Sunday, April 25, 2010

Michu and His Happy Flowers

A blessed Sunday to you! This is the day that the Lord hath made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!

I hope you'll join us this week at Stampin' Sisters in Christ. Our hostess is the wonderful Randi Barrett, who is dear to my heart. She chose as the inspiration scripture Exodus 20:12 "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you." This is, of course, one of the Ten Commandments. (If only I could convince my two middle sons of this concept!) The challenge is to make a Mother's Day card/project.

Before I get to the deets on my card, I want to reflect a moment on this week's scripture challenge. I believe that one reason God exhorts us to honor our parents is that, in doing so, we are honoring Him. And by heeding their rules and warnings, our days will certainly better, if not indeed prolonged!

It isn't hard to understand why we should honor our parents. I definitely know there are exceptions... people who should never have been parents, and those who make serious mistakes as parents...but we are (usually) born to them, loved by them, raised by them, nurtured, fed and clothed by them, and taught by them. If that doesn't deserve honor, I don't know what does! And, of course, generally speaking, our parents know best based on their own experiences. We usually get in the most trouble when we don't listen to them or heed their warnings. Same goes for when we don't listen to God or heed the teachings of Christ Jesus.

I confess... I didn't always honor my father and mother, especially when I was a teen and young adult. But as I matured, and then had kids of my own, I regretted the times I didn't. That's why I'm able to bear the moments when my own children don't honor me. I am quite certain that one day, they too will have regrets. But not too much, right? We don't want to keep account. I don't hold grudges against them, and I know my parents didn't either. It's part of raising kids. But I have to tell you, I secretly can't wait to see them wrestle with the same issues with their own kids! (*grin*)

God, of course, always forgives us and loves us in spite of the mistakes we make and the sins we commit. He is the perfect parent! Unconditional love. How sweet it is!


Our challenge sponsor this week is Softpencil Digital Stamps. I love Elizabeth's sweet images! I used Michu and His Happy Flowers to make a card that a child could give to his mother. The DP is from Stampin Up... I can't remember which, and I'm pretty sure it's retired... I fished it out of my scrap bin. Little Michu was colored with Copics and then made fuzzy with Caramel Latte Tan Fun Flock by Stampendous, with a touch of Coffee Bean Brown Sparkly Fluff by Our Craft Lounge for the ground beneath him. I created the title and added it to the image before printing it out to color.

The challenge this week at Crazy 4 Challenges is to CASE one of the Design Team's cards, so I chose this gorgeous one by Linda Benden.

I sure hope you'll join our challenge this week and get a jump start on your Mother's Day cards. Once you see the cards created by the rest of our amazing Design Team, you won't be able to resist!

Candace Mitchell: Candid Candace
Grace Nywening: Th-INK-ing of You
Kathy Winter: Winter Creations
Kristine Breach: Ink Something
Peggysue Turner: Roses by My Window
Randi Barrett: Randi's a New Creation

Have a blessed day!

17 comments:

Chris Olsen, Glowbug said...

Aww! I just love this image Lisa!! So darling and beautifully colored!! Love your Case and the added butterfly is perfect. What a gorgeous Mother's Day card!! Awesome take on Randi's challenge this week. Have a happy Sunday!!
hugs,
Chris

Grace said...

Lisa this is so pretty! I love the Kraft CS and the punched edge! It's a perfect Mother's Day card and a great take on both challenges! Have a blessed day!

Kathy Martin said...

Just love your sweet cards! :)

Unknown said...

Awww...how sweet, Lisa! Very adorable Mother's Day card!

Cindy Haffner said...

Just DARLING.

Silli said...

Oh Lisa, your card is beautiful, I love the colors... Thanks for joining C4C!

Anonymous said...

I took some tine and got caught up on all the cards that I missed this week. I love you LO of Avery and you! BOTH he and YOU are gorgeous!!Your card today is so sweet and I love the smiling flowers. Have a wonderful week filled with blessings.

Larissa said...

Gorgeous card Lisa! Love the cute image and the layout is so lovely!

Hugs,
Larissa

peggysue said...

You really need to start putting warnings on these posts I snorted again when I got to the part about wickedly looking forward to the day when our kids start wrestling with their own parenting challenges . . .sure we'll be there to help, but smiling behind our hands at the same time! Cute card, and great thoughts, thank for sharing them.

Kristine said...

Cute card! if he was white I think he'd look much like Hello Kitty! *Ü* Wasn't too long ago we used to rent those movies for our girls. Nice color scheme too. Have a great week!

Elizabeth P said...

You made a beautiful card Lisa! I´m really so glad to sponsor SSCC this week! :)

Lynda Benden said...

This is DARLING Lisa!!! What a darling image and your papers are fantastic!

Candace said...

Lisa, both cards are wonderful!! I love the colors in the first one, and the image in the second one is so sweet! I hope you have a great week! :)

Alice said...

just adorable!! sweet cards, Lisa!! love them!

Helen said...

So sweet! Love the butterfly, too! Thank you for sharing your thoughts, also. Being a parent is very hard and knowing now what my parents went through when I was a teen does make it a bit easier to deal with my son, and it gives me a new respect for my mom & dad.
Have a wonderful week!
Blessings!
~H

Vicki G said...

Gorgeous Card Lisa! Hope you are doing well~! Thanks for playing C4C with us

Vicki

Lovely Linda said...

Hi Lisa - wow, you are one busy stamper - you have so many posts each week - you are amazing!! Your SSIC card is just adorable, you have brought that cute little image to life - I love it!! Love the colour combo!! Gorgeous card my friend! Thanks for sharing from your heart Lisa, it is very touching and encouraging!! {{{hugs}}}