Another Birthday Card

Hey all... not the most spectacular card, but I forgot that it was one of my friends birthday until this morning (HER BIRTHDAY!) so I finished putting together a card tonight so that I can send it out tomorrow... Oops...

Well, off to making lunches, getting the coffee maker ready, and then bed time!!! Hope you are all having a blessed week!

Just Because

Today I made some bright, fun cards... No particular reason, just felt like crafting and experimenting with some digi stamps I had....

Paper Supplies: Card stock from Michaels, Printed paper from a friend

Embellishments: Flowers hand made by me, flower brad from the dollar aisle at Target

Digi Stamp: I usually add the blog name to the end of the digi stamp files but this time I didn't - sorry to whoever the creator of this was!

Sentiment: Free hand with a blue gel pen

Paper Supplies: Card stock from Michaels, Printed paper from a friend, I cut the top piece into a shape using the holder of a cutout from a paper pack I had 

(A great way to be able to cut out different shapes for cards without a die cut machine!)

Embellishments: Flowers from "Recollections" collection, Clear gems from Walmart, ribbon from a friend

Digi Stamp: Bugaboo Stamps Blog
Sentiment: Free hand with black Sharpee pen

These cards are a little busier than I usually make, but I was experimenting and wanted to play with some of the different supplies I had :)

Finishing the Course

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."  

2 Timothy 4:7

Throughout these last 2 months I have really been struggling with a lot of things. There have been things that have happened in the lives of people that I care very much about, health and job issues, and a multitude of other things that have had my emotions on a roller coaster ride. I have been feeling so worn down that I have felt like I just didn't know how much more I could deal with. 

Because of our busy schedule, it is so hard to find time to really sit down and meditate on the Word of God. So often it is 15 minutes before I head out the door for work or 15 minutes before I pass out in bed. As I became more and more disheartened and more and more exhausted, I felt that I needed to find the time (even though I didn't know where from) to meditate on the Word. In Ephesians 6:10 - 18 it talks about the armor of God, which includes His Holy Word. God's Word is to be a strength and a guiding light to His people at all times, but especially in times of trial.

Well, these past two months I have had a very unbalanced work schedule and have been in-between projects. While this has been a source of stress, it has also been a blessing. It gave me the opportunity to spend more time in devotion. This extra time to spend in His word has been priceless. While I am still struggling with many things and some extreme emotions at times, I still know that there is a rock that I can lean on when I cannot stand on my own. Through prayer and meditation on the Lord's word, I am strengthened. This does not always mean that everything is going right or that I am even necessarily at peace within myself, but it strengthens my faith that these things too shall pass and that in the end, this will all be for the glory of God. In Romans 8:28 it says that "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."  

.....

All that to get to what I really wanted to share. During this time, I have been reading through the books of I & II Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. (I highly recommend that if when reading these books that you read "The Kings of Israel" and "The Kings of Judah" by Dr. Brian Bailey as well to gain real insight into the lives of these kings) As I have read these books, I have been struck by many things, but there has been one thing in particular that I have been meditating on and that is how few of the kings remained faithful to the Lord.

King David, because of his steadfast love to the Lord, was given a great promise in 2 Samuel 7:12 that his house would be established forever. His son Solomon, who knew this promise, and who had the wisdom of the Lord, was led astry at the end of his life to worship other gods. Because of this,  the kingdom was torn apart, with only a remnant left to the house of David. The kingdom was saved from total destruction because of the righteousness of Solomon's father David. Throughout the history of Israel and Judah, it's kings saw the mighty hand of the Lord move in super natural ways that could not be denied. They were time and time again delivered from their enemies and given the blessings of the Lord and yet so many of them either were wicked from beginning to end or started out well and ended horribly. These men who were taught and warned by the Prophets of the Lord and yet led their countries to practice idolatry and such sin against the Lord. These men who let their hearts be led astray. 

It might seem a little odd that I found this a source of strength, but I really have, because even though so many of these kings had horrible ends, there were ones that finished their race, that remained faithful to the end. These men the Lord richly blessed and because of these righteous men, the Lord was able to show His great mercy to His people.

Reading through these Words have really renewed the cry in my heart for the Lord to change my heart, to purify it, to make it whole so that offenses, hurts, doubts, depression, and so many of those emotions that the enemy seeks to use to our detriment are unable to penetrate my heart. Lord I want to be faithful to the end. I don't want to get to the end of my life and then miss the mark. I don't want to have my heart drawn away by other loves. I want to finish my life and be able to say as Paul did in 2 Timothy, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept my faith."

Christmas Cards

So I haven't done much today. Didn't feel well through most of the day, but I did get some inspiration and create a few Christmas cards from my spot on the couch. My stock of Christmas Cards is slowly building...

Paper Supplies: Card stock from COLORBOK, from Walmart, Print Paper from a friend

Embellishment: Cut off an old card

Sentiment: Hand written with an American Crafts Silver gel pen

This card is not finished, I don't think... not completely happy with it yet...

Paper Supplies: Card stock from Michaels, Print Paper from a friend

Embellishment: Cut off an old card and from Walmart

Paper Supplies: Card stock from Michaels

Embellishment: Cut off an old card

Sentiment: Hand written with an American Crafts Silver gel pen

Inside of card shown above

 (The silver ink shows up much better in person, but I couldn't get it to show up very clearly on camera.)

 Mini Christmas Card

Paper Supplies: Card stock from Michaels, Print paper from a friend

Embellishments: Ribbon from a friend, buttons from dollar aisle at Michaels (Are you seeing a trend here - I like the dollar aisle at Michaels ;) )

And last but not least.... I found some super cute little boy paper for 5 for a $1 at Michaels and just had to pick up a few pieces as I have NO boy paper at all! Not sure how well you will be able to see the paper but here is a picture...

Back to School

Well, my daddio is looking to take some classes with our Fellowship's university called Zion Christian University (ZCU), so I thought I would make him a "Back-to-School" card. :) I also made a quick birthday card for a little girl and a "Thank You" card.

Paper Supplies: Cardstock and printed papers from a friend

Buttons: Dollar aisle from Michaels

Paper Supplies: Card and printed paper from a friend

Paper Flowers: "Recollections" collection, bought at Michaels

Other Embellishments: A friend and Wal-mart

Paper Supplies: Card stock from Michaels, papers from a friend

Ribbon: Michaels (leftover from my wedding 2 years ago)

Sentiment: TLC Creations Blog

Those little circles around the sentiment took me FOREVER to cut out because I cut each circle out by hand with a circle template I had printed out from the computer, but I think that it ended up turning out pretty well. Since the base card had a whole cut in the front, I taped a printed paper over it to show on the inside of the card.

More Birthday Cards..

Last night I finished up Pastor's, my grandfather's and Aunt Jane's birthday cards.... NOW ALL I HAVE TO DO IS FIND THE STAMPS!!!!! The last place either my husband or I saw it was on the desk in our loft and they ain't there anymore! Oh, well.... Hopefully we'll find them tonight, if not it's a trip to the post office... And now the cards :o)

This card is for Aunt Jane... When I first saw this digi image I thought of her...

Digi Image: Frugal Crafter Blog

Supplies: Cardstock from Walmart and Michaels, papers from a friend, embellishments from Walmart, 

Ribbon from Michaels (left over from my wedding actually :0) )

Sentiment: Freehand

Inside Sentiment: Typed up and printed off PC

Isn't this dog the cutest? This card is for Pastor 

(who speaks Spanish)

I really like how this card turned out!

Digi Image: TLC Creations Blog

Supplies: Cardstock from Walmart and Michaels, papers from a friend and as a gift from my hubby, embellishments from a friend and the dollar aisle at Target

Sentiments: Typed up and printed off PC

And one more..... for my Grandfather

(The supplies I used are the same as from Pastor's card. I didn't want to make two cards just like one another so I went a little plainer for my grandpa, I don't even know what he would have thought if I sent him a card with buttons on it!)

P.S. I have an issue taking straight pictures... so all of the cards seem like they are at a slight incline.. They really are not, it's just my picture taking issues!

New Creations

Well, yesterday I kicked it into high gear. I have a number of birthdays this week and next and I hadn't started any cards yet. My grandfather's card and another card I need to send out are going to be late :(  The month simply got away from me. But My Pastor and His Wife are having an Anniversary this week as well, along with it being Pastor's birthday. I finished their anniverary card last night and started his birthday card. Below are a birthday card for one of two people (haven't decided yet) and the Anniversary card for my Pastor. The supplies I used were left over ribbon, card stock from a friend and plain black cardstock that I bought at Walmart. The digi-stamp I used came from TLC Creations. 

 Anniversary Card - Outside

Anniversary Card - Inside

Birthday Card - Outside

Birthday Card - Inside

Hope you enjoyed my creations! Have a great day!

A Gift for my Niece

As I mentioned in my last entry, my MIL's birthday is coming up. I am currently working on a gift for her, but I wanted to send something for my little niece as well. I started to decorate the cover of a notebook, and am sending some additional "bling" for her to finish decorating with Grandma. Enjoy :)

Front of Notebook

Wooden Hearts lining top 

(These were given to me by a friend and I colored each of them pink and purple.)

Some "bling"

Catching Up

Okay, so I have three cards that I have made over the past several weeks. Work has just been crazy lately and with all kinds of things going on outside of work as well, I just haven't had the time to craft much. But, enough about that and without further ado... the cards...

The first card was an experiment with stamps. I made this card for a sweet older lady who used to send my husband and many other students cards and words of encouragement when they were in Bible School. This card was primarily made with scraps of material because it was a smaller card so I cannot for the life of me remember where they came from. The stamps came from a set I found in a dollar bin at Michaels. I did the sentiment freehand.

I also made another Christmas card used with materials provided by a friend and a birthday card for my MIL, also made with materials from a friend and also a paper doily I bought in a package at a dollar store.

** Edit: I am sending this card out today (October 8th), along with two others for Caring Hearts Card Drive that Ling's Design Studio is sponsoring. It's a good cause, giving cheer to elderly residents in Nursing Homes during the Holiday Season. See her website at the link above for more information!

Merry Christmas - Outside View

Merry Christmas - Close Up

The circles were from another patterned paper. I cut them out and layered them.

Merry Christmas - Inside

I thought the inside of the card looked a little bland, so I put a colored piece of paper in over the green and freehanded some trees and a sentiment. I did the trees in pencil first and went over the pencil with a sharpee pen.

MIL Birthday Card

I played with this card a lot until I was finally satisfied with it. This involved pulling pieces off several times and rearranging/putting something entirely new on!

Alrightie, I have to get off to work, so ttfn! :)

New Tools

Okay, so I finally gave in and bought myself a paper trimmer. I have been VERY frustrated with my lack of ability to cut a straight line even with a RULER!!!!! (Seriously, I cannot cut straight lines at all... Never have been able to, don't think I ever will!) The only reason I actually gave in though is because Fiskars came out with a new and cheap paper trimmer (only 14.99!)... I was still unwilling to pay that much, but Michaels was having a 40% off sale of all their tools and so I went ahead and paid the $8.99. I wish I had waited on the scissors I had bought 2 days before hand because I would have been able to get them for even less than I had paid, but oh well... I needed them so I am glad I bought them. I had been using the scissors that I used to use to cut the hubby's hair with, so they were getting pretty dull... Anyhoo, I am pleased with my purchases and I also splurged on two American Craft Sparkle pens (gold and silver) for a birthday gift I am working on for my MIL (The pens were 1.99 for the 2 so I didn't feel so bad ;-) Even though I needed to buy some supplies, doing a craft project for her b-day is still going to be cheaper than buying something and I think she will like something I made better anyway!)

With no further ado, some pictures of my purchases. :)

Fiskars Paper Trimmer

Cutterbee Scissors

American Craft Glitter Pens

Back to work....

My First Card

Well, I still have not had time to take pictures of the cards I made last weekend, but I thought I'd pull out the pictures from the first card I made in March for a bridal shower for one of the girls at church. I really liked how this one turned out. Most of the pieces were recycled from various other cards that I had cut up and some scraps of flowered scrapbook paper. Enjoy!

From the front

(Sorry, I dont have any graphics software on this laptop or I would have cropped this pic!)

A complete look at the inside

A close up of the inside