Zentangling

I have been having so much fun making these zentangles. I did this one using Benjamin Franklin's quote about Christmas: :How many observe Christ's birthday! How few His precepts."

I hope the spirit of love that Christ came to teach us carries us further than the Christmas season.
May it fill your life and carry you through every trial and every encounter you have on this earth.
Love came down at Christmas, and it has never left us.

Zentangle

This has been a kind of artform I have done for years and this year learned it had this clever name.
I love collecting quotes, little words of wisdom, and proverbs and I thought these would be some fun ways to put some of them into art posters. I've been fascinated by some of the pretty art journals I have been seeing on Pinterest and on blog sites, and wanted to give it a try. I just bought a sketch book at Michael's and have been having fun with my attempts. I have learned a lot from the examples I have pinned on Pinterest. 

ODBDSLC181

I love using this pretty gold chrome and it is really pretty embossed. But, it is very difficult to photograph very well.  The challenge for the ODBDSLC was to use both wet and dry embossing. I dry embossed both the white card base and the gold chrome panel. The cross is wet embossed using versamark ink and gold embossing powder. I added pearls as embellishments and the white pine needles behind the raised cross.

House Mouse Christmas

This pretty chrome paper is so hard to photograph and getting to look good. Did this little House Mouse card for the House Mouse Christmas challenge. I just love these little guys. All the design papers are from Paper Studio. The holly is a rhinestone attachment. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up.

CFC121 create with 8

This is for the Casual Friday Challenge to use 8 of something. The design paper has 8 packages on it and then I added 8 red rhinestones around the sentiment. Not a lot of white on this card, but this card was very quick and simple. Inside I stamped a manger.

Christmas Challenge #1 no stamping

Here's my card with no stamping. I punched out 10 snowflakes out of red desigm paper and the put them together in this tree shape. I added a punched bottom and a star for the top. I added al little bling and one beautiful card. The chrome papers do not photograph so well for me, but it is much prettier in real life.

Allsort Callenge for week 235

The challenge for this week was to make a card inspired by a Christmas card. This is a stamp from Flourishes and is inspired by the Little Drummer Boy.
I am trying to complete my Christmas cards so I can get them in the mail this week. It has been fun making each one different than the other. Now the fun will really begin when I try to decide who gets which card. 

SC464 and Paper Players Challenge

This is for the sketch challenge this week on SCS and also for the Paper Players Challenge to use an evergreen on your card. I had out my As Lovely As a Tree set from Stampin' Up and decided I could do these two challenges with this set  all on one card. I used some Paper Studio fancy Christmas paper for my background panel and also some gold chrome. That chrome is so pretty but a real problem to photograph with my evening lighting situation I have set up.

November Crafter's of Faith Challenge

Here is the scripture that Darlene selected for our group this month:
Matthew 10;13-16
"People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. 14 But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. 15 Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” 16 And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them."  









I thought this sweet vintage image was so perfect of a child reading perhaps this very chapter in Matthew from the Family Bible. When books were not so plentiful in homes centuries ago, parents taught their children how to read by using the Bible. Is this not a wonderful way to bring your children to Jesus today? I am sorry to say that this was not a practice I did in my home. Perhaps parents can be wiser than I was and see the value in teaching the Words of truth to their children at a very young age.

JUGS217

When I saw that the challenge was a wild card this week over at just Us Girls this week, and the challenge was one layered cards, I just had to take part. Besides, I have been out of town all week, and after putting up my tree, I decided it was time to catch up on some challenges that I could make into Christmas cards. I am also using this one for the Free 4 All Challenge that I am catching up on that had the theme, SNOW. I also put this in my Splitcoaststampers' gallery.

Weekly Christmas Card Challenge #52

I keep all of my wood mounted Christmas rubber stamps in a storage bin that slides under my bed for the majority of the year. Last week I got it out and decided some of these stamps needed to be used this season. This is one from a retired set from Stampin' Up. It was a great one that will always be a classic in my collection. I have been browsing finding some challenges I have not had the time to visit on a weekly basis, as my personal challenge for November has been to make a Christmas card for every challenge I do this month as a way of getting my cards done so I can get them addressed and mailed. I love making only one of most of the cards I make. I find it boring to mass produce. It uses up too much of the same papers and the best part of making cards is the creating part for me.
So the challenge I found today is the Weekly Christmas Card Challenge #52 ( I guess if I had been doing this challenge all along, I would have my cards done, won't I?) I guess I don't have to tell you it is my nature to procrastinate. The theme for this week was Faith. I love making cards that reflect the real reason for the season, the birth of my Lord and Savior. Thanks for coming by to check out my blog and my efforts at getting my cards made for the season. May the light of His love touch you in very special ways this Christmas season. .

Less is More 147

Today's challenge on Less is More is to use a bird on the card. I discovered this beautiful shimmery midnight blue paper in my stash and it hadn't even been opened. It is from PTI. I tore the white to look like snow on the ground. I stamped the silhouette and sentiment in tuxedo black. Pretty clean and simple, but that pretty blue paper sure gave this a touch of serenity and elegance. Three stamps were used: the bird on the branch is from Stampabilities; the berries from an SU set, and the sentiment is from Hero Arts.

ODBDSLC179

Oh little town of Jerusalem
Looks like another silent night
The Father gave His only Son
The Way, the Truth, the Life had come
But there was no room for Him in the world He came to save

The above lyrics are from Casting Crowns' "While You were Sleeping." It is what inspired me to do this card. That City of Bethlehem background stamp is the only Christmas stamp I have from Our Daily Bread Designs, but I decided to add this head of Christ, which is also from ODBD to this card to send the powerful message of just who this Holy Babe grew to be. I used the rhinestone cross in the star to remind us of the precious gift of salvation which is ours through the cross, the real reason for the season. You can find the ODBDSLC here.

JUGS 216

 

Below was a picture that was my source of inspiration. I used the spots, stripes, colors, and stockings as part of my inspiration. I am also on a personal challenge this month to make most of the challenge cards I make to be a Christmas card so I will not be rushing around the first week of December trying to get cards made and under stress the MOJO just doesn't always flow. KWIM???

Paper Pretties Wednesday Challenge #285

 

This is for the Paper Pretties Wednesday Challenge #285 to use brown and pink. Of course, I wanted it to have a Christmas theme so this is my creation. The poinsettia diecut is from Spellbinders and the stamp is from Stampendous.

Freshly Made Sketch Challenge #113

 Trying a new challenge out while I am meeting my personal daily challenge to make at least a few Christmas cards a day using different challenges as my motivation. This sketch is from Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #113. The stamp is from Stampendous (I think).

Sweet Sketch 233

 

Loved this layout for the Sweet Sketch Wednesday challenge today. I used Basic Grey design paper and Baja breeze and white.

 

 My personal challenge has been to make at least one Christmas card a day using one of the fun challenges I find on The Daily Dare. Hopefully by the first week of December I will have my cards all made and will start to address and mail them out. No two are alike, so the fun part is deciding who gets what card!!

 

 

Make my Monday on Wednesday

This is for the Make my Monday challenge, which I am doing on Wednesday. The theme of the week is Santa, the Big Guy.  This is one of my favorite images of Santa. The stamp is from Rubber Stampede. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up. I have never really done this in the red and white before, but like how it turned out. The striped ribbon just seem to fit perfect.

House Mouse Favorite things

This is for the current House Mouse challenge. This little peppermint loving House Mouse is perfect for the Christmas season. I found some candy cane striped ribbon in my stash which I thought went really nicely with this. The gold chrome panel did not photograph well. It looks much better in real life. I embossed the white cardbase.

Paper Players Challenge #172

One of my self challenges this month has been to do challenges and use a Christmas theme for each one. That way I will get my Christmas cards made and it will be creative and fun long the way. I never make any two cards alike as it is, so this makes it more fun and motivates me to get this task done. Today I am using the challenge, a new one for me to try, at Paper Players. The challenge this week is to may a CAS card using leaves. So, holly leaves it is for me. My idea of CAS may differ from some, but to me it is an almost white card, for the most part one layer, and absent of the usual embellishments of ribbon and rhinestones that I so love to use on most of my work. For this card I masked the strip for the sentiment, stamped the leaves with tuxedo black ink, colored them with Copic markers, and drew lines with a gold leaf marker. Because my markers bled through the cardstock, I mounted it on a basic black card base. So here is my one card CAS wonder. Hope you like it.

JUGS215

This

This week's challenge on Just Us Girls was a color challenge to use: red, kraft, dark brown and white. Here is my card. The solid cardstock is from Stampin' Up, the design paper is from Martha Stewart, the so is the stamp of the sentiment. The wreath is cute from a floral Spellbinder set that matches the Sweet Williams set from ODBD. I added a Spellbinder label as well. The kraft cardstock was embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder and then rich cocoa ink was rubbed over it. I added red rhinestones and white punched circles to the wreath. The ribbons are from Stampin' Up as well.

ODBDSLC178

Done for this sketch this week over for the Our Daily Bread Designs Shining Light Challenge:'

 

I used the Sweet Williams set from Our Daily Bread for my card and the matching Spellbinder diecut for the wreath. The design paper is from Basic Grey. Seam binding and rhinestone trim was added for the extra embellishments.

Incy Wincy Designs Challenge

I

It's going to be getting to look a lot like Christmas over here on my blog as I am starting my own personal challenge to make a Christmas card with the challenges that I take part in .Hopefully, to get at least a couple done every day in November.   This challenge is a new site for me: Incy Wincy Designs Challenge. It was a sketch challenge today. I've only had one white Christmas in my lifetime where I live, so snowmen cards are a real fantasy for me.

Check back by every day to see how I'm doing on my personal Christmas challenge.

ODBDSLC177

I love getting the chance to play the Our Daily Bread Design Shining Light Challenge. I found the time this afternoon just before the 8 PM deadline this evening. The challenge was a song or music inspired card. This is my latest stamp from ODBD and I hadn't even had the chance to get ink on it before today. So, I inked it up with some night of navy ink and stamped it onto some soft sky cardstock and mounted it onto a blue bayou card base. The white poinsettia was diecut with the Spellbinder poinsettia set. The star led the way to the new born King, but I used a rhinestone cross on top of the star to remind us of the incredible gift of salvation that baby King brought to earth. I am proud to announce Christ is the Lord of my life, and "Christmas" to me means "More Christ!"

CAS on Sunday #21

 

 

The challenge for CAS on Sunday was to make a one layered card.  I used a lacey stamp that I am not sure of the resource and the sentiment is a Martha Stewart stamp. I added two rhinestones to this quick and easy card that took less than 10 minutes to make. Those are the kinds I need to remember if I get behind on my Christmas card stash and need a few quick ones to make and send.

MOJO 318

I used Verve stamps for this MOJO sketch. I love this sentiment and I used double flowers. The design papers are from Basic Grey and Graphics 45.

FTTC 244

The challenge for the last Florishes' Timeless Tuesday Challenge was to use a plaid. I thought this would make a cute baby card, maybe for the patents of twins. even. I paper pieced the onesie and added diaper pin brads to the tabs.  This is a Flourish set called "Hello, Baby!" 

Crafters of Faith October challenge

The scripture for my challenge is:

"But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good, salvation comes from the Lord." Jonah 2:9

And here is my challenge theme:

I love music and a "song of thanksgiving" surely pleases the Lord. Never does He speak that the songs of our hearts need to be perfectly performed to be a joyful sound to Him. So, think of some ways you can make a joyful sound to the Lord your God. The challenge this month will be to use a musical instrument image, musical score paper, musical note brads, etc. Whatever you have in your stash that is of the musical nature!

This guitar stamp is a multi-layered stamp from Kitchen Sink Stamps. My sweet sister, Lynn, who is on the Kitchen Sink Design Team, asked Maria, the creator and founder of Kitchen sink stamps, to create this stamp. It is very dear to me and looks just like the guitar I have. The sweet little paper roses were created by MariLynn DeGroot who is a faithful stamper over on Splitcoaststampers. She sent them to me for my birthday, and they are so special to me.  

FTTC243

I did a little fussy cutting on this. I love roses and thought I would try to make these some fall colors. 

The images are from Flourishes and are colored with Copic markers. 

CAS on Sunday #19 Get Well card

I made this card for my great niece, Piper, since she has been hospitalized this week. I hope she gets to come home today and she is feeling better. Since this is a CAS challenge, I did not color the House Mouse image. Thought the band-aid made the perfect embellishment. You can find the CAS on Sunday challenge here.

Tuesday Throwdown 169 - Pumpkins

This is for the Tuesday Throwdown challenge #169, which is to use pumpkins. I got out my Kitchen Sink Stamps' pumpkin set. Kitchen Sink Stamps are uniquely designed to stamp 3 or 4 layers to give the image a photographic look. They are so realistic looking and Maria does some amazing images that capture the actual look of what they are. If you have never used these multi-layered stamps, you should give it a try.They are fun and you will be amazed at the results. My sister, Lynn who you might know as Allee's over on Splitcoaststampers, is a real master at these types of stamps and uses them in most of her stamped cards.
Hope everyone is enjoying some of the wonderful things fall brings. I especially love orange so the fall colors are breathtaking to me. Happy fall, Y'all!

ODBDSLC174 Stamp a background

I used the set God's Love to make this card. The two step butterfly I used for the background using one one of the steps. I did both steps for the butterfly I placed on the front of the card. I mounted the pink card onto a black card base. You can find the ODBDSLC here.

JUGS210

This is for the Just Us Girls challenge to inset diecut pieces together like puzzle pieces. This was fun and I made use of some scraps of design paper that have been in my scrap basket. I decided this might make a cute little Christmas card.  Check out this challenge here:

SOS 122

I am always needing to use things from my stash. In this case I am using some wired ribbon that I have had for quite some time. I made use of two different embossing folders. One side I embossed on vellum, the other side I embossed on metallic design paper. I rubbed my tuxedo black pad over the design paper after it was embossed so that it would pick up the embossed pattern a little better. I used my new Sweet and Sassy stamp I received this week. The diecut for the frame is one of the older ones in my Spellbinder collection. It fit this stamp nicely. The cardstock base is some brilliant blue scraps I still had lying around from an earlier project. This is for the Shop Our Stash Challenge #122  that was to use two types of embossing on the card. You can check out the challenge here.

ODBDSLC173

I made vellum leaves and punched some leaves for my fall leaves, because I wanted to just use ODBD stamps on this card and I don't have any of their stamps with leaves.I love this cross for fall  cards. So perfect around Thanksgiving.  Check out this challenge over at Our Daily Bread Designs here.

CAS(e) This Sketch 48

This is for the CAS(E) this Sketch challenge this week. Here is the sketch:

Since it is Breast Cancer Awareness month and in honor of the friends of mine who have had to battle this fight, I made a survivor card. Click the sketch to link over to the Case This Sketch blog.

The stamps I used are from Kitchen Sink Stamps and stamped  in angel pink in (Memento), pretty in pink (SU) and tuxedo black (Memento).

WT447, C4C205, CBC179

I don't usually combine challenges because the more cards I can make the better I like it. But, I have 5 banners I need to be making instead of my cardmaking and decided to do a little combining here. While looking for another stamp I ran across this old Stampin' Up set called Heaven Sent from 2004. Decided to give it a little love today and inked it up. I am using this card for the WT447 challenge to use ribbon, the C4C205 challenge to use a bow, and the CBC 179 challenge to use ribbon and pearls. Since it's Breast Cancer awareness Month, I just had to use pink and plan to add this card to the pile I will be mailing to MD Anderson, here in Houston. I love October and sending these cards for patients' use.

WAW 100

Wow, this is one of my favorite scriptures, and today at my Bible study we studied this very verse at Merry Ministries. We are now in my favorite season of the year with the rish wonderful colors of fall. So, I made use of them on this card. Hope this finds you living God's purpose in this season of your life If you see God working in something today, that is your invitation to get involved. Happy fall!

Crafters of Faith September Blog Challenge

Kelly made it a simple challenge this month for our Crafters of Faith  blog challenge, to pick a favorite scripture. Since October will soon arrive and it is Breast Cancer awareness month, I think Jeremiah 29:11 offers much hope to us all no matter what circumstances we find ourselves. I used a little embossing on the edges with a Darcie border folder and repeated it to make it a double pattern. I added pearls in between the scallops, added a diecut vine from design paper and some beautiful hand made paper roses, that were a special birthday surprise from my cyber friend, Marilynn McGroot. How talented she is! I mounted this onto a soft pink card base. I plan to take part in the Hope You Can Cling To challenges over on SplitcoastStampers that happen daily during October and hopefully will have at least 30 cards or more to mail to MD Anderson. The cards for those challenges restrict us from using religious or scriptural items on them, so I was so happy to get to do one with a scripture of hope on it. I will be sending it to a very special friend. 

House Mouse Monochrome

This is for the House Mouse challenge using MONOCHROME as the theme. I used toffee crunch ink (Memento)  and light brown papers with this. The diecut frame is from Spellbinders, and the border punch is Martha Stewart.

ODBDSLC172

I decided combining these two stamps from ODBD would be a great message that Christ is the light of the world. I freehanded my sentiment on this. It was a great chance to be creative with the anything goes challenge at Our Daily Bread Designs.

FTTC239

This is for the FTTC239  challenge to build it with dots. I had never tried this before so not sure my technique work is all that great on this. The rose if from Flourishes, the verse is from Paper Inspirations. The embossing border is from Darice. That melon mambo is a little bold to photograph and doesn't come out just right.

CCEE338 and CFC115

I did this card for two challenges this week. The CCEE338 challenge this week was to do a one layer card. The challenge for the CAS-ual Friday challenge was to use fall colors and a leaf. I used some leaves from Inkadinkado and a sentiment from Verve. I love Ecclesiastes in the Bible and fall is one of the most beautiful times of the year to me. I love the beautiful colors of fall.

WAW98

This is the beautiful scripture offered today on the WordArt Wednesday blog today. I find adding scripture to my cards to be very uplifting to those who receive them. These words were sung at a funeral I attended this past week of a young mother who died two days after giving birth to a new son. I will be sending this card to the young woman's aunt, who is my friend.