Wordless Wednesday's

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Life's Summer Storms

Good Afternoon from the Scraptuary,

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning how to dance in the rain.

Wow 5 months since my last post and not much to show for it. I am very grateful to you my followers for sticking with me and not giving up... thank you from the bottom of my heart. The storms of my absence were not very entertaining so I won't bore you with them today. What I will tell you though is the SDK's Scraptuary has a new plan and purpose to encourage and inspire creativity all week long. Would you like to know the plan? Ok but first I have to give kudos to my creative twin Kris for challenging me to use the talent I have been given by God to the best of my ability oxoxoxo <3 ya sis.  And to my Divine Sisters who inspire each and everyday through the Word of Christ <3ox<3ox<3

The Scraptuary will have a topic for each day of the week beginning today......

FunDay Monday's

~~featuring various examples of fun ideas that I have done in my 20+ years of crafting 

UseDay Tuesday's

~~the challenge will be to use scraps, embellishments, crafting supplies, etc. that have been collecting dust just sitting around the Scraptuary

Wordless Wednesday's

~~a pic only of what inspires me to create either from the net or my personal collection of photos

Thankful Thursday's

~~a day to share my thankfulness with you for my family, my friends, my life, my talent etc.

Friendship Friday's

~~everyone's fav day of the week and my fav place to share how to encourage friendship thru cardmaking

There you have it folks my ambitious plan to encourage and inspire creativity with the 10's of you who follow my blog.  If you would like to participate in one of the days please email me and let me know, I love to listen and learn from others creativity as well. Until we visit again, have a blessed day :)

@>--%----God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. 

Use them well to serve one another. 1 Peter 4:10 NLT----%--<@

Love is in the Air....

Good afternoon from the Scraptuary everyone :) 

Wow what a beautiful way to start off the day by witnessing 

the most romantic wedding of William and Kate, ahhhhh true love :)

Congratulations to the beautiful happy couple:) 

Today I'm dropping in for a quick update and to share my love inspired creations with you.  I have fallen in love with making these flowers out of novelty yarns of all types and now I discovered another version...ribbon!! As most crafter's I do not limit myself to being creative in one category of this blissful world of imagination. My Scraptuary's inventory is eclectic, decorative paper, glitter, buttons, ribbon, wreaths, paint, silk flowers, stamps, ink, the list goes on and on. One of my true loves is paper, but these flowers are running a close second ;) Enough words, here are a few pics, please leave comments and let me know what you think?

Thanks for droppin' in and takin' a look :) Hope everyone is having a blessed day <3

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While I've Been Away...

Hello Everyone :) I have missed communicating with you, have you missed me? Life the past couple of months has been a complicated jumbled mess...health issues, loosing loved ones, and dealing with the hand God has dealt me mentally, physically, and spiritually...it's time for me to call and join the game again and not loose sight of the eternal jackpot He has in store for me. Please forgive my non communication. Instead of keeping it to myself I need to be sharing with you what life for me is like. Please pray for me as I try to get better about posting my thoughts and goings on of my simply complicated life as a daughter of Christ, wife, mom, sister, sister in Christ, soon to be Aunt, and friend...Deal me in JC, it's time to live the hand you continue to give me on a daily basis :)

During my blog absence, a new dear friend introduced me to knitting. She tried to teach me how to knit via Skype and it didn't go very well. I ended up using my fingers instead of the hook to do my first chain :S Well I was determined to figure this craft skill out so while at the store one day I came across a small round loom. The loom instructions said anyone could make knitted flowers quickly and easily. At first I had my doubts but I brought it home and played with it. Before I knew it I was knitting flowers and falling head over heels for any kind of unique and novelty yarn.  I was making the flowers everywhere, before church service, after church service, in the car waiting for my girls after school, even at Starbucks. Don't get me wrong I still love all things paper, but now I have found another fiber outlet that I enjoy very much. 

This past Saturday was the main reason for me knitting the over abundance of blooms. My oldest daughter Chelsea had the honor of attending her first Masquerade Church Prom. She was sooooooo excited and had dreams of a beautiful dress,shoes, the perfect up do for her hair, mani & pedi, accessories, the masqurade mask to match the dress, and even the after party outfit for the lock-in before she purchased the ticket. She had it all figured out except for one lil' thing.....where would the funds for this memorable event come from?  The first plan she tried was babysitting and that raised a small portion to get her started. Then the thought bulb bloomed when she saw the flowers I had been making. She asked if I could make her some headbands with them and she wore them to school, church, and out and about. The reactions she got from friends were awesome so we decided thru prayer to sell as many of them as we could to raise all the money she needed.

We knew it was going to take work getting them out there. I was encouraged to open an online store on Artfire.com and posted them there. Then God blessed our plan even more when the manager at my local Family Dollar invited us to sell them in front of the store one Saturday morning. Our faith kept blooming faster than I could make the flowers. But the overwhelming encouragement came from our brothers and sisters at church. To make a long story short she earned enough for her ticket and everything she hoped and dreamed for :) Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to all those who donated to her dream <3 Thank you Sonya for taking this beautiful pic of her <3

 

My daughter is beautiful on the outside but nothing can compare to the inner beauty of faith, trust, and love she has for our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you God for blessing me with the honor of being her temporary parent to such a beautiful soul :) 

Thanks be to God for making her dreams come true, Amen :) Please come back to check out the pics I will post tomorrow. For tonight it's time to turn in and give my body a rest so that I may enjoy every blessing God has in store for me tomorrow @>---%-------

Addicted to Swapping on Swap-Bot

Hi everyone :)

Today is a gorgeous day here in beautiful SA, Tx. What made it even more so was receiving some fantabulous swap from some very creative partners <3 I have several I will be mailing out in the morning. It honestly is so joyful to make new friends by getting to know them through swapping. So get ready strap yourself in for an OVERLOADED Swap themed post...ok got your sweet tea, your fav snack (well hurry up plz that's get this show on the road)...

1. Ultimate Year of Happy Mail #23 Ribbon Swap

Love the cupcake one thank you KatlynAva

2. Teabag & Letter Swap

thank you to bonni56 & theonewhoknits

{btw check out http://theonewhoknits.blogspot.com/}

3. Newbie FB's (Friendship books)

thank you Aprilk these are very cute :)

4. Ultimate Year of Happy Mail #34 Sparkles

xmasbaby83 sent me some bling, the heart paper will be on a project very soon :)

5. Ultimate Year of Happy Mail #35 Patterned Paper

This one made me very happy, feed my addiction as well as my collection,

especially love the Ooo La La paper, thank you ayates

6. Ultimate Year of Happy Mail #36 Homemade Spa

how yummie is this, a Mocha Facial Mask, thank you aviahz

7. Ultimate Year of Happy Mail #37 Websites

This was totally SAWEET :) Love the creativeness of the envie too :)thank you tifffoster :)

8. Ultimate Year of Happy Mail #40 Joyce Meyer

I received this awesome piece of art from mrsnewbill today(thank you!) For this swap we had to make something that featured a Joyce Meyer quote. I love this idea of a small framed chalkboard, it will have a special place in my Scraptuary :) Below is what I sent out to my partner...

9. Ultimate Year of Happy Mail #38 Inchies

thank you Dixiediane for sending me these adorable inches:)

Here is the first set of inchies I've ever made (didn't know art could be so small)

10. Punch Art #8 ATC's

Part of my happy mail today was the Punch Art ATC and awesome inspirational and yummie chocolate images from purplestamper...thank you soooooo much I really appreciate your talent :)

These are the ATC's I sent to my partners, I enjoyed making these 2.5x3.5 works of art :)

11. Handmade Greeting Cards for Newbies

This awesome handmade card was made by paperlover. I love Tim Holtz products and everything he designs, thank you soooooo much, you are very talented paperlover :)

this is the card I made for this swap, my partner loves butterflies

and I try to use this sentiment stamp every chance I get :)

 

Well so far I'm still awaiting many more Happy Mail Days...at the request of a friend I will give you a sneak peek at another swap I will be sending out tomorrow...

 

Decorated Christian Swap Round 2

 

We are supposed to make 3x5 in size cards with scripture and embellish them anyway we chose. I wanted to share a taste of my home by making them out of fiesta colored cardstock. I printed the scriptures on linen paper, tore, and distressed the edges with Ranger's Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink.

Stamped some faith images in Tea Dye DS Ink and added bling.

I'm really pleased with how these turned out, but wait there's more...I'm hoping to finish them off by...

WAIT A MINUTE, I can't tell you.... my partner for this swap might be reading this right now....You'll just have to drop by my store to see the finished product :)

Have a blessed evening everyone, until we blog again, thanks for droppin' in <3

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Just saying Hi :)

Hello fellow craftmates :) 

I've been away from the blogosphere  for a few days. Life has been eventful since I've been gone...had a root canal done, adjusting to our new family member Snuffy, and setting up my first online store (thank you Kris for helping me).

So this a short and sweet note to let you know that you can  check out my new adventure by clicking on the Artfire badge in the right hand column. I'm just getting started so I only have a few items in my store. My plan is to add one item a day (hopefully God will agree with it ;) That's all for tonight until we blog again, have a blessed day <3

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Ultimate Year of Happy Mail Swap-Bot Swaps

Good Evening Everyone,

How was your Sunday? For me it was another day in pain. I have to go to the dentist this week, no more putting it off. When the pain starts interfering with my life, time to surrender and face the drill or whatever is the tool of choice to take care of the issue. I'm a big wimp when it comes to this, but time to put my big girl panties on and just do it!!

 1. THE U.Y.H.M. #34 SPARKLES

Tonight I'm posting some pics of the Ultimate Year of Happy Mail  swaps I have mailed out.{If you are one of my partners and reading this, they definitely look better in person than the cell phone pics I took of them.} 

Above are pics of the first one, a Sparkle swap. So I immediately think of fairies when I think sparkly & glittery. The fairy is actually an image I cut out of wallpaper border I purchased at dollar tree. I CB(cuttle bugged) kraft cardstock with the fantasy flower folder, background piece is stamped with the sentiment Happiness Always and I embellished with glitter in some areas. Below is a pic of the inside of the card....

I felt generous and shared quite a few sparkles. Hope my partner likes them :)

2. U.Y.H.M. # 35 PATTERNED PAPER

 For this swap we were required to send at least 5 pieces of patterned paper, sender's choice. I find it very helpful to read my partner's profiles to find out what they like and don't like, so that I can make the swaps as personal as possible. I chose K & Co. cardstock in various sizes. I also included an extra surprise of lime green ribbon for this partner because she said lime green made her feel happy :) The card I made has no adhesive on it. I just simply punched oval holes on the sides and thread coordinating ribbon to close.

3. U.Y.H.M. #36 HOMEMADE SPA RECIPE

This swap was alot of fun to research. For this one we needed to share a Homemade Spa recipe on a decorative card for our partner to use. One of the people I follow on twitter is Crunchybetty, her homemade items are awesome {check her out at http://www.crunchybetty.com}. I came across this recipe of hers and could not resist sending this one. I used the Cricut Lite Cart Splish Splash for the front of the card. I actually layered this card 3 times to strengthen it. The embellishments are glue dotted on, I wanted to keep this one simple. On the reverse side I printed the recipe on graphic scrap paper that featured beach sand. There is nothing more relaxing to me than walking barefoot on the sand. Hope the partner that receives this one likes it :)

Well that's it for tonight my craftmates, until the next entry.

 Pleasant dreams from the Scraptuary.

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