The Grace of God

I recently made this card for a man in our church who had experienced God's grace in a beautiful and memorable way.   I chose the background (wallpaper) based on the Old Testament encouragements on certain occasions to erect memorials, often made with stones, as a remembrance of God's grace to the people. I have made journals with this pattern for the same reason; journals are a great "memorial stone" for us to use to record God's goodness to us, especially those life-changing or defining moments that He gives us.

I am participating in the Word Art Wednesday challenge.  This blog provides a digital scripture stamp for each challenge - I love that!  This is their 200th post ... I think that is certainly something to celebrate!  Now I need to go save some of those scripture digis to my files ...  :-)

Ordination cards

Someone expressed interest in purchasing an ordination card today, and I realized I hadn't posted these last two cards. They are identical in design to a couple of others I have made, just a change in cardstock used.

New Ministry

Close friends of ours, the Phelps, own a recycling business in their town. A couple of times a year, they have a warehouse sale. I hadn't been to one before, but now that I have, I won't miss again! The veneer layer on this card came from there. It's very brittle to work with, so while I can put it through my die-cut machine, sometimes it breaks. I tried embossing, first with a dry piece, then a damp one. The pattern did not hold, but I'll play with it again...

Masculine Scripture card

I made this for my son while he was in boot camp last March, but forgot to take a photo before I sent it to him. It was the last layed card I sent ... they get very little storage space, so Stephen just did not have the room for those bulky cards!

Ordination cards

Since designing is the most time-consuming part of cardmaking for me, I love it when I find a design I can easily alter!

Salt Challenge: JOY

I have absolutely loved participating in the bi-weekly Salt Challenge, but this fall was so intensely busy, I spent almost no time on any blogs at all, and completely forgot about Salt. I "rediscovered" it last week. "Joy" is a wonderful challenge theme, and if there is any stamp I have multiples of, it's ones that express Joy. How perfect to find that to be the word selected on Salt. Problem: I have a brand new Joy stamp I wanted to use for this challenge, but I just could not make it "work" on a card. So instead, here's a card that I haven't posted yet that still "qualifies"!



I used a joy stamp on this ministry card because I think it's easy in ministry to be overwhelmed by the responsibility of it all, and forget that God desires us to be joyful.

We're studying Hebrews in a church class our pastor teaches, and I've been thinking about this joy-related scripture about Jesus:

"...therefore God, your God, has set you above your
companions by anointing you with the oil of joy."

This is speaking of Christ's superiority over angels ... and one of those ways is that He has been annointed with the oil of joy. Isn't that fascinating?

Rejoice in the Lord!

Here's a second card with figures from the same series I used in yesterday's card. If it looks familiar, it's because it comes from a set of note cards I made last year. The notecard sets have no layers or embellishing, and so are easy to make into other cards. :-)

One last Pastor Appreciation card

I wanted one more card - well, actually, a bunch more, but only had time for one more Pastor Appreciation card. I had scanned some leaves from our yard to use as a background, and was pleased with the result. To amplify the leafy look, I ran the panels through my cuttlebug. It was the right pattern, but a bit much. So, I softened the embossing by running it through the cuttlebug again .... underneath the folder! Perfect!

I first made the praying for you card for a co-worker of my husband's. When I was trying to fit in one last Pastor Appreciation card, I found an extra panel to use. Happy day!

another ministry card

Camera issues again .... I couldn't get the right color. Anyway, the background is from a card I made a year ago, I think, and as usual, I had made a few extras. :-)

I used the faux batik method: I stamped the image with a border stamp multiple times and embossed clear. Then I brayered on the ink from a Big & Juicy pad, sponging in some of the areas as needed. then I ironed the panel, removing the embossing ink.

Gorgeous wallpaper!

I was asked to create an ordination card for a woman, and found this beautiful paper in a discontinued wallpaper sample book from Sherwin Williams that I got a few months ago. It's very difficult to photograph, and as time was an issue, I didn't get a chance to play around with the camera to get a better picture. I made this card with Pastor Appreciation month in mind, and it's a little better than the ordination card. The red you see is actually darker, and I think this card is going to be one of my favorites. I wonder what a room entirely wallpapered with this design would look like? Halway up the wall, with a dark red above it would make a really romantic bedroom.... :-)

Another card re-do

This card has been around for awhile, with the dark blue layer actually being the card, with a paper liner for writing. I re-did this a week or so ago, and it's appropriate to post it now as tomorrow we bring our sailor to the airport where he'll head toward Sigonella, Sicilly for two years. We've been blessed to have him home for a little over three weeks, and it's been great. We'll miss Stephen, of course, but it's exciting to anticipate getting to visit him there next year!

Home Alone

Actually, I'm not alone, but it's just family, for the first day in over a month ... so it feels like being "home alone," in a group of us sort of a way. :-)

It's been good, but now there are less distractions as I get ready for the craft shop. I spend the afternoon painting a huge bookshelf that I am being allowed to use. It's been crazy. I had some white stain blocking spray paint, that I used up with the shelf, and so I bought another can while at the paint store. When I arrived, I realized to my dismay that somehow, with all the shelves (horizontal AND vertical) on the unit that I was trying to cover, I had completely overlooked the sides of it! So, I sent a daughter back to the store for another can. I don't know why I just thought one more would do it! But I was NOT going to go down again or send my dd! (Small town, remember!). I looked at my cans of white paint and knew those would not be enough. Hmmm... is it possible that at the back of the barn there might be some old cans of spray paint? Ones that allthough years old, cans covered in rust, having been frozen and thawed and baked in the summer heat might do the job? Wow! Two partially used cans! Since I plan to rag on some beige paint, I'm not worried about how it might look, as long as it goes on white! So, spray away. It's odd stuff, I'm continually stepping out of clouds of paint dust, and it's going on the shelf a bit oddly. Oh well. At some point, I actually look at the can label ... it's not regulary paint, it's enamel! At this point, some of it has gone on most of the shelves, so I use it up anyway. Tomorrow I paint ... should be interesting...

I have a "not yet posted" file in my photos, and Saturday, fully intending to post, I moved the card I was going to used to it's proper folder. We had two extras staying with us, and since I'm naturally distractable anyway, I got derailed before starting my post. Of course, I can't remember which card I was going to use. As I looked through all my folders, I discovered this card I had made a couple of months ago for someone. I never posted it, so it seemed a good choice to just go with this one! The gal I made it for is a lot of fun, so I though she might appreciate loud, vibrant color!

I'm back!

Wow, I had no idea I would be "gone" so long! Added to everything else I had going, we had to get a new computer, and I naively assumed that a)it would be a quick process for my dh to transfer everything over, and b)that I would have no problem finding where all my pictures and files had gone. Wow. It was quite the ordeal, lol! I still am missing things, and when I find them, I forget how I managed it, and they are lost again! But, I'm getting it figured out, and I don't need to find the missing camera cable because this computer just needs the chip. Oh, happy day!

Now I'll be back to posting more or less every day (except Sunday - not out of legalism, but my own personal knowledge that I NEED A DAY OFF!). Actually, my goal is 5 days a week ... this keeps me from sliding too far from regular card making!

This is one of my older cards, but it's a scripture speaking to me right now. I've got a couple of things in the works right now related to stamping that are pretty exciting - and time consuming, lol - that I've been thinking about for a long time, but it's never seemed like the right time.

Now our oldest daughter is commandeering everyone for a picnic, so I'll post more on Monday.

Have a great weekend!

Ordination card

Life is starting to get back to normal this week, more or less, so I should be posting more regularly again.

I am considering seeing if the local Christian college might be interested in selling my cards. Ordination cards would probably be good to have. I did not plan to use vellum on this card, but the background texts made it too busy, so the vellum softened it up. I've used this technique on other cards, it's a great way to keep from having to redesign a card!

Workshop card

I will be doing a workshop this coming week, something I haven't done in about a year. It's for a church women's group, and they want a very short and simple workshop, and to pay as little as possible. I had done one a couple of years ago with them, so it's nice they want me back, and amusing that it's to be short and simple. The organizer said even just two cards would be fine. I opted instead for two simple cards, two bookmarks. The simple version of the card I posted yesterday will be one card, this one will be the second.

The heart on this is attached with a foam dot for dimension. The torn edge text will be simpler than cutting.

Well with your soul

I was thinking of the hymn, "It is well with my soul" when I created this stamp. If you don't know the hymn and the story behind it, I hope you'll click on the link and read about it. Knowing the tragedy of the writer of those words, would remind anyone receiving a card like this that even in the worst of the worst circumstances in our lives, we can have that "peace like a river," that assurance that God is in control, and has not forgotten us...

Quilting with Cuttlebug

In the midst of my hurry to finish cards for my pastor and his wife, I suddenly got the idea for this card. I didn't need another card; I had already made or selected the ones I was going to give them. But I couldn't help myself, lol! Being last minute, it was too late in the day for much natural lighting, so the photograph is not the best quality. But it really does have a quilteed look to it. The card was a little time consuming, but extremely easy to do. And a great way to use up scraps! :-) I just glued the scraps onto a piece of cardstock, trimmed the edges, and sent through my cuttlebug.

Birthday grace

I used the faux batik technique to create this card. The stamp is actually a border stamp, not a background, and I really enjoy using it.

I coupled the two text stamps together because it's just so easy, at least if you're over 35, to think of birthdays in a negative light, when really, I think the older we get, not only do we have more wisdom, but I think as Christians, we become better able to recognize how gracious God is and has been to us. Anyway, those were my thoughts as I put this card together. One of my panels was a bit messy, but that enabled me to go ahead and cut it up to get the individual flowers. While faux batik is relatively easy, it can be time consuming, so if I hadn't made a messy panel, I wouldn't have wanted to cut out the flowers, lol! I used an autumn Kaleidacolor pad to cover the embossed panel. After using the roller, I sponged on extra color where needed.

Tip: I was first embossing in clear on cream, but it was very difficult to see where to place the continuous border images, hence the messed up panel. I got smart and pulled out white cardstock, and used craft vanilla, so I could see what I was stamping!

Just to show another way a border stamp can be used, I made what looks like a background panel with this same stamp. I embossed two sides, then covered the ends with post-it paper, and embossed the other two sides. I really thought the corners would show a messy overlap or gap, but it really looked surprisingly smooth.

Ordination Card

Again, for pastor appreciation. It was nice to make a completely different design!

Ordination card re-make

I was asked to re-create an ordination card that I had made some months back, using silver instead of gold, and adding something that would reflect the recipient's added ministry with guitar. It also needed to be larger as a number of people were to sign it. I love music, and have a bunch of music stamps, but it never occured to me to get a guitar stamp! Living in the middle of nowhere, I couldn't rectify that in time to create the card, but I replaced the narrow strips of cardstock with silver cord to give an effect of guitar strings (Wow, that was a nuisance, lol - elastic cord is not easy to attach: it doesn't lie limp like string or ribbon!).