sugar nellie

Good Saturday morning everyone! I hope your weekend is going well.I have some fun stuff for you today that I'm excited to share about. Do you like my sweet Sugar Nellie Card? I got a super sweet RAK from my blogging friend Kristine and inside she sent me SIX Sugar Nellie images. I've seen these around and thought they were absolutely adorable but thought they would be really difficult to color. Well, guess what? It isn't too bad! Yay! I used this weeks CPS sketch (my first time using their sketches). I went back and forth trying to decide if I was going to add a sentiment on the bottom and ultimately decided not to due to staying true to the sketch. I could, at the time of sending, add a hanging sentiment from the ribbon. I know it is kind of a strange combination of (in SU! terms) rich regal and soft subtle colors but in real life...it is very pretty.

And, here is the super cute card that Kristine sent with the Sugar Nellie images. This is seriously a horrible picture of it as it is such a cute card with the brown and soft sky colors...really lovely! Don't you just love the bow on the top? That is a great way to make sure that you get a perfect bow every time! Thank you so much Kristine! I can't wait to use the rest of the images!

Oh, and I have to tell you that it is official. I'm a Created by Courtney Challenge Chick. What is that you ask? Well, check it out HERE (why retype the explanation when Courtney does such a great job of explaining it?). I do love challenges so... woohoo!

Thanks to those of you who have asked how yesterday went. The funeral was an amazing community celebration of Officer Ng's life. I did really well with the not crying thing except for when his friend was giving his eulogy and would start to cry. It is hard for me to see guys cry...you know they are in true pain at that point. Also, Amazing Grace on the bagpipes and then the final call out was my undoing. If you don't know...police officers (and fire fighters?) are called on the radio hourly for their status. Typically the officer just responds with his badge number and then in another hour the process happens again. They call out every 5 minutes when they are on a call. This is a way to keep track of an officer's safety. Anyway, in this case a dispatcher called his number (twice) and then had a response of 113 is out of service. The dispatcher responded 113 out of service 08/15/08 at 1400. My goodness, as a wife of a police officer that is an emotional thing to hear and I cry as I type this. I do have to say that his wife did great, as I expected she would. I'm looking forward to getting to talk with her and give her a hug. Please continue to pray for this family.

Alright this is really long so if you've made it this far...thank you! I hope you have a super Saturday and I'll see you tomorrow!

Romans 8:28

Good morning stampers! Yesterday I told you about Courtney's Challenge so I wanted to post my card for it and link you to the other girls but it looks like there has been some mis-communication of some sort and only Sparkle posted a card sooo...HERE is Sparkles card.

I have felt the need to be in God's word more since Officer Ng died so I decided to use some scripture on this card and what is more beautiful than the Bella Rose DP from SU!? My goodness this designer paper makes your card making look so beautiful...don't you think? The scripture is from Sweet N Sassy Stamps and is in their Encouragement set. The scripture reads...

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

***Oh my goodness girls! Susanna has chosen this card to be in her Best of the Blogosphere list! You can check it out HERE. Very cool! Thanks Susanna!***

This morning should be a fun morning. Kyler and I are going to the fairgrounds to drop off our entries for the fair next week. Kyler is putting a card and Lego creation into the fair and I have a card and gift bag that I'm putting in. Then this afternoon is Officer Ng's funeral. His death has been found to be in the line of duty so it will be quite the solemn event full of respect and honor for this police officer. I was told by a veteran police officer's wife that I should take lots of tissues. The boys will be going with though so maybe I'll be able to hold it together...we'll see.

So...I hope you have some fun plans today! Tomorrow I have my first Sugar Nellie card using my first CPS layout to show you so I hope to see you back here! Have a super Friday!

john 3:16

My Bible study group wanted to continue to meet over the summer but didn't want to meet every month so I choose a book to read and then discuss. We met twice a month in June, July, and August. The book was Max Lucado's book 3:16. The book takes one of the most recognizable verses in the Bible and breaks it down by section talking about why each section, and then the entire verse, is so paramount to a Christian's belief. I enjoyed the study of the verse immensely and had a couple of wonderful aha moments.

On the afternoon of the last day of the study I decided to make the participants a little something so that they will have a reminder of this study. It seemed obvious to me that it should be a bookmark. I used both PTI's Everyday Blessings set and a stamp that I have of John 3:16, stamped them on white cardstock, layered them on a background, added some ribbon and taadaa...a bookmark. They are pretty small at 1 7/8" x 3 1/4" but everyone seemed to like them so...

Tomorrow my friend, Courtney, will start having Friday challenges on her blog. She has asked me if I will participate by having a sample ready for you guys to see of the challenge on Friday. How do you say no to a friend so...on Friday's it will be Created by Courtney Challenges! Much like the 3LD challenges we will encourage you to make something and post it somewhere on the web then link to it on Courtney's blog. Of course there is winnin' goin' on too so you must come back tomorrow and see what it is all about!

I hope you all have a super Thursday! See you tomorrow!

Bookmark deets:

Stamps: PTI Everyday Blessings, John 3:16 by SonLight Impressions (CHF)
Ink: PTI Aqua Mist
Cardstock: PTI White and Aqua Mist
Accessories: PTI Aqua Mist Satin Ribbon

belli challenge #30

Here it is Wednesday again! Wednesday is, of course, Belli Challenge day here on my blog. This week's challenge is Coasters. There are so many things that can be done with a coaster but one thing I've never done is what you see here. This coaster has been decorated with paper from my Sept 3LD kit and images from the SNSS My Little Chickadee set. I think this type of thing is perfect for a little gift of encouragement when a friend needs a little pick me up and it was pretty quick to put together.

Onto the deets of the Belli Challenge. Each week, Chris tries to give us a challenge that will get us using things we have lying around our stamp rooms! With a constant flow of new things coming out, we tend to forget about the other things we have and they quickly become clutter! Come join us in the Belli Challenge and be sure to post your link to Chris's website!

This Weeks Belli Challenge is Coasters! You can do many things with a coaster...a box, a post it holder, a photo album, luggage tags, a Christmas ornament, or even a decoration piece like mine. Think outside the square!


The other players this week are below...

Holly Brown
Rochelle Wick
Debby McGillivary
Shelly Koskinen
Jennifer Greco
Chris Dickinson
Christi Thorsen
Ceal Pritchett
Danita Hollinder

If you go to visit one of these blogs and they don't have their piece up yet please check back. These ladies do such a great job each week!

I have some fun posts planned for the next couple of days so I hope you will come back and see me tomorrow!

teacher gift

Good morning stampers! I wanted to make Kyler's teacher for this year a little back to school gift for a couple of reasons. One...it is the beginning of a new school year you know. And, two...she is a new teacher, both to the school and teaching (although she is a mom of 3) so she needs something neato to start the year right? So, this little comp book was born.

I got this book (blank pages...4x6 size) in my Sept 3LD kit but didn't want to use the Chickadee on it so I decided to pull out one of the several scripture sets that I have from SNSS. The scripture reads..."Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." Philippians 4:6 I really like this verse because it says to me...just do it...do it with God but just do it! I know this is a little plain but I don't know the new teacher so I thought I'd go plain. While you probably can't see it I did use my Nestabilities to emboss the scripture layer and then, as you can see, added several more layers to the main image. I'm just sitting here thinking about it and wonder if I added some doodling to the orange scallop that I'd like it better. I may have to try that!

Anyway, that is it for today girls! Tomorrow is the Belli Challenge. I'm all set and ready to share with you. Okay, actually...I'm a dork because I thought this weeks challenge was for last week so had it ready to go but then realized my mistake and didn't have anything for last week. Anyway, stay tuned tomorrow!

I hope you all have a super Tuesday!

call me

So...here is one of the MFT sets that was saying use me! It is a mini set appropriately named Call Me. This card is pretty straight forward and the layout one that you see me fall back on regularly. The patterned paper is by Imaginisce and is called Drapin' Daisies and has some shimmer built into it so there was no need to add any.

I made this because there is a friend of mine that I used to talk with or hang out with almost every day that I just haven't heard from in awhile. I hope that I haven't done anything to offend her so I thought I'd throw this card in the mail and let her know I've been thinking of her a lot recently.

On a side note. Katie, the owner of 3 Little Dreams let us know this weekend that she will be discontinuing her business as of Sept 1st so you'll not be seeing anymore design team things from me. I hope this gives her the break that she needs for her family and wish her the best.

So, yeah, guys...that is about it today. As always Monday is a busy day for me so I need to be moving along onto other things. Have a super day!

flip book

Amy Celona at uStamp4Fun has this neat tutorial for a Flip Book available on her blog. This book is rather large at 6"X6". Todd's dad's birthday is coming up soon and I wanted to make him something special...you know something that most grandpa's don't get for their birthday's. This is what I made!

It is made with the retired SU! Simply Scrappin' Kit called He's Cool. I know that the cover looks a little big and over the top but trust me both grandpa and grandma Ames will love this book! I made the cover in publisher and it was actually really fun picking out different words to use! I'll throw a couple of pictures of my kids in there and then they can finish it by adding photos of the rest of the grandkids as they see fit.

So...Whatcha think? Kinda a neato idea, huh? I hope see lots of these out there and what you incredibly talented readers of mine can do with this fun idea.

I've had a couple of my MFT sets shouting at me to use them recently so you just may be seeing something super fantastic coming up! HA!! Probably not super fantastic but you get the idea...right?

Today is my favorite day of the week! I get to get to church and while it is a work day for me too I also get to renew and refresh my soul in the Lord and I always look forward to that! We also have the all church picnic today that I'm really looking forward to. It is going to be hot (99 degrees) today but sunscreen and a sleeveless shirt will do me just fine! Oh, and lots of water too!

Have a super !