Change of A-Dress Card for TECC31

I can't believe I have been able to play Taylor's Cupcake Challenge (www.tayloredexpressions.blogspot.com) 2 weeks in a row. Maybe having Fridays as my day off now (instead of Mondays) is not such a bad thing afterall. I can get used to this! Jami let me borrow her new set "Humor in High Heels" this week so I can make SWAP cards for her upcoming new caty swap, so since this set was sitting out on my desk and I've been playing around with different color combinations for the swap (my job is to use the new bella colors, so this card definitely won't be my swap card), here we go....The card base is Basic Gray, then layered with DCWV Textured white, and then the DP of the pink houndstooth is from Creative imaginations; art warehouse; studio barn. It is also used to paper-piece the dress. The main image and the sentiment image are both stamped in SU Basic Gray ink on shimmer white paper. There is a small layer of Pretty in Pink, and then the Scalloped layer is Basic Gray again, but this time, stamped in Versemark with the SU Paisley BG stamp, and heat embossed. Thanks Jami for reminding us this week about that fun technique. The sentiment is layed onto a piece of "coaster" chipboard and popped up with foam tape. The buckle is something I've had in my stash for quite a while, probably from Michael's. The little button brads carry out the "fabric" theme (they are silver and white, even though some of them look black in the picture), as does the pink twill ribbon I bought from Taylored Expressions and a little snip of white organdy ribbon. An extremely fun card to make, and super fun sketch with so many possibilities. The only problem I see would be making "Change of address" cards in mass quantity to send to people if you really WERE moving... LOL... this would definitely not be the card to make. Maybe to congratulate someone on a new job, or something like that. Thanks for looking, and as usual, thanks Taylor for a fantastic challenge!

Being Prepared through Trials

Friends....I have had a difficult few weeks and some very painful circumstances enter my life in recent days (work stuff), causing me to fall on my knees in prayer and in tears on more than one occassion and cry out to God and ask many questions. I was reading Psalm 54 this morning....(I've been studying the life of David through Beth Moore's book "A Heart Like His"..... now you know where I got the name of my blog!) and even though David wrote this Psalm in response to being attacked by his enemies, and that was not the situation in my case, I was still in awe at the application God boldly shouted out to me. Here are the poignent words of Psalm 54.

"Save me O God by your name, vindicate me by your might. Hear my prayer o God; listen to the words of my mouth. Strangers are attacking me; ruthless men seek my life... men without regard for God. Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me. Let evil recoil on those who slander me; in your faithfulness destroy them. I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you; I will praise your name, O Lord, for it is good. For he has delivered me from all my troubles, and my eyes have looked in triumph on my foes."

And then this is what Beth Moore's commentary said about this passage: "We often want to be called of God, then ushered painlessly into a position of service and honor, miraculously possessing the character our callings require. God doesn't work that way. Our appointments are not about glamour. They're about glory. God's Glory. God often works the same sequence in us that He worked in David:
1. He calls us.
2. He prepares us.
3. He uses us.
4. He prepares us some more.
5. He uses us some more.

The tricky thing about God's preparation is how He prepares us... even through trials. We find ourselves saying, "I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I never would have expected this." Painless or painful, enjoyable or distasteful, God always works to prepare us to serve Him, but He rarely prepares us in ways we expect. Why must we experience such preparation? Because any work we've grown accustomed to is usually a work completed. As soon as we've learned one lesson, He brings another. He will continue to work in us until we see His face, because that's the ultimate moment for which He's preparing! "

I'm so thankful that God loves me enough to allow trials into my life that cause me to stop and strive to become more like Christ. That He wants my life to reflect His Glory more than my own selfish ambition and nature. I know I'm so far from that place, and I can't wait to see where the journey takes me.

Thank You to My Awesome Day Camp Counselors!

Last Friday was our last day of our 9 week summer program at church... 8 weeks of Day Camp and 1 week of Sports Camp. I had 18 amazing counselors this summer who worked so hard and did such a fantastic job of caring for the sweet children who came. I took some of them out to dinner Friday night (to a fun place called Friscos in Long Beach, where the waitresses wear roller skates!) and for the ones who weren't able to come, I made these gift card holders to send them a thank you (probably Jamba Juice in honor of the hot summer that we had!) The inside says, "Now that summer is over, Go RELAX!"

Set used is "Sparkling Summer" retired from Stampin up!

I hope you are able to squeeze in a LITTLE MORE relaxing this week before the end of summer. Give your kids some extra hugs, extra attention, and have some special one on one time in spite of the busy-ness of shopping and preparation for school! Have a good one!

East Coast Wasabi Cupcake!

I was so excited to finally get to play along with Taylor's http://www.tayloredexpressions.blogspot.com/ Cupcake Challenge this week. (TECCC30) After that small earthquake we had a few weeks ago, I was putting off cleaning up my stamp room and finding my desk, but I finally had some free time last night and today to play along. The color combination is Wasabi, Real Red, and Tempting Turquoise, using shimmer white for the main cupcake image. The bottom layer of the card is Textured Wasabi... I love that stuff, and I've sure been guilty of "hoarding it." The stamp set is "Hey There Cupcake" from Stampendous (bought from eclecticPaperie), and one of the stamps from "Itty Bitty Backgrounds" is used on the Tempting Turquoise layer to tie it into the "dot" theme. The designer paper is "East Coast Prep" just retired from Stampin Up! The cupcake liner is paper pieced, and the Stampin Up word window punch is also used to punch through the DP paper to stamp "Happy Birthday" on the Real Red layer. And finally, a splash of WildWasabi striped ribbon on the bottom, some star dust stickles on the cupcake and stardust pen on the candle flames, some white brads, white pen touch opaque pen for the faux stitching, and there you go! A preppy, simple birthday card fit for a family member, male or female, or a special friend! Hope you have had a relaxing fun weekend. GO USA!!! 110 medals. Oh My Goodness. That's amazing!

Kitchen Shower Set

Here are a few items I made for my neice Lauren for her wedding shower. I was the hostess for the shower so I got to make these fun invitations from Crafty Secrets Kitchen Classics set (borrowed from Jami... thanks!) and the gorgeous "Honey Pie" paper from Cosmo Cricket. The Cardstock is Saffron, Ruby Red, and Mellow Moss from Stampin Up, and the large oval punch, then trimmed with decorative scissors around the Ruby Red oval. I was going for a vintage kitchen look and this paper and this stamp set was just what I was looking for. The shower was decorated with all of my grandmothers old kitchen items (her old cookie jar, coffee grinder, and even all her old fashioned embroidered tea towels. The table is covered with my grandma's old tableclothes. I'm not sure if my 22 year old Neice "got it" or thought it was cool at all, but the rest of us "oldies but goodies" loved it! :)

And finally, here is the recipe tin I made for her. I sent each guest a blank recipe card with their invitation, and they brought them to the shower to put in the tin. This is the first recipe tin I've made and it was much fun!

The little chef guy is stamped with Crafty Secret's "Little Chef" and the paper is from DCWV retro pack, and then wrapped in twill which is stamped with the words "FAVORITE RECIPES" and covered with LOTS of mod podge!

Busy Summer

Well obviously, I haven't been posting much this summer. In spite of time by myself while both kids were in Indiana, I just couldn't find the time to sit at the computer... not only was it too hot in my house, but I also had an unexpected trip to Indiana myself in the middle of summer. I took my nephew Andrew with me to visit Stephen, and also got to visit Emily too. The 4 of us had a great time together for a few days.

Young adults... oh my goodness. When did that happen???
Stephen had summer school during the mornings, and he also has a part time job at a sandwich shop called "Paradise Bakery" so while he was busy, Emily, Andrew and I either went to the movies, went shopping at the new shopping center where Stephen works... gorgeous!.... or drove around and saw the sights. :0 Look how TALL Stephen has gotten! He has caught up with ME, and is almost caught up with Emily. That is amazing to me, due to the fact that because of his birth mother being very tiny, we never quite knew how tall he might get. He is very excited about that as you can imagine.

One more picture of Stephen and Emily NOT KILLING EACH OTHER. We were having ice cream at a yummy place and sitting outside and they were goofing around, and I was trying to get a nice picture of both of them at the same time. Good Luck with That! I call this their "model" picture...

More to come soon.....