One of the things I've been working on these past few months is a Bible study curriculum. My friend, Mitzi (who has done the lion's share of the work), and I were inspired by the story of Bezalel who is the first person in the Bible to be filled with the Holy Spirit. He was filled with wisdom, understanding, and all kinds of craftsmanship. It sent us on a journey to see God as a creative creator and us, when we exercise our creativity, as reflections of Him.
It's been a fabulous journey.
We finished up class last week, and today we are having a silent auction of various things the ladies in our group have crafted. We're calling it our Bezalel Brunch.
I, of course, added a copy of The Homestead Brides, but I also added my final revision of "Waiting on a Promise" printed on August 22, 2014. Because I grew up before personal computers were a household item, I simply have to print out a copy to be able to see some of the things that need correction. I knew my Bible study group was planning to do something like the auction way back in August, so I saved the copy for this specific purpose. (I put in someplace where I would be sure to find and then...yeah. Found it just in the nick of time!!) It has folded up corners and red pen marks all through it.
Mitzi and I are both staring at a military move this summer, so we aren't planning to pursue publication of our Bezalel Bible study curriculum just yet. I'll be sure to let you know if something happens on that front.
Speaking of letting you know things, please come back next week. I'll be hosting the blog hop that's going on with the nine authors of the The Homestead Brides and the fabulous raffle prize we're offering, plus I expect to be able to announce more good news on the writing front!
Until next time,
Becca
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Friday, January 30, 2015
Loving Memories
I needed another sympathy card this week. Too many of them going out lately! Using the color combination from Color My Heart and the sketch from Retro Sketches, I came up with this:
All supplies are CTMH. Here's the list:
There's something about butterflies that speaks of new life, of change, of beauty from ashes.
Until next time,
Becca
All supplies are CTMH. Here's the list:
- Stamps: Bodacious Banners, Big Hug Occasions
- Ink: Canary (pigment), Slate (dye)
- Paper: Slate cardstock
- Accessories: Slate Twisty Ties, vellum butterfly cut with Artiste Cricut Cartridge (p. 58)
There's something about butterflies that speaks of new life, of change, of beauty from ashes.
Until next time,
Becca
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Congratulations
One of my favorite stamp sets from the CTMH Seasonal Expressions catalog (available thru March) is the Hostess Only set called "A Thing Well Done". I've been using it quite a bit. This week, for my design team duties over at Stampin' Buds, I wanted to use it again but limiting myself to things I had on my desk.
Before you feel sorry for me, let me tell you that my desk is overflowing right now.
Before you feel sorry for me, let me tell you that my desk is overflowing right now.
I used the sketch from this week's Less is More challenge as my jumping off point. The background panel is Flaxen from the Whimsy Fundamentals paper pack. One side is regular patterned paper, but the other side is the same pattern but with a plastic coating instead of two colors. I stamped the architectural image over top of the resist side using Indian Corn Blue ink then wiped off the excess ink with a clean, dry cloth. I stamped the image three times, the bottom one upside down for the fun of it. I mounted the panel on Lagoon cardstock and sewed around the edges. (Why not an Indian Corn Blue background, you ask. Well...because Lagoon was sitting out and Indian Corn Blue wasn't. Besides, the Indian Corn Blue looks almost Lagoon over top of Flaxen paper.)
The butterfly was stamped in Black Archival ink on scratch white paper, then again over top of the background panel to get the antennae. You must, must, must let that dry for a long time before you touch it so the ink doesn't smear.
I used sponge daubers to ink the butterfly edges in Lagoon (top wings) and Indian Corn Blue (bottom wings). I did the edges first then started from the center and worked out leaving white space between the colored portions. I cut it out and glued only the center to the background panel. The picture doesn't show it well, but the wings are bent up to give added dimension.
White shimmer trim was stamped with the sentiment in Black Archival. Again, let it dry for a long time. (Note: the link below is for Silver Shimmer Trim because the White wasn't showing up.)
Finally, I used the stitch guide and piercing tool to create the butterfly tail.
Here are a few more pictures of cards I've made using this set. The links for instructions are below each:
I love the saying on the last card. It comes with the set, and I think it's very true. However, the reward of being a hostess is getting this set for only $8.00!! There's no link below because it's a hostess set, so here's a picture of the set:
Get it while you can because you're going to regret not having it along about April!
Until next time,
Becca
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Writer's World Wednesdays - Ooops
Uh...it's Wednesday. I'm supposed to write a post. I forgot.
Until next time,
Becca
Until next time,
Becca
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Clean and Simple Things
My brain is refusing to cooperate with me. I have a story to write and it's just not coming. I can either eat copious amounts of chocolate (which plays havoc with my Weight Watchers points) or give my brain something else to focus on for a while. I decided to play along with two challenges: Color My Heart: Black, White Daisy, Silver, and Indian Corn Blue and Heart2Heart: Clean and Simple.
Here's what I came up with:
I used pigment ink in Silver and Indian Corn Blue to emboss the images on the tag. The background is Silver pigment that hasn't been embossed. I colored the wings and stamped the sentiment in Black and used White Daisy cardstock. I used a paintbrush and water to pick up Indian Corn Blue from the lid of a dye ink pad then flicked it over top of the background. Although I did my flicking after the tag was affixed, I recommend you do the whole background before attaching the tag.
If I clean up my desk area, I can probably procrastinate another ten or fifteen minutes. **Sigh**
Let's hope my characters start talking to me soon!
Until next time,
Becca
Here's what I came up with:
I used pigment ink in Silver and Indian Corn Blue to emboss the images on the tag. The background is Silver pigment that hasn't been embossed. I colored the wings and stamped the sentiment in Black and used White Daisy cardstock. I used a paintbrush and water to pick up Indian Corn Blue from the lid of a dye ink pad then flicked it over top of the background. Although I did my flicking after the tag was affixed, I recommend you do the whole background before attaching the tag.
If I clean up my desk area, I can probably procrastinate another ten or fifteen minutes. **Sigh**
Let's hope my characters start talking to me soon!
Until next time,
Becca
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Five in Five
Sometimes you need a card in a hurry. This week for design team duties over at Stampin' Buds, I wanted to make five different cards where each one took about five minutes. And I wanted to do them with the limited supplies.
Don't get me wrong, I love all my ribbons, markers, papers, gadgets, gizmos, and whatnots, but you can create a big impact with a couple well-designed stamp sets and a few embellishments.
Here's each one alone:
For the next two, I created "patterned paper" using the Doodle Design circle and three dots. The Washi tape went over top of a white strip to keep the pattern from showing through. To attach the banners, I used a regular stapler (which I'm counting as an "embellishment").
If you want to limit yourself to one stamp set, here are a couple with just the daffodil set.
Two stamp sets, one ink pad, two colors of paper, and two embellishments. Beautiful doesn't have to complicated, expensive, or time-consuming.
Until next time,
Becca
Don't get me wrong, I love all my ribbons, markers, papers, gadgets, gizmos, and whatnots, but you can create a big impact with a couple well-designed stamp sets and a few embellishments.
Here's each one alone:
I stamped the circle first, stamped it again on a post-it note, then cut out the center to create a mask before stamping the daffodils in the middle. The sentiment was stamped before I put the Washi tape over top.
For the next two, I created "patterned paper" using the Doodle Design circle and three dots. The Washi tape went over top of a white strip to keep the pattern from showing through. To attach the banners, I used a regular stapler (which I'm counting as an "embellishment").
If you want to limit yourself to one stamp set, here are a couple with just the daffodil set.
Two stamp sets, one ink pad, two colors of paper, and two embellishments. Beautiful doesn't have to complicated, expensive, or time-consuming.
Until next time,
Becca
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Writer's World Wednesdays - Moving On
After the big thrill of getting my first box of author copies and seeing my name on the cover of a book, this week has been all about what comes next. My friend and I spent about twenty hours finishing up the last quarter of a synopsis and sample chapters for a proposal. All in all, we probably have about a hundred hours into this proposal. It's for a three book series that generated some interest at the Christian fiction writer's conference back in September. Now we just hope an editor likes the idea well enough to buy it. If we get a bite, it will likely be in three to six months with a publish date a year to two years after that.
I had some friends ask me if publishing always takes this long. These ladies were with me when I signed my contract back in April 2014 for the book now shipping from Amazon and will hit Wal-Mart shelves February 1. The short answer is, "YES!"
Don't go into writing if you want to be an overnight success. Not only does it take an average of ten years and four to six full-length manuscripts that never get out of your laptop's basement before you've put in enough work to sell something to a publisher, once it's sold you have about a year before you get to hold the results of your work.
Which is why the most fun I had this week was teaching the basics of a story plot to one of my violin students. He's twelve and wants to write science fiction. The smile on his face when we were done was instant gratification.
Until next time,
Becca
I had some friends ask me if publishing always takes this long. These ladies were with me when I signed my contract back in April 2014 for the book now shipping from Amazon and will hit Wal-Mart shelves February 1. The short answer is, "YES!"
Don't go into writing if you want to be an overnight success. Not only does it take an average of ten years and four to six full-length manuscripts that never get out of your laptop's basement before you've put in enough work to sell something to a publisher, once it's sold you have about a year before you get to hold the results of your work.
Which is why the most fun I had this week was teaching the basics of a story plot to one of my violin students. He's twelve and wants to write science fiction. The smile on his face when we were done was instant gratification.
Until next time,
Becca
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