Via Dolorosa

Sandi Patty has long been my Favorite go to Christian Music and this Season she sings some of her best. Today you can see the video below of a live performance of Via Dolorosa, I have been blessed in my life I have seen her talent in person twice both unforgettable performances.

Via Dolorosa is Latin and translates to "Way of Grief, way of suffering" the path through Jerusalem that Jesus walked carrying his cross to Calvary.



Local Easter Events...
Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science Sioux Falls South Dakota for Easter Weekend you can catch the Living Last Supper and Free First Friday.


Painting by Raphael...


Here is my creation for Via Dolorosa, I would love to see your interpretations if you play along please leave a comment with a link to your creation.


Product list...
SU card stock, Ink and Ribbon
PTI Everyday Blessings Stamp Set, rhinestones
Cuttle Bug Embossing folders
dimensional dots
spellbinders Labels One dies
Cross Bead
MM Chloe's Closet Pin

Jorie, Beauty of Spring

I have praised this CD ever since my friend set it to me a few weeks back. Please, take this link and give it a try the girls and I love her.
http://www.myspace.com/joriemusic
Our fave songs on Songs of Deliverance are

Song for My Soul
Songs of Deliverance
okay, okay ALL OF THEM;)
Go, Go Go you won't be disappointed you may even get up and Dance.

Here are the words to Song For My Soul by Jorie...

Let it rise when your hope is gone
Let it rise when your barely hanging on
Let it rise sunset and sunrise
Let it rise, yes.

Let it rise standing on a Mountain Peak
Let it rise in the valley cold and bleak
Let it rise in life or death
Let it rise with your very last breath.

And peace will follow you and the peace will follow you

Let it rise when you see a perfect sky
Let it rise when those dark clouds race by
Let it rise when your young or old
Let it rise when you see the streets of gold

And peace will follow you

And you don't understand why your problems won't end and the night only brings more pain but, hold on my dear friend this is not how it ends and your joy will come in with the morning.

Let it rise...

My friend sent this cd to me when I confided in her that my faith was waining this winter, let me just say it was a very Long Cold Winter. She pointed out to me "it is really, really hard to make sense out of things that don't make sense, and try to reconcile all of that with the idea of a Loving God..." she went on to say if it takes me yelling and screaming at God and getting angry then do it because he already knows what I am going to say and do. So I have many thanks for my beautiful Friend to pull me back to where I know I should be and keep Letting it Rise even when all hope is gone and I am barely hanging on.


So for my creations today I am sharing with you the Beauty of Spring in my paper creations a CASE from Bar over on SCS and her blog Paper Pursuits

Yep, another flower and here is how you can make some also.
1) SU scallop circle, punch 6 from DP
2) Punch hole in flower centers
3) Place a brad
4) Crumple the DP
5) Place Button and Leaves


Below is my fave card from the bunch...


Product list...
PTI Blooming Button Bits, Everyday Classics, Birthday Basics stamp sets
Vintage Buttons and stampers select white card stock
SU scallop circle punch, card stock, ink
Cricut expression
Cricut Winter Woodland
Basic Grey DP
Brads
Ric Rack

"Snuffles"

I found it, I found it! My Brother and Sisters did not remember this cartoon character I knew I remembered him from my childhood but could not think of the name or the cartoon. Here it is it was Snuffles from Quick Draw McGraw one of my fave childhood cartoons and yes, I did think I was capable of floating in the air not to mention I have eaten dog biscuts LOL, ROTFLOL!

Papertrey Ink swap round 7

My friend over on SCS MonkeyMama is hostessing this round of PTI swapping you can find the link under my header at all times to the current swap round and to round seven {here} SCS is down right now I will get the link in here when I can.

Product list...
Papertrey Ink...buttons, card stock, ink, floral frenzy stamp set, Garden of life stamp sets
cuttlebug floral dies
glue dots
micro beads
rickrack
su scallop border punch

I made my card for this round with the sketch 1 below...


Such a sad week this has to be my last round of swapping for a bit til we can get it together around here financially. I have so enjoyed sharing ideas with my swapping friends for the past three plus years and have learned much from them. Don't worry I still will be around on SCS and the net when I can WIFI my laptop and I so hope to be back swapping real soon.

Clip-Its and Courage

One can never have enough of these clips in the kitchen that is the way it is around our home. The girls were helping get a bunch of these ready a few weeks ago to sell at church. My faves were in the tins they would make such an easy hostess gift not to mention an awesome storage place, some were also packaged in sets of 5.



Product list...
Clothes Pins
Tin
DP
Modge Podge
Foam Brush
Buttons and ribbon (pti)
Twine
Glue Dots

To make cut strips out of your dp the size of your clothes pin, use a small amount of modge podge to adhere the paper and cover the top. We did both sides however, only embellished one side with button.

My wonderful friend Dana sent me a CD by Jorie, Songs of Deliverance you can find Jorie at this link Thank you so much Dana the songs on this CD are BEAUTIFUL;)

Courage sticks out as my favorite really speaks to me as our lives go these days.
"but you ask me once again if I will follow will I follow you but, what if I fall break in two but what if the pain hurts more then where I was before I followed you. But what if this road never ends...Because you can make all things new...that's you, that's my God. I can't but you can...that's my God..."


Visit this link at (in)Courage to see five ways to celebrate Easter. I really loved reading through this post I think you will also what stuck out to me is tracking Jesus to Calvary the art on the candle holder is so beautiful.

Biker Princess

As soon as Little J could see the street she wanted to try out her big girl bike;) She does really good goes fast...now has to learn to STOP!

Love the tire splash!

Little J has been sick, sinus infection, has not felt like doing anything and that sure is not like her. She is on antibiotics now so she should get better soon.

D back from Montana safe and sound, she had a wonderful trip said she actually liked the snowboarding and skiing. She has a few pics I will see if she will hook me up with a few of them.

Jesse is now on his second full week of work, YES!!

We are really keeping an eye on the water levels outside and checking the basement twice a day, so far so good keeping our fingers crossed.

Two for Tea

I needed some get well cards in my stash and by using the same layout in different colors both of these were quick to create.



Product list...
PTI vintage labels, warm happiness and Tea for two stamp sets, buttons, twine and ink
Tim Holtz old paper ink
Wrights rick rack
spellbinders labels one dies
Copic Markers
Momento ink
dimensional dots
felt
dp

Now that's GL-assy!

My friend Chris made up some tiles last week and it motivated me to play around with the glass tiles I had staring me down for months now.

Finished tiles I have flipped one over so you can see the painted back. Such a beautiful blue I LOVE IT! Don't they look like a cool pool waiting to be dove into? Just think what you can do with the glass tiles once PTI starts releasing the acrylic paints!!!


So I put the positive side of the cut on the tiles and used the negative pieces to etch the votive holder. I still have the backing paper sheets to use stay tuned to see what I have done with them.

Directions on how to use the second cut for an etched glass votive...
1) Use carrier sheet to pick up negative pieces of vinyl from the cutting mat
2) Adhere the carrier sheet to glass votive and burnish with craft stick
3) Remove carrier sheet
4) Apply glass etching cream per product directions
5) Wash off cream
6) Remove cut pieces to reveal etching




And on a personal note DH worked his first FULL week last week, (Insert Happy Dance Here)and the card table for Montana trip did WONDERFULLY;)

Product list...
Painted Glass Tiles
White Vinyl
Cricut Expression
Cricut Storybook cartridge
Glass votive
etching cream

Time to Relax

Product list...
PTI On My Couch, On My Couch Additions, ink and card stock
Basic Grey Wisteria dp stack
Copic Markers
Cuttlebug
Spellbinders Labels One
Circle Punches
Tim Holtz distress ink
Ranger Glossy Accents (on picture glass)

Okay, I did it when I was at Hobby Lobby (feels like ages ago now) I saw they were selling Copic Markers with a BONUS 30% off sale and I had some 40% coupons. So I did pick up a handful for a steal compared to the going price on the Internet. I AM SO HAPPY;) I just wanted to try a few to see what they were like and now I am HOOKED on them. Anyone know when the next big Copic Marker sale will be at Hobby Lobby? The only downfall was they did not have many of the PTI color chart markers and they can not order them or give rain checks for the markers they are out of. I did find that the red and purple tended to wonder out of the lines if you colored close so I learned to leave some room around the edge and it would blend itself to the line by the time you were done coloring.

It is very relaxing indeed to color with Copics what a great stress reliever, I kick up my feet in my comfy chair and start blending away.

Montana

My Daughter did it again and this time it was BIG! Usually it is, "Mom do you have something for a bday gift for so and so?" This time it was "Mom, we are short for the Montana retreat do you have any cards ready that you could sell at Church again on Sunday?" Turns out I do have enough of a stash that they Youth should do pretty good with sales and increase the bottom line for the retreat. So if you are attending Calvary Reformed on Sunday remember to check out the Youth Sales table with 100% of sales going to the Montana Retreat.

You Can Do IT! Tutorial

Yes, you can!

Okay, I took time and played around with the PTI hybrid reinkers and acrylic felt and it does work to dye your own. Here are my tips...

1) Die cut your image from felt I used 100 percent acrylic
2) Metal measuring cup 1/8 with warm water
3) Place in 5 drops of Hybrid reinker
4) Mix the ink and water very well
**I did notice with the Lavender Moon there were chunks of a darker purple color in the mix, not sure why but they did cause the process to be uneven and you could really see the difference in the pink and purple blends. The Lemon tart turned out BEAUTIFUL!

4) Place your felt cuts into the mixture (they wick up the color and water quickly)
5) Set felt aside on a glass plate to dry
The felt will wick out the color and water just as quickly if you put it on an absorbent product such as newspaper or towels so stick to the glass plate.
6) I made little flower short stacks on the plate and flipped them during the day took about 24 hours to dry this way but the color stayed very well.

Below you can see the white I started with and the end products in Lemon Tart and Lavender Moon...



Do-Da used on a card front...


Close up view of finished do-da...


Product list...
Acrylic Felt
Cuttlebug and flower dies
PTI hybrid reinkers in Lemon Tart and Lavender Moon, blooming button bits stamp set
gems, ink, buttons and card stock
Metal Mixing cup and fork
Glass Plate
Marvy flower punch
Vintage Book