glue to one edge of my 1" strip after determining the center point top and bottom of my ovals, and starting at the two top points, I pressed into place, making a rounded "u" shaped bottom. When I had that in place I ran another tiny bead of glue on the other edge of the strip and lining up my ovals, I attached the other oval, quickly standing basket up to be sure the front and back were lined up perfectly and stood without help.

Then I just decorated the front. I didn't want to hide too much of the gorgeous vellum, so I made a small oval sentiment panel, stamping on watercolor paper, with Memento Rick Cocoa, the sentiment from Clear Dollar Stamps called "In God's Hands". I lightly stamped a fern from See Dees Morsels Set "Flowers and Ferns" in River Rock. I matted this sentiment panel with a scalloped layer of Papertrey's Sweet Blush CS. For the cross I stamped Verve's Cross from "Jeremiah 29:11" set in Memento Rich Cocoa on watercolor paper and cut out. I decorated the cross with a strip of leaf ribbon, and one tiny quilled flower my SCS friend, MariLynn sent me. (MariLynn.... thank you soooo much!) Both the sentiment panel and the cross are popped up on dimensionals.

This basket stands on it's own as shown, but also looks nice hanging. Here's a couple more views.

This is the first card I made with my new Verve Stamps. I love this verse... and the flowers are Verve Stamps too. I used PaperTrey designer paper, cuttlebugged my corners, and for the flowers, I stamped each flower twice and put a brad through the center... then I used my paper piercer tool to roll the papers over... making the flowers look curled. I loved the dimension that gave these flowers! This was for a Featured Stamper Challenge on SCS... Stamp_momma had a great gallery to gaze upon.

Isn't this little guy adorable? I made a Valentine's Day card with this great Whipper Snapper image. I colored it just slightly with my Copics, and the used a neat technique to make the heart strip down the side. This was for a Technique Lover's Challenge over on SCS. I used tacky tape, added my punched hearts, then black embossing powder, and heat embossed. It's very shiny and cool. The cute sentiment is from my new Verve set... which is another stamp company I love!