Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to our Close to my Heart CTMH) Stamp of the Month (SOTM) Blog Hop.  If you have arrived from Nikka's blog you are at the right place!  If you get lost along this hop you can start at the beginning or find the list at Kathleen's blog.

For the story behind my project you can view yesterday's post.  For those of you who do not know, CTMH just changed their SOTM program.  You can now purchase this awesome stamp set two ways:

1. Straight purchase for $17.95
2. Make a $50 purchase and get the set for only $5

Limited Edition (September Stamp of the Month)

      I combined this stamp set with the Dreamin Paper Pack, and the Art Philosophy Cartridge for the Cricut.

I made a "Memory Box" using the My Creation Memory Game Box - to remember the blessings to our family from our Loving God.

The front of our Memory box using one of the new Harvest Charms (love these!)

Sorry the photo is a little blurry - this is the top of the box.
It says, "I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles!"
Psalm 77:11-14

Again the camera was giving me issues so the inside of the box is blurred
but you can see how the cards fit inside the box.

Using the Stamp of the month I made each card to go inside the box.
The Memory Game comes with 24 cards!
I stamped the lines, "what", "Date", and "Remember" all using this months stamp set!
On these cards we will write how God has shown himself to us . . .
we will REMEMBER!

I hope you enjoyed see this box as much as I enjoyed making it!  Had a lot of fun and am looking forward to using it with my children.

Now hop on over to Karen's blog to see what she made using this Limited Edition stamp set!
Thanks for looking - as always your comments are read and very much appreciated!

Remembering . . .

Welcome to midweek my friends.  Today I'm going to share with you an idea that surfaced through the devotional study I just finished by Linda Dillow.  In the chapter Trusting God With The If Onlys, Linda shares that if we are to find contentment in the midst of trial and uncertainty, we must accept our situation as being purposely allowed into our lives by a personal and loving God.  This starts by refusing to contract what she calls the If Only disease.

One way to do this is by Remembering how God has provided and blessed in the past.  "I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.  I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds.  Your ways, O God, are holy.  What god is so great as our God?  You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples."  (Psalm 77: 11-14)

Close To My Heart just released a new My Creations Memory Game which is a white box with 24 chipboard pieces.  You can use this for a countdown to Christmas, mini album, memory game, etc.  I want to make a Memory Box.  

First I'll cover the box and then I'm going to stamp lines on the chipboard pieces.  I'll pretty up the box  and the squares and put the Psalm 77 on the outside.  It will be on our dinning room table and together we will write down the ways that the Lord has blessed each of us.  I plan to use the Cricut Cartridge to make some paper flowers like the ones shown on page 33 of the Autumn/Winter Idea Book.

I want to use the Dreamin Paper Pack because I think it is beautiful!  

Finally I plan to use the September Stamp of the month.  

Check back tomorrow for the Close To My Heart Stamp of the Month blog hop to see my creation.  

For now I want to close with this familiar prayer.  

"God grand me the serenity to accept that which I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference, living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardship as a pathway to peace, taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that You will make all things right . . . so that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with You forever in the next." 

I will remember all you have done, Lord!  Help me to remember!  

How will you worship with your creativity today?  

Comments are always read,  

Make it Monday

Good Monday morning to you all!  Today we are going to make paper lanterns.  You will need patterned paper (cut to 6 x 12 and folded in half), ruler, pen, scissors, stapler (or tape) and string.  The boys and I made these for my son's birthday party.  It was easy, quick, and really fun.  They learned cutting skills and I learned patience :)

First I folded all the papers, then I measured one inch lines starting from the folded side.  It is really important that you don't cut all the way through or you will just have strips of paper.  I stopped my lines about 1/2 inch from the end.  Then I gave the boys scissors and the papers and had them cut on the lines.  Don't worry if they are not super straight (this coming from a perfectionistic Mama).  Really, it will be fine ;)!

Once the papers are cut, open them up and then join the ends to make a tube.  Staple together.  Take another piece of cardstock or paper and cut into one inch strips.  Take one strip and staple it to the lantern to make a handle.

She is cute right?  I just want to eat her up!

We made a ton (well 18 actually) because I plan to hang them around the deck for his birthday party.

Have fun!  I'll post pics of the party soon.  As always I read and so much appreciate each and every comment.  If you have a question please be sure to include your e-mail address in your comment so I can get back to you!  Have a Marvelous Monday!  

Some Heart 2 Heart

Heart 2 Heart this week is Back to School.  If you have not checked out my backpack that I made earlier this month for a blog hop you can view the post here.

Since I already made this I was tempted to enter it into Heart 2 Heart but decided to do something else with the "back to school" theme.  We have just begun the homeschool journey in our family.  I believe each family, each child and every year is different and so my husband and I decided we would take our schooling a year at a time.

I have gotten our material from Sonlight and have been very happy with it.  As a lover of books, I was impressed and pleased with the high emphasis on literacy with this program.  I am happy to say that both my boys (and even my little girl) love books!  Reading happens in our home all the time and I am super excited for the time when my kids will be able to read for themselves.  For now my husband and I are the official readers and I really don't mind (I secretly LOVE being a reader - don't tell my husband or he will make me take over the bedtime routine more often!).

This week the boys and I made bookmarks.  I used the FREE typset stamp set from Close To My Heart.  As a side note there is still time to get this set for free along with the August Stamp of the Month, and the Double Pair-a-Phrase stamp set all for only $5 with a qualifying purchase!  That is $60 worth of product for only $5 - contact me for more information or shop here.  I used the same technique used to make this alphabet card.

 

I got the idea from Janette Lynton (love love love her blog!!).  Her card with this looks so much better but I'm aspiring to someday be like her!

First I lined up the letters using the backing for the stamps that come with the package.  

Then I removed the R, E, A, and D

I stamped the letters with Outdoor Denim

Then stamped READ with Autumn Terracotta.

 I word of advice.  Make triple sure you are not spelling inappropriate words by mistake.  As you can see in the above photo my "read" spelled something that as just plain wrong but I did not realize it right away.  After stamping I looked at my card and thought it was very possible that I had spelled a word.  I searched the internet and found this word just would not work on our bookmark so I had to make another square - lesson learned!

My finished book mark with the quotes  "To Read is To Fly" and
"Today a Reader, Tomorrow a Leader"

Inside the bookmark (which stays together with magnetic strips) I put a book list.
Together the boys and I will write down the books we read after we are finished.

Hope you all stay safe this weekend - we are preparing for a big storm.  If there are not posts for a while you know we have lost electricity due to Irene.

Ways to Worship

Worship is more than just sitting in church singing hymns.  I am learning that worship is a way of living-stopping for moments to recoup, talking to God while doing the dishes, singing songs of praise while playing outside with my kids, sharing my heart and even crafting.  How can one worship with crafting?  I've been playing around with that question for a while.  I decided to post on Wednesdays ways that I am Worshiping my loving Creator, and Heavenly Father through my crafts.  

I really feel that God has given us gifts and how we use them is a form of worship.  I just finished a study recently called Calm My Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow.  I was struck by how many art projects I could use to incorporate into her study.

On the chapter of Worry Is Like  rocking Chair Linda talks about making an Anxiety Box.  My girlfriend created one out of Martha Stewart's pastry box but you could use anything you had.  Here are some suggestions

Compartment Box

A photo storage type box

Vintage Wood Box

Vintage Bread Box

Any box will do.  Linda shares that every time anxiety starts to take over she writes what is causing her anxiety on a peice of paper and puts down the date.  Then she places the paper in the box and prays "God, I am giving You this worry that's tearing me apart.  As I place it in the box, I'm saying to You that it's Yours.  I give it to You.  You can deal with it much better than I can."  She then closes the box and thanks God that the worry is now His.  

For Linda this tangible evidence of worry and handing it over to God means that every time she sees the box stuffed with her worries, she is reminded that God is carrying them - not her!  If she shakes the box she can hear the pieces of paper rustling inside. Every now and then she reads through the worries in her box and thanks God for the ones He has already taken care of.   

How will you worship God with your creativity today?  Loving your comments,

Making it Monday

Can you believe August is almost over?  When I posted last week about back-to-school I had to sit back and just take a minute to let it all sink it.  Where did the summer go?  In my house we are desperately in need of some structure as I tend to get my hands dirty in about fifty projects at a time - so I am welcoming the coming of September.

I have set some goals for myself to get organized in the month of September as we begin our very first year of homeschooling.  We shall see how it goes.  All that to say that our Make It Monday posts may turn to a more educational theme in the coming weeks as I start school with my son.  I believe learning takes place best "hands on" and so we will be doing a lot of that in the next few months.

Thanks for stopping by today.  For our project this Monday we are making a marble run.  All you need is some paper tubes (from paper towels, toilet paper rolls, etc.), tape and marbles.  If you want to cover your tubes with paper or decorate them first go right ahead - we did not take the time to do that.

Put tape bubbles on one side of the paper tubes and attach them to the wall.  Once your "run" is made send the marbles down!  

I let the kids put them on the wall and move them around.  They had so much fun experimenting as they did watching the marbles shoot out from all parts of the run.  If the marbles did not reach the end they adjusted the tubes and started again.  Simple but fun.  Thanks again for visiting, have a great Monday!


Linking up with Tatertots & Jello

Your comments are always read and much appreciated!

Backpack Tutorial Guest Post

I'm super excited to be guest posting over at the Gunny Sack blog.  Check it out for the tutorial on my backpack featured in my post earlier this week.  

Thanks Tonia for having me!  Hope you will all stop by her blog to view the tutorial and all the other great ideas and posts.

I'm in love . . .

with the new Cricut Cartridge from Close To My Heart and I have not even gotten it yet!  I'm so super excited - it is coming soon and I'm thrilled to start playing with it.  I have, however, seen some amazing artwork using the cartridge and that makes me even more excited!  Creative ladies like Lisa, Christine, Krista, Melissa, and my own talented CTMH Mama Nickie, have posted inspiring artwork using the cartridge!  Select their names to view their fabulous blogs and super cute creations!

At my team meeting this week we made this card . . .

Everything (including the card!) was cut using the new Art Philosophy Cricuit Cartridge!  My favorite by far are the flowers!  This rose was super easy to do!

 
Want to hear some good news?!  You can get this cartridge with THREE stamp sets and accessory package shown here

for $99.  Want to know how to get it for 50% off?  Contact me and I'll give you the scoop!  Also this month if you purchase the cartridge you can get the Stamp of the Month, Typeset stamp, and double pair-a-phrase stamp set all for only $5 more!!  This is a super deal!!

CASE with Heart to Heart

This week's challenge at Heart 2 Heart was to CASE (Copy and Share Everything) a project from the their design team. 

I chose Pamela's card because I love the circle cards, the elemental paper pack and the beautiful overall design she made.

   

I chose to do a fall theme with my card

This was a really fun challenge!  Thanks Heart 2 Heart and thank you all for stopping by!