It is about LOVE

At the first of 2010, I mentioned I really didn't have any resolutions except to pick out one verse from the Bible each month to think on. You can have a verse a day or a special verse for the year, but I thought using an entire month to think on a verse would be a good thing and at the end of the year I would of course have 12 verses that were more special then before. I really like reading the Message Bible, so my verses are from that.

Here is my verse for February and fitting to that month, it has to do with LOVE. It just so happens that I am reading Corinthians right now.

But for right now...

we have three things to do...

Trust steadily in God,

hope unswervingly,

love extravagantly.

And the best of the three is love.

1 Corinthians 13:13 (Message Bible)

I have read the verses about what love is and what love isn't for many years but what got me in reading this this time through was that word "extravagantly". Isn't that pictureque? I LOVE a whole lot of people in my life and I try to show love to people I come in contact with because they are very special to God, but somehow doing it "extravagantly" look on a whole new meaning. That is like "chocolate covered with whipped cream" or something like that.

I also believe that these three things are possible when they are done together. I can't love on my own, I need to be steadily trusting God and I need to hope unswervingly. Then I have a strength that is not my own to love extravagantly.

***

And here is a card to share. It was published awhile back in a Paper Crafts Magazine publication.

The invoice stamp is by Art Declassified. That is like one of those stamps you could use on about everything. The Flourish, heart and wings are by Crafty Secrets.

The flourish is accented with Tulip Glitter 3-D Fashion paint. I use that for added glitter because it adds some bling while still letting the underneath design show through plus I don't have glitter that is falling off. The wings are also coated that way and the heart has a coat of Aleene's Paper Glaze for a great, epoxy look.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

It's A Boy! Baby Cards

At Card Positioning Systems blog this coming week, we thought we would put a little different slant on the normal schedule so each team member went back over the last 99 sketches and we each picked the sketch we wanted to work with. Another little fun aspect of this weeks cards is that we put our focus on new little baby boys since Tami, our chief sketch creator, and her family recently welcomed a new little guy into their home. I used sketch #5
The main accent on my card is a sailboat stamped with one of my new Martha Stewart stamps. I competely coated the image with the Aleene’s® Paper Glaze after I cut it out giving it an epoxy look. That was then added to the front of the card with foam tape for added dimension.

Since I am already on the theme of "BABIES", I wanted to show off another card with that theme. This is actually using Sketch #40 from CPS. The stamps are by Crafty Secrets and I loved the vintage look of the stamps and the papers.

For my main focus piece, I painted a piece of chipboard with a dark paint and then painted Ranger's Crackle paint over that. When the paint dried and cracked, you can then see the dark undercolor through the cracks.

I stamped the baby buggy on a piece of plain white cardstock and then coated that with Ranger's clear Crackle Accents. This cracks as it dries. I inked this piece with a dark brown stamp pad so that the edges were inked and some of that ink with into my cracks so help show them off.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SPECIAL DELIVERY card

Materials: Cardstock

Patterned paper – Choco Collection/Quick Quotes

Boat Clear Stamp – Martha Stewart

Greeting stamp – Rubber Soul

Stamp pad - Memento

Corner rounder punch- Fiskars

Border punch - Fiskars

Star brads – Making Memories

Clear Paper Glaze – Aleene’s®/Tulip

3M foam tape

ALL OF GOD'S GRACE card

Cardstock

Patterned Papers and stamps - Crafty Secrets

Ranger Crackle Paint and Crackle Accents

Clearsnap Stamp pads

Ribbon

Scallop edge scissors

Pumpkin Kind of Day

One last card to go with the theme of the day.
The paper from a paper pad by Crafty Secrets and is just so fitting.

The large orange brad is by Queen & Co and I added this cute spider brad into it. I just poked a hole with my Crop O Dile and added the brad into that hole.

The little pumpkin head doll piece is a Cotton Scraps accent by Crafty Secrets. It is fun to fray the edges of these and then I did some machine sewing around the edges.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

BOO – LITTLE GIRL card

Materials:Solid card stock

Patterned paper – Earthy book/Crafty Secrets/Heartwarming Vintage Collection

Cotton Scraps Halloween image – Crafty Secrets/Heartwarming Vintage Collection

Big brad and spider brad – Queen & Co.

Zig Zag scissors – Family Treasures

Letters for BOO – Thickers/American Crafts

Black Stickles - Ranger

Machine sewing