Sweet Coffee

Hello friends, Happy New Year!  It's been a tough week for our country.  My emotions have been up and down.  One thing I remind myself is that God is in control.  So important to keep looking at Him, and not at the circumstances around us.

I have a card to share today, and I am playing in challenges, too.  That makes my heart happy. 😊

Tim Holtz / Stampers Anonymous - Fresh Brewed Blueprint coffee stamp; Quick Kutz Hot Drink coffee cup die; Memory Box Classic Tags circle tag die; twine; Stampin' Up! Brown Sugar cotton twine

This is a birthday card for my youngest daughter, who discovered the elixir of coffee while in her first semester at college.  I began drinking coffee when I was about 22 years old, and I never looked back.  LOL  

Here are the challenges I am playing in:

• Krafty Chicks Challenge #541 - Stamp Act - use a stamp
• Time Out Challenge #178 - Life In The City.  My daughter goes to college in the city, so this is where she drinks her coffee!
• NBUS - never before used stuff!  The Tim Holtz coffee stamp and Quick Kutz coffee cup die are new to me
• The Card Concept - Winter Warmth - my style is Clean & Layered (was a bit tricky to pick a style I used here, but I think this might be the best match).  I was inspired by the warm winter drink -- although, hey, I drink coffee ALL year!

The weekend is upon us, and I'll be baking cookies called Pumpkin Rocks from Maida Heatter's Cookie cookbook.   (Though I found the exact cookbook I own on Amazon, which is featured in this link, the price is a staggering $104.34 for the hardcover version.  Are you kidding me??)

Psalm 121:1-2 ESV

A Song of Ascents. I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

God bless you!

Monochromatic Sympathy for the Paper Players

This is my second post for today.  Please click here for a Pair of Retirement Cards.

I'm back already today, this time with a sympathy card that fits into the Paper Players challenge:  Monochromatic Clean & Simple.  Made this card a week or so ago, but just photo-edited yesterday:

The point of this card was to play with a new-to-me background stamp by Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz - Distressed Floral.  Isn't it gorgeous?  The Boutique Borders: Sympathy die and stamp from Papertrey Ink made a good pairing with the background, I think.

Yesterday I photographed 24 cards!!  Yikes, that's a lot of photo-editing facing me!  It'll take me some time.  I tend to do mine in batches, sitting for hours in front of the computer, banging out a bunch at once.  How do you do yours?  One at a time, or a group of them?

Stamps: Boutique Borders: Sympathy - PTI; Distressed Floral background - Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz Paper: Sahara Sand, Old Olive, Very Vanilla - SU; white - PTI Ink: pale taupe - Anna Griffin; Versafine Onyx Black - Tsukineko; Sahara Sand - SU Fibers: ivory satin ribbon - Anna Griffin Accessories & Tools: Boutique Borders: Sympathy die - PTI; Elegant Scrollwork die - Memory Box; Branch punch - Martha Stewart; paper flower