Playing with a diecut

It is cold, rainy and 7°C here. It's gone from beautiful sunny warm weather to puddles and warm coats again. So I have to create my own Spring! As I don't have any machines I am so thankful to have received lots of diecuts in the past, which I have saved to use.

So thanks to Sue who sent me some in this shape. I used a Darkroom door daisy stamp for the flowers and the Fabric design background stamp from Hero Arts. The strip that the bird is resting on is also a diecut.

Hope you are enjoying the sun where you live!
Jacqueline

The Wonder of Watercolor challenge

I have changed what I originally posted as I wasn't happy with posting oldish cards, so here is a new card for the challenge on the Moxie Fab World blog called The Wonder of Watercolor, the link of which is here.

I used an acrylic blog with different distress ink colors and then sprayed with water before coloring the cardstock. I then randomly stamped with leaves and flowers. I have used a darkroom door stamp and a Postcard stamp from Stampendous.

Now I wanted to share the second part of the message I shared last week about understanding Grace - so are you ready?

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The world tells us that our value is connected to our ‘doing.’ Growing up, we’re constantly compared. When asked why we were not doing as well as our brother or sister, we felt we were doing our best and we had no answer. So we resolved to try harder, but no matter how hard we tried, someone still wasn’t satisfied. We were still getting the message, ‘Something’s wrong with you.’ This leaves us burned out, confused and turned off. It drives many of us into counseling, when all we need is the assurance of God’s unconditional love! Your wrong behaviors won’t be changed until you know you’re loved by God apart from what you do. And that’s what Jesus made possible through the cross. Why is this important to believe? Because until you know who you are in Christ, you’ll stumble along believing that your acceptance with God is performance-based. Your acceptance with God is based on performance, but not yours—Christ’s! Jesus loves you unconditionally and is committed to working with you. And the best part is, He doesn’t condemn you while He’s doing it! He understands your temperament, your struggles, and even the faulty foundation upon which you’ve based your self-worth. He not only understands—He cares. Once you enter into a personal relationship with Christ He begins a process of relieving your pain, revealing your true value, and releasing your gifts. Bit by bit, He restores everything the devil has stolen from you. And while all this is happening, you are positioned securely ‘in Christ.’ Therefore you’re always acceptable to Him. 

1 Kings 12-13, Matthew 18:10-20, Psalm 53 , Proverbs 6:9-11

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Hope it blesses you!
Jacqueline

Another Watercolor project

Hello and hope you are enjoying Spring! We signaled the first Swallows of the season this weekend, such a lovely sight. I have another entry for the Moxie Fab Wonderful World of Watercolor. The link to this challenge is here.

I used the fabric pattern stamp and tumbled glass sprayed with water for the background. I used distress markers for the bird which is also water colored. The sentiment is part of a wine label.

Jacqueline

The Wonder of Watercolor challenge - Moxie Fab

Who doesn't want to play with watercolor? And then to be challenged again by Kath to come up with something.. well, can't let that pass me by!  If you want to join in, here is the link. Actually, playing with inks and water is becoming one of my favorite techniques in card-making - so much fun and I love the results. Sometimes you can have an instant card with a couple of stamps and water color.

So this card was born from a mistake - well the two projects I made didn't turn out how I wanted, so two mistakes make this right as I just put the circle and butterfly punch into my watercolored projects! I painted the panel bundled sage before attaching my circles and butterflies to the card. Of course everybody knows what 'papillons' means, right?

Thank you, Cath, love your challenges!

Jacqueline

Recycling

We are enjoying beautiful sunny weather! The rosemary bushes and the Cherry tree are bursting with flowers, and the hum of bees is just such a welcome sound!

The card base panel for this card was a nice find. I found it in the cupboard between my clothes, it was a bag which was supposed to make the clothes smell nice, but the smell was completely gone, so I got the idea of using it. The white die fitted just nicely inside the frame in the middle on which I stamped the Newspaper tulips from Hero Arts with distress markers.

Then I have had something on my heart for a while now and I thought it would be nice to share. It's about the GRACE OF GOD, which we can never meditate on enough! I heard a while back that it takes someone a good three years before he or she can really understand what the Grace of God really implies. I found a nice devotional which put it into words in such exact proportions, I thought I would share it.

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God loves and accepts you as much on your bad days as He does on your good ones. In a performance-based society, that’s easy to forget. But you mustn’t! God’s acceptance is based on your standing in Christ, not the state of your life at a given time. ‘For our sake He made Christ [virtually] to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become the righteousness of God [what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him, by His (not our) goodness.’ Think of the cross as a trading post. There God took every sin you’d ever commit and laid it upon Jesus. And the moment you place your trust in Christ, God takes all of Christ’s righteousness and wraps you up in it. From that point on, He sees you only one way—in Christ. How liberating! Liberating, because now you realise that your worth isn’t based on what you do but on who you are in relationship to Christ. God actually assigned value to you by allowing Jesus to die for you. ‘But I can’t believe that God doesn’t care about what I do.’ You’re right! And your rewards in heaven will be based on your stewardship here on earth. God wants you to do good works, but He doesn’t want you to depend on them; He wants you to do them out of love for Him. Once you understand your position, who you are in Christ, you begin doing the right things for the right reasons.

1 Kings 10-11, Matthew 18:1-9, Psalm 40:9-17 , Proverbs 6:6-8
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Next week I will be back with another 'Why God accepts you' - next week.

Enjoy the Spring!
Jacqueline

Tuesday Trigger - Magical Magnolias - celebrating Spring!

When I saw the beautiful inspiration trigger this week on the Moxie Fab World blog I immediately thought of these tulips - so I had a go. Here is the challenge link.
 

I even tried to get some unsharp tulip image with my distress markers; don't know whether that was very succesful. I just love to do these challenges and have fun too.

So, using distress markers and water I stamped and restamped with the same ink which gives a lighter imager and then I painted suger spun distress color into the tulips after stamping.
With the beautiful weather we are having and going to have next week, I'm celebrating Spring!!

Jacqueline
p.s. - I changed my blog name back to the original again - I just couldn't get used to it.

A home decor project

I have been busy making these for family and my Etsy Shop. The size is 12" by 8".  This one was made a while ago, never posted but I believe it was sold.

Made from the several scraps I had in my little box tray. I am running out of scraps from stamped projects to make many more. So what I do is wait a while and when the box is full I start making them again.

This is one of the most enjoyable works of creativity I know of. It's like making a puzzle.

I want to share this photo of my youngest son with his financé, Roxane. They are such a nice couple and Michaël just passed for his driving license a couple of days ago.

 Then, I have to show you the Cherry tree in the garden, it is so pretty at the moment and the bees are busy, which means cherries in May/June.

Thank you again for all your kind comments on my blogs!.

Jacqueline