Happy Father's Day

A blessed Sunday to you!

I am so honored to be this week's challenge hostess at Stampin Sisters in Christ. I chose the scripture: 2 Timothy 1-6 "You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs--he wants to please his commanding officer. Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown unless he competes according to the rules. The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops." 

The challenge is to make a Father's Day card/project...or a masculine card.

When I knew my turn was coming to host the challenge, and that it would be the week before Father's Day, naturally I thought the challenge should be to make a Father's Day card, but which scripture? Of course, I thought about our Heavenly Father... the greatest father of all... and the endless number of scriptures referring to God's love for us. But I was looking for something that was more about our earthly fathers... or at least what our earthly fathers should be.

My search led to 2 Timothy. Paul wrote to Timothy from prison, exhorting him to guard the gospel, to persevere in it, to keep on preaching it, and, if necessary, to suffer for it... for the rewards are great and the mission of the utmost importance. The words, "qualified to teach others, " "endure hardship," "compete according to the rules," and "hardworking" struck me as things that good fathers... good men... are/do.

I realize that there are plenty of bad fathers out there... absent fathers, abusive fathers, uncaring fathers, the list goes on. But by contrast, they are far more good fathers...fathers who honor their commitments to their families, who work hard to provide for them, to care for them, encourage them, teach them, and who play by the rules... and they deserve to be honored and cherished.

If you are lucky enough to have (or had) such a wonderful earthly father, then you are surely blessed. But all of us are blessed with a Heavenly Father who loves each of us the same and who keeps His promises to us, even when we don't realize it. Yes, He does, my friends. Yes, He does. I praise and thank Him for that every single day. And for my earthly father, who I love and cherish more now than I ever did before.

I played with Inkspirations Sketch Challenge 27. You know me... always on the hunt for a good sketch, and I love this one! The image is golfafella by Stamping Bella, which I've had for ages but never inked up... until now! Most of you probably know that my husband is a University Golf Coach (and former Country Club professional), so golf is HUGE in my family.

The DP is from the Joy Ride collection by Cosmo Cricket. I paper pieced his shorts to coordinate. Right now, plaid golf shorts are really IN... don't I know it!

I think I'll hide this away and give it to Paul next Sunday. I might get mad at him sometimes... mostly frustrated (the usual stuff between husbands and wives after 26 years of marriage), and we do have our fair share of  (ahem) disagreements...but one thing he surely is and that is devoted to our family and to our boys. He is 150% available to us, especially the boys. He's been more than an equal partner in raising them.... and that includes feeding them, getting up in the middle of the night with them, changing diapers, and everything. For that I will love him and be grateful to him forever... and I'm quite sure so will the boys.

I hope you'll come play with us this week at Stampin' Sisters in Christ. Simon Says Stamp is our sponsor again this week (thank you Simon Says Stamp!). And please be sure to stop by the Stampin' Sisters in Christ blog to see the wonderful cards created by our lovely design team.

Have a blessed day, my friends!

High Maintenance? Me???

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

Today's challenge at Stampin' Sisters in Christ is hosted by Kathy Winter, who chose the scripture Genesis 1:26, "And God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.'" The challenge is to make a card/project that has some kind of animal on it; i.e., a fish, bird, land mammal, or a creeping bug.


Genesis 1:26 is, of course, a very well known passage in the Bible. I'm especially interested to know that God created us in His image. And, yes, we have dominion over all other creatures on earth by virtue of our intelligence... yet we are all interdependent... part of that marvelous thing called the Animal Kingdom. (How great is our God?!)

So what's my point? Well, I'm thinking that while God gives us dominion over animals, He also gives us the ability to have very special relationships with some animals (our precious pets!). He has given us still others to admire and enjoy (I'm thinking about birds and their sweet songs, and the beauty of butterflies). And still others to provide us with food. And every single animal, bird, fish, insect, reptile has a special purpose in this amazing world God has created for us. So we need to respect our relationships with animals... and give thanks to God!

I give thanks to God for our pets, Molly, Sadie, Jazzy and Whitie. They give us endless pleasure, and unconditional love! Their "high maintenance" is so worth it! {LOL}

Speaking of my card, I played with what is now last week's sketch challenge at 2Sketches4You... Laura's Sketch 56. The stamp is Chichi by Ketto for Stamping Bella. The DP is Swing Into Spring Digital Paper Quarter Sheets by Nina Brackett for Gina K Designs. I love love love everything Nina does!!! The cardstock is Bubblegum Pink Pure Luxury Cardstock.

I created the greeting using the Comic Sans font on my computer. I saw a similar greeting once on a Hallmark card and loved it! The inside says, "Let's take a moment and consider the results..." Hilarious! That's what I keep telling Paul and the boys! Happy Wife / Happy Life!

I hope you'll join us this week at Stampin' Sisters in Christ. Our sponsor is Wildflower Patch... the winner will receive 5 digi images of choice! Thank you Jen!!! I'm hoping over there now to buy a couple of her awesome templates...she offers many in SVG, and now that I have my new toy (Cricut Expressions), I'm all over that!

Have a blessed day!

Pretend It's Saturday

Hello my friends. I'm running waaaay behind schedule. It all started with my two middle boys having surgery Friday afternoon to have their wisdom teeth removed. I didn't expect it to affect ME as much as it did! LOL! Yes, I found myself worried and feeling a bit shaky at the dentist's office when the boys were under the knife, and then nearly cried when I saw the first one post-surgery. I guess it shows that no matter how old they get (these two are [almost] 22 and 16), they are still your babies and you'd do anything to keep them from suffering.

I was by myself because Paul had a golf team event he couldn't miss. I got them home okay, but then began the post-op nursing... changing gauze and cold packs... trying to get them to sip something and eat a bit so that they could take pain meds. By the time they got reasonably settled, I was wiped out! Some nurse I make!

I'm happy to report that they are both doing well. The 16 y/0 was back to his sassy self by yesterday morning... even went to the Club to play some golf yesterday afternoon. But my 22 y/0 is still struggling. His teeth were the most impacted. He's doing better, but is very swollen today. He looks like he's gained a bunch of weight... he's very thin, so it's funny. He says he thinks he looks like Marlon Brando in The Godfather...and does a pretty good imitation of him. At least he has a sense of humor!

I'm trying to remember what I did yesterday. It's all a blur, but it sums up to not much at all in terms of crafting. I finally got to my craft room late afternoon, and after messing up the coloring of this adorable image TWICE, I finally threw in the towel and went to bed.

Which, of course, means I didn't get my card done for Stampin' Sisters in Christ. It's the snowball effect.

So pretend it's Saturday, okay? And time for a new sketch at The Sweet Stop! This week's sketch is awesome, although I did have to eliminate the band and embellishment along the bottom because I didn't want to cover up the DP. That paper is from the Report Card collection by October Afternoon... a perfect companion for this sweet image, don't you think? That's Betty The Bookworm from Stamping Bella.

I used to be a bookworm... before I became a paper crafting junkie!

I hope you'll join us at The Sweet Stop this week! It's an awesome sketch, don't you think? To give you some inspiration, check out what the rest of The Sugar Babies have come up with:

• Andrea Vernagus
• Ann Clack
• Audrey Gonzales
• Candace Mitchell
• Jodi Collins
• Julie Masse
• Korin Sutherland - Sugar Mama
• Nancy Brown
• Nicole Anderson
• Renata Elenbaas

Since today is "Saturday," that means tomorrow is "Sunday." I'll be back then with my card for Stampin' Sisters in Christ.

Before I go, I want to give you a glimpse of what it's like to live with all males:


Have a great day!

Happy New Year!

It's 2009! Happy New Year! I pray this is a good year for all of us. I'm going to keep a positive attitude and count on it!

I stayed up until midnight last night, trying to do a few of the SCS New Year's Eve Challenges. I only managed to get two and part of another card done. This is the one I like the best... Ashley's glitter and bling challenge.

The image is by Stamping Bella called Eloise Greengrass. After coloring her with Copics, I highlighted her skirt and wings with glitter. The cardstock is Stampin Up Lovely Lilac, as are the rhinestone brads, and the DP is Basic Grey Euphoria. The ribbon is something I bought at a quilt show from a wonderful vendor called Nifty Thrifty Dry Goods. She has the BEST selection of buttons and ribbon I've ever seen! Talk about eye candy.

We're watching the Rose Parade on TV. Out here in California, we can watch it over and over again all day on KTLA. Of course, it's another gorgeous, sunny day here in So Cal. I'd love to see the floats in person, but I'm just not up to fighting the huge crowds and traffic. I've actually seen the Parade twice in person, and it is definitely a wonder, but a completely different experience than seeing it on TV.

Have a great New Year's Day and remember... like my mom always said... however you act today is how you will act all year! (I don't think we ever believed her, but we did have to eat black eyed peas... yuck!).

Ultimate Recipe Showdown Winner???

My BFF Laureen is an uber-talented chef. She has won several recipe contests, both locally and nationally, not the least of which was as a finalist in this year's Pillsbury Bake-Off contest. Unfortunately, she didn't win the big million dollar prize, but she did get an all-expense paid trip to Dallas TX for the Bake-Off, won some great consolation prizes, and had an amazing experience. Check out her recipe for Upside-Down Caramel Apple Bisquits. Don't they sound delicious...and easy... especially this time of year? Yum!

But probably the biggest coup yet for Laureen is that she is a contestant in Food Network's Ultimate Recipe Showdown. This time, she was flown to New York and met Guy Fieri and got to cook with the pros at the Food Network Studios. She said it was the experience of a lifetime...I can just imagine! But we have to wait until March to find out if she was the big winner when the show is televised. hee hee hee

Anyway, I wanted to make a special card to congratulate her on her cooking successes. She's not actually into baking as much as cooking, but I had already made a card for her using the Voila set from Stampin Up, so I turned to my StampingBella Cecily Cinnamon Sticks. I love how she turned out in jewel toned colors, which match perfectly with new seasonal colors from Papertrey Ink. After cutting out and embossing the image with my Nestabilities circle die and mounting on a Nestie scalloped circle, I used my SU Top Note die (works perfectly with the Spellbinder Wizard, by the way) to cut out the Summer Sunrise (gold) background piece. I like how the shape mimics Cecily's wings. I kept trying to find a way to put a greeting on the front or add something else to it, but ended up leaving well enough alone. The DP is so busy that anything else might have been too much.

Recipe:

Stamps: StampingBella Cecily Cinnamon Sticks
Paper: Papertrey Ink Summer Sunrise and Pure Poppy cardstock, and First Fruits patterned paper

Ink: Copic Markers
Accessories: Papertrey Ink Pure Poppy double stitched ribbon

Okay, back to getting ready for the boutique. I'll try to squeeze in another post or two soon. Thanks for stopping by!