Nautical Birthday

This was a card done by request of a friend. The photo was one she sent that would have significance for the recipient of the card. I love photo cards; they are the perfect way to personalize a card and preserve memories at the same time ... much less complicated than scrapbooking!

Last minute card

I got a call from my husband yesterday shortly after noon that the person we knew who was going to the country of Cuba for a week was leaving that evening. We had thought she was going at the end of the month, and there was enough time to get letters and such up to her before she left. She lives nearly two hours away, and so I had only minutes to put together a card before we left town. I had a second photo printed of Susie's birdhouse, and although it was slightly color-damaged from the printer, it was minor enough to throw a card together with it.

The scripture reads in English: "Cast thy burden upon the Lord and He will sustain thee." The couple for whom I made it is in a heartbreaking state, devastated by years-long illness and depression. I hope they will be encouraged.

Birdfeeder

This card is made from the one other picture I was able to print the other day, also taken by my daughter Susannah.

Because we do not have a top-of-the line printer, there are little lines through every picture. I have found that using linen cardstock masks those lines. Unfortunately, all though it worked for this card, the camera overemphasizes the linen texture, so what you are seeing is not how the card actually looks. It's much closer to the photo, though of course, not quite as sharp. The background looks bluer in the photo than the actual card & photo.

smARTword challenge

smARTworks does a monthly word challenge, and this month, the word is "ice." When they started doing word challenges, I was a little disappointed ... too easy, I thought. But wow, this one was really tough. Especially because I really did want to use smARTworks stamps, even though that is not a requirement. I knew that the card didn't technically need to feature ice, and I considered doing a card with smARTworks mug trio set, thinking that cold, icy days meant for drinking hot chocolate ... but that felt like cheating, lol! I finally asked my daughter, Susie, if she had any icicle pictures. Susie loves taking pictures, and loves icicles, so of course, she had pictures for me!

What a relief! So it took me forever to come up with this idea. At least it would be simple to put together, right? Wrong! We coudn't move our photo editing program, which allows one to size pictures precisely, instead of just having standard photo options. So, that meant unhooking the printer and moving it upstairs with the old one. I finally got the pictures I wanted (figured I'd make some other photo cards while I was upstairs). But the light there is very poor, and I did not realize that the color ink was too far gone, and all but this picture and one other were all funky looking and no use!

Well, it did make deciding which picture to use much easier! :-)

By the way, I did look up "ice" in the Bible, and the only place I found mention of it was in Job. There was one passage I considered, but as it is part of God's rebuke to Job, it seemed a little cold (excuse the pun, couldn't resist) for a card. Still, I'm thinking about it... I love the poetry of it.

Job 38:28-30 (New International Version)
28 Does the rain have a father?
Who fathers the drops of dew?

29 From whose womb comes the ice?
Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens

30 when the waters become hard as stone,
when the surface of the deep is frozen?

Joy to You!

I love how perfect the pink cardstock (Arcobelano intense pink light) blends with this photo!

I have updated my galleries on my website, wow, what a job! The backgrounds are varied; I haven't yet decided how I want them to look! I also now, because of scanner/camera issues, have some scanned cards, the others are photographed, and as a camera, at least like ours, "warps" the card, I can't cut out all the background. So I hope the lack of consistency is not jarring. :-( Feel free to e-mail opinions on any issues...

Make hay while the sun shines!

Sorry, couldn't resist.

I was raised in the Adirondacks, where most of the roadside scene was dense forest. The beautiful, open fields of western NY were such a change! We have our stretches of tree-lined highway to be sure, but lots of open spaces, with farms, large hills, streams.

Editing is such fun!

I love being able to edit photos! I thought this picture would be great for those seeking God's direction in their lives, especially at graduation! But I did have one concern over the weather vane ... that coachman riding at the back of the coach was swigging a bottle of spirits! Not quite appropriate for a Christian card, lol! So, I erased his bottle!

Re yesterday's post: I think, if everything comes through that has been promised, I'll have most of what is needed stamp-wise for the trip. If you have an interest, please let me know, as there are just a few things left to be gotten, and of course, sometimes people mean well, but are not able to come through with what they planned to for a myriad of reasons... I'll post more in a few days...

Love to multi-task!

I like to post cards thematically when appropriate. I forgot when I posted a photo card a few days ago that I hadn't done the SaltFaith challenge yet. I knew what scripture I wanted to use, just hadn't made the card. It's not important, but I want to finish doing photo cards before moving on. Fast forward to last night. Our church & especially our family make short mission trips to C uba whenever possible. We have made some incredibly deep bonds with the church family down there. My husband and another person will be going down in the next few weeks, and last night, my husband recieved an e-mail from our friends. Now, they just about never ask for anything; they understand our small church does not have a lot of funds, and really, only God's grace makes it possible to go down there. Several times that I have gone down I have brought rubber stamps and supplies, and they have absolutely loved them! The pastor's wife frequently did stamping projects with the women of the church. In the e-mail, I learned that the Bible school that they have (illegal to have an actual seminary, but there is permission to meet for training within certain interesting parameters), has been regularly borrowing the stamping supplies! They feel badly for the inconvenience to the pastor's wife we gave them to (the church is some distance away), and the pads are running dry. So, they asked if it might be possible to send them more! I was so excited, it means I really was hearing from the Lord to bring them down in the first place! There are so many actual needs - medicines, clothing, etc, that we are careful about non-essentials. Anyway, I wanted to present the need here on my blog (I also posted on Gingerwood), and as I thought about wanting to keep doing photo cards, and also do the Salt challenge on time, it occured to me that the scripture I had chose for Salt's contentment theme was a perfect prayer for our pastor friend in C uba. He has been ill for an extremely long time, and has really wasted away physically, and spiritually is struggling as well. Here is the scripture in English from Isaiah 58:

The LORD will guide you continually,
And satisfy your soul in drought,
And strengthen your bones;
You shall be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

So, this card is for our beloved brother in Christ there. The photo was actually taken on the island.

If you are interested in helping out with providing (new) ink pads and/or reinkers, acrylic mounts, or stamps that are either Spanish, or Christian images, please e-mail me (click on the link to my website, and my e-mail is posted there) and I will give you more info. You also can click on the information I posted at Gingerwood. We try to be careful about being overly public about our trips there, so I don't really want a search for this nation to bring up my blog, hence the awkward spelling. I hope you'll do the same if you post a response, thanks! Oh, I had someone ask about donating money. Biblical Impressions sells Christian Spanish stamps, and if you would like to contribute toward some of those, that would be lovely. (Or of course, purchase them directly and have them shipped here).

Note: If you have stamps that are wood mounted that you think would be a blessing, if you don't mind removing them from the wood, I will remount them with EZ mount. This saves on space, both in our suitcases, and for our friends.

John 16:33

I love these sunset on the lake scenes! Adding a comforting scripture about God being in control always seems the right thing to add. Life is full of difficult challenges and painful situations, how wonderful to know that the Lord is in control, and nothing can happen outside of His knowledge or ability to get us through.

Sunshine for the soul

Photo card time again! This set of four is possibly my last for summer. I am running out of pictures taken by my father. :-( But my youngest daughter, Susannah, is taking some lovely pictures, so I look forward to working with those.

I have never been able to keep flower names straight, so I'm not going to guess the names of these; presumbably they're from my Mom's garden.

Text is from smARTworks.

My Dad

I took an unplanned, unintentional break from blogging, in fact, hardly looked at the computer for a week. I sometimes am on here more than I should be, but this week I've had no desire to, even for simple e-mailing. Life has been full of, well, "stuff!" One major thing that has been going on for about a year now is trying to find a diagnosis for my 19 year old daughter, Karen. She has some kind of mystery condition that is having a major impact on her life. It's been misdiagnosed as epilepsy, considered narcolepsy, she has some similar symptoms as people with MS, but two MRI's, six EEGs, and a sleep study later, no answers. (We really thought the narcolepsy was it, and just found out this week that the results were negative). We'll continue with the next step when she comes home from college...

Anyway, this card is made with a photo of my Dad. I'm not sure who took it, generally he did all the picture taking. He was a school teacher - I had him for History, economics, and psychology. (I learned my love of History through Dad - though admittedly not in the classroom, lol, but at home, during after dinner chats at the table). He had a great love for outdoors; he loved mountain climbing, fishing, camping, etc. For a few summers he helped direct a couple of camps in New England. I was so excited when I saw this picture and remembered this smARTworks stamp set - a perfect match!

I also wanted to share the neat legacy that my father left his grandchildren. Just after Christmas of 2004, my father was diagnosed with chronic leukemia, a cancer that normally is very treatable, and does not result in death. So I did not really worry about him, and continued with our plans for a one week missions trip to Cuba. But when we returned, we discovered that disease had morphed to acute leukemia. He did not respond to the treatments. Early in March they tried one last drug. But, Dad got pneumonia, and the doctors said there was nothing else they could do, and released him. My uncle, a retired physician, came to stay with my parents, and hospice also helped out. We had about a week with Dad, whose hospital bed was placed in the living room, though he was in a coma the last few days. It was very difficult, but as my mom says, a very “holy” time as my family – my husband, Bruce, and I, my brother, two sisters, their spouses and 12 grandchildren ages 3 to 18 -- all spent as much time as we could there. We had many hours of just sitting around Dad singing old sons, and praise and worship songs, including one all night vigil. My father loved the Lord, loved his family, loved music; I am so grateful we were allowed that time. On one of the last days that he was still conscious, all the grandchildren were gathered by his bedside to say goodbye (all but one live some distance away). Dad was really weak at that point, communicating in more of a whisper. But as the grandchildren gathered around his bed one last time, he suddenly raised himself up on one arm and with his other hand pointed upward and with all the voice he could manage he exhorted them, “Stay close to Jesus! Stay close to Jesus!” It was a powerful moment. I felt like I was back in the time of the patriarchs, where the dying father put his hands on his sons for the blessing… Thank you Lord, for an awesome dad.

Floral note

Another one of my Dad's pictures!

When I print pictures, I like to do it on linen cardstock. The linen I have, from Marco's, has one side more deeply etched than the other; if using linen for additional layering or text, I use the more shallow side. However, other than the photo, all of the cardstock here is Italian Arcobelano.

Text is from Biblical Impressions.

Your Ministry is a blessing

This seems an appropriate card to post to all of you who have posted such wonderful comments on my blog! It truly has encouraged and blessed to me to receive them, and I thank each of you! You may not think such a little thing matters, but it really makes a difference in my day! Some of you don't have e-mail contacts, and so I have never been able to thank you personally, but know that you are all special ladies and I appreciate you!

Blessings!
Sarah

Text from Encouraging Impressions.

How majestic His Name!

This is my favorite photo card so far. I wish I could figure out where my Dad took it; I believe it's Lake Luzerne in the southern end of the Adirondack Mountains where I grew up, but the background mountain looks a bit too low...

I originally planned to stamp and emboss directly on the card, but there was what I thought was a printing error on the picture (later my daughter and husband figured out it actually was part of the picture). I'm so glad I thought it was a mistake though, because I just love how the vellum looks!

Be Still

Last month I made a photo card very similar to this, only with a winter scene. I am so happy to have this treasure trove of photographs that my Dad took.

I trimmed the corners as I did because I had accidently damaged a corner in the process of trimming the picture. :-)

Text is from Biblical Impressions.

Be Still

Earlier this month I had started making cards from pictures my Dad had taken. This is another from those pictures. I just got back the stack of them that I had gotten these from, and look forward to making more.

Sympathy Card

I won't be able to sell this card because of the lines from the printer running through it, but I hope to re-create it sometime. Both the paper upon which the flower is printed and the blue background cardstock are "sparkle" cardstocks. Text, from Eureka, is embossed in silver.

This is the day

Another photo card from my Dad's pictures. As with the last card, the scan does not do it justice, the picture is beautiful.

Photo card

My dad took marvelous pictures. He saw things in ordinary scenes that others would miss. I think he could have gone professional had he so desired. I scanned a few of his pictures, and decided some would make great card fronts. I'm still trying to figure out my new scanner; so far it is not doing justice either to scans, or prints, so I probably will not make more of these types of cards until I can have better results.