Praying In Color for Lent

I just wanted to share this finished Praying in Color calendar that I did for Lent through Easter Sunday.

Color Combinations

I mentioned a couple of entries ago that I ran out of the colors I normally gravitate towards when making cards. I also have this set of Earth Elements brads that I only ever used one color (old olive) of. So, I decided to try some different color combinations using the colors based on those other brads (more mustard, really rust and creamy caramel). I added not quite navy paper to the mix and was really happy with the results. Look, no ruby red paper! and I especially love the "embrace life" card.

One more thing... Yesterday was the first (and apparently the last) day of Spring here in West Michigan. It's 29 degrees (F), snowing and we are supposed to get six inches of snow today and perhaps another six overnight. However, as my son said one day when he was only two, "This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it!"

First Robin of the Year

Today is the last day of winter and this noon as I pulled into my driveway for lunch; I saw my first Robin of the year. Now, that is a sure sign that Spring is on it's way! I ran into the house, grabbed the camera and sneaked outside to catch this picture.

Easter Baskets

These are the Easter baskets that I made this year. I've had the pattern for the "basket" for years and had never really used it. I enlarged the pattern so I could make it as big as possible using a 12" sheet of paper. The paper I had was given to me (thanks Marianne!) and I glued two sheets together to make it heavier and two sided. I then added the personalized "tags" and ribbon.

Hello Swap Cards

This is one of the cards I made for a swap. The theme was to use one of the templates from Split Coast Stampers. I loved the "cherry" paper and thought this would be a great use for it. I may have to try some of the other templates from them.

I've been trying to use different color combinations lately since I've run out of some of my favorite color papers. It's been a challenge, but it's been fun to experiment and I've been pleasantly surprised along the way. I will post some of these cards later.

A Beautiful Lie

OK, OK, I know what you're going to say... I saw this video this morning and thought, "I've got to post this to my blog!" Here are the reasons:
#1 It's a cool video shot in the arctic.
#2 It focuses on Global Warming.
#3 Jared Leto is hot! WOW!(Am I too old to say that?)

Praying in Color

I came across the book "Praying in Color" last summer, I think. I love art books and when I saw this one that had to do with praying, I bought it. Now, like a lot of people, I don't feel like I pray enough. I sit down to do it, run off my laundry list of requests, get distracted, and never feel like I really prayed. I would never pray in public. I can't string together all those fancy words like the pastor does. This is a great book for people like me. I am an artist, but you don't have to be to do this exercise. I taught a Sunday School class for a week and I think people really liked it. As a class we sent our "prayers" to a member who is recovering from a stroke in a nursing home. He hung them up on a wall and proudly shows them to everyone who comes to visit. A friend is using it to learn scripture and the people who were at the class have been talking about it so much so that I will be doing another class next Wednesday. I love the visual aspect of this and wish the church did more in this area; but that may be a entry for a later date. In the mean time, check out the website for Praying in Color at: http://www.prayingincolor.com/

Iris Folding

Awhile back I came across an ATC on a now defunct website, that had been done in this really cool technique. I contacted the artist and she forwarded me on to this website http://www.irisfolding.circleofcrafters.com/. Well, it is just about one of the most awesome things I've ever seen! The two cards above were done with patterns from that site and I recommend that you check them out. I sent my mom a card for Mother's Day done with this technique and she loved it so much that she's taught a class at the park in Florida where they spend their winters. It looks so complicated, but is so easy to do.

Altered Skirt

This is a skirt that began it's life as a dress. The dress was awesome, though not a maternity dress, I wore it while I was pregnant. It was a cool empire waist, linen, super long, jumper kind of dress. so after I decided I no longer wanted to look like a pregnant woman when I was not, I cut off the skirt part of the dress, added an elastic waist, a ruffle to the bottom and voila, a new skirt! Now, the bottom hem is starting to fray, so stay tuned for the second reincarnation of the "maternity" dress!

Felted bag

I saw the knitted version of this bag on http://www.knitty.com/. It was called "Square Cake" and I thought it was adorable. Well, I'm not much of a knitter, and I currently have two knitting projects started, so I decided I would try a sewn version. I went to my local mission store and found this bright purple, wool sweater in a women's 2XL; brought it to work, where we have a top load washer and there I attempted to "felt" it. It worked pretty well, but also filled up the washer and the dryer with TONS of purple fibers. I mean TONS! I brought the now felted sweater home and tryed it again in the sink and then in my nice front load washer. Well, my husband got home first and found that machine also full of purple fibers. To say the least, he was confused and not thrilled. Fast forward to a few days later and I cut apart the sweater and made this little bag to the specifications in the pattern. It is cute, but a lot smaller than I thought it would be, even though I made the "larger" size. Honestly, I'd have to recommend taking a look a the "knitty.com" website for the original knitted purse.

SU Swatch Book

I wanted to share this cool swatch book that I made for all the Stampin Up papers. Each piece is 4 1/4 x 1 1/2 and labeled with the color name, hole punched and put on a large jump ring. It was a fun project and will hopefully save me some time when I see a cool "recipe" I would like to try. Thanks for your help Becky in identifying some of the colors.

Quoth the raven...

I must admit that I'd never thought much about crows until I saw so many other creative people doing so many cool things with them.

I still can't say that I have much of an opinion about them other than:

1. I've seen the movie "The Birds".

2. They make tons of noise in the cornfield behind my folks house.

and...

3. They are God's creatures.

But I have really enjoyed using them as subjects in some recent ATCs along with these cut-out guys.