I {heart} you!

Happy Tuesday! Time for our second challenge at the brand new SCACD Friends With Heart Challange!!! Our challenge this week is to include a heart somewhere in your card/project featuring any stamp(s) available for sale in the SCACD store.

Naturally I reached for this adorable image called Blowing Kisses by Elisabeth Bell for SCACD since she's blowing heart kisses. Cute!!!

I was in need of some mojo juice, so I followed Sketch 110 at Card Patterns designed by my friend Nina Brackett.  Plus, I went out on a limb and tried Kathy's Color Throwdown at Lily Pad Cards. I find color challenges to be... well... challenging! lol I think I got all the colors in there... you'll just have to trust me that my hearts are an orangish red. (*grin*)

I hope you'll come along and play with us this week at SCACD Friends With Heart Challenges. There happens to be a $50 gift certificate up for grabs as a prize for one lucky player this month. Every time you enter one of our challenges in April, you have another chance to win!

Be sure to visit my fellow SCACD Friends With Heart Challenge design team members to see what loveliness they have created to inspire and delight you:

Danni

Lorraine

Mary Lou

Pattie

Renkata

Have a wonderful day!

How God Showed His Love

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

Our challenge hostess this week at Stampin' Sisters in Christ is my dear friend and co-founder of SSIC, Kris Breach! Kris chose as her inspiration scripture Mark 15:17 "They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him." Her challenge is to use shades of purple as your main color and/or use wood paper or elements on your card/project.

This description of Jesus being mocked and tortured before crucifixion found in Mark 15:17 is well-known to Christians...really to everyone since it has been the subject of many artists' portrayal of the life and death of Christ.  But what many of us may not truly grasp is the horror of what was done to him. "Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees they paid homage to him, and when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him." Mark 15:18-20

I've never seen Mel Gibson's movie The Passion of the Christ, mainly because I heard that the depiction of Jesus's scourging and crucifixion are extremely gory and graphic and I cannot bear to watch that sort of thing. But I believe it's important that we think about this... the brutality of what Jesus endured... so that we can better understand the sacrifice Christ made for you and me. Think on this my friends.

My card features image and scripture from the beautiful Easter Blessings stamp set by Taylored Expressions, paired with patterned paper by Websters Pages.

I hope you'll join us for our challenge this week. Simon Says Stamp is our sponsor and has offered an adorable stamp set as a prize to one lucky player. I encourage you to visit the SSIC blog to read Kris's devotional and see all the lovely cards made by the design team this week. You will be blessed!

Daisy Two

Happy Saturday!!! Time for another fabby sketch challenge at Sketch Saturday!!!

I flipped the sketch on its side to better showcase sweet Wild Sprout Daisy, one of the newest stamps released by The Greeting Farm this month! Okay, so I experimented with her hair. Believe it or not, I actually practiced this three times before making the final version, so, yes, it's on purpose! lol Don't tell me if you hate it 'cause I might cry. Just kidding. It's different, but I kinda like it with the paper.

Speaking of the paper, it's from the beautiful Portrait Collection by Crate Paper, along with the border strip and buttons. Love those buttons! And there's a bit of Tim Holtz tissue tape on there. ;)

Please be sure to pop over to the Sketch Saturday blog to see all the gorgeous cards created by this amazing design team. Seriously, these girls rock! Plus, Simon Says Stamp is sponsoring and there's a chance to win a $25 Gift Certificate to spend in their awesome store, so you'll definitely want to play!

Have a wonderful day!

Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge #136

Happy Happy Friday! It's time once again for the bi-monthly Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge!!! In case you missed the news, Taylored Expressions is now a Member Company at Splitcoaststampers, which means the challenges are now taking place over at SCS in the Taylored Expressions Forum. In fact, all you need to do is pop over to the TESC Sketch Challenge #136 Forum Thread for all the deets on this week's challenge, to grab the sketch and find out how you can win a $10 Gift Certificate to spend at TE by playing along with us... or a $20 GC if you use TE stamps!

 My card features images and greeting from the adorable Cozy Cottages stamp set. The extra special thing about this stamp set is that through this month (April 2011) $7.00 from the sale of each Cozy Cottages stamp set will be donated to Habitat for Humanities. How awesome is that? 

My card features patterned paper from the Circa 1934 collection by Cosmo Cricket and some light blue Candy Dots.

I hope you'll come along and play with us! Since the sketch challenge is now bi-weekly (2nd and 4th Fridays), you have until April 21st to play!

Be sure to visit my Sketch Crew friends for lots of inspiration!

• Jami Sibley
• Lori Craig
• Melissa Sauls
• Monika Davis
• Rachel Sztonyk
• Taylor VanBruggen
  

Have a great day!

SCACD Friends With Heart Challenge!!!

Woo hoo!!! The day we've been waiting for is finally here! The brand new SCACD (Susana's Custom Art and Card Design) Friends With Heart Challenge has officially begun!!!

Oh me oh my, there's so much to say! First, for those who are followers of the SCACD Friends With Heart Challenge blog, today is the day that the winners of a set of Copic Sketch Markers (the new colors!) and a Sew Easy Tool plus SIX attachments (yowser!) will be revealed. Are you one of the winners? Are you a follower? If not, you'll definitely want to become one because the fun is just beginning and you won't want to miss a thing!

Second, April 8th... this coming Friday...is the big release of the new "Peekers" by Elisabeth Bell for SCACD!!! Oh my word, you need to jump on over to the SCACD blog to see the previews of this adorable set of images AND find out how you can win the new stamps!!!! They are ADORABLE!!! 

And last, but NOT least, we have our first challenge up and ready for you to play!!! This week it's easy peasy... ANYTHING GOES!!! As long as you use a stamp carried by SCACD, you are a-okay! You can find the list and links by clicking HERE. Note, the stamp(s) you use must actually be offered for sale at SCACD, not just the brand. But with all the wonderful stamps SCACD has to offer, including (of course) the fabulous Elisabeth Bell for SCACD, Carmen Medlin for SCACD and Victoria Case for SCACD stamps, I know you won't have a problem meeting that requirement! (*wink*)

My card features At The Horse Show by Elisabeth Bell for SCACD, part of the Sampler Edition #4. I've paired her with patterned paper from the Pyrus collection by Basic Grey.

Be sure to visit my fellow SCACD Friends With Heart Challenge design team members and see what loveliness they have to inspire and delight you:

Danni

Lorraine

Mary Lou

Pattie

Renkata

I can't wait to see what YOU create for our first challenge! See you there!

Edited to add: there's a prize up for grabs for those who enter our challenges in April... a $50 Gift Certificate to spend in the SCACD Store. Yowsers! What are you waiting for? Jump on in!!!

Cupcake and Kitten

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


The wonderful Miesje Flach is our challenge hostess this week at Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenges. She chose as her inspiration scripture Luke 18:17 "Amen I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it." Her challenge is to make a card/project for a child. How fun!

My card features an adorable image called Cupcake and Kittens by Carmen Medlin for SCACD. I'm in LOVE with the entire Reflections #2 Collection! I paired this sweet image with patterned paper and chipboard from the DeLovely collection by Cosmo Cricket, and a scrap of ribbon I found in my "scrap of ribbon box." lol


The first thing I thought of when reading the inspiration scripture is pretty much along the same lines as Miesje's devotional (which you'll find on the SSIC blog). We know that faith in Jesus Christ is required to enter the kingdom of God (John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."), but if we're honest, we all lose or question our faith at one time or another. We experience lingering doubt that maybe we're believing in something that doesn't really exist. After all, there are lots of people around us who think we're nuts, right? They believe this is all there is... life here on earth...or they believe in God but not Jesus, or they believe in Allah, or Buddah, or some higher but undefined being, or... well, you get the picture. Who's right? Who's wrong?

We as Christians look to the Bible for the answer to those questions...the eyewitness accounts of Jesus' time on earth, the miracles, the teachings... those who actually saw him die on the cross and then rise again. However, we are also human and have many influences around us, and it's not shameful to admit that occasionally we wonder.

Children don't have that problem, do they? They hear things and see things and they believe without one shred of doubt, especially if it comes from their parents. Mine were convinced there was a Santa Claus for years, without moment of doubt! And they experienced much joy as a result!

That is what I believe Jesus is trying to tell us... if we hold back our faith, if we allow doubt to enter our thoughts, if we allow our faith to falter, we won't truly enter the kingdom of God. We need to be as trusting as children. After all, we are God's children. And, yes, Virginia, there is a God.

Have a blessed day!

Gracie's Roses

Happy Saturday!!! Time for another FABULOUS sketch challenge at Sketch Saturday!!!

Our very own Simmone Clay ("SemSee") is our challenge hostess this week and she has come up with a most excellent sketch for us to play with! On top of that, our prize sponsor is the wonderful Whimsy Stamps and they are offering a fabby package of goodies. You'll have to pop over to the Sketch Saturday blog and have a look for yourself!

My card features the digi image Gracie's Roses by Crissy Armstrong for Whimsy Stamps. I've paired her with patterned paper, brad and chipboard piece from the Portrait Collection by Crate Paper, with a Prima rose, Kaisercraft rhinestones and some fun fur thrown in for good measure! Gracie looks like a wee flower girl, doesn't she? So sweet!

I hope you'll come along and play with us! Be sure to stop by the Sketch Saturday blog and see the amazing cards created by this extraordinary design team. I'm so blessed to be a part of this group!

Have a wonderful day!!!

Tootin' My Own Horn!

I'm popping in to let ya'll know that I'm having a sale at The Craft's Meow! From now through Tuesday, April 5th you'll get 20% off your entire purchase! Just enter the code AprilShowers at checkout. I've also added the three wee stamp sets designed by Claire Brennan of Waltzingmouse Stamps to the store, so you can now purchase them with or without the kits!

Thanks for stopping by! Please scroll down or click for The Greeting Farm New Release Blog Hop post!!! MEOW!!!