SSCC#28 - Colossians 3:17

Good Morning!! It's Sunday, and that means time for another Scripture challenge at Stampin Sisters in Christ Challenges!! Today our hostess is Pamela who is sharing this verse:

Colossians 3:17 "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

And here's what Pamela shared about our challenge this week:
"You have free reign of what you want to do this week. But here's the deal: I want you to actively do this as an act of worship to our God. Before starting, pray. Thank God for your gift. While working, feel free to pray more, or perhaps sing out to Him. Put your focus on Him and remember that it is He who gave you your gift (however good or bad you think you are at this) and remember that it makes Him happy to see you at work. Do this challenge, as if you were doing it for Christ himself!"

I really love Pamela's further thoughts on her challenge, so I encourage you to read about it on our challenge blog!

So... my friend (and DT sister) Lovely Linda did a gorgeous picture frame tutorial over at Midnight Madness blog and so I started perusing that blog a bit more and fell in love with Priscilla's wood box tutorial --- and then it started calling me!! LOL - So I decided to try it! I altered a Band-aid box using some of my FAVORITE items from McMahon Five Designs: this wonderful Cherry Wood paper, this new Butterfly Digi (which will be released tomorrow!!), these gorgeous coffee pearls, and these cute prima flowers.

I added clear stardust gellyroll pen to the butterfly wings--very shiny IRL!

A few deets about my box: I took apart the band-aid box and layed it flat. Then traced it onto the cherry wood paper; everything but the flaps. Then I traced just the top flap separately, and cut it all out. Then I lightly taped the wood to the bandaid box and sewed a triple zigzag stitch all around. Then I taped the smaller wood piece to the top flap of box and sewed half way onto that flap and half way onto the back of box, so that it is flexible. Does that make sense? Anyway, for the half-circle cut out that shows on the front, I made was happily SURPRISED by the outcome when I took a brown marker and colored on top of the glossy white flap. After it dried it turned out crackely-looking and is such a neat look with this box!

*Note about wood: this cherry wood is very thin but does bend pretty well with the grain. However going against the grain will make it crack, so you don't want to score or bend against the grain.

Our challenge for this week was create whatever you want, but do it as an act of worship. I can honestly say that I prayed about my craft time at the beginning and as things started coming together, I realized I was humming a very familiar song out loud called "You are Lord of Creation." I thought that was so funny that God gave me that song in my heart as I was creating-- just thoughtlessly at first, and then made the connection between my song and this project... as a butterfly is such a small thing, but definately one of God's most beautiful creations!! Here are the lyrics to the song:

You Are LORD of Creation

You are Lord of creation and Lord of my life

Lord of the land and the sea

You were Lord of the heavens before there was time

And Lord of my life You will be

We bow down and we worship You Lord

We bow down and we give You glory

We bow down and we bless You 0h Lord

Lord of my life You will be

You are King of creation and King of my life

King of the land and the sea

You were King of the heavens before there was time

And King of my life You will be

I hope that each of you make time to really enjoy a time of creating as you worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He gave us this hobby... this art... this skill, so let's give thank HIM as we create this week!

KLSNS #19 - A {Cheeky} Sketch For you!

Okay, so the sketch is not cheeky at all, but this silly monkey sure is!! *Ü* Miss Risa is our KL Stampin N' Scrappin challenge hostess and has posted THIS SKETCH for us to follow this week. Also, this is the last Saturday of the month which means... PRIZE WEEK!!
Wooohooo, who doesn't love to play for a chance at a stampy/scrappy prize pack from KL Stampin N' Scrappin?! So come on over and be inspired by our DT's creations and get to stampin'!! If you upload to online galleries such as SCS, PCP, or SNR, please use the keyword KLSNS19. Thanks, and have a GREAT weekend everyone!!


Stamp: High Hopes Cheeky Monkey (Dustin Pike)
Paper: Sugar Rush (Basic Grey)

La-La Weekly Wednesday Challenge

Good morning!! We have a fun sketch for you to try at La-La Land Crafts this week, and we hope you'll come over and play along with us!! The sketch is provided by Miss Kathy and is available at our challenge blog HERE. Hop on over and see the our Design Team created to inspire you!! I thought it was time I started on some Christmas cards for this coming year, so here is my first one for 2010. I stamped Angel LaLa once onto two types of DP and a 3rd time onto white c.s. Then I cut her out (but not her wings so that they look 3D), and popped just her body up. Then I added the blue/green DP taped directly onto her body (white c.s.). Her wings have some clear sparkly gellyroll pen added to them and I used some gold glass glitter for her halo. This gorgeous DP was sent to me in my DT package from the lovely Miss Irina--thank you so much!!

Please hop on over to our challenge blog and enter to win THIS free LaLa Land stamp!!

Teddy Bear LaLa

Happy, Happy Birthday Joanna!!

Good Morning! Today we are celebrating our KLSNS Girl, Joanna's birthday with a li'l birthday blog hop!! If you didn't start at the beginning, you'll want to hop back to Kelly's blog and start there. I made Joanna this "virtual" birthday card because I wanted her to see a different one than what I sent in the mail. The sketch is from this week's Friday Sketchers. I used the new Sugar Rush paper by Basic Grey, along with this sweet Party Emma, from the C.C. Designs set Sugarplums Party. Emma is getting ready for a fun birthday party in Joanna's honor by hanging some streamers!! Join me in singing her a little ditty!!

♫ Happy Birthday to You! ♪

♪ Happy Birthday to You! ♫

♫ Happy Birthday dear Joanna ♪

♪ Happy Birthday to YOU!!! ♫

Hope your birthday is the best one yet!!

Now it's time to HOP over to Jodi's Blog!

SSCC #27 - Denoting Time

Good Morning inky friends!! Time for another Scripture challenge at Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenges. Our hostess today is Lovely Laurie who chose this passage to share:



Esther 4:14 “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”



and the challenge is to use a time piece or in some way denote time.

There's a hymn we used to sing in church called "In His Time" and I found a copy of it so I printed it onto some DP and created another "medallion frame"-- this time in a rectangle shape. HERE. I then raised the frame with pop dots and decorated with this chickadee from Backyard Birds, and the flowers from Merci Bouqet (both from Layers of Color).

Hope you will pop on over to our challenge blog and read about Laurie's challenge and see what our Design Team created!! Our Sponsor this week is Designed2Delight!!

Go Green Challenge - Recycled Items

Oh happy day...it's SATURDAY! Bradley Bear is enjoying his lazy morning in the tub with his rubby ducky. Cute huh? He's available at KLSNS! Our challenge hostess this week is Kelly (owner of KLSNS) and she is challenging us to "GO GREEN" - use something on your card that you would've thrown away --before you became a crafter!!

I used some bubble wrap to make "bubbles" onto glossy cardstock... and I also used some tinfoil for the tub. I used a grey marker to etch in some lines to make it a bit more realistic. The bubbles are made with liquid applique (a gift from Kelly--thanks Kel!) *Ü*

Come on over to the DT Blog to see what our Design Team created and get inspired to make your own Recycled creation!! We have a PRIZE this week as well as three of our top players will get a special blinky for their blog! Can't wait to see what you create!! *Ü* Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stampin N' Scrappin this weekend!! *Ü*

Rise and Shine - Side Step Card

What's cuter than 3 yellow chickies? How 'bout 3 yellow chickies behind a white picket fence? *Ü* I just think these li'l chickies are the cutest! I give so much credit to Laura Kirste Campbell, designer of these super cute stamps! They are from a set called Rise and Shine from Layers of Color. If you like these chicks, go ahead and click on the link to see the rest of the stamps in this set. *Ü*
This is another side step card, which was our TLC #257 over at SCS a few weeks ago. Very fun and easy to create. I wanted to print a sentiment and the first thing that popped into my head (being the music lover that I am) was this worship song inspired by Psalm 113:3, so I printed the verse/song onto blush c.s. and cut out using my Nestabilities. I also cut most of the green Nestie layer from the base card--it was tricky, but it worked! However, when you see the card from the back, there's a nestie hole cut out of the back of the card because it flips up, does that make sense? I already gave this one away, so I can't show you. But anyway.

That's what I got for today! LOL. Hope you likey... and hope you get time to INK SOMETHING!!

And have a great weekend! I'll be back tomorrow with a new challenge for KLSNS!

Super CUTE Easter Stamps

You've GOT to see these adorable easter stamps that Kelly just added to the store!! LOVE them! They are Sweet November stamps from C.C. Designs and they are available right now at KL Stampin N' Scrappin! Hurry before they're gone! ; P

I know, I'm such an enabler...

(I know you want them Helen... LOL. Mee too! )

Polka Dot Parade - Bdays are the Berry Best

Shaped cards are so much fun and so easy with Nestabilities!! For this cute little note I used a fun image from the Polka Dot Parade art stamp set from Layers of Color, along with Labels One, DP from DCWV "Nursery" edition, and these cute little heart pins that I received from my wonderful blogging friend, Kim Yu! *Ü* Thanks again Kim!

I've been going to town this week making cards for my new Gallery over at Layers of Color. They sure have some wonderful clear stamps over there. Some very cutesy and others very delicate and artsy and even architectural stamps. I'd love to try some of everything because sometimes you just don't know what you can do if you don't try. *Ü*

Recap on some Challenges this week:

KL Stampin N' Scrappin = color challenge: RED/WHITE/BLACK

La La Land Crafts = color challenge: RED

Stampin Sisters in Christ = let someone know God loves them (on your card)

Have a wonderful Thursday!! *Ü*

La La Weekly Wednesday Challenge

Happy Wednesday!! It's time for another fun challenge at La-La Land Crafts! Our hostess is sweet Jane who would like us to use the color RED! Now, you are able to use other colors in a subtle way, but red needs to be the prominent color. Here is what I came up with:
I went with the "no DP" challenge from last week as well, although I did stamp a little flourishing flower around the white circle so it wasn't so stark. I made this circle medallion using my wrought iron corner punch. You can find instructions at Amazing Paper Grace--she does amazing things with Nesties and punches!! I created the sentiment on my computer.

Thanks for dropping by today! I hope you'll come on over to the DT blog and see all of their awesome "red" creations to inspire you!! You'll have until Monday night to complete this challenge and enter using Mr. Linky HERE. Hope to see you there! *Ü*

Inky Hugs,

Kristine

A Thank You Slideshow

Thank you so much for all the birthday wishes left via comments here on my blog and on FB!! I was also blessed with lots of wonderful birthday cards in the mail this last week, so I thought I would create a slide show to thank you all for making my week very special!! Thank you also for the crafting goodies that were sent--you girls spoiled me and I'm so grateful for such fabulous blogging friends!! *Ü*

It's a Polka-Dot Parade!

Hi everyone! I made this cute little card last night using the Polka-Dot Parade art stamp set from Layers of Color. I just went with my inspiration and then afterwards tried to find some challenges to fit it into and found nothing! I'd sure like to know how people are fitting one card into 20 different challenges! LOl. If you have any tips on this, I'd sure love to know! Ok, back to my card. I used Copics to color Ellie and then added sparkly blue gellyroll pen on her polka dots and clear sparkly pen for the flag dots.

Thanks for droppin' by today! Hope my USA friends are enjoying a day off this President's Day!! *Ü*

I'm Featured Today at Divine Influence

Just poppin' in real quick to say that I was notified a couple of week's ago that I had been nominated for a featured spot at Divine Influence and I gladly accepted! I'm honored to say it went live today--go check it out if you'd like! Thank you Jessica and the rest of the Divine Gals!!

Happy President's Day! Hope you all got the day off work so you can Ink Something *Ü*

SSCC #26 I John 4:10

Happy Valentine's Sunday, everyone! Today we have a fun challenge over at Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenges and we'd love for you to come play along!!
Our hostess is the lovely Ceal who chose this verse to share:

1 John 4:10 "This is real love—not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins."

and our challenge is to make a card or project for someone you love letting them know how much God loves them.

After a couple of (failed) attempts at a card yesterday, I decided to try one of these cute little Bucket Handbags, which was the TLC (technique lovers challenge) at SCS a couple weeks ago. There is a downloadable template there as well and it is really easy to make.
I used my new stamp sets from Layers of Color, "Backyard Birds" and "Her Majesty's Urns" and then printed the verse with a message using my computer. This one is going to our Children's Director at church because she does a WONDERFUL job with our kids and with Valentine's Day tomorrow, I wanted to give her a little something too!

Thanks again to Laura (of LOC) for sending me the fun set, "Her Majesty's Urns" for my birthday! They work perfectly as birdbaths *Ü* And thank you to Irina (of LaLa Land Crafts) for this gorgeous doublesided cross-stitch DP! *Ü* Now it's your turn to create something for someone you love, letting them know how much God loves them. For more inspiration, please visit our challenge blog and see what our Design Team has made!!

♥ ♥ ♥ Happy Valentine's Day ♥ ♥ ♥

An Olympic Size Birthday

Hiya friends!! I have a card for the new Saturday challenge over at KL Stampin N' Scrappin store. Kathy is our host this week and she'd like us to use the colors Red/White/Black.

So the winter Olympics kicked off yesterday (on my b-day!) and my girls and I really enjoy watching some of the sports... especially the ice skating! So for my card today, I used this cute Ice Princess stamp (HH) from KL Stampin N' Scrappin. I printed the sentiment from my computer... I just HAD to work in the part about the Olympics! *Ü* The sketch I followed is from this week's Mojo Monday.
By the way, have you stopped by the new and improved KLSNS store lately?? You should! It's bright and cheery--and much easier to see the images etc. There's also some new Spellbinder's dies and High Hopes stamps! Also, DRS is new to KLSNS as well. Go take a look around!! And don't forget the coupon codes for February:

New COUPON Codes:
FebShp -- get $6 off shipping on a min. $30 order
FebShp2 -- get $10 off a $69 order

Thanks for poppin' in! I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Weekend! I'll be back later to share some birthday cards I received from some very talented stampers such as YOU!! *Ü*

It's My Birthday, Let Me Treat You!

Happy Friday! Today's my birthday so I thought I'd pop in to show you what I received from my sweet friend Chris Olsen, aka. Twinkles Glow with Stamps. Thank you so much Chris!! This card is AMAZING, (as is all her wonderful cards!) The DP has lots of glitter on it and she added lots of sewing and pearls--and look at the frosting--it's puffy and chocolatey!! I personally LOVE chocolate dipped strawberries and she included one of those on there as well *Ü* The inside is just as gorgeous with layers of glittery dp too but you don't get to see it--some things remain "just for me" LOL. She also sent me some girly things to pamper myself with and some ♥ suckers for the girls--which I cheated and treated myself to one of those too! ;P

I also want to thank my new friends (and bosses) Laura of Layers of Color for the wonderful stamp set she sent me for my birthday yesterday--Love it! Such a sweet surprise *Ü* And Sue of M5D for the packet of pearls!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

And now I'd like to give away the following goodies to one of my blog followers, compliments of Laura of Layers of Color, Kelly of KL Stampin N' Scrappin, Carolyn of Busy Beauties Boutique and myself:

This prize pack also includes a $15 GC to the Busy Beauties Boutique!
Congratulations...
theneon of Raining Rubber - Please contact me with your mailing addy!!

Thanks everyone for all your sweet birthday wishes!! I had this post scheduled to go live first thing this morning but I see my inbox is full of lovely birthday wishes ... AND my fellow DT sisters at LaLa Land Crafts AND Stampin' Sisters in Christ are having special blog hops in my honor today!! YOU GIRLS ARE THE BEST!! I am trying to get out the door for work, so I will look at all the birthday goodness from there (shhh, don't tell my boss!) HA!

Your comments have definately made my day very special. I wish I could give you ALL a goody bag, but a great big THANK YOU and some cyber hugs will have to do for now! And huge thanks to my friends who helped me celebrate by sweetening my candy pot!!

I have to to go to work today, but am looking forward to tonight-- my family is taking me out to my favorite restaurant -- somewhere we only go once a year, and we got a snow storm on our annivesary, so ... looking forward to trying that again tonight. ♥ Hope you all have a wonderful weekend ♥

A Fan from the Orient

Well... okay, maybe it didn't come from the Orient, but I tried to make this fant look like it did. ;) I meant for this to be a decorative wall hanging and I used this cute stamp called Sasha. She's from the Pretty Little Things collection by D' Amour Allure. Isn't she pretty?!
I CASEd this fan idea from my very talented friend and DT sister, Jane over at LaLa Land Crafts because I adored her green Japanese fan that she made. You can see that HERE.

Before I go, I want to mention that Sue McMahon has a cute Valentine digi stamp available for only $3.00 which most of that will go to Make A Wish Foundation! She has a touching story about this charity on her website HERE.

McMahon Five Designs has some of the best crafting supplies and I just got my order a couple days ago. Seeing the gorgeous flowers and pearls and finally some Neenah paper to use with Copics... I can't wait to dig in and start creating with them! So stay tuned as you'll be seeing some of these goodies on my projects in the very near future! *Ü*

LLWWC25 - No Designer Paper

Happy Wednesday everyone!!  It's time for another LaLa Weekly Wednesday Challenge!! 

I'm excited to say that our hostess this week is {my bbff} Lisa Hjulberg who has a whopper of a challenge for us--NO DESIGNER PAPER!  But I know you can do it!!  Think cuttlebug... think distressed edges... think doodling some borders!  There's lots of possibilities!  If you'd like more inspiration, please hop on over to our challenge blog and see what our Design Team has whipped up! 

For my card I used this super cute Love Note Rosie, a new release this month! I drew in a little black railing, and as you can see in this bottom picture. I placed her on the inside so it looks like you're looking through the window at her out on the balcony! For my card I used this super cute Love Note Rosie, a new release this month! I drew in a little black railing, and as you can see in this bottom picture. I placed her on the inside so it looks like you're looking through the window at her out on the balcony!

I hope you'll come on over to see what the DT made and enter to win a free stamp from LaLa Land Crafts! 

A New DT and an Easel Card

Good Morning!! I'm so excited to share this HUGE NEWS with you all! I've been asked to join the wonderful Christian Stamp Company called Layers of Color!! If you've never been to see their store and galleries, you simply MUST take a look! Once you get started, you might find yourself over there for hours as their stamp sets are wonderful and the Design Team's galleries are so full of inspiration. Speaking of galleries... my Paperarts Gallery is NOW OPEN!! Please pop on over and take a look! *Ü*

Laura Kirste Campbell is the stamp designer and owner of Layers of Color, along with her hubby Mark... and their daughter Jessica is involved in the company as well! I first "met" Laura a few months ago over at my challenge blog Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenges and we made friends right away. Linda Lucas, a.k.a. Lovely Linda, is also on the Design Team and I have enjoyed our growing friendship as well these past few months, but especially since joining this team! Also designing for LOC is Heather Wombacher, and Patter Cross. I am so excited to get to know these women, my sisters in Christ better as well.

If you missed my post yesterday, I shared a card I made using Layers of Color stamps for my mom and entered it in our Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge. And today I'd like to share another using the Regal Birds set and Butterfly Collector set.

I stamped the bird directly onto the DP and then filled him in with feathery streaks with a white gel pen. The butterflies were stamped in VersaMark and sponged with chalk pastels and highlighted with a clear glitter pen. Then I popped them up just in the middle and added some black pearls to the centers. (you can always click the pic to enlarge for detail)

Before I go, I want to share a little story about this card. God works in mysterious ways at times, and today was no exception! Well, I had this card made days ago for nobody in particular (although I was sure I'd find someone to give it to some day) but right before heading to church, I felt like I should go get it real quick, stick it in an envelope and put it in my purse. The inside was still blank and I really didn't know why I was taking it! But anyway, these last couple of months I've been helping in the children's department but today I felt led to stay in the worship service, so I did. There happened to be a young mom sitting in front of me who looked very down. As soon as I sat down, someone was asking her how she was doing and she was very quiet and answered very hesitantly about having a heavy heart. Later as I was listening to the sermon, I couldn't help but think about that card in my purse--and that THIS must be the reason I was prompted to take it today. Coincidence? I think not. The Lord knows what He's doing ;) So I got out my card and wrote a little note in it and gave this to her after church. She doesn't know me, but I know that it was God using my card as a way to minister to her in a way that maybe she really needed at the time. If nothing else to let her know that God DOES care and has just shown her His love through someone she didn't even know. I'm humbled at the thought--I take no credit, but give the glory to God. Another reason I am so excited about Joining Layers of Color... to use this craft as an outreach and ministry.

Thanks again Laura for this amazing opportunity to join your company... and to Linda as our DT Coordinator for seeing something special in my work too! You all are a blessing and I am excited to see what the Lord will do this year at LOC!! *Ü*

SSCC #25 Mark 10:7-8

Good Morning, I'm so glad it's Sunday today! My one day a week to relax and get spiritually fed. It's been a busy week, so I'm looking forward to today. One of my favorite things to do on Sunday morning is to go check out the new Scripture challenge at Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenges. It's always full of inspiration. This week my DT sister, Randi is hostess and she chose this verse to share:

Mark 10: 7-8 "7. 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8. and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one. 9. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." (NASB)

And her challenge for us is to use 2 of everything you use to make your one card! (ie. 2 DPs, 2 images, 2 ribbons, you get the point!) I made a card for my mom using some of my all-time favorite stamps by Layers of Color; Backyard Birds & Merci Bouquet. I have to show you an upclose shot of my birds. I love the way these turned out!! I started out coloring his underbelly and part of the wings and tail with a light pink Copic marker. Then, I didn't have any light brown Copics, so I rubbed a cotton swab in my chalk Pastels and rubbed the browns on. Then I experimented by using my colorless Copic blender pen and went over all of it in tiny circles which gave it this cool feathery look! And to add a bit more interest I added some white highlights with my Signo gel pen.

Then to enhance the flowers and leaves I used my white pen & clear stardust gellyroll pen which actually looks gold when the light hits. I also used our challenge this week at KL Stampin N' Scrappin, which is Paper Tole! I stamped both sets of bouquets directly on the green DP and then stamped it again on white and popped it up. Such a fun challenge--I love that look.

Pop on over to the challenge blog to see what the rest of the Design Team made!! Our sponsor this week is Digital Ink Co., who also donated some digi stamps to our DT to use this week, (some super cute ones) so be sure to check those out! Have a wonderful Sunday!! *Ü*

------------------------------------------------------

Card Deets:

Stamps: Backyard Birds, Merci Bouquet

Paper: Mariposa (DCWV); white & Moss cardstock (SU!)

Accessories: Black pearl flourishes (M5D); Rub ons (?); gold heart charm; gold cording; clear stardust gellyroll pen; Signo white gel pen; sewing machine/thread

Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento

KLSNS16 - Paper Tole Challenge

Hello friends *Ü* I get to host the challenge this week at KL Stampin N' Scrappin! I love the look of paper tole, don't you? Have you ever tried it? If not, then here's your chance!

For my card I used this Sarah Kay stamp called "Puppy Love." You'll want to stamp the same image 2 or 3+ times and fully color one of those images for your base. Then, with your remaining image/s, you'll color and cut out just certain parts of the image and mount them on top of your base with pop dots to give it a 3D effect. Here's an upclose shot (You can click to enlarge the pic)

You can see that I pop dotted the dog, her bonnet, shoes and apron all one time, and then I did just her left arm twice. Pretty cool huh?

I also used some of that glass glitter (in gold) for the key in the doggy's mouth. Thank you to Kelly for sending me a complimentary pack of that glitter, I love it! *Ü* The paper is from the Morocain line by Basic Grey.

We'd LOVE to have you come play along!! Three players will be awarded our TOP 3 award blinky for this challenge!! Be sure to check the challenge blog on Mondays to see who won! Have a great weekend *Ü*

Easy Origami Treat Box

It's the 2nd late night in a row for me, so I'm going to make this short and sweet. We have a challenge in LaLa Land this week with the theme ♥HEARTS♥... here's the link to our challenge. Hope you'll come on over and enter to win this cute LaLa with Heart stamp!! I'll leave you with a few more pics of my treat box. This was so easy and fun to make. You can find instructions here.

Thanks for stopping by!! Have a FABULOUS FRIDAY!!

Paper is from Paper Pretties