Creative Journey

Praise and Thanksgiving - Worship Wednesday #2

“I will praise God's name in song and glorify Him with thanksgiving.” – Psalm 69:30

Welcome to the second week of Worship Wednesday! I hope that your week has been filled with an abundance of blessings so far. I’ve been enjoying time with our children today, and I hope that you’ve been able to enjoy celebrating Veteran’s Day with your own family as well.

The Scripture passage that I used to introduce today’s Worship Wednesday expresses exactly how I feel when I remember God’s gracious provision of all of my needs and the blessing of receiving my heart’s desire (although it doesn’t happen when I want in exactly the way I desire because only His time and His purpose in allowing me to have them is perfect).  

I have found that when I recall everything that God has allowed to happen in my life…the good and the bad, the joyful moments and the times I’ve despaired…I realize that I can thank Him for every single moment because those were the times and events that I was meant to experience. They were not hid from Him…He knew of every moment in my life even before I knew Him. Although what I experienced may have been a result of my sin, His mercy and grace allowed me to learn, grow, and seek Him even more for forgiveness, redemption, and sanctification. I cannot help but sing praises to Him for His desire for me to be His child and grant me the opportunity to have a relationship with Him through faith in the redeeming work of His Son, Jesus Christ. I could never earn it and neither did I deserve it. Yet His limitless love provided it...that is truly only possible because of His grace.

Today, I’d like to share a project that is inspired by the Tuesday Trigger at Moxie Fab World. The colors and damask simply “spoke” to me. The thankfulness theme was inspired by the Bitten by the Bug challenge, and I used this week’s Mojo Monday 112 sketch to create this:

  

Praise and Thanksgiving Card

Cardstock: Bazzill
Glittered paper: Marcella by K
Patterned paper: Teresa Collins
  Ribbon: Wright's
  Vintage Label: The Graphic Fairy
Flowers: Recollections (Michaels)
Die cut sentiment: Provo Craft Cricut (Gypsy Font)
Other: doilies

I hope that you’ll join me in remembering the goodness of God today. Would you share with me the things for which you can praise Him today? Leave a comment and I’ll randomly pick someone to receive a RAK. Also, if you decide to join me in creating a faith-based project for this Worship Wednesday, I will enter you in a drawing for this RAK:

 

This RAK includes:

Making Memories Autumn Splendor 8x8 papers
Prima flower and crystal swirls
Package of pearl embellishments
Length of aqua ribbon
Martha Stewart Mini Hearts border punch

Post a link to your faith-based project by next Tuesday, November 17, 2009, and I’ll announce the randomly chosen winner from the list of participants on the next Worship Wednesday post!

I’ll leave you with the following music video. What better song to sing today than “You are Worthy of My Praise”:

With Sympathy / How You Live

Good morning! I hope that you all enjoyed your Monday and played along with us during Creative Cuts & More's mega recipe blog hop. If you didn't have a chance to see the project that I created for the blog hop, please take a moment to go here to see it. You'll also have a chance to win a RAK from me in a random drawing I will have for it next week. So make sure that you read this post and find out how you can be the lucky winner! :)

Well, I was asked by my husband to create a card to send to our sister-in-law (she is married to my husband's brother). She lost her father last week and has been in mourning. I have to confess that I do not enjoy creating sympathy cards because I tend to cry as I'm making them (yes, I'm that emotional...LOL!). This one was challenging for me to do because I really wanted to make a special one for her. I was so grateful to find Kazan's sketch yesterday at 2 Sketches 4 You. It took the pressure off of me to try an design it all by myself (thank you, Kazan!).  I used some glitter paper, Teresa Collins patterned paper, handmade crepe paper ruffles, and an artisan shaped card base which I cut using my Cricut and SCAL. The handmade flower is made from vintage dictionary pages and tissue paper using the instructions from Donna Salazar's video (these are her dictionary flowers, version 2.0  ;-D ).

 

Our sister-in-law got the news that her father took a turn for the worst while she and her husband were out celebrating her birthday and watching the theatrical performance of "The Lion King" in San Diego last week. Needless to say, they left as soon as they heard, but by the time she arrived at the hospital, her father had been given so much medication that he didn't even recognize her and she felt that she couldn't even properly say good-bye to him. That truly broke my heart when I heard about it! Okay, I'll stop now since I'm crying already. Anyway, if you would join me in lifting her up in prayer and asking the Lord to comfort her during this time of loss, I would appreciate it.

So sorry that this post isn't as positive as I usually like to share on my blog. However, I hope that it will serve as a reminder for us to go out and fully love and appreciate the ones that we have with us RIGHT NOW while we still have the blessing of doing so!  I'll leave you with this music video...it's one of my favorite songs by Point of Grace that encourages me whenever I hear it. The song is called "How You Live"...Enjoy! :)

Creative Cards & More Mega Recipe Blog Hop & a RAK!

Good morning and welcome to the first day of the Creative Cuts & More Mega Recipe Blog Hop! We have 24 designers who will be creating wonderful pages to inspire you. Plus we all will be sharing some of our own delicious treasured family recipes. You should have arrived here from Kendra's blog. If not, I wouldn't want you to miss her wonderful project and recipes along with all of the participating designers' work so please make sure that you begin at the Creative Cuts and More blog to enjoy everyone's creations!

As part of the celebration, CC&M will be having a great sale! For the next six days, they will offer 20% off the entire store! But act quickly...it is only for six days, and this sale will end on November 14th! Make sure you enter this code: recipebloghop2009 during check out to receive this fabulous discount!

As a continuing part of the celebration, CC&M will also be giving away great gifts! Each day a kit will be given away. Here's what you'll need to do: go through the blog hop and leave a comment for reach of the great designers. After you have finished the blog hop, return to www.diecutdiva.com and instead of leaving a comment, you need to share a recipe to have a chance at winning the kit! Share the recipe on your blog and link it back and get another chance to win the kit!  When you do so, you'll also be helping us make this a great recipe swap, too!

Make sure you keep reading until the end of this post because I have a special treat for all of you that I will be giving away, too!

Today I will be sharing some of our family's favorite recipes featuring the 8”x8” Treasured Family Recipes Kit (click on the kit photo to go to the Creative Cuts and More store to purchase the kit).

I've been wanting to have a place to keep our recipes for a long time now, and this kit has made it possible for me to do that. The kit contains all the cardstock, patterned papers and embellishments you need to make your own family recipe book, and let me tell you...it was delightful making these pages!  This is the cover of my recipe book:

I love the fact that the cover has a circular opening becuase it gave me the opportunity to create a shaker box element. I adhered a piece of transparency to the cover before adding the patterned papers and embellishments. Then I turned the cover over, filled the space with some Martha Stewart mica flakes and then enclosed that with another piece of transparency. This makes it possible to see the paper from the first page through the opening in the cover. Finally, I added the rhinestones and glittered paper from my stash to the chipboard letters that were included in the kit.

Since Thanksiving is coming in a few short weeks, I thought I would share my turkey brining recipe. I had never heard about brining a turkey until five years ago. I had been reading a book called CookWise by Shirley Corriher and she explains within the book why brining produces such a moist, tender turkey. Well, I decided to try it that year for Thanksgiving, and that turkey turned out to be the best we had roasted until then! Even my sister-in-law and her mom, who joined us, loved it and they still remember how delicious it was (right, Mickie? ;-D).

Here's the page that I created for the brine recipe:

 

The brown cardstock pocket was created by stitching the cardstock to the patterned paper so that I could place the recipe card into it. Here's the actual recipe:

Turkey Brine

1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
5 bay leaves
2 tablespoons black pepper corns
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
1 tablespoon rubbed sage
1 tablespoon coriander seeds

1. Dissolve brine in 2 quarts of boiling water. Once it is dissolved, add in 1-2 quarts more water (depending on the size of your bird).
2. Allow brine to cool to room temperature (you can add some ice cubes to the brine to speed this process). Place your turkey in a couple of large roasting bags (double bag it) and pour brine over the turkey making sure the cavity is filled. Tie the bags shut and place the turkey in an ice cooler filled with ice overnight (for at least 12 hours).
3. Discard brine after removing turkey. Rinse the turkey inside and out under cool running water for several minutes to remove all traces of salt; pat dry with paper towel.

To roast:

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup white wine, chicken broth or water

1. Mix the softened butter with the pepper. Place turkey on rack in roasting pan. Rub the seasoned butter under the skin.
2. Brush the skin with the melted butter. Pour the 1 cup liquid (wine, broth or water) over the pan bottom to prevent drippings from burning.
3. Roast turkey at 450 degrees F for 25 minutes, baste and then rotate the roasting pan. Continue roasting until the skin turns golden brown, an additional 25 minutes; baste again.
4. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F; continue to roast, basting and rotating the pan once about halfway through cooking, until the internal temperature reaches 170 degrees F for turkey breast meat and 180 degrees F for turkey thigh meat. Remove the turkey from the oven. Let stand 20 minutes before carving.

Another family favorite is the following hearty soup recipe which uses the left over Thanksgiving turkey:

This page also has a pocket that holds the following delicious recipe:

After Thanksgiving Turkey Soup

1 leftover turkey carcass
3-4 bay leaves
3 medium onions, chopped
2 large carrots, diced
2 celery ribs, diced
1 cup butter, cubed
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups half-and-half cream
1 cup uncooked long grain rice
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules
3/4 teaspoon pepper

1. Place turkey carcass in a soup kettle or Dutch oven and cover with water. Add bay leaves and bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1 hour. Remove carcass; cool. Set aside 3 qt. broth. Remove turkey from bones and cut into bite-size pieces; set aside.

2. In a soup kettle or Dutch oven, saute the onions, carrots and celery in butter until tender. Reduce heat; stir in flour until blended. Gradually add 1 qt. of reserved broth. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.

3. Add cream, rice, salt, bouillon, pepper, remaining broth and reserved turkey. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30-35 minutes or until rice is tender.

To thank you for taking the time to visit, I will be offering the following RAK:

This RAK includes:

A Martha Stewart Embossed Scallop border punch

A package of 16 glitters from Doodlebug

Package of Prima felt matties

Heidi Swapp Gel flowers

Basic Grey Gypsy 6"x6" paper pad

Doodlebug paper frills

Assortment of ribbons and buttons

In order to have your name added to the drawing, simply subscribe to my blog (enter your email address into the subscription box located in the sidebar on the left) and leave a comment letting me know that you've done so. If you already receive the Feedblitz notifications whenever my blog is updated, just leave a comment, and I will verify that your email address is on my mailing list. The deadline to leave a comment for the RAK drawing is next Monday, November 16th, 2009, at 11:59 p.m. I will announce the name of the randomly chosen winner on my blog next Tuesday, November 17th.

I hope you've enjoyed your visit to my blog today! Now it's time to visit Holly's blog to see the pages she's created and the recipes she'll be sharing with you today!

One last note...be sure you check back at www.diecutdiva.com tomorrow for the Holiday Treats Apron Recipe Kit Blog Hop!  There will be 24 designers who will be showcasing their great creations and sharing holiday treat recipes!

 

You're Tweet - CardPatterns #40

Good evening! I can't believe that it's already the end of the week! Time seems to have flown by this week, and I must apologize for not posting my RAK on Friday as I had mentioned in my last post. I'm going to save it for tomorrow because I'm sharing a project that I created for this event:

Make sure that you stop by the Creative Cuts & More blog tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time/11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. You'll find out how to win the wonderful kit that I used for the project I'll be sharing here tomorrow!

I had a few scraps left over from the project I made, so I decided to creat this card using the CardPatterns Sketch #40:

You're all getting a sneak peek a the great patterned papers that I was able to work with, and I hope you'll come back tomorrow to see the project and recipes that I'll be sharing with you! Not only that, I'll be posting the RAK that I had intended to post a couple of days ago in tomorrow's post as well so stay tuned!

Thanks so much for visiting today! I hope you all have a wonderful week! :)

Be Still - Worship Wednesday #1

Welcome to the beginning of Worship Wednesdays here on my blog! I recently visited Joyce's blog and was so inspired by her post that I asked her permission to copy her idea for Worship Wednesdays. I am so very thankful that she agreed! I have had a desire to create more projects that reflect my heart and faith, and I thought that if I would simply schedule a day to do so each week, I would likely more likely to create projects that are meaningful to me on a regular basis. So...here we are with my first Worship Wednesday project!

This is inspired by the Moxie Fab World Plum Crazy challenge and The Gypsy Spot Wanderings challenge.

 

 

Be Still Wallhanging

Cardstock: Bazzill, The Paper Company
Glittered paper: Marcella by K
Patterned paper: K & Company
Ink pad: Colorbox
Corrugated paper: Ellison
Flowers, bling, die cut felt border: Prima
Die cut butterfly and title: Provo Craft Cricut (Gypsy Font, Gypsy Wanderings)
Other: trim, ribbon, craft wire

Let me share a little bit of my creative process as I went about putting together this project...The deep purple color reminds me of royalty and the King and Lord of my heart. The torn, corrugated paper symbolizes the challenges that I've been facing lately, as well as the events of life which are the hills and valleys that often add "texture" to my life. The little pink butterfly is me...often fluttering around in the wind attempting to find food and nourishment. Finally, the jewels remind me of the grace that He bestows upon me so lavishly, and the opalescent tone of the glimmer mist on the title echoes the beauty of His command to simply "be still". I need to be that butterfly resting upon the beauty of God's creation...being still enough to consider and enjoy all that He has provided for me so that I may praise Him for His abundant grace and provision.

As you may have guessed, the following verse has been on my mind lately:

       Be still, and know that I am God;
       I will be exalted among the nations,
       I will be exalted in the earth.

Psalm 46:10

With all that I've been experiencing, this verse has had me considering whether I really stop and still my mind and actions long enough to truly know my God. Am I still long enough to be able to hear the tuggings at my heart that remind me to focus on my relationship with Him? Have I taken the time to hear Him, exalt Him, and sing praises to Him? It saddens me to confess that I would have to answer "no" to both questions. My heart has not been wholeheartedly His lately, and I know that it has been due to the distractions of life.

The many urgent, non-important things that come up often take precedence when I'm faced with them. Unfortunately, the important, meaningful moments feel as if they slip away all to quickly unless I make a conscious effort to engage my mind and heart in them before they pass. Often I think that the physical pain I'm experiencing is something that causes me to slow down from the frenetic pace that would characterize my days if it wasn't hindered by this condition with which I'm currently dealing. I know in my heart that I simply need to slow this pace and enjoy some much-needed time with the Lover of my soul.  A lovely reader and sister-in-Christ reminded me of this a couple of weeks ago, and I realize now what she meant in her message to me. I am so thankful for her sweet reminder, and for the gracious One who sent her my way!

So...are you like me? Do you feel as if your days have been running together in a jumbled mess? Remember that there is One who desires to have your heart...One who knows your struggles and the challenges that you face every moment of every day. Simply slow down and meet with Him...allow yourself time to hear Him and know Him for His precious Word says:

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.]

Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls.

For My yoke is wholesome (useful, good--not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne.

Matthew 11:28-30 (Amplified Bible)

Will you join me in being still and knowing Him today? Let's come together and be with Him to find peace and refreshment for our souls, shall we?! :)

Please feel free to share with me what inspires you to worship God today. I would love to know! If you create a faith-based project, I would love to see it as well...please leave a comment with a link to it! I will feature a sneak peek of the projects that are shared in the comments of this post next week, and I will be giving away a surprise RAK to a randomly chosen participant from among those who join me for my Worship Wednesday. The deadline for posting a link to your faith-based project is next Tuesday, November 10, 2009, at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time.  Thank you in advance for joining me!  :)

So many of you inspire me with your sweet words of encouragement, and I thank you for taking the time to do so! May the rest of your week...

 

P.S.

Don't forget to visit again this Friday! It's the first Friday of the month and time for another Freebie Friday RAK!  ;-D

Best Friends Card & Happy Birthday Gift Box

Good Monday afternoon! Wow...I can't believe that it's November already, and where I live, we've set our clocks back an hour (I really needed that extra hour, too!). I'm so pleased to be able to share these projects with you today since I've been missing doing anything creative this past week.

Both of these projects include the use of a new Martha Stewart Garden Trellis deep edge border punch that I bought yesterday. When I saw it, I just had to have it (and it helped that I had a coupon in hand, too! LOL!). I hope you'll agree that it was a good purchase! ;-D

The following card was inspired by this week's 2 Sketches 4 You sketch by Laura: 

 

 

Cardstock: The Paper Company, DCWV
Patterned paper:  Autumn Leaves
Chipboard: Cosmo Cricket
Sentiment sticker: Creative Imaginations
Flowers, bling: Prima
Garden trellis deep edge punch: Martha Stewart
Corner punch: Stampin' Up
Pearls: Michaels
Other: eyelet trim

This gift box was inspired by Sketch 39 over at Card Patterns. Now, I realize that this isn't a card, but I really liked the sketch and wanted to try it on this box. I think that it turned out pretty well, and the colors remind me of a Tiffany box (sigh...would love to get one of those with a nice little trinket inside for Christmas! LOL! ;-D ). The box comes from a My Timeless Template by Lauren Meader called It's on the House, and you can find it at Papertrey Ink. I tweaked it a little so that I could get a square front and then cut it on my Cricut. It's such a fun shape, and I'll probably be using it for more projects in the future!

 

Cardstock: The Paper Company, DCWV, Bazzill
Flowers: Prima
Fabric brad: K & Company
Sentiment font: Bickham Script Pro
Embossing folder: Provo Craft Cuttlebug
Garden trellis deep edge punch: Martha Stewart
Box template: Papertrey Ink
Button: Making Memories
Other: ribbon, hemp, doily

Edited to add one more project inspired by today's Mojo Monday Sketch 111 and this week's Challenge #39 at The Pink Elephant blog:

 

Cardstock: The Paper Company, Bazzill
Journaling block: Cosmo Cricket
Flowers: Prima, Imaginisce
Crystal swirls: Prima
Rhinestone brad: Creating Keepakes
Garden trellis deep edge punch: Martha Stewart

Didn't I tell you that I love that trellis border punch? I've enjoyed using them on all of these projects! ;-D

Thanks so much for visiting today! I hope you all have a wonderful week! :)

Cupcake Love

Good morning! Today I'd like to share a project that I've been wanting to do for what seems to be a long time. I first saw this project on Linda Albrecht's blog and instantly fell in love with it! She is so creative, and I drooled over it for weeks! LOL!

After finding this tutorial, I was even more motivated to create it. I thought the way she incorporated the gift card into the project was ingenious! However, the only thing that was hindering me from going forward with it was the fact that I had to go look for a little wooden ball for the cherry on top (yeah, I'll admit it...I was too lazy to go search for one at the craft store! ;-D ).

It wasn't until I saw this tutorial on Ingvild's blog last week that I finally took the plunge! She used clay to create the cherry (now why didn't I think about that?). My youngest daughter has been waiting for months (approximately 8 months, in fact) to finally work on this project together, and we did it last night!

If you've heard about the recent Gypsy 24-hour design challenge contest, this could have been a project that I would have submitted for it. The challenge was to create a project using the Gypsy Font, Gypsy Wanderings, and one other cartridge of our choice within 24 hours.  Alas, I just didn't have the time (or energy) this past weekend to participate...sigh.

 

 

 

 

Cardstock: Bazzill
Patterned paper:  K & Company (Amy Butler)
Glittered paper: Marcella by K
Pearls: Recollections (Michaels)
Clay: Creative Paper Clay
Acrylic paint: Plaid
Embossing folder: Provo Craft Cuttlebug
Die cut swirls: Cricut Gypsy Wanderings
Die cut sentiment: Cricut Gypsy Font
Die cut swirls: Cricut Gypsy Wanderings
Die cut tag: Cricut Stretch Your Imagination
Die cut cupcake box: my own creation in SCAL
Other: glittered silk flowers, rhinestones, trim

I used silk flowers from the craft store that had already been glittered to cover to top of my cupcake. I wanted it to look like sugar dusted frosting dotted with rhinestones that are supposed to be like sprinkles. The painted clay cherry is attached to a hidden tag so that when the cherry is lifted away from the cupcake, the sentiment is revealed on the tag. I have to confess...now that I've made it, I love it!!!  ;-D

Here's the one that my daughter made:

 

I love how she opted to cover hers with a variety of Prima flowers! The pearly lace and large velvet flower with the button center were the perfect touches to her creation.

I hope you all have a wonderful day! We're expecting the delivery of our new mattress set this afternoon so I need to get to cleaning...our dining table shows the results of our creative playing from last night! :-D

Thanks so much for dropping by today!

Unexpected Blessings and Finally Dressed...

Good afternoon! I hope you all enjoyed a relaxing weekend!

I can honestly say that having the opportunity to share the Scrap Retreat House with other people who value having some time to capture and create memorable projects has brought about so many blessings that I had not expected. One such blessing is the chance to meet such lovely women who have hearts that are inspired to create. Not only that, I have the pleasure of getting to know each one whenever I'm able to spend time welcoming and chatting with them as I help them check into the retreat house.

This past weekend, a wonderful group of ladies arrived whose presence filled my heart with so much joy! I was finally able to meet Eva and Karen with whom I served on the Cuttlebug Challenge blog this past year. They are a couple of the sweetest ladies I've met! I enjoyed talking and laughing with them on Saturday, and I was in awe of the work that they created this weekend. These two are so very talented! I am so very blessed to be able to know them and call them my friends. Be sure to check out their blogs and see their amazing projects for yourselves!

I also had the pleasure of welcoming ten other ladies who truly blessed me with their visit. I enjoyed learning more about each of them...how they began scrapbooking or paper crafting, seeing their projects, getting excited with them about the artists we admired in common. All of them brought something different to share in their stories, experiences, and their creative styles. Yet they gave me a gift that I will treasure in my heart...their graciousness and friendship. Thank you, ladies, for allowing me to spend time with you all!

Now...onto my project. I really haven't spent any time doing anything creative, and this is the extent of the mojo I have this week, I think. However, I wanted to share that I've finally dressed my  wire dress form which I've had sitting upon my desk for the past couple of months "shivering" from the lack of covering! LOL!

I was inspired by Moxie Fab World's "Not Your Regular Ruffles" challenge to work on this:

 

Okay, okay...I admit that she's not fully covered, but at least she has a pretty apron to work in. Shouldn't a girl have something beautiful to wear when doing mundane housework? It may not seem practical to be wearing bling, but in my dreams, I would wear jewels and looking glamorous when cleaning our house, too! Heehee!  ;-D

I used white crepe paper and aqua organza to create the skirt. I simply stitched the edges and then gathered them. Then I layered a piece of lace on top of the ruffled crepe paper and added a gold edged aqua ribbon as apron ties. A layered flower made with Prima flowers, a pink silk flower, and a K & Company fabric covered brad embellishes the apron. Finally, I gave her a bejewelled ribbon necklace.

Thank you all for visiting today! May you be blessed in abundance this week!

Doing Favors and Blooming Flowers

Good afternoon! It's been a challenging couple of days for me. I've been struggling with my shoulder again and my dear husband thoughtfully made a sling for me to wear. It helped quite a bit to relieve the pain since I wasn't using my arm so much, but it meant that I couldn't create anything when I had all these ideas for things to make swirling in my head...LOL!

Well, I decided to get some favors done for the ladies coming to the Scrap Retreat House this weekend. I try to make a little something that I can give to our guests to thank them for their visit. The last few times I made roses out of Hershey kisses. The chocolates were wrapped in red cellophane and then floral wire was added to the end and wrapped with green floral tape. Our business card was attached to it using a gold metallic cord. Sorry I don't have a photo, but it's still one of my favorite favors to make. :)

Here are the ones I made today:

 

These bags are inspired by one of Lauren Meader's gift bags (she makes the greatest gift box templates for Paper Trey Ink!). I simply created a cut file in Sure Cuts a Lot and used a different shape for the opening of the handles. Having my Cricut cut these gift bags made it so much faster to make all twelve of these favors (only half of them are shown above).

Then, I finished my flower swap with a couple of ladies whom I will be meeting for the first time IRL! It'll be so much fun to finally be able to meet them in person and hand these blossoms to them:

These are just a sample of the ones I made for them. I didn't have the others ready to photograph. Now that they're all done and packaged, I'm wishing that I made an extra set for myself! LOL!  It truly hope they like these! :-D

Well, I'm off to get the retreat house ready for this weekend's guests! I hope you all have a wonderful afternoon!

Celebrate the Season - Sketch Girl 7

Good morning! I've just found a new sketch blog called Sketch Girl and thought I would share a card that I created using the current sketch:

This is my take on the sketch:

 

Cardstock: The Paper Company
Glittered paper: Marcella by K
Patterned paper, sentiment: Cosmo Cricket (More Jolly by Golly)
Die cut frame: Provo Craft Cricut (Storybook)
Flowers, crystal swirls: Prima
Embossing folder: Provo Craft Cuttlebug
Glittered chipboard: Melissa Frances
Other: rhinestones, trims

I just realized that in a week we'll be two months away from Christmas! I've started shopping for gifts already and need to plan on making my Christmas cards soon! I hope to get a lot of them done by the end of November, but we'll see how that goes! At least I have a few ready to send from the ones that I've been creating since WCMD. :)

Thanks so much for visiting today!