FTTC 146

The challenge was to use a flower, a tag, and ribbon. I think all these stamps are from Flourishes. I know the sentiment is. I embossed the stamped images with gold embossing powder. The poinsettia is a diecut from Spellbinders as is the red panel piece. The cardstock is from Stampin' Up.

Color challenge card

This card was for the Color Challenge over on Splitcoaststampers today. I seem to have made many of my Christmas cards this year with kraft cardstock. I used kiwi kiss to punch some small circles, formed them into the shape of a tree then added white Martha Stewart snowflakes on top. The sentiment is from Paper Trey Inks. This was a really quick and easy card, because I got it done before I left for work this morning. I had a great week long visit with my family last week and was away from my stamproom. It's good to be back. I will try to get more of my Christmas cards posted over here later this evening. I've been playing catch up this week. Hope this finds you readying your heart and spirit for the celebration of the Christ Child. I've been reading a great advent book called, The Journey Walking the Road to Bethlehem. It's by Adam Hamilton and it certainly has spoken to me about the significant ways that God uses even ordinary folks to further His kingdom. His blessings are truely those that He can use to glorify His work in the world. Praying for our nation and our world this season.

Liz's Christmas collection #3

Not all cards in my collection are elaborate and time consuming to make. This card I used for the CAS challenge today over on Splitcoaststampers. Sometimes the clean and simple cards are the quick solution to that late card that is received that you forgot to send. I embossed the white paper, and the little image was one of those cute $1 stamps you find at Michael's. I am spending some time with family this week. I can't decide how many of my stamping supplies I will pack along, but my mom and sister are stampers too.
I'm sure Mom's cards are all made and sitting there ready to send. Unlike me, still in the making process here. I still have those family scrapbook pages to do that  we make every year as our Christmas gift to each other that goes in our family albums. I put the "PRO " in procrastination. Hope your T-day is a great one, and that black Friday not too hectic.

My personal Christmas card collection #2

I made this card to enter into the CAS winter DT challenge. The challenge was to use design paper and ribbon. I punched some holes in the design paper and wove the ribbon in and out of the holes to make this Christmas tree shape for another Christmas card for my collection of cards that I will be mailing out for Christmas. I think  challenges are always a great source of getting the mojo going when you need to be on a roll with cardmaking. I sell many of my cards at various locations, so making these to send out to my friends take a little extra time to have some in my own little stash for my own card sending.

Christmas collection #1

I'm starting a showing of my 2011 Christmas card collection here on my blog as I progress with my Christmas card making for this season. I think I will show a little love to many of my Christmas stamps that have not seen ink in some time. I think a friend gave me this stamp from All Night Media. I used versamark and then embossed it in gold embossing powder. I colored it in with some SU markers and copic markers. The background was embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder on the pale blue paper. I punched some pine leaves with my Martha Stewart punch to add to the top of the ornament,

So, here's the first of my featured cards.

Getting started on those Christmas cards

It has always been my style to mainly do one of a kind cards, mainly because I find it boring to mass produce my cards. I like the creative thinking involved in each card and I don't enjoy the process of making the card so much. So the fun now begins for me, I pulled out my huge "under the bed" tub that I keep all my Christmas stamps in during the 11 months during the year that I don't use them. It is kind of like getting those Christmas decorations and ornaments out of the hall closet when it is time to start decorating. That's the feeling I got this morning when I pulled out the tub. This is my first Christmas card made from the stamps I have stored in there, and I think I will spend the day using these great stamps on most of the cards I make today. During the process of creating, I am thinking of those friends from my life that will receive these cards and wonderful memories flood my brain. It's a nice time of year that I enjoy so much. This year it seemed to arrive even earlier that usual for me, as November has whizzed by in such a hurry. Not sure where last week zoomed off either. Oh, you say it's the price you pay for growing older......?? I rest my case!!!!

This week's FTTC

Tammy, the host of the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday challenge challenged us to use a flag or banner on our card. I pulled out this terrific set from Flourishes to make a card for a friend. I used olive and purple cardstock, as well as white and pale green (on the flag). The image was stamped with tuxedo black Memento ink and then colored with my copic markers. I added the gold domes around the Spellbinder diecut shape. I used a different Spellbinder shape to diecut the image. The purple cardstock was embossed with a Paper Studio embossing folder.

Prayers for the Ladies of Kairos #29

For the next 4 days I will be serving the Lord in the capacity of being on a team that goes into a Texas women's prison to share God's love for them. Over 1500 dozen cookies have been baked to be distributed to everyone on that unit,  thousands of prayers have been lifted, and a team of 42 women will meet 42 sisters in white tomorrow. Pray for harmony for the team, open hearts for the participants, and God's grace over the entire weekend. It is our prayer that these women will come to trust in the Lord, find love and fellowship among their sisters on the unit, and can build a Christian community within the prison walls. There is a powerful service on forgiveness, so pray these women will be able to lay some heaviness of their lives down and let God take those from them.

Thanks for all the wonderful people at Christ United Methodist Church, Sugar Land, Tx. who have donated money, cookies, and prayers for this weekend. None of this would be possible without God's love and the love of God's people. I love you all, and cherish these wonderful acts of love and kindness.

CR84FN42 challenge

Anytime I have a great desire to stamp, but lack an idea of where to start, I head over to Deb's

Daily Dare to get me motivated. I love challenges and she always has such a great collection of daily challenges to go check out. I found this one here and thought this was a great group of colors to get things going for me. I scrounged through my scrap bags and found this black and white printed paper, and this quote from Verve fit my nestabilities shape pretty well. Black and white is always a great combo for me.

Stampin' Sisters in Christ #114

I was given this Boyd Bear set by a friend years ago. And sadly, I don't think I've ever even had ink on it. I'm not really  a teddy bear person, but  these two bear friends might just be the cup of tea for today's Stampin' Sisters in Christ's challenge to get out an old stamp and makig it new again. I think it looked cute with some of this new design paper from Basic Grey. I colored it with my copic markers and added a pink and white gingham bow just to accent that "country" feel. These little pastel primas added just an extra little touch.

Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge #113

This week's challenge was to use fall colors. I used this pretty set from Verve to stamp onto white paper. The scripture stamp is from Verve as well. In the part of Texas I live in, we are finally getting some cooler weather. Fall is my favorite season because of the richness of the colors of the foliage and the beautiful fall sunsets.

Color Throw Down #166

Haven't done the Color Throw Down Challenge in a while. Here are the colors:

I used one of my old favorites from Stampin' Up and some old SU paper I still had around. The sentiment is from Verve. I colored my image with copic markers and the image was stamped in tuxedo black.