31 Days of Power...Victory

This year, rather than making New Year's resolutions (which I never really do), I chose one word for the year.  I chose Victory.  I have been focusing on the victory that only Jesus Christ can give in every thing that He allows me to do - being a godly wife, raising my children, homeschooling, and more.

A couple of years ago, my Mom introduced me to a book written by Ruth Myers, 31 Days of Praise.  While I was reading this book and researching the author, I found another one of her titles, 31 Days of Power.  Now, it's not the 'fleshy' power that our humanness thinks of, but the power that is found only in Christ.  She writes love letters to God, based completely on scripture. Each paragraph sites the verses from where the reference is taken.  I read it for 9 days (that is where my bookmark was), and didn't finish.  This morning, as I was reflecting over this week, I felt discouraged.  I was not organized, feeling overwhelmed and just down right ungrateful.  Friends, that is not victory.  Along with reading scripture, I felt prompted to find the devotional book and begin again, reading it to my children at breakfast.

Day one of the book reminds us that we are in the middle of a spiritual war.  Our Father God has given us the  "powerful weapons of prayer and praise to help win victories over our spiritual enemies," and that "through prayer and praise I can help believers around me to be strong in their faith and bold in their witness even when Satan seeks to sift them as wheat."

³¹"Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, ³²but strengthen your brothers.  I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. Luke 22:31-32

⁹But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰ For the sake of Christ, then,  I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.  2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Today, I am thankful for my weakness. I want to see the Lord's power shine so bright in the dark of my weakness.  Victory!

Stampin Sisters in Christ Challenge 76 Second Entry

This is another a card I made for the weekly challenge over at Stampin Sisters in Christ.  I also used the Mojo Monday sketch for this week.

Birthday Turtle

This turtle image actually has a gift on its back, but I trimmed it off.  It looked a bit too busy in the opening.  Thanks for looking!

Supplies: SU Simply Circles (Sentiment), Whipper Snapper Turtle, SU cardstock and designer paper, SU markers and ribbon, Basic Grey button, ProvoCraft embossing folder, Nesties 

Rachael

Stampin Sisters in Christ Challenge 76

I finally had time to make a card for the challenge over at Stampin' Sisters in Christ.  The devotion this week is from Exodus, and the challenge is to use green on your card.  I had to resist using some of my cute frog stamps.  I don't think the Egyptians thought the frogs were so cute when they were plagued with them.

Exodus 8:9-11 (English Standard Version)

⁹Moses said to Pharaoh, "Be pleased to command me when I am to plead for you and for your servants and for your people, that the frogs be cut off from you and your houses and be left only in the Nile." ¹⁰And he said, "Tomorrow." Moses said, "Be it as you say, so that you may know that there is no one like the LORD our God. ¹¹The frogs shall go away from you and your houses and your servants and your people. They shall be left only in the Nile."

Friendly Butterflies

 Supplies: SU Canvas Background, Natural Beauty, PTI Spiral Bouquet, SU Natural Cardstock, Brocade Blue, Watercolor paper, SU Markers, Jolee's Swarovski Crystals, Aqua Painter

Sunshine, Thanks, and Time with Mom

I am thankful for...Warm sunshine.  Buds swollen with the expectancy of spring. A wonderful evening out for dinner with my sweet Mom. Clean laundry piled high, waiting to be folded.

We have enjoyed beautiful weather this week!  Mary Blakely had her first homeschool tennis lesson on Wednesday. Our county park offers homeschool sessions! Coach Lance is a great coach.  The group is small - 3 sweet girls - so there is a lot of one on one attention and instruction.  Have I mentioned lately how much I love homeschooling?  Emily is taking gymnastics on Monday afternoons.  The park also does a great job with this. She has sweet instructors and has a great time.

The new house construction has kept me busy this week - lots of questions to be answered.  The plumber, HVAC, framers, and roofers are all working at the same time.  The roof is just about finished, and I love how the shingles look.  Brett and I finally settled on a brick color, and the rock mason should be starting as soon as Brett smooths out some of the dirt mountains to bring the house to grade.

As always, schooling has kept us busy.  Emily has been working on her subtraction facts to twenty, learning how to write book titles, capitalize proper nouns, and the rule of adding "s" to verbs when the noun is singular.  Mary Blakely is finishing a response to literature. Her confidence in her own writing skills has improved greatly this year.  She is also learning equivalent fractions and common denominators.  Whew!  John Mason likes to learn along with us.  I sit him at the table and he colors while the girls do their work. I don't do this much, because he's so cute that it distracts the girls! :)

So for all my stamping friends, there was no time to craft or blog this week.  Brett has even commented a couple of times that I haven't blogged lately.  Does he read it? Over my shoulder for sure. ;) I have several projects that I would love to do.  My list is growing!

Here is a corner bookmark that I made last month for a swap on Splitcoast.  This was the first time I've made this style of bookmark, and I just love how they turned out!  I will be making more of these.  They would make great little gifts.

Corner Bookmark

Supplies:  Verve Stamp, October Afternoon designer paper, SU cardstock, Nesties, Making Memories border punch

Speaking of Contests....YAY!

I am so super duper excited!  Last week I entered a card over at the Stampin Sister's in Christ Challenge Blog.

I sent this card to my dear friend Marie.  I thought is was simply perfect for her!  Well, back to my story...the ladies (Meisje and the Design Team) at the blog choose "Shining Stars" each week.  AND THEY CHOSE ME AS ONE OF THEM!!!!  What a blessing!  There were SO MANY beautiful cards. Thank you so very much.  This is such an honor and a great encouragement to me.  I look forward to doing more of these challenges and meeting more precious ladies.  (I get a cool new blinkie, too! ===> )

Sidenote:  My daughters (8 and 5) were squealing and cheering for me when I read them the announcement.  They are so excited, and they are such sweet encouragers.  When they were squealing and cheering, my 21 month old little boy had to get in the action, too!  My own cheering section...how fun. I MUST add that to my 1000 gifts!

Mojo Monday 177

Here is my entry for the Mojo Monday 177 contest.  I like to encourage my girls to enter contests.  They are always nervous to enter.  Planning their projects, essays, or recipes get them excited for an entry.  They know they may not win, but they enjoy the process. They actually won a baking contest for our local fair this past October!  Lately, I've carved out 15 minutes every couple of days to do some scrapbooking and card making. While I encourage my girls to enter contests, I'll enter some myself.  :)  Just because the process is fun!

I am SO out of my comfort zone with this card. Collage designs are not really my "go to" layout. 
Supplies used:  

• Stamps: SU Circle of Friendship, Nature Walk 
• Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, SU DSP First Edition, SU DSP Botanical Gazette, Very Vanilla
• Ink: Night of Navy, Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Pear Pizazz, Tim Holtz Antique Linen
• Basic Grey Brown Button, Mulberry Flower, SU Satin Ribbon Chocolate Chip, Linen Thread, MS Scalloped Circle Punch

Blog Button Fun

After searching the net for the most straight forward blog badge/button tutorial, I found one here.  Two hours later....I have a blog button, a new header and a button for my DH business, Vertical Earth.  (The last one was just for fun and encouragement for my honey.  You can check it out if you want - lots of big construction jobs and equipment.)  It took me two hours because the first hour was spent designing my button in Photoshop and figuring out the "code."  The second hour was spent making my blog banner (because I wanted them to coordinate) and hubby's button. So whatdya think?

If you like to visit often...and I hope you do....you can grab my blog button to make traveling easier.

Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge 74 - Second Entry

I took just a moment to make a couple of cards yesterday.  I am entering them in a contest for the Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge Blog.  How fun! Right?  A group of Christian women that enjoy crafting and sharing their work.

On this card, the stamp I used is supposed to have Easter eggs in her basket.  I didn't want this to be an Easter card, so I stamped the tree blossoms from the set onto white paper with blush blossom ink, cut out a few little flowers and glued them on the stamped image to cover the eggs.

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Little Girl Blue

Supplies Used:

• Stamps - SU Easter Blossoms
• Cardstock - SU Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Whisper White, SU Designer Paper (Retired)
• Ink - SU Bashful Blue, Blush Blossom, Whisper White
• Bashful Blue organza ribbon, Cuttlebug embossing folder (dots), Jolee's Swarovski Crystals

Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge 74

I took just a moment to make a couple of cards yesterday.  I am entering them in a contest for the Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge Blog.  How fun! Right?  A group of Christian women that enjoy crafting and sharing their work.

My Friend

Supplies Used:  

• Stamps - SU Blossoms Abound
• Cardstock - SU Bashful Blue,Wild Wasabi, Whisper White
• Ink - SU Bashful Blue,Wild Wasabi, Basic Black, Tim Holtz Antique Linen
• SU Ribbon, Flat Pearls

Found and Digital

I have spending some of my time in the evenings sorting and organizing photos in my Photoshop Elements Organizer. I found some pics of cards I have made over the past year.  I don't have the energy or time to figure out what I used to make these cards, but I thought I would share them anyway.  Thanks for looking!

When it comes to scrapbooking, for me, nothing beats those things that are palpable.  I love to touch and feel my card, crafts, and scrapbook pages.   That said...I also like the ease of digital scrapbooking - once I figure out all the ins and outs of the editing program, Photoshop Elements.  There are precious digital kits available at various online retailers.  Many even provide freebies, so I can get my feet wet in the digital world before making a lot of purchases.  Digital content can be used over and over, so you save money...not to mention space.  I signed up for a beginner's class at Jessica Sprague.  So far, I've learned a lot.  Here are a couple of EASY pages I made with a quick and easy page.  All I had to do was drop in pictures and add journaling.  Each lesson gets more advanced, so I'll post those when I'm done.

Scritchy Scratchy

Real quick....

Every now and then, we have an unexpected house guest...in the attic. You know what I'm talking about.  Yup.  Rodents.  Mice, really.  The rats stay out near the barn, thankfully.  Oh, the joys of farm life. Anyway...last week, Brett and I heard a lot of "scritchy scratchy" in the attic above our bedroom.  The noises stopped, so we checked the traps. Checking the traps is always exciting at our house.  We put John in his room with the gate up and the girls squeal and get all excited while Mommy, yes me, pulls down the attic stairs.  Brett hold the trash can just in case the trap happened to get moved to the attic floor where the stairs let down.  Are you picturing this?  John is bouncing up and down in his doorway with sheer joy that Daddy is climbing the ladder and Mommy looks silly waiting for a sticky trap with a rodent stuck to it to fall on her head.  Okay. Yes, we trapped two mice.  There.  Problem solved.

Not really.  For the next two nights, Brett and I were kept awake with an even louder scratching sound that starts in the ceiling and runs down the wall.  All night long.  How in the world can we trap and rodent down in the wall?!? During the girls' bedtime routine on the second night, Mommy said the prayers.  I prayed that the Lord would make the scratching noise stop.  I actually said "scritchy scratchy" in my prayers, which caused an eruption of laughter from Mary B and Emily.  After prayers, I explained to the girls that God has power over everything.  He created that mouse, and He has control over it.  Amen?!  Guess what?  That night, and all of the nights since then,  there has been no "scritchy scratchy" in the wall!  Thank you, Lord!

Now we wait for the smell....but he has control over that, too, right?!  :)