Love Beyond All Measure

Although I set this weeks SALT challenge, I found it difficult to turn my ideas into reality, but as you can see... Ifinally got there. The challenge 'The verse John 3:16 'For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only son, that whoever believed in him shall not live but have everlasting life' It is perhaps a well known verse, but it is a real testimony to our Christian faith, the fact that the babe Jesus was born as a SAVIOUR for our sins. So that if YOU believe that he came to die, and ask for forgiveness YOU ALSO will recieve the GIFT of eternal life in heaven.'

After searching the internet for inspiration I found this verse in the shape of a cross (taken from a tract by Max Lucado), and thought it would be a good way of presenting it. I wanted to make something different, rather than using this as a hanging, or on a card, so thanks to Ruth who suggested to put it on a notebook! Perfect! I vamped up this handmade book given to me as a gift. Hence the before and after shots.

"There is a time for everything"

Everything takes time! And as the Bible reminds us in the book of ecclesiastes 'There is a time for everything'. I seem to be having less time for cards, but I have a had a birthday one to make and a quick turn over of a Ruby one... so here they are. I miss taking part in the challenges, but just havent found enough... time!

Time for Teddy

Just managed to find a little time to make my Mother in-law's birthday card... She likes teddy bears, so I took this image from a brown paper bag, and added a clock face- for some bizarre reason? Used the Qk snowflake for the clock hands, and added prima's and other stamps to complete. Very busy at the mo, sorry for lack of blogging...

The Greatest Gift Of All

It is all to easy to get caught up in the Christmas rush without really thinking about what or who we are celebrating. It is not just about the birth of Jesus but more importantly why he came, to save sinners, anyone who will call on Him to confess their sins and accept that Christ died for them, what an amazing GIFT and privalege! This quick card is made for this weeks SALT challenge; Jesus, the true meaning of Christmas
We all love celebrating Christmas because it is a time for us to stop, remember and praise God for the birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. HE IS the true meaning of Christmas. Not presents, not parties, not decorations, etc. JUST JESUS!!!

The front is made using ribbon and a tag which reads 'Thanks be to God for his indiscribable gift' 2 Corinthians 9:15, and gold edging, the inside is a collection of QK parcels, spelling out the name Jesus, thanks for taking the time to look, please see what the other talented ladies have done on the salt site.

Love Birds

Finally trying to get back to making things from my craft table... it has been a busy time with card sales and a workshop (not complaining!). But managed to fit in the DCM challenge (to incorporate birds), good timing actually as my DH is going to a wedding tomorrow for a old work collegue, wanted to make an alternative fun wedding card, not sure if it suits the couple but thought I would give it a bash!

Gone to the Girl Guides!

Well managed to survive my first card workshop to the girl guides, despite going to the wrong place to start with! (how embaressing!) Anyway I turned up in a bit of a hurry, and got stuck in with my demonstrations. There were 22 in total including the girl guides and there mums ore relatives. Here are a few pictures, and the names of the people, Jessica, Lisa, teri, Bethany, Lauren, Izzy B, Sarah, Fiona, Jane, Kathryn, Laura, Beth, Sophie, Lowrie, Izzy R, Chloe S, Hannah, Polly, Cathy, Hamish, Liz and Hattie.

This little LIGHTof mine

The card Party went well, which has kept me busy, then off sick for a while, but now I am back and with this week's SALT challenge is set by Ruth 'The theme for this week is LIGHT It is mentioned so many times in the Bible, and has many facets of meaning and symbolism. I am the LIGHT of the World... The people walking in darkness have seen a great LIGHT ...The LIGHT shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it...In the same way, let your LIGHT shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Please create a piece of work using it as inspiration and leave us a message so we can see and link to our work. '

My immediate thought was to create a silouhette picture and then to illuminate it with candles, I cut most of the picture by hand, but the birds are done with a punch, then I wrote the verse on using permanent pen. It reads 12When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12

Corrugated card

Oo not blogged for a while, busy preparing for card party on wednesday and just general business of life keeping me away... Here is the card I made for the DCM challenge. Not a lot of time to blog, going to work soon, so will leave you with the photo...

thanks!

Sing Along Songs

I know this is a long post, and I dont usually write this much, but if you have time please read it. Thank you. There are so many lovely hymns and songs out there, almost difficult to choose, but this is one of my all time favourites. The words are as follows:

I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord;

No tender voice like Thine can peace afford.

(Refrain)

I need Thee, O I need Thee;Every hour I need Thee;

O bless me now, my Savior,I come to Thee.

I need Thee every hour, stay Thou nearby;

Temptations lose their power when Thou art nigh.
(Refrain)

I need Thee every hour, in joy or pain;

Come quickly and abide, or life is in vain.

(Refrain)

I need Thee every hour; teach me Thy will;

And Thy rich promises in me fulfill.
(Refrain)

I need Thee every hour, most Holy One;

O make me Thine indeed, Thou blessèd Son.
(Refrain)

Annie Hawks (the writer) wrote:
One day as a young wife and mo­ther of 37 years of age, I was bu­sy with my reg­u­lar house­hold tasks. Sud­den­ly, I be­came so filled with the sense of near­ness to the Mast­er that, won­der­ing how one could live with­out Him, ei­ther in joy or pain, these words, “I Need Thee Ev­e­ry Hour,” were ush­ered in­to my mind, the thought at once tak­ing full pos­sess­ion of me. After writ­ing the lyr­ics, Hawks gave them to her pas­tor, Ro­bert Low­ry, who add­ed the tune and re­frain. The hymn was first pub­lished at the Na­tion­al Bap­tist Sun­day School Con­ven­tion in Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio, in No­vem­ber 1872. Some years lat­er, af­ter the death of her hus­band, Hawks wrote: I did not un­der­stand at first why this hymn had touched the great throb­bing heart of hu­man­i­ty. It was not un­til long af­ter, when the sha­dow fell over my way, the sha­dow of a great loss, that I un­der­stood some­thing of the com­fort­ing pow­er in the words which I had been per­mit­ted to give out to others in my hour of sweet se­ren­i­ty and peace.

This card is for this weeks SALT challenge; 'From the hymnbook, take your inspiration from a hymn or song that means a lot for your faith. Old hymn, new song, overtly Christian or kind of hidden, God speaks to us in music in all sorts of ways.' Please feel free to join in, and see the lovely creations the other girls have come up with.

I used DCWV ever after paper, QK Snowflake die for the clock hands, and the off-cuts from the petals to add a splash of colour.

Hanging Tapestry

My latest creation for a new baby born 'Osian' is his name (it's welsh). The couple have been married 13 years, and the Lord has granted them this mircale of life. Praise Him! So I wanted something special. Inspired by Kate's work at Craft Life work I made name hanging, I was really pleased with the results. Made from blank Beer mats, and decorated with torn paper, I used a stitch stamp and other baby stamps for detail, inked the edges with silver, and used some silver QK swirls.

Saved by the Swirls

My latest commission for a frame. Specifications; simple, with burnt orange and gold colours, mahoganny coloured frame. If you know me, you will know I find simple difficult, so added as little as pos, but then had permission to add more, so I did! Thanks to my QK revolution for the swirls, time consuming sticking it down, but happy with the results. It is needed for this weekend, as a wedding present, so must go and get it ready for posting!

Heard it through the Grape Vine...

DCM are doing an interesting challenge this week... 'All styles are welcome but there MUST be an element of handcutting somewhere. It could be a greeting, a shape, letters printed on your pc and handcut, anything goes as long as you did it by hand.' So I mixed die cutting with hand cutting! (hope thats allowed!?) Anyway the grape vine was stamped and YES- cut by hand, and finally had the opportunity to use that wine glass from the Quickutz dies!

Howzatt?!

I think that's what they say in cricket? I should know really being a cricketers wife (non-pro!)... anyway, was browsing my bloggin friends blogs, and was reminded about some stamps that I hadnt used... so set to work with this cricket one..

Teacher's Pet

Recently brought these buttons with the view of making some 'thank you teacher' cards, as I have non stocked up. And as I have another card party coming up thought it would eb a good idea! So good old DCM to the rescue with a recipe of 4 brads/eyelets, 3 circles, and 2 rectangles, with added ribbon too! The stripey stuff along the middle is some ribbon as well as the mini ric rac.

Keep it Simple

Oh the impossibility of keeping my cards simple! Find them much harder to do. Pleased with the results though.... Just stocking up on engagement cards. Saw on someones blog 3 nrads together and it gave me the idea of an engagement ring. I love the colour of this card, got a gorgeous iridescent sheen. Yummy!

Pearl for Merle

This is a recent commission for a lady who wanted a 30th anniversary card (PEARL) managed to incorporate the names (mike & Eve) by using some stickers form the DCWV wedding stack, and some off cut papers. The pearl heart I am ashamed to say is another sticker (I like to make things like that rather than buy) although it was a present so doesnt count. Had the idea in mind of how I wanted this to look, and came out very close.

Now I know if something is not working out you should walk away and come back to it, but for some reason I kept trying to perservere to get this card right. But STILL wasn't happy, so I eventually slept on it (not literally of course!) and thought- it needs detail! So added some diamantes, primas and a few dragonflies and ah! thats better! Happy now :) So here is the BEFORE

and AFTER shot

and this was another card using the off cuts, I smudged the stamped 'Get well soon' by accident, so kept on smudging and thought it looked alright! Good old discovery by accident!

Young @ Heart

This is my card for the Wednesday Stamper topic, of 'Growing Old'. Used a image that was in a photo album one of there sample photos. The border is made up of images that were on a brown paper bag, that I cut out. The used some definition stamps and selected words that I thought asociated with old age to include some stamping! Used chalks to brighten the picture.

I've joined the Revolution!

I gave in to QVC's great offer for the Quickutz revolution die cutting machine! My slaving over one letter die at a time is over! And the revoloution came with some lovely swirly dies! Thanks to one of the lovely girls at inkstains who sent me a couple of Bella images, finally got one onto a card! Typical, the clocks are going back so I use the extra hour to blog! Added some bling bling earrings as a finishing touch...

Bright Spark

I have been wanting to do some weaving of some kind recently, be it paper or ribbon, so the DCM challenge (So this week we'd love you to join in and make Christmas cards using lots and lots of fabby, yummy ribbon - now that shouldn't be too hard, after all we all love ribbon, don't we?) provided me with such opportunity! Actually making the tree was harder than I thought and the whole thing although it might not look like much took me ages!! It is a bit brighter than I imagined but hey.. not changing it now! Added some little coloured rhinestones onto the ribbon, and used some coloured in chipboard for the baubles, and my film strip punch to thread the red ribbon.

Jesus Is Lord!

This week's theme for SALT is JESUS IS LORD! Kimberly chose this because this is the start of our journey with God, acknowledging Jesus as our Lord and becoming born again! The wonderful thing is that it is so easy to join God's kingdom!If you confess with your mouth, JESUS IS LORD and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with the heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with the mouth that you confess and are saved. Romans 10:9-10

My contribution is this A5 Hanging, using embossed chipboard, ribbon, stamps and primas. I wanted to go for a sophistacted bold look!

I've Been Tagged!

Using the DCM sketch challenge, and inspired by Sarah Lugg (will try and add link to work later), who uses tags and embellishments on a lot of her work, I came up with these baby cards. I really like the end result, each tag is different, using buttons, puncjies and stamps.

Try Something New Today....

Using the sketch from CPS, and the topic of winter from saturday stamper; I made this Christmas card, quite ultra-modern, very unlike my style, struggled to keep it simple! But glad to use my Quickutz snowflake die that I had since last year! (using shiny silver paper, doesnt photo well...) The big cirlce is representation of a snowball, and the stamped strip - is to give a ribbon effect.

Roses are Red...

Taking inspiration from the ladies home, with whom the card was made for I used red paper roses and my new DCWV papers. Went on to use left over paper for a topper to create what I call a 'mini-me' card.

Cirlce of Friends

Well the great Daring Card Makers blog, celebrate their first anniversary, thanks to my sister Ruth for telling me about it. It has been exciting and inspiorational to try and rise to the challenges that are set each week. Here is my take on the dare, I was desperate to use this paper, but ended up changing the design, but hey thats what happens with creativity! I am not 100% about this card, I think it lacks a focal point...? (focal- is that the right word...? May be cos I kept adding...) Dragonflies also complete with pink diamante bling.

Match Making

Match making the card with the frame... that is! Another recent commission to show you, for a baby girl card and I decided to go with a matching 'Name Frame'. Which are becoming more popular! whoo hoo. Thanks to Di Hickman Sketch for the card inspiration.

Eyelet you see what I have made...

Well you know when you get an idea in your head.... well after seeing the Caardvark micro challenge, I cracked on with my idea. I got out my forgotten corset stamp, and eyeletted away! Just what I needed to use up some scraps from a wedding album i did for a friend. I wasn't sure how much time I had to do the challenge, and knew it was tomorrow sometime; I had till midnight tomorrow! Oh well, its done now...

Elements of Elements

These are ATC's (Artist Trading Cards) are for a forum swap, on elements- fire, air, water, earth. Thought I would combine it with the Salt Challenge of 'Creation' as I am a bit behind... I used a combination of water colours, with stamps and crinkling up the paper to get a 3d effect. Printed and cut the bible verses, coloured in with a stamp and pasted on work.

Two by Two

It has been a long time.... I have had a busy and hectic few weeks, will spare you of the details. I have been crafting though! Here is a recent commission that ties in nicely with the DCM challenge of using something WILD for inspiration

Home & Away

HI ALL, HAVEN'T DESERTED YOU, JUST AWAY FROM HOME FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS LOOKING AFTER MY GRANDAD (IN-LAW) AS HE STAYS WITH MY INLAWS AND THEY ARE AWAY ON HOLIDAY, WILL BE BACK TO IT WHEN I CAN! THANKS

Bargain Hunter

OOo I do love bargains and I sooo love Charity shops! Amazing what you can find, and you never know what you might find either! Just scraping in at the last minute to complete the DCM challenge, of using something from the charity shop, after searching high and low, I found this glass pendant on a necklace, wish I had taken a before picture! Because it was glass I liked the idea of it hanging, so I set to work and here is the results...

Bundle of Joy

This weeks Salt Challenge, is the word 'Joy'. There is so much joy to be found in Christ when you know him more than just a God, but when you know him personally and have a faith and trust in him. There is no greater joy than in knowing the Lord! Here is what Hazel wrote in the blurb 'When things are going well in life we feel happy and joyful, but sometimes circumstances of life may cause us to feel sad, but even at those times we can still experience the joy of the Lord. I'm reminded of the verse in Nehemiah 8:10b: 'for the joy of the Lord is my strength'. I took inspiration from the great joy of babies being born; so here is my card...

I made the bundle out of scrap material and stuffed it with tissue, then I made the head from mixing colurs of fimo & sculpey (moudling clay, that you oven bake) Sorry for rubbish photo, not a lot of time... Have a look at Salt for the wonderful creations from the other team members

Congratulations- Coral!

This is a sneaky preview of the card I made for my inlaws 35th Wedding Anniversary (coral) coming up this Sunday. I nearly forgot! So managed to whip together this card, adding a touch of real coral!

A touch of Gold

This card started well, then I got stuck! Do you know what the writing says in the background?... I drew it on myself in gold pen, then the gold stamp didnt show up on the words so I went over it in more gold pen! Can you se the gold theme coming out? Thats because it is for DCM's mid week challenge to incorporate something 'golden' be it theme colour etc.

Forever Friends

I have been desperate to use this blue red and white paper from DCWV's Posie range! I also wanted to give chipboard another bash. So I used the outline chipboard for the letter F. This was inspired by the DCM challenge, "This week I dare you to use a Word as the main focal point to your card. It can be a name, a greeting or just a word that inspires you. You can use other text but only one word as a main embellishment. So dig out your dictionaries, die cutters, alphabet stamps, rubons or download a funky font and show us what you can do! The design team have come up with some fabulous creations to inpsire you." I just realised it was supposed to be the main embellishment! woops. Oh well And here is my 'Off-Cut Creation' (using left overs from the project above)

Perfect Promises

Salt Challenge this week: God's Promises, and there are soooo many to choose from! And what is great is God does and always will keep those promises! "So many times we are guilty of reaking promises, or have been on the other end of a broken promise, but what a wonderful blessing to know that when God makes a promise it's steadfast. We'd love to see what Promise from God you choose to use as your basis for your challenge"

Here is my card for the challenge.