Friday, December 31, 2010

God is faithful!

I have to end this year with a testimony of God's faithfulness.



I hope it will serve as an encouragement to all those who pray for their children to enter into the Kingdom of God. This year our eldest son Rodney (22 years) came to the end of himself and opened up his heart to find out that His Heavenly Father had been on the look-out for him all the time!

Does this remind you of the story of the Prodigal Son.... when he came to the end of himself and sat with the pigs to get something to eat, only then he decided to return to his father.
It is a story of many broken lives - something has to bring us to our knees to be desperate enough to open our hearts to the Love of the Father, which was shown to us when Jesus died on the Cross to bring us back to God. God's arms are still open wide today.

When Rodney was four, we moved from Holland to the Mission fields in the South of France never ever knowing that it would be a sacrifice of such enormous proportions for all of us. We had two other sons at the time, David, who has Down Syndrome and goes to a special school where he is loved, and Joël who is now 18. Michaël was born in France. We knew little about the culture, the coldness of local folk against 'strangers', not to mention the hostility against Christianity.
Rodney had a hard time at school, as did our other children, because he was different, because we, as a family believed in a living God.
But when he was a teenager and went to college he vowed never to be bullied again. 'God' was the reason he was bullied so now he did everything against God to be accepted. If we would have known how far he went we would have been worried sick. Somehow we were spared.

He left home when he was 17, but never seemed to succeed in life, how desperately he wanted to be independent, to have a family of his own, to have a reasonable job and just live his life. But it never went that way. He went down the wrong path and ended up in total darkness, depressed with no way out.

In the mean time, although our other two boys didn't have an easy time at school, they chose to follow Jesus when they were 16 and are still serious, God fearing boys today. But Rodney was different.....

We have prayed for years and years for God to touch his heart. It has been a long road and we suffered seeing him as he was. At times we were so terribly discouraged....it took so long.

We may think that our prayers brought our son back to God but it was the witness of the Holy Spirit that spoke deep in his heart and the awesome faithfulness of God that touched him in his time of need. The seed of the Word of God that was planted in his heart from his infant years never ever left him.

He has a way to go, but TODAY he is a transformed young man with a smile on his face and a goal in life!

Just recently he was asked this question: "What is your image of an ideal father?

This is what Rodney wrote:  I have always known that I have the ideal father, its only now that I know God that I truly realize that I see the image of my Heavenly Father in my natural father because the only thing that my natural father wants is to be like his Heavenly Father!

I don't think that a father could receive a bigger compliment than that!

We thank God that we are united as a whole family today and our shared passion is to be there where we can serve Him in His Projects for this world.

Have a very Happy New Year and thank you to everyone who has been so kind to visit my blog and leave me some love - I live quite isolated so this makes such a huge difference to me. Being creative brings so much extra joy into my world and through it to have contact with ladies throughout the world is such a blessing!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Tag Tuesday - Christmas leftovers

The challenge on Louise's blog this week is as the title announces. As I don't like a mess I tidy up very quickly, need to keep oversight... so I didn't have very much to work with to create a recycled Christmas tag.



I even used the envelope of a card I received this morning which had a strip of gold in it for the underside of the circle. The robin is a strip of Christmas Paper, the two bows were wrapped around a basket of goodies I received, it's some sort of plastic tape. One of the snowflakes was punched out of a bygone Christmas card, and a strip of gold/scarlet was also from a Christmas card - (I only cut into the shop ones to be accurate!)

Monday, December 27, 2010

Another home-made collage stamp

I hope everybody enjoyed their Christmas. I am really enjoying sitting in my craft-room for a little break. DH spoiled me with a better quality camera and I'm really happy with it. This is not for any challenge, just wanted to play around..


 I made this collage stamped image, which I scanned for eventual further use on different patterned papers or even fabric come to that. It makes for a quick card this way and I used a butterfly from the scrap basket. Once the stamping is done and scanned, it's a matter of printing it out, and adhering it to coordinating papers and the card is ready. I could even 3D for the bird, so it has its possibilities too. This stamp using a Bird stamp from Artistic Outpost and two stamps from hero Arts, and the flowers are Anna Griffin.
This will be a little thank-you card to somebody, and I'll stamp a sentiment inside.

Here is another one using black print, made as a quick tag:

Friday, December 24, 2010

Happy Christmas my blogging friends!

May you all enjoy the festive season!


Jesus came into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Him should stay in darkness.
                                                           John 12:46 NIV

Wishing you an abundance of this Light in your lifes!

Jacqueline

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Tag Tuesday - Silver or Gold

tLouise has a lovely theme for the Tag Tuesday challenge going, to use silver or gold on your Christmas Tag.
As time is quite sparing, I made a couple of quick tags, no fussy embellishments etc. which I usually don't use anyway.... but I'm quite happy I made them because all my cards have been sent, but I still need some more.



I used gold embossing - just adhered a little vintage photo over an embossed stamped image from Hero Arts
with this one and the one underneath.


I hope you all succeed with all the preparations for Christmas. Hope to be back at least one more time this week!
Thank you Louise for a year of fun tag challenges, hope we can continue!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Gothic Arches - Snowflakes

I am feeling a lot better - thank you so much for all your well wishes!



Today I wanted to make a Christmas Arch on the theme 'Snowflakes', which was posted two weeks ago on the Gothic Arches blog. I used a Memory Box patterned paper and one of my favorite images which was a download from the Graphic's fairy. All the stamped snowflakes are from Artistic Outpost stamp plate Sleigh Ride that can be found here.

Our sons arrived home safely, just had a slight delay. Lucky for us as there is a lot of chaos everywhere in the North of Europe due to snowfall. I hope to write a little bit about our eldest son later this week - the transformation due to a touch of God in his life is evident! 
God bless!
Jacqueline

Friday, December 17, 2010

Home-made Collage Stamp

Haven't been well the last couple of days with a throat infection, just laid in bed, so boring!
Last night I crept into my room because I got a flash of inspiration while thinking about the new Bird collage stamps from Hero Arts. I thought to myself, I'm going to see if I can make my own as a personal little Christmas stamp, so I did.



After I did the stamping, I scanned it and printed it out on patterned paper and made this tag. This way I can use the image in all sizes and print it out endlessly. I suppose its now a digital stamp!

Stamps used are Robin from Artistic Outpost stamp plate 'Birds of a feather', which can be found here, bird sentiment is Crafty Individuals as well as the postmark, the holly stamp is unknown to me and the script is from Aladin, a French make.

My second card today is one I made last week as I was playing with the Paris Rose ArtPrints stamp from Hero Arts

Paris Rose

I might have to adapt this one to Christmas too.
Have a lovely weekend! My two sons are returning home for Christmas from Holland tomorrow, haven't seen them for three months so I hope the weather will remain o.k. for the journey!

Oh yes, I got a very nice Christmas gift from Sue yesterday with Beautiful tags from Melissa Frances, a gorgeous collage stamp, bits and pieces and this beautiful material cone, which I have hung on the Christmas tree. I am totally overwhelmed by the generosity of a lot of American women, I think you lead in the whole world!



Jacqueline

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Tag Tuesday - Christmas colors green/brown/yellow

Thank you ladies once again for your lovely comments on my last post, I feel so blessed by them. Yesterday I received the Magazine IRL and was so happy to have a copy.

Another reason to be happy is because Louise is back with her weekly tag challenge! Missed you Louise. It is the one challenge I really look forward to.



Funny thing is, I made this last night and it fits the bill (except for the little touches of pink...).

All I had to do was add something yellow so opted for a flower. This is the first time I'm using a poinsettia stamp that Louise sent to me ages ago and I love it. Why did I discover that so late? So thank you Louise, it works well with collage stamping.

The robin is from Artistic Outpost, stamp plate 'Birds of a Feather which can be found here. The paper is K&Co.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Good things come in Pink!!

Thank you ladies for your lovely reactions to my post on Friday! I can always count on my lovely friend Louise in Chigaco! She has always helped me out when I needed to know something about a publication in an American mag. She found the Somerset Studio Gallery Magazine in Michael's and scanned the page, two cards in one go, wow, never had that happened to me before!



So this is the page. Thank you so much Louise for your kindness, I really appreciate it. Of course, now I remember the cards, but if they had never been published I would have totally forgotten everything about them.
I did happen to find them in the archives of late 2009. The colors seem different in the mag, but I so hope to receive it this week.


Here I used two images from The Graphic's Fairy, added some paper lace and I remember it was early days after receiving the lovely Heart-winged butterfly stamp from Hero Arts. I wish I still had some of that lovely pink Basic Grey paper.


This one was for a challenge sketch from Card patterns using the Heart Flourish from Hero Arts and the Robin script heart from Stampington, again on Basic grey papers.
If you want to see what is in this magazine, click on the badge to your right, it will gives you an idea.

Have a wonderful day
Jacqueline

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Christmas blessings

Just sharing a few little treats I received this week.

Look at this beautiful card from NANCY - all the colors I just love packed into a stunning creation with a fabric flower! Thank you Nancy!


Secondly, HELLE from Denmark sent me this little package, with little Tatting butterflies, made by hand that she had learned from her grandmother - isn't that special! Thank you Helle. Her card is gorgeous - she even stitched around one of the Christmas trees!


I used the image Helle sent to make another Christmas card:



That is what I love about the blogging world - the contact with other crafters all over the world and sharing the riches of creativity!
No magazine yet and no news.. I hope Monday.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Published??

Dear ladies,

Apparently I was published in Somerset Studio gallery.... I have not received a copy and have absolutely no idea what they included of mine in their magazine. I received a badge which is on the right to show you which edition it is and if anybody has received it, could you please inform me?  I am excited about it. I hope they send me a copy! I just love the cover!

Thank you so much!
Jacqueline

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

A little bookmark

This is a little bookmark I made a while ago. It is a recycled label from a pair of jeans one of the boys bought. All I had to do was decorate it. Here is how it works in a book, very handy!



This is the whole tag - of course this model is very easy to copy and make many more, even as little gifts



I think I just gave myself a little idea!

Jacqueline

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Just playing

I have been so busy that it was nice just to sit down and play this afternoon with some grid patterns. I really wanted to use the snowflake and the robin squares I had, so I added some other little stamped squares and made these two cards.


It's always handy to have a couple of extra cards for Christmas!


Have a great week!
Jacqueline

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Christmas

I have some Christmas shares today. I'm not really focused as I'm so preoccupied at the moment, so I just create as I find the inspiration in what meets the eye.

A little tag, just as good as a card to send.


I loved this image as soon as I saw it. I gave this a bit of shine with clear embossing powder. Used a small piece of music paper which I distressed and once again a piece of silver cardstock, recycled from an old Christmas card.
 


I used a silver sticker strip which I transformed into a frame which really only gets used at Christmas time, but at least it gets a destination!

A grid card



A card using the same image as above. I printed it out on pp to give it a different effect than if its printed on white paper.


The images used for this card are from Artistic Outpost Christmas Plate.
We have a beautiful sunny day today!




Wednesday, December 1, 2010

A Christmas tag

This was made very quickly as I already had the star in my scrap basket. I made one of these last year with the Basic Grey Christmas papers. The little bird is from Memory Box 'Mistletoe' papers - I just punched out one of them.


I used some silver card to mount it on, recycled from an old Christmas card. It is very easy to make one of these stars yourself with all different little scraps - just cut out a template and cut around it with other papers eight times and you have your own star.

We still haven't had snow yet but I have seen some on the nearby Mountains, so pretty.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Recycling

I love using bits and pieces. The background with the music stamp in white was the backside of a scrap I couldn't find use for. The pink panel is the packaging from a little box of candles.


DSCI8148-1-framed


The postal stamp is cut from the packaging from some new papers from a Dutch designer. The butterfly was stamped in white from a tiny scrap and all I had to do was puzzle them together and I have a birthday card.

 
Here are the candles I found this weekend, they are so my style!

Unfortunately they will be no Tag Tuesday for a couple of weeks.
Jacqueline

Saturday, November 27, 2010

A Christmas card and a share

A Christmas card from a card that Suzz sent me which was white and had the holly embossed print on the bottom.



So I decided to finish it as I received the new music cling stamp and I thought it would go well together. So here is the card and a little detail of the shine on the embossed stamped image.


--------------------------------------------------
"Let us hold fast our confession WITHOUT WAVERING".  Hebr. 10:23


I wanted to share something about our CONFESSION today. In our walk of faith it is so important to confess the Word of God in all circumstances instead of giving in to what our senses dictate to us. I believe that God allows us to go through a process to obtain this kind of faith and it can take a long time!!

This week I read something Derek Prince wrote in his devotional book which I thought would bless you.
As you know DH and I work for the French Office of Derek Prince Ministries and we have 38 Proclamation Cards which cover a certain topic and what the Word of God says on that theme. It enables people to confess with their mouths what the Word says on a subject they might be challenged on and helps them exercise their faith.

Quote:
There is a disconnect between faith and sight. The natural man walks by sight, trusting his senses and believing only what they tell him. But in the Christian life, the spiritual life, we should not trust our senses. Two Cor.5:7 tells us, "For we walk by faith, not by sight." Faith relates to the unseen, eternal realm that never changes.  As we relate to that world by faith, we hold fast our confession without wavering. The world of our senses is always changing, it is temporary, unstable, impermanent and unreliable.
How we respond to the pressures God permits in our lives determines whether we trust our senses or our faith. If we change our confession because of the darkness, then we are going by our senses, for in faith there is no darkness. Faith does not rely on the senses; it sees with an inner spiritual eye into the eternal realm and trusts a High Priest who is unchangeable.
Unquote.
A good example of this is Abraham, but that's for next time.

Have a great peaceful weekend!
Jacqueline

Friday, November 26, 2010

Decorating an envelope?

First I want to share with you the good home that the stamps went too from my first give-away a little while back. Do you remember that Sanne won.



Look at these beauties she created for me. I sent her the Thank You cling together with the Heart Swirl flourish. I am so happy they are being used! Oh, and she sent them in a beautiful green envelope that was decorated with the Hydrangea stamp.

Back to the envelope idea. I wanted to try something different and after seeing the lovely work that Wilmi did here, I just had to have a go.


I am going to write the address on the yellow label.

Have a peaceful weekend!

 Jacqueline

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Tag Tuesday - Christmas.. revisited

I can still remember the difficulty I had to find something red, dark blue and turquoise last year, for this tag challenge. Luckily enough this time around, the AO Robin stamp came to mind and I accidentally fished out a turquoise piece of paper while sorting out this morning.


Actually, it is a tag card. It opens up so I can write a message on the inside, that why I punched a hole for some string on the pp not on the tag itself.

Thank you Louise, I really enjoyed these colors this year!

Monday, November 22, 2010

Just playing

I found a lovely design on the Internet today and loved the idea of the paper layers and tucked in ribbon scraps that were used. I used that idea to create this card.




I incorporated Hero Art stamps and a couple of other ones and used ribbon scraps that I can't get to throw away, so glad I didn't!
It's just a simple design and gives me the chance to mix papers and colors which I love to do!

Winners

I let my DH pick the first number and he said '23' - I asked him why and he said he had to think of Psalm 23 - The Lord is my Shepherd and that was the number of our hotel room on our honeymoon!! You have got to love this guy!

So the winner is ALICE!
Congratulations Alice, please send me your address by e-mail which you can find on my profile page.

I used random org for the second number and that was number 8 - which means that MICHELLE will receive the second tag I posted yesterday.

COLLEEN nr. 18, would you contact me too please?? My e-mail is cartes34@hotmail.com

Thank you to all who commented, I really, really enjoy the contact with you all!

I am sure there will be more to come as I plan to make lots my tags! :)

Have a great day!
Jacqueline

Saturday, November 20, 2010

A quick scrap tag and another give-away

Sunday, 21/11

I have added another tag which I will send to the second person whose number is chosen:


Why do I call this a scrap tag, because the base has been covered with little scraps I had needing to find a home. I stamped the hydrangea, colored it in, but then lost the outline, so I stamped again over the top - although not exactly in line with the first, it gives a different effect.



This is another stamp-set that I just do not use and cannot find a way to use them either. I have thought of a grid but they are just not practical or versatile enough for me. Nice and light in the post, I am offering them to anybody who leaves a comment between now and Monday morning.


I will send the tag with it and perhaps other bits and pieces from my scraps.

Hope you will join in!

Jacqueline

Friday, November 19, 2010

A little Christmas vintage card

I just haven't had time to create much this week and I have to post this quickly as well. I just had to get crafty this afternoon before I'm too busy again.



I just puzzled some papers together after I found this sweet image.
Hope to be back this weekend.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Tag tuesday - backgrounds

Backgrounds is the theme for this week at Tag Tuesday which Pam is hosting. Thanks Pam.




I love distressed backgrounds with tone on tone stamping, just to give that background emphasis. I used other colors here to stamp some flowers, but its still a one layer background, without any embellishments.

If I would have to finish the tag I would probably add a sentiment and could even add an small image of some sort. I agree with Pam that it is a shame to cover up backgrounds with too many embellishments.

Jacqueline

Sunday, November 14, 2010

The Winner

Je suis la... ik ben er.... I am here to announce a unanimous winner, confirmed three times this morning. I had a number in my head (I thought that 14 would be a good number because it is the 14th of November) - then as I said I would ask my son... and he said '14', and when I told my DH he said that the number 14 was in his mind as well so...

                                   SANNE

you will be getting the stamp and extra little goodies I mentioned. Congratulations.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Grid card and a little give-away

When I just want to sit down and play I usually make these sort of cards as I have lots of papers with unfinished projects or projects that didn't land on a card and then I pull them all together to make a puzzle.



I usually use a punch but these squares are slightly bigger than my punch as I cut them out from a template. I then add whatever I find in my scrap basket. The top right square is a scrap from Sue.. they all come in handy!


Secondly a little give-away. I never use this stamp from Hero Arts and that is a shame. It should be used, so I'm offering it to somebody who leaves a comment.  It's as good as new too. I will also include a little bag of my scraps. I'll ask my son to choose a number sunday morning. And I will send this card with it.


Have a nice weekend!
Jacqueline

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Tag Tuesday - Bingo card

Tag Tuesday was to use a Bingo card on your tag and luckily Sue came to my rescue once again as I had one she sent me a while ago... thanks Sue!



I used K&Co papers, and the distress ink is Frayed Burlap which I used to stamp the Artistic Outpost image with on PP.



I paper pieced the Mother's hat and painted her coat with Victorian Velvet distress ink. The little girl has gold buttons on her coat.

Thank you Louise, nice to try something different.

On another note.. 'Be kindly affectionate to one another..' Romans 12:10

I was struck by something Chuck Swindoll wrote yesterday.  He said: 'Have you ever stopped to think that all those little irritations which come your way each day, are just God giving you an opportunity to become more Christ-like? What does the Lord do to help broaden my horizons and assist me in seeing how selfish I am? Very simple: He gives me four busy kids who step on toes, wrinkle clothes, spill milk, lick car windows, and drop sticky candy on the carpet... being unselfish in attitude strikes at the very core of our being. It means we are willing to forego our own comfort, our own preferences, our own schedule, our own desires for another's benefit. And that brings us back to Christ.'

We might not all have young children anymore, but I'm sure that can be filled in with other things!

It certainly gave me something to think about and may I add 'Lord make me more Christ-like'!
Jacqueline

Monday, November 8, 2010

Vintage

A little vintage share today.



Just picking up bits and pieces from the scrap basket to give them a home. Most enjoyable.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

A Christmas tag

I think this is my favorite pastime at the moment, making Christmas tags... just as well as I have quite a list of people to send too...



I love this color combo. This is an image from the Christmas Stamp plate (Artistic Outpost) that dear Sue sent to me - I love this image too.

Wishing you all a peaceful weekend. We are having exceptionally mild and sunny weather at the moment, I have been sitting out enjoying the sunshine!

Jacqueline

Thursday, November 4, 2010

New challenge

Actually, I had already made this card before I saw the picture, so I just added some teal colored primas and I thought the colors were good enough for the challenge. I just love this inspirational picture! It comes from this blog called Cupcake's Creations from Mona P.


This is the card I made after being inspired by Carole-ish's day on the Hero Arts Blog here.

Inspired by Carole

Actually it does not look like it but I stamped the dill over the top of the embossed image. That is something I recently learned. Un jour à célébrer = A day to celebrate.

Have a lovely day.
Jacqueline

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Tag Tuesday - Front & Back

The challenge at Tag-Tuesday today is Front & Back.



It is a lovely challenge to see your stamps in a different way. I used a Hero Arts collage stamp and my idea was Thank (front) You (back).
Thank you Louise for this enjoyable challenge.
If I send this tag I will write a little message and place my name just under the bird on the back side of the tag.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Playing with scraps

I just pulled these out of my scrap basket to make a tag.



I love it when I can just play with loose ends and make them into something, gives satisfaction. That is so enjoyable!