First Stamp Attempt

So happy!  I know now that my stamping life will change dramatically with this new Stamp Platform.

One of the biggest reasons I wanted this tool from Tonic (thank you Tim Holtz!) was the design that allows for any – yes, ANY – size sheet for stamping.  I look forward to stamping on lots of 12 x 12 sheets soon.

First, I tried out the basic procedure to make a card.  The idea of repeat stamping, especially on watercolor paper is a plus.  Getting a good print is sometimes an issue.  Not any more!

Here is my first experience.

 

Here is the finished card.  Of course, the Stamp Platform has no authority over my coloring technique – be nice, I’m still practicing.

For a challenge on Splitcoaststampers I made my own Plaid background. Very hard. I also followed their sketch.

Thanks for stopping in!  Have a happy, crafty day. And don’t forget to let the Light of Christ shine through you.

A Triple Play of Emotion

Today has been one of those days that sets emotions all over the scale, quickly!  It was a morning that brought a much anticipated package and before it was over, two phone calls with sad news.

The good news is the mail lady brought my Stamp Platform!  Once opened I was overjoyed to see it and touch it and know it is everything I had hoped for.

I must tell you how happy I am with Oozak.com, the on-line store through whom I placed my order way back before production was interrupted.  It is really amazing that I got mine this early in July, and I’m thankful too.  I had a scrapbook page on my table nearly done, so needed to finish it up before I can pull anything else out to play stamping on.  I am looking forward to stamping directly on my 12 x 12 layouts now that I can place them perfectly without the horror of miss-stamping something.  I’ve pretty much only stamped background images that do not matter if they come out poorly, other images I stamp on another piece of card stock and cut it out before pasting to the page.

Here is the just finished layout.

The papers are from a pack I recently picked up at Michaels for $7.  It’s all about Arizona, to me, for which I have a big reason to scrap such photos.

My challenge was to use a summer song.  I chose this old song.  According to Wikipedia “Summertime” is an aria composed in 1934 by George Gershwin for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. The lyrics are by DuBose Heyward, the author of the novel Porgy on which the opera was based.  I did not know this!  Definitely before my time for real.  For this layout I let the paper do all the work, I just cut and placed.  The title letters were cut with Cricut cartridge, the “sun” stamp is from a set by Stampin’ Up!, the “dream catcher” is from a set by Fun Stampers Journey.

For the sad news number one, while waiting for daughter’s friend to come pick her up for their road trip she got a call from this friend that she had hurt her ankle.  We went over to her house to assess her situation.  With a wrapped ankle she insists on going to this event the girls have been looking forward to all year.  She may be seeking medical attention by the sound of it.  She missed the last step of her front stairs and actually heard a pop.  Oh my – that can’t be good.

After a couple errands I headed home.  I got a phone call from the Prayer Chain lady requesting prayers for the son of a couple we all know.  Brian took an overdose of his medication and is on a respirator.  Very scary.  I promised to pray as soon as I got home.  At my sacred spot, I am now calling this location my sacred spot for prayer and meditation.  It is where I can feel focused and concentrate on praying.  I felt I must read something from my Bible.  I opened it up to Psalms.  I used to sit by Joey’s bed and read to him, especially from Psalms, when he was dying at Hospice, and I sometimes do just that when I need comfort in my grief for him.  So, what I turned to I want to share with you now.

Psalm 5, Prayer for Divine Help

Hear my words, O Lord; listen to my sighing.

Hear my cry for help, my king, my God!

To you I pray, O Lord; at dawn you will hear my cry;

at dawn I will plead before you and wait.

This seemed right, as if the Holy Spirit led me here.  I shared here, not because I believe God will read blog posts on the Internet, but, in the hopes you will join me in this prayer to God for Brian’s well being and that of his family.  Also, why not pray for your loved ones too.

Cards with Strips

Found this fun challenge on Splitcoast recently and can’t stop.

Here are two cards so far.  I cut thin strips of patterned paper and for this card:

…and pasted them in a herringbone pattern.  This adorable pup stamp is from Fun Stampers Journey.  Stamped twice, once on a solid and another on a pattern, both cut out and pasted together on a Spellbinders die cut.  Then I used foam squares to attach to the strips panel.

Next I’d like to show this card I made with some strips laid on a narrow panel:

Makes for an interesting back piece for my FSJ “Fabulous” lady.   And, while I had this set out I made another “Fabulous” card, this time without strips.

My color choice is inspired by a lady’s outfit at church sitting a few rows up from me Sunday.  Often something catches my imagination for a card when I am out.  In this case it was the soft and unusual colors together – here it is represented with FSJ’s Pool Play card stock and SU’s Wisteria Wonder card stock together.  Her dress and body were both stamped on patterned papers.  I added some watercolor pencil to her to bring out the image a bit from the background.  The “Happy Birthday” FSJ stamp was heat embossed with white embossing powder and the “Fabulous You” was handwritten with gel pen.  I also doodled with gel pens on the Pool Play panel too.  The layered die cuts are Spellbinders.  The only embellishment, keeping it flat for mailing, are the FSJ Rainbow dots.

Thanks for taking the time to stop in.  Hope your holiday is safe and full of only the best kinds of fun and fireworks!

Hugs,

Joyce Ann

Child of Light

God is Light.  I am a child of God.

Did Jesus tell us that our parents do not matter?

Gospel, Matthew 10:37-42

³⁷ ‘No one who prefers father or mother to me is worthy of me. No one who prefers son or daughter to me is worthy of me.

³⁸ Anyone who does not take his cross and follow in my footsteps is not worthy of me.

³⁹ Anyone who finds his life will lose it; anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it.

⁴⁰ ‘Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.

⁴¹ ‘Anyone who welcomes a prophet because he is a prophet will have a prophet’s reward; and anyone who welcomes an upright person because he is upright will have the reward of an upright person.

⁴² ‘If anyone gives so much as a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is a disciple, then in truth I tell you, he will most certainly not go without his reward.’

 

In our message today we read this passage from the Bible.  It has confused me many times before because it seemed contradictory to other passages that bid us to “Honor our father and mother”.

My parents were certainly a troublesome source for me.  Why would my dad walk away from a beautiful wife and a precious baby girl?  Mother was so devoted to him, she loved him with her whole being, and yet this was not enough.  I came to realize much later in life that it wasn’t fault of my mother’s nor mine, he simply was who he was, flawed like we all are.

When the beatings my step-father imparted on me became too much for my mother to tolerate, she gave in to her mother’s request to take me to live with them.  She refused to leave this abusive man because she feared his threats.  There were feelings, all those years ago, of being abandoned by her.  My grandparents were the absolute best and I loved them dearly.  But, there remained a longing for my mother who continued to refuse sanctuary for many years offered to her and each of their children by my grandparents.  She continued to live in fear until her premature death at age 37.

I have been preoccupied with thoughts of parents.  There was plenty of guilt for not having been able to get her away to safety so she could have lived a better life.  She loved our Lord and showed it by always doing good for others.  I spent some summer visits standing beside her in church, looking up at her smiling face as she worshiped and sang.  She was his faithful servant.  She is in the Light with God.

So, yeah, I have “mommy” issues.  The point of verse 37 is simple: do not put mother, father, son or daughter before God.  That’s all.  Put God first before everyone and everything.  The abuse she suffered was not about me.  It was not about what I did or did not do.  I’m not saying that if I had put God in my priorities ahead of her it would have all ended well for her.  It’s about me putting God first right now, this moment, and moving on.  After all it is only this moment in time that is truly here.  I must not get lost in my sadness of the past and have my purpose clouded.  I must let all things be for the glory of God.  I must do God’s love, be God’s love in the world.  I must place God first, put my priorities where my Light of God will shine through.

Each of us have this at our core – be the Light of God to everyone.

May Jesus Christ be with you today, and always.

 

In peace,

Joyce Ann

Some Favorite Flower Stamps

Here are two cards I want to share with you made with one of the Fun Stampers Journey set “Wonderful Day”.

I masked stamps and filled the panel with these images, then colored with Color Splash watercolor pencils. I inked the edge before adhering to the blue panel, which I  put on a what card that was dry embossed with the Journey bloom folder.

Experimenting with a base inking under the die cut panels of stamped blooms, I used the cut out left over from the flower panel as a masking frame to add ink to the white card. Flowers were also colored with colored pencils.

It was fun to see what I could come up with using the one stamp set.  These are such pretty flower stamps and I love practicing my water-coloring on them.

Happy Birthday Banner

Ready to mail the Happy Birthday Banner to my dear granddaughter. I hope she likes it and it is all she was hoping for. She got the treat bags with one minor problem. The crayons melted. Well, that’s not a real surprise since it has been so hot in Arizona that some airlines had to cancel flights. That’s just crazy to a Florida girl!
Here is a shot of the whole banner laid out on the floor.

A Fun Stampers Journey die was used to cut out the base from lt. blue card stock. Heat embossed the “scales” stamp on lower half, added mermaid washi tape and used some Fran-tage powder with gold flecks around all the edges.

I have a good sized stash of eyelets, which came in handy.
The mermaid stamp here is a stamp from Sparkle N Sprinkle. I added a few little sea critters from FSJ and S’n S stamps to the final panel after the letter was pasted down.
I cut the name letters from glitter paper with the Cricut cartridge Hello Kitty Font to make it stand out a bit.

I won’t be there to see her celebrate her birthday with her friends but my heart will be there in spirit.

Cards Published

What a thrill to receive my advanced copy of Stampington’s Take Ten in the mail and find I have had 3 cards published in this quarter’s issue. Copies are at the newsstands now, as of June 1st.

To see my cards flip to pages 14, 57, and 81.

Stamps used were from Fun Stampers Journey.  Details are in the magazine.

Hope you enjoy your copy as much as I do.  I always love looking through these gorgeous magazines time and time again.

First Sunday of Lent 2017 Thoughts

“A Mighty Fortress is Our God”, this line from a powerful hymn still tells of the strength available to us in our time of temptation.

I’m no scholar or theologian but for me a good definition of sin is anything that takes me away from serving God. I am very aware of my greatest temptations in my daily life.  There are big and little battles to be fought.  And we can’t fight them all at one time either.  Some may be easy enough to be handled throughout the day with no more effort than to be aware of what I say.  Others have malicious roots deeply embedded in my being and require major effort.

While I work on watching what I say, I remind myself not to be critical of people I see in passing and what I say in everyday conversations so I avoid gossip.  Wouldn’t I be a much worse person than anyone I could possibly speak poorly of?  Whoever I encounter daily, passing by on the streets or while shopping, have their own burdens to bare and behaviors to deal with, so who am I to judge them?

We listened to a good lesson today – The Temptation of Jesus from Matthew chapter 4. How can any of us hope to not be tempted by sin if our Lord Jesus wasn’t exempt!  And how did Jesus respond each time?  “It is written”.  That makes me realize I need to be reading and studying the Scriptures more so I can keep them front and center in my thoughts.  We are closer to God when we hear his Word.

“The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.”  quoted from Matthew chapter 4:10.

This is something I was taught early on at church.  At the beginning of the reading of the Holy Gospel I make a little sign of the cross in 3 places.  First on my forehead, then my lips and my heart.  In my head I say at each corresponding spot to remind me to keep these words ‘in my mind’, on my lips’, and ‘in my heart’.

Pastor used a tale of an Indian brave and a snake to illustrate how easily we can get fooled by temptation to sin.  The idea is that the little brave believed the lie the snake told him and got bit.  “You knew what I was when you picked me up”, said the snake.  Temptation is always a lie.  The promises are alluring, filling us with desire for something we have no business with.

What temptations are you struggling with today?  From where does your help come?  Share yours, if you will.  I’ll share mine next time too.

A Christmas Greeting Card

Had to use this Mojo Monday sketch one more time, and it is another Christmas card that I really need to get in the mail Monday.

When I decided to stamp the sentiment I first used a couple of light colors of ink to faintly stamp the script stamp from this pretty Verve set. I’ve vowed to use my Spellbinders dies more so I selected the size that would work and cut it out, popped it up on the matted panel.  The flower, also from the Verve stamp set, was stamped twice, one green and one red.  Each was cut close to make this pretty flower for the embellishment.  Had to add a sequin to the center.  The green rhinestones were pasted down, 3 rows, to a strip of cream before adding to card base.  The papers are scraps from my Christmas box of papers.  Hope my friends in Tampa like this!

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas!  Hope your card preparations are close to finished and that you receive many blessings this season of cheer and love.

Reindeer Card for Christmas

Wanting to get a Christmas card ready to send to Arizona friends and use these still new Spellbinders dies I selected the Mojo Monday 477 sketch.  Then I pulled out my box of Christmas stamps and used this Inkadinkadoo stamp.  Had to turn the sketch sideways, though.  Love this Verve sentiment with it.

I also inked the edges just a little, added some FSJ silver twine for the snowflake image from the sketch.  I used some ink with a brush for some of the flowers on the image to match the lighter blue.  I think it unites the various blues.  I am vowing to use more of my Spellbinders dies that I just had to have this coming year.