PDCC40 and a free download

Time to say goodbye for two weeks - I shall really miss you all in blog world and the inspiration I receive every day from the many blogs and the flickr gallery of Hero Arts.

I'm joining in the PDCC40 challenge this week, colors are black/white and a splash of green.

This is the inspiration picture.



Here is my simple little card - I would really love to win those stamps from Memory box, just beautiful! I held myself to the rules too... just a splash of green, with white and black.

I have edited this post (it's a day later) to offer whoever is interested a free download from something I have had in my possession for many years. Yesterday I got the idea to scan it and use it for the background paper you can see in the card above. It isn't black and white originally, it is colored. So here it is. Of course you have to click on the picture before you right click and download to your computer.

There is no Internet where I am going, but there is a little cyber café on the beach, so I might be popping in.

Have a very lovely holiday season and see you soon!
Blessings,
Jacqueline

Tag Tuesday - green and red

So busy with the holiday preparations but had a little idea which I worked out for this week's challenge.

The challenge is on Louise's blog here.
Every stamp on this tag is from Hero Arts.

Before I go I just want to give a little testimony of the faithfulness of God. God knows our circumstances whether they be big or small and He works all things together for good for those that love Him. (Rom.8:25)
This coming Saturday we will be leaving for a two week holiday in Spain and a Dutch family will be coming to live in our house. God knows how much we need a little break to be refreshed to pick up our Mission work and serve Him in this country.

This last week, our shower broke down and needed a replacement of a special piece of apparatus to get it to work again - which meant a whole day's work.
Then the fridge broke down - the thermostat has to be replaced which means ordering a new one and waiting at least two weeks for a new one - but in the mean time an electrician was able to help us with a temporary solution while we are away.
Then the gas bottle ran out - so we were able to replace it just before we went on holiday!
Just think if all this had happened whilst we were away!! I don't think we would have had the rest we needed! So happy that it's all happened and settled and that we can leave in peace!

I will have one more share before I go. See you then!

Tags from the scraps

I just wanted to play with papers, scissors and glue this afternoon and of course continue with the scrap pile which is really diminishing! I am so pleased to see my efforts are giving good results.
I made some tags with the stamped projects not used - actually I don't have many more laying around. My next projects will probably be diecuts.

This one has a paper pieced Hero Arts butterfly.


Hydrangea stamp from Hero Arts, painted with distress inks.

A little collage tag.

I have had this little tulip tag for ages, now it has a home, on another tag.

Until Tuesday!

PDCC39

The colors of the new PDCC challenge appealed to me this week. I decided to stay in the summer theme which Hero Arts are hosting this month and found a picture of a little Sailor girl who I framed with sea shells.


For those interested in the sailor girl picture, she was part of a free download collage sheet which can be found here. Many thanks to Blanca from Moonlight Studios.

Here is the inspiration picture.

I got a huge creative boost yesterday when I saw that this card was one of the winners over at the Hero Arts blog. It has increased my inspiration levels :)



Have a happy weekend!

Tag Tuesday - faces

My favorite challenge of the week! Head over to Louise's blog for the details and join in the summer fun!



My tag for this week using a stamp of a face from Darkroom Doors.

Oh by the way, remember I wrote about the nest in our Cypres tree? Well the eggs have hatched and I can see the Mother feeding her little twins every day - too high to take a photo unfortunately. But to think of new birth taking place in our garden made me very happy!

(Thanks to Carole who sent me an envelope full of delicious K&Co papers of which the tag base is a part of.)

Love believes....

all things, hopes all things..... I followed Sue's lead with the card she posted yesterday for the Moxie Fab World challenge which is 'Let's do classy and elegant'.



This rose stamp from Hero Arts is so elegant and I thought that the gold would add a little bit of class too. Sue had sent me the diecut with this Bible verse from 1 Corinthians 13. The first two words were missing (keeps you thinking...) but I still went ahead and decorated the rest with the rose and added a ribbon.

Celebrating Summer!

You never expected to hear me say that did you? But today and yesterday have been the Summer days as I have always remembered them, days when I wished they would never end. No sweat, no toil, no unbearable heat, no tiredness, just a beautiful breezy, sunny, hot, refreshing summer's day!! I don't even get hot in the house and that is without the fans! It's such a relief to remember how Summer can be in the South of France - and I just love it. Now, I want to be outside. Even hanging up the washing is a pleasure. OH how I grumbled, but oh how I feel so much better.
I am so relieved I'm celebrating with a card I was able to make.



Of course, it's vintage and of course there are scraps on it. I probably reduced the scrap pile by one tenth of a millimeter with this one... but every little bit helps you know!!

All scraps here.

We have a huge Cypres tree in the garden and it makes the most beautiful sound when the wind rushes through it's branches. Well, in that tree, right in the middle, a huge nest can be found and every evening I go and see if the bird has returned to her nest and every evening she has. She has picked a classy place to live I can tell you - a place of pure peace, a birds eye view over the Mountains, a first row seat to the gorgeous sunset in the evening and there's not a bird in sight troubling her.

The other day I was sitting out with my son in the evening by the pool and we were surrounded by beautiful swallows wizzing in-between and around us the whole time. Such an elegant show of perfect flying skills and it was so cozy to hear them chattering with each other. We had the thought that God must have made the birds just to give pleasure to us humans. Imagine life without them?!

Tag Tuesday - hearts

As the heat is relentless I won't make this a long post although I have some things to share - from the heart - but I'm going to have to do with these hearts for the time being which is the theme over on Louise's blog here.

For those interested the heart template can be found here.


(A little note for Miss Iowa: The blue ink is distress ink faded jeans from Rangers.)



My slender looking tag is a heart (about 3" long) and once again I have just used scraps as that is my personal challenge until the pile is reduced. Can't say that these made that much difference but at least they found a home!

Off to see the other tags.

It is a National holiday in France today - if you are interested, look at this post.

Happy Birthday to Joe in Florida!

Happy Birthday vintage style

I made this a while ago in my continuing effort to finish up my scraps.

I am trying not to download anything or print images out until my pile has diminished.
The stamps for this are mostly Hero Arts.

It is still sweltering weather here. I don't venture outdoors in the afternoon until after four o'clock. Luckily it cools off in the evening and I can sit outside in the quiet and enjoy the swallows and the sunset.

Using up the scrap papers

I am determined to use up my scrap papers... if I put them in a pile, it is possible, so this card is one step closer to my goal.

I am preparing the house for our holiday leave in August. We rent out our house via a Dutch organization which means all the cupboards have to be empty etc..! I started a while ago with my preparations and am still busy. It obliges me to clean thoroughly too! I have fans on in the house, the shutters and windows are closed to keep out the heat and as I only have the afternoons, as I work in the mornings, I have to get on with it. A little unwinding in the craft room first though!!

Have a lovely day!

Hero Arts Hydrangea Stamp

I have had so much pleasure from this stamp from Hero Arts! I can still think of so many ways I want to use it.

I used up some of the little scraps that need to find a home.

Our temperatures are still very high and it's still difficult to focus on creating, however much I would love to just be inspired again. I am amazed at how many blogs are still active!

Some nice news is that our son Joël has returned home from two years of Bible School in Holland. But he had to leave his girlfriend behind and that is difficult for him.

Just wanted to share our new lamp above the kitchen table - my DH came home with it - he has such taste (I think!):)

I hope to be faithful and visit the blogs when the energy level is good!

Busy times ahead. Thank you all for the wonderful comments you leave, they truly encourage and motivate me - what a wonderful group of ladies out there in the crafting world!

Tag Tuesday - Summer

Sending sunshine is my sentiment on my quick tag - I wish I could send some sunshine your way - but I think you have enough of your own! At the moment the heat wave is sapping all my energy and I can't craft in the heat. We don't have air-conditioning either.

So this is my little contribution to the tag challenge this week. The most prominent things of summer here are the Hortensia, swallows and lavender!

(ps. I had been looking for a pretty grey background for ages - so much softer on the eyes, luckily I found one today!)

Hope you are enjoying the summer!