Happy 2013

Out with the old...in with the new! I don't know about you, but I'm ready for a brand new year....filled with the promises of God that He's in control and wants what's best for each of us :) I got so excited when I saw this background paper in my stash (Simple Stories) that I whipped up this *Happy New Year* card, then realized the paper says Happy Birthday! Oopsie. Both phrases are Heart & Soul. I don't really make resolutions, but I am going to attempt to be more active on here....we'll see how that goes :) Praying God's Peace and Blessings on you and your families in the year ahead!

a little crafty inspiration for the new year:)

This is one of my favorite handmade cards we received. I loooove clean & simple, one color themes. embossed with green tinsel powder and some bling.... couldn't be more beautiful! one of my crafty *goals* for the new year is to *upcycle* this & last years's cards received into next year's new ones....here is where I got my inspiration... this gal can really make awesome cards :) hope you have a lovely new year filled with joy & surprise blessings :) ps~ I'm also going to adopt a fun practice that one of my pastors and his wife do every year...they pick a couple of cards out each week from the stash they received and pray for those families throughout the week. how cool is that???!

The Longest Night

Once again, our small group (Bible study group) helped to lead a special service at church, called *The Longest Night* ~ referring to the Winter Solstice when we have the least amount of daylight hours. The main theme is that Christmas/this time of year may not be the *merriest* for everyone....people are hurting and struggling. Even if you thought you were sailing through things hunky dory, along comes a horrific tragedy that touches all our lives. We offered songs, words of encouragement, and scripture that offers hope. We shared communion, prayer, and a lovely candle lighting time ~ which is what this picture is about...the altar covered with burdens we bear and are giving to the Light of Christ. My prayer is that we all can give our burdens to the Newborn King and walk in His Light! Merry Christmas ><>

Advent

Today marks the beginning of the Advent Season....where we prepare our hearts for the coming of the Baby King :) Once again I had the joy of helping with the mobile in the Sanctuary at church. We went with a *less is more* theme this year:) and rather than the Liturgical colors of Advent ( blue/purple ) we chose to do something different. It looks nice with the carpet on the altar steps, and the poinsettias when we put them up today. I love this season in the church year! ><>

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is a picture of the altar at church last evening as we gathered to celebrate who God is and what He's done for us :) Praying that your day is blessed and you have a chance to reflect on His Goodness in your life ~ I am so very thankful for my customers ><>

candlelight dessert

We had our annual beautiful ladies event last Saturday at church. It's just a wonderful time for everyone ~ preparing our hearts for the Advent season, fellowship with our sisters ( and brothers- who are the waiters for the evening :) and transforming the church gym into a spectacular glimmery breathtaking delight! I love hosting a table and I start *mentally* planning next year's blitz right after the last one ( as I usually acquire plates & things from the Goodwill:) This year I collected the Debbie Mumm penguin salad plates as a surprise for my future DIL, who likes penguins. My *Martha gene* kicks in to high gear for this event :)

triple layers :)

Oooh. There's a definite chill in the air today! While the soup's a boiling, I thought I'd share my new favorite technique~ not sure what it's called....but three white layers, stamped all at once, then separated by colored cardstock :) I used a whole lot of stamps here ( I must have over 100 snowflake stamps...well....because no two are the same, eh? ) credit to: stampin' up, inkadinkado, savvystamps, and a few others I bought unmounted and didn't keep track of the company. sorry :( Words are a muse....another northwest company :)That's all I know!

Here's how things stack up~

Snowflake Ornament

As promised, here is the ornament that will go inside the card from the previous post :) I really have used that die cut hundreds of times....guess it's one of my favorites! I used up a lot of scraps on this year's cards....another one of my *stamping goals* for the year ~ ><>

ahhhh....

It feels good to be almost finished with my Christmas cards....just need to stamp the sentiment on the inside ( which will be a Heart & Soul stamp ~ one of the new Christmas ones :) Just think about it....each card front went through the Cuttlebug twice...once for die cutting and once for embossing.....X 150 ! :) I'm going to assemble the *cut outs* into an ornament that will go inside each card....picture to follow...eventually :) The stamp is an older Penny Black one ~ it's a little hard to see but there's a tiny rhinestone in the *o*. I had a little bit of failure on some of the cards, as I 'stacked' them in a box after gluing the snowflakes on...and of course the glue stuck to the next card as well. I'm probably going to stamp & punch a tiny snowflake for the middle so the mistake doesn't show. Yes, I know that's kinda crazy....but it will bother ME if I don't :) Happy Fall y'all <3

a creative mess :)

Well this was fun! I got the idea from Pinterest (yeehaw!) and tried it for myself :) Melted the crayons with my heat gun ( actually a paint stripper....got a little too close to the top of the pumpkin....oops!) But I like it :)

a blessed day

I made this for my first born's special day today ~ his father & I are so blessed that God Handpicked us to be his earthly parents :) He's a great young man...and I tell people it's *in spite of* our parenting skills ( which, as a first born....well let's face it...we were rookies! :) So naturally, we know that God gets any & all glory :) We have an ongoing fun thing in our family ( Land Cruisers vs. jeeps ) and #1 son is temporarily on the *jeep side* ~ but we're convinced he'll come to his senses soon :) hahaha. He races one in our PNW4WDA that is teal colored, hence the fun colors of this card. If you use your imagination...that's a little fan belt on the right :) Can't recall the stamp companies, but I do know the jeep stamp was one of those really old foam mounted ones. Trust me....my Land Cruiser stamps outnumber the jeep ones 5:1 :) That's all I know ><>

we will never forget.....

A Trip to Marquette

I want to give a *shout out* to my new stamping friends in the UP ~ Hubby & I had the privilege of travelling to Marquette recently to see our daughter's new internship congregation and meet some wonderful folks who live there. We appreciated the Yooper hospitality and loved the beauty of Lake Superior ~ very much like home in the Pacific Northwest :) Thank you Marquette <3

Happy Retirement :)

This is for a lovely friend who retired this week from many many years of teaching school :) She is looking forward to whatever the Lord brings her next ~ I think she may have a tad bit of wanderlust in her :) The colors are a little unusual together, but will go perfectly in her kitchen window to be reminded of God's Blessings as she does the dishes :) Words are Heart & Soul, and everything else is from the scrap drawer ><>

Owen Update :)

Praise God ! Owen is out of surgery ~ everything went well ~ he is beginning the recovery process :) Thank you for thinking of him and his family! AMEN ><>

Prayer Request :)

So I don't normally ask for things from you, my blogland buddies....but today seems like a good day to start. Two of my young friends from church are currently in a pediatric surgical waiting room while their cute-as-a-bug almost 9 month old son is undergoing a very unique surgery to re-open his bony plates (in his sweet little head! ~ they have already grown together too soon, which doesn't give his growing brain any wiggle room, so to speak) I know first hand the feeling of sitting and waiting for a child to undergo difficult but necessary surgery. Thankfully ~ we know God is with them all in the OR and the waiting room, and we are sooo grateful for that! How do people get by without that Blessed Assurance ???? So if you'd join me in lifting Owen up to God in prayer, that would be awesome! The more, the merrier ><> and I'll keep you updated!

new stamp :)

Here's one of the new verses ~ just right for those times when your socks have just been blessed clear off! Plaid paper is *My Mind's Eye*,and the scraps were cut with that old SU punch (love that thing!) A few buttons and a *heart dot* on the I and there you have it :) ><>

I'm not one for much fanfare....

Especially for myself...which is counter-productive when you own your own business :) but....there are some new stamps at Heart & Soul, and you can find them on our website if you go looking :) I'll post some cards later in the week (hopefully :) ><>

thank you service men & women

I am ever so grateful for those who have served to protect freedom and democracy and risked everything for those of us at home! ><>

The Day of Pentecost

Today we celebrate/commemorate the day when the Holy Spirit came down to be our Counselor with a rushing of wind and tongues of fire :) This is how our sanctuary looked today ~ I love the new 3D mobile in the ceiling~ it looks neat when the air currents spin it gently. A blessed day indeed ><>

Sermon on the Mound

So I had the absolute joy of playing the drums in the children's musical at church this weekend :) The kids were awesome! The story tells of God's forgiveness and grace in a fun baseball setting. Lots of jazzy rockin' songs that will be firmly implanted in their memories for years to come:) And a real blessing for our church family. So thankful to be a part of it all ><>

Easter sanctuary mobile :)

This is the new centerpiece in our sanctuary. The white gauze-like fabric represents the shroud Jesus was buried in, and left behind in the empty tomb. The redish-pink center is covered over by the pastel strips, symbolizing new life and resurrection over the blood that was shed. All very striking and lovely when it spins with the air currents :)

Amazing Roses :)

I found these awesome roses at Fred Meyers just before Easter. I can't figure out how they got them dyed like they are ~ the florist didn't know either~ you would think that if they were just stuck in different colors of dye, that the petals would be tye-dyed, or a yucky brown conglomeration of all the colors run together. But each petal is it's own color! It really doesn't take much to amaze me on a good day....and I am just fascinated by these! :) I always thought that maybe this is what roses look like in Heaven :) and trust me....these are NOT PHOTOSHOPPED :) Maybe God was just doing something extra amazing for Easter :) ><>

He Is Risen! Alleluia!

Happy Easter! Hope you had a blessed day of worship and thanksgiving :) This is from our Festival of Flowers service today....everyone brings flowers to church and adorns this ugly old chicken wire stick cross into a beautiful symbol of our new life in Christ :) It's a church family tradition to take a picture of your kids in front of it....I have many through the years :) Alas my grown-ups were scattered today...but I did enjoy time with them in one way or another. God is sooooooo good <3

Good Friday

We had an awesome Good Friday service tonight. Our choir did the "Weeping Tree" Cantata. It is just so moving and humbling to understand what Jesus did for me. And just to remind me again how amazing God is, He is lighting up the sky with a beautiful full moon tonight. Really, there has to be a better word for my gratitude than *thank you* Lord...but it's all I've got for now ><>

palm branch cross

As promised in the earlier post...here's what one of the palm branches from our Palm Sunday service looks like made into a cross ><>

Hosanna!

Happy Palm Sunday tomorrow :) I love how we celebrate it at my church...we have real palm branches to wave around ( *don't poke someone's eye out with that thing* ) and then during the service people sit and transform them into a cross. Hmmn. I'll have to take a picture to show you. Since I haven't made any Palm Sunday cards this year...I'll have to post this other Easter one :) As usual, it looks somewhat better in person. The Stamp is a Studio G clear one, that I just colored over with pencils. The rest is pretty basic. *Blessed is He Who comes as King!* ><>

He is Risen Indeed ! :)

This card uses one of my *favorite* Heart & Soul images ~ the big cross :) I inked it up right from the pad, choosing here and there what colors to use. The words are also Heart & Soul. Love that Sizzix Tim Holtz embossing folder ~ it just seems like it was MADE for alleluia work :) ><>

Goodbye Ralphie :)

This is for an awesome lady who is retiring today from my kid's alma matter. She is the best security guard on the planet! ( we used to kid that she had eyes in the back of her head....) Always a smile for us, and all over anything that was going on that shouldn't be :) I'm praying that her next life adventure will be blessed beyond measure...'cause she was such a blessing to PHS :)

oops. stamp credits: balloon is super vintage DOTS, words are Rubber Soul, and the school mascot is one I made (with permission from school) ><>

Lenten Centerpiece

Here we are two weeks into the Lenten season already, and I keep forgetting to post a picture of the centerpiece mobile in our sanctuary. It's meant to represent the somber journey to the cross as we walk with Jesus on His journey. Lots of purple for repentance/royalty. I like it :) ><>

variation of a theme :)

so here's my version of the earlier butterfly card I loved....had to make it all purple, of course :) I used the SU Embosslit die and the words are Heart & Soul. Something about the simplicity of it all really strikes my fancy! ><>

sweet sixteen :)

This is for one of the girls on our worship team who is having her 16th birthday Sunday ~ and singing with us :) The banner is from Making Memories, the 'sweet' is Studio G, and the numbers were cut from an old school plastic stencil. A little glitter pen, some buttons and voila :) It's a joy to make music with such a great gal :) well, actually we're all fond of the whole family <3 Happy Sweet Sixteen Miss Emily! ><>

poppin' up butterflies :)

Another idea from card club yesterday....used some random leftover background paper I was goofing off with...Blue image is SU, and the 'spring butterfly' is one of those $1 stamps from Michael's. Words are Heart & Soul. But the real fun begins when you open it up....

These images are all older Impression Obsession...I just measured a 1" triangle at the top of the page, and about 1 1/2" from the bottom to make the pop out. They all fold up rather nicely when you close the card. So much fun :)
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my new favorite card :)

I go to a card making class once a month where we all bring *kits* and assemble them ~ lotsa fun and some great ideas! I just am in looove with this simple card :) The lines were hand drawn with a white gel pen. The butterflies are made with the SU punch, and the image was some kind of clear stamp. If you know, let me know, so I can give the proper credit :) I think I'll be making a whoooole bunch of these! ><>

no greater love than this...

Happy *almost Valentine's Day* my stamping friends! Just a little card to remind myself what love really means. Both images are vintage Heart & Soul :) <3

more love :)

Another quick post for Valentine's Day :) Both images are Heart & Soul. I really like green & purple together....well....purple & anything actually :)
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*Quilty Love*

I confess...I was a quilter before I became a stamper :) (Hey...I'll get back to it someday! :) I just love cards that have a pieced look to them.For this card I went straight to the scrap drawer and punched different squares. I *fussy cut* the heart ( I think that means by hand!) and stamped the center in a different color. This heart really is one of my favorite Heart & Soul images. The words are also H & S. Love it :)
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Blessing Hearts :)

Time to think about sharing some love and blessings with friends ( but isn't it ALWAYS time for that ???? I got this Sizzix heart die set on clearance...the words are Heart & Soul...a little button & heart 3D thingy and tah dah. Add a little chocolate.....and you have something guaranteed to bring a smile:) ><>

*CAS* birthday :)

I can't decide what quite happened to my creative 'urges' lately....I think the colder weather has them stalled or something. I'm reluctant to say that I'm just lazy....but it's probably closer to the truth than anything else :) In an effort to at least *do something* stampy....here's a clean and simple birthday card. All images are Heart & Soul. Hopefully I'll get back in the groove soon :)