{Faith Journaling} Challenge #68

This 3-day weekend at our BSF leaders retreat, we studied the entire book of Revelation! It was an AMAZING study! I can't wait to pour over my pages and pages of notes and study it again on my own. I think I may do that this summer! So my question for you today is:

**Describe a Christian retreat you attended and how it affected you.

Psalm 51:10 "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."

May you enjoy remembering a past retreat! To find all previous faith journaling questions, please see this post here. Have a blessed Thursday!

Tuesday's {Tip} Copic Markers 50% Off!

This sale is too good not to share! I received my order already, and I thought you all may be interested as the sale is still going on! A Muse has 50% off everything in their online store. Not only are their stamps on sale but so are ALL of their Copic products! Now with that being said, they do not have the Copic Sketch Markers. They only have the Copic Ciao and the Copic Original Markers. I ordered Copic Originals! LOVE them! They still have the number on the the ends, they will still work with my airbrush system, and they hold a lot of ink! The only downfall to the Original Marker is that it does not have the brush nib. So, I ordered some nibs. I am going to replace the broad nib with the brush nib. This will work perfect for me! You can find the Copic sale here. **NOTE: You must use code "50gone."

Also, if you do not have the Copic Swatch Book, I highly recommend it! I like it better than any other swatch sheet! Easy to update, easy to match colors, easy to see what you have, etc. Love this little book!

A Muse does not sell it but you can buy it many places online. I purchased mine from Icopic.com. I hope you find this sale information helpful. Have a blessed week ahead!

ABC Scripture Challenge {Word #7}, Gift

This weekend at the BSF Leader’s Retreat I received so many amazing gifts, and today I received even more! I have been showered with gifts from God, and I wonder—do you look for the gifts big or small that God sends you every day? And no, I am not talking about the type of gifts wrapped in fancy paper with a beautiful bow but gifts from God that touch our hearts deeply and that are truly from Him just for you and just for me. So, today’s word is:

Challenge Word #7: Gift

This weekend while I was in Dallas, our new patio furniture was delivered. I saw it as I arrived home last night, and I noticed that our umbrella was not the one we ordered. I asked my husband, and he felt what was delivered looked good. But, being the picky person I am, I wanted what we paid for. So, I called the store, told them the problem, and they were more than happy to exchange it for the correct umbrella. So, with the help of one of my precious daughters, we got the 9 ft. umbrella loaded into the car and took it to the store. The sales people were waiting for us, helped us load the new umbrella in the car, and I then went back into the store to look at a few more things. As we were leaving, I noticed they had a bunch of different wind chimes. My husband and I have been looking for wind chimes for over 10 years or more. We never find that special one we like so we have never purchased them. Well, my daughter noticed that one set of chimes had a ceramic cross hanging from the bottom. I KNEW I had to look at those particular chimes! I have never seen chimes with a cross. Then upon looking at it further, there were music notes inscribed around the top in the wood. Then I saw that there was also the title of a hymn, and it was “God Be With You.” I almost cried right there on the showroom floor! That is the SAME hymn we sing at the end of EVERY BSF Leader’s Retreat every 3 years. All 3,460 of us held hands and sang that very hymn yesterday. I am NEVER able to sing it because I cry SO hard knowing I may never see some of those leader’s again until we meet again at Jesus’ feet. It is SO moving to not only sing those beautiful words but to hear that many believers worshipping our precious Lord. And now, after all of these years searching for the perfect wind chimes, God finally gives me the set I have been waiting for and that have significant meaning to me the day after I sang it with all of the BSF leaders in Texas. No wonder the delivery people brought us the wrong umbrella. God wanted me back at that store to give me my gift!!! What a blessing beyond words.

So, do you look for the gifts, big or small, that God brings your way? Do you share it with others? I shared with the sales woman today, and though she looked at me like I was nuts, I pray God used it for His glory! I want to proclaim His name from the rooftops. How do you feel when He gives you gifts like that? How do you feel about the most amazing gift of His precious Son sent to die for your sins on the cross? Have you accepted that gift so that you can live with Him eternally or have you chosen to refuse His gift and live in eternal condemnation? Every one of us has been given the gift, and we must choose to accept it or refuse it. What have you chosen?

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Again, I don’t have my page done because I have been gone. I will share the past two pages with you later this week I am hoping. As you share your pages, please be sure to use Keyword ABCSCRC11 when posting your creations in any online galleries. Also, please leave a link to your creation here using Inlinkz! To see all of our previous lessons, please visit this post here. Have a blessed week, and remember the best gift you can give someone is the truth of Christ because it is literally a matter of eternal life or eternal condemnation.

2 Corinthians 9:15 “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!”

{Update} Organizational Friday & ABC Scripture Challenge

Hello everyone! I wanted to let you know that I am currently attending a 3-day BSF Leader's Retreat. I will be home late Sunday thus the next ABC Challenge Word will be sent on Monday, 3/28, sometime. Also, there will be no Organizational {Friday} post for the same reason. I am SO sorry I did not get it done before I left but my household was extremely busy. I pray you will forgive me and bare with me as I prepare His words for you on Monday. Blessings,

{Faith Journaling} Challenge #67 & An Anniversary!

Approximately 25 years ago I met my amazing husband, and 22 years ago today we were married in a tiny chapel with 9 family members, and I wore my great grandmother's dress from 1908. You can see it in this post here. Anyway, I am blessed to have the man that God had set aside for me. Though we both were not believers at the time, we are now, and we can truly see how God had prepared us for each other from the very beginning. It is SO amazing to see, and I am blessed. Happy Anniversary sweetheart! So today, please share in your journals:

**If you are married, share how you have seen God's hand in your marriage and bringing you together.

Ephesians 5:25 "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her."

May you enjoy sharing in your journals today, and remember all previous faith journaling questions can be found in this post here. Have a blessed Thursday!

Tuesday's {Tip} Create a Blessings Box

Earlier this month, I saw this daily journal that she kept in a fruit box journaling just a "one-liner" about each day. Each card is reused each year so that you could easily see what had happend the previous year. It is really neat but I felt God leading me to do something a bit different.

I have dwelled and dwelled on the idea, and now I think I have my idea "cemented" how I want it. Let's look at my new "Blessings Box" and how I created it using the inspiration from the "fruit box" journal!

What Makes This Different?
What makes this box different is that we are not journaling paragraph upon paragraph. We are not journaling "the bad stuff." We are just noting ONE blessing from the day! That's it. Super easy to keep up with, and what a blessing as you go back through each year to write another blessing!!

The Box
First, my amazing parents found this great antique card file box for me. It holds 3x5 cards but I cut out scraps of my favorite "pink" papers from Memory Box, Basic Grey, etc. I will use the white side (the back) of the paper for my journaling but I love that the other side of each card is pink! This will be a great way to use up scraps and save "samples" of my favorite papers!
The Monthly Dividers
To create the monthly dividers, I used an old 2007 Vera Bradley Calendar that I had gotten for free. I saved it because on the back of each calendar page were prints of their beautiful fabrics. I love Vera Bradley fabrics. So, I decided to cut up the pages to create my monthly dividers. I then used scrap white paper to stamp each month and adhered them to each card. Didn't they turn out pretty? :)The Cards
Yes, you will need 365 cards! However, think of all of the scraps you will use up! You do not have to cut them all at once. You can cut them weekly, daily, whenever you have scraps handy, anytime! Or, you can certainly just use pre-packaged 3x5 cards! In fact, I think I may switch to 3x5 cards because I am missing not having lines on the cards.

After cutting some of my cards, I used a date stamp to stamp the date in the corner of each card just like the "fruit box" cards were done. I did not include the year as I will write those each year as I write my daily blessing.
On each card, I am thinking about stamping scriptures on the bottom of each one using the Our Daily Bread Designs scripture stamps I have. I won't stamp them in any particular order, just randomly. I figure it will be a gift to see the scripture I come upon each day as I write my blessing for the day. You certainly could write or print out meaningful scriptures for each card too. If you want to see a list of scriptures already used in ODBD sets, you can find the listing here. Just scroll down a bit. :)

I hope you have enjoyed my "Blessings Box." I am excited to see the blessings each year as I come upon them. I can't begin to imagine how it will help me to see God's continuing faithfulness in my life each and every day!

Organizational {Friday} Storing Layouts & Unscrapped Photos Together

**Note, if you are looking for the Our Daily Bread Designs Anniversary Blog Hop, please go to the post below this one or click here. Thank you!**

Today I thought we would talk about scrapbook albums and photos! If you missed my previous posts on storing photos, please see my posts here:

**Storing printed photos
**Storing digital photos

Albums
I recently switched to 8x8 albums because my favorite 9x9 albums from CTMH have been discontinued. I am now using the 8x8 We R Memory Keepers three-ring albums in both linen and faux leather. Love them both. I have tried their 12x12 albums but they are just too big for me, and definitely too big to store. The wonderful thing about the 8x8 albums is that WRMK makes 8x8 page protectors and 8x8 photo sleeves. Here are links to all of the 8x8 products I use from Joann.com:

**WRMK 8x8 page protectors
**WRMK 8x8 photo sleeves
**WRMK 8x8 linen albums
**WRMK 8x8 faux leather albums

Storing Photos with Layouts
Now let's look at how I am using these to not only store my layouts but how I also store my extra photos after I scrapbook my pages.

First, I scrap what I want--whatever photo inspires me at the time. I do not scrap chronologically. Scrapping photos this way is super easy because of the D-ring album. I can easily insert a page anywhere within the album. I do keep the pages in date order once they are scrapped but as I said, it's easy to insert a page anywhere. I actually scrapped the "snow page" shown here before the layout on the left. Super easy to move things around and add as I need to!
Now for those extra photos I might have from an event but I know I won't scrap them, I just use the photo sleeves within the same album. Here you see my scrapped page on the left and extra photos on the right in the photo sleeves. Each photo sleeve holds 4 photos (2 front, 2 back).
These are photos I don't want to throw away but I also doubt I scrap them. It's nice to have those photos within the same album! I am really enjoying keeping my pages and extra photos together in the same album. I certainly wish I would have done this years ago but . . .

Anyway, I hope you find this way of organizing layouts and photos beneficial! I will answer questions within the comment section as you post them or you can always e-mail me. Thanks for stopping by, and have a blessed weekend ahead!

It's An ODBD Anniversary {Blog Hop}

**Note, if you are looking for today's Faith Journaling post, please go to the post below this one or click here. Thank you!**

Hello wonderful blog friends! We have an exciting day for you today! Today is the ODBD Third Anniversary Blog Hop! You should be joining me from Silke's fabulous blog! If not, you might want to head on back to the Our Daily Bread Designs blog and hop from there since you do not want to miss any of the fabulous goodies the design team has for you!

The Hop will run from 8 a.m. Eastern today until 8 p.m. Eastern tomorrow (Friday, 3/18). The winners will be announced on the ODBD blog on Saturday, March 19th. For this special event, there will be SIX PRIZES of One Free Set and ONE GRAND PRIZE of the Bread Basket Bundle (all 3 Anniversary sets). For those of you that do not have any ODBD stamps, this is a great opportunity to win some!!! See this ODBD blog post for ALL details! :) And be sure to keep reading because I have some other exciting news at the end of this post!

Today I created an 8x8 layout with "my" scripture verse in the new Scripture Collection 7 set! I have SO many favorite scriptures but this one really speaks to me! I pray you love it too! I also used two other ODBD sets--He Will Rise to stamp the crosses on the canvas banner and Don't Worry where I stamped the flower onto sticky back canvas, inked it with distress ink, and then I spritzed it with Glimmer Mist before cutting it out.

Papers: Prima Melody, Paper Trey Ink cs
Our Daily Bread Designs Stamps: Scripture Collection 7 (scripture), He Will Rise (crosses), Don't Worry (flower)
Stamp Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Inks walnut stain, Ranger clear ep, VersaMark
Embellishments: Maya Road canvas banner pieces & organza rose, Paper Trey Ink rustic twine, Glimmer Mist pink taffy, Martha Stewart eyelet lace border punch, Heidi Swapp Center of Attention chip alpha, Making Memories Sabrina tiny alpha, Tim Holtz tiny attacher, Zva Creative pearl flourish, Ranger sticky back canvas, sewing machine

Okay, now for the other exciting news! There is one more way to win during this special Anniversary Celebration! It's our Second Customer Favorites Contest! We will be taking submissions of favorite verses until March 31, 2011, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern. There is a special post on the ODBD blog and a special link to it in the right side bar so you can easily find it through the rest of this month. Simply read and follow the rules, and submit the verse you would most like to see to use on layouts, cards, or any paper creation! If your verse is selected, you will receive the set free and you will be invited to be a guest designer for the release of these new stamps when they are ready by sending a photo of your card to Kelley to post on the ODBD blog. Please see THIS post for all the details! We can't wait to see your submissions!

Now, don't forget to leave a comment on each blog including the ODBD blog so that you are entered for the prizes! From here, hop on over to Fran's blog and see what amazing piece she has created for you today! Thanks for stopping by, and Happy Anniversary ODBD!!!! Blessings,

{Faith Journaling} Challenge #66

Last night we were blessed to see the African Children's Choir at our church. Their smiles were contagious, their stories heartbreaking, their dreams inspiring, and their music amazing! It was such a blessed night. It made me wonder if:

**Have you ever been on a mission trip to another country?

2 Corinthians 2:14-15 "But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of Him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing."

I pray that you spread His good news to everyone you come in contact with whether it be at home or traveling to a foreign country. Remember, all previous faith journaling questions can be found in this post here. Have a blessed Thursday!

Week 3 {ODBDLYLS3} Scrapbook Challenge

It's time for some more inspiration for the ODBD Let Your Light Shine Scrapbook Challenge! For March, we are challenging you to use:

**fuchsia flowers or the color fuchsia for the 3rd anniversary flower OR
**crystal or glass for the anniversary modern gift (this can be faux crystal gems, a glass embellishment, etc.), AND
**ODBD stamps!

For my 8x8 page, I used the color fuchsia and two of the new ODBD stamp sets for March--Tulip Tag Set and Tulip Corner. I colored the tulips with my Derwent watercolor pencils. I also cut them apart as the stamp itself is a corner stamp. I hid the cut ends underneath the photo. There are so many gorgeous ways to use stamped flowers on a layout!
Papers: Prima Melody, Paper Trey Ink cs, Bazzill cs, X-press It cs
Our Daily Bread Designs Stamps: Tulip Tag Set (scripture), Tulip Corner (flowers)
Stamp Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Inks walnut stain, Ranger clear ep, Memento rich cocoa
Embellishments: Tim Holtz journaling ticket, Basic Grey Olivia chip alpha, Maya Road chipboard butterfly, Glimmer Mist brick, Liquid Pearls petal pink, Derwent watercolor pencils (65, 21, 18, 51), Copic RV25 to color misc. rhinestones, sewing machine

Lorelie played along with me this week. You won't want to miss her amazing 12x12 page that she created for Kelley. You can see her page here. I am sure she would appreciate a little love too. :)

Now, it is your turn to play! To see all of the guidelines for your chance to win a $25 gift certificate, please see this post here. The challenge runs from today through Thursday, March 31st, at 6 pm EST. You have all month to enter. I hope you will play along this month. We didn't have many entries last month. I am praying we see a lot more in March! :) Thanks for stopping by! Have a blessed day!

ABC Scripture Challenge {Word #6}, Forget

As I prepared to lead Leaders Meeting at Bible Study Fellowship this past Monday, I talked to the leaders about God never forgetting us. Then later, I sat down to work on our word for today. I knew we were on the letter ‘f’ but I had no idea what word God wanted me to write about. Then He reminded me “Didn’t you just talk about ‘forget’ this week?” I cracked up! He won’t forget me but I had already forgotten what He had me share at leaders meeting. So, as led by God, our focus today will be on ‘forget.’

Challenge Word #6: Forget

Have you ever heard of someone tying a string around their finger so that they wouldn’t forget something? Or maybe you put everything into your smart phone so that you don’t forget things. Maybe you are going through a struggle right now and you feel like everyone has forgotten you including God. Maybe you feel like the Israelites in Isaiah 49:14 that said “But Zion said, ‘The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.’” God has not forgotten you! His response to the Israelites in Isaiah 49:15-16a is just beautiful—“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands . . .” He hasn’t forgotten you, and He won’t forget you in the future.

Engraved means to “cut into.” So, our names are forever written on His hands. Our names will not wash off; they are forever there in front of Him on His hands! He is ever mindful of you and of me! His compassion and love for us far exceeds that of even the most loving parent. Matthew Henry said this about the engraving on His hands—“Some apply His engraving His church on the palms of His hands as to the wounds in Christ’s hands when He was crucified; He will look on the marks of them and remember those for whom He suffered and died.” Oh, I just love that thought!

When we are weak in our faith or see tragedies such as what has happened in Japan, it is easy to think that God has forgotten us. But, we must remember that God is the great promise keeper. If He says “I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands,” we can trust that is true. He will not forget you! God does not lie or break a promise thus we can trust this is true. Hebrews 6:13-18 says “When God made His promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for Him to swear by, He swore by himself, saying, ‘I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.’ And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised. People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, He confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged.” How comforting it is to know that others may forget us but God never, ever will!

I do not have a page yet to share with you today but there is good reason. :) I TOTALLY forgot to buy the ODBD set called "God's Hands," and I really want to use it for my page. Not only is the hand image perfect but the scripture I want to use is there also. So, I will share my page once my set arrives! See, another perfect example--I forgot but praise God He doesn't forget me! Be sure to check this post in a week or so to see my page. :)

As you share your pages, please be sure to use Keyword ABCSCRC11 when posting your creations in any online galleries. Also, please leave a link to your creation here using Inlinkz! To see all of our previous lessons, please visit this post here, and I pray that this week you will remember that He not only loves you immensly but He will never forget you! Be blessed, and thank you for joining me in this study!

50% off {Sale} & Don't Forget!!

If you remember my post about storing trims last week, you also saw some of the amazing trims I purchased from A Million Memories. Well, I found out this morning that everything in the store is 50% off (except things marked *new*). So, if you want to get your hands on some great trims and other goodies, you might want to look here! You should use code SALE3 at checkout! I hope that helps some of y'all get some great goodies at a great price! Second, don't forget about the challenge I am holding at Two Peas in a Bucket! You have a chance to win a $20 gift certificate to Our Daily Bread Designs, and you don't have to use ODBD stamps to enter! You can see complete details here, and you have through tomorrow (3/13) to enter! I surely would love to see one of y'all enter and win!!!!
Well, enjoy your Saturday, and may God give His wisdom and peace to all of those effected by the tragedy in Japan! Blessings to each of you!

{Faith Journaling} Challenge #65

Okay, so we have been fighting the stomach bug this week. Yuck! Praise God we haven't had that in the house for many years but this week has not been the best. It made me think:

**How has God helped you or a family member through an illness?

Psalm 41:3 "The LORD sustains them on their sickbed and restores them from their bed of illness."

I pray God will show you how He is there with you even when you are sick and/or healing from a devastating illness! Remember, all previous faith journaling questions can be found in this post here. Have a blessed Thursday!

Tuesday's {Tip} Repurposed Containers & RAK Winner!

There are two products I use, and I love their containers. One is a hair product, and one is my eye makeup remover. These containers are great. As soon as I finish a bottle or container, I run them throught the dishwasher and use them for my crafting goodies. Let's look at these containers.

For Misting
When misting paper to crumple/distress or when coloring Hug Snug (seam binding), I mist both with water first. This bottle is an amazing mister. The mist comes out SO nice. Some bottles just don't have a nice mist but this one does. It's definitely one of my favorite repurposed bottles! Look around and see what favorite misting bottle you have in your house. It just may be perfect for paper crafting!For Storage
Another favorite container I use are the jars from my eye makeup remover by Almay. One of my daughter's uses this same brand so we go through them pretty quickly. The labels come off very easily, and these wash up so nicely. You can use them for ALL sorts of storage! Use your imagination. They also are great to alter, fill with M&Ms or some other small candy, and give as a little gift! They come in two sizes--a regular size and a travel size. Fun, fun!RAK Winner
And finally it's time to share the RAK winner of the ribbon spooler (see this post for details on the ribbon spooler)! I am also including a few of the clear boxes and maybe a few other things! So, who is our blessed winner today? Let's look at what Random.org came up with:

True Random Number Generator
Min: 1
Max: 43
Result: 16
Powered by RANDOM.ORG

And Number 16 belongs to (when you skip my personal posts, LOL):

AlpacaRose said...
Thank you Thank you Thank you! I was feeling waaay guilty for having too much ribbon. Not anymore! You've rescued me! I store my ribbon on their cardboard rolls on pants hangers. I bought them at Walmart. Each hanger has four bars to hang four pairs of pants. Each bar releases from the frame to slip on the roll of ribbon. Great idea, but it takes up lots of room in the closet and if I don't tape the end of the ribbon to the cardboard roll, it often unwinds. :(
MARCH 4, 2011 9:31 AM

Huge congrats to you! Please e-mail me your address, and I will get your package off to you! And be watching for a large RAK. As soon as I hit 1,500 subscribers, I will be offering a RAK to my amazing and appreciated subscribers! Only FIVE more subscribers to go! :)

Enjoy your Tuesday, and blessings to each of you!

Aged & Distressed? Come in to Win!

Happy Saturday everyone! Today I wanted to share a chance for you to win a $20 gift certificate to Our Daily Bread Designs! You do not have to use ODBD stamps to enter! I know many of you want to play along with our monthly scrapping challenge at ODBD but you don't have any ODBD stamps so you have been unable to play. So, here is your chance to win some ODBD stamps! Yeah, yeah, yeah!!!!

To see all of the details, please see my "Aged & Distressed Challenge" at Two Peas in a Bucket! You have until March 13th to enter! If you are not a member of Two Peas, just become a member so you can play along! It's free to join, and I would LOVE to have you join in and win! Here is my 8x8 layout for the challenge:
Papers: Paper Trey Ink cs, Basic Grey Sultry and Marrrakech, Memory Box ocean cs
Stamps: Our Daily Bread Designs Brocade Borders, Our Daily Bread Designs Faith
Stamp Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink walnut stain
Embellishments: Glimmer Mist brick, jack frost & sand; Heidi Swapp raw chipboard; Rose Moka alpha stickers; Zva Creative flourish; Basic Grey buttons; misc. rhinestones colored with Copic R08; Doodlebug flower; hand-dyed seam binding; Tim Holtz tiny attacher & journaling tickets

Now, let's see those pages everyone! :) Have a blessed Saturday!

Organizational {Friday} Trims, Ribbon, & a Spooler

Okay, first, NO I am not changing my ribbon storage. I have had it the same way for years and years, and I love it. No creases, no dust, easy to find and store! If you have never seen my ribbon storage post, look here. Here is a photo of some of my ribbon drawers:

Recently, I have started a wonderful collection of gorgeous trims. I purchased a bunch from A Million Memories when they had some of it on clearance. I wished I would have purchased more because the quality is amazing not to mention I have never seen trims like this anywhere else and the price was great. Anyway, they are beautiful but how do you store them?

Well, since the larger Cropper Hopper boxes are no longer being sold, I went ahead and purchased these clear boxes from The Box Depot. PLB103 is the box I am using (see samples in the photo below), and they measure 1.5"x1.5"x1.5". This size fits perfectly in my Scrap 'n Cube drawers and goes well with my Cropper Hopper boxes. They are also perfect for odd-shaped trims, fancy trims, hand-dyed seam binding (Hug Snug), and for ALL ribbons up to 1.5" wide!These boxes cost $28 for 100. When they arrive, they look like this:
I actually love that they arrive flat because they are super easy to store! When I need another box, it just pops open into place. To store the hand-dyed seam binding, I just stuff each separate color in a box. The seam binding should stay crinkled so stuffing it in the box keeps it that way.

Now of course I want the trims to stay nice so I needed to roll them up first before putting then in a box. Winding trims is NOT an easy task; however, I have a new and wonderful tool called a ribbon spooler. Man is this thing AMAZING. You can purchase the spooler here, and it is one of the best tools I have ever purchased. I have carpal tunnel too so this is a life-saver. I can wind trims and ribbons very fast using this tool. Look how beautifully they go onto the spooler: For trims or ribbons that make a roll too large for the box, I just cut the yardage in half and roll two rolls. You can see how the roll on the left (above) really was too big. I cut it in half, and you can see two rolls of it in this one box (below):Love it! And other trims with fancy attachments like flowers, etc., do not get messed up in the boxes. Here is how my drawer looks now with crinkled ribbon, trims with flowers, leaves, etc.:
I hope this has been helpful! Trims sure are beautiful but finding a way to store them without getting them messed up can be a challenge.

And for those of you that have made it this far through my post, I bought an extra spooler to give away to one of my amazing subscribers! So, leave a comment about trims--how you store them, where you buy them, if you use them or not--something about trims. Leave your comment by Sunday, 3/6, at 11:59 p.m. Central. I will post the winner on Monday, 3/7! Enjoy your Friday, and thanks for stopping by! Blessings,

{Faith Journaling} Challenge #64

As I have grieved my precious grandmother this week and written something for Saturday's funeral, I clearly see how God has so perfectly orchestrated everything since last Friday. Thankfully I have been journaling it all too so that I will not only remember His faithfulness and Sovereignty but generations to come will read about it too. So today:

**How have you seen God's perfectly orchestrated plan in your life this past week/month?

Psalm 40:5 "Many, LORD my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us. None can compare with you; were I to speak and tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare."

I pray God will show you how He perfectly orchestrates all things for His glory! Remember, all previous faith journaling questions can be found in this post here. Have a blessed Thursday!

Week 1 {ODBDLYLS3} Scrapbook Challenge

Yeah, it's time for a new Let Your Light Shine Scrapbook Challenge at Our Daily Bread Designs. This is a very special month for ODBD-- it's ODBD's 3rd Anniversary Celebration! There will be lots of fun activities all month, and our challenge for you this month is based on an anniversary theme! Our challenge goes along with the 3rd anniversary modern gift (crystal/glass) and the 3rd anniversary flower (fuchsia). So your challenge for March is to use:

**fuchsia flowers or the color fuchsia for the anniversary flower OR
**crystal or glass for the anniversary modern gift (this can be faux crystal gems, a glass embellishment, etc.), AND
**ODBD stamps!

For my 8x8 page, I used two ODBD sets: Blessings and Faith. I only used a portion of the Faith stamp (the butterflies). The image is much bigger and has 6 butterflies but I didn't need the entire image. I cut one butterfly out and placed it in the bottom right corner. I then used 3 other butterflies from the image and placed them on the left. And I stamped them on the same paper as my background so it looks as if I cut out the center between the butterflies though I did not. And for the anniversary theme, I used black crystal flourishes.

Papers: Paper Trey Ink distressed dots and cs
Our Daily Bread Designs Stamps: Blessings and Faith
Stamp Ink: Memento tuxedo black, VersaMark, Ranger Clear ep
Embellishments: Rose Moka alpha stickers, Spellbinders small and large deckled rectangles, Basic Grey Offbeat (decorative) & Kioshi (alpha) chip stickers, Bazzill blossoms spritzed with Maya Road green mist, Creative Café button, Paper Trey Ink rustic twine, misc. black crystals

Now, it is your turn to play! To see all of the guidelines for your chance to win a $25 gift certificate, please see this post here. The challenge runs from today through Thursday, March 31st, at 6 pm EST. You have all month to enter. I hope you will play along this month. We didn't have many entries last month. I am praying we see a lot more in March! :) Thanks for stopping by! Have a blessed day!

Tuesday's {Tip} Not the Right Color?

I am finding that I love to color things I have on hand--flowers, pearls, jewels, twill, seam binding, etc. When I don't have an embellishment that matches, I color it. It is a great way to use up my stash and to get the color I am looking for. Let's look at a few pieces I have done.

Flowers
If you don't have the right color of flowers on hand, there are several ways to color them. Two of my favorites are inking them with distress ink or spritzing them with Glimmer Mist. Here are 3 examples: The first flower is actually a fabric flower that was a lighter shade of green. I wanted it to be darker. Flowers 2 & 3 are paper flowers that were orginally white. :)

Jewels and Pearls
If you don't have the right color on hand, Copic markers are perfect for coloring your jewels and pearls! Still don't get the color right after coloring? Use a bit of Purell or other hand sanitizer to remove the color you just used and color with a different color! The pearls in the Flower 2 above were colored with a Copic marker. :)

Twill and Seam Binding
Off course may favorite way to color twill and seam binding (Hug Snug) is with Glimmer Mist. You also get a very different look when coloring on paper towels or coloring on parchment paper. Play with it to see what you come up with. Here are some of my samples: Each of the pieces above were colored with various colors of Glimmer Mist. If you missed my post on how I keep track of my "mixed colors," look here (scroll down to the last 2 photos).

So, don't run out and buy something new if you don't have the right color on hand--color it! You will find it's not only fun but opens the door to many new "color" possibilities! Happy Tuesday!