A couple of Sympathy Cards

Good morning Y'all.    It is approximately 9:55 am and it is gloomy and rainy and windy here.    We did have a couple of really beautiful days here and so happy and thankful for those.    It doesn't take long to get spoiled to the wonderful weather, does it?    Then, reality sets in and bad weather is our friend, once again.    I am reminded that, "This too, shall pass."    I sure hope it does, and soon.    I have friends in other parts of the U.S. that are still dealing with bitter cold temps.    I continue to lift my friends in prayer and hopefully, soon, it will be warmer and nicer weather for these folks.    Hang in there my friends.

I have been in my craft room playing and recently, I had to make a couple of sympathy cards for some very dear friends.    Never something that we ever want to have to make, but death is a part of life and if our family and friends are in a relationship with Father God through the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, then, we know that they have gone home to be with Lord.     We all have experienced the hurt caused by the death of a loved one.     That doesn't make it any easier at the time we are going through it, but knowing other people care does help.     So, I wanted to make a couple of cards.    Here is how they turned out.

The first pic is of them side by side.   The second pic shows the one on which I used my Spellbinder Shapabilities Die D'lites two layer cross.    I cut it with my Cuttlebug and used my Inka Gold metallic rub, purple on the bottom layer and silver on the top layer.    I used my Tim Holtz distressing tool and roughed up the edges of the light purple cardstock mat I used, then used a marker to color the edges, before placing it on the darker purple mat, which I then placed on the card front.

The third pic is of the inside front of the card.   I used a scripture stamp and a church that was cut out form StampinUp punch that my friend at church uses sometimes when we make cards at church for the Card Making Ministry.    I punched out two or three extras the last time we used her punch and have been saving them for such a card.

The fourth pic is of the second card.   I have a set of Sizzix thin dies and they are square scallops in five different sizes.    I think this was the largest size.    I stamped my image and then used my water color pencils and blender pen.   I then used my die and Cuttlebug and cut out the image.    I did not want a square image, so I relocated the die on the edge of the stamped piece, just realigning the scallops on the sides and cut it again turning it into a rectangle instead of the square.    I inked the edges and attached it to the card front.   Then I stamped my sentiment and found a dove image and stamped it in a light gray color.

The bottom pic is of the inside card front.   I used a stamp that looks like an iron cross and stamped it in blue and then the sentiment at the bottom of the inside card front.

I enjoyed making the cards, just not the reason for which I was making them.    When I am making a card specifically for someone, that's when I can have the opportunity to pray for them while I am making it and it strengthens my relationship with Father God, knowing He hears my prayers.

Psalm 46:10 says "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth."

Do you ever have to just "be still"?    Sometimes, I do.   And here lately has been one of those times when I have had to just "be still and know that God is God" in my life.    When the hustle and bustle of every day life gets to be so loud that I can't hear the Lord, for all the other noise, I have to "be still", and get back to that place of hearing God in the stillness.    Sometimes, being a people pleaser, I put the requests of others higher on my list than I should and it makes for a noisy and busy existence and nothing gets done.    If you know what I'm talking about, hit the stop button, "be still and know that God is God" in your life, too.     As Christians, we are called to serve others, but when serving others looses it's joy, we may have to step back for a little while, until we can hear God clearly again.

I hope and pray the rest of your day is absolutely splendid, regardless of what it looks like outside, I hope and pray you have a "Son"-filled heart on the inside!

I hope y'all have enjoyed your visit today.   If you have, tell someone about it and maybe they will enjoy it also.     Just know that God loves you and wants to have a right relationship with you through the provision He has made, and that provision is Jesus Christ.    

God loves y'all, and so do I!  Blessings of peace, love and stillness. Hugs, Patty

Poly Shrink - first attempt

Good evening y'all.    How's the weather where you are?     I do hope and pray that everyone's weather is getting better.     The highest it got here today was 37* and the ice and snow did do a little melting.     If the forecast holds true, it should be up to about 53* tomorrow.      Yay!!!!      I will be doing a louder Yay if the temp does actually reach the anticipated 53*.       If you hear someone yelling tomorrow, it may be me, yelling with joy as the ice and snow melts.     When it gets a little warmer, we will have the cleanup to do of the pine tree limbs in front of the garage.      While they are still weighted down with ice and snow, we are kinda leery of getting beneath the trees to move the limbs.    Could cause some more branches to shed off the trees and onto us.     Not something we want to do.

Here back I had ordered some "10 mil Polyshrink artist's grade shrink plastic" made by Lucky Squirrel.     I have never played with any shrink plastic, ever.     So, I didn't know what to expect.    I didn't know how the end results should look.      I knew nothing what so ever about it.      Basically, a big shot in the dark for me.     I did say it was "10 mil".    Realistically, that means nothing to me.     I know it has to do with the thickness.     When most people are speaking of shrink plastic, it is usually in the terms of 0.07 or 0.05 thicknesses, I think, but this was "10 mil".     I ordered black and clear.    I have only experimented with the black.  I did remember to try to take pics along the way as I played with it.

So, without further ado, I will show the pics and tell you a little of what I done in each step.     It was fun, but I still don't know if it turned out right or not.

I just wanted to show you what the pkg actually said about the thickness.   

Here, I had used my cuttlebug and Tim Holtz sizzix tattered floral bigz die to cut my pieces and also a sizzix mover and shaper die of a bow.    I used a piece of sandpaper on the pieces before I colored them, per instructions.    I used three colors of my Inka gold metallic rub, gold silver and purple.    I love that stuff.    It actually has bees wax in it and it blends and rubs on so wonderfully.     I colored each piece and also took some of the scrap and cut it into small bits with my scissors and placed it all on a piece of cardboard, as the instructions says to do.

The above pic shows the shrunken pieces on the card board.    I don't know if you can tell how thick they became, but they are about the thickness of the quarter that I used just to show scale.    The instructions says it shrinks down to about  45% of it original size.      So, it actually shrinks 55%.     More than half it's original size.

This is an up close shot of one of the flowers and a piece of scrap in the back.

Another flower, up close.   Notice how the coloring became scaly.

This is the smallest of the flowers on the die.     It actually cuts out about the size of a quarter, but it shrank down to smaller than a dime.     And a couple of other scraps.

This is the shrunk pieces laying on top of the box that the die came in showing the full size cut of the three largest flowers.      The flower at the bottom of the pic became very distorted and it wasn't even salvageable, so I tossed it.

So, the above pic is just after I put a coating of glossy accents on it to preserve the flaky coloring.

This one is after the glossy accents had dried.

I think they look pretty cool, but I haven't figured out how to use them yet.    Maybe on a 3d box or something like that.     

I will be trying it some more with other dies and seeing what else I can come up with.      These shrank so much, that I don't know how one could use it in jewelry, since you have to make a hole in before you put it in the oven.     It would have to be one honkin' big hole to keep it from just disappearing when placed in the oven.      So, I just don't know.     As I said, this is my first experience what so ever with plastic shrink.      I may have to get a diff brand to try just to see if it does anything diff or more of the same.      I can't say whether I like it or dislike it.    The flowers are cool, though.

That's it for this go around.   I hope you may find this useful in some way.    If not useful, maybe a little entertaining.    hahaha     I hope you have a wonderful rest of the evening and a great night.

Before I leave you, I want to leave you with a fav scripture of mine.

Matthew 7:7  Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

Who are you dependent on; what are you yearning for; and how persistent are you?     Are your prayers based on the fulfillment of God's purposes in you life?    We should never give up seeking God.    We should ask God for more knowledge, love, wisdom, patience, understanding.    When we ask God for what He desires to give us, then He will answer those prayers.    When we keep on asking and keep on seeking and keep on knocking, then we show our faith, our focus and our follow-through.    So, as a follower of Christ, I keep asking, seeking and knocking on a daily basis.    I want to be open to God for His guidance and instructions for my life.    I hope you do to.

God bless y'all and hope to see you right back here real soon.   Hugs and much love, Patty

Tag for a Shower

Good evening y'all!   I do hope that you are enjoying a fabulous Saturday with the one you love.   I know I am.   I hope you are having some sunshine today.  The weather, now that is a subject and a half, isn't it?    We got up this morning with an inch or so of snow and when the sun came out it really blasted the snow away.    But, it still feels really cold.    I keep having warm, spring thoughts and that brings on hot flashes, (hahahaha) so I just believe I will quit thinking about the weather and play in my craft room.   How's that?   Sounds like a plan to me.

So, play in my craft room, I did!   We are having a Bridal Shower for one of our young ladies at church tomorrow after morning services.   I had gotten her gift and started to just go ahead and buy the usual small note card to go on it with some kind of bow.   I thought, naaa, don't want to do that.   I'll see what I can come up with, and then if necessary, I'll buy something.   So I took out my Cuttlebug and some dies and a couple of hours later, here's what I had. 

This is what I came up with.   Yes, it is very non-conventional, but you know what, so am I.   I took 2 sheets of 4x6, lite purple cardstock and ran one sheet of it thru my Xyron machine and then stuck the two pieces together to beef up the weight of it.   I used my Sizzix postage stamp die and cut it.   The cross is Spellbinders d-lite die.    The heart is a Nellie Snellen die.   The round rosette on top of the heart is a small Sizzix rosette. 

I punched a hole in the upper right hand corner of the stamp tag and pulled a loop of all the yarns through the hole and the pulled the ends through the loop and snugged them down on the corner.   You can't see the yarns very well, but you will in another pic.

I laid the tag on top of the gift and taped it on with tape across the threads of yarn at the top of the tag and then popped the heart on with dimensional foam.   She should be able to take both off and be able to save them if she so desires.

I was thrilled with the way the heart came out.   I took one of my little ink pads and inked the top  and the edges of the rosette after I had put them together.   If I had it to do over again, I would ink all the edges as soon as I took them from the cuttlebug.   Then I would have inked them again, after I was done with it.   But, I am still happy with the overall affect.   Then I put a piece of bling on the very top of the rosette.   Hey, you know me, gotta have a little bling! ggg

I love this cross from Spellbinders.   I punched that out of just plain old Georgia Pacific cardstock.   Why?   That's what I had.   I took my Viva Decor Inka Gold in violet and rubbed that on, then I took the silver, same product, and buffed that over the violet.   I absolutely love that stuff!   Then I put a small half pearl in each corner of the cross.

On the background of the cardstock itself, I took a stamp called "crackled background" by Delta and inked it up in red and stamped all over the stamp after I cut it out.   I also used a Dew Drop satiny silver on the edges.  I really like the way it turned out.   The red on the lite purple looks really neat.  

I used my new fiskars stamp helper thingy, I forgot what it's called, and stamped the "congratulations" on first.  Then I had another unmounted stamp.   It is red rubber on a thin gray foam pad with no reverse image, so, I got it off kilter some.   Believe it or not, I never even noticed it, until I seen the pics.   I was ready to smack myself silly.  Then I remembered, nothing about me is perfect, why should I expect everything I do to be perfect.   I ain't, it ain't!   So, there you go.

I thought this scripture is perfect for any bride and most surely for this precious young lady.

This is the last pic and I took the tag threads and brought them to the top so you could see them a little better.   I was really pleased with the overall finish of my project today.    It did not start out to be a blog post, but hey, what can I say?   I was so stinkin' excited I had to share it with y'all!   As always, I appreciate your looking at my project and I hope you can use it as inspiration or ideas.

As I leave you this evening, I desire to remind you of this, "The only safe place to build your life is on God's Word."   That goes along with our Sunday School Lesson for tomorrow.   As a matter of fact, it is the point of the lesson.   We live in a world that believes in no "absolute" standards of right and wrong, but, God IS the standard!   The way we live our lives, is based totally on our belief system. If God is first place in your life, it will show, if He isn't, that will show also.   I challenge you to read God's Word for five minutes a day.   I challenge you to start with the book of John.    John talks about the deity of Jesus Christ.   I love the book of John for that reason.   I challenge you to read it deliberately and slowly, letting what you read sink in to your soul.    That's the best way to build your life on God's Word and it's also a great place to be, in God's Word.    Ok, y'all, who's up for a challenge?   Call it the "Love Challenge".   Let's take this challenge, y'all!    You are loved!    Jesus Christ is our One, True Love! 

Hugs Y'all, and much love, Patty

Happy February and a Project

Good evening, Y'all!!!   Tell me something, if you can.    WHERE in the world did January go?????    I went to bed last night and it was Christmas Eve, and I get up this morning and it's February 1st!   Wow, Wow,Wow!!!   That's what it feels like anyway.   We are already a full month into 2014.   But, when I stop and remind myself that I am not the keeper of time and God is, then it's ok.   The one thing I am responsible for is trying to make good use of the time that God has graciously alotted me.   I have had to opportunity to study and dig deeper into the Word of God in preparation for teaching Sunday School Class for the next four Sundays.   I have had the opportunity to speak with and share with dear friends.   I have had the opportunity to pray for those around me that are sick, hurting, and have lost loved ones.   When we lose someone close to us, we may not know how to deal with that loss.   God does.   So, if you have lost a loved one or a dear friend, ask God to help you deal with that pain and loss, and He will.   There are many ways of making good use of the time that God has graciously given us, and these are just a few ways that I have been using my time.    I have also been crafting, that is also time that I get to spend with the Lord, so I really enjoy that time.

The project I want to share with y'all today is another challenge.   This particular challenge was to create a Valentines card and NOT use the typical red and pink colors.    Ok y'all, I'm gonna let y'all in on a secret, I love PURPLE!!!   There was a little lady in the Bible that was the seller of purple cloth.    That is where my love of purple comes from.    As Paul Harvey always said, "now you know the rest of the story".    So, y'all, I love purple and that was the color I chose for my card.   I had a fun time with this project.   Challenges can get you out of your comfort zone.    So, I did take a few pics and wanted to share them with you.

The above pic shows all the items that I used on this card other than the card stock.   I really enjoy using my Cuttlebug for a lot of things.   It does speed the process up if I am just doing a small project, like this.    I  am going to let y'all in on a really good tip.   If you have a manual cutter and can use the sizzix dies, check out the Sizzix website on a regular basis.    See that red box with the clear lid on it, it is a set of alphabets, Pep Squad is the name of it.   That is a $150.00 dollar set of alphas that I got for $4.99.  Yes, you read that right, I got that for 499 pennies!    They have such wonderful deals from time to time.    I really probably should not tell y'all, you won't leave any deals for me. ggggg  

The above two pics are close ups of the products I used.    If you click on the pics, it will give you a larger shot so you can get a better view of the items.    The heart on the end is a sizzix embosslit.    It cuts and embosses in one pass thru the machine.

So, this is the front of the card.   The cardstock I used has thread fibers in it.   You can't tear the cardstock, it has to be cut with scissors.   I cut two of the silver hearts and used one on the outside and I put my "u" on it.    I used the lower case of the alpha for all my letters.   I cut the key hole section from plain white cardstock.   Then I put a base coat of the Inka Gold Metallic Rub on it and then buffed it.   It needed something else, so I finally decided on the Ferro Special Effects Paste.   It really was a hit or miss, but I really liked the way it turned out.

On the inside of the card, on the backside of the front, is where I put my keys with a little knot of purple seam binding tied around each key and then glued them down.    Did I say I love purple?    The keys are cut from black glitter stock.  Can I just say, I love the black glitter stock.   It is fab.

This is the inside of the card, the bottom portion, where your verse or sentiment is usually placed.   I wanted to leave room for a personal message to my "Valentine". ggg    I also used my clear star Sakura gelly roll pen to add a little sparkle to the purple letters. 

Ok, so this is a close up of the key hole section.    The Ferro Special Effects Paste looks like cement, kinda.   It actually has ground stone in it and you can really see it close up.    I just love the stuff, and I wondered when I bought it, if I would even use it.    YES, is the resounding answer.    When it dried really good, it has the look and feel of really old metal of some sort.

You can see the black in that key hole and that is a scrap of the black glitter stock.    I didn't know what to put that special effects paste on with, so I just stuck my finger in it and started smearing it on.   hahaha     I wouldn't recommend you doing it that way.    (My finger hasn't fallen off yet, so I guess it will be ok.)   ggggg

I used liquid pearls to make my little nail heads on my key hole and also for some little bling spots on the front of my card.     Up in the top two or three pics, you will see a tube of Aileens tacky glue.   It is actually pen-like.   You can sort of write the glue on the back of something and it really sticks like "stink"!    I love it.    I hope you have enjoyed seeing this project.    It was a very satisfying project to finish.   I made a dimensional envelope to put it in along with an easel.

February is known as the month of Love.    There is no greater love, known to man, than the love that Jesus Christ has for you and me!    If you know the love of Jesus Christ personally, you know how precious that is.    We all have people in our circles of influence that need to know that same love.    God has placed those people in our lives for a reason.    Are we willing to share the love of Jesus Christ with them?    It's one thing to know Christ, it's a totally different thing to share Christ.    Share the ultimate Valentine, Jesus Christ with someone you love.  I promise, neither of you will regret it.

That's all I have for y'all this evening, Valentines.   So, meet me back here in a few days for another great project and hopefully y'all will have told someone about Jesus Christ and you can tell me about it.    That's the plan, my friends, until then, God bless each and every one of y'all.

Hugs and much love to all of you, Patty

Pics of some Swaps posted

Good afternoon Y'all!   I trust that you are enjoying this beautiful Lord's Day today!   How truly awesome it is to Praise God for His tender love and mercy, Y'all!   We had a great worship service at church this morning and I look forward to a wonderful time of praise, worship and Bible study this evening. 

I wanted to pop in and share a few pics of some swaps I was in for January.   I had a great time with these swaps.   It was just a few short months ago that I joined my first swap of all time.   Can I just say, "Y'all, I'm addicted", but I must also say, it's a great addiction.   It is part of my quiet time, alone time with the Lord.   So, I love it.   I also get to pray for whom ever receives my swap.   That makes my crafting so meaningful.   I know that any skill or talent I may have came from the Lord of my life, and I praise Him for that.

So, without any further ado, here are some of my pics:

The picture above is my tag that is all about Love .   I cut the tag on my Silhouette and then the hearts are a Sizzix sizzlit, (I believe) and it is a cut and emboss hinged die.  It does it all in one pass.  Pretty neat.   The little xo on top and the small heart in the middle and the ticket stub on the bottom were pieces I had bought.  They were in 13 inch strips for borders, so I snipped what I needed and used some more on another swap.  I really had fun with this.

The above pic is the image I put on the back of my tag.  I just wanted to gussie it up a little bit, too.   I had printed out several vintage images and used one.   I inked the edges and also darkened the whole image just a tad to give it a more vintage look.

The above pic is of my ATC swap.   You will see some more of one of the borders I used.  I snipped off two of the xo's and used on these.   I had posted a mini tutorial back earlier in the month showing how to put small pieces in an embossing folder and keeping them from moving with a very tiny piece  of scor tape.  Well, the ATC's is what I used those on.  They are in the very center of the card.   I just wanted an element with embossing on it.   I cut the letters out with my Silhouette.   They cut like butta'.   I had gotten some Viva Decor Inka Gold Metallic Rub for Christmas in 5 diff colors.   The edges of the ATC's have four of those colors on them.   Gotta love me some Viva Decor!   Love that stuff, Y'all!

The last swap was a shaped Valentine card.   I had gotten this card from the Silhouette store and thought it was perfect for what I needed.   My Silhouette, again done a beautiful job.   The white pieces you see were cut with my Cuttlebug and various dies.   I believe that all of those pieces was cut with diff Spellbinder or Sizzix thin dies.   You see some really small hearts scattered around on the interior of this card.   They came from the exterior of the card which you will see in the next pic or two.   They were the perfect size to just pop on here and there.

See, you can see where all those little hearts were cut from.   It was such a shame to think about tossing them, so, I glued them on and them glittered them up.   Oh yeah, you knew I would get around to bling!   Love me some bling!   I also used my perfect pearls and went around the scalloped edge with gold.   More bling, y'all!   hehehe

Since my card wasn't a regular sized card, I needed to make an envelope for it.  So the above pic shows my envelope.   Then, I took out one of my embossing folders and my Grand Calibur because it has a larger area and got the folder just so on the flap and embossed with my Sizzix heart folder.   I enjoyed how that turned out.

Ok, so for this last pic, I decided my card needed a closure of some kind to hold it shut.   I had mentioned about some borders I had purchased and used some of this one.   I took what was left and folded it in half and glued it together and a made a band to go around it to keep it closed.   All of my swaps had purple in them.   Y'all, I love purple, what can I say?   So, I used purple and pink colors.   I think purple and pink says "Love" as much as red does.  

Well, that is the pics of my swaps and the story behind them, and I'm stickin' to it.   gggg   I hope and pray that my swap recipients enjoy them just half as much as I enjoyed making them.   Oh, and stay tuned, because I have some more pics of projects and you DO NOT want to miss them! (hehehe)

As I leave you this evening, I leave you with a message from Jesus, "I Love You, my child!"    No other person will ever love you as much as Jesus loves you!    Jesus is the best Valentine anyone could ever give or receive.   So, as we are thinking towards Valentines Day in February, that is my Valentine to you.

John 3:16-For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

I pray that you will accept this Valentine in the spirit in which it is offered, LOVE!   Jesus loves y'all and so do I!   God bless y'all every day in every way!

Good evening and Hugs y'all,  Patty 

Getting Crafty.....again

Hello Y'all!   It seems like it has been forever since I updated my blog.   I have been under the weather since before Christmas and am finally on the upswing now!   Praise the Lord!!!   I do hope and pray that each of you had a blessed and Merry Christmas!   I hope that you found time in your busyness to thank God for all He has done for you and for the Greatest Gift that has ever been bestowed upon humanity, Jesus Christ!

Since I have been feeling a little better, I thought I would take time to make a thank you card for a friend at church that went "above and beyond" for me.   A card isn't quite enough, but, I hope that it is an expression of my gratitude for her and all she does for others.   I am always so thankful, but sometimes I don't take the time to express my thankfulness.   That will be a goal of mine for 2014, is just to take the time to express my thankfulness to God, first; and then, everyone else.

Anyway, this is the card I made.

I used a new Sizzix die, the scalloped card die.  And I also used a new little die that I got from somewhere, I can't remember right off the top of my head.  It may have been either Blitsy or Melissa Samuels, I just don't remember.  But it is a cross.   I really like it a lot!   I used Viva Inka Gold Metallic Rub on the cross, let it dry and buffed it a little.   Then, I used a Colorbok verdigris color on the edges of the cross.

Then I blinged it up a little and made a easel to sit it on.   I even inked the edge of the card a little.   I am not one to do anything and keep it pristine.   I like to add a little grunge to everything.   I inked and grunged up the easel also, and put a little bling on it.   Gotta love a little bling.   The cross actually looks like its made of metal.  I really love the look.   Sure hope you enjoyed seeing it!

Just one more day and we will be saying good by to an old friend, 2013, and welcoming a new and strange friend in, 2014.   I hope you look back at 2013 with gratitude and thanksgiving.   Thanking God for the year and all that it brought to your life.   I pray that we will all look with great expectations to 2014!  Not with great expectations of what we are going to do, but with great expectations of what God is going to do for us, and through us.  God wants to do much "for" each of us.   God also wants to do much "through" each us.   God wants us to be vessels through whom He can bless others.

I know some of the greatest blessings in my life have come through people who have allowed themselves to used by God to minister to me.   That is such an awesome blessing in many ways, when we allow ourselves to be used by God to minister to those around us.   Think of the ways that God wants to use you for His purpose, to bless those around you.

I pray that 2014 will be a year that we will choose to live purposefully, thoughtfully, and intentionally, every day of our lives.  That is one of my goals for the year; to be on task every day for the purpose of serving God first and then others.   I pray that it is one of yours, also. 

May God bless you all.   Thank you so much for being a part of my life this year and I pray that you have been able to take a little something away from each visit that you made.    I look forward to 2014 with each and every one of you walking beside me.

Hugs and much love, y'all!   Patty