Tuesday, January 31, 2012

David is 22 years old today

I have to put our precious David in the spotlight today as its his birthday and he is 22 years of age! He doesn't play the guitar by the way, Joël, his brother, put it in his hands and took this photo. He hasn't been very well since November last year. Cold after cold, and his lungs just won't clear up. Yesterday he was sick again and finally the doctor gave him anti-biotics. I hope he can go back to school this week and just take part in life again.



His cake is baking in the oven for this evening. Not being well myself for a long time hasn't been easy to take care of David but God's grace has carried me through.


Just a little card share of a CAS card. I distressed and water-sprayed the back-side of a window stamp for the shape and then stamped and embossed the Hydrangea stamp from Hero Arts. Its as easy as that.

I am not crafting a lot because of my neck, I need to move around a lot more. Sitting behind the computer is difficult too so I am very slow in visiting the blogs.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Gold and bronze embossing

I had the idea to use the Envelope and the Lace Design block stamps from Hero Arts as a borders for my two cards.


First I covered the middle part of the stamp with a diecut and used versamark to cover the rest.


Then I brought the paper to the stamp for the remaining image and then gold/bronzed embossed. Before embossing you always have to wait until the distress inks have dried completely.

Thank you all so much for your precious visits - I always appreciate that! I am doing o.k., still have some pain in my neck which I hope will heal with time. I am trusting the Lord... my life is His anyway!
This is a testimony my DH sent to me (we communicate via e-mail as well during the day :)) and it made a big impact on me. It is written by Derek Prince who went through a lot for his faith. I hope it will help those that are going through tough times and need to really focus their faith and keep focusing it on God!
Quote
Affliction does us good, it’s producing something that’s of eternal value—but only on one condition - while we continue looking at the things which are not seen. Once you take your eyes off the unseen, you’ll become cynical, your faith will dissipate and you’ll be ready to compromise. The secret of Moses was that for 40 years he kept his eyes on the unseen. That’s how he endured. And when you’re in a test of endurance, believe me, the only way to go through is to keep your eyes on the unseen.
Unquote
This was an answer to many questions whirling around in my heart. God always seems to know exactly what we need, when we need it.
Hope it blesses you today!!

Monday, January 23, 2012

A Recipe

Doing something different today than paper, inks and stamps! It's still being creative but with different ingredients!

I have developed a love for Cookery - that is a miracle! Never been drawn to this before. Jamie Oliver is my favorite chef and I watch him and take notes when I can. He thinks and cooks in such a logical way - refreshing! DH and the boys are loving it.

This is a recipe I make at request as it is very popular now in our house, from Jamie Oliver.
A cheesecake dessert.


To tell you quickly how its made:
Crush a handful of hazelnuts and warm in pan - add 50gr butter, when melted, add 8 ginger cookies which have been smashed. This is the bottom which goes in four glasses.
Add a reasonable layer of lemon curd.
Stir a tablespoon of icing sugar in 500 ml crème fraich (sour cream), add 5 drops of vanilla essence or use a teaspoon of vanilla paste.
Add on top of lemon curd. Use a tin of pears (optional) which you add to form layers with the crème fraich.
With a sharp knife pulling towards you - shave off chocolate flakes from a bar of chocolate and put on top to garnish. Thats it! Put in the fridge to set.
(sorry I don't know the weights and measures in any other language, so you will have to take a rough guess by looking at the photo if you might be interested!)


There is a story behind these glasses. My DH, as do my sons, love beer. But the beer glasses kept getting broken and it was time to replenish our stock. There was a Garage sale going in the town next to us, so we decided to go take a look one Sunday. René found two boxes of beautiful beer glasses, for just ten euros! I use this box for my desserts as I love the shape, they taste just that little bit better in a real glass like this :)


If anyone gets inspired to make a card using the photograph with the four glasses on a tray, first one will receive the above shown stamp from Hero Arts called Cut Out Flower.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Lily Pad Challenge - Virginia's View

It's those love birds again! I was inspired by the photo on the Lily Pad Challenge blog, which can be found here. It's like the Tuesday Trigger, just get inspired by the photo and create. The only addition here was that it had to fit into a Valentine theme.


The bird stamp is part of an acrylic Christmas set from Hero Arts. The definition stamp is Hero Arts as well.
Thanks to the Team who go to all the effort to make these challenges available.

Keeping it short as I'm still fighting to get back to good health.
Have a lovely weekend!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Tuesday Trigger

I was inspired by the photo on the Moxie Fab blog which is this weeks Tuesday Trigger. I'm not always like that, this time it happened and I don't know why I was inspired this way, something about the photo that made me think of feathers..



Wish my pink was lighter, but I understood it not's only about the colors but just how it inspires you. I am getting to love CAS cards, they are a great challenge!
I used the bird stamp from the Hero Arts Swirl Christmas set CL469.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Less is more - One layer card with theme Birds

This was the only way to photograph this card to show the embossing. It was most difficult to make this a one layer card, but it is. I wanted to create a stain glassed window with birds flying in front of it. I used the backside and the frontside (which is script, The Lord is My Shepherd). On the backside of the stamp I inked it up with distress inks and sprayed with water for the effect.



The challenge and the other entries can be found here.
Thanks to Chrissy and Mandi for the Challenge.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Hero Arts Real Flower stamps

Hello lovely bloggers.
I am still tired and have difficulty setting myself to blog - creating is not so the problem, just posting a card and writing about it... so its going to be short today.


This is a card I made with the Hero Arts real flower stamps, love them! It never made it to my blog.. until now.

I wanted to share a lovely link that I read today - it is nourishing and might just change your pattern thoughts from the negative to the positive!!I read it this morning from Holly's blog and it just nourished me. Here is the link.
Have a lovely Sunday!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Collage

Hi dear friends. I am regaining a bit of my strength after the intensive holidays, now the boys have left again and working half time has recommenced. I still have quite some pain in my left arm and I can hear the bones in my neck tweek... hope rest will solve that problem!! I have another appointment in three months and in the mean time have to take anti-hormone pills to protect my body for two years, for the time being.


These are some of the cards I've made, two of which I'm sharing today.



In the mean time I made some collage cards which I love to do and used a new distress ink called Rusty Hinge, which I had never tried before, with Forest Moss. The stamp is the Hydrangea from Hero Arts mounted on a panel stamped with the Lace design block.


This one uses Crushed Olive, another new color for me, together with Faded Jeans, on a background I found for free download.

Have a lovely week!

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Less is More - predominantly purple

A quick share today as my purple distressed scrap came in handy with the Less is more challenge, which can be found here.


This is CAS for me. Added glossy accents (first time using this medium) to the centre of the flower which is a Hero Arts Stamp, part of a six cling set called Poinsettia and berries CG363, and placed a pearl on top. Dimensioned the flower. Added some texture to the background - a sentiment and it probably cost 10 minutes to make - so that is clean and simple right? The texture stamp is one I found second hand on the Etsy shop of Joanne Leddy here. (Thanks Joanne, it arrived this morning.)

Have a lovely weekend!

Tuesday, January 3, 2012