F4A253 Case of One4Joy

Hi Friends,  This is a card made for a challenge on splitcoaststampers  the day after Christmas.  I was just way too busy to breathe this week - let alone do a card  challenge but when I saw what it was I had to attempt it. This is a link to the challenge  on Splitcoast  The challenge was to find the gallery of a person whose cards you admire and who greatly encouraged you along the way when you first started.  I knew without looking who this would be.  When I first signed up I just watched for what seemed like forever.  Sometimes I made a card, but never uploaded as I thought none of my cards were good enough - and I was NOT a beginner at making cards.  When I finally did start to upload, the cards were not for MY pleasure but always for those who might see it and like it. (and maybe give a comment)  Sometimes I made a card I really loved, but  then thought no one else would like it so it never got put in my gallery.    One day I came across the gallery of One4Joy.  I LOVED Susan's wildly creative and always gorgeous cards and I admired her for being able to upload cards that were so different from most cards on the site.  Her cards alone were an encouragement to me - even for a long time after I was uploading mine, and of course, Susan was always an encouragement!!  The card of Susan's that I chose to case in her honor was this one.  I sure had lots of fun digging in the button jar, but could NOT come up with a cute Christmas tree, so I plopped the buttons down on the rug and they seemed to look like an angel (Well...some people see things in clouds...)  Smile  So it's a little late, but this is a Christmas Angel bringing Good News, and as a Sign of the Times the Good News is computer generated.



Sympathy Card

It's been a long time.  Either I forgot how to upload or something updated on me.  I suspect the latter.  I needed a Sympathy card today and this one just didn't fit any of the challenges I had time to look at on Splitcoast Stampers, so here it is.
 The family said it was not a sad funeral and the person was ready to go, so they had a Celebration.  The deceased was a Mom so I added some lace for the Mom and a Treble Clef for the joy of the celebration.  The inside reads:
"We are thinking of you with Sympathy and are Happy that you have reason to Celebrate and not just mourn.  We celebrate with  you."

Fussy Cut Zentangle

What should I say?  This is a Masterpiece.  Only because it took many hours of work.  Bob and I watch pre recorded TV every night for an hour (that's about all I can take) and I sat and doodled for days.  Sometimes I was in a big hurry to finish and sometimes it was relaxing.

When I finished doodling the flowers, I just didn't feel like it was done, so I started fooling around.  I started cutting around the flowers on the right side.  I was planning on using the butterfly - which is a cut off half that I had used on another card.  It was cut out of an old non winning raffle ticket, so had writing on one side.  Obviously it didn't work on the right side of the card without showing the print, so I flipped the card. 

I tried lots of different colors for the background, but this one got me excited.  It's made by dragging a rainbow inkpad over the cardstock and was just sitting there on the table waiting to be used.

I used clear jewel brads in the flower centers and the leaves are cut from an old calendar that I couldn't bear to throw out.  And now I KNOW I will be doing more of these.

SCRLLC14 #10 Worn

Good Morning,

This is my card for SCRLLC14 #10 - a challenge using Songs and Scripture.  You can find this one HERE.  Ever feel just plain WORN out spiritually?  Usually it comes gradually.  Sort of sneaks up on you, but what recently happened to me was not gradual. It came suddenly and I was more than worn.  I was wiped out.

Early this week I received an email from a friend that hurt to the core.  I read it and was shocked, hurt and numb.

My first thought went to God because I was feeling helpless.  I told Him "I can't handle this.  I don't know what to say.  I don't know what to do and I hurt.  HELP.

I next forwarded the email to my husband for some wise advice and to make sure I had read it correctly.  Then I just sat with God.  When there IS nothing else you can do, it comes easier.  To my shame, it's not always the first thing that I do.

Then God stepped in.  I can't describe what happened except it was like a calm surge of positive power to do what was right.  I listened and thoughts came of exactly what to say.  I knew that my only choice was to forgive, and this is the hardest thing for me to do.   My friend and I are communicating.  It may be a bit uncomfortable for awhile, but I feel because of God's graciousness, I was able to forgive.  I can NEVER do this on my own.  I always want revenge and this wears you down. 

The verse I picked was Ephesians 6:12.  Our struggle is not against flesh & blood (people)...but against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. This verse helps me to remember that I should never be upset with the person who hurt me, but realize that there is another force trying to wear each of us down.  God is always there to catch us if we fall and He is far more powerful.

 

SCRLLC14 #9 Broken Hallelujah

I apologize for all the inactivity on here, but I do have a card today.  This is my card for the Song and Lyric Challenge SCRLLC14 #9.  The Song is Broken Hallelujah.

The first time I heard this song I decided I probably didn't like it.  It's very nice to listen to, but I told myself it didn't relate to me.  And when I thought that thought, a tiny voice in the back of my heart somewhere told me to 'beware' of that thought.  I, of course, ignored it.

Seemed like every time I turned on the radio, I heard it, so I chose to leave the radio off.  Then when Sundays came around I looked for a new challenge and a new song, and for reasons unknown to me, there is still not a new song.  Hmmm.  Then things changed in my life a little.  I will skip all that but just say that I woke up this morning a very needy person.  I knew right away that I needed to spend extra time with Jesus this morning, so I did and wouldn't you know I got the "nudge" to go look up this challenge and make a card.  But first I needed to do a little cooking and I like the radio on when I cook, so I turned it on.  I always ask God to have them play my favorites and I did.  Lots of good songs.  I finished the dessert I was making and decided to listen to ONE MORE SONG and then turn off the radio and go upstairs.  You guess it.  Broken Hallelujah.  I made myself listen to the entire thing and decided it applied. (I'm slow)

If your mother or father ever had to get your attention and said, "Come here and listen" or "Sit down and look at me" or a number of other things, I believe you understand when I say that the first verse I picked out is God saying much of the same to us.  "Be still and know that I am God.  I will be exalted..."  Psalm 46:10

The flowers on my card start out reaching for God, but they are black.  They represent the Broken Hallelujah. We are  hardly able to praise God, or recognize who and what He is because we are fighting Him.  Once we stop kicking and screaming and recognize just who it is that we are fighting, we are able to sing, "How Awesome is the Lord Most High" (Psalm 47:2) Here I have added music notes and color to the flower.  And once I listened and forgave, God was faithful to give me peace.

Spring

Spring came to Waterford this week.  So many things to prove it.  Driving yesterday started to become an obstacle course of Orange things again and there are so many changes just in the yard.  I am so fortunate to live in the country and see God's creation unfold in front of me.  This morning the sunshine was gone by 8:30, but I was up just in time to see a flurry of birds feeding.  I didn't get them all, but I have a few bad pictures to show.  They are all taken through the front window as I am way too wimpy to be outside when it's cold.  40s is too cold. :)

The first birds I saw were orioles.  There were lots of them this morning.  They all seem to be males, but I believe I saw one skittish female - not long enough to grab the camera.

At one point the rose breasted grosbeak sat on the ant trap (umbrella above the oriole feeder) while the oriole was on it just to get a drink of water.  I was not fast enough that time either, but I did get a picture of the grosbeak later.

Here it is along with the redwing blackbird.  I'm not sure if the grosbeak is just passing through or staying, but they are always nice to see.  I did see a catbird this morning, but they are very skittish and I think I move too fast.  They are all Peeping Toms and can see every move I make inside the window.

The Goldfinch usually doesn't eat off the ground as there is a finch feeder hanging on the porch, but he was snarfing up seeds under the feeder in front today.

I can never tell if the next one is a purple or house finch, but they are here too and taking turns on the feeder.  Most of them do take turns.  They sit in the birch tree and wait.

The daffodils are in full bloom and tulips are going to pop any minute.  I have red wooden tulips in the ground just for early Spring color until the real ones bloom.

I am redoing my Faux Mushrooms as the paint peeled and Bob says it's because I didn't prime them.  He is helping out and doing it right this time. :)  One is already done and I am hoping to get the others out today.  So much for blogging.  I need to get busy, but I had to share SPRING.

Window Screen Decoration

                                               

I am so excited about this decoration that I just had to share it with you.  I have had this rusty Basement Window Screen in my home office leaning the wall for about three years. When I like something, I always know that if I wait, it will come together with something else and something will get created. 

 It doesn't have to last for more than one season, because I know I will come up with another one.  And Bob is so good about picking up stuff for me.  (He gets around)  So, I don't know where this one came from, but I saved it.

Then I went to lunch with my daughter in law last week for her birthday and she suggested Steins after lunch.  Whoopee.  There were some gorgeous metal flowers for hanging.  I knew in a minute that I needed them. 

They are two layers, with metal petals on the bottom and - you guessed it - painted screening petals on the top layer.  They were all different colors, but I thought this pretty pink would go with my screen.

So I scrubbed up the frame, painted out a slightly rusty spot on the screen using some acrylic paint, measured where I wanted the flowers to rest and marked everything and then had Bob drill holes and put a piece of fixture chain on top to hang it.

I love it to pieces.



Close up of Flowers

Victorine Easter Challenge

 Hi Everyone,

These cards are for the current Victorine Originals Challenge located HERE.    Last I checked it was not posted yet, but you could be the first.  The challenge is to make an Easter card.  I made two because they were so fun and so opposite.  The first one is kind of Traditional.  I used a gray background for the sentiment part and balanced it with more gray on the left side in the strip of designer cardstock.

The typical purple for Easter is punched on one side with an EK Success border punch and I used a Memory Box Dogwood Blossom stuck on with glue and a mini brad  Happy Easter is a Victorine Originals stamp

 

The second card I call Mixed Easter because I have both the Christian cross with the Victorine rose stamped on the designer cardstock and the secular Easter Bunny.  No eggs or basket though. I just couldn't fit them in.  These are both glued onto a piece of burlap as I LOVE texture on a card most any time.  These were fun to make.  Check out the Victorine Challenge and make one of your own.

Victorine Challenge #80

I have made Two Cards for the current Victorine Originals Challenge which is Monochromatic Green located HERE.  So if you think GREEN is my favorite color, you are absolutely right. 

This card on the left is made with a really neat stamp as a base.  I stamped it in green and then stamped it again on different pieces of cardstock that were either plain or embossed.  The "dots' are the embossed ones.  The small pieces were then cut out and popped up on the original shape around the edges.  I left the center flat, but added a big brad and a smaller brad on one side.  I think it looks cool and modern.

The card on the right is a piece of Bo Bunny designer cardstock cut to A2 size and then trimmed on the right so the back of the card would show the stamped sentiment.  I stamped three flowers on a different shade of green cardstock, cut them out and mounted them on the background.  Some of the dotted green worked well for flower centers so I punched some and glued them on.  The front is finished off with jewels.

Check out the challenge and make a card & enter.  There is always a drawing for stamps.

SketchChallenge479

This is my second card for the Splitcoast Stampers Sketch Challenge 479 posted this morning.  You can find the SC479 HERE.  It's a good one.  Easy and fun. I made two totally different cards from the same challenge.  I used a Crumb Cake background and stamped it with a Victorine Originals hot air balloon.  I paper pieced the balloon with three different kinds of designer paper.  Scraps are always good for this and I have enough for three lifetimes.  Next I cut out and embossed the computer generated sentiment with my Spellbinders Petite Oval and popped it up on the background.  So nice and easy and I really like it.

Cataract Surgery #1

This is me on Tuesday.  I am at Lakeland Hospital waiting for the team to get me ready for my first cataract surgery.  Bob - my Best Caregiver EVER - kept asking me for a better smile, but I couldn't quite muster one.  He sat with me the entire time except for the actually surgery which only takes a few minutes.  I guess they wouldn't let him in.  :) 
I had a wonderful crew of very nice people waiting on me hand and foot, right from the first person who sent me to the bathroom with clean towels and asked me to wash my face. (I think it was clean until one of THEM put a black mark above my right eye)  hmmm  One of those necessary things, I guess.

These are my vitals and from here they look pretty good to me.  Not sure what that squiggly line on the bottom is, but they let me in the operating room, so I guess it was OK.  Bob said they gave me oxygen because my level was low.  I remember them putting the mask on and the doc (or somebody) saying what it was, but that's about all I remember -- until a lot later when I finally woke up.  I was back in the above room where I started, and apparently the doctor had popped out my lens and replaced it with a brand new one (whose vitals I now have in my computer in case of emergency)  It's amazing what doctors can do and only because God in His mercy let them find it out.  He is the one who made all these things work so well in the first place and now He is letting us in on some of His secrets.  So I slept the rest of that day and all night and was still tired the next day.  Today is Day 3 and I feel really good accept for a little bit of itching in my right eye which goes away when I put the drops in.

The "Team" gave me this nice little "cage" to put on my eye when I sleep.  I guess that's to make sure I don't break the rules which are Do Not Rub and I saw them everywhere.  So my sweet caregiver, Bob tapes it on every night and I wonder if he thought the tape was not sticky enough so last night he really taped it good.  I mean REALLY.  It was like trying to get out of a giant spider web this morning.  That stuff really sticks.  Halfway through the day I was still peeling glue off my face.  I am trying to take good care of myself so I will be ready for the next eye two weeks from now.  Wish me luck.

Victorine #79 Anniversary

This is my card for the current Victorine Originals Challenge located HERE.  This time it's to make an Anniversary Card.  Sometimes I find it hard to make a specific card without a specific sentiment, but I love this rose bouquet stamp and I think it's what every woman would love to see on the anniversary of their wedding day.  (No, not the stamp - the bouquet for real)

I started with a piece of ivory cardstock and stamped the music background.  The edges on the music image are sharp and clean, but for this background I inked the stamp and then ran a cloth around the  edge to soften it.

Next I stamped the bouquet image and colored everything but the red roses and buds.  These are paper pieced with red cardstock.  The blue forget- me-not on the left is cut with an exacto knife so the black strip of cardstock could be pushed behind it.

I used the same red cardstock on the lower right corner, glued vintage lace over it and stamped a band of cardstock with the sentiment.  Oh, I almost forgot.  The LOVE stamp on top is from a Christmas stamp that says, PEACE LOVE JOY.  The hearts separate the words and I just masked off the two end words. 

 This challenge starts Monday 3-3-14, and will run for two weeks and there is always a drawing for prizes if you enter your card, so check it out.

Victorine Originals Challenge #78

Good Morning,  This is my card for the current Victorine Challenge which is to make a one layer card.  This seems to be getting easier and easier for me as I run out of time so much.  You can find the challenge HERE. 

I keep telling myself I need to stop making "snow" cards, but we are having a blizzard of sorts this morning and flowers just would not survive, so here is more snow.

I used some lovely sparkly deep blue cardstock that was donated to my card making group.  Just stamped the snowflakes with Versamark and heat embossed with white which also has sparkles.  The "Let it snow" was an afterthought, but a good one, because what am I going to do about it?  The only thing I could think of this morning was to get out to the road and grab the garbage cans before they were two neighbors down.

Check out the challenge.  There is always a drawing for stamps.

SCRLLC14 #2

 

This is my card for the current Scripture and Lyrics Challenge located  here: 

I was in a hotel room - yes, having a ball making cards this week while Bob was at our ABC Convention downstairs learning all kinds of stuff.  I just plain skipped out.  So I had limited supplies for my cards, but am not sure I would have wanted it any other way. 

The song this time is Undo and the chorus goes like this

Chorus
Turn me around pick me up
Undo what I've become
Bring me back to the place
Of forgiveness and grace
I need You, need Your help
I can't do this myself
You're the only one who can undo
                                                   What I've become

 

I found myself thinking about the times Jesus wants me to come to Him for help and I go somewhere else.  It becomes a habit.  I noticed awhile back that when things got rough at work and I had a project I couldn't see myself handling, I would stop everything and go get a cup of coffee.  A couple sips did me fine and I would get back to work.  Now I can picture Jesus standing there waiting for me to ask HIM to help and I didn't.

When I am tired in the evening, but the day isn't over and I need some extra strength, where do I go?  To the refrigerator or pantry for something sweet - and Jesus stands there waiting for me to come to Him.  Picture your own child doing the same thing, leaving you standing...  

I chose Psalm 96:1 as my verse because I need to sing the New Song to Him and lean on Him and depend on Him for all my needs.



Victorine #77 Gift Card Holder

 Good Morning

The current Victorine Originals Challenge starts today.  You can find it HERE.  This week we are making a gift card or candy holder.  I don't do candy, so mine is a Gift Card Holder.  Mine is a beanie which works well for this cold weather.

 

  I have forgotten where I got this pattern and am so sorry.  This is so easy  that I think you could do it yourself.  It's three pieces - two are exactly the same - the rounded top of the hat and the third is a simple bar and I rounded the corners.  My bar is 5 1/8" long and 1 3/4" high.

The two pictures on the bottom are the BACK of the holder and I put them on so you could get a better idea of how this operates. 

The BACK rounded piece, (tan) which is a bit more than a half circle (longer) is glued on the very bottom to the very bottom of the long panel.  Be careful to not get the glue on more than 1/4" all the way

across.  The second rounded piece is put on about a half inch lower and attached with an eyelet on the left side.  You can see the "gift card" sticking out on the left - just a corner.  I covered the eyelet with a glued on flower.

I am hoping you can tell how to do this from the pictures as I am noticeably terrible at giving directions.  You can decorate the hat with any kind of picture.  My button on top is a purchased one with a sticky back, and the flower is cut out of corrugated cardboard and the red dotted cardstock with a Tim Holtz die.
Check out the Victorine site for more cute "holders".  There is always a drawing and prize for stamps.  Good luck.

SCRLLC14 #1

This is my card for the first Scripture and Lyrics Challenge for 2014 located HERE.

The song is You are the Lord by Jeremy Camp and I chose "If God be for us, who can be against us"  I took mine from the Living Bible.  One of the things that totally inspires me all the time is God's beautiful creation - everything in it.  EVERYTHING.  I know that He made this wonderful earth for our enjoyment because He loves us so much.  He wants our journey here to be a pleasant one that we enjoy every day.  Never more than the Creator Himself, but enjoyable.

My card portrays the wonder of frost on a window pane, the intricacy of a snowflake close up, and the beauty of leaves in fall. A single card would never be big enough to put everything on it.  We have Northern Lights, Sunrise and Sunset, Shooting Stars, beautiful flowers in summer, birds - each with their own call, animals for food, for pets, for helping us work.  All in their own category and all organized by our wonderful Creator.  No wonder His name is Wonderful.

Victorine Originals Challenge-Valentines

Good Morning.

The Victorine Originals current challenge is posted and you can find it HERE.  Check it out.  This early date leaves you plenty of time to make lots of valentines and enter many times to be ahead of the game.  (Ahead of the game) is always where I WISH I could be, so I think I need to take my own advice.

My card has a Victorine  Originals music background which I stamped the rose bouquet right on top of.  The bouquet is colored with copics and I left the bow uncolored.  The heart is punched from a scrap of dp  (yay for scraps) and stamped with one of my favorite sentiments.  It needed some balance, so I added the hug sentiment on the bottom.  So check out the challenge and the cute Victorine stamps, and stay warm.