Hope

Hi friends!  Can you believe that February is coming to an end?  Wow.  I have quite a few bulbs planted that have started to come up and I'm actually quite ready for March to tell you the truth!

Last week was a rough one for me.  The flu hit me hard!!  Thus the lack of blogging....and everything else!  I have much to catch up on.   I want to thank you for your comments.  You probably have no idea how encouraging they are!

I am excited to tell you about this card that I created for the Spellbinders (video and tutorial can be found on the SB Blog.)  This verse is a special one to me because it's my life verse.  What that means to me is that it became special to me at a very young age.  As a little girl, I understood the importance of it.  I understood that it's important to be strong and confident but I also knew that to try and do it on my own strength alone will not get me where I need to be.  Time and time again it proved so true, the days and the weeks that I took time to pray and study God's word, the more equipped I was to face life's challenges.

"But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles.  They will run and not be weary; they will walk and not faint."   Isaiah 40:31  

My friend who has been battling cancer is one of the strongest 'Mommies' out there.  She fought like one the toughest people I know.  I believe she also did a lot of hoping and praying.  I'm know that God helped her through and answered prayers.  In all times, in all things, He is good.  Even when we don't understand it!  

Okay, mini Monday Morning sermon over.  LOL  

If you haven't seen this new Bauble Blossoms One die template from Spellbinders, I explain on the video how you use it.  It's very cool!

Well, it's a sunny day here.  *insert HUGE grin*  I hope you have a sunshine kind of day where ever you are ready from!  Thanks for stopping by!

I. am. so. blessed.

I'm so glad I'm married!  I have the best man evah!!  The excitement of newlyweds is something that I will always love and I think it's so special to give that perfect pair a hand made card.  I created this monochromatic one for Spellbinders today.  The supplies and instructions can be found on the Spellbinders blog!

So, I was incredibly, completely, over the top spoiled on Valentine's Day. I just can't even believe it.  My sweetie even brought home a long stem rose for each of the girls.  You should have seen their eyes light up!  I have to share with you one of my biggest surprises.  I just love, love, love that my kids surprised me with this.  It's a paper bouquet of roses and some how they folded them each with a love note hiding in the center.  Then they added the leaves and filled up the bottom with candy to hold them and tissue paper to top it off.

Is this not the cutest, sweetest, inspirational, most thoughtful project ever?  And guess who was behind it all?        Sweet Maddie!!  She has been an amazing role model and babysitter to our kids before she left to go off to collage a few years ago.  Recently she came home and took the girls for the day.  They came back with giddy smiles and I knew they had been up to something.  I'm shocked that it was something this extravagant and even more shocked that they were able to keep it a secret!!

So, thank you, thank you, thank you Maddie!  You know that I think you are so special and God has an amazing plan for your life.  I love that you have kept in touch us and that you are a wonderful influence on my girls.  You are beautiful and talented in so many ways!  Happy belated Valentine's Day to you!

xoxo

Julie

Happy Valentine's Day!

This year the card I will be giving my sweetheart reads, 'I'm so Grateful For You.'  The truth is when this day rolls around and many other days, I am so overwhelmed with how blessed I am to have such an incredible man of God in my life.  Without him, I know that I could never be where I am today.  He is loving, he is joyful, he is peaceful, he is patient, he is kind, he is good to me, he is faithful, he is gentle and he is self-controlled.   So, today, my heart isn't just gushing with love for him, it is gushing with gratefulness that the Lord allowed our paths to cross and that he is the one standing along side me in this life, cheering me on while emanating all of these qualities.

I pray your day is full of love, whether it be from your child, spouse, parent, friend or significant other!

xoxo
Julie

Some inspiration and a Winner!

Goodmorning!  I've been under the weather the last few days so this will be a quick post but I wanted to get this post up as soon as possible to post the winner of the give-away.  I've also been wanting to get a sympathy card in the mail to a friend who's Mom passed away.  I'm telly you, this new Spellbinders Floral Oval is allowing me to produce some pretty cards in a very short amount of time.  I just stamped this JustRite Stampers (With Sympathy) sentiment on cardstock and framed it with the die template and then cut/embossed it.  After that, I left it in the die template and stenciled the chalk ink around the sentiment.

I've been purging through my paper and supplies lately.  Do you have paper that is years and years old but it was a favorite so you just can't get rid of it!  Oh my.  I have a few short piles of paper from companies that don't even exist anymore!!  Remember Chatter Box??  Oh ya.  Loved that company.  This card is made from my hoarded Chatter Box paper!  LOL

Okay, on to the winner of the Labels die template.  I use Random Generator and it choose...
Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

4

Timestamp: 2012-02-09 16:38:12 UTC

Number 4 is Laura C!!! Congrats!!! Please email me your addy and I will get this Spellbinders Labels Twenty-Two set out to you.  

Because I was late in getting this up, I am going to give Laura a week to get back to me. Check back next Thursday for a new winner if I don't hear from her.

Hugs,

Julie

New Becky Fleck Dies!!

I have you heard the news?  Spellbinders™ has teamed up with Becky Fleck and I couldn't be more thrilled!  If you're not familiar with Becky Fleck, let me tell you, she's amazing!!  She started out with a site called Page Maps several years ago and now she has her second sketch book out called Page Maps Two. She will be releasing a new die template set each month that coordinates with her sketches.  Love it!

Her first set to debut is called Office Supplies.  You can see it and an adorable layout that Kazan Clark created  using one of the sketches on the Spellbinders blog.

I have a rack of cards that I sell in our local Antique mall and my kids decided that with all these new die templates, they could whip out a card that looks good and sell it themselves so they can make some money!  We spent hours and hours together making cards to sell.  It was so cute to watch them as their eyes got big at the thought of earning some money (no worries...they still make cards just to give away too!)  But, this was one of those that I put together real quick.  You can see the Office Supply die template is embossed so deeply that when you ink the edges, it really brings it out.  I just love it!  Under neath is a bit of cardboard with some glitter and on top is just a heart sticker.  Quick five minute card.  

~ Labels Die Template GIVE AWAY~

The die set that I'm giving away is still open until tomorrow night.  Check this post for details!

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you have an awesome day!