Christmas Card Frenzy

I have been holed up in my craft area making Christmas cards like crazy. I have 40 done! Only 20 left before I'm done. I keep trying to cut my list down, but it always ends up right around 60 each year. Last year I went with different card styles for the first time. I decided I liked it and have been doing a little here and there for the past few months then got serious yesterday.

Everything is CTMH unless otherwise noted, so I am linking up to this week's Heart2Heart Christmas Challenge.

Sorry for the blur, but this is the best one. Everything on ornament (except topper) cut with Art Philosophy. Paper is Roxy (B&T), Smoothie, and Black. Joy is painted with Pearl Paint mixed with water. Sentiment from December Word Puzzle stamped in Smoothie.

Cut with Artist cartridge, backed with an old CTMH B&T (can't remember name--Jingle, maybe???). Glitter glue is Studio G from Hobby Lobby.

I'm  not sure why I can't get my remaining pictures to go any bigger--which is aggravating!  (However, I think you can click on the picture and get a little bigger image.  Try it.  See if that helps.)Stocking and snowflake cut from Art Philosophy cartridge.  White parts of stocking run through a Stampin' Up embossing folder.  Red part of stocking and background behind stocking stamped with Universal Background in Cranberry and White Daisy, edges sponged in Gray Wool.  More Roxy B&T.

 

I cut lots of these ornaments.  I made the topper by cutting Desert Sand paper with scallop edge Fiskars scissors, gluing a section to the top of the ornament, fussy cutting around the edges, and punching a hole.  I also used Pearl Paint mixed with water to give it a shimmer.  The Noel was cut with Artiste.  I used a spray pen to spritz a bunch of colors, then dabbed with silver, bronze and gold pigment ink, covered it with clear embossing powder and heating.  Again, I can't get the photo to enlarge for some reason to help you see it better.  Burlap ribbon was cut in half lengthwise and tied with brown waxy flax through button holes.

Same info on this stocking as before, only the plaid is Roxy paper.  Background is Snowflake Cuttlebug embossing folder on Smoothie paper then sanded to expose the white core.  Edges were sponged in Tulip.  Torn piece is Desert Sand.  Sentiment is from O Christmas Tree stamped in Tulip.

Same info on ornament as above.  Only thing different here is the Burlap ribbon over top of the Black and Smoothie.

I have 14 more of these ornaments cut.  I'm not sure if I want to keep playing with new ideas or just choose one of the ones I've already done and make a bunch of the same.  Before I do anything, I'd better clean up.  This place looks like a tornado hit it!

Until next time,
Becca

Grateful for New Friends

One of the hard but great things about moving is making new friends.  It's hard to start over every few years, but the Army does a pretty good job of helping you connect if you are willing to get out of your house and join a few groups.  My best source of new friends comes from Protestant Women of the Chapel (PWOC).  Today, one of the ladies I met through that group came over to play in my craft room.  Here's what we made (and it even goes along with the challenges over at Heart2Heart and CASology):

The "thanks" was cut twice using Cricut CTMH Artiste cartridge.  The back one was colored using the direct to paper technique with Slate ink.  The ribbon is also CTMH in Slate.

I wish the picture did the ombre coloring justice. I was showing my friend Copic markers. I did the "t" and then she did the rest. We used R24, R27, and R29.

My friend had to leave before I got this finished, so she didn't get to see the finished product.  I think I will take it to her when we meet for PWOC again next Tuesday.  We had such a great time just brainstorming several ideas and working off each other's creativity.  So fun to find a kindred spirit in a new place.

On the writing front, I have also found a kindred spirit in a published author who lives only fifteen minutes away.  I showed her my manuscript, she tore into it, and I am liking how the revisions are making my characters come alive.

All this talk of kindred spirits makes me want to watch Anne of Green Gables.  Maybe I'll get a group of gals together to watch it with me and find more kindred spirits among them.

Until next time,
Becca

Best Foot Forward

My daughter is in a contest.  The winner gets to go shoe shopping.  Since I am too far away to cheer her on up close and personal, I made her this card based off the Mojo Monday Sketch 267.

All supplies are CTMH except for the lace ribbon (flower leaves) and my Copic BG75 which I used to create the teal background mat, ribbon, and flower center.  Paper is Avonlea, satin ribbon is Slate, embossing powder is Mirror Platinum, and stamps are from Find Your Style (shoe, discontinued) and Wicked (sentiment, discontinued).  I actually wrote in permanent ink on my Find Your Style carrier sheet that Wicked had a shoe sentiment.

 

The flower center is a pearl brad with a gold rim.  I was trying to just color the gold rim but I flubbed and got ink on the pearl part.  Nothing to do but color it as well.  Except the color wasn't going on smooth.  Again, nothing to do but make it look like I intended it to be splotchy all along.  As it turns out, I actually like the variegated/splotchy look.

 

I created the flower by folding my Slate ribbon in half, sewing it with the a gathering stitch, and then pulling thread to bunch it up.  I'm not sure what all is behind there to keep it together, but I think there's some tape, Liquid Glass (also CTMH), and a staple to hold the leaves onto the paper.  It's a good thing no one actually sees the mess under the pretty!

 

The inside sentiment says, "Live inspired; Dream with possibility."  Here's to my girl!

 

Until next time,

Becca

 

 

 

 

Photo Inspired Christmas

Every year I have a wonderful goal of making Christmas cards well in advanced to avoid the last-minute rush.  It's November; I have sixteen cards out of a needed seventy-five.  Yeah...

So, my current goal is enter individual challenges rather than combining them to finish off those last sixty.  I may need to make a few of each card.  Good thing this one is quick and simple:

This card is entered in the Heart2Heart: Photo Inspiration challenge.  It uses all CTMH products.  My original idea didn't include the strip of Olive along the bottom, but the photo inspired me to add it.

Stamps: Pirouette, Holiday Commentary (retired)
Paper: Kraft, Olive
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: Mocha Opaque Adhesive Gems, white embossing powder

It's been crazy, busy around my house.  I just returned from a women's conference in Nashville.  We stayed at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel.  My word!!  It's a mile long walk from one side of that thing to the other.  We arrived Thursday night after a 16-hour bus trip to see lots of people in their blingy finest.  The next day I found out they were on their way to the CMA awards.  Apparently The Grand Old Opry is a few steps outside the hotel.  I was so busy trying to keep track of the 50+ ladies in our group, I didn't step outside the hotel all weekend.  Nor did I take any pictures.  Bad me (slapping my wrist).  However, I did come home and check Colin Raye's tour schedule.  He is coming to a small venue in Decatur, TX this weekend, so I'll get my country music fix in that way.

Until next time,
Becca

Autumn Sympathy

A few days ago we had a special celebration at chapel with the theme "Rejoice."  It seems both appropriate and ironic that I took the leaf from my name tag and used it to create this sympathy card.

The sentiment is from Peddler's Pack (2001) stamped in CTMH Cocoa ink.  I grabbed paper from my scrap drawer so I have no idea where the brown or green papers came from.  The middle mat is CTMH Goldrush cut with Fiskars deckle edge scissors and sponged with CTMH Autumn Terracotta.  The acorn and leaf charms are from Buttons Galore & More.  I am entering it in the Less is More: Autumn challenge.

The lady for whom I made this card has just buried her second husband.  Praise God that we do not grieve as those who have no hope.

 

Until next time,

Becca

Pumpkin Mojo

It's been a long time since I posted.  Lots going on around here, but nothing of monumental importance...or even blog-worthy.  So, I'll just get straight to the card.

This card combines two challenges:

• Mojo Monday Sketch #264
• Heart2Heart: Halloween or Pumpkin

I used the Fall Favorites stamp set, edge distressor, paper piercing tool, and ribbons from CTMH.  I also used Copic markers, though they did not blend as well as usual because I didn't use great paper.  I really love this scarecrow, and have had lots of fun coloring him.

Now...for something completely different.

My friend, Terri Haynes wrote a book called Love Simplified. She self-published it and, I'll be honest, that made me nervous.  But Terri sent me a copy of the manuscript and I finally got a chance to read it today.  Yep, I read it in one sitting.  She totally sucked me into her story from the first page. Her heroine, Tempest Day, is a relationship expert who has helped many people find love but has never fallen in love herself.  When she exposed on national television as a fraud, she agrees to become the star of her own reality show to prove her seven-point compatibility system really works. 

Not being a reality show person, that part made me nervous, too.  (Reviewing the work of someone you call friend is not an easy thing sometimes.) But Terri handled the show part with more class than pretty much every reality show I've ever stumbled across while channel surfing.  The background insight made wonder how much she knows about TV production first hand.  I felt like I was behind the scenes.

So, if you are looking for a great story and want to support an author directly, go to Amazon or Terri's blog and purchase a copy of her debut novel.

Until next time,
Becca

A Woman's Purpose

"I could not even fulfill the one reason God created women."

This heartbroken woman spoke of her inability to bear a child.  Another woman lamented her single status because she had no husband to whom she could be a "helpmeet." After all, that's why God created women. 

While I have no wish to diminish the pain of one who can't bear a child or who has remained single despite a fervent desire to marry, truth compels me to expose their faulty thinking.  God did not create women to be wives nor to bear children.  God created women for the same purpose he created men.

Genesis 1:27 says, And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.  The preposition in translates into as  thirty-five percent of the time.  It puts a slightly different slant on this verse.  Read it again, this time substituting as:  And God created man as His own image, as the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.

Man (as in mankind, both males and females) was created to be God's image bearer on earth.  Notice it is what we were created TO BE.

Let's look at Genesis 2:18. Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man (Adam, male species) to be alone; I will make a helper suitable for him."

The problem with humans is we tend to look at everything in light of what we are TO DO rather than who we are TO BE.  If you read this verse with TO DO glasses on, you see women as servants, there to help Adam complete his tasks.  But if you switch out the TO DO glasses and put on the TO BE glasses, it reads something like this: Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to bear the entire responsibility of being My image alone; I will make another who is suitable to help him meet this image bearing responsibility by bringing her uniqueness to the earth."

Now that's an entirely different perspective on what it means for women to be the "helpmeet" of men.  And it has nothing to do with being married, nothing to do with bearing children, nothing to do with anything TO DO.  It's all about who we were created TO BE.

How does that change the heartbroken cry of the barren or single woman?

Until next time,
Becca