Tea Anyone?

This week's Shining the Light challenge is to make a Shaped Card (other than a straight-edged square or rectangle).  

Having tea brings to mind times of relaxation or sweet fellowship with a friend or two...refreshing times. Since I love beautiful teacups (and tea), I could not resist using this teacup filled with flowers from the Birthday Blessings set along with the sentiment from All Occasion Sentiments. For my shape, I used Grand Labels One and Grand Decorative Labels to give it a delicate, lacy outside border. 

This sentiment has its roots in a precious Scripture passage from the Old Testament.

The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make His face to shine upon you
 and be gracious to you;
the LORD lift up His countenance upon you
and give you peace. 
Numbers 6:24-26

This passage has been used as a blessing for thousands of years by both Christians and Jews. A beautiful rendition of this benediction is performed by the Westminster Choir in Princeton, NJ, not far from where we used to live. I hope you will enjoy it.

To see all the creations in one place or join the challenge, please visit Our Daily Bread Designs Blog. You have until March 9 to join us. You may use any stamps to enter, but if you have any Our Daily Bread Designs stamps, we would love to see you use them. If you participate, you have an opportunity to win a $15 certificate toward ODBD stamps or to be "spotlighted" for the Shining the Light Award (the SLC award is only for those who use ODBD stamps). We would love to see your creations!

For more beautiful inspiration ideas for this challenge, please visit my precious design team sisters:

Chris Olsen * Diana Nguyen * DJ Rants * Elizabeth Whisson
Linda Carson * Robin Clendenning

I have also entered this card for this week's Word Art Wednesday challenge.  

Thanks so much for "stopping by" and leaving a comment or sharing a thought. Perhaps you'll enjoy a nice cup of tea today and remember that you are loved with an everlasting love. May God give you peace today, as you come apart and rest in Him.

For His glory,

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Birthday Blessings and All Occasion Sentiments (ODBD)

Paper: Solar White (Neenah), White (PTI), Primrose Petals (SU)

Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Black (Versafine)
Tools/Accessories: Copic markers, Grand Labels One and Grand Decorative Labels One dies (Spellbinders), paper-piercing tool, red tape, 3M dimensional tape
Card Size:  5"

Secret Admirer? It's no secret...

This week's Shining the Light challenge is to be a Secret Admirer.  Since we celebrate both Valentine's Day and Presidents' Day in February, we want you to be a Secret Admirer. CASE a card by someone you admire or a card you always wanted to CASE (Copy And Selectively Edit...for those who don't know the acronym).

It's no secret that I admire so many stampers, and for this challenge I chose my sweet friend and our Challenge Team Coordinator, Chris Olsen. Not only do I admire her amazing creative talent, but I delight in how she reflects the love of Christ in her life. And it shows in her stamping. Here's the card I chose to CASE. (Note: I've added a photo of Chris's card, since the card I chose is in the SCS Dirty Dozen gallery. You have to be a SCS Fan Club Member to view this gallery. Thanks, Linda, for letting me know why you couldn't see it!)

Chris has a wonderful ability to layer and add such rich texture to her beautiful cards, and I decided to try it myself. I used Sentiments Collection 2 for the Scripture verse and added the flowers from Sing to the Lord (with lots of fussy cutting, which I enjoy). I used the beautiful Decorative Corners dies and Fancy Foliage dies layered on top of an embossed background, and I changed the orientation and used a different die for the Scripture verse.

I wonder whether there is someone you secretly admire or who could be encouraged by you today. What might you do or say to encourage him or her? I'm reminded of a Scripture verse that reminds us to encourage each other both in words and deeds. Paul wrote:

...and we sent Timothy, our brother and God's fellow worker
 in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you
 in your faith,
1 Thessalonians 3:2

And then at the end of 1 Thessalonians 3, Paul shares Timothy's good report of his visit about their faith and love and encourages them with these words:

May the Lord make your love increase and overflow

 for each other and for everyone else,

just as ours does for you. 

1 Thessalonians 3:12

My desire is to be more like Christ and reflect His love to others by encouraging and lifting others up...for His glory. And in so doing, I believe it helps me to be less self-focused and more Christ-focused.

To see all the creations in one place or join the challenge, please visit Our Daily Bread Designs Blog. You have until February 23 to join us. You may use any stamps to enter, but if you have any Our Daily Bread Designs stamps, we would love to see you use them. If you participate, you have an opportunity to win a $15 certificate toward ODBD stamps or to be "spotlighted" for the Shining the Light Award (the SLC award is only for those who use ODBD stamps). We would love to see your creations!

For more beautiful inspiration ideas for this challenge, please visit my precious design team sisters:

Chris Olsen * Diana Nguyen * DJ Rants * Elizabeth Whisson
Linda Carson * Robin Clendenning

I have also entered this card for this week's Word Art Wednesday challenge.  

Thanks so much for "stopping by" and leaving a comment or sharing a thought. Have a wonderful week and be encouraged that God loves you dearly!

For His glory,

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Sentiments Collection 2 and Sing to the Lord (ODBD)

Paper: White (PTI), Cool Caribbean and Wild Wasabi (SU)

Ink: Black (Versafine)
Tools/Accessories: ODBD Custom Decorative Corners dies, ODBD Custom Fancy Foliage dies, Copic markers, Floral Ovals (Spellbinders), Fence embossing folder (Darice), Empressor tool (EK Success), Glue n' Seal adhesive, Diamond Glaze adhesive, red tape, 3M dimensional tape
Card Size:  A-2

Love can be blue...

Yes, a love card can be blue, but it doesn't make you feel blue when it says "I love you!"  

This week's Shining the Light challenge is Make a Love-Themed or Valentine's Day Card in Non-Traditional Colors (no red or pink).

So I chose my favorite color - blue. I used two shades of blue and vanilla with some designer paper. This week I had fun playing with the new Ornate Hearts dies, layering them and adding a tiny sentiment from Be Mine. I added a pop-up under the center heart and glued down only the outer lacy heart layer to give it dimension and then popped the whole heart on the card. This is the first time I used the new Beautiful Borders dies, which are gorgeous! I threaded some thin ribbon (from my stash) at the top and added some gems to give it some sparkle. It's hard to believe that I did no coloring...rare for me! But it was fun playing with these lovely dies!

So, if you feel blue today for whatever reason, I trust you will remember that God loves you dearly and wants to love and encourage us...no matter our situation. God's love is different from human love in that it is not based on feelings or emotions. He loves us because He is love and sacrificed His Son for us.

...but God shows His love for us
in that while we were still sinners, 
Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8

And the best part is that it doesn't depend on how I feel!  Praise God He is my only source of True Love, and that gives me deep peace. May you also know that peace and comfort.

To see all the creations in one place or join the challenge, please visit Our Daily Bread Designs Blog. You have until February 16 to join us. You may use any stamps to enter, but if you have any Our Daily Bread Designs stamps, we would love to see you use them. If you participate, you have an opportunity to win a $15 certificate toward ODBD stamps or to be "spotlighted" for the Shining the Light Award (the SLC award is only for those who use ODBD stamps). We would love to see your creations!

For more beautiful inspiration ideas for this challenge, please visit my precious design team sisters:

Chris Olsen * Diana Nguyen * DJ Rants * Elizabeth Whisson
Linda Carson * Robin Clendenning

Thanks so much for "stopping by" and leaving a comment or sharing a thought. And may we all remember that God loves us with an everlasting love!

For His glory,

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Be Mine (ODBD)

Paper: Marina Mist, Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla, and Designer Series Patterns Stack - Subtles Collection (SU)

Ink: Not Quite Navy (SU)
Tools/Accessories: ODBD Custom Ornate Hearts dies, ODBD Custom Beautiful Borders dies, gems (Jolee), ribbon (from my stash), PerfectLayers tool, Glue n' Seal, 3M dimensional tape, red tape, 
Card Size: 6" square

L-O-V-E

This week's Shining the Light challenge is a Recipe Challenge using the letters L-O-V-E.

My L-O-V-E Recipe:  

L - Layers, O - Ornate Borders Sentiments and Ornate Heart dies, V - Violets, E - Embossing

Wanting to use the brand new Ornate Hearts dies, I decided to layer the Violet on top of some designer paper with the new heart dies over an embossed background. Then I added the corners from the Ornate Borders and Flowers dies, some ribbon, and a sentiment from Ornate Borders Sentiments. It still needed a little something more, so I added pearls on each corner die and on the sentiment tag. I added extra flowers on top to give it dimension, along with using my Empressor tool for the leaves.

While so many people are thinking of Valentine's Day, I'm reminded that the True Source of all love is God. One of my favorite verses is:

The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; 

great is Your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23

It brings me great comfort and joy to know that when I fail Him, His compassions are new every morning and His mercies do not fail. They don't depend on me. Praise God He is always faithful.

To see all the creations in one place or join the challenge, please visit Our Daily Bread Designs Blog. You have until February 9 to join us. You may use any stamps to enter, but if you have any Our Daily Bread Designs stamps, we would love to see you use them. If you participate, you have an opportunity to win a $15 certificate toward ODBD stamps or to be "spotlighted" for the Shining the Light Award (the SLC award is only for those who use ODBD stamps). We would love to see your creations!

For more beautiful inspiration ideas for this challenge, please visit my precious design team sisters:

Chris Olsen * Diana Nguyen * DJ Rants * Elizabeth Whisson
Linda Carson * Robin Clendenning

I have also entered this card for this week's Word Art Wednesday challenge.  

Thanks so much for "stopping by" and leaving a comment or sharing a thought. And may we all remember that God is faithful and His mercies are new each and every morning!

For His glory,

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Violet and Ornate Borders Sentiments (ODBD)

Paper: Solar White (Neenah), White and Lavender Moon (PTI), Gossamer (Memory Box)

Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Black (Versafine)
Tools/Accessories: Copic markers, ODBD Custom Ornate Hearts dies, ODBD Custom Ornate Borders and Flowers dies, Back to Basic Tags (Spellbinders), Dainty Dots M-Bossabilities reversible embossing folder (Spellbinders), Pearls (Kaiser), seam binding (dyed with Copic marker), Empressor tool (EK Success), Diamond Glaze adhesive, red tape, dental floss 
Card Size:  5 1/4" square