Who do you trust?

Good morning! Don't faint because I'm posting in the middle of the week....can you believe it? :)

When we went to a stamping convention in the Fall, my mom found this cool little border stamp by Endless Creations. I stamped it & then used my 2" scalloped punch. To color my flower image, I stamped it with Versamark and used chalks to give it color. The hardware is from SU! and the verse is by Our Daily Bread. The dp is from the cover of a K&Co 12x12 pad.

I'm sending this card to my sweet cousin, Tera, for her birthday. I won't tell you how old she is because I'm MUCH older! The inside sentiment reads: "Sending you warmest wishes on your special day. Happy Birthday with love..."

New Year's Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge 19

It's almost the New Year, Friends! 2010 is just around the corner and our challenge this week is to make a card or project ringing it in. Lisa reminds us to let the Holy Spirit be our guide as we think of what we want to accomplish this coming year. She chose Psalm 24: 4-5:

"Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior and my hope is in you all day long."

My card this week is square, using blues and silvers. The image was a stamped gift from a fellow DT member but I don't know what company makes it. Thanks, Helen, for sharing with me. I love this sweet girl dressed for a snow outing. I hope you'll find time to look at the other cards on the SSCC blog. They are all so cute! And I also hope you'll be able to join our challenge.

Happy New Year! Hugs, Laurie

Celebrating Jesus - SSCC #18

Our challenge this week at Stampin' Sisters in Christ is to make a card following Kathy's sketch. For some reason, I can't copy her sketch into my blog, so you'll have to hop on over to the SSCC blog by clicking HERE to see it, read the verses, and check out the DT's samples.

The verses for this week are from Luke 1:26 - 32 which tell the story of Jesus' birth. I decided to use this digi image from Sweet N Sassy stamps on my sample. I'm not sure I like how it turned out, but let me tell you what I did. I colored the image with Prisma colored pencils, embossed it all over with ultra thick embossing powder, and then highlighted portions of the image with Copics on top of the embossed 'glaze.' I used a Zig Painty to outline the Circle Nestie cutout to finish it off. I wish now that I had added something black to the dotted rectangle on the left...maybe using an edge punch of some kind to give it a little umph!

Anyway, please join us for the challenge this week if you have a free moment to stamp. We certainly understand that this is the most busy in addition to being 'the most wonderful time of the year.' :) I wish you a very Merry Christmas as you celebrate God's gift of a Savior to us. May your celebrations be a sweet fragrance to our Lord. Hugs, Laurie

Where's Your Treasure? SSCC #17

Time for our weekly Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge....This week's challenge is from Kristine who wants us to think about treasure:

Matthew 6:19-20 "Do not store up for yourself treasures on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and where theives break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where moths and rust do not destroy, and where theives do not break in and steal."

Instead of seeing earthly things as our security and success, we need to understand that heavenly treasures will be what really counts. Jesus' example of becoming a Living Sacrifice gives us an idea what this means. He gave the highest form of service to mankind. So how do I be servant when it comes to crafting? I know it's easy for me to regularly buy more stuff - paper & doodads are my weaknesses! But if I'm not using them to encourage, love, celebrate, or inspire others, I'm just gathering items that will ultimately burn.

You have to jump over to SSCC to read what Kristine wrote. I'm so glad the Lord laid it on her heart to give us this good reminder! Also, you can add your card to the blog and share it with the rest of us.

I guess I should tell you the challenge, huh? Ok, Kristine wants us to pull out all the stops and use our bling to make a card....no hording, but sharing!

My card is made with some metalic cs from SU!. You can't see it in the picture, but there is an embossed-in-gold word at the top: Cherish. The tulip underneath the shimmery vellum is by Flourishes. I added the wonderful pearl doodads to finish off this wedding card.

Enjoy your Lord's day! Blessings, Laurie

Praying - SSCC #16

Good morning! I can't believe this week has gone by so quickly, and it is time for another great SSCC challenge. Today our challenge is from Ceal. She chose 2 Chronicles 7:14 as our scripture:

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

The Lord tells us to pray for each other as well as for ourselves. There are several reasons why He would do this. One is for the simple reason that He wishes to have two-way communication with us. This is how relationships stay static and grow. Another is because through prayer the Holy Spirit can align our spirits to the Lord's, helping change our earthly perspective to that of our Omnipotent Father's. Thirdly, praying for others offers comfort to them and a chance for us to be others-focused instead of self-focused. In other words, it helps us get into that servant's heart mode that is like Jesus' heart. As God is who He is, there are probably a trillion other reasons why He wants us to pray, so I'm sure the benefits to His followers are endless!

Now for the challenge: Make a card that expresses your willingness to pray for someone, using images of people...men, women, children, and Ceal even says angels would be ok.

Click here to go to the Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge blog to see the DT's samples and to add yours to Mr. Linky.

My card today is simple and clean. The dp is by K&Co, the stamp is a Precious Moments stamp I've had in my collection for a long time, the ribbon is Basic Grey, and I've used Octagon Nesties to do my layering. Have a wonderful Sunday, Friends. Thanks for checking in on my blog....Blessings, Laurie