New Project

Good afternoon Y'all!   I pray that this update finds each and every one of y'all in a great way!   I hope the weather is pleasant where you are and that Spring is full on.   I know that some are still dealing with snow and ice and all kinds of weird weather, but I still believe God is in control of all of it.   If nothing else, this past Winter and early Spring is proving that God certainly has a sense of humor.   So much for "global warming"!   In a couple of months, we will have forgotten all about the up and down carnival ride we have had with the weather and we will be complaining about how hot it is.   Just you wait and see.   hahaha

The growing and blooming of all things Spring, as beautiful as it is, it has awaken my allergies and I am in a pickle with them.   When I get a little head congestion it seems as if my vertigo kicks in and I'm dizzy and nauseous and not very steady on my feet.   I have had minor symptoms for a couple of weeks but this week it has ramped up and I'm in a bad place with vertigo.   I just get in my nest when my husband leaves for work and that's pretty much where I stay.   I can get up and do around a little, but not very much and I get unsteady on my feet and very nauseous.   I do cherish your prayers as I try to get back on my feet.

I went to a baby shower over the weekend for a dear friend of mine who is gonna be a grandma for the first time.   It was such a lovely shower.   Lots of people and lots of wonderful gifts for the baby.   I never seen as much stuff.   I have been praying that she gets everything she needs for the short term, anyway.   There may be an item or two that she still needs, but hopefully, when all is said and done, she will have enough gift cards and cash to put towards what she still needs.

I made a tag similar to the one I made earlier for a bridal shower.   I am loving this steel rule postage stamp die from Sizzix.   It is wonderful for a tag.  I always make mine three layers thick, so it is beefier, much beefier than a one layer tag.   I use deco cardstock for both sides and a piece of chipboard/cereal box on the inside.   I run both pieces of deco cardstock thru my 510 Xyron machine.   Apply both pieces to the chipboard and then cut out my postage stamp tag.   I am not advising you to do yours like I did.   I am just telling that's how I did mine.   Once I get it cut out, I use a marker closest to the color of deco cardstock and color the edge all around the tag so no white is showing.   I punch a hole in one corner for all the threads and ribbons to loop thru.   I love to use a crackle background stamp and stamp all over one side of it.   Then I use what ever stamps I want to use and put images or sayings on it.   Then I love to make rosettes and put them on my tag.   For this particular one, I made an envelope with my envelope maker, the size of a gift card,  and put it on the back to put my gift in.   I did take a few pics and I hope you enjoy looking.

My baby images did not stand out really well because my background was really dark.   But, I still really liked the finished outcome.   There are some little baby duckies punched out and popped on there.   One of my dear friends gave me that little punch and it was perfect to use to put some on the tag.

The rosette is a six pointed star rosette.   You cut two pieces and join them to make the rosette.   

I used an ink pad over the top of the rosette to add some color to it and then inked up the white spot that I put on the top.   I cut the little length of cardstock to put my punched out "congratulations" from Spellbinders.   My Cuttlebug got a lot of use with this little project. 

This is the little envelope I made to attach to the back of the tag.   I dug around and found a pre-made sticker to seal the envelope with.

I cut several pieces of ribbon and threads and looped thru the hole I punched up in the corner.   It is a quite simple project and I enjoyed making it.   It is one of those "instant gratification" projects that I love to do.   It doesn't take a long time to make, but it kinda makes a statement once you get it made.   I love learning and every time I do a project I learn something.   I definitely learned to be aware of the colors that I use for my backgrounds, otherwise, my images that I stamp may not show up very well, or at least as much as I would love for it to show up.  Anyway, this is what I done and I hope you enjoyed seeing it.

As I leave you this afternoon, I ask you, have you ever been angry, about anything?   Sure you have!   We all have!    Ok, fess up, admit it, you have been angry.   Anger is not necessarily a bad thing.   It is a normal reaction to many different situations.   But, one of the things about anger, is that it is so easy to sin while we are angry.   Most of us have really never learned how to deal with our anger and not sin.   Why is that?   Basically, because it IS NOT EASY!!!   It may be one of the hardest things that we will ever do,  is to be angry and NOT sin.    The only way we will ever have any success at "being angry and not sin" is to have a close relationship with Jesus Christ.   We certainly can not do it on our own.   But, Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus and this is what he said to them;

Ephesians 4:26-27, "26 Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and don’t give the Devil an opportunity."  

A lot of people don't put a whole lot of weight and authority in the teachings of Paul.   I believe that if we believe in Jesus Christ in any way; if we believe that any part of the Holy Scripture is God inspired, then we can't pick and choose what we believe.   We either believe it all or we believe none of it.   I personally believe that every word that Paul wrote was inspired to him personally by Jesus Christ.   Paul was an Apostle of Jesus Christ and he was adamant about correcting the heresy in the early churches.   Praise God for Paul!!!

Most of the time when we are dealing with anger, for any matter, we either suppress or express it.   Neither way is the way for Christians to deal with anger.  Suppressed anger builds up like poison and expressed anger usually involves verbal or physical attacks in some way.   Paul suggests us to recognize anger and to deal with it before the sun goes down on it.   Why in the world would Paul say "before the sun goes down on it"?   Because if you have time to stew and churn over it, it will become an even greater problem tomorrow.   Why?   If we don't deal with it before the sun goes down, then the enemy will get in on the situation and what was a petty issue will become a major situation giving you the opportunity sin.   How many lives have been lost due to unresolved anger?   How much misery exists in the world today because of unresolved anger?  Only God knows.    Every sin starts in the mind.    We have the opportunity to deal with while it is but a thought.   Give that thought to God and let Him deal with it for you.    I don't know who needed this today, besides me, but I pray that if you have an issue with anger, you will give it to the One who can deal with, because I know I can't and I doubt if you can deal with it on your own.   Let go and let God!

I hope y'all have a wonderful rest of the day and a great nights rest for a very special day tomorrow.   God love's y'all and so do I.   Please come back real soon.

I hope and pray that Ladybug is having a great week.  Sweet Pea loves you!

Much love and hugs till next time, 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