Happy New Year and Some Changes

Hello, friends! I hope you have had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's celebration! I enjoyed the break and spending time with our loved ones at home. I love my Christmas gift from  my hubby...a new craft room! I will share pictures soon.

I will be making a little bit of change on my blog starting today. As you probably already noticed, I haven't been blogging as often. Life has been so busy. My oldest just became a teenager and it's sad to think that we only have a few years with her at home before she pursues her dreams on her own :(. And ministry always keeps us on our toes. Because of all this, I decided to give up on some other less important aspects of life (such as publication, though I missed the excitement of receiving those acceptance emails from my favorite craft magazines) this past year. Unfortunately, blogging falls under this "less impt than life" category as well, but I love sharing my cards here and am always SO encouraged by your visits and comments that I just cannot give it up entirely :). I will just be posting less often.

I will also be sharing more non-paper crafting posts. One other thing enjoy is cooking and baking. Having moved to a little bitty town in Croatia many years ago, I have had to learn to cook from scratch and experiment with substitute ingredients. I have definitely learned to be creative in my kitchen and it has been a fun experience that I would like to share with you also, from time to time.

THANK YOU so much for your continued visits, comments and support the last 3 years I have blogged. I hope you will keep returning despite the changes I mentioned above.

Now let's get to today's card. This is for The Craft's Meow's January Sketch Challenge. I used Stitched Sentiments Two stamp set on this simple vintage card.

The papers and stickers are Melissa Frances. The flower is by Prima.

Merry Christmas!

Hello, friends! Sorry for my absence. Christmas is always a busy time being in full-time ministry, having guests, hosting, etc. I'm not complaining. I love doing all these things, but it means I've had to slow down on other things I do, like blogging.

I have a fancy Christmas card to share with you all today. I first distressed and stitched the edges of the Melissa Frances patterned paper, then laid a pretty doily right in the center. I adhered a sticker in the center of the doily and some beautiful B.Y.O.B. 1 Build your own Bling - Donna Salazar Design bling.

I then took a Pine Tree Chipboard Embellishments - Pack of 4 and traced it on the back of a patterned paper, fussy cut it, adhered to the chipboard and inked the edges. I finished the tree by placing some Sleek Strips Silver Rhinestones- Self Adhesive to mimic a garland.

The sentiment is from The Craft's Meow's Stitched Sentiments Two stamp set. I finished the card by adhering a rose from the Red Rose Ribbon 1" with a double seam binding bow tucked underneath.

I just want to take this opportunity to wish you and your loved ones a wonderful and memorable Christmas and New Year!I want to end with a link to one of the best messages I've heard about Christmas. If you just have one sermon to listen to about Christmas, this is it. It will change how you've always viewed the nativity of Jesus Christ and understand His incarnation in a mind-blowing, life-changing way!

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us..." John 1:14

Birthday Greetings

I have some non-holiday cards for you today, but they are related to Christmas. These two cards are part of a set that I'm giving away as a gift to a friend. It's great to mass produce cards that follow the same layout, but with different elements to make each one unique. It's also great to use up some supplies that I have hoarded for far too long :).

The papers, stickers and resin crown are by Melissa Frances. The sentiment is from The Craft's Meow's Stitched Sentiments Two, this month's free with $50 purchase.

The background was distressed and stitched on the edges. The flower is by Prima. And I tucked the seam binding underneath it.

I'm busy preparing for our church's Women's Christmas party tomorrow. The ladies of our church made these lovely quilted pillow cases and Bible covers as party favors.  Aren't they beautiful? I had nothing to do with making these. I can only stitch straight. :) I was just in charge of wrapping them and making little tags.

Stay warm and enjoy the weekend, friends!

The Craft's Meow's November Release Blog Hop

Welcome to The Craft's Meow's November Release Blog Hop. If you came from Mabelle R-O's blog, then you're at the right spot. To see the full list, make sure you visit the TCM blog. I have two cards for you today. The first uses my brand new set, Beautiful Shelf .

I paper pieced the shelf and colored the rest with Copic markers. The papers are My Mind's Eye Caroline.

My second card uses Mabelle R-O's Valentine Wishes. The girl's dress was paper pieced. I framed her using some Spellbinders' Floral Ovals dies.

The sentiment is from my new set, Stitched Sentiments Two, the new Free set with $50 purchase. The papers are again My Mind's Eye.

TCM is giving away the new 4 sets. To be eligible, you will need to visit & comment on each blog on the hop. The deadline to comment is 9:00pm PDT, Sunday, Dec 2nd.

Before you go, I want to tell you about a special sale we're having through Sunday... take 25% all Holiday/Winter stamp sets!!! Just enter the code Winter25 at check-out. Hurry for the best selection! The sale ends at 11:59 pm Pacific Standard Time on Sunday, December 2nd.

Your next stop is my friend -->> Sharri<<--. Happy hopping!

TCM Previews: Beautiful Shelf

Welcome to day three of The Craft's Meow's November Release. Today, we're showcasing another set that I designed called Beautiful Shelf.

It's going to be a part of a series of sets that coordinate together. Be on the look out for future releases (themed and seasonal) that will work well with this set. For now, we start with the basic set with the shelf and some pretty little things you can use to add to it. I also want to note that the shelf also can be used as a credenza/sideboard/cupboard.

On my card below, I used the shelf as a sideboard that sits on the floor. I don't know if you can see it, but the white strip mimics a baseboard. The pretty background paper is the wall paper and the stripes mimic the flooring.

I colored the vase of flowers with Copics, paper pieced the "shelf" with woodgrain paper. The sentiment is from yesterday's set, Stitched Sentiments Two. The papers are My Mind's Eye.

Please make sure you stop by the TCM blog for more info on today's giveaway and inspiration! Have a great day!

TCM Previews: Stitched Sentiments Two

Welcome to day two of The Craft's Meow's November Release. We're showing today the Stitched Sentiments Two, which is part two of a previous (and very popular) set, Stitched Sentiments. I designed both sets to coordinate with the many sewing-themed stamps I illustrated (Sew Happy, Sew Lovely, Stitched Flowers).  Stitched Sentiments Two is this release's FREE set with a $50 purchase!

For my card today, I used Stitched Flowers and colored them with Copics to match the My Mind's Eye papers. I layered two flowers and curled up the petals of the top flower. To highlight the sentiment from Stitched Sentiments Two, I framed it with some Want2Scrap "rock" Nestabling. :) Some salmon seam binding (from Ribbon Carousel) and coordinating button finish the card.

Please make sure you stop by the TCM blog for more info on today's giveaway and inspiration! Have a great day!