A Winter's Day

Just popping in to share a card for a Winter's day. We don't have snow on the ground but the snow on the Mountains is breath taking at the moment.

All I used was a piece of patterned paper and a deer die-cut finished off with a sentiment.

Finishing the year with a photo of my four sons, two daughter in laws and grand daughter. I love them so much. We had David with us for 10 days, that was such a great time.
I was so happy with the Christmas cards I received from a lot of you - THANK YOU so much!!

Just one more photo of Seréna..

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Nature themed Christmas Card

Hello everybody, hope you are all well.
I have not been creating very much these last weeks, just a few Christmas cards for those people that support our Missionary work in France, otherwise the energy has just not been there.
Our son Rodney who is 26 years old, who recently had his complete colon removed unfortunately had complications. Apparently he either had a collapsed muscle in his leg because he was left on the operation table in one position for six hours or the epidural injection was not done correctly, leaving a damaged nerve which has caused a lot of pain in his left foot which makes it difficult to walk. It has been very stressful and created a lot of work having him in our home and caring for him. It has not been easy sailing with his digestive system either. I can see that he is going down too in his spirit. We have been constantly praying for a miracle for him. God is Good because that is his character and we will never doubt that.
I have been missing my granddaughter too! But thats another subject. I am very thankful for every day that God gives. His sun still shines on the just and the unjust - His Ways are so different to ours!
I am thankful that He was willing to come to earth to search for us who had strayed because He knew we would never make it on our own. I was reminded lately of the Bible Story about the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (in the New Testament: Mathew 22) where everybody present had clothed themselves with the Righteousness of Christ. There was one guest who was still wearing his own clothes and had to be removed from the table. Unfortunately he could not share with the others. I have wondered why this was - this person was sitting at the table, surely he should be shown grace. But the real issue is that this guest thought that his own clothing, his own righteousness, his own good works, were good enough for a place on the Kings table. We don't realize how much we have strayed from our Father in Heaven and think we are good enough in ourselves to be accepted. If that was so, then Jesus would not have had to pay a high price on the Cross, giving his life, to bring us back to God! We don't realize how much grace God is extending to us!!!
Jesus did not die for the righteous but the unrighteous. Now that is good news!

Now to my little card. Trying to create some atmosphere as a last burst of sunlight recedes to make way for the dusk....

A diecut with reindeer against a distressed ink background using a Hero Arts solid silhouette tree stamp. And a Christmas definition stamp for sentiment.
I am entering this into Virginia's View Challenge which asks for 'all things distressed, which can be found here. 

If I'm not back before Christmas then I wish you all a wonderful Christmas holiday with joy and peace and share one of our own sunsets in our area.

Card was spotted on the Penny Black Blog

Just to share my excitement at having a card spotted yesterday. I just needed something to lift my spirits! If you want to see the link and see the other fresh Spring cards that were published, here is the link.

It just made my day!
Thank you Penny Black!

Celebrate the Season

Hello everybody. When I can I love to share a card. I have been out of inspiration for a long time. It still is not flowing but life is just too busy with other things at the moment.  Our son, Rodney has been home now for a week. I am looking after him and slowly but surely he is recovering from his second operation which was quite an ordeal, with complications.

So this is my card share today. I used the Hero Arts fern stamp to make snow covered trees and popped up a die cut deer as focal point.

I will not be making too many Christmas cards this year, just too stressful!!

Simple little Christmas card

I was too late for the white on white Christmas card challenge on Hero Arts, but it was great to find just a bit of inspiration again.

Using the new Holiday Petals and Leaves set CL787 from Hero Arts; on clear white cardstock with a little black frame.

Virginia's View Challenge #9

I don't usually post so quick but my last card gave me an idea for the current challenge at Virginia's View, which is 'All Things Metallic' and can be found here.

The butterfly is gold embossed. This is a little close up.

I used a diecut which I stamped with a flower stamp from Anna Griffin in Fall colors after spraying with water to get a watercolor effect. Attached the butterfly and some sequins. A CAS card.

Thanks Virginia for all your consistent effort to get these challenges out there.

Blessings

... to you all.

Hope you are all well. I haven't felt like posting on this Blog due to so many things that I have been dealing with, not the least being our son, Rodney who had his second operation a week ago. It was and has been very difficult with complications. He so wants to come home. We remain strong in prayer, with many other precious people who are praying so he is surrounded with a chain of prayer, but it is hard.

So, I just want to say a simple 'blessings' with this very simple card. Stamped on a diecut butterfly and attached it to another diecut which is speckled textured paper. The sentiment is from Clearly besotted stamps.

Thank you all for your support. I am amazed at the kindness of people!

And a photo of my grand daughter, Seréna. I will have to miss her though, because Joël and Vivian are leaving France and going to live in Holland in December!

 

Scramble on the Hero Arts Flickr group

Hello to all. Yesterday morning it was raining and I was looking forward to a 'colder, refreshing day', but the sun came out again and even today the weather is rather summery.
Hubby has been in Orlando, Florida for a week for a Missions Trip and because traveling in six planes to and fro is too tiring for me, unfortunately I had to stay at home.

And so on to my card which I made for the Scramble over on the Flickr gallery of the Hero Arts group on Sunday morning and the theme was Fall.

 I have a little share which so blessed me. A lady at work gave me a birthday gift a while ago and I never shared it, so here it is. It might give you some inspiring ideas with your creativity!

She probably guessed I love chickens! I love the felt wing and crown and the red fabric for the body.

 Then I was out and about in my garden this morning. Collecting the eggs, and yes there were three again (one of them is plastic..) and time to plant violets for the winter to give color to the garden. Those tomatoes, will they ever go red? And who let the chickens out onto my veranda! So thankful for living close by Nature!

 

And of course I still have to share a photo of me and my son as I had the honor of leading him to the alter before he met his bride! I mean, I am tall, but he is the tallest in the family!

And this picture looks like a fairy-tale!
That's all from my side of the world! Blessings to you all!

Fall Card and soup recipe

Hello to you all!
Life and my blog are not harmonizing at the present time and as I generally prioritize and go with the flow, I'm sharing a little creation of Autumn I did, so that you know I'm still here.

The 'Winter Trees' stamp from Hero Arts has been stamped on a Nature Book page background. I used distress inks and water. The little sentiment verse is from the same book.

We have had a beautiful Indian summer and the leaves have not even started to fall yet. I have made some lovely Pumpkin soup which we call 'Potimarron soup' in French and here is the recipe.

1kg Potimarron
2 onions
2 apples
1 tablespoon of brown sugar (optional)
Nutmug
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 or 3 chicken stock cubes
Cream
Pepper

In most recipes the Potimarron has to be peeled and cut up into slices. Well I don't do that because it takes too long and most importantly, the peel is edible! So, I cut it in half and remove all the seeds and wash it.
Peel onions and slice. Peel apples, slice in four, take out the core, cut into pieces. Put olive oil (or butter) into a heavy based pan and when hot, fry the onions for three minutes. Add the apple, brown sugar, the pumpkin, nutmeg, cinnamon and crumble the chicken stock cubes into the soup with enough water to cover everything and cook on a slow heat for twenty minutes, or until the pumpkin is soft. Then, either with a wand mixer or another type of Kitchen machine, puree it all together.
Add salt and peper according to the taste you like. After serving the soup, add some cream to the top.
The seeds are edible too, but I don't use them, other than to plant them for a future harvest.

It was nice to share something with you today!

Virginia's Patterned Paper Challenge

It's no secret that I love collage cards, patterned papers and Nature themes and that is just what the next card is. I love patterned paper and I just love stamping on them and coordinating colors and patterns. So this challenge really appealed to me.

I've had these papers for a long while, great to use them! You will hardly see a card of mine without a bird nowadays.
I cut my birds and flowers from an old Nature Book. This is a white throat and the flower is from the Crab Apple tree.

Virginia's View Challenge # 7 - Patterned Paper

Just in time to post for the Patterned Paper challenge for this month which can be found here.

It is nice just to let the paper do the talking which is what I did in these first two cards. I stamped the Post Card stamp from Hero Arts twice over one sheet of Botanical Paper from Graphics 45. I stamped a Thank You sentiment, also from Hero Arts over the top and adhered to the same shape card stock.
 

I had one strip of paper left from the sheet of patterned paper so I punched out three tags and assembled on another piece of patterned paper from the same pad.

Summer events

Hi everyone, lovely to be back from a short holiday on the North-east coast of Spain and of course last Saturday was the Wedding of my son Michaël with Roxane. I couldn't have enjoyed this day more - it was a beautiful celebration and I was so happy to have my and René's family over from England and Holland. It would be too much to elaborate so I'll share one of the many pictures. This was taken in our back garden where we held the reception for about 80 guests.

It was such a busy, yet wonderful Summer.

Now on to a card for which I have chosen some Fall colors.

Stamped with a Fabric design on a page from a Nature Book in red. I already had the brown panel so I cut it to size and stamped a sentiment. Stamped the bird in the same colors and attached.

Card for two challenges

Good Morning. I want to share a card today which I made for two challenges. The first one is ColorQ which can be found here and the second is Freshly Made Sketches, which can be found here.

I stamped a panel with four different stamps, added a sentiment from Hero Arts and a little Bird which I love from Inkadinkado.

We are having the most beautiful Indian Summer ever!

I am enjoying some time off work just to have some much needed recreation being outdoors and with the family before the wedding of Michaël and Roxane.

My little granddaughter is all smiles and I had a lovely time with her yesterday.

Three cards with one background stamp

Today I want to share three cards, so different, but with the same background stamp.

I built on the background in different ways, with colors and stamps.

Virginia's View Challenge: Shaped cards and Seréna!

Virginia's Challenge for this month, is shaped cards and I wanted to have a go, although quite late. Here is the link. My card is from a die-cut which I cut around on double paper with a fold at the top.

I used Hero Arts Flowers on a stem stamp with distress inks, nothing new there!

And look at this little lady, only six weeks old - already standing on her Daddy's lap!She's such a little darling, I could look at her for hours and just enjoy her.

I love how she is looking at her dad here with the recognition in her eyes.

Rodney is doing well which is a great relief and we are enjoying having him with us.
Thank you all for the uplifting comments, I'm so grateful for them all!

René's brother's family are staying in a holiday home in a Village next to ours, so we are enjoying spending time together too.

Collage and good news

Hi everyone! We are having hot, humid weather here and that influences the crafting mood as we don't have air conditioning! France is used to having dry heat but the last several years there has been a change in the weather and the French summers can get hot and sticky, which I do not like at all!

 

Letting the patterned paper do the talking, I stamped over it with the Post Card Tag stamp and added some Nature images. This is the style of creating I really love and probably my favorite to do.

 Today Rodney is coming home. After a second operation to remove some blockages in his intestine, he is stable enough to leave the hospital. We have arranged a little welcome party and will be eating his favorite Pizza this evening. Looking forward to it.

Until next time, and hope you are well!
Jacqueline

Quick scrap cards and an Update

Hello, hope everybody is doing well!
Just got back from a Wedding in the U.K. on Monday evening. Had a very nice time with family and friends and it was refreshing to have a change of air (as they say in France) and have a break from the routine.
I have an update on Rodney which I will share after the cards.

Sometimes its good just to look what is lying on your desk and assemble a card with what you find. For instance, this is what I had on my desk this morning when I looked through a little pile (see above). At first glance it doesn't seem to coordinate, but it does as you will below. There is even a little watermark at the top of the patterned paper which I had to cover up with a flower (from the scrap basket).

So this is what the little pile of scraps became. A card to send to somebody with an encouraging message inside!

Then my second card was just lying on my desk unfinished. So, I finished it to add to this post today.
I used some card stock patterned paper as my card base and some free downloads. The big sentiment in the middle is from Hero Arts.

Now a little update. Yesterday we went to see Rodney who is still in Intensive Care. It was a big operation and quite a shock to see him with two big holes in his lower body fitted with bags and tubes to drain all fluids from his intestines, well what is left of them. He has a huge bruise on the right side of his body apparently caused by internal bleeding. It is marked off so that they can monitor its spreading because it has to be stopped. He has a Catheter in his neck for feeding and other fluids and medicines he has to take, as they couldn't find a vein in his arms suitable enough. He has strappings around his legs so as not to get any blood clots.Yesterday he had a temporary intestine paralysis and was in pain. He is attached to a lot of machinery and everything is registered into a computer. He cannot get out of bed, nurses have to wash and help him with everything and he has been in IC for five days now. But he can still talk and laugh and we enjoyed being with him - but oh boy - Please GOD help this guy recover!! It was such a privilege to pray with him and to feel the presence of the Lord in his hospital room!
I have been very encouraged with your feedback and would love to ask for your continued support! Thank you!

Summertime in my garden and news

I am just sharing about my garden today as many times during an afternoon when I am home from work, I see things and I think - I have to grab my camera..

 

 I didn't know that a green tree frog was sleeping undisturbed in this flower pot, until I decided it needed some water...out it popped, with earth on its nose, looking around thinking what hit him!

And then he lifted his back leg carefully onto the side of the pot, thinking, I've got to get out of here!

Then my chickens made me laugh too,  they come and join me when I sit outside and sit in the shade under this chair. I do believe that Dally is taking a nap!

My wild plum tree - gave a lovely harvest this year and I made a thick syrup for in deserts with it. I don't use sugar in my jams,  honey is much healthier.

My lavender bushes are unstoppable and provide a beautiful scent along the driveway all through the summer. Then the Oleanders that bloom richly every year.

My last picture is my son Rodney, who has had his Colon removed this morning due to his illness. After surgery he will wait for two months before the next operation when a reconstruction shall be done to give him a new Colon allowing him to live as much a normal life as possible without all the side effects the medicine would otherwise give. I am a bit nervous about it all, but my hope and trust is and will be in the Lord as is the case with Rodney too. He will be in intensive care for 48 hours.
Edit: we just got news that everything went well!

Thanks to everyone who was so kind to visit me over on the Penny Black blog.
Have a sunny weekend!

Share

Just to let you know that I was asked to be guest designer on the Penny Black blog for this week, every day I will showcase one of their beautiful stamps, or a stencil. I love their latest botanical stamps.

I would love for you to visit me there at this link. Thank you so much.

A meadow scene I made inspired by a challenge on the Color Q blog of a very trendy dress; using several of my solid flower stamps which are some of my all time favorites.

News about Rodney is not good. He is once again in hospital, he is too weak to stay at home and the doctors are concerned. He is not eating as he should due to pain in his gums and his intestines. It looks inevitable that he will have to have an operation- however our faith and hope in the God of Healing remains.

This is Part Two of the Eagle and Parrot story that I shared last week:

Of Parrots and Eagles, Part Two
by Charles R. Swindoll

1 Peter 1:13

Eagle thinkers ask the hard questions, take strategic risks, search hard for the whole truth, and soar high above mediocrity. Parrot people enjoy the predictable, routine, rehearsed words of others.
The church is overrun with parrots and virtually devoid of eagles. Too harsh? You decide. Who are the eagles today who offer fresh-from-the-mountain insights about world missions, biblical doctrines, evangelism, Christian education, apologetics, and the disciplines of the faith? Who are those who forge out creative ways of communicating the truths of Scripture so that it's more than a hodge-podge of borrowed thoughts and rehearsals of the obvious which tend to paralyze the critical faculties of active minds?
Eagles are independent thinkers.
It's not that they abandon the orthodox faith or question the authority of God's inerrant Word . . . it's simply that they are weary of being told, "Stay on the perch and repeat after me." Eagles have built-in perspective, a sensitivity that leaves room for fresh input that hasn't been glazed by overuse.
The church today is in desperate need of eagles---people who come to their tasks with the abandonment of that keen-minded Jew from Tarsus. If you need an illustration, read Romans. Like a careful midwife, Paul assists in the birth of doctrine, allowing it to breathe and scream, stretch and grow, as God the Creator designed it to do. And he isn't afraid to say it for the first time, using a whole new vocabulary and style that is as original as it is accurate. There's not as much as a parrot feather on one page of that one-of-a-kind letter.
So then, which will it be? If you like being a parrot, stay put. But if you're an eagle at heart, what are you doing on that perch? Do you have any idea how greatly you're needed to soar and explore? Do you realize how out of place you are inside that cage? Even though others may not tell you, eagles look pretty silly stuck on a perch picking over a tasteless pile of dried seeds.
I've never heard anybody ask, "Eagle want a cracker?"
Unquote.


 I hope you all have a wonderful week. We are having a visit from René's brother's family for three days and then are going to a Wedding in England, if the situation with Rodney allows us.

Thank you for your visit!

Color palette

This was inspiration from Pinterest. It must have stayed in my head because the next card I made had the same colors..

 

So I put the two together:

This flower stamp has given me so much enjoyment, it makes a card in minutes.

Talking about birds... (see above picture), I have something for some of you to ponder on. When I read it, it fit into everything I believe about our spiritual life.. I wonder what you will think!
Quote:

Of Parrots and Eagles, Part One
by Charles R. Swindoll

Hebrews 6:11-12

We are running shy of eagles, and we're running over with parrots.
Content to sit safely on our evangelical perches and repeat in rapid-fire falsetto our religious words, we are fast becoming overpopulated with bright-colored birds having soft bellies, big beaks, and little heads. What would help to balance things out would be a lot more keen-eyed, wide-winged creatures willing to soar out and up, exploring the illimitable ranges of the kingdom of God . . . willing to return with a brief report on their findings before they leave the nest again for another fascinating adventure.
Parrot people are much different than eagle thinkers. They like to stay in the same cage, pick over the same pan full of seeds, and listen to the same words over and over again until they can say them with ease. They like company too. Lots of attention, a scratch here, a snuggle there, and they'll stay for years right on the same perch. You and I can't remember the last time we saw one fly. Parrots like the predictable, the secure, the strokes they get from their mutual admiration society.
Not eagles. There's not a predictable pinion in their wings! They think. They love to think. They are driven with this inner urge to search, to discover, to learn. And that means they're courageous, tough-minded, willing to ask the hard questions as they bypass the routine in vigorous pursuit of the truth. The whole truth. "The deep things of God"---fresh from the Himalayan heights, where the thin air makes thoughts pure and clear---rather than the tired, worn distillations of humanity. And unlike the intellectually impoverished parrot, eagles take risks getting their food because they hate anything that comes from a small dish of picked-over seeds . . . it's boring, dull, repetitious, and dry.
Although rare, eagles are not completely extinct in the historic skies of the church. Thomas Aquinas was one, as were Augustine and Bunyan, Wycliffe and Huss. So were G. K. Chesterton, C. S. Lewis, Robert Dick Wilson, J. Gresham Machen, W. R. Nicoll, and A. W. Tozer.
Many of the reformers qualify, as do John Newton, George Whitefield, and a long line of nonconformists---original thinkers whose lives were interwoven through the treasured tapestry of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries.
And in our day? We could name some . . . but they are increasingly rarer, as the "Entertain Me" philosophy of the public outshouts those who plead, "Make me think!"
Have you fallen prey to a similar mind-set? Do you find yourself contentedly sitting on your perch, pecking at dry morsels rather than longing for the skies? Think about it.
Unquote

I will quote part two the next time I post. In the mean time we have something to think about :) I can tell you that I long for the skies!

The weather here is super hot - a French summer in the making. As long as it doesn't get humid I am enjoying this weather!