Rainbow and bird hello

I have had this multi-hello stamp for a long time and have loved using it.  It is a Stampabilities stamp from 2012 and I just never tire of using it!  I think it is because it can be doctored up to be either whimsical OR more formal, depending upon the background I use.  This week I thought I would try it over a rustic rainbow of gelato colors to make a cheerful and fun card.  After I put down the gelatos and smeared them just a tad, I heat embossed the greeting using some turquoise embossing powder, then I added those cute little bird brads.  I have a recipient already in mind for this! 

I am going to enter this in the Retro Rubber Challenge Blog.

Pineapple in many forms

I had a sheet of 12 x 12 in. scrapbook paper covered with pineapples, so I decided to see how many different cards I could make using that one sheet of paper.  Not only how many cards, but how different ...  And that is a real challenge for me, but seeing as I am trying to stretch myself creatively in my card-making, I knew this would be hard for me.  It was hard BUT oh, so satisfying!  I still have enough paper left to make one or two more cards, but seeing as at least one of the cards have an immediate use, I needed to document this even though I have not quite completed the final step!

Here are a couple views of the cards:

And a more close-up look at each one.  I'll start with my least favorite one, the Easter card:

I wanted to do something with some brown instead of yellow or green, but I think maybe a darker brown would have done better at bringing out the yellow pineapples in the background.  I went by a card I saw in a magazine that used light brown on top of a light yellow, but it did not turn out as I had wished.  At the same time, it does not look bad, just not quite what I had pictured in my mind.  I popped the die cut up off the front of the card to create some extra dimension.

This little girl with her yellow coat is a cute accent to the pineapple background, I think.  I also covered her shoes with Glossy Accents to make them look like patent leather shoes, which I think fit her outfit beautifully!

The card I made first was the original reason for starting this project.  I wanted to send a card to a new pastor on our staff at church, so I wanted to make a welcome card.  Pineapples seemed very appropriate for the occasion, and I was very pleased with how it turned out.

I covered the card with dark green card stock and layered some light green on top of that.  I put the pineapple paper on more dark green and cut out the word "welcome" with my Slice cutting machine in dark green and added some yellow glitter to it, then popped that layer up with dimensional tape.  I think it is appropriately not too feminine looking for the new male pastor.

For the last card  I used a bright yellow card base:

After putting together the set of squares of patterned paper with the "hello" I realized that the bright yellow was a bit too much, so before I attached the squares, I inked the houndstooth design with a stencil and some yellow ink.  It looks almost brown, but it is indeed yellow.  That make a huge difference in how the card looks.  I also inked the edges of the card with the same yellow ink to soften those edges a bit.  All in all, I was pleased with the outcome.

I guess I could call this set of cards my own personal "one sheet wonder" exercise!  I am pretty proud of myself at this stage!!

Yellow and gold Easter

I have been working on making some Easter cards using an old Stampin' Up Easter stamp set that dates all the way back to 2005, but I really like the sentiment in that set, and the bouquet of flowers that goes with it.  I found the challenge on the Retro Rubber Challenge Blog to be right up my alley this week, so to speak, so I am entering it into their Tic Tac Toe challenge.  I am using the row of yellow, heat embossing, and ribbon or twine.  And this is what I came up with:

I heat embossed the stems, leaves and flowers with gold embossing powder and lightly inked them with yellow and green, then I added a little bow of yellow and green and backed it on some sparkly gold cardstock.

The base card was a bright yellow and it seemed a little too much when I was finished, so I clear embossed a few blossoms to break it up.

Pink flowers birthday card

I used a new set of tools for this card... the set had an embossing folder, which I used on the white background, a set of flowers and leaves, which I used to make the pink flowers and green vines, and a set of (mostly) flowered papers, which I think suits this card very well.  I am pleased with the outcome and can hardly wait to give this card to the person for whom I made it!

Woven embossed strips

I have done a very poor job of recording my cards lately... too much going on even though I've made a lot of cards.  I never seem to remember to take photos of them.  I think it is a combination of my never having been a big "take a picture" person (I've left that to Russ and he does a good job) and not thinking about the social media aspect of what I do (I am just old enough to have to have taught myself to think about that).  Anyway, I've been working with a new set of dies, stamps and embossing folders that I got from Paper Wishes and this card that I just made fits right in with the Freshly Made Sketches challenge for this week, so I am going to submit it that challenge.

The embossing folder makes a strip of five squares of designs, so I embossed two strips of gold, one of grey, one of pink, one of turquoise and one of purple and wove them together into a square-ish shape for the front of the card, then cut out the letters with the new die in that same package of materials.  I added the black flower to make it 1) a stark contrast to the other colors, and 2) less feminine-looking, so I might be able to use it for a man.  I kind-of like the way it turned out although it is definitely out of my comfort zone!

This is the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches:
and here is my take on the sketch:

ADDENDUM:
I am soooo surprised and pleased to say that this card made me a Princess at Freshly Made Sketches this week!    I never dreamed I could make a card nice enough to receive any recognition, but I am so pleased.  It gives me the mental energy to keep trying to improve my skills all that much more!!

Keeping myself

Joshua 6:18 But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction.

God’s command to Joshua and the children of Israel was to not leave anything that lived and breathed when they took over the Promised Land because of their vulnerability to being led astray from God and His Word of commandment for a pure and holy life.  From the remaining part of this verse we know that to leave anything would bring trouble to them.  God knew how easily the people could be led astray.  As I read this verse this morning I was reminded that I too must keep myself from anything that is a part of the sinful world that might lead me astray in my walk with God.   In the words of the Apostle John, I must not love the world, neither things of the world because if I do love the world, the love of the Father is not in me.  This was true for Joshua and his time, and it is true for me in my time. 

Before the Lord

Leviticus 1:3b … before the Lord …

As I read the first four chapters of Leviticus this morning I was struck by the repetition of the phrase “before the Lord” in the descriptions of the various sacrifices.  Those who were offering sacrifices did not do the sacrificial acts on their own or privately.  It was done in a public area of the tabernacle.  So the offering and sacrifice were fairly public even though the reason for the sacrifice may have been a private or individual one.  I think the repetition of the phrase “before the Lord” would have been a good reminder to the people that even though the offering was public, they were in reality having a private interaction with the Lord.  The Lord was the One to whom the sacrifice was being made and the public nature of it was secondary to their communication with God.  A good reminder to me today that the most important part of my spiritual life is my "before the Lord” activity, even when that activity is public in nature, such as teaching or corporate worship.  It is all “before the Lord.”