Gates of Pearl-God Sized Dreams

Excitement, excitement for me, because Gates of Pearl is a project I've been working on for a very, very long time and am so happy to finally complete my small dream.   I have all my loves into this, love of God, love of  photography, love of quilting, love of knitting/crochet, love of stamping,  love of reading, love of flowers all combined together.

 I'm not a writer, so creating a book is really just a love of photographs and words from the Bible (http://zondervan.com/bibles) and some other's written inspiration, photos with scriptures along with a couple of prayers and inspirational pieces.   I've created this into 3 separate books (which can be ordered in softcover or as an e-book)  from HP Magcloud :  http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/609976

 I thank my heavenly Father for the inspiration and gift of creation and Holly Gerth (http://holleygerth.com/) for the encouragement through "God Sized Dreams".

As always, anytime you try to encourage other's, which I hope that this does, it always comes back and refreshes yourself.    Blessing to you, Michelle

 

Paper Purses and stamped tea cards

Purses, and tea go hand in hand, right.  I had so much fun making these adorable little purses, I just couldn't stop.  They are great for a favor size for little gifts to fill with candy.  I love this new tea stmap set too.  All products from stamping up.

I made several in each style in a bunch of colorways, not showing all of them, don't want to bore you too much.  This is my favorite one, with the white background and this embossing folder is one of my favorite.

I love tea parties, I drink tea every day, morning, noon and night, sometimes it's a quick mug in the microwave, another time it's brewed in the kettle just right and sometimes when there's more time it's loose leaf in fine china.  I like all kinds of tea, but mostly ?  Do you have a a special time of day for tea, or cup, or variety of tea or special desert with tea? 

Happy sipping, Michelle

Rose Bud Tag Art & Green Blessings for Pink Saturday

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!
An Irish Prayer
May God give you....For every storm, a rainbow, For every tear, a smile, For every care, a promise, And a blessing in each trial.  For every problem life sends, A faithful friend to share, For every sigh, a sweet song, And an answer for each prayer.

Linking up with Beverly for "Pink Saturday"...head on over to check out all the other links.
http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Blog Inspiration...stop on over to and seeHeather-pos troad vintage her blog, you will be inspired... http://postroadvintage.com/2012/01/a-lil-pre-valentines-romance.html

I made these beauties up...each rose is so unique, each dries differently.

Happy creating....Michelle

From Saint Patrick's Breastplate
Christ be with me
Christ before me
Christ behind me
Christ beneath me
Christ above me
Chris on my right
Christ on my left
Christ where I lie
Christ where I sit
Christ where I arise
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me
Chris in the mouth of every man who speaks of me
Christ in every eye that sees me
Christ in every ear that hears me
Salvation is of the Lord!

Praise God-Tag Art

Bless you, all praise and glory to Him, Michelle

1,000 Gifts and counting....thankful/grateful for....

298.  grace inherited-cross crocheted hankerchief

299.  coconut macroon bars

300.  large snowflakes -fall gently

301.  book read-"Heaven is for Real"

302.  pink tulips and baby's breath

303.  being a pilgrim-1st Peter 1:1

304.  bing one of the elect and sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ -1st Peter 1:2

305.  begotten me again and living hope-1st Peter 1:3

306.  an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and does not fade away and reserved in heaven-1st Peter 1:4

307.  my faith to be found to praise, honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ-1st Peter 1:7

308.  salvation of my soul-1st Peter 1:9

309.  for the prophets who inquired and searched and prophised-1st Peter 1:10

310.  sufferings of Christ and glories that will follow-1st Peter 1:11

311.  those things revealed and ministered to us and preached-1st Peter 1:12

Actually, if you really want to feel encouraged, and blessed, oh my goodness just study even this 1st chapter of 1st Peter, wow, how much He loves us.

Stamping Snowman

Lots of Snowman cards....this will be the last of this seasonal card making...I'm looking forward to Spring and flowers next.

I really had lots of fun creating these cards...I just got my "snowman" drawer of winter stamps out and went to town.  I like working on a theme, it's so much easier to limit yourself to one theme and use all the stamps/punches/embellishments that coordinate.  I had a friend over for her birthday and we stamped for a few hours, we do this twice a year, once for her birthday and once for mine.  Have a lovely day enjoying whatever hobby craft that brings you joy.  Hugs, Michelle

The Meaning of the Snowman-1000 Gifts

Linking up with Ann over at http://www.aholyexperience.com/.  Stop over and feel encouraged.  Her post is absolutely wonderful today...answer to Anxiety!  Read and be lifted from stresses today my friends.

Since we have snow here outside, I thought I'd share some snowman I made indoors, hand stamped cards, along with a cute little poem.

The Meaning of the Snowman

The white snow stands for the purity of souls filled with God's grace. The circular snowballs represent God's everlasting love.
The pieces of coal used to make the eyes, mouth and buttons symbolize God's Almighty power.
The carrot nose reminds us that God gives us everything we need to live and grow.
The scarf suggests the warmth of God's tender care.
The top hat reminds us always to keep faith our top priority.
The arms are outstretched to us, as God's always are.
The broom made of starw and wood signifies that Jesus was born and died to cleanse us of sin.
May your heart be ever warmed by the good news of God's great love for you!
Author Unknown

1000 Gifts and Counting
Healthy and able to clean my house
Privilege of being in Christ's family and being called by his wonderful name-1st Peter 4:16
son  who snowblows driveway
Special abilities God has given me-1st Peter 4:10
daughter who is compassionate
Partner with Christ in his suffering...wonderful joy of sharing his glory...1st Peter 4:13
sister who is kind and thoughtful
...God will never fail me-1st Peter 4:19
girlfriend who takes me to lunch for my birthday
Let him have all your worries and cares, for he is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you.-1st Peter 5:7
flower seeds collected from my garden
...give me his eternal glory...He personally will come and pick me up...and make me strong than ever...-1st Peter 5:10

This music video is Vicki Beeching sing "Cativated"-hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

I have one of Vicki's albums and I just love listening to her sing.
 Blessings, hope, joy and peace to you, Michelle

Quilted Nativity-Stoicking Gardland Paper Art

Quilted Nativity Quilt-36x44", white stitching on red fabric, first time I quilted with wool batting and what a difference it makes when you want to see detail and dimension.  The scene is hard to see from a distance but up close looks very good.

Backing is white on white.

Stocking garland with the new stampin up die from the holiday mini, you can still order up until Jan 3rd out of the holiday catalog, see sidebar icon.

I did various embossing folder textures on all the white pieces and scallop punched the circles, raised them with a pop dot and embossed the letters in gold.

This was fun to make my own decoration, not to just store it right when I put it away.  Hope all your decorating and preparations are going smoothly...Hugs, Michelle