My summer highlights

Hello ladies! The hot summer days have taken me out of my Craft Room, amongst other things, and I have been enjoying the pool, the Beach and lazy days just reading and resting.  I wanted to share some highlights of my time away.

My summer vacation in Scotland. DH and I got to stay in a huge Mansion from the 18th Century, totally renovated and beautifully vintage! We spent two weeks with this beautiful group of Christian leaders from USA, Colombia, Spain, England, Southern Ireland, Northern Ireland, Holland and Scotland itself.  The weather was incredible for this part of the world in the second week. Went for beautiful walks in the gorgeous countryside (with sheep and cows) and received wonderful Ministry and Prayer. I laughed so much and had some lovely times of sweet fellowhship with these people. As I mentioned, there was a huge Creativity Room in the house which even had boxes of Rubber Stamps. I made three of my Grid Home decor projects while I was there which I gave away as gifts.
 

 Loved the walks with my Ipad, taking pictures.

 

Another highlight for me was finding this ring. A great accessory for black and white clothing and just my style.

 My beautiful daughter-in-law to be, turned 21 and was absolutely thrilled with the flowers Michaël (my son) gave her.

Enjoyed having meals out with friends and watching the sun set and the afterglow.

And I finally made another card. I used the journaling card stamp from the 'Remember' stamp plate from hero Arts to create a sort of fence with flowers behind it. 


Thanks for your visit and for all the encouraging replies I had to my previous post - I so appreciate that and it just blesses me!

Oh yes, I wanted to share just a little something I am contemplating at the moment. It is about trusting God with the Whys, by Linda Dillow:
"Three of the Psalms begin with the question, Why? David wasn't the only one to ask Why? The Lord Jesus cried from the Cross "My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46)? There are multitudes of whys in each of our lives, unanswered questions that tear our hearts in two. Like our Lord Jesus, we must turn our Whys into trust.
The bridge that takes us over the many Whys is trusting God to be the Blessed Controller of all things (1 Timothy 6:15). He is the Blessed Controller of our circumstances, gifts, abilities, possessions, roles, relationships and all our Whys. We acknowledge His sovereign control by trusting Him for everything - what we don't understand, can't see and what doesn't make sense to us. We accept what He has allowed today. And give all our tomorrows to Him. The inexpressible joy on the other side of yielding all control to Him is contentment and a calm heart.

Many blessings,
Jacqueline
 

Hello!

Hello everyone! I am trying hard to find my way back into my world here, after being away for three weeks. The first two were in Huntly, Scotland where I had such a good time I didn't want to go back to France. I do not have the energy with the heat here (no air-conditioning) to go into details, but maybe over the course of time I will be able to share little bits. One thing I can tell you is that there was a huge Creativity Room in the Mansion we stayed in, which I visited often and even got two other ladies interested in Rubber stamping. There were three boxes full of Rubber stamps and some inks to use. On our last day we got a phone call from our son that our cat of 12 years had died of kidney failure. It was very sad.

On getting home, I had David for a week and this weekend we have had two English couples who direct offices of Derek Prince Ministries in England and China, for a board meeting, so I have been so busy. Creativity has taken a back place for the moment. I also have trouble with my eyes which I need to get sorted out.

It seems I have entered a new season with God, now the boys are leaving home, and I have to process it, which takes time. 

I was so happy to win some Blog candy on Virginia's blog, while I was away. I am looking forward to receiving it as it just might revive the spark I need to get into crafting again.

Whatever, I will see how it goes, thanks for listening and your understanding. Thanks to Betty K who sent me an e-mail. I have missed the crafting community.
God bless,
Jacqueline

 

A couple of tags from the scrap basket.. updated

Just to let you know that I will be away for two weeks. I am going to Scotland with DH to a retreat to get refreshed and ready for a new season with our Missionary work and the Church. As leaders it is very important to take a break and we haven't had one for two years now, since I had my operation. I will be on-line now and again but won't be able to post.

So just sharing some little scrap tags:

I had a question about the template tag I used so here it is. It was a free download so I don't think the owner will mind me sharing it, so you can use it too.

I had lots of strips of blue PP which I put together on this download tag - added some lace trim from the Hero Hearts 'Remember' stamp your story set and added a couple of birds which I received from a friend. I distressed the birds and stamped with a leaf stamp.

I had the tag and masonjar in my scraps so to finish it off,  I stamped five flowers from the Remember HA set and arranged them with the vase. Two simple little gift tags.

Thanks for your continual support and encouragement. I just saw the Tuesday Trigger so I think I will be back before I leave!

Jacqueline

CTS #32 and Good News

Hello everyone! I'll begin with the good news... For those who are new to my blog, I was diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2011. I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from the Craft community that I received during that time which helped me no end!  I had an operation and underwent chemotherapy and 35 radio therapy treatments.
I went for my second yearly check-up this morning (mammography, ecoscopy, lungs, abdomen, kidneys, pancreas, blood etc...) and the doctor said RAS - which means in French, Rien A Signaler, which means in English - that I received a clean report! I cannot tell you how thankful and relieved I was. I said to my DH afterwards how God is such a loving Father for His children, we can really trust Him with our lives because He has a Plan, we are not left to chance - it gives such security!

I found an inspiring photo on Pinterest and a great sketch which just fitted together, to join in with this challenge, which can be found here. Its a CAS design.

This is the photo and sketch inspiration:

and these are the cards I made. I thought the flowers looked so much like the flower stamp in the 'Remember' set of Stamp your Story release by Hero Arts.

Used distress markers.

Jacqueline

Inspired by Nature

Inspired by this photo from my garden

 

I used the pinky colors from the flowers

to make this grid card

I used the Envelope Design block from Hero Arts direct to the card-stock base.

I'm going to enter this into the 'Mix and Match' challenge over at the Moxie Fab World here - that is one of my favorite techniques to match patterns and colors together. Apparently this is 'rule breaking', then I love breaking the rules.

Have a lovely day, we have beautiful sun today.

Jacqueline

Tuesday Trigger - All Sweetness and Light

This is the gorgeous inspiration photo for the Tuesday Trigger this week, which can be found on the Moxie Fab World blog here.

At first I didn't know what to do as I hardly ever use yellow. But then a thought entered my mind to mimic the cushions, so that's what I did with this color combo.

I used the flowers from the Stamp your Story Remember release from Hero Arts, with distress inks.

Thanks for your visit once again and I am so encouraged with all the feedback.
Have a lovely weekend!
Jacqueline

Stamp your Story from Hero Arts

Hi. Just sharing some cards I made this week from this stamp set:

My first card uses dark pinks. I stamped the stamp just once with distress ink creating a shadow effect.

My second card uses a teal color with orange, not my go-to colors, but I like this combo. Thanks to Janet Ribet for the patterned papers!

The sun is shining and the temperature is slowly going up. I hope it stays just warm and doesn't get too hot.
Have a lovely week.
Jacqueline