Playing with Christmas Tunes

One of my favorite Christmas Songs is "Baby it's Cold Outside". I couldn't get the song out of my mind while making this card. For my snow globe, I used gold embossing powder to emboss. The fun candy cane patterned paper is from the Beary Christmas Collection from Close to My Heart.
Did any of you see the movie Elf? There is a cute scene where a pretty young store employee is singing this song in the shower. of the department store. Buddy the Elf hears her singing and comes in the bathroom and sings along with her.  Stunned, she peaks out the shower curtain to see him sitting on the counter singing. Love this scene.
Here is the scene.

Gingerbread Friends

Today I am doing what I love to do, play with my stamps! I made this tent fold card with the Gingerbread Friends stamp set from Close To My Heart. You can get yours right here.

To make this card, you will need an 8x4 piece of Toffee cardstock. Score this piece at 2" and at 4". Fold both scored marks. Attach a 4x4 piece of cardstock in the same color to the two inch fold. Add a 3 3/4x 3 3/4 piece of Cranberry cardstock on top. On the bottom attach a 3 3/4x 3 3/4 piece of White Daisy cardstock. The striped piece on the bottom is from the Beary Christmas Paper Pack. The little boy and girl are stamped in Toffee, Cranberry and Emerald Ink.

What do flowers and sin have in common?

This past winter I looked out the kitchen window into my backyard. Most of the plants and trees looked so brown, desolate and boring. In the Spring everything gets so green, flowers spring up and the yard is in bloom with the colors of pink, lavender and white. On that morning looking out the big picture window,  I noticed some pretty purple flowers growing in the bushes. Looking closely I knew what they were. They were weeds disguised as flowers that had wound their way up through the bushes to the top. They looked so pretty and I decided to just let them grow. What harm could they do? After all they made the yard look pretty.

This morning, I looked out that same window and saw my "Pink Breath of Heaven" bushes covered in weeds. I went outside and on closer inspection, the long shoots of the weeds were now twisted tightly through the branches and leaves of my plants. What started out as small and beautiful was now choking the life out of my plants. The weeds were massive with thick roots and had taken over. The plants were no longer what they started out to be, they were now covered in something harmful to them.

Just like the weed disguised as a flower, this is how sin enters our life. It often starts out as something small that attracts our attention. We allow it into our lives thinking it is harmless but then it begins to take root and has us so wrapped up in it that we can't get out and sometimes don't even remember how we got there in the first place. It begins to destroy the person who God intended us to be.

I am reminded of "The Parable of the Sower " which tells the story of a sower who scatters seed, that falls on four different types of ground.

 Matthew 13:1-9.
"That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear." 

The hard ground prevents the seed from sprouting. The stony ground provides enough soil for the seeds to germinate and begin to grow, but the plants do not take root and are soon withered in the sun. The thorny ground allows the seed to grow,  but the thorns choke the life out of the plants. The good ground receives the seed and produces much fruit.

Jesus’ explained this parable in verses 18-23.

18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path.20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

In verse 22, the seed falling among the thorns represents one who seems to receive the Word, whose heart is full of riches, pleasures, and lusts; the things of this world take his time and attention away from the Word, and he ends up having no time for it. 

We can allow sin to destroy us or we can ask God to help us remove the sin from our lives. Just like the weeds tangled up in my bushes, I was able to slowly untangled the mess that they were in and allow them to heal. God can do that in our lives if we just submit to him and repent from our sin. There is no sin too great that God cannot forgive. He can make beauty from ashes. He is our Abba Father who loves us and created us to be in fellowship with Him. There is nothing in this world that can make a person happier than having a relationship with Him and allowing Him to guide us.

A Valentine for my Sweetie

 

This coming Tuesday is Valentine's Day! I love that day! Can I say Chocolate!!!
For the occasion, I made this valentine for my sweetie using the January SOTM "Adore You" from Close to My Heart.

I cut the hearts out of CTMH Pomegranate Cardstock on my Cricut and embossed them and the white cardstock with a Cuttlebug Swiss Dot embossing folder that was in my stash. The heart border punch was also in my stash.

A lot of times when I make a card, I get inspired by ideas that I see on Pinterest, but I don't always have the exact supplies that were used. So I go through the "many" crafting supplies (hint hint....does that sound like you?)  that I already own and use them. I kind of prefer this method because I get to explore my own creativity.

The flowers were colored with CTMH Shin Han markers. You will notice that I left some white space on the flowers and leaves. I did this to give them some depth and make it look like the sun was shining on them. In the flower centers, not sure if you can see, but there are Bitty Sparkles.

I know many of you do not like "fussy cutting" or as they say "fussy cutting makes me fussy". However, I am one of the ones that enjoys it. The trick to it is to use small scissors.  When you hold the paper up and start cutting, you want to turn the paper instead of the scissors. It took me a while to learn this trick, but with a lot of practice, I got the hang of it. Lastly, I popped the flower bunch up with foam tape.

Happy Valentine's Day to you my lovely friends! If you don't have a special person in your life, please show yourself some love. My recommendation is to buy yourself a box of your favorite chocolate and pamper yourself. That might mean, taking a hot bath with lit candles, buying yourself a beautiful bouquet of flowers, getting your nails done, reading a good book or inviting a friend over to watch movies like "When Harry Met Sally" or "Sleepless in Seattle". Any Meg Ryan movie makes me feel good. Lastly,  make yourself a Valentine. You deserve it!

http://loriscott.closetomyheart.com/

Stitch Fix #4 Review

I came home from a long work week to this nice surprise. "Brown paper packages, wrapped up in string, these are a few of my favorite things." 

 Drum roll as the family stands around to watch me open my present to myself.  


 Look at the nice contents in this package!

 The first item to pull out is an off-white textured pullover sweater by Moon River. This will be nice and warm on these cold days that we have been having.

They paired it with these purple Joey Skinny Jeans by Just Black

I changed up my style a bit with this shipment and asked for a more romantic look. They sent this navy and red blouse by Collective Concepts to wear with the Purple jeans, a grey cardigan and necklace. 

Love it...

The lace on the backside of this cardigan by Le Lis is so pretty and feminine. 

To complete the look they sent this floral statement necklace by Bay to Baubles.

 The Just black skinny jeans are low rise but are very comfortable because they are made of stretchy fabric...which I most definitely need after all the holiday eating that hasn't stopped!

The shoulders on the cardigan also have lace. So pretty. It's hard to see but I am wearing the pretty necklace. Can't say it enough, I love this outfit!

Sugar Rush Cards

Today was such a fun day. I had a group of women over for a card workshop. We made cards, told stories, laughed and snacked on yummy homemade treats. Everyone had a great time. I was especially happy in how excited they got over the cards we made. The cards were all made using the new Sugar Rush paper and stamps from Close to My Heart. The colors of cardstock used are Chocolate, Blossom, and Sea Glass and Whisper. The sentiments are stamped in Slate and Pomegranate inks. The colors used on the donuts are Tangerine, Blossom, and Sea Glass. The sprinkles are stamped in Chocolate ink.

The Ice Cream and Cone were cut from the Close to My Heart Artistry Cricut Cartridge and popped up with 3D Foam Tape. 

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Products used:

 

Sugar Rush Paper Packet
X7215B

$9.95

Sugar Rush—Cardmaking
C1671

$13.95

Sugar Rush—Scrapbooking
D1715

$17.95

Sugar Rush Cardmaking Thin Cuts Bundle
Z3300

$23.95