Happy New Year & Mini Tutorial

Happy New Year, Y'all!!!!   (toots and honks)    That was me blowing my party blowers.   hahaha   I do hope and pray that this day finds each and every one of you happy, healthy and warm.   It is pretty cold here, in my neck of the woods.   I really don't like days when the temp doesn't get above freezing, but, since I don't have any control over the weather, I'll stay in and be thankful to God that we have heat!   That sounds like a plan, doesn't it! 

Since it has been so cold, I've been trying to get a start on some of the swaps that I will be in for the month of January and some projects in general.   For one of my projects, I cut rectangles that were 1&1/2" wide by 2&3/4" long.   I used my Martha Stewart Corner rounder and rounded the corners.   Then I was going to use my Swiss Dots Cuttlebug Embossing folder on those little rectangles.   My hands are quite shaky these days and I couldn't get them to line up and stay put while I got my sandwich made for the cuttlebug.   So,,,,,,I thought and thought, and I had a plan in no time.   And, I really wanted to share it with y'all.   Hopefully, no one else has shaky hands, but, if you do, never fear, there's hope.   Here's what I done:

In the above pic, I turned my pieces over to the back side and put on very small pieces of scor-tape, less than a half inch.    I tried to make the pieces of scor-tape about a quarter inch.

In the above pic, I got my embossing folder ready and peeled the release paper from the scor-tape and placed my shapes on the folder and kept the release paper.

In the above pic, I have ran my folder thru my cuttlebug and embossed my images.  You can see that it shows up nicely.

In the above, final pic, I have taken the images, ""very carefully"", off the embossing folder, and then I replaced the release paper back over the tape.  The small piece of tape held it to the embossing folder very nicely.   When I get ready to apply those images to my project, I will just apply more scor-tape and I will be good to go.   This will definitely be something I will do in the future.

There is always something we can do to help ourselves and others to be able to craft better, quicker, and easier.   This is certainly something I will use more often, now, especially when I am embossing many pieces and don't want to do them all, one at a time.    I do hope and pray you found this useful in your crafting.    Even if you don't have shaky hands, this could still be useful when embossing a lot of small pieces with the same embossing folder.

One of my sisters in Christ texted me last night and we chatted back and forth for a while, and in the midst of our texting, she sent me this Scripture.   I love it!   We serve a praiseworthy God!!!!

 –Eph. 3:20-21 (NIV)
20.Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, 21. to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

This is what this scripture means to me:    Paul wrote this passage in praise and worship of how valuable God is in our lives.   We can't really even begin to imagine all that God is able to do.   No matter what your situation looks like with human eyes, take another look, with faith, and you will see, "Where God is, Hope is, also!!!!"   "God IS Able!!!!"   Praise the Lord!


I hope and pray that this year will be a great year for all of y'all!   Just know that y'all are loved and appreciated!

God Bless Y'all, hugs and much love, Patty

Finishing on a high note!!!

Good evening y'all!   I wanted to finish 2013 on a high and positive note.   I have another small project to share with you this evening.   One of my friends from a Secret Santa Swap gave me a beautiful Christian Stamp set for one of my gifts.   I really love the set of stamps.   Well, I wanted to be able to layer a stamp with a shape of the stamp.

So, what I done to remedy that was peeled all the stamps off the mylar film that has the black images of the stamps on it.   I placed it on my scanner with a sheet of white cardstock on top of it so the images would pop when scanned.   Then I brought the scanned images up in my Silhouette Studio Designer Edition and I just done a trace of the images and then I done an offset of 0.175 with each image.   Now, I can just cut the shapes and stamp them, water color them and pop them on  a card front.   Another thing I done was to take the original offset of 0.175 and done another offset of it at 0.175 again and that gave me a layered effect and I really like that.  Here are some pics. 

This first pic is of each stamp cut twice, and then one of them has another offset cut beneath the stamped image and that one then will be layered.

The one above is of the cross with the flowers and lilies and then the word Rejoice.   I inked the edges of the bottom layer and when I put it on the front of a card, because the edges were inked, they will really pop.

The same thing on these.   I used water color pencils and then a water brush to blend the colors on all of the top layers.   Then inked the edges of all the bottom layers.

I hope you enjoyed seeing these.   I can't wait to do more just like these.   It really adds a new dimension to stamps for me now.

I pray for each of you to have a safe and Happy New Year.   I hope that 2014 is the best year ever for all of us!   I pray that if you haven't asked God to be the driving force in your life, then 2014 is your year to do just that.   It's not easy living your life based on the principals and precepts of God, but it is rewarding.   The sinful world does not like it when someone makes life choices based on who God is to them.   We all make choices, every day, whether we realize it or not.

Joshua 24:15     English Standard Version (ESV)
15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. "But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Joshua chose well and he set a great example for the people of his generation and for the people of this generation.    We have to choose whom we will serve.  Not making a choice IS making a choice!   Choose wisely.

God bless you as we close up 2013!   God bless you more as we usher in 2014!!!   Thank you for hanging out with me this year and I look forward to hanging out with y'all next year!

Blessings, Love 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

Merry Christmas

Good evening y'all!  I hope and pray that this post finds y'all healthy, happy, and joyfully awaiting the celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.   As we nestle down and get settled in for the evening, I know there is a lot of last minute stirring of Christmas preparations.  Packages, cooking, tucking children in for the arrival of Santa Claus tonight.  Lots of fun will be had by children of all ages.  From 1 day old to 100 years old, Christmas is still a wonderful time of the year.

I wanted to take the time to remind all of us of the true meaning of Christmas.  The One birth that truly changed the world.  I just hope and pray before Christmas is over we will all take the time to read Luke's account of the birth of Christ.

Luke 2

Christ Born of Mary

1 And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3 So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.

4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. 6 So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Glory in the Highest

8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

14 “Glory to God in the highest,  And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

15 So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. 17 Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. 18 And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.

I love Luke's account of the Birth of Jesus Christ.  The Angel of the Lord appeared to who?  Get this, the sheep herders, the lowest of the low.  Everyone looked down on the shepherds.  Look at verses 9 and 10.  The Angel of the Lord appeared before the shepherds!  The greatest announcement the world would ever hear, God chose to make that announcement to the shepherds!  God didn't make that announcement to the heads of states, or to the people that thought they were of great importance, or even to the "religious" crowd.  God made that announcement to the common, low, uncared for people.  Why?  Because they needed Hope!

If the birth of Jesus Christ would have been announced to the heads of state, Caesar Augustus and others, the common people would never have heard that they, too, had hope.  We ALL are included in verse 10!

What did the shepherds do in verse 15? They went straight way to Bethlehem to see exactly what the Angel of the Lord had spoken of.  They searched out the Babe.  They did not stop till they had seen with their own eyes what the Angel had spoken of and about what the multitude of heavenly hosts was praising God for.

Get a good grip of what the shepherds had just seen.  The Angel of the Lord appeared to them; the multitude of heavenly hosts had praised God right in front of them; and Christ Jesus in a manger.  We can get a glimpse into the number of the multitude of heavenly hosts.  A heavenly host is a number that is as numerous as the stars in the sky, now multiply that by whatever a multitude is!  Multiples of the numbers of the stars in the sky.  I don't know what your take away is from this scene, but I have come to the conclusion that the shepherds were pretty special for God to allow them this miracle.

You know what, God loved the shepherds and He proved it, by announcing to them what His plan and intention was.  God loves us and He proved it, by including us in verse 10.  I hope and pray as you read this account of the Birth of Jesus Christ that you can see yourself in verse 10, "good tidings of great joy which will be to "all" people".  Take a real close look; you, my friend are included in the "ALL"!!(writtenby:pjg12-24-13)

Merry Christmas, Y'all and on earth peace, goodwill to all people!  Hugs and much love to all, Patty  

Snowman Tag

Hi, Y'all!  Back again today.  I almost forgot to show you you my Snowman Tag.   I have been working on him amid being a little under the weather.  I have a case of bronchitis.   Not the best time to have bronchitis, but then again there is no good time to be sick.

I was working on a tag for a swap and I messed the first one up, just not thinking real good.  So, I had to start over.  I used a really dark blue cardstock, more like a slate blue, with a sheen to it.  I used a cheap white ink pad and a snowflake stamp.  I stamped all around the edge of the tag.  (Note to self: I really need to get a good white ink pad.)  Anyway, I liked how it looked.  Then I used my little Snowman stamp and stamped him five times with memento black.  Then I used some markers and colored the hat and scarf on each snowman.  It doesn't show up really well, but, it's there.  I used my white souffle pen to make round dots for falling snow amid the snowmen.  I used some of my decorative threads and looped them through the hole in the top.

I also found a round scallop and just hand wrote on it and punched a hole and looped a piece of deco thread through the punched hole.  I used the same color box metallic ink to ink the edges of the scallop.  I then dug out my platinum colored liquid pearls and used it on each little scallop.  I dug around and found some tiny little clothes pins and I took a blue one and used a color box metallic platinum color and it made it almost the color of the cardstock.   The whole thing was more or less an experiment, and I was happy with it.

Well, y'all, there you have it.  I had fun making it.  I really wanted to see what it would look like with the black ink on a dark background, and I wanted to see the effect the white would have when stamping the snowflakes.  I knew they would be really light, and to be honest with you, I really like the effect.  So, I will use the same technique in the future.

Y'all, I leave you with one last word of the evening, "God loves you, so do I!"

Hugs and be blessed, y'all, in the name of the Lord, Patty