Sympathy - Diagonal Split Panel Card

Annie’s Ink-Lings

Sympathy cards are not much fun to make, but sadly there is a need for them.  Today's card was made for a dear friend whose brother passed away.  I hope it brings a bit of comfort to her.  I want to share it with you in case you want to make one to have on hand.  Without the sympathy sentiment on the front, it would make a good thinking of you card, too.

Direction

1.  Glue the bottom layer patterned paper to the front of the card front.

2.  Working on the Top Layer Patterned Paper, mark in pencil 1 1/4″ to the left of the bottom right corner, and 2 1/2″ above the bottom right corner. Trim from the top left corner to these marks, then erase the marks. Discard the center piece or lay aside if you want to use it in center of the split.  

3.  Attach the diagonal pieces with foam tape.

4.  Your choice to do this step:  With the left-over center diagonal cut, put DS tape on the back.  Center and slide the small tip up under the flower image.  Match patterns if there are any.  Cut off excess.

5.  Stamp image, color, cut out, and attach to card at top left.  For the inside leaves: color all of them all over with Apple Green.  Shade half of each leaf with Dark Green.

6.  In the center of each flower, put a drop of Buttermilk Gloss Crystal Drops.

7.  Die cut the sympathy sentiment from white card stock and glue it on the lower left of the card.

Stampin’ Up Wonderful Romance stamp set

KaiserCraft Decorative Dies (Words)

Tape Runner

Foam Tape

Glue Pen

Fussy Cutting Scissors

Paper Trimmer

Craft Knife with Cutting Pad

Colored Pencils:  Canary Yellow, Light Aqua, Cobalt Turquoise, Apple Green, Dark Green, Germany Blender

Ruler

Pencil

Buttermilk Gloss Crystal Drops

Permanent Black Ink Pad

Thanks for taking a look.

Blessings,

Annie

Bible Illustrating and Journaling: Matthew 2:1-2

Annie’s Ink-Lings

  This Week's Scripture Focus:  

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,  "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him."  Matthew 2:1-2

My study included Matthew 2:1-12.

When the magi saw the Star, they knew that it signified the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of the Jews, the Messiah.  Their long journey was solely for the purpose of worshiping this new King.

In a commentary by John Piper, he asks the question, “ What is worship in this text?”  He goes on to say, “Worshiping Jesus means joyfully ascribing authority and dignity to Christ with sacrificial gifts.”  He believes that there are four pieces to that definition of worship, and all four are grounded in this text.

First, He sees the magi ascribing authority to Christ by calling him "King of the Jews" in verse 2: Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?" "

Second, in verse 11, he sees the magi ascribing dignity to Jesus by falling down before him: "After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him."  Falling to the ground is what you do to say to someone else: you are high and I am low. You have great dignity and I am lowly by comparison.

 Third, he sees the joy in these ascriptions of authority and dignity in verse 10: "When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy." I love how he explains this:  “Now this is a quadruple way of saying they rejoiced. It would have been much to say they rejoiced. More to say they rejoiced with joy. More to say they rejoiced with great joy. And even more to say they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And what was all this joy about? - they were on their way to the Messiah. They were almost there. I cannot avoid the impression then that true worship is not just ascribing authority and dignity to Christ; it is doing this joyfully. It is doing it because you have come to see something about Christ that is so desirable that being near him to ascribe authority and dignity to him personally is overwhelmingly compelling.”

Pastor John says that the fourth part of the definition of worship here is that we do our ascribing with sacrificial gifts. “Worshiping Jesus means joyfully ascribing authority and dignity to Christ with sacrificial gifts.”

God does not need anything from human hands, so the gifts of the magi are not given by way of assistance to God or to meet His needs.  The gifts are intensifiers, meaning to build up or strengthen our desire for Christ Himself.  When you give a gift to Christ like this, it's a way of saying; I have not come to you for your things, but for Yourself.  I am giving up things in the hope of enjoying you more, not things. By this I am saying, You are my treasure, not these things.  John Piper thinks that's what it means to worship God with gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh and I can agree with that.

“I bring my gifts to say that you alone can satisfy my heart, not these."

Praise the Lord that wise men still seek Him!

Blessings,

Annie

Oh My Whiskers Birthday Card

Annie’s Ink-Lings

Hi there, Stampers,

I have a friend that loves cats as much as I do, if that's possible.  Her birthday is coming up in a few days and this is the card I made for her.

Well, I think it is adorable but, of course, I love cats.  The white die cut background is called "Summer Border" from Memory Box.  The stamp set is from Honey Bee Stamps "Oh My Whiskers and Purfect Sentiments."  I stamped the images on white card stock and colored them with Copic Markers.  The color numbers are listed below.  After coloring, I fussy cut the images and glued them in place.  I think it's cute how the little butterfly is just out of reach of the the tiny kitten's paw.  Hope you enjoyed today's card.

Stamps and Copic Markers Used:
Honey Bee Stamps:  Oh My Whiskers and Perfect Sentiments
Copic Markers:  Greens YG17 & YG45
                            Yellow Y13
                             Pinks RV13, RV52, R11
                             Greys N1 & BV23
                             Blue B41
                             White E41

Blessings,
Annie

Nativity Ornament Card

Annie’s Ink-Lings

Hello again,

Last Saturday I finished up my cards, got them all signed, addressed, stamped, and dropped into the mail box. What a good feeling!  This is the last card I made.  I love to always make at least a few focusing on the nativity.  The die I used for this card is one that I purchased during the summer and have been saving for December.  It is called "Ornament, Nativity" by Cottage Cutz.  

The navy blue base is the normal size, 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches.  The white panel is 4 x 5 1/4 inches embossed with "Boughs and Berries" embossing folder from Stampin' Up.  The sentiment stamp is an old one but one of my favorites.  It is called "The Nativity Cast" by Stampendous.  A tiny little gold jewel is glued in the center of the star.  That single bit of gold really focuses one's attention to the star shining over baby Jesus.

May you experience all the blessings of Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all,

Annie

Christmas Carol Singers Card

Annie’s Ink-Lings

Hello friends,

I don't know about you, but I am way behind on making my Christmas cards.  However, finally I have another one to share with you.  This is another one that is different from my regular Christmas card style but it still relates to the most wonderful night when Jesus was born.  I hope you like it.

I used a set of stamps and dies from Simon Says Stamp called Carol Singers.  The white background die cut is from Papertrey Ink called Mix & Match Plaid Die.  Copic markers were used for coloring.  For a final touch I wrapped red and white twine in and out around the white  die cut.  Wishing you happy stamping.

Blessings,

Annie

Bible Illustrating and Journaling: Psalm 30:11

Annie’s Ink-Lings

  This Week's Scripture Focus:  Psalm 30:11

"You have changed my mourning into joyful dancing."

David sang Psalm 30 at the dedication of his palace.  He remembered a time when he was suffering from a mortal illness.  At that time, he felt that God was angry and was hiding His face from him; that in some way, his illness was related to God’s anger.  David pleads with God to save his life so that he can continue to praise and worship God as he had promised to do.  In his mourning, David asked God what profit he would be to God if he died.  God did answer David’s prayer and showed mercy by blessing him by saving his life.  Verse 11 is David’s expression to God of thankfulness, gladness, and praise for his deliverance, but also that he would be able to continue to praise the Lord all his days and keep his promise. 

David tells us that the primary reason for God’s transforming work in his life wasn’t primarily to give him palaces or peace, but was so that David could praise the Lord and not be silent.  It was for God’s glory.  This principle means that God has a special reason to bring His transforming work to lives that will give Him praise.

The lesson for me in this is that whatever are my circumstances, my purpose is to always praise God and to do so before others – not be silent.

Blessings,
Annie

Christmas Collage Card

Annie’s Ink-Lings

Hello and happy December!

Don't you just love it when it is time to make Christmas cards.  I was searching through my supply of Christmas stamps looking for something a little different and something that I hadn't used for a long time.  What I found is this stamp set from Hero Arts called

Holiday Poste de Luxe Christmas Postoid.  Aha!  I have always loved to do collage cards and haven't done that technique in a while, this set is the one I chose for this card.  Although Hero Arts has retired it, you can still find it at Ebay.  Here's a picture of the finished card.

The card base is actually a pale green, although the picture shows a yellow tinge to it.  I stamped several of the elements individually and then trimmed them to size.  Some of the elements were just randomly stamped on the card base and also on one square piece of card stock which I first stamped with a shadow stamp.  The Celebrate the Season postoid was stamped, trimmed with postage stamp scissors, and then layered onto a piece of green card stock.  I also used the shadow stamp on the card base four or five times.  It's easy to get carried away when doing collage and just so much fun!  The final touch was adding a gold star brad at the top of one of the Christmas trees.  Here's a look at this great stamp set.

Thank you and blessings,

Annie