{HSCRC13} Hymn #6, Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Before we start today's hymn challenge, I wanted to take a moment and praise God for my husband. Today is our 24th wedding anniversary, and even though we did not know the Lord when we were married, we can look back now and see how He perfectly planned our lives to be together. Our upbringings are nearly identical, we work as a team, and we love each other beyond words. That can only be through the grace and work of our precious Lord, and I thank Him and praise Him for giving me such a wonderful man to partner with in life. I love you honey!

Hymn Challenge #6: Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Words Written by: Robert Robinson
b. Sept. 27, 1735; d. June 9, 1790

This hymn was written by Robert Robinson who was born in Norfolk, England. His mother was widowed early and was not well off. Robert Robinson became indentured to a barber and hairdresser in London even though his mother wanted to see him become a clergyman. After nearly completing his apprenticeship, he was released from his indentures. He lived a life of fear after that but in his early 20's, he found peace when he came to know Christ. He was then called to become a pastor, and he preached his first sermon on January 8, 1759. Mr. Robinson's original version of this hymn had five verses but most hymnals only contain the first three verses. He later died in 1790.

As I was letting one of my daughter's look at the list of hymns we have done, she asked why I wasn't doing a challenge on her favorite hymn—"Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing." I had no idea this was her favorite hymn. Why haven't I asked? I too love this hymn, and after my daughter and I talked I felt that I needed to dive into the words of this amazing hymn. Thank you sweetheart for inspiring our hymn today.

Look here to read the lyrics to this hymn. Maybe print them or click on the sheet music below and print it. Underline or highlight the key phrases you see. What do these phrases mean to you? What can you learn from these phrases? Some key phrases I noted are:

"streams of mercy, never ceasing"
God's mercy is never ending. We sin daily yet He continues to have compassion on us and loves us beyond measure. He sent His precious Son to die for my sins and your sins. He hurls all of our sins into the depths of the sea and delights in showing us mercy (see Micah scripture below). We need God's mercy each day. I know I will never be able to fully comprehend such love but am so thankful I am His! How about you?

Psalm 103:11-12 "For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us."

Micah 7:18b-19 "You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea."

Ephesians 2:4-5 "But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved."

Titus 3:5 "He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit."

"God's redeeming love"
As I said above, God loves us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for our sins. It was a huge cost to Jesus, and we need to live like we have been redeemed. Unbelievers are watching. Our actions speak louder than our words. Are you living like you have been redeemed? Do you live like you belong to Him or the world?

Psalm 103:2-4 "Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion."

Romans 3:23-24 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

"Here I find my greatest treasure"
Where or what is your treasure? Can you in all honesty say that God is your greatest treasure? Are there some things that you might need to reprioritize in your life so that you can put God first? If Jesus is our treasure, then we need to try to seek His purpose, His plans, etc., in everything we do. Every situation in our lives should be about the kingdom of God. Will you ask Him to help you make Himself your greatest treasure?

Matthew 6:21 and Luke 12:34 which both read: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

"bought me with His precious blood"
What does that statement say to you? Jesus died by shedding His blood for my sins and your sins as I stated above. But what does that mean? He took the penalty and paid with His life for our sins—not His sin because He was without sin. I shared this back in 2008 but it had such a visual impact on me that I thought I would share it again here. In Max Lucado's book He Chose the Nails, he says “Between His hand and the wood there was a list: our mistakes, our lusts and lies and greedy moments. A list of our sins. The list God has made, however, cannot be read. The mistakes are covered. The sins are hidden. Those at the top are hidden by His hand; those down the list are covered by His blood . . . What kept Him from resisting? He knew the price of those sins was death. He knew the source of those sins was you, and since He couldn’t bear the thought of eternity without you, He chose the nails. Jesus Himself chose the nails.” I can't say it any better than that! He died for you because He loves you, and He wants to spend eternity with you!

Hebrews 10:19-20 "Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body."

1 John 1:7 "But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin."

"bind my wandering heart to thee"
"prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love"
Are you wandering or backsliding in your faith? It's so easy to follow the world. Repent. Ask God for His forgiveness, and move forward with Him instead of wandering in the ways of the world. Jesus wants to draw you back to Himself.

Matthew 18:12 "What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will He not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?"

James 5:19-20 "My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins."

Below you will find the sheet music to "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing." Also, be sure to check out the link I have below for you today. It's one I could just put on "repeat" all day long!

To listen to this song sung by Mark Schultz, please click here.

For my 6x6 page today, I was inspired by my fellow DT member, Camilla Ekman. I loved not only the blue but the modeling paste from her layout here. So, I played with both the blue and the paste on this page. I also used a chipboard heart from the Blue Fern Studios Heart Set. This hymn just speaks so much of God's love for us that I thought the heart was quite appropriate. The scripture I chose was the Titus 3:5 verse noted above.

Papers: Core'dinations Tim Holtz Nostalgic Collection, Teresa Collins Now and Then 
Stamp Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink weathered wood, SU not quite navy 
Embellishments: Blue Fern Studios Heart Set chipboard; Spellbinders Fleur de lis Rectangle die; Prima flourish stencil with Liquitex light modeling paste, Frost Frappe VII flowers, resin birds; blue flowers and leaves from Wild Orchid Crafts; sewing machine

So, will you go out today and this Holy Week ahead knowing that He endured the cross for you so that you might spend eternity with Him. Do you have that assurance?

Remember to use Keyword HSCRC13 when posting your creations in any online galleries. Also, please leave a link to your creation here using Inlinkz! To see all of the information regarding this challenge and the previous studies, please see this post here. Blessings to each of you!
 

ODBD {4th Anniversary} Blog Hop

Welcome to the Our Daily Bread designs 4th Anniversary Special Design Team Edition Release Blog Hop!  You should be joining me from Silke's awesome blog. If not, you might want to start at the ODBD Blog so you are sure to not miss anyone! If any links are lost along the way, you can always get the entire list of links from the ODBD Blog as well!

The bread sticks are so excited to be celebrating ODBD's 4th anniversary! I am truly blessed designing for a company that glorifies God in every stamp set and shares Him in everything! As Christian's that's what we are called to do, and I couldn't ask for a better company to design for!! Huge congrats Kelley and team on 4 years!!!! May God continue to bless ODBD in the years ahead!!!

Now, if you are a long term follower of ODBD, then you know that each year the Design Team submits a favorite Scripture for the special anniversary sets. So far all of the "Scripture Collection" stamp sets in the store have come from those DT submissions. This year, the special sets not only include our favorite scriptures but also quotes and sentiments. How fun is that?  I am sure you have seen some of the amazing sets on the hop thus far! Now for all of the details of the Anniversary Hop, please be sure to visit this post on the ODBD blog. You won't want to miss any of the fun!

This year for the 4th anniversary set, I submitted a sentiment that I found. So, my card highlights that sentiment in the new "Sentiments Collection." I embossed the sentiment in white and then colored the background using distress inks. For the pink background paper, I used a shopping bag I had saved. It was definitely too pretty to throw away. :) I also used both the Cheery Lynn Designs Fanciful Flourish die and the Spellbinders Fleur de Lis die.

Papers: Memory Box boysenberry and slate cs, Paper Trey Ink white cs, pink paper from recycled shopping bag
Stamps: Our Daily Bread Designs Sentiments Collection
Stamp Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink victorian velvet, pumice stone, frayed burlap; Tim Holtz embossing ink; Ranger seafoam white embossing powder
Embellishments: Cheery Lynn Designs Fanciful Flourish die, Spellbinders Fleur de Lis die, flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts, Kaiser Craft pearls, Glimmer Mist purple pansy and Maya Road mulberry red mist to color Hug Snug seam binding, sewing machine

I hope you are enjoying the hop and new anniversary releases. Now hop on over to Deb's beautiful blog to see what she has created! Thanks for "hopping" by! Blessings,

Week 3 {ODBDLYLS5} Scrapbook Challenge

It's time for our 3rd week of inspiration for the ODBD Let Your Light Shine Scrapbook Challenge! I hope you are busy working on a page or two to enter! :) We can't wait to see them!

For my inspiration this week, I decided to take the challenge to use an ODBD stamp AND either flowers, trees/leaves, or birds to create a masculine layout. Nothing like a challenge to use flowers on a masculine layout. LOL! Anyway, this is my amazing husband, and I have been meaning to scrap this photo since Christmas. This was the perfect week to do it. On my 8x8 page, I used the ODBD Wood Background to create a mat for the photo, to decorate the chipboard flourish, and to add the small paper strip in the upper left-hand corner. The scripture comes from the ODBD set called Ask, Seek, Knock.

Papers: Prima Moulin Rouge, Paper Trey Ink cs
Stamps: Our Daily Bread Designs Wood Background, Our Daily Bread Designs Ask, Seek, Knock (scripture)
Stamp Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink walnut stain and embossing pad, Zing brown sugar ep, Ranger clear ep
Embellishments: Spellbinders lattice rectangle, Basic Grey chipboard alpha, Tim Holtz tag, Glimmer Mist gumdrop, Martha Stewart tag, Zva Creative flower,Wild Orchid Crafts flowers and leaves, Deluxe Designs chipboard, Paper Trey Ink rustic twine, sewing machine

Anyway, I hope you will play along with us this month. To see all of the guidelines for your chance to win a $25 gift certificate, please see this post here. The challenge runs through Tuesday, May 31st, at 6 pm Eastern. You have all month to enter. Thanks for stopping by! Have a blessed day!

Organizational {Friday} Dies, Dies, & More Dies!

If you haven't noticed, it seems most companies are making die cuts now. Organizing them can take a while and cost a lot. I have had a pile of Paper Trey Ink (PTI) dies in a drawer for some time because I didn't know how I was going to organize them. I didn't want to buy MORE Quickutz folders. I use those for my Spellbinders dies. You can see that post here. Anyway, that can get expensive especially since I was going to have to buy many more folders for the new dies from other companies.  For the time being, I kept the PTI dies in their ziploc bags in a drawer with the die name on the bag. Worked for a while until Our Daily Bread Designs and now Memory Box Co. have also come out with their own dies! Now I was asking myself how do I control the die cut madness. :) I LOVE dies but what should I do with them all?

Well, I ended up using the 3-ring binder method that I am sure you have seen zillions of people use. I think I am really, really going to like this for dies other than Spellbinders. If I like this and I find it holds more than the Quickutz folders, I may convert my Spellbinders to this also. Not sure yet. :)  Anyway, let's look at what I did which I am sure it is close to most other 3-ring binder methods out there. :)

Supplies
Here is what I used:

**Keep Filing ring binders (letter size, 8 1/2" x 11")
**Roll of 1/2" magnets
**Sturdy black cardstock
**Page protectors (heavy weight)
**Labeler

I really like the black cardstock because you don't see the magnets. I think a lot of other people use white cardstock, and I personally like the magnet to be "hidden." :)

Putting it Together
First, I separated my dies by manufacturer then category. The categories I am currently using are:

**Animals
**Banners
**Borders
**Circles
**Labels and Pockets
**Garden

Next I put two magnet strips on each piece of black cardstock and placed the dies for each category on a separate sheet. Then I put a label with the die name next to the die on the black cardstock.  Once the sheet was done, I put it down in the page protector. Notice how the magnets are hard to see on the black cardstock. Love that!

I also used the new Memory Box Double Ticket die to create my category tags at the top of each page.  I used the smallest ticket on the die and scored it at 3/4". Works perfectly!

I also typed up a die inventory in Excel since I know the names of a lot of the dies. It will be easier to look at the inventory and look up the page number where the die is so that I can quickly find what I am looking for. This inventory can be sorted by die name, manufacturer, category, or page. I printed it on white cardstock and placed in the front of my binder.

In creating this new binder, I have noticed that 5 pages in the binder take up a LOT LESS room than 5 Quickutz binders. I think I may be making a major switch this summer! Oh my!

Well, enjoy your Friday, and I pray this is helpful!  And for those of you interested, you can see all of the newest Memory Box dies just released by looking here. To see all of the Our Daily Bread Designs dies, look here. Blessings to each of you!

ABC Scripture Challenge {Word #5}, Easy

Challenge Word #5: Easy

Have you ever been so tired of your circumstances that you just want to tell God you have had enough? Do you feel like things are never easy for you and as you make it through one trial, another comes your way? Yesterday, I lost my precious grandmother. We found out Friday she had 1-3 days to live. Receiving such news is never easy. Living a Christian life is never easy but as a Christian, you have access to the Holy, Loving, Creator God who cares about you and wants to carry your burdens with you.

The Greek word for ‘easy’ is ‘chrestos’ which means “comfortable or manageable.” God never tells us that being a Christian is easy. But when we are partnered with Christ, even the most difficult news and/or situation becomes ‘manageable’. If the situation is still unbearable, maybe you are trying to do things in your own strength. Jesus wants to help you carry that burden, problem, or difficulty. He doesn’t want you to go through it alone. In fact, the circumstances will seem so much worse if you try to handle it on our own. God is still God, and God is still good even when things are not easy. If we go through the hard times with Him, He will not only be glorified but our faith grows also, and then we receive that indescribable peace. Others will also see God at work in your life and may be drawn to come to know Him too!

Sometimes our struggles are discipline from the Father; sometimes it’s just life. Hebrews 12:10b-11 says “. . . but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in His holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” It wasn’t easy for Jesus to leave the Heavenly realms to come down to earth to be a man. Have you thought of what He left? Wow, not only what He left but what He took upon Himself so we might live!!! Nothing we go through compares to what He left and what He did for us. It wasn’t easy for Jesus, and it’s not easy for us but He certainly blesses us with friends, pastors, family, the body of Christ, and most importantly Himself to help make the rough road smooth. Isaiah 26:7 says “The path of the righteous is level; you, the Upright One, make the way of the righteous smooth.” Praise God we have Him to help us carry the load to help make it easier; to help make it comfortable; to help make it manageable!

For my page today, I used two verses from Matthew:

Matthew 11:28 and 30 “28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” “30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

I also used the wonderful Fish Background from Our Daily Bread Designs. Now this background measures 4 1/4"x5 1/2"; however, I just stamped a portion of it and cut it into strips for layering behind the Tim Holtz film strip ribbon. I then stamped it onto white Hero Arts flowers then spritzed them with Glimmer Mist. Backgrounds can be used in SO many different ways, and ODBD has MANY great ones! Check them out here (scroll to the bottom for a link to all backgrounds). I then used one of the new frame stamps from the ODBD "Eternity" set to be released March 1st along with a special customized Eternity die made for ODBD by Spellbinders to journal my verses and make the tab for the top of my page. Papers: Memory Box Skylights, Mint Ripple, and French Toast; Paper Trey Ink cs
Our Daily Bread Designs Stamp Sets: Fish Background and Eternity
Stamp Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink walnut stain
Embellishments: Spellbinders/ODBD Eternity die, A Million Memories lace trim, Kaiser Craft pearls, Glimmer Mist moonlight, Basic Grey Olivia chip alpha, Tim Holtz film strip ribbon and tiny attacher, Hero Arts flowers

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 this week that you will share your burdens with Jesus so that He can help you make the daily load easier to carry. Blessings,

Week 4 {ODBDLYLS2} Scrapbook Challenge

Okay, you only have 6 more days to get your entries in! We can't wait to see your pages pour in over these next few days! Remember, your challenge for this month's Let Your Light Shine Challenge is to use 1 striped paper, 1 scripture stamp, and 1 embellishment. You can add more but there must be a minimum of 1 each! Your pages can be any page size, and you can add as many or as few embellishments as you want. Use your creative imagination.

For my 8x8 page, I used the wonderful ODBD single stamp called "Butterfly Single." I stamped it onto my patterned paper and then used watercolor pencils on the wings and distress stickles on the body of the butterfly. I also used a scripture from the ODBD set "Light of the World." I stamped the scripture onto vellum and stapled it to the corner of the page. Papers: Memory Box magnolia, mint ripple, glimmer, butterfly ballet, and robin's egg; Paper Trey Ink cs; misc. vellum
Our Daily Bread Designs Stamps: Light of the World and Butterfly single
Stamp Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Inks walnut stain
Embellishments: Spellbinders lacey circles and grand labels 1, Sizzlits little leaves die, Tim Holtz tiny attacher, Glimmer Mist pearl and gum drop, Paper Trey Ink buttons and rustic twine, Hero Arts flowers, Rose Moka alpha stickers, Derwent watercolor pencil blue grey 68 and cedar green 50, Distress Stickles frayed burlap, Basic Grey Olivia chip stickers, pop Glue Dots, CM circle punches, misc. lace from A Million Memories

I hope y'all will play along. Incorporating stamping into your scrapbook pages is SO fun and really I don't scrap without a stamp now! I really hope you will give it a try, and join in on the fun this month! I would love for one of my blog readers to win the $25 gift certificate to the ODBD store!

Now, how do you play along and get entered for the $25 gift certificate? You need to visit this post here on the ODBD blog. Be sure to follow the rules because I would hate for someone to miss out on the prize opportunity! Once you create your page or pages, link them to that same post on the ODBD blog. The challenge runs from today through Monday, February 28th, at 6 pm EST. You have all month to enter, and you can enter as many times as you like just remember to link your creations to the ODBD blog post. The winner will be announced with our new challenge that will begin March 2nd! Be sure to use Keyword ODBDLYLS2 when linking to SCS or other public galleries.

Thank you for stopping by! We are very excited to see your scrapbook pages. Have a blessed day,

ODBD Stamping In Time Challenge {SNTODBD27}

**Note, if you are looking for the Faith Journaling Challenge, please see the post below! :)**

Happy Thursday everyone! Today I decided to join in the Stamping in Time Challenge at Our Daily Bread Designs. I don't always have time to play along, but I made time for this one. I think this is a fun challenge, and I hope you will play along with us! The challenge this rotation is "All about Love!" Love can be conveyed in many ways. You can use sentiments, stamps, or designer papers that use the word love or have a heart on them! You can use scriptures that actually use the word LOVE! Or, you can come up with your own idea about LOVE!

Well, I decided to go a completely different route with this "love" theme. I have a fascination with alligators. For those of you that have been around my blog for some time, you probably already know this. Well, when we go home to South Carolina, I see them almost everyday, and I tend to get a bit TOO close to them. This particular alligator was hissing at me because I got too close. See how is mouth is open? Eeek! Anyway, the family gets quite upset with me. This past year I was better and tried to stay away. I think as I get older, I am finally getting a little fearful of them. So, the title on my 8x8 layout is "Is it Love?" :) :)

To create the 'love' heart, I used a scripture stamp from the ODBD set called "Love One Another." I inked up the word 'love', and stamped it multiple times on my paper. I then cut it out and adhered it to my piece of chipboard. I did the same thing with the 'love' banner at the top of my page. I then used a scripture from the new ODBD set called "Faith" because alligators are beautiful in their own way. :) I also meshed two sketches for this layout--SBSC270B and CPCST93.

Papers: Basic Grey Origins, Paper Trey Ink cs
Stamps: Our Daily Bread Designs Love One Another (love background on heart & top corner), Our Daily Bread Designs Faith (scripture)
Stamp Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Inks shabby shutters, Memento tuxedo black
Embellishments: Zva Creative pearls, Spellbinders eyelet circles, Basic Grey chipboard bracket & question mark, Rose Moka alpha stickers, Elle's Studio journaling tag, Pink Paislee alpha stickers, Scenic Route chipboard heart, Glimmer Mist suede and key lime, sewing machine

I hope you will play along with us. For more inspiration, be sure to visit the other ODBD designers that are playing along. I am sure they would love some 'love' too! :)

Sabrina
Fran
Grace
Betty
Pat
Angie

For complete details on how to join in, please see the details in this post here. You must use ODBD stamps, and please remember to use Keyword SNTODBD27 when linking to SCS or other online galleries. Thanks for stopping by, and have a blessed day!

{ODBDLYLS1} Our First Scrapbook Challenge at ODBD!

Welcome to our first 'Let Your Light Shine Scrapbook Challenge' at Our Daily Bread Designs. We are SO very, very excited that Kelley has decided to start this new team because you will find that these stamps are made perfectly for your scrapbook pages! We hope that if you haven't scrapbooked before that you will join us and give it a try. If you are a seasoned scrapper but haven't tried stamps on your pages, we hope that you will give that a try too! Everyone is welcome and encouraged to play along!

Our challenge for January is a sketch! We thought it would be helpful to start with a sketch to get you started! Here is your sketch:For my 8x8 page, I used two stamp sets from Our Daily Bread Designs: Peace & Joy, Fleur de Lis Border. I also used the ODBD Snowflake Set Dies set to cut out my stamped snowflakes. You can see I used the border stamp to create my journaling box. The snowflakes I stamped for embellishments, and then the verse is stamped on the bottom of my page. I also used one of the new grand dies from Spellbinders--Grand Labels One! Too fun!

Papers: October Afternoon Fly A Kite and Report Card
Stamps: Our Daily Bread Designs Peace & Joy, Our Daily Bread Designs Fleur de Lis Border
Stamp Ink: SU night of navy
Embellishments: Our Daily Bread Designs snowflake die, Spellbinders Grand Labels One, Maya Road cream pleated ribbon, Tim Holtz tiny attacher, Basic Grey chipboard alpha, misc. ticket, October Afternoon mini market stickers, Making Memories tiny alpha stickers, Copic B39 to color misc. jewels

Sabrina Jackson is the other ODBD Breadstick that played along with me today for the challenge. Please be sure to see her page here. This was only the second scrapbook page she has EVER done! WOW! Now that's truly amazing inspiration for those of you new to scrapping!!!

Now, how do you play along and get entered for the $25 gift certificate? You need to visit this post here on the ODBD blog. Be sure to follow the rules because I would hate for someone to miss out on the prize opportunity! Once you create your page or pages, link them to that same post on the ODBD blog. The challenge runs from today through Monday, January 31st, at 6 pm EST. You have all month to enter, and you can enter as many times as you like just remember to link your creations to the ODBD blog post. The winner will be announced with our new challenge that will begin February 1st! Be sure to use Keyword ODBDLYLS1 when linking to SCS or other public galleries.

Thank you for stopping by! We are very excited to see your scrapbook pages. Have a blessed day!

Some {Memory Box} Layouts

Happy Monday everyone! Well, I have not only been doing layouts for Our Daily Bread Designs but I have been doing them for Memory Box too. Once I started, I couldn't stop! I did 6 layouts in less than a week. That is unheard of for me! Oh but it brought such joy! You will definitely be seeing more layouts from me this year. I will of course continue to do cards and altered art too. I just love it all. :)

Anyway, today, I wanted to share two of the layouts I did using the new Valentine paper, called Pixie, from Memory Box. I chose to continue using the snow pictures I have on hand, and these papers went perfectly for both layouts. I also used one of the new Valentine stamps to create my banner on the second layout. So fun to do! So, here are the layouts. To see complete details and supply lists, please click on the layout name, and it will take you to the detailed post!

How Many Inches? (8x8 layout)Love Snow? (8x8 layout)
Thanks for looking, and don't forget to join me tomorrow for the first scrapbook challenge at Our Daily Bread Designs. I am SO excited. You can see details here. Blessings, and see you tomrrow!

ABC Scripture Challenge {Word #1}, Anchor

Welcome to our first challenge for the year 2011. I am so excited to see where God leads all of us this year. He has already been laying some things on my heart, and I am keeping detailed notes as He brings them to me! If you missed the introduction to this challenge, please see my post here for complete details. So, let's get started with our first study.

Early in December as I was working on my Bible Study Fellowship lesson, there was a question at the end of the lesson that asked “Will you ask God to anchor your mind to Him? How will you choose to fill your mind with Him this week?” That was such a powerful and eye-opening question to me. Wow, anchoring myself to God. I have never thought of it in that context before. This is something I have really been thinking about since then, and thus I thought it would be a great word for us to start with this year.

Challenge Word #1: Anchor

How many of you have been in a storm at sea? Probably not many of you but you can certainly imagine how scary it would be. Even the storms on land can be very scary at times. Think of the disciples as they were out on the Sea of Galilee. The twelve disciples along with Jesus went out on a boat that was big enough to carry all of them. They had not gone out in a storm yet once they were out on the water, one caught them without warning. Matthew 8:23-26 says “Then He got into the boat and His disciples followed Him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke Him, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!’ He replied, ‘You of little faith, why are you so afraid?’ Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.”

Look at Jesus’ response to the disciples, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” It seems so easy to love God and share our joys with Him but when the going gets rough, we panic just as the disciples did. Or maybe you are the other way, when things are easy you leave God out of the picture but the minute something gets tough, you cling to Him. No matter which one of these describes you, our faith should be strong in all things—during the good and the bad. If we are not anchored to God, we drift. We waiver in our relationship with Him, and then we feel like we will drown in the “storms of life.” God not only knows what is going on in your life, He has the power to help you deal with it. We need to be anchored to God just as a ship is anchored to the ocean floor. And this isn’t just once we need to do this but daily. We need to wake up purposely anchoring ourselves to Him so that we can stay firm and secure with Him through our day instead of drifting with the waves. Will you anchor yourself to God today, tomorrow, and the days ahead?

My 5x6 page uses the brand new Memory Box papers and the new ODBD set called "Anchor" that will be released in February 2011. The scriptures I chose were:

Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”

Hebrews 6:19 “The hope we have is an anchor for the soul, sure and steadfast.” Papers: Basic Grey Marjolaine, Memory Box Brioche, Paper Trey Ink cs
Stamps: Our Daily Bread Designs Anchor
Stamp Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink walnut stain and pumice stone, Memento tuxedo black
Embellishments: Tim Holtz tiny attacher and journaling tickets, October Afternoon alpha stickers, Basic Grey Sugar Rush chip alpha, Paper Trey Ink just the ticket border die and rustic twine, Derwent watercolor pencils

So, that's my page. Now it's time for you to study and create! :) And be sure to use Keyword ABCSCRC11 when posting in any galleries. Also, please leave a link to your creation here using Inlinkz! To see all of our previous lessons, please visit this post here. You may want to bookmark that page so you can easily find all of the studies for this year.

And in closing for today, remember that whatever comes your way in 2011, God knows what you are going through. He has a purpose behind it. Anchor yourself to Him daily, and know that in time “this storm will pass” and you will have grown with Him through it. He can provide strength in any circumstance. He is our anchor, our security, our hope. Many blessings to you,

Our Daily Bread Designs {Challenge 42}

Who likes recipes? Well, me, for cooking--no. I don't like to cook. LOL! But for papercrafting--oooh, I love recipes!!!!! And for our challenge today, we have the "We Three Kings Recipe" for you! What is the "We Three Kings Recipe" you ask? Well, you get to create something fun using three or more of the following items in this recipe: silver, red, blue, poinsettia, snowflake, ornament (it can include an ornament or you can create your own).

So, for the challenge, I used four of the items in the recipe. I used silver embossing powder, red, poinsettias from my Memory Box patterned paper, and I created an ornament. Whew! I didn't think I would end up using so much but I did, and it was fun! My ornament uses the new ODBD stamp set called "Ornaments" and the matching Spellbinders die called "Heirloom Ornaments." I also layered the entire piece with the Spellbinders Lacey Circles die. And as a side note, did you know that ODBD has been chosen by Spellbinders Paper Arts as a Preferred Stamp Partner. This means that ODBD will create stamps that are perfectly paired with Spellbinders products. How cool is that? Be watching because I will be sharing about the new Spellbinders Grand Calibur machine soon! Now here is my "recipe" creation:
Papers: Memory Box Tinsel, Memory Box Mistletoe
Stamps: Our Daily Bread Designs Ornaments
Stamp Ink: Tim Holtz Distress embossing ink, forest moss, and aged mahogany; Ranger silver embossing tinsel
Embellishments: Stickles frosted lace, Spellbinders heirloom ornament die and lacey circles die, Robin's Nest silver dew drop, Prismacolor crimson lake pencil, tulle from Hobby Lobby

This ornament was super difficult to photograph. I took over 30 photos, and this was the best one I could get. I really love this ornament but sure didn't enjoy photographing it. LOL!

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

Chris Olsen
Chris Dickinson
Francie Gumprecht
Sabrina Jackson

This will be our last challenge before the holidays. Our winner will be announced on Sunday, December 26. Our first challenge for 2011 will be on January 8. I will be ending my term as a Challenge Design Team member but I am not leaving ODBD! Whew! I am thankful for that!!! Thank you Kelley! I will be starting something new with ODBD, and I can't wait to share with you in the new year! Be watching, and thank you Kelley for the fun new opportunity!

Now, 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 uploaded your creations to Mister Linky in the same post by Thursday, December 23rd, at 8 p.m. EST to be eligible! Remember to use Keyword ODBDSLC42 when posting to online galleries. Enjoy the recipe, and happy crafting!