God's Love

...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace throught the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.  Romans 3:23-24

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:  While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Romans 5:8

The first thing I noticed as I walked into church this morning was the cross that had been draped in white, symbolizing the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  I can't count the number of times I've seen this on Easter morning, but it still brings tears to my eyes.  It should have been me on that cross.  But it wasn't. 

Thank you, Jesus. 

Easter Cards for Grandchildren

Ahhh, life was simpler when I only had granddaughters.  I just made two of everything.  I only had to agonize over design choices once, and there was none of that annoying "Hers is better/different/fancier than mine!"   But now that my daughter has blessed me with a grandson, I can't do everything in shades of pink.  Well, I could, but I'm pretty sure it would create animosity between my son-in-law and me.  Now I make everything in threes, but I alter colors to be more gender-friendly when necessary.  And making that one change is a small price to pay for such a precious addition to our family.

These Easter cards were made using the Cricut cartridges Create a Critter (bunny) and Holiday Cakes (Happy Easter).  I used my Xyron to apply adhesive to the front of each bunny, then I added flocking powder to give them a furry appearance.  The grass was cut using a Fiskars border punch.

Thanks for looking!

Thirty Years

On my wedding day I was young, naive and madly in love.   Over the past thirty years I've experienced the realities of marriage and motherhood.  The pain, the heartache, the disappointments, the unconditional love.  I can't imagine a different path.  If I could start over, I'd do it all again.  God didn't give me the perfect man.  He gave me the perfect man for me.

Bracelets from Grungeboard

I wanted to post something crafty today, but since I haven't made anything in a while I had to dust off this project from Christmas.

 

Christmas for our family this year was kind of "Little House on the Prairie".  There wasn't a huge pile of money sitting around, so after digging change out of the sofa cushions to buy the must-have items I had to get creative to keep the stack of presents from looking so..tiny.

 

I had seen this idea on the Martha Stewart Show a while back and tucked it away in the recesses of my mind.  Of course finding it there when I needed it wasn't easy.   So I went to MarthaStewart.com and found the video.  Much easier.

My bracelets are a little different from those shown in the video, but the overall idea is the same.  Since I didn't have sturdy leather for the bands, I used Tim Holtz grungeboard instead.  After cutting the strips to size with a craft knife, I painted them to resemble leather using Martha Stewart satin finish craft paint in Chestnut Brown.  I had planned to add monogrammed metal elements to the front of each, but for various reasons that just didn't happen.  What I did instead was use a couple of oval shapes from a Tim Holtz grungeboard pack called Mixed Minis Plain, and to make them resemble metal I painted them with Martha Stewart metallic craft paint in Sterling.  I let everything dry for a few hours, then punched holes for the beads with my Martha Stewart screw punch.  I used the Making Memories Magnetic Stamp Set to emboss each girl's initial into one of the oval shapes, and then took a fine tip permanent marker and traced inside each letter to make them stand out.  I used some heavy coated thread from my jewelry-making stash to form the loop closure at one end, after which I continued threading in and out of the holes to attach the beads and oval shapes, and finally finished at the other end by adding a button.

 

 

Thanks for looking!

Logan's First Birthday



My favorite grandson celebrated his first birthday last month.  I was thrilled when my daughter asked me to make the banner for his airplane-themed party.  She knew exactly what style banner she wanted, which definitely made it easier for me.  I'm more of a worker bee than a creative type. 

My daughter preferred that I not make an age-specific banner so that she could use it again another year.  Since I knew I needed a space between "happy" and "birthday" I designed a couple of different options, one being the star that says "1st" (what can I say?  I'm a rebel).   Because the pieces of the banner are joined with individual lengths of ribbon, it will be easy to remove the star and replace it with another piece if she decides to use it again.  

 

The airplanes are from the Cricut Lite cartridge B is for Boy.  Using the Cricut Craft Room design program, I took the letters from the cartridge Martha Stewart Elegant Cake Art  and stretched them to the proportions I needed to fill the rectangular flags I had cut with my paper trimmer.  The stars I used are free shapes from Cricut Craft Room Basics.

                                            

 

The night before the party we stayed up late cutting mats for about ten thousand photos showcasing Logan's first year.  Yes, I exaggerate, but not by much ;-)  My granddaughters and I worked hard assembling all the pictures.  My daughter spent most of the day and night cooking the most amazing food, which looked as beautiful as it tasted.  And finally, sometime well after midnight, we finished our tasks and went to bed.
 

The day of the party we woke up to snow.

My two granddaughters were excited to see the white stuff.  They were the only ones.  I was heartsick for my daughter.  I knew she had been looking forward to this day for so long, and she had worked so hard to get everything ready. We weren't sure what would happen.  How much more snow would accumulate?  Would anyone come?  As for me, I was disappointed that my sisters, who live a few hours away, might not be able to make the trip.

 

We set about decorating the neighborhood clubhouse anyway, uncertain what the day would bring and not willing to be unprepared should the weather improve before afternoon. 

 

Then the sun came out.  The snow melted.  The guests started to arrive.  And my sisters were able to get across the mountains safely and spend a couple of hours with us.  It was a wonderful day.

Don't be fooled; there were tons more photos of Logan on the walls. 

The excited guest of honor.

He thoughtfully opened each and every gift. 
At least that's how it appeared to this adoring grandmother.

Little Bird Birthday Card

 

 

 

Although this card is pretty simple, I actually like the way it turned out.  The bird is from the Cricut cartridge Birthday Cakes.  The blue background was made with the Martha Stewart Punch-Around-the-Page Cherish set, then embossed with the Darice embossing folder Damask.  I added a little brown flocking powder to the hat and used a googly eye to give the bird some personality.