Posted on Friday, September 18, 2015

Cool Fall Air Is Blowing

The cool Fall air is blowing here now at where we live. It is so nice to hang out and play outside, not too hot and not too cold. Sitting out side, at our backyard and sipping a cup of coffee in the morning is just so wonderful.

And inspired by the wonderful season, I made this Fall theme card plus a cup of coffee, of course

I stamped the woodgrain background from WOTG Pathfinding Cardmaking Kit (expired) using Chocolate Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad. The coffee cup and the sentiment is from Treat of Friendship stamp set. On a piece of White Daisy cardstock and Olive Cardstock I stamped and fussy cut the coffee cup. Then I stamped the sentiment from the same stamp set on a piece of White Daisy cardstock, fussy cut around the phrase and attached on the cup using Mini Stapler.

And… this is also means that… The Fall Coffee Lovers Blog Hop is almost here!

The fun will start on Friday, September 25th! That is a week from now! Enjoying the cool Fall air, drinking good coffee and crafting is just a great way to celebrate the National Coffee Day that is on Tuesday, September 29th, don’t you think?

I hope to see you join this blog hop and have fun creating… And… there are LOTS of prizes for AMAZING SPONSORS! Read more details at Coffee Loving Cardmakers blog.

THANKS for visiting and I hope you have a wonderful day!

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Supplies:

WOTG Pathfinding Cardmaking Kit (CTMH – Expired)
Pathfinding Paper Packet (CTMH)
12″ X 12″ White Daisy Cardstock (CTMH)
Mini Stapler (CTMH)
White Card Base (the Paper Studio, Hobby Lobby)
3D Foam Tape
Mini Glue Dots
Adhesive runner
Gold – Natural Baker’s Twine
Wood button

Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Rejuvenated, Refreshed and Blessed

I am thankful for last weekend I could spend with the ladies from my church and many ladies from other churches at the Rejuvenate Ladies’ retreat at Scioto Hills Camp.

This ladies retreat is one of the camp programs from Scioto Hills Camp that I have been going since 4 years ago. I missed one time because I was delivering our second daughter 3 years ago. At this retreat, I met new friends from other churches there and also we got to spend time together to study God’s word, prayer time and also do activities together. They have camp program all year long for you, your family and even the whole church. Check them out here for more information.

I always came home rejuvenated, refreshed and blessed!

The location is at a beautiful camp where every path we walk declares the greatness of God. It is a peace retreat place.

This friendship I treasure in my heart forever! I thank God for every friend and sister he brought into my life. I count them twice when I count my blessings

Photo by: Stacy H.

Photo by: Patty A.

Time with God’s word is special. I learned how to delight in His word and presence through the reading, learning from the preacher and writing His word in my note book.

They always have so many activities, indoor and outdoor. This weekend we got lots of rain and quite cold to be outside. I chose to be inside. They had craft activity and learning about salt and herb. I made this cute little tin box as a gift to a dear friend and my friends made cute boxes for themselves, too.

When the rain stopped in the afternoon, we had chance to go outside and I bundled up for sure! The beautiful wild flowers sprung everywhere. Butterflies took chances to enjoy them. And for the first time I saw spike-ish acorn!

Friends and nature are the best this moment!

We did an outdoor activity together, too. This time we did archery. It was my first time and I liked it! Watching the Hunger Games, The Hobbits and The Lord of The Ring kinda give me the idea how to do it… LOL! Just kidding! The instructor gave us specific interaction how to do it and some ground rules that we have to follow, or get hurt! No kidding, there are steps to follow.

Photo by Patty A.

Photo by: Stacy H.

Photo by: Patty A.

Photo by: Stacy H.

The meals we had are AMAZING! The cook and the kitchen team did their best to provide delicious meals and snacks for us. They blessed us!

You can see how much God has blessed us at this retreat with His presence through the nature, wonderful friendship and His word to ponder in our hearts. I am thankful for my husband who encouraged me to go and had the girls while I was away.

Set aside some days or weeks just to be with God alone in His word and prayer time is just what we all need. I need it, not only once a year, but more than one.

Do you have Sabbath time every year? How many times do you take Sabbath time with God in a year?

Posted on Monday, September 14, 2015

DIY Wavy Blooms Watercolor Muslin Bag

Handmade gift is one of the best way of giving gifts to family and friends. This is one of our favorite way of giving gifts for any special occasions. My daughters and I love creating gifts together for special occasions, like birthdays, holidays, anniversaries and gifts for their teachers.

What is your way of giving?

Today, I’d like to share with you a watercolor muslin bag I made which can be used as a gift bag or storage bag. I learned how to make this bag is from Big Picture Classes.

For this project, you will need these supplies:

a muslin bag (you can sew it or use the premade one)
a piece of cardboard or cardstock as insert inside the bag
watercolor paint (or fabric paint, or fabric markers)
watercolor brushes (or Aquash water brushes)
some water
your choice of stamp set
stamping blocks if you use acrylic clear stamps
Staz-On ink pad (or any ink pad that won’t face away when it interacts with water while coloring)

For my bag, I used pre-made 6″ x 8″ muslin bag. I stamped some of the flowers from Wavy Blooms stamp set from Close To My Heart using Black StazOn™ Ink Pad. And then, add the piece of cardboard or cardstock inside the bag to avoid bleeding through on the back of the bag. The next step is to color them with Watercolor Paints. Pick the color one by one with the paint brushes. I used Pentel Aquash water brushes medium and small sizes.

A tip for you, if it is too much color on your images, you can use paper towel to take some away while it is still wet. You can simply dub them away. Do not wipe them off because it will smear them all over.

You can see there some colors bleed out of the stamped images, that’s okay. But if you do not like that, you can use Craft Heater to dry them quickly rather then leave it air-dry slowly. Some images that do no have colors out side of the images are the ones I dried using my Craft Heater.

This watercolor bag cannot be washed. I would suggest to paint the flowers using acrylic paint or fabric paint for washable bag. I use this bag as gift bag with some watercolor cards inside. Cards that fit perfectly inside this 6″ x 8″ bag are 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ cards and 5″ x 7″ cards with envelopes.

Project is done and I hope this project can inspire you to make some pretty things today! THANK YOU for visiting!

Posted on Thursday, September 10, 2015

Vintage Card Set

Today finally I had a chance to open a card kit I got 2 years ago at Archival Store (before they closed down and they are online store now). And I just love this vintage blue print looking stamp set when I first time open it.

In the kit came the paper pad, stamp and embellishment. But I used the ink pads I have in my stash to make these cards.

Today I play along with the challenge at Darnell’s blog called NBUS Challenge #5. She has a very interesting challenge that we only can use supplies that we have in stash but never been used before. How about that? And I have this card kit that I never been used before and the are screaming to me

And at Simon Says Stamp blog post where they are featuring Tim Holtz as one of their STAMPtember Exclusive and I link up my cards there too.

Thank you for visiting today and have a fun crafty day!

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Supplies:

Archiver’s Exclusive Vintage Card Kit (Tim Holtz Blue Print stamps, Bazzill Cardtocks, American Crafts Black String, 6×6 Bo-Bunny Mama-razzi 2 paper pad, 2mm Clear Gems by Mark Richards)
Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink
CTMH Blank Ink Pad
CTMH Sponge Dauber
Adhesive runner
3D foam tape
Non-stick Micro-tip Scissors
Fiskar paper trimmer
ekTool Bone folder

Posted on Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Expressing Gratitude With Handmade Cards

Thanksgiving Holiday is getting closer. This is one of our favorite Holidays. This is the season we focus on giving thanks to the Lord for all the blessings.

There are many ways we can express our gratitude to others. One way I love is by sending them handmade cards. You pour your love into the cards you make for them and they will appreciate every moment you spend to make it for them.

Today I am sharing some the cards I made as part of the Joyful Stars Blog Hop this month. If you arrived from Marie’s blog then you are on the right track The blog hop starts at Joyce’s blog where you can find the whole list of participants.

All cards I made are using the new stamp set, Harvest Wreath (D1662). This one stamp set has lots of beautiful images you can use for Fall theme projects.

The first card, I stamped the wreath straight on the White Daisy card base and added the stamped embellishment, sequins and sparkle clear on it.

The Non-stick Micro-tip Scissors is the best sciccors to fussy cut.

Supplies you’ll need to make these cards:

Harvest Wreath stamp set (D1662)
Woodgrain Embossing Folder (Z1996) – you can use CTMH embossing folders with any kind of die cut machine like Cuttlebug, Evolution Advanced, Evolution, etc.
Exclusive Inks Stamp Pads: Goldrush, Flaxen, Canary, Cranberry, Pear, Olive (retired, new ink pad Fern is best for stamping the wreath and leaf.), Black.
My Acrylix stamping blocks: 1″ × 1″ (Y1000), 1″ × 3 ½” (Y1002), 2″ × 2″ (Y1003), 3″ × 3″ (Y1006)
White Daisy cardstock
Kraft Cardstock
Sequins Gold Assortment
Sparkles Clear Assortment
Adhesive runner
3D foam tape
Non-stick Micro-tip Scissors

All supplies are available at my CTMH store. Don’t forget to check the National Stamping Month stamp sets, Hello, Life! stamp sets and you do not wanna miss this gorgeous stamp set from the September Stamp Of The Month, Paper Garden. When you put an order, don’t forget to join my Online Gathering Party for a chance to win $10 Hostess Reward credit.

Your next hop is Lori’s blog to see what she has created for you.

I also link up my card at Susan’s Thanksgiving Crusade Thanksgiving Challenge 2015.

Have a wonderful Wednesday & Thank You for stopping by!

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Other supplies: