Feeling that Holiday Spirit

With Abby already wanting to put the Christmas tree up, you kind of have to get in the Christmas mood pretty quick!  I guess the forecast of snow for today doesn't hurt either!  So with that being said - Christmas cards are on my agenda lately.  Good thing since I a hosting a Christmas Card Workshop tomorrow to benefit our Church's Relay for Life team.
For today though...  Yesterday's Bible Verse Thursday at Christian Paper Crafts was all about adding some glitter and glitz to your card with the Bible Verse of your choice!  Wanting to make a Winter card, I decided to go for the verse from Isaiah 1:18 for a little spiritual emphasis to the snow!  I decided to combine it with today's Fun on Friday to create this little card...  The sketch is from SplitCoastStampers for this week and the colors are inspired from the image at the Shabby Tea Room.

(Paper: PaperTreyInk, BoBunny; Images: PaperTreyInk; Accessories: jute, bling, stickles, 'snow')

Earlier this week, I was pretty busy making a presentation board for work and didn't get to play along with the Wednesday CASE artist.  I decided to make yet another Christmas card...  The sketch is from the wonderful JOyc3's gallery at Christian Paper Crafts.  SplitCoastStampers way to use it challenge was about ways to use your green this week.  My favorite way is of course to add it with red and make a Christmas card!

(Paper: PaperTreyInk, misc; Image: PaperTreyInk; Accessories: Fiskars Border Punch, Buttons, Lace)

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!  Check back tomorrow for another day of Christian Paper Crafts new clean and simple challenge.

God Bless You,

Merry Christmas &a Pig...Say What?!

Well, I know that it is Summer time, but Christmas challenges seem to be popping up everywhere! Have you noticed it too? I figured that I may as well jump on the band-wagon, that way I would have at least one card done come Christmas time!

(Paper: PaperTreyInk, Basic Grey; Ink: Copics, Distress Ink, White Ink; Image: Deedee’s Digis; Accessories: Fiskars Punch, Edge Distressing Tool, CuttleBug Snowflake Embossing Folder, Jute, Buttons, Acetate Sheets)

I decided to combine multiple challenges into this one though! First of all, the Christmas challenge is from The Cuttlebug Spot – notice the snowflake embossing done on kraft and highlighted with a little white ink! The colors, well they are from Color Throwdown #102, so pretty, and although they were chosen to be Summer Colors, I think they worked great for a Cool Winter card. The corners of the card have paper piercing added as a result of the Tuesday Throwdown challenge. And last, but not least, Midnight Madness is responsible for the awesome sketch! If you notice the snowflakes on the card in the corner, my dear friend Candace was looking for some “Ghost Snowflakes by Heidi Swapp”, so I decided to see if I could create them… Not sure if I am happy with them or not LOL It’s sure not something I would be happy enough with to give LOL

Next up is a cute little pig card that I made to go along with a Prayer Shawl that I am working on. The cute little image is from Deedee’s Digis and you can find him in the Dollar Digi bin over there at the Deedee’s Digi’s Store!  The wonderful sketch is from Sweet Sketches.

(Image: Deedee’s Digis; Paper: PaperTreyInk, BasicGrey; Ink: Copics, Distress Ink; Accessories: Ribbon, Prima, Stickles)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

God Bless You,

Mary

Strawberry-Banana Bread Kind of Day...

Winner!! If you are GOCANUCKS go, please send me an email to marycollins.at.windstream.net (sorry, had to type it that way to prevent spam) with your email address and name! You have won a small gift certificate to Lauren Meader's new store, My Time Made Easy!

Yumm.... Last night I baked some homemade strawberry-banana bread... so nice and fresh, we are eating this loaf without the topping :o) I guess that just means we'll have to force ourselves to make another loaf to try the topping!

Today I'm combining some challenges in my projects! First you will see my card!

This card was made with clear cardstock, PTI paper, Unity Stamp, etc... The challenge for DCRU this week is to NOT use DP or Patterned Paper. Even though it was hard, I drug out the cuttlebug and used my new floral screen folder to do a little embossing, The fabulous sketch come from the ever-so talented 2Sketches4You and the glitz and glimmer you see on the church house, well that's part of the challenge over at Christian Paper Crafts today for Fun on Friday! We have a special guest host and you'll want to click over there and find out more!!

Next is a layout that I made of my sweet little girl on Christmas morning! The layout was part of a challenge for our local scrapbook store, and the glitter that is showered about the snowflakes is for Fun on Friday today as well!

I hope you have a wonderful day and blessed weekend. My sweet hubby has minister's conference tonight, so I guess me and the little one are going to have a night to ourselves!

Don't forget to check out {Ippity} Kisses! There are some MAGNIFICENT Grand Opening Sales there and remember, this {ippity} chick does it for charity!!

God Bless You,

Knock Your Socks Off...

Good morning! I am so glad this week seems to be going by fast! I simply cannot wait for the weekend to be able to do some more Christmas decorating at my house! I simply must wrap some packages to get them out of my closet, but finding a way to keep my little one out of them is going to be the task!
I am so honored that Unity is our sponsor over at Christian Paper Crafts this month! If you have not tried them out, I highly recommend them! The Unity Kit of the Month is something I just recently began receiving as a monthly treat from my husband. With so much going on in life, it is a nice little break in the day when I go home to see that yellow envelope filled with a brown bag of goodies has arrived! The Unity KOMs are not very expensive compared to many other "kit clubs" and is a great way to keep getting new goodies! Going to the store, I know I would be tempted to purchase so much more that I would never use!This first card is made From Simple Blessings - a stamp set the DT was given to use and create with! The first thing you probably notice about this card is - it's simple! The reason being, I have had many, many people tell me they would like to try crafting or card making but it is just too complex once they look at the creations of others. I like to gently remind people that God made us all just the way He wants us. He will continually mold us and shape us in everything we do, and that all paper-crafters had to start somewhere. It's nice to go back to simple cards every now and again! On this card I used some Brown paper from PTI as my cardstock base, some purple Post-It Craft paper (love this stuff), kraft cardstock, jute, button, and Close to My Heart inks! I did run the Post It Craft paper through my cuttlebug and distressed the edges. You know what - it did great! Now this little number is made from my Unity October Kit of the Month and you can still purchase it here. As soon as I saw this little sock-monkey appear on my screen during the time of preview for the Kit of the Month, I fell in love with him! Trust me, if I had time, there would be people on my Christmas list getting homemade sock monkeys just so I could make a gift tag out of this little guy :o) What I did though was something still along the line of socks, in that I altered a clear little paint tin ready to hold some new warm, fuzzy socks! It will be the packaging for my gift at our Ladies Auxiliary Christmas swap. You know - you always get invited to these parties where you are to take a x dollar amount gift. Sometimes it is so hard to find something, but I know the little fuzzy socks will meet the price and put a smile on someones face!
Head on over to Christian Paper Crafts and see what all is being created with Unity this month. You can also find us in the SplitCoastStampers gallery keyword CPCUnityNov09. Have a wonderful day!
God Bless You,

Gift Giving Made(a little) Easy (ier)!

Welcome everyone! Today I wanted to share with you how this wonderful paper by 3M has allowed me to stay on top of gift giving. If you are like me, I always want to give a gift, and would prefer it be homemade, but often do not have the time and at the last minute end up going to purchase something store bought and overpriced! I decided to make up some altered journals in my spare time in the craft room to have on hand for gifting. Once an occasion arises, I simply dash to the cricut and cut out a monogram with my 3M Post It paper, peel and stick! Instantly ready for gifting. Seriously - no having to wait for glue to dry, worrying about making a mess, etc!

I love it and hope you do to!

God Bless You!

*Mary

Friday...Friday

Wow! It seems as if this week has taken forever to crawl by for me... How about you? My wonderful hubby and I have been praying about a big decision, so perhaps that is why it has went so much slower. It is so much easier to give others advice to "pray and listen to God, just do what He wants you to do", then it is to use the advice yourself. Thankfully I know that all things are possible through Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13) and have to remind myself that I must decrease for Him to increase (paraphrase of John 3:30). Please keep us in your prayers.
Moving on to a little craftiness in the world :o) Nothing takes your mind off of "other" stuff and helps me to relax than being surrounded by my paper! It's my me time, well, my Me & God time, really!

On to explain the photo at the top! I apologize in advance that these are not great photos - I took them (too) early this morning! You see, my laundry room is...well... it's just not right! I mean - the size of it is odd, the layout is odd, and it also doubles as my pantry... Trust me - weird! It is the only room in the house with paneling, too! I know - weird! I never could bring myself to spend money to decorate in there because - I just plain don't like the room... So, I found some frog material at Wal-Mart and decided I would make frog curtains since they would be relatively cheap. The collection began and now, there are frogs sitting on the hot water heater, etc... And you wanna know something else - I don't like frogs in real life!!

When I saw these little white frames, I knew I had to do F (fully) R (rely) O (on) G (God) with them for my laundry room!

Fun on Friday over at Christian Paper Crafts today is to use an animal in your project! I hope this fits the bill! Come play along - there are no time limits, just have fun and glorify the Lord!
I made this little number for a Housewarming Shower. If you look closely, you will see that the verse is none other than the Fruits of the Spirit from Galatians! How appropriate since I used the lovely fruit stamps from PaperTrey Ink. The paper is a bit from the BoBunny Recipe collection, and the label shape was done with my nestabilities and cuttlebug! The ribbon, jute, and lace are all items I already had in my stash! I hope that you enjoyed looking and perhaps even take some inspiration to do your own handmade gifts.I have a new thread started over at Christian Paper Crafts titled Cheap-O's Gather Here!!! If you click on the title, it will take you right to the link. It's my hope that this thread will become a resource for homemade/handmade gift ideas for those budgeting for Christmas, but still wanting to share in the joy of giving. Please stop by and leave some ideas. If you have not registered, it is all free and fun fun fun!!

God Bless You,

2S4U

Yesterday I had a big blog typed out... Yesterday I had the blahs and the eeyores horrible all day long! Abby and I had a rough day together - one that made me feel the the most awful mommy ever! Snuggling up to her last night made it better though! Thank GOD today was a new day and HE has made things better!




Here is my submission for this weeks challenge at 2 Sketches... I did NOT intend on this being a Christmas card, but...I guess you can see what it turned out to be! Love that cuttlebug folder Swiss dots and some Maya Road chipboard covered in CTMH ink! The bling, why that would be the after Valentine's Day special from Wal-Mart a couple of years back and the stamp is from my favorite - PaperTreyInk! And yes - that is a piece from my Willow Tree Nativity helping the card stand up!

Five things I am Thankful For:
GOD - oh boy - I could go on about my LORD all day! He is soo good!
FAMILY - my world revolves around my husband, little girl, and my parents!
Christian Family - there is nothing like a good brother or sister in the Lord to rejoice with you and help you pray, or be there in more difficult times too
HOME - nice warm home in this cold season
WORK - in tough econnomic times it is a blessing to have a job!

Enjoy!


God Bless You,
Mary