Live the Virtues

Hi there, friends,

Recently I hosted a swap of pages for a  "Virtues Book."  Each participant chose a virtue and illustrated the chosen virtue on a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" card stock page - front and back, and then decorated and embellished it.  We each designed our own cover and chose our own binding method.  I used my Paper Drill to drill a hole in the upper left-hand corner, then  fastened it together with a metal binder ring.  Finally, I added several black and colorful yellow ribbons to the metal ring.  This darling little book is  now displayed on my coffee table.  I love doing collaborative projects because they showcase so many styles of personal creativeness -- always a delight to see.  This beautiful little book will be wonderful for times of meditation, to sit and reflect on the meaning of each virtue and how Jesus teaches us to seek them and let them become a part of who we are.  I like, too, that it will be a constant reminder of how God is molding me to be more Christ-like in my character.  Best of all is, and it's no accident I'm sure, that I'm always finding my dear Lord right in the middle of my paper crafts hobby.  Awesome and all to His glory!!!
Hope you enjoy looking at our book. 
Blessings.
Annie

OK, time for the show to start - enjoy.



Title Page

Virtues Poem




Tranquility - Lisa Barber (Front)

 




Tranquility - Lisa Barber (Back)

Carol Cone - Courage (Front)

Carol Cone - Courage (Back)

Joy - Mary Darnell (Back)

Joy - Mary Darnell (Front)

       



Patience - Peg Waldron (Front)

Peg Waldron - Patience (Back)

Kindness - Phyllis Schaffer (Front)

Kindness - Phyllis Schaffer (Back)



Forbearance - Ronnie Lorenz (Front & Back)

Charity - Ann Lancaster (Front)

Charity - Ann Lancaster (Back)

 

Envelopes Galore!

My newest tool purchase was this Envelope Punch
Board by We R Memory Keepers.  Ooooh, I love it!  I'm confessing that a problem I have is to just jump right in and try to use a tool before I've read the directions with understanding.  Well . . . it was only one line that I missed when skimming over the directions; however, it was an important one.  So I only messed up two times before my friend Sharon stepped in to see why I was having difficulty.  In the blink of an eye, she quickly spotted what I was doing wrong and set me on the road to successfully punching out envelopes.  It was so fun that I couldn't stop!  Really! 

To start with, I used some 12x12 scrapbook paper that I had purchased on sale for $.10 a sheet.  Next time I'll delve into some of my special papers.  I used the scraps from the 12x12 sheets to make the matching cards.  Here's a link to a video tutorial (that I found after the fact):   http://store.scrapbook.com/wr-71277-0.html  And for a bit of inspiration, here are a few sets that I've made:

  A variety set of 6 would make a great little gift and you could make and embellish a little box to hold them.  To make boxes I use Aleene's Box Maker, another great little tool.  Wishing you lots of fun with your paper arts and may God bless you,

Annie

Twelve Unlikely Heroes

I was captivated by “Twelve Unlikely Heroes,”  written by John MacArthur.  He painted such vivid portraits of people in “Twelve Ordinary Men” and “Twelve Extraordinary Women,” so I was really looking forward to reading this book.  Once again he has captured the essence of twelve people in the Bible whom God chose to use to accomplish His purposes.  At first glance, they seem anything but heroes, but who today could walk 300 years with God and please Him everyday.  “As a saved man, Enoch’s life was characterized not by harsh legalism but by the joy of intimate communication with his Creator.”  Wow, that is so awesome! 

Looking at Joseph, we see that he grew up in an environment of family tension and strife.  Joseph was spoiled by his mother and was his father’s favorite son.  When his mother passed away Joseph’s brothers began to treat him with hostility and resentment.  And it certainly didn’t help matters when his father Jacob sent Joseph to spy on his brothers to make sure they were doing their work properly.  Joseph was a tattletale.  It’s a familiar story how Joseph was sold to owners of a caravan and carted off to Egypt.  Who knew that this smug, proud, troublemaking little Hebrew boy would be chosen by God to rise up to unheard of power among the Egyptian royalty and free his people from slavery!

The stories of Miriam, Gideon, Samson, Jonathan, Jonah, Esther, John the Baptist, James the brother of Jesus, Mark, and Onesimus are just as amazing.  The message of this book is to show that God can use anyone for His good purposes.  You don’t have to be an exceptional person because God can do the exceptional with plain, ordinary people.  Through our weaknesses and imperfections, God will showcase His power, wisdom, and love.  From the heart, thank you John MacArthur for this lovely, inspiring book.

I received this complimentary copy from Thomas Nelson Publishing through their BookSneeze program.  A positive review was not required and the opinion expressed here is my own.

Ms. Maddie Hatter

  Hello blogging friends!  What a beautiful Sunday afternoon we're having here in Wenatchee.  Since I had to come inside to cool off from the heat of the sun, I decided to show you what I've been creating for the past week or so.  My church is having a Mad-Hatter Tea Party and we've been challenged to decorate a hat and wear it to the tea.  Naturally, there will be a prize for the owner of the hat that is voted best hat.  Woo, woo!

I thought it would be fun to go as "Ms. Maddie Hatter" (with name tag also saying AKA Annie).  I plan to wear white pants, a white jacket, a red top, a small red fabric purse with red shoulder strap, and red shoes.  Yep, I think I'm going to have some fun with all of this!

I moulded the hat and brim from chipboard, then covered them with a beautiful white specialty paper.  The tulle rose trim around the brim is from Stampin' Up.  (It's only available until the end of May - it won't be in the new catalog, I'm told.)  The red feather was stamped on red card stock (Stamp A Mania), and the butterflies are from a Martha Stewart punch

The flowers were made using two shades of red, but all from the same die - the Sizzix Quilled Rose/Carnation.  I quilled the dark red roses, but separated the petals and glued them together to make the light red flowers with white center.  For the tea cup, I found a template on line at www.layersofcolor.com called Paper Tea Cup and Saucer.  Actually, it was fairly easy to put together.  I cut out one set using the flowered scrapbook paper and then another set using red scrapbook paper, gluing one cup inside the other; same with the saucer.

Well, that's my tea party hat - I can hardly wait to wear it.  Thanks for letting me share this project with you.  Wishing you a blessed week. 

Annie

Hearts-a-Plenty

The love month is just around the corner -- February, of course!  Chocolate and flowers and chocolate and valentines and chocolate . . . you get the picture . . . all given and shared in the name of "love."  Hummm, what a romantic month.  At church "God's Love" is the theme for my library promotion table this year.  I'll have lots of books, DVD's, CD's and Music CD's on display, and available for check out, on marriage, relationships, loving your neighbor, loving acts of kindness, and especially about the love of God and Jesus, His Son.  I can hardly wait until tomorrow when I can start decorating!  Our library has greeting cards available to purchase by donation, with all funds going toward the purchase of new library media.  So for the past few weeks I've been busily creating greeting cards with a variety of hearts on them.  Each card was made 2 or 3 times so I'm talking about a LOT of cards.  Some people see stars -- I see hearts!  I've posted a lot of them for you to view.  Maybe you'll see a design that you'd like to use. 
Blessings, Annie

        

A Wreath of Snow

“A Wreath of Snow,” by Liz Curtis Higgs.

 On that cold, snowy evening of Christmas Eve when Meg boarded the train, the last thing she expected was to run into a man from the past who, when he was a teenager had caused great pain for her family.   When Gordon Shaw overheard the conductor saying Meg’s name, he realized he knew this young woman.  Unsettled by the chance meeting, stammering and embarrassed, Gordon could only say “Gordon” when introduction could no longer be avoided.  At this point Meg still had not recognized this handsome stranger and believed that Gordon was his last name.  Being a man of faith and moral principal, Gordon was working out in his mind how to set right this misunderstanding.  He also was trying to put the words together to confess that he was the teenager who lost his grip of the curling stone handle that struck her brother and caused his paralysis 12 years ago.  However, before Gordon could speak, the train shuttered and came to a violent stop, throwing the passengers this way and that.  Thoroughly stuck in a snow drift, the train could neither go forward nor back up. 

This is the beginning of a story of lies and secrets – Gordon pressed by Meg to keep his true identity from her parents; Meg wanting to hide her part in deceiving her parents; and the brother Alan deceiving everyone for 12 years.  But it is also a story of love, repentance, and forgiveness.  As Gordon’s heart always sought to follow the leading of the heavenly Father, he must live by his belief that light is better than darkness and the truth is better than lies.  Thus, Gordon took the first step that brought healing to his heart and started a chain reaction of events that eventually led to exposing the darkness and bringing healing to Meg’s family.

“A Wreath of Snow” is the first book I’ve read which was written by Liz Curtis Higgs.  I was captivated by her portrayal of Gordon’s close walk with the Lord.  It was so simple and natural and trusting.  I could “feel” Him in Gordon’s life and how it seemed that He just reached out from the pages of the book into my own heart.  I definitely recommend this book and look forward to reading more by Liz Curtis Higgs.

I received this book free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishers as part of their Blogging for Books book program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

A Christmas Card Making Party!

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of hosting a Christmas card making party at my home for some of my church family gals.  Amid laughter, eating, talking, laughter, eating (get the picture?), we did manage to make a few cards.  What a fun memory-making time we had!  I wish I had a recording to play for you – you’d have to join the laughter just from listening to it.  Anyway . . . here are the 3 card designs we made.  I did the embossing and die cutting ahead of time with my Cuttlebug.  I really like the new Spellbinder Christmas dies.  How did we ever get along without this invention???

Spellbinders Frosty Forms & Spellbinders Labels 18

Spellbinders Lacey Circles

Spellbinders Layered Poinsettia & Cuttlebug EF Disressed Stripes

While shopping for cardstock, I made a great find in the Christmas Stories double sided paper line – Christmas Bingo cards – 12 to a sheet.  Immediately I thought this would make a great ice-breaker game for my party.  I could hardly wait until I got home so I could get started.  After cutting out the Bingo cards I glued them onto a rectangle of heavy weight Christmas paper and added a small embellishment at the top.  Next I went to my stash and pulled out some kids’ white letter tiles, glued a red CS square inside, used stickers to make the Bingo numbers, then covered the inside with Diamond Glaze by Judi-kins, giving them a nice clear, glossy finish.  Next, in that same “stash” I had a white box (like a pencil box or a cigar box) that I had purchased about 6 years ago and now, finally, found something to do with it, so out it came to be decorated which was accomplished by using some wonderful, beautiful Graphic 45 Christmas paper from the "Christmas Past Collection."  The finishing touch to the box was adding the name of the game on the lid using brown wooden letters and a button in each corner.  And finally I rounded up a bunch of small colored buttons (with lots of red and green) and put them in a clear plastic container to use as the game pieces.  Oh, the name of the game you ask, “Button Bingo” of course.  Oh, well, maybe not the greatest choice, but it was all I could spell with the number of wooded letters I had on hand. J  Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of how it turned out.  We had lots of fun with it – too bad we only had time for one game.

 In case I don’t have time to post again before Thanksgiving, please know that I’m thankful for each one of you and pray that our Heavenly Father abundantly blesses your family gatherings on Thanksgiving Day.

Annie

Another Good Book!

From the first page of “Rare Earth,” by Davis Bunn*, I was drawn into the tension and intrigue as Marc Royce begins his assignment in Kenya, where he was sent by his employer, Lodestone Associates. Lodestone was a major provider of armed security services around the world. In Kenya, Lodestone was supplementing UN security details, also providing Medevac helicopters, field hospitals, and personnel. It recently had added a new division that provided emergency relief supplies. The U.S. State Department was receiving information that someone at a very high level of power was providing extremely profitable supply contracts to a corporate ally in return for kickbacks. But now things were heating up. The State Department was receiving rumors that Lodestone was up to something far worse. Marc was undercover in Kenya as a field agent for Lodestone, but in actuality he was a covert op for State Department Intel. Action and danger was expected by Marc when he entered Kenya. What he did not expect was that he would become so personally involved with the people whose land had been stolen and who barely survived in the squalor and chaos of the refugee camps. And he certainly didn’t expect to become involved with the cause of the lovely Messianic Jew, who was an aid worker at the Red Cross camp.  This is a wonderful story of how Marc Royce, a group of displaced Christian tribes in Kenya, and a kibbutz of persecuted Messianic Jews in Israel, work together toward a common goal of bringing justice and finding a place that can be called "home."  


Once again Davis Bunn made his characters jump to life from the pages of the book. He provides just the right amount of detail and description to draw you into the story, all the while building layers of suspense and action. As badly as I wanted to know how the story ended, I was sorry to finally reach the end. I really liked these characters and wanted the story to somehow carry on. It seems that Davis Bunn always has a great story to write. I look forward to his next one.

*This book was received free through Bethany House Book Reviewers in exchange for my unbiased review.

Is there a Jezebel in your Life?

“Confronting Jezebel:  Discerning and Defeating the Spirit of Control,” by Steve Sampson was originally published in 1996. During the following years, he continued to study more about the evil spiritual principality of control and in 2012 he published a revised and expanded edition. The author shows us that more than the name of an evil queen, Jezebel is a spirit of control who works its evil on men and women with passive spirits.

Mr. Sampson does an excellent job of explaining the Jezebel principality – the characteristics of a Jezebel, the sinister strategies of Jezebel, what it’s like to see a Jezebel in action and the damage it can cause, with one purpose: to work against the move of God’s Spirit. Amazingly, the people who have a Jezebel spirit of control can have a magnetic attraction, especially to believers who have little or no interest in learning about spiritual warfare. Passive believers can be easily manipulated by people with a Jezebel spirit of control. They are dazzled by the strong leadership qualities of a Jezebel, while behind the scene the Jezebel is planting seeds of discontent, mistrust, and doubt. Their lack of knowledge and preparation makes it impossible for them to even recognize the effects of demonic forces. The author goes on to teach us how to confront and battle the Jezebel spirit of control, all based on biblical truths with scripture included. “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual [hosts] of wickedness in the heavenly [places].” Eph 6:12.

I definitely would recommend this book as one everyone should read. It will really open your eyes and make you aware of how important it is to put on “the whole armor of God.”

*This book was received free through Bethany House Book Reviewers in exchange for my unbiased review.

Altered CD and Radiant Pearls

Hi friends,
This afternoon I've been busy making a card for a swap so I thought I would share with you what prompted this particular card.   In an online stamp club that I belong to, 2000 Stampers, recent discussion has been about coloring mediums.  Copic markers were mentioned several times.  Most said they loved the Copics but hadn't been able to master the shading technique.  I have to admit that I haven't invested in Copics because most of the time I don't have the patience to spend enough time shading.  I did take a class one time from Ellen Hutson using Copics and the results were fabulous.  Using a less expensive medium, I pretty much can get the same results using a paint brush doing watercolor with Marvy Markers.  If I had a bigger arts & crafts budget, then . . . .  But you know how that goes.  I might be tempted yet.  In the meantime, one of the coloring mediums that I like to use is Radiant Pearls. This CD was altered by stippling it with several colors of Radiant Pearls.  Stippling is a fast way to cover an area and make a background for stamping.  I used Memories dye ink for the stamping.  Stazon might work ok, but I haven't tried it yet.  To embellish this Altered CD, I stamped an image on vellum, roughly tore around the edges, and used a Thermo-o-web vellum adhesive runner to attach it to the CD.  I love this adhesive - it does a super good job of being invisible.  Lastly, 3 flower buttons were added.  To attach the CD to the Card I used Scotch Adhesive Transfer Tape.  This is another tape that I think is wonderful and is absolutely the best to use on pages of altered books.  If you use glue to stick the pages together they become stiff, but with the transfer tape, the pages remain pliable and soft.  If you've made some altered CD's, I love for you to leave me a link where I can see them.  If you haven't tried this technique yet, then I encourage you to give it a try.  If you mess up the first one, toss it in the waste can and grab another CD.  There seems to be a never-ending supply coming through the mail.  Happy stamping and may the Lord cover you with His love.
Annie