A Sale, an RAK, and some Christmas projects

First of all, Unity Stamp Company is having a wonderful 50% off sale from now until the end of the year. To help advertise the sale, Patter is having a give-away on her blog. Check out the details of the sale and the RAK on Patter's blog, Triple the Scraps.

Here are a couple Christmas projects I have to share with you. I was in two Christmas swaps. For each one I made an ornament. I'm not sure of where the paper for the snowman ornament came from. The snowmen were purchased at Michael's. I used lots of stickles on both ornaments. The snowmen ornament has frosted lace, green, & stardust. The tree ornament has Christmas red, green, golden rod, star dust and I think a little frosted lace.

I also made several cards & bookmarks from Basic Grey's Figgy Pudding paper set. Again, lots of stickles - Christmas red, green, golden rod, diamond, and maybe some frosted lace. For the Christmas card, I used the Dec. DT card sketch from AC Bailey Designs.

Calling all Cosmo Cricket Fans

Leah Killian is giving away of $150 of Cosmo Cricket goodies on her blog. Check it out here for all the details. All you need to do to enter her give-away is leave a comment on her blog.

I haven't given up scrapping. Adjusting to working fulltime and traveling is wearing me out. I have a few Christmas projects I'll post soon.

Digital Layouts

Thanks to the influence of some ladies over at AC Bailey, a month or so ago I decided to give digi-scrapping a try. I never thought I'd really like it because I love paper scrapping so much. I don't think I'll ever give up paper scrapping completely, but I do really enjoy digi-scrapping.

Here's my very first LO:

Friends from Camp

My next on was about my 5 siblings (BTW - I'm the youngest). They came to visit this past July to help us go thru our dad's belongings. The morning they left to go back home we all went to breakfast and took these pics.

The Siblings

At that breakfast I took this pic of my brothers. I really like the pic and have always admired the close relationship they share. So, using the October DT sketch from AC Bailey, I made this layout of them. You can attribute the alliteration in the journaling to the fact that I'm a preacher's daughter and a preacher's wife. At this point, it just comes naturally. LOL

Brothers

And the last one I've done, so far :), is this one of Kendra's first couple months of college. It uses the November DT Sketch and is the one that was chosen as Layout of the Week 11/15/08 on AC Bailey.

College Life

More exciting news

I've starting dabbling in digital scrapbooking the last few weeks. I'm really enjoying it. I'll post pics of my layouts soon. However, wanted to share some exciting news...my most recent digital layout was chosen as Layout of the Week over at AC Bailey Designs and will be featured on their blog all week. You can check it out here. For this layout I used the November DT Sketch of the month for my design idea and made a collage of Kendra's first couple months at college.

Exciting News

I received word this week that Scrapbook News and Review, an online magazine, has picked up my "Just In Case" layout for their October issue. Since this is my first layout to be published, needless to say, I'm extra excited! Ian said he could hear me cheering all the way upstairs even though his door was shut! lol

I Adore You Card

I wanted to make a card for Patter's Junk Mail Challenge over on the 2 Peas Board (see the details here). I also realized that I haven't made or even sent Tim a card in a long time. So, I did both with this card. :) On the inside of the card, I have a sheet of white paper matted on the teal paper. Before matting it I punched a row of hearts along the bottom of the white paper and backed it with the red paper from the set. I'll spare you a pic of that 'cause I took my pics after I wrote in it. ;) Yes, Tim liked the card.

Supplies: Love Blossom kit from Faithfully Yours. This kit uses the Love You line of papers from Daisy Bucket.

I also discovered a wonderful blog today. It's called Whiff of Joy. Camilla has so many beautiful cards. Wow! She's also offering blog candy over the next few days. You'll want to check out the details here.

Blog Candy

Janet is preparing to celebrate 1,000 hits on her blog has some very nice blog candy available. You can check out the details here.

Jennifer is celebrating 100,000 hits on her blog. Check out the details here.

During the month of October, the Melissa Frances blog is celebrating National Breast Cancer Awareness month. They will be having lots of inspiration, giveaways and more. You can get the details here.

World Card Making Day

Yep! There truly is such a "holiday." Tim just shakes his head and mutters something about there are too many World...holidays. LOL

Here's a tag I made for a challenge over at the Pink Paislee Blog using my favorite papers...Spring Fling. I love how it turned out and will be making more. They had several other cards & projects I want to try soon. Here's my tag:

Korin at Sweet & Sassy Stamps is having a card shower for a little girl who shares my niece's birthday (Happy Birthday, Courtney!!). Janessa will turn 2 next week and is sick with leukemia. Korin is also having a drawing for those who send Janessa a card. Check out the details on her blog. Here's my card for Janessa:

Here are a few other cards I made yesterday.

I made six more for a swap but I'll wait a day or two to post them so that I can get them in the mail first. We're trying not to spoil the surprise. :)

Have a good day and thanks for looking.

More blog candy

Jeanette is celebrating 10,000 hits on her blog, Happy Thoughts & Inkspots by giving away some blog candy. She's giving away some cute stamped images and a new release Magnolia stamp. See the details here.

Card with a purpose

Here are two cards I made last night for the Heart to Heart Challenge over on Cammie's Blog. The purpose of her challenge is to be an encouragement to those who are caregivers for Alzheimer's patients. She is giving away a blog candy prize that is absolutely amazing. Be sure to check out her blog for all the details.

The design for my card came from the September 2008 SheetLoad from SheetLoad of Cards. Each month they give you the cutting plans and sketch to make a set of cards from just a few sheets of paper. It was so fun & easy. Be sure to check them out for some inspiration.

Sketch Site

A friend of mine, Jessica (aka Scrapiopath), has set up a sketch site called Scrapbook Sketches for all the sketches she's been doing for us over at Scraps-n-Such. She's developed quite a talent for them and if you like sketches as much as I do, I know you'll not want to miss her site. Be sure to stop by and check out her work here

Recent projects

Over the weekend I participated in an online crop over at AC Bailey Designs. We had lots of fun and I got several layouts done. The crop was school-themed to go along with their current Head of the Class contest. I was thrilled to find out Monday evening that I'd won the title of Valedictorian of the Crop. Yay!


I decided to concentrate on finally scrapping Kendra's grad party. Here are my projects {click on the pics to make them larger}:


For the School Supplies Challenge we were to use school supplies on our layout. I used notebook/grid background paper, a paperclip, staples, three brass fasteners, a gold star, a post-it note and an A+. Kendra said that Sam & Darius were sharing her party because Sam was graduating from K-5 and Darius was graduating from pre-school. I'm not too sure the cats appreciated wearing the grad cap but she had fun!




Supplies: K & Co. Wild Saffron paper & Misc. school supplies


The Favorite Subject Challenge had 2-3 parts. Part one was to create a recipe card. Since all my cookbooks & recipes are still boxed up somewhere, I had to do one I have memorized: Mom's biscuits.




Supplies: K & Company Wild Saffron


Part Two: Do a LO showing food and it had to have at least 2 pictures. I used pics of the food we had at Kendra's party.





Supplies: Papers, ribbon: Paper Studio Memories Page Kit; small red flowers: Prima, Large red flower & brad: MM, black brads: Paper Studio, Colorbox fluid chalk in charcoal & misc off-white flower.


Part Three was for extra credit. We had to make something to hold our recipes. I altered a small chipboard binder to hold 6 x 6 recipe cards of family favorites. I kept the front pretty simple so that it could stay clean while being used.




Supplies: K & Co. Wild Saffron, Modge Podge, Glossy Accents, Letter Stickers: Paper Studio





I have one more LO to show you that wasn't part of the projects I did for the ACB crop. It has a bit of a story behind it. As you know, Dad's funeral was the week before I had surgery this past Feb. I wasn't afraid something bad would happen during the surgery but Dad's fall and subsequent death had reminded me again how quickly things can happen when you least expect it. So, I just felt a need to write something for Tim, Ian & Kendra just in case. The night before my surgery I wrote a couple short notes and stuck them in my Bible. A couple months later I told Kendra about them and asked what I should do with them. As any well-trained scrapbooker's daughter would say, she said, "Scrap them." So this weekend I did. I attached an envelope to the back of the LO and put my original notes in there. Here's Just In Case:




















Journaling:

Timmer -
You’re the love of my life and I’ve been so blessed to be your wife. Thanks for being such a man of integrity. You’ve treated me like a princess.


Ian - Always remember that God is always good. He has a plan & purpose for You. Please keep following Him. Stay close to Dad; he loves you more than you know. So do I.


Kendra - Precious girl. I am so thankful we’re friends. I love hearing your hopes & dreams. Stay close to Dad; he loves you so much. God has a wonderful plan for you. Keep trusting Him & never lower your standards. I love you!


The last couple weeks have taught me again how quickly life can change - esp. when you least expect it. Stay close to each other, protect each other, & always love each other. God’s way is always the best way. I love you!


Ian & Kendra - only marry someone who loves & serves the Lord, someone who’ll love you & you love as much as Dad and I love each other. Never settle for less.


Feb. 27, 2008 - Night before elbow surgery - 12 days after my dad’s death.


Supplies: Pink Paislee Spring Fling line, Colorbox Fluid Chalk, American Crafts Thickers, Hero Arts Pearls

Blog Candy

What is blog candy you say? It is when someone who owns a blog decides to give some goodies away as a gift or as an RAK (random act of kindness). It is always fun to get scrap goodies in the mail.

Elina has some Christmas goodies she's giving away on her blog Be Creative. Elina's blog is about several of her hobbies.

Hannah is giving away papers, ribbons, stamped images and lots more on her blog Han's Crafty Creations. She is celebrating getting 20,000 hits on her blog!

Carole is giving away an adorable stamp, papers, embellishments and STICKLES!! I love stickles. Carole's blog is Stardust Gems & Ribbons.

Be sure to check out all three blogs for a chance to win some great blog candy and for some beautiful projects.

I got to scrap!!!!

I was finally able to scrap last night and it was sooo much fun! I have really missed it. I did a LO for a circle journal over at Faithfully Yours and two cards. The cards are made from scraps left over from the LO.

Dreams Come True

Journaling says:

Left side: Like many young girls, I dreamed of someday having a husband and being a stay-at-home mom to our children. On December 28, 1984, the first part of my dream came true when I married my Mr. Wright. Just a week less than 15 mos. Later, our son was born. As time passed, my arms began to feel empty and I was dreaming in pink. After three years of prayer and some fertility treatments, the Lord graciously gave us our daughter. I was able to not only stay home with our children, but I had the privilege of homeschooling them as well. Truly dreams do come true.

Psalm 37:4-5 Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

Right side: I grew up in a Baptist pastor’s home and my husband’s parents were home missionaries in KY. When we were dating, Tim told me the one thing I never had to worry about was being a pastor’s wife. He said he knew the headaches and responsibilities and he didn’t want them. I was a bit disappointed because I’d enjoyed being a pastor’s daughter. As the years passed however, Tim began to feel the Lord leading him towards the pastorate. First it was just getting a Master’s degree in Bible, then being ordained, and finally the day came when he told me he felt the Lord wanted him to pastor. I was thrilled. At this time Tim was the Minister of Music of our church. Thru a long series of events, that only the Lord could have arranged, Tim became the pastor of our church on May 12, 1997. I have thoroughly enjoyed being the pastor’s wife.

Here are my cards:

Supplies used: Paper: A2Z Essentials - Sugar Candy - Caroline; cardstock: Provo Craft & Archiver's; Ink: Colorbox Fluid Chalk - Deep Green; Brads: Paper Studio; Metal plate on layout: K-Ology; Ribbon: Misc.; Stickles: Stardust I also used pop-dots for dimension.

Yes I'm still here...

I know it's been a long time since I've updated. The reason is that we have moved. June 24th we knew the Lord was telling us it was time to leave OH and move on somewhere else. The faith challenge in this is while we knew He wanted us to move, we didn't know where He wanted us to go. Tim resigned the pastorate on June 29th. Later that week, the doors opened and he accepted a position with Bible Truth Music. He and the owner, Byron Foxx, have been friends for over 20 years and Tim is now Byron's Executive Assistant. Tim runs the office during the week and on Wed. & weekends we travel representing the company. We sing together, Tim preaches, conducts choir clinics, plays the piano, etc.

We moved here to VA on Tues., August 26th. We love the area and that part of the adjustment is fairly easy. The Lord provided a townhouse for us to rent at a cost that is only about 1/3 of the other places we were seeing. Here's a pic of the front of it:

Three days after we moved in to the townhouse, we took Kendra to college in SC. What a week!! She's adjusting well and is really enjoying college life. She's taking 15 credit hours and works 10 hrs. per week on campus.

Life the last few weeks has been filled with boxes, boxes & more boxes. First we were packing them and now of course, unpacking. This past Sat. I set up my scrap space. Now that it's set up, I'm hoping to be able to scrap some -- maybe tomorrow. I've sure missed it.

Here are pics of my new space:

A Family Gathers

For my design team work at Faithfully Yours, I made this layout as a remembrance of the family reunion we had this past February when my dad was promoted to Glory.




Here are closeups of each separate page:





The journaling reads:

Many times over the years, our family has gathered around Dad and Mom. Mid-February 2008, our family gathered around Dad once again, except this time we were there to say good-bye. February 8th, Dad fell. On February 15th, Dad was ushered into the presence of the Lord he’d loved and served for so many years and was reunited with the wife he’d loved faithfully for over 62 years.

All of Dad’s children and two sons-in-law were gathered around his bedside when the Lord took him Home. Over the next couple of days the rest of the family began to arrive from all over the country. By the time of Dad’s funeral on Monday, February 18th, and burial on Tuesday, February 19th, all six children (plus two sons-in-law and two daughters-in-law), all thirteen grandchildren (plus four spouses and one fiancee), and all five great-grandchildren had assembled. Dad and Mom would have been thrilled to have so many family members gathered together. They would have looked on all the teasing, laughing, and story-telling with looks of pride, contentment and happiness on their faces. We all were comforted in thinking that they could watch us as we reminisced and caught up on what was going on in each other’s lives.

As we gathered this time, as usual, conversations would start with, "remember when...?" There were also lots of, "Well, as Dad used to say...." When the tears came, there was always someone available to give the much-needed hug. While none of us were ready to say good-bye to Dad, we all rejoiced to know that we WILL see him again someday. His funeral was a time of celebration as we remembered a life well-lived. Dad served the Lord faithfully from the day of his salvation. As people came thru the line to express their condolences, it was more than obvious that Dad was still having an impact of the lives of others up until the very end.

Dad and Mom left us a great legacy of spiritual faithfulness. It’s now up to us to make sure that legacy continues until the Lord calls us Home. May all who come behind us find us faithful.

The verse by Dad's picture is: Philippians 1:3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.

Lots & Lots of Cards

We found out June 24th that we would be moving. Since that time, we've been quite occupied with job-hunting (1 down, 2 to go -- Tim has a new ministry with Bible Truth Music, Ian & I are still looking), house/apt. hunting, telling people we're moving with all the different reactions we're getting, and trying to wrap our own minds around things that have happened so quickly. We've begun the preliminary sorting and have officially packed the first 2 of many, many boxes!

So, yesterday, I took a break from all the moving activities and made some cards. It was so nice to occupy my mind with something else. Since I'm participating in two different card swaps, I needed several cards. I got on a roll and before the day was over I'd made 17 different cards. I think that's a card-making record for me. Anyway, here they are.

This first set is made from blog candy (aka gift) I rec'd from my friend, April, at Artistic Paperie. I used a card sketch of Brianna Kimmel's that was featured in the 6/28/08 ezine of Faithfully Yours for several of my cards (the first four cards below were made from the sketch). It made putting them together so easy for me. Most cards have stickles as accents. They just add some nice sparkle.

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I used some paper available in the Faithfully Yours store from Daisy Bucket's Sweet Marabella line for the next four cards.

Then I just used random scraps for the rest.

Thanks for looking!! Hope you all have a great Lord's day tomorrow.

Doubt

The word for week #24 was Doubt. I deliberately kept this one simple. I put a tad of symbolism on the front with the knotted ribbon. Doubt can tie you up in knots. (OK, I know that's corny -- sorry). Anyway, here's the card:

The verse I used was: Matthew 21:21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.

A couple more cards

I made a baby card last night. No, not for another shower or new baby. The card itself is little (3" x 3") so its the baby. :)

I made a thinking of you card last week for my sister and forgot to take a pic of it before I mailed it. She graciously bailed me out and sent pics to me.

The Scraps-n-Such Princess of the Month for June is Angel. I made this tag to go with a few goodies I sent her. Princess of the Month is a fun RAK swap -- check it out!

I've made a couple layouts this past week but they're part of a DT (design team) assignment so I can't show them to you ....yet! :)