Sunflower Season

Hello! It's time for another Word Art Wednesday challenge. Our focus verse this week is Isaiah 64:8, "But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand." In this verse, Isaiah is praying and acknowledging that the Lord is in control.The potter chooses what he wants the clay to become and then proceeds to mold and shape it into that item. In the same way, the Lord chooses what we are to become and then molds and shapes us as necessary. Just as the clay does not tell the potter what to make, neither should we protest and tell the Lord what we want to become. We are the work of the Lord's hands. A popular saying today is to "be your best self." Well, if we truly want to be our "best self" then we will leave the choice up to the Lord and allow Him to mold and make us into what He knows is best for us.

One of our sponsors this week is Stamp Simply. They generously provided me with the Sunflower Season stamp set that I'm using on today's card. After printing the WORDart on white cardstock, I die cut it with a 5.25" x 4" rectangular die (MFT Blueprints 1). I then stamped the sunflower image four times all around the panel. After coloring the flowers with Copic markers, this panel was die cut again using a stitched rectangle (MFT Blueprints 29). A smaller stitched rectangle (ODBD Double Stitched Rectangles) was used to die cut the verse out of the middle. The verse panel and the larger stitched rectangle panel were matted with embossed Bazzill cardstock. The larger panel was adhered to the A2, cream colored card base. The verse panel was popped up with foam tape and adhered in the center. Star Dust and Cinnamon Stickles were used on the flower centers.

The thin frame that was left after die cutting the larger stitched rectangle was adhered to another piece of the Bazzill cardstock. A die cut panel from MFT Blueprints 1 was adhered to the center to allow room to write a message. This card has some nice extras while still being flat enough to mail easily.

Supplies:
Cardstock: Georgia Pacific (white), Recollections (cream), Bazzill embossed (Boardwalk)
Stamps: WORDart by Karen, Stamp Simply clear stamp set (Sunflower Season)
Ink: Memento (Tuxedo Black)
Copics: YG17, 23, 25; E25, 29, 33; Y15, 17, 19
Tools/Embellishments: My Favorite Things die-namics (Blueprints 29, Blueprints 1 (retired)), Our Daily Bread Designs dies (Double Stitched Rectangles), Stickles (Star Dust, Cinnamon), Scotch foam tape

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Crafty Creations Challenge #368 - Anything Goes
Whoopsi Daisy Monthly Challenge - Anything Goes with Option of Hand-colored Image
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
My Creative Scoop Color Inspiration Challenge #35 - Hand-colored Image
Crop Stop Challenge #40 - Use items/brands found in the Crop Stop Store (I used Cuttlebug, Fiskars, Scotch, Ranger, My Favorite Things and Bazzill)

Thanks for visiting with me today. Be sure to stop by the Word Art Wednesday blog for more inspiration and to pick up your free digi. Have a nice week!!

Reverse Confetti's Paper Bliss Paper Pad

I am a long-time fan of Kristie Marcotte and her 6 x 6 paper pad tutorials. Kristie takes a 6 x 6 paper pad and usually makes 30-40 cards from it. She doesn't design card sketches but she figures out the measurements to use and then shares those measurements on her blog, The Best Things in Life are Pink. Most of the time, she also provides a video of her process on her YouTube Channel. I've always wanted to give this process a try but have never made it through a whole paper pad. She recently had a give-away sponsored by Reverse Confetti and I won their new Paper Bliss 6 x 6 paper pad. A card group I'm in had a challenge to make 30 cards for a Ronald McDonald House in Charlotte so I thought the time was right to be inspired by Kristie's process, use my new paper pad and make cards to encourage the families of some children with cancer. Kristie uses several card sketches per paper pad. I only used about 4 and I'm very pleased that I was able to make 41 cards: 30 for the Ronald McDonald House and 11 to help build my stash.

The next six pictures are of the cards going to the Ronald McDonald House.  All their cards had to have a "Just for You" or "Welcome" sentiment.

 Here are pics of the 11 cards that went into my stash - some have already been sent out in the mail to friends/family.

This project was so much fun. I definitely want to try it again. If you have questions about specific supplies, leave me a comment below and I'll let you know what I used.

Thanks to Kristie Marcotte for the inspiration and to Reverse Confetti for the paper pad.

Have a good week and thanks for visiting with me today. 

Blessed is the Man

Hello! Can you believe we are already in the month of June?! This year is just moving right along. This week our Word Art Wednesday Challenge is looking at Psalm 1:1, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." A man (or woman) that stays away from ungodly influences is truly wise. The Lord will be able to bless him because he doesn't make it a habit to get counsel or "hang out" with people who would give him advice that would lead him away from the Lord. Two quotes that come to mind are: "He who would not fall down ought not to walk in slippery places" and "You are right now or soon will become like your friends" (both by Adrian Rogers). If you don't want to do wrong, stay away from places and people who would tempt you to do wrong. People with similar habits, interests and thought patterns tend to become friends. Over time, we become more and more like our friends. This is one of the reasons we need to take special care to make sure our close friends are godly influences in our lives and will encourage us to follow the Lord. We should also make sure that we are that type of friend to others as well.

Our sponsor this week is Lawn Fawn. They have some of the cutest animal and critter stamps around, as well as inks, papers and dies. I have two cards to share with you that use their products. For this card, I started out by stamping the Woodgrain Backdrops stamp in brown ink on kraft cardstock. I used a Gina Marie Designs die to make a starburst quilt style panel using some patriotic papers. The outside edges of the panel were inked with Distress Inks. I wrapped the panel with burlap and twine. After covering a chipboard star with patterned paper and inking the edges, it was adhered on top of the trim with glue dots. Two small punched stars embellish the verse panel and all 3 stars were coated with Nuvo Crystal Drops in clear. The kraft panel was adhered to a cream colored A2 card base.

Supplies:
Cardstock: Recollections (Kraft, cream and red)
Patterned Paper: DCWV
Stamps: WORDart by Karen (Psalm 1:1), Lawn Fawn (Woodgrain Backdrops)
Ink: VersaFine (Vintage Sepia), Distress Ink (Vintage Photo)
Tools/Embellishments: The Paper Studio Star Punch, Heidi Swapp Chipboard Stars, Spellbinders Dies (Classic Ovals Large & Small), Nuvo Crystal Drops (Clear), Gina Marie Designs Dies (Oval Starburst), Wright's twine, The Ribbon Boutique burlap ribbon

For my second card, I used the adorable yay, kites! stamp set to make this card for our grandson. After coloring several of the images with Copic markers I fussy cut them. This stamp set does have coordinating dies but I don't own them...yet! I used a black marker to go around the edge of each fussy cut image. A white get pen was used to embellish the kites and a black gel pen was used for the eyes on each animal/bird. The background panel was inked to make a sky. Some Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid 6 x 6 paper was die cut to make grassy hills. A white gel pen added some extra touches to the hills. Some clouds were cut from white cardstock and coated with clear Wink of Stella for some shimmer. The fussy cut images were adhered to the card front and some twine was added for kite strings. One of the heart stamps from the set was used to stamp the birds' "songs." The "hello" sentiment from the stamp set was stamped and heat embossed on a piece of vellum. This was cut into a banner shape and adhered to the card front and embellished with one of the little birds. The scene was matted with blue cardstock and adhered to the front of an A2 card.

Supplies:
Cardstock: Georgia Pacific (white), Paper Reflections (Brilliant Blue), Taylored Expressions (vellum)
Patterned Paper: Lawn Fawn 6 x 6 pad (Perfectly Plaid Christmas)
Stamps: Lawn Fawn (yay, kites!)
Ink:  Distress Ink (Salty Ocean), VersaFine (Onyx Black), Memento (Tuxedo Black), Hero Arts Ombre (Pink to Red)
Tools/Embellishments: Wink of Stella (clear), Simon Says Stamp embossing powder (clear), Memento Marker (Tuxedo Black), My Favorite Things dies (Snow Drift), Uniball Signo white gel pen, Gelly Roll Gel Pen (white and black), The Twinery Baker's Twine, Fiskars Cloud Punch

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Crop Stop June Linky #40 - Use items/brands found in the Crop Stop Store (I used: Fiskars, My Favorite Things, Cuttlebug, Tsukineko, Zig)
Whoopsi Daisy Challenge - Anything Goes with an Optional Hand Colored Image
Crafty Creations Challenge #367 - Anything Goes
Outlawz Color Challenge - Tic Tac Toe (I used diagonal from bottom left to top right - twine, blue and die cutting)
Shopping Our Stash Challenge #357 - My Favorite Things (die cutting, inking, critters, heat embossing)
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
Cute 'n Crafty Challenge #2 - Summer theme
Always Fun Challenges #61 - Summer Fun

Thanks for stopping by to visit today. I hope you'll have time to stop by the Word Art Wednesday blog for your free digi and to see the other Design Team Projects. Also, don't forget to link up your projects for an opportunity to win some free Lawn Fawn goodies.