Where Words Fail, Music Speaks

Hello my friends!  I hope you have all enjoyed a wonderful weekend and are staying well in this epidemic flu season! 

Well we have been busy at our house, making repairs after a roof leak and laying new flooring in all our bedrooms!  We had planned on laying hardwood floors before the roof problem and had purchased the wood, but had waited to get started until my hubby was going to be off work for the week between Christmas and New Years.  So... while other workers were here doing other things like putting on a new roof, fixing dry wall inside, and painting, hubby and I have been hard at work getting the flooring down.  We have all the bedrooms done now except for the closets.   I'm loving the new look and I think it will really help with allergy symptoms, or I hope so at least!  :)

Anyway... with my SCS Dirty Dozen cards, and all the home projects, I have not had a lot of crafting time, but today I did manage to get in to my craft room for a little while, and this is what I came up with.  I used this month's Music Speaks stamp set, as well as the ODBD Blushing Rose Paper Collection, Vintage Labels, and Vintage Flourish Pattern Dies.  The trim is Recollections, and I used a Spellbinders Fancy Framed Tags die for my sentiment, and cut off one side of the fancy frame.  The image is stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa and then colored with pencils.  I then played around with the faux Bokeh technique found HERE.  I used Faber Castel Gelatos in pink and gold and the eraser on my mechanical pencil to stamp little circles on my background.  I used my finger dipped in the gold to add a touch of shimmer to the whole panel, and especially along the edges.  I also went over parts of the image with a Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Pen and I just wish the camera could capture shimmer because it never seems to really show it, especially on dark days like today!

Anyway... I love this new set and I had fun playing with something a little different for it.  I hope it inspires you in some way to have fun with different techniques too!   

Today's Blessing from the Word:

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

Thanks so much for stopping by!

The Ichthus and the passage of time!

Hello my friends!  

Wow!  2015!!!  Where did 2014 go???  Is it just me or does time seem to be just RACING by?

Well, with the speed of time, we realize that things creep up on us!  With that in mind, when I was thinking about what samples I could make for you using the newly released ODBD Faithful Fish Pattern Die and Debossing Plate.  The first thing that came to my mind was the retired set, Fishers of Men, which was one of my first sets purchased from ODBD!  The set has been retired, but the Fishing Basket Image is still available as a single stamp!  You can find it HERE.  

I love this image for all the guys in my family because they all love to fish!  So I decided to pair the image with a Happy Father's Day sentiment from The Waves on the Sea and make a Father's Day card up early to have ready in June.... which will be here before I know it!!! 

I started with a base of Early Espresso and then used Sahara Sand to die cut and deboss the Faithful Fish Pattern Die and Debossing plate.  I stamped the image with Memento ink and colored with Copics.  I added some baker's twine and splattered some ink on my image panel with a tooth brush and reinker.  Very simple, very quick!  Since time is flying by so quickly, being able to create a few cards quickly seems to be an expedient thing to do right now! :)

I'm sure most of you know the basic history of the "Jesus Fish" but if not, here is what Wikipedia says about it.

 The ichthys or ichthus (/ˈɪkθəs/), from the Greek ikhthýs (ἰχθύς, "fish"), is a symbol consisting of two intersecting arcs, the ends of the right side extending beyond the meeting point so as to resemble the profile of a fish. It was used by early Christians as a secret Christian symbol and now known colloquially as the "sign of the fish" or the "Jesus fish".

According to tradition, ancient Christians, during their persecution by the Roman Empire in the first few centuries after Christ, used the fish symbol to mark meeting places and tombs, or to distinguish friends from foes:

According to one ancient story, when a Christian met a stranger in the road, the Christian sometimes drew one arc of the simple fish outline in the dirt. If the stranger drew the other arc, both believers knew they were in good company. Current bumper-sticker and business-card uses of the fish hearken back to this practice.

I had a Jesus Fish on my car for a while, just as a testimony that I belong to Christ.  One day I parked my car in front of AC Moore and someone stole my fish!  Lol!  I guess they either were enraged by it, or maybe just kids being mean but you have to admit.... that's one thing you don't expect to be stolen!  Well I hope it's doing some good somewhere!  :)

Anyway... thinking about time flying by.... and thinking about Jesus' command to "Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men"... I am reminded that time is indeed short, and our entire lives fly by!  Even if we live an incredibly long life, humanly speaking, our days are still short!  It's important to keep eternity in view at all times, and to use our time wisely! 

Thanks for stopping by today and for taking the time to read my rambling thoughts!  I wish each of you a blessed New Year, filled with meaningful times.... meaningful days, meaningful moments! 

 Now if I can just remember to date my checks as Jan. 2015!!! LOL!

Welcome to the ODBD January Release!

Hello everyone!  HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Welcome to the Our Daily Bread designs January release!

If you didn't see the entire release,  you might want to begin at the ODBD Blog. 

To be eligible to win one of THREE prizes of $25.00 Gift Certificates to be used toward the purchase of stamps at the ODBD Store, simply leave a comment on each of the designers blogs by Jan. 2, 2015, 9:00pm EST.  Three winners will be randomly chosen from comments on the designers blogs and the winners will be announced on the ODBD Blog on Jan. 3rd. Be sure to check back there to see if you won!

Now on to my cards:

For the above card, I used Just a Note, and Faithful Fish Pattern Die, as well as previous releases: Vintage Flourish Pattern Die and Beautiful Borders.  I began with a Regal Rose base top fold A2 card.  For my background, I inked my fish pattern die with Worn Lipstick Distress ink before running it through my die cut machine.  This put a little color in to the debossed pattern. Please note:  This die is designed to deboss the fish and the dots around the outside border of the die, but I passed mine through the machine several times and then simply pierced my border holes out.  I like the way it looks this way!  I popped the fish pattern up with dimensionals, then added the pink Beautiful Border which I laced up with 1/8" ribbon.  I popped up the image on the mat and mounted that on top of the fish pattern.  I stamped the image with Worn Lipstick Distress Ink and then colored it lightly with Copics.  I cut the panel with the Vintage Flourish Pattern die and popped that up with dimensionals on  a Spellbinders Majestic Label Twenty Five. 

For my next sample, I went from fairly clean to shabby and distressed.

For this card, I used  Music Speaks for my image and sentiment.  I stamped with brown Memento ink white card stock, and colored with Copics, then I distressed edges, crumpled up a few wrinkles and sponged with various distress inks.  The sentiment is cut with a Vintage Label, and distressed, then popped up on dimensionals over the lace trim.  The card base is Baked Brown Sugar, and the designer paper is g.c.d.studios - Botanique.  I used a scrap of blue designer paper and lightly stamped the It Is Well With My Soul Hymn Background with Distress ink.  I layered up my papers and decided to tuck in two of last month's tickets from Admit Three, and cut them with the ticket die in the Mini Tags Die set.  I did my first "wandering" stitch technique on this card and I wanted to go a second time around but my machine was not liking this paper and I was afraid I'd ruin it, so I stuck to just one row of wandering stitches.  My wrinkled seam binding also anchors a little bird's nest charm from Prima. 

Thanks so much for visiting today!  Please stop by my DT sisters' Blogs to view all the inspiration they have to share with you!

Cathy * Sandee * Lori * Dawn * Julie * Angie * Chris * Grace * Audrey 

* Silke * Wanda * Sabrina * Lisa

Blessings,

 

God's Priceless Gift!

Hello friends!  I hope you are enjoying a great week!  I had an unwelcome visitor this past weekend... the stomach bug!  I am so glad to say I'm finally starting to feel well again!  Whew!  Glad that's over with!

Anyway... I have not had time to even look at my craft room lately so I'm going to share a "reject" card I made a few weeks ago, not intending to show it here.   I was going for a collage card to tell a story of our Saviors birth, so I loaded quite a few images on here from Our Daily Bread designs.  I began with a Baked Brown Sugar base from SU!.  I stamped the Midnight Clear Background on ivory card stock, then stamped the clock image from God's Timing, and cut with the ODBD Matting Circles dies.  I die cut a Splendorous Star , and stamped two sentiments from the Admit Three Ticket set.  I die cut them with the ticket die that comes in the Mini Tags die set.  I also stamped the image from The Babe,  colored with Copics and Pencils, and cut with a Spellbinders Curved Rectangles die.  I sponged everything with distress ink to age a bit and then simply layered them up.  I loved the sentiments on these two tickets... especially the one that says "God's Priceless Gift ~ free to bearer" 

God's priceless gift to us on that special night, when God Himself came to dwell among us... is beyond my comprehension!  Have you ever thought about what He left in heaven... to come live with us?  He came knowing what He would have to face, and the pain He would suffer!  He came because He loved us and wanted to give us a precious gift we could not earn ourselves!  He wanted us to be able to live in His presence, but  sin had separated us and there was no way we would ever be able to take care of our own sinful state!  There was no way that we could pay for our own sins, and no way we could live a sinless life.  So a substitutionary payment was provided in our perfect Savior... the Light of the World!  His priceless gift is forgiveness of sin and a future with Him in heaven if we will but receive His gift!  It's free to US, but my friends, it was anything but free to Him!  

This Christmas, as we look around the world and see it literally falling apart all around us.... let's focus our minds on eternal things!  This world is groaning with sin, and we are seeing the result of that more and more all around us!  I believe time is short until the Lord returns for His children and takes us home!  The things of this world, while alluring and desirous, are all temporary and leave us feeling empty and looking for more.  Only that precious Gift who came in to the world as a baby born in a stable, wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger in Bethlehem can give our lives eternal meaning!  Only He can cover our sins and remove them as far as the east is from the west, and remember them no more!  Only He can declare us righteous, because of His shed blood on the cross, and His victory over death!  Only He can fill us with peace... He IS our peace, and we can face uncertain tomorrows knowing that we are at peace with God, and we have the peace of God in our hearts knowing our future is secure in Him!  Let's focus on these things and give Him all the thanks, honor and glory due Him!

If I don't post again before Christmas.... I wish you and yours a most Merry Christmas, and a blessed New Year!!!

 

From our House to Yours!

Hello friends! 

From our house to yours.... MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! 

Today I have a quick card to share with you using this month's ODBD release, Let it Snow, and some partial snowflakes from a past release, Sparkling Snowflakes.  I stamped and sponged my MB snowflake stencil with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Iced Spruce.  I love the blueish green tones.  It reminds me of the retired Sage Shadow color from SU! which I miss very much.  My card base is Neenah Solar White and I cut my image panel with last month's die release, the Flourished Star Pattern die.  That gives the edge the tiny piercing that I could never do myself that evenly.  I popped the entire main panel up on dimensionals for a little extra pop, since the card is basically very simple.  I added the sentiment which is cut with a SB Ribbon Tag Trio die, and I added some tiny partial snowflakes from the Sparkling Snowflakes set and adhered with ribbon.  Simple and very doable in mass!

I hope you enjoyed my card today.  If you need a quick idea, this might help you get some made up in time to mail this year! :)

I have been focusing my mind and thoughts on the birth of our Savior throughout this Advent season.  I thought I'd share some Scripture with you today which gives the account of how Mary was first told by the angel Gabriel, that she would conceive a child, and that He would be great, and would rule His people.  There is so much to ponder in these verses, but what touches my heart today is Mary's response.... "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word. " I'm not sure I would have been that willing to be scorned for being pregnant out of wedlock in a time when that was an offense with dire consequences.  I'm not sure I would have wanted to start my marriage to Joseph already pregnant.  I'm sure I would have worried about what Joseph would think of me!  However, I think it was her heart that God found favor with, for her response showed her willingness to  do whatever God wanted her to do.  I hope you can take a couple moments to read Luke's account:

²⁶ Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”^[c]
29 But when she saw him,^[d] she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. ³⁰ Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. ³² He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. ³³ And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
³⁴ Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”
³⁵ And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. ³⁶ Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. ³⁷ For with God nothing will be impossible.”
³⁸ Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

I am entering this in the ODBD Shining the Light Challenge, which is Christmas!

Blessings to you during this most special season, from our house to yours!

Happy Birthday Tickets!

Hello my friends!  So gad you stopped by today!  I have something very CAS (clean and simple) to share with you today, which although not my usual style, I found fun to create and quick enough to actually be able to get several made for upcoming needs!  

I created this with the ODBD Dec. release, Admit Three .

I simply created a little border of birthday tickets from the Admit Three set, using different inks to coordinate with my chosen My Mind's Eye design paper, Hootenanny.  The inks I used are Primrose Petals, Daffodil Delight, and Marina Mist.  I added two ODBD Custom Beautiful Borders from a past release, and matted that on to my design paper, which I had pierced around the edges.  I popped this entire panel up on dimensions on a white card base.  I added a sweet multi-colored sheer bow to finish it off.

Today's blessing from the Word:

We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.

Proverbs 16:9

I'm so thankful that my future does not rest in the plans that I make, for I would mess up many things in my life with my limited, finite understanding!  I can trust God who is sovereign and all knowing to direct my steps and know in full assurance that His plans for me are only for my good, and His glory.  

As we come to the end of another year, I hope we can all commit our ways to Him and trust His plans for us!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Welcome to the ODBD Dec. Release!

Hello friends!  Welcome to the ODBD December release! If you have not had a chance to view the entire release, you might want to pop on over to the ODBD Blog to see it all.  Here are the details for how you might win one of the prizes up for grabs this month:

Three randomly selected winners will each receive a $15 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 December 2, 2014 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 December 3rd, so be sure to check back there to see if you won!

 *********************

Now on to my cards...

For the card above, I used the new Let it Snow set.  I stamped with Memento and colored with Copics, then went over the silver parts with a Wink Of Stella glitter pen.  I marked on the back of my paper where the bells were and then hand embossed them from the back to give them some depth.  I love the effect even though I can't really capture it with the camera.   I also used some past releases on this card, including the Sparkling Star Die and the Vintage Labels Dies.  I cut two of the stars, one from glitter paper, and one from white, then I stamped my sentiment and colored the star to match the designer paper, which was last month's release, the ODBD Christmas Paper Collection 2014.

For my next card, I used the gorgeous new Gilded Gate Die, and two of the mini sentiments from the Mini Tag Sentiments set.   I cut them with two different mini tags from the Mini Tags Die set.  I LOVE these little sentiments and I know I will use them over and over!  I also used an older stamp called Garden Path.  I stamped this beautiful image on watercolor paper with Archival ink and watercolored with Derwent Inktense pencils and then shaded and colored the sky with pastel chalks.  My picture seems to wash out the colors a bit but in real life I love how this came out and how perfectly the path lines up with the gate!  I cut the Gilded Gate from black card stock and tied the little sentiments to a tiny spray of flowers with some fine gold cording.  This card is 5x7" and is matted with metallic brushed gold.  The dp is from Hobby Lobby, Paper Studio.

To re-cap, here are the new ODBD products used today:

 

I hope you enjoyed my samples today!  

 Be sure to visit my DT sisters and leave a comment so you don't miss a chance to win!

Julie * Chris * Cathy * Lori * Dawn * Sandee * Paula * Angie * Lisa * Audrey 

* Silke * Wanda * Grace * Gracie (Guest Designer)

Blessings,