Remembering 9/11

My heart breaks everytime I think of that day.....

Immediately after 9/11, we NY'ers were wont to say, "On this day, everyone is a New Yorker", but really everyday, everyone here is an American. And proud to say so.

God bless every one the families and friends affected by this horrendous act of evil. Which is every one of us. Please pray today for our country, our president, our fellow men and women and our military. Thank you for visiting my blog.
Red, white and blue all the way,

Oh, you've got to see....

The beautiful posts on my friend Roxanne's blog! She used Clear Artistic stamps on two GORGEOUS cards! Check them out here! Bless her with a comment, won't you?! It's free!

By the way, only 5 people responded to my blog candy post and no one seemed to see that I had posted a question...so I put the numbers in a hat and pulled out post #5! Suzann, look out for a prize package! ;) thanks for your comments!
Blessings!

Wood you like to Rumble? Blog candy too?

Happiest of Saturdays everyone! I just wanted to share my card for the Clear Artistic Stamps Rumble #15. The Clear Artistic Stamp blog, In The Cottage Studio, announces these Rumble challenges that you can participate in and even win a prize ;) This week's challenge is to use wood in a project...or in this case "faux wood". Any wood, real or imaginged, is perfectly acceptable, even DP! And of course you can use any stamp set in your card to enter, but you get more entries by using a Clear Artistic set! I also used the shimmer paper that Belinda sells at the Clear Artistic stamp store. This card has both Midnight Starlight and Sunset Pearls shimmer paper.
Now I also have a confession to make! I STRUGGLE to stick with one stamp set/company when creating cards....thus, this card actually uses stamps from THREE different Clear Artistic sets! Two of them are from retired sets....the sentiment and the Clear Artistic stamp logo come from Lighting the Sea and an older version of Sparkles Christmas set. Can you name the third set? If you can, you will be entered into a blog candy drawing for some ribbon and embellishments, shimmer paper and Clear Artistic stamped images, and whatever else I can fit in the envelope!! If you mention the name of another set or images that you like from the CAS collection, you will get another entry! Drawing for the candy will be the end of my first day of school, September 8th!

I noticed that the sentiment on the card is hard to read because the shimmer paper I used reflects the light in a way that masks the words in the photo...on the card it's easy to read. For you, here is a close up. It says, "In the dark of night, one can always see the light".

Isn't that so true of the way Jesus comes into the dark places in our lives and shines a healing and joyful light of peace? If you invite Him into those dark places, He is faithful to bring His light with Him and you will feel the "peace that passes all understanding." Go ahead, give Him a chance to meet you today!

PS I know the dragonflies are big compared to the barn...they make them big here in Western NY :) tee hee!

Vacation is almost over...and a new year begun...

Good morning!

Well, back to school...the educators have gone in two days this week for training and preparing for the new year and I guess I'm ready....it's always hard to give up these last days of vacation...I always say I need "two more weeks, please" but even given that time, I'd still need "two more weeks, please"...I love my work, but I also love my time off :) Kids return the day after Labor Day, and my university teaching begins soon too! Here we go!

Here are two cards I made this summer for special events...

This first one is a wedding card for a dear sweet young friend who was happily married in August. I am always blessed by a wedding because as I sit there during the ceremony, I begin to "see" the future for them through the eyes of my own marriage , praying that God will always be a part of the their union and that His perfect plans are revealed to them as they go through the adventure of learning to REALLY love one another. It's a roller coaster of joy and sorrow, better and worse, richer and poorer! I'm so happy I stuck with the journey through thick and thin and I wish the best for them!

And I love the couple image from Gina K's Greatest Hits I set for this card...the colors of the wedding were black and white (very elegant!) and so the card reflects that...I also used the ribbon from the wedding invitation on the card for them...I wonder if they recognized it?! I also made an acrylic window in the card, sandwiching the acrylic between the cuttlebugged panel and the card front, both made with Gina K's Pure Luxury cardstock!

This second card is for a young man who completed his Eagle Scout badge in Boy Scouts. He was also one of my Tiger Cubs eons ago and we recently attended his big ceremony and celebration once his Eagle Scout community project was completed. I remember well when he was a cute little 6 year old and now he is all grown up! He graduated with my daughter this year and leaves for the Marines this fall. I thought this card appropriate for his big day.

I used Cornish Heritage Farm's America the Beautiful set, and the ripping technique with Core'dination paper...they were both perfect for this card, don't you think?

I am so excited to see young people grabbing onto the JOY of life. It is such a blessing!

May God bless your every day this holiday weekend! Celebrate liberty and celebrate LIFE!

A fun blog hop to join!

Today is Clear Artistic Stamps first blog hop with all the designers of Clear Artistic stamp using new sets in their projects...while I am not part of the hop, per se, I love this company and their images, so I'm inviting you to join in! {I will be doing something special with this company soon, though! Tee hee!} There are only 10 places to visit and comment, and you can win prizes!! :)

So click on the image or here---> to link to Belinda's blog first...it will lead you through all ten blogs...and HAVE FUN!!