Be Joyful

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in EVERYTHING by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the PEACE OF GOD, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7

These are verses I memorized years ago and they are written on my heart. There are times when I still need to remember not to be anxious, but I eventually listen to my heart saying these verses. I didn't really understand what the "peace of God" was until I experienced it. It's having peace inside you, even when you're going through heartbreaking situations and trials. It does "surpass ALL understanding" and you know it comes from GOD alone. Praise the Lord for His wonderful promises!


I love, love, love what I do. I am passionate about the things I create and the talents God has placed in me. I SO appreciate the time you take to look at my things and the comments you all leave me!

Blessings to you!

Kathy

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Older cards update...

Okay, I don't know what's happening...the pictures aren't quite lining up with the description, but you get the idea...

Older Cards

These are some cards I made a while back that I never posted.

This one has a pretty combination of pink, black & white!



Another one with pink and baja breeze...




I love this one! I got the idea from a card on SCS somewhere...



I had the image for this one done a while ago, but didn't like the mat color I had with it. Last night I redid the mat colors and finished it up.



This is another card I did, but never posted. I love this image from Serendipity.



This is an old one I did for Christmas a couple of years...this was one of the "rejects" that didn't get sent, but I fiqured I might as well post it anyway!



Hope you enjoy!

Kathy

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

You're a Blast

I wanted to do something fun and colorful, so created this cheery little card using the "You're a blast" stamp set. I bought the Bold Brights cardstock last Spring and this is the first time I've used it...about time!


Monday, March 14, 2011

Poppies for Mom

Here is another card I made using the Plant a Little Love stamp set from JustRite. 




I'm not used to working with large round images, so I took a bit for me to balance things out.  This is the first time I used my circle nestibilities and the first time doing the stenciling around the image the "right" way.  I found instructions for this technique on Paula Williamson's website found here.  The key is using the wheat chalk ink that she recommends.  It came out pretty good I think. 

I also used a Sizzix embossing folder called "Ornate Flower and Frame".  I loved the way the middle of it had an embossed circle to go with the circle image - hopefully you can see that.  Then I didn't want too much white, so I decided to emboss a smaller strip to match down the middle in the salmon color, I sanded it a little, then added a mat of guacamole behind it.  I love this guacamole color and have used it for a while.  I think the new green (can't remember the name) that Stampin Up has out is pretty similar.

I couldn't think of accents to use on this, then I thought, 'butterflies in quacamole'!  I actually had some of these already made up from another project that I ended up not using.

The coloring is my FAVORITE thing to do.  Makes me almost feel artistic.  I love matching colors to the paper colors.  I'm still working on doing the shading better, it just takes time to get it right.  I used my Prismacolor pencils and oderless mineral spirits (aka gamsol) with stumps.  I left tiny bits of white here and there to brighten it and also a few dabs of white gel pen.

When it got down to the wording for the front, I was stumped.  I didn't like any of the shapes I had to go with this.  Finally, I decided to just cut around the words and pop it out a little.

The supplies I used are:

Stamps: Plant a Little Love (JustRite), Well Scripted (Stampin Up)
Paper: Guacamole (Bazzills), Salmon (Coredinations), Whisper White (SU)
Ink: Black (Momento), Wheat chalk ink (Versamagic), Old Olive (SU)
Accessories: white gel pen, Nestibilities' Standard Circles Small #6 & Large #5, sponge, Sizzix Ornate Flower and Frame, Embosslits Beautiful Wings (SU), oderless mineral spirits, stumps
Prismacolor pencils: Pale Vermillion, Poppy Red, Pale Sage, Olive Green, & Dark Green.

Hope you enjoy this!

Kathy

Friday, March 11, 2011

Vintage Flowers Challenge SC323

Here is a card I made for SCS sketch challenge.  I used a new stamp set I got from JustRite called "Plant a Little Love" and new DSP Springtime Vintage from Stampin Up.  Feels good to do something feminine again!




Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Masculine Card Challenge

These are the cards I've made so far for my challenge to make "masculine" cards.  This was really hard at first, but once I got the hang of it it was kind of fun!  Using a scrapbook set of papers, made it easier.



 





Lighthouse

This is a new stamp set I got from Our Daily Bread Designs called "Light of the World".  I've been looking for stamps to use to make masculine birthday cards to donate to my church.  This is the first one I came up with.  Love that I have a chance to color with my pencils!

Reflecting on You

This is a card I did to try out my new Fleur De Lis die-cut from Spellbinders.  I love the contrast of yellow and black together and decided to use the die as a frame around the image.  This is one of my favorite stamps called "Reflective" by Sugar Nellie.

Baby Boy Card

Here is a card I made for my friend Krista who had a baby boy recently...he is SO cute!  Krista is also my Stampin Up lady!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Matching Card

Here is the matching card...

Scarlett's Baby Brag Book

This a baby brag book I made for my husband's cousin that had a baby girl named Scarlett.  This is one of my first projects getting back into crafts.  It was fun using the Chick-a-dee paper packet with everything matching...I figured I wouldn't have to "think" so hard at creating.  I also made a card to match, but the picture of it isn't the best.  Enjoy!


I'm Back!

Well, it's been almost a year since my last post.  It's been a difficult year for me for many reasons, but its made me stronger and more like the person God wants me to be.  As hard as things have been, I've grown so much and become closer to God.  I have so many new Christians friends now that I alsolutely love to be around!  They have faithfully prayed for me and have been such a blessing in my life.  I have had the privilege of praying for them and seeing prayers answered.

In early August, I walked into a church local outreach facility that someone told me about and asked if I could volunteer my time.  That's when I met Karla the director there.  I have been working there since then and try to work 3 days a week.  I never quite know what I'm going to do there, which makes it fun.  It's enabled me to use my past office skills, decorating skills, organizing skills, cleaning, etc., and even bargain shopping which we did for children's shoes that were brought to an orphanage in Mexico.  As difficult as things have been for me, taking applications for food from people/families whose address is "homeless", really puts your own "woes" in prospective. 

Karla and I have become very dear friends since then.  She has been wonderful to work with and I LOVE to be there helping her out.  She is a HUGE support for me. 

The other thing I started doing again in September is Ladies Bible Study.  I have so enjoyed being with these ladies and learning and praying with them.  They have also been a HUGE support for me each week.  I have so many sweet relationships in my life now.  It gives me so much JOY!

I have also started to do my crafts again, which is once again JOYFUL for me!  It wasn't like that for a long time.  I will be posting things I've done here and on Split Coast Stampers in the next couple of days.  Hope you enjoy looking at them! 

Kathy