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!

Valentines Day Card

Thank you for all your sweet comments.  They truly mean so much to me!  The die template GIVE-AWAY is still open in the post below!

Fourteen days until Sweetheart day!!!  I'm gettin' ready!  How about you?  I am soooo loving this new oval from Spellbinders™!  It is called 'Floral Ovals' and you can cut out the center to make a gorgeous 3D frame as I did on this Valentine's Day card.  The full tutorial is on the Spellbinders blog today.  Another one of my favorites of the new release is the Classic Decorative Inserts Two.  That's the pretty scallop under the oval.   

I am also loving this rose stamp from JustRite stampers; I love roses!  I colored it with Copic markers and added a bit of glitter (shocking...I know.)  : )

And of course, I must say that this Bitty Blossom is right at the top of faves for me as well.  It's perfect for the center of bows or for a nice cluster on your card, layout or altered piece.

Supplies:  Spellbinders M-Bossabilities -  Imperial; Spellbinders Die Templates -  Classic Decorative Inserts Two, Floral Ovals, Classic Heart, Bitty Blossoms, Classic Ovals LG, Ribbon Banners; JustRite Stampers - Shabby Music Background, Happy Everything, With Sympathy; Want2Scrap Pearls; My Mind's Eye™ Lost and Found Pattern Paper (Home Sweet Home); SCRAPBOOK ADHESIVES BY 3L™ 3D Foam Squares, EZ Tape Runner; Scor-Pal® Scor-Tape; Clearsnap Colorbox Chestnut Roan Chalk Ink, Glue Gloss; Pin - Maya Road; Markers - Copic; Cardstock - Papertrey Ink


I hope these new products are inspiring you to make something beautiful!  I know that they sure are inspiring me!  I'll be back soon with more eye candy!  Thanks for stopping by!

New Spellbinders™ Dies and a Give-Away!

Hey everyone!  CHA has opened their doors as of yesterday and crafters from all around the world are gathered to find out what the latest and greats new products are!  While I have attended the last 6 years, this year I am watching all the excitement from home.  Have to be honest...that's a little bit hard for me!  But, I am in my cozies and I am getting to craft up a storm with some fab new products.  Couldn't do that if I was in Cali now could I?  He he.

I've been excited to show everyone this new butterfly die template from Spellbinders™ because it's a special one.  Ya see, I met this sweet and charismatic girl named Elena in Texas about five years ago.  She was on a mission to use her scrapbooking passion for a great cause.  I've watched her as she grew and developed Scrapbook Royalty to raise money for all sorts of fantastic causes.  With a lot of hard work and many hands, it has become Charity Wings, a full blown Non-Profit organization.  Well, Spellbinders™ is excited to help support the Charity Wings organization through the creation of the wonderful "Wings of Hope" die template collection. This is such a gorgeous set and can be used for so many different things!

I framed my butterfly with another new favorite called 'Floral Ovals.'  I'll have a post with another project using this one tomorrow.  The res of my card was made with cardstock and Chocolate pattern paper by SEI.  The pink pearls are from Want2Scrap.  

Elena's giving heart has been an inspiration to me as I've seen her over the years.  So, I thought it would be neat to help celebrate this new set and this week of CHA with a GIVE-AWAY!!!  

I have this brand new, in package Labels Twenty-Two die set ready to send to one lucky reader!!  You will have until Friday, midnight PST to comment on this post.  Then over the weekend I will select a winner. 

Do you want to win this Labels Twenty-Two set?

Happy crafting everyone and good luck!

New M-bossabilites Shabby Chic Card!

I am so excited to start posting projects with some of the new Spellbinder die templates and cool new M-bossabilities!  They are AMAZING!  You can use the folder one way for neat design and then flip it inside out and use the other way for a totally different design.  Sooooo cool!!

Supplies:   ES-003 Valor M-Bossabilities; Die Templates - Spellbinders: S5-008 Sewing Elements, S5-079 Persian Motifs, S5-090 Romantic Rectangles, S4-116 Standard Circles SM, S4-316 Heart Circles, Cardstock - Papertrey Ink, Bazzill Basics Paper®, SCRAPBOOK ADHESIVES BY 3L 3D Foam Squares,,Scor-Pal® Scor-Tape, Want2Scrap; Pattern Paper - Teresa Collins

There's a full tutorial on Spellbinders Paper Arts Blog.  The rest of the product reveals will start next week.  I am 'over the moon' excited to share all about them!!!  I have to tell you, my kiddos spent about three hours in with me in craft room the other day.  They were just creating away like crazy!!  It was the most precious thing evah!

Check back in a few days for a project from some brand new, just released JustRite stamps!

Enjoy your Thursday my blog friends!