{Faith Journaling} Challenge #46

Happy Thursday! Are you ready for another journaling prompt? Last week we talked about our favorite story about Jesus. This week, let's share:

**What Old Testament story do you like the most? Why?

Ruth 4:13-15 "So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. Then he went to her, and the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. The women said to Naomi: 'Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.'"

To see all of the journaling questions thus far, please see my post here. Feel free to join in anytime. Have a blessed Thursday!

Tuesday's {Tip} Journaling in your Own Words!

Have you ever shopped at Elle's Studio before? I have shared it several times on my blog with the most recent being last week when I shared the 2011 calendars she has available. Anyway, she has a great shop and great customer service. Well, somehow I missed the wonderful free class she offered in August called "Journaling in your Own Words."
Well, guess what? She has the entire class available in a pdf file for you to download. It is 33 pages, and looks amazing! You can grab the file here. It is a large file so make sure you give it a bit of time to download. I haven't read the whole thing yet but from what I have seen, I think you are going to love it! So grab the file and enjoy! Happy journaling!

{Scripture Challenge 2} Challenge Word #20, Content

Challenge #20: Content/Satisfied

As I have studied Isaiah 2:7-9 this week and looked at how the people of Judah were filled with treasures (possessions) like silver, gold, horses, and chariots, it made me think about how most of us are so very blessed yet we still are not satisfied with what we have. Even in today’s economic times, we still have homes larger than most people in the entire world. We have indoor plumping. We have clean, running water. We have multiple cars. We have multiple Bibles that we can read freely. I could go on and on. We “have” yet we seem to never be satisfied. Sure we may be content for a moment but then we find something else we “need” or want to change.

Everyone on this earth wants to feel satisfied thus we are always searching or filling our homes and bodies with “stuff.” We try to satisfy ourselves. When we feel sad or down, we turn to food, shopping, etc. We see what our neighbors have, and we become dissatisfied and jealous. The only way we can feel content is to fill ourselves with the Lord! Our earthly treasures (cars, money, jewelry, homes, food, drugs, etc.) will never fill us; only the Lord can! Oh if we could only learn to turn to our precious Lord in all things. The joy, the satisfaction, the filled heart, etc., that we would experience would be incomprehensible.

Patrick Morley in his book “Walking with Christ in the Details of Life” spoke about a teen that was visiting the United States. As the teen was getting ready to return home after 6 weeks, he spoke at a farewell dinner. The teen said “I would like to thank you so much for inviting me here. I have really enjoyed this time in the United States. But I am also very glad to be going home. You have so much in America that I’m beginning to lose my grip on my day-to-day dependency on Christ.”

Ouch, what a statement and so true. I know I don’t want to lose my dependency on Christ. I know my heart’s desire but I also know where I fail miserably. I encourage you to make a list of your blessings—yes, even down to the indoor plumbing that you have. Then ask God to help give you a heart of thanksgiving. Then in return, you will begin to feel content.

For my page this week, I used bright colors along with black. The black denotes my selfishness and my discontent. The bright colors denote how satisfied I can be when I depend on Christ in all things. The scripture I chose was Hebrews 13:5 which says “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” Oh, I love that scripture! I also used Sketch #143 from Sketch Inspiration.
Papers: Memory Box key lime cs, Bazzill cs, Bo Bunny Noteworthy Loose Leaves
Stamp Ink: Memento tuxedo black
Embellishments: Pink Paislee green artisan tape, Creative Café buttons, Prima jewel flourish, Paper Trey Ink rustic twine, Dymo labeler

I pray that you will turn to Him and be content with the blessings He has given each of us. When sharing your page for this challenge be sure to use Keyword SCRC210 when posting in galleries. Also, please leave a link to your creation here using Inlinkz! To see all of our previous lessons, please visit this post here. I will be back with another study on October 10th. Have a blessed week ahead!

Our Daily Bread Designs {Challenge 31}

Oh, today's challenge is one of my favorites--"Wing It"--Create a project that includes something with wings (it can be an embellishment and does not need to be the image). Butterflies and birds have always been my favorite "winged things." Butterflies because they show I am a new creation in Christ, and birds because I LOVE them. I guess that's why I have two parrots. LOL!

So, what did I do with the "winged challenge"? Well, I altered a notebook of course! :) I needed a notebook to keep track of the books I read and am going to read. Since I have gotten my new Kindle, I get SO many free books, that I can't keep track of them all. So, this will help with that little issue! For my notebook, I chose to use butteflies as my "winged items." I also used three ODBD stamp sets--Fleur de Lis Borders, Happy Birthday (for the verse & small butterfly), and Don't Worry (for the large butterfly).

Papers: We R Memory Keepers Tiffany's

Stamps: Our Daily Bread Designs Fleur de Lis Borders, Our Daily Bread Designs Happy Birthday (verse & sm. butterfly), Our Daily Bread Designs Don't Worry (lrg. butterfly)

Stamp Ink: SU close to cocoa, VersaMark, Ranger clear ep

Embellishments: KaiserCraft rhinestones, misc. ric rac, Stickles cinnamon, Pop Dots, Bo Bunny Double-dot ribbon, Quickutz tab die

If you would like to see more challenge creations, please be sure to check out the other ODBD Challenge Team creations here:

Chris Olsen
Chris Dickinson
Francie Gumprecht
Sabrina Jackson

To see all of the challenge and prize details, please see the ODBD blog post here. Yes, there are prizes, so you don't want to miss the details! Also please don't forget to upload your creations to Mister Linky in the same post by Thursday, September 30, at 8 p.m. EST to be eligible! Remember to use Keyword ODBDSLC31 when posting to online galleries. Thanks for stopping by, and blessings to each of you!

Organizational {Friday} Cardstock & Swatches

I think most of you know that I like swatches of all of my colors--papers, inks, Stickles, Copics, etc. Well, I have a large swatchbook of all of the Memory Box papers but it's not in my regular "color binder." That has been driving me crazy!!!! Also, I recently met with a store owner about carrying Memory Box products, and she wanted a swatch sheet. So, I decided to make one for her and a smaller one for my little color binder.

It was super easy to make. I created my file in Microsoft Excel (where I make all of my color sheets), and then I punched 3/4" squares of all of the Memory Box cardstock. I made a full 8 1/2" x 11" sheet for the store owner and half sheets for my color binder. Here is how they turned out: These sheets could be used for any papers--Bazzill, Paper Tray Ink, Cut Cardstock, anything! It truly makes it easy for buying colors, matching, keeping products lists, etc. If you are interested in this file, you can grab it from my Memory Box blog here. I still haven't figured out how to attach files to Blogger but Typepad makes it easy. I just ask that you not share the file, that it be for your personal use, and that you link others too my link instead of giving them the file. I truly appreciate it!

Also, if you are in the Salado, TX, area in October or November, I will be teaching some Memory Box classes at Stamp Salado! Click on "Newsletters" and then "Don't Miss the Fun Classes Coming Up" for more information! I would love to see you in class!

I hope my latest "swatch" file is helpful! Next time, I will be sharing what I have done with my colored pencils. Agh, at last, I can find what I want to use! :) Have a blessed Friday!!!

{Faith Journaling} Challenge #45

I am SO sorry I didn't get this posted yesterday. I forgot to get it ready prior to Thursday, and I was gone all day yesterday! Please forgive me! So, this week, let's share:

**What story in the Bible about Jesus do you most enjoy? Why?

John 20:15-16 "'Woman,' He said, 'why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?' Thinking He was the gardener, she said, 'Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.' Jesus said to her, 'Mary.' She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, 'Rabboni!' (which means Teacher).'"

To see all of the journaling questions thus far, please see my post here. Feel free to join in anytime. Okay, now I am off to get some future journaling posts ready so we don't run into yesterday's problem. :) Have a blessed Thursday!

Glimmer Mist {Winner}

Happy Sunday everyone! Thank you all for the great comments on my "Organizational {Friday} Glimmer Mist" post. Wow, were there ever some great ideas. If y'all didn't read all of the comments, I encourage you to do so because there really were some wonderful ideas. Even our last post (that came in too late to be entered in the drawing) had a link to a great storage unit for paints. In fact, I purchased one of the units this morning but I am going to use it for something different. You will see in an upcoming "Organizational {Friday}" post. How is that for a teaser? :) Anyway, let's look at who wins the bottles of Glimmer Mist:

Here are your random numbers:
63
Timestamp: 2010-09-19 20:02:31 UTC

Cassie_lu said...
I love my glimmer mist and have started a little collection. Right now they are stored on a shelf that I created a staircase effect with to hold lots. I love your idea of the swatch on the top of the bottles.
September 18, 2010 8:12 PM

So, yeah to our winner! Please e-mail me so that I can get your goodies in the mail to you! Thank you all again! I truly appreciate each of you. Have a blessed Sunday afternoon!

Our Daily Bread Designs {Challenge 30}

Happy Saturday! Are you ready to create? How about another fun challenge from the ODBD Challenge Team? This week the team is challenging you to make your creations white and bright. Use all white on your card except for your stamped image and embellishments. That means no designer paper unless it is all white.

Wow, did I have a time creating this card. Not using any color or patterned paper was a challenge for me. So, I grabbed my SU re-inkers and went crazy. I started by dropping dots of ink all over my Memory Box Soire paper. Then I misted it and moved around my paper to get the ink to drip all over. One of my daughter's walked in and said "What are you doing with that?" I could tell from the tone she wasn't impressed. LOL! I told her to just wait and see. Well, after drying, I stamped it with the Light of the World set. I then cut it out with the new Spellbinders Beaded Oval die. I think the effect turned out pretty neat, and I had fun making a true mess!
Papers: Cut Cardstock Perle cs, Memory Box Soiree, misc. vellum
Stamps: Our Daily Bread Designs Light of the World
Stamp Ink: SU reinkers creamy caramel, not quite navy, and old olive, Palette noir black
Embellishments: Spellbinders Beaded Oval die, misc. ric rac and satin ribbon, Cuttlebug textile embossing folder, Zva Creative pearl flourish, Hero Arts pearls

If you would like to see more challenge creations, please be sure to check out the other ODBD Challenge Team creations here:

Chris Olsen
Chris Dickinson
Francie Gumprecht
Sabrina Jackson

To see all of the challenge and prize details, please see the ODBD blog post here. Yes, there are prizes, so you don't want to miss the details! Also please don't forget to upload your creations to Mister Linky in the same post by Thursday, September 23, at 8 p.m. EST to be eligible! Remember to use Keyword ODBDSLC30 when posting to online galleries. Thanks for stopping by, and blessings to each of you!

Organizational {Friday} Glimmer Mist

Okay, so today I thought we would talk about Glimmer Mist after I purchased two colors I already had! Ugh! You would think that would have been impossible because I have less than 10 bottles of Glimmer Mist. Gracious! Anyway, I am determined to not let that happen again so I knew it was time to organize the few colors I have on hand. Let's look at what I did.

Downloadable Chart
Most of you know that I keep a notebook of colors for my stamp ink, Stickles, Shimmerz, Luminarte H20s, etc. Here is a collage of some of my pages:
Well, I still don't know why I had not added my Glimmer Mist colors to this book yet but. . . I guess I thought I had so few colors that I didn't need to do anything with them yet. Wrong! After purchasing colors I already had, I decided to create a file to organize my colors. As I started to put together my file, I ran across a nice file on the Tattered Angels site already created for me! How cool is that? You can find the file here.

I printed the file on cardstock. Then I gently shook each bottle of Glimmer Mist as I was ready to create a "swatch." Then I unscrewed the lid, and used the tube in the bottle to "dot on" a swatch of the mist on the paper. Be careful when "shaking" your Glimmer Mist. You don't want to literally shake it up and down but you want to swirl it instead; otherwise, it can get clogged. Also, don't print on regular printer paper. The paper will be too thin for your swatches. You will want to print on white cardstock. Here you can see a close-up of one of my swatches. It is also easy to tell what you have and don't have. I guess I need that now. LOL!
Also, I have a couple of older colors that I do not think are available anymore. I just wrote the color name at the top of my paper and "dotted" on a swatch.

Storage
Right now because I only have a few bottles, I keep them in my Sticker Stadium. Yes, for those of you that remember this old storage unit, I still use it. They are no longer available but it fits so beautifully on my desk underneath my cubes that I love this thing! My Glimmer Mist is right behind my Making Memories paints.
Once my bottles were in the Sticker Stadium, I noticed that it was hard to see the colors and find the bottle I was looking for. So, I went back, punched 1/2" cardstock circles, and put a "dot swatch" on each lid. I used a Glue Dot to adhere the cardstock to each lid. Now I can easily see the colors down in the Sticker Stadium.
So, if you are going to store your bottles down in a drawer or any other bin, you may want to add a dot to your lids also. It really helps.

If I get many more bottles of Glimmer Mist, I won't be able to keep them in the Sticker Stadium because I am pretty much out of room. In that case, I will probably move them to the top of my Stampin' Things unit and keep them there in color order. Here is what they would look like. Wouldn't it be fun to have the top of this full of Glimmer Mist? :) It will hold 42 bottles of Glimmer Mist (yes, I measured)!! Do they make that many colors? :)
I am sure people have other great Glimmer Mist storage ideas but this is what works for me without buying something new. What do you have laying around that might work for your bottles of Glimmer Mist? Also, you can make your own Glimmer Mist. There are many threads on the web on how to make it. Hmmm, maybe I should put that together for you for a "Tuesday's {Tip}" sometime. :)

A RAK!
Okay, so as you read, I bought two bottles of Glimmer Mist that I already had on hand. I thought I would share the doubles with one lucky blog reader. All you have to do is leave a comment here by tomorrow night (Saturday), 9/18, at 11:59 p.m. Central. Leave a comment about Glimmer Mist--how you use it, store it, favorite color, anything. I will draw a winner on Sunday, 9/19! Here are the two colors I am giving away, and I may throw in another surprise or two. :) I hope you have found this helpful. I will see you with another organizing tip soon. I think I have organized just about everything but will think of something for you. LOL! Have a blessed weekend!

{Faith Journaling} Challenge #44

To continue on with our Bible questions, here is your question for this week:

**How often do you read your Bible? Once a day? Twice a day? Once a week? Less often?

Luke 24:45 "Then He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures."

To see all of the journaling questions thus far, please see my post here. Feel free to join in anytime, and thanks for stopping by! Have a blessed Thursday!

Tuesday's {Tip} It's Calendar Time!

Do you make holiday gifts that include a calendar? Do you still need a printable 2011 calendar? Well, today I wanted to share several calendar resources along with some great ideas by Sharon Harnist!

2011 Calendars
There are many places that sell 2011 calendars and many online that are free. Here are a few I have run across that I like (click on the name of the calendar to go to the site):

Clear Art Stamps printable calendar (free)
Cat's Mini Calendars on SCS (free)
Printable 2011 Calendars (free with many styles to choose from)
Anny Studio calendars (free calendars through 2013 if you want to work ahead)
Stamp on This calendars ($1.15)
Paper Trey Ink mini calendar ($2)
Elle's Studio calendars (price varies as there are many to choose from)

Calendar Ideas
Sharon Harnist shares some beautiful calendar pages each month. You can see all of her previous calendar posts here. Be sure to select "older posts" when you get down to the bottom of the page to see more. She has created these for several years so there are many, many beautiful ideas for you to see!

I hope this has been helpful! Enjoy, and have a blessed Tuesday!

{Scripture Challenge 2} Challenge Word #19, Priority

Challenge Word #19: Priority

Do you keep a ‘to-do’ list? Do you struggle getting through your list? Think about it—you have things you want to do, things you need to do, and things you should do. What comes first? How do you get through it all? And how about Mary and Martha? Luke 10:38-42 says “As Jesus and His disciples were on their way, He came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to Him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what He said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to Him and asked, ‘Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!’ ‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.’”

Look how Martha becomes distracted with all of the preparations. I know that certainly happens to me when I look at my ‘to-do’ list. I get distracted, overwhelmed, grumpy, you name it! Looking at what each of them did—Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet and Martha running and getting dinner ready for the family and guests—these are certainly all important tasks. BUT, which should be our first priority? John 15:5 says “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” We must keep Him our first priority in all things. As the scripture says “apart from Him we can do nothing.” Our lists will fail, our days will feel stressed, our attitudes will become less than desirable, etc. Remind yourself to pray before tackling that next task on your list. Pray before every task! Make both Him and prayer your priority, and see how much smoother everything in your life will become!

For my page, I chose the John 15:5 scripture. It’s just perfect for me, and I love the reminder that without Him I can do nothing. Nothing!! The papers, stamps, and pearls are all from Memory Box. I thought the stamp was perfect and looked a bit like vines which goes along with the scripture I chose. And for fun, I used a sketch from Magistical Memories. I thought it looked fun so I decided to use it.

Papers: Memory Box Enchanted, Memory Box robin's egg cs
Stamp Ink: Colorbox Fluid Chalk dark brown, SU creamy caramel
Stamp: Memory Box Budding Branch D1360
Embellishments: Memory Box frost blue pearls, sewing machine, 7Gypsies journaling card, Rose Moka letter stickers, Paper Trey Ink rustic twine, misc. twine, American Crafts buttons

So this week I hope you will look at that ‘to-do’ list and see what God would truly have you do. Is it something He really wants you to be doing at that moment, or is it something you have chosen on your own to do? Take one day at a time. Don’t worry about what you didn’t accomplish yesterday or what you have to do tomorrow. Seek Him, and do what He would have you accomplish today, right now. He is “. . . the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” (Revelation 22:13). If we put Him first and seek Him in all things, everything else will fall into place.

When sharing your page for this challenge be sure to use Keyword SCRC210 when posting in galleries. Also, please leave a link to your creation here using Inlinkz! To see all of our previous lessons, please visit this post here. I will be back with another study on September 26th. Have a blessed week ahead!

Our Daily Bread Designs {Challenge 29}

Agh, Saturday! Yeah! It's been a crazy week with flooding here (11.49 inches at my house) so I am ready for some sun and relaxation! And joining in on our next ODBD Challenge sounds like a great idea to me!!! Your challenge this week is to add glitter or sparkle to your creation! Fun! So, let's grab the bling and get going!

Okay, so to be truthful, glitter and I are not friends. It makes too much of a mess for me, and it never works as I like it to. For you experts out there, maybe you can give me some tips. :) So, instead of using glitter for this challenge, I played with the only glitter friend I have--Stickles! I saw a card on SCS this week where someone embossed a card and added bling to the embossed area. So, I took that idea and ran with the Stickles on this card! :) The ODBD set I used is called Scripture Series 1.
Papers: K&Co. Addison, Bazzill, Paper Trey Ink
Stamps: Our Daily Bread Designs Scripture Series 1
Stamp Ink: Versafine onyx black
Embellishments: Stickles waterfall, diamond, and platinum; Spellbinders curved rectangles; Cuttlebug textile and polka dots embossing folders; Zva Creative roses; My Mind's Eye journaling card and brown gems; misc. ribbon

If you would like to see more "sparkle" creations, please be sure to check out the other ODBD Challenge Team creations here:

Chris Olsen
Chris Dickinson
Francie Gumprecht
Sabrina Jackson

To see all of the challenge and prize details, please see the ODBD blog post here. Yes, there are prizes, so you don't want to miss the details! Also please don't forget to upload your creations to Mister Linky in the same post by Thursday, September 16, at 8 p.m. EST to be eligible! Remember to use Keyword ODBDSLC29 when posting to online galleries. Thanks for stopping by, and blessings to each of you!

{Faith Journaling} Challenge #43

As I mentioned last week, we are sharing a bit about our Bibles over the next few weeks. Here is your second "Bible" question:

**How many Bibles do you have, and do you have a favorite one? Why?

To see all of the journaling questions thus far, please see my post here. Feel free to join in anytime, and thanks for stopping by! Have a blessed Thursday!

Creating Today? How About a Clipboard!

For those of us in the U.S., today is a holiday! Yeah! Hubby is home, the kids don't have to run to tutoring or music lessons--just a wonderful day at home! I am hoping to scrap a page or two but I thought y'all might like to see what I made for myself and for Memory Box! I included all instructions so if you want something to create today, how about altering a clipboard like this:
You can find all three posts containing very detailed photos and instructions here:

Altered Clipboard {Part 1}
Altered Clipboard {Part 2}
Altered Clipboard Finished {Part 3}

I hope you enjoy, and I would love to see what you create! Happy crafting!

Our Daily Bread Designs {Challenge 28}

Oooh, a holiday weekend! What a great long weekend to join us for another challenge at Our Daily Bread Designs! Your challenge for this week is to use one of these "forgotten embellishments"--eyelets, brads or buttons. Sounds like fun to me as I am CRAZY about buttons, brads, and eyelets!

I decided to keep it easy as I wanted to focus on the image this week but I still added buttons to the upper corners of my card. The stamp set I used is ODBD Harvest Blessings.
Papers: Memory Box egg shell nc, Pink Paislee Queen Bee
Stamps: Our Daily Bread Designs Harvest Blessings
Stamp Ink: Colorbox Fluid Chalk charcoal
Embellishments: sewing machine, Derwent watercolor pencils, Paper Trey Ink rustic twine and buttons, Ribbon Retreat ribbon

If you would like to see more challenge creations, please be sure to check out the other ODBD Challenge Team creations here:

Chris Olsen
Chris Dickinson
Francie Gumprecht
Sabrina Jackson

To see all of the challenge and prize details, please see the ODBD blog post here. Yes, there are prizes, so you don't want to miss the details! Also please don't forget to upload your creations to Mister Linky in the same post by Thursday, September 9, at 8 p.m. EST to be eligible! Remember to use Keyword ODBDSLC28 when posting to online galleries. Thanks for stopping by, enjoy the holiday weekend, and blessings to each of you!

{Faith Journaling} Challenge #42

I thought over the next few weeks we would share about the Bible a bit. Here is our first "Bible" question:

**What do you enjoy most about reading your Bible?

Romans 15:4 "For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."

To see all of the journaling questions thus far, please see my post here. Feel free to join in anytime, and thanks for stopping by! Have a blessed Thursday!

It's a VERY Sweet {16}!!!!

Today is a very special day in our family--our precious girls turn 16 today! I have cried for a week or so now, and I am crying as I write this. When you have 3 born at one time, you also have 3 that hit milestones at the same time--birthdays, leaving for college, etc. As I sit and think about the past 16 years, the only thing that comes to mind is how very, very blessed I am that God picked us to raise these precious girls. I cannot even begin to tell you how blessed we are!!!!! We have three girls that LOVE being with their family, that love each other, that love the Lord, that care about others, etc., etc., etc. Yes, I could write a huge book on how precious they are to us!! I also could flood the U.S. with my tears as I think that they may only be with us for two more years. I can't bare to imagine what it will be like to not wake up to their hugs each morning, to not wake up to their darling smiles and voices as they say "Good morning, Mommy." I cannot begin to imagine them moving away. But today is about celebrating--celebrating 16 amazing years!!!!!! So no more tears, just a HUGE "I love you girls, and Happy Birthday." Thank you all for allowing me to "babble" and "boo hoo" today. Blessings to all, and Happy Birthday to my precious, precious girls!!!

One Month Old (First Group Photo)
Two and a Half!
Nine!
A Few Weeks Shy of 14!