Countdown till Christmas @ StampTV

Over at StampTV there is a countdown till Christmas! 
For the next 10 days, we will be featuring different past StampTV Videos and then you are invited to play along for a chance to win one of 5 fabulous prize packages including the new, up and coming StampTV kit! Check out the StampTV Challenge Page for this year end fun-filled challenge and see all of the prizes up for grabs.
      This is my entry for the Distressed Newsprint Technique.  I printed the music from a free weekly sample from Dover Publications I then distressed with Tim Holtz Frayed Burlap & Vintage Photo. Next I lightly sprayed water on the back side, waited for it to soak in so no drops were visible, then crumpled it up in a ball (1st attempt I sprayed the front & the print smeared badly!)  Smoothed it out a little, then used Frayed Jeans direct to paper for the final distressing . . . see it just hit the bumpy crumples!
         I stamped the manger from Inkadinkado's O Holy Night clear stamp set. Heat embossed with gold EP. Cut out with the Lacy Circle die from Spellbinders, then framed it on gold CS & cut out with Blossoms die from Spellbinders.
      The scripture is from Melanie Muenchingers Festive Frame .
  

Christmas gift Tag

Over at Mark's Finest Papers
This weeks Speedy the Cat's Friends Challenge #27
is a holiday card, & she said "easy peasy".  Well I took it a step on the easy peasy side and started on my Christmas "gift tags" for grandchildren.

 I stamped snowflakes & embossed with white. Stamped & heat embossed the sleigh & reindeer with black.  I colored sleigh with miselaneous markers.  Then splotchy sponged the sky & direct to paper distressed with Tim Holtz faded denim distress ink.

Last deer scene of 2010 (I think)

My latest deer sunset scene! (I think it's the last deer card for 2010 for me...from Sept 16 till Nov 26 I have 8 guy B'days and 6 of them got the deer sunset in some form...or other, 2 got fishing cards!) I'm going to have to find a new theme for my Sept/Oct/Nov outdoorsmen/hunters/fishermen guys next year!!!! Whew!

Stamped "Life is Good"  by Theresa Momber @ GinaK Designs & heat embossed with black EP.
Masked sun & sponged background with Tim Holtz Distress inks. 

Entered in challenges:
1)  Mark's Finest Papers
2)  StampTV's Sketch

UPDATE on Madi's (Minnie) recovery

UPDATE  Madie aka Minnie went home  9/29/2010 about 55 hours post surgery!  I'm doing a happy dance...praising God!  She is hurting a lot, but she got up and walked to the dinner table with the family...didn't stay long....went back to bed shortly...but I'm totally amazed by this strong little girl.

UPDATE: 10/1/2010  My son just said Madi had a good day, she's doing better today cutting back on the meds more and moving a little less ginglerly.

I want to Thank each & every one of you who are praying!  THANK YOU ALL!!!!

UPDATE: 10/13/2010  Madi is doing very well. I just talked to her via the computer VIDEO link up just now! She is back in school and will have her staples removed this
next Monday...they are taking her to surgery to do it. The doctor was so
cautious about the aftermath infections she had after last surgery,
that he used staples this time (thinking that her little body is
allergic to the disolving stitches that were used last time.) And he
left the staples in a lot longer than usual, so she has to go to OR to remove
them.  But Praise God...no infection so far!!!

Stvcolorjanice5, SCFC #24

Blue Jay for 2 challenges:
For stvcolorjanice6 at StampTv.
       For Speedy the Cat's Friend Challenge #24 at MarksFinestPapers. They required stripes this week.
I stamped "Greetings of the Season 2010" from MarksFinestPapers using Versamark & heat embossed with Black EP.


   I painted the jay with LuminArte powdered pigments mixed with GumArabic.  Then cut out with Spellbinders "Labels8" die & then sponged blue ink around the perimeter.  Mounted on kraft DP from my stash & tied a bow with sheer brown tinted slightly with blue ribbon (repurposed...I had received it on a gift).
    Stamped "Many Blessings" sentiment from Asela Hopkins' Friendships Garden set at StampTv
Then mounted on striped paper from Cloud9Designs.

Stvsketchvd5, Speedy's FC#24 & Beccy's Place

Entered in 2 Challenges:
1) Entered in stvsketchvd5 at StampTv.
2) Entered at Mark's Finest Papers Challenge #24 (use stripes)
Printed the carousel digi from freebie at Beccy's Place
I painted carousel with LuminArte powdered pigments mixed with GumArabic.  No, there is NO glitter :-)
Cut out with Spellbinders "Labels 8" and sponged blue around horse. Also "Fancy Tags" die for sentiment.
Papers from CoreDinations "Gemstones" and AmericanCraft
Sentiment from GinaKDesigns "Inside and Out" set.

SSCC & STVCOLORJANICE5

This is for 2 challenges: Stampin Sisters in Christ Challenge #60 where we are to make a Thank you card...Enter by 11:59 pm PDT (GMT -8) on Saturday, October 16th.

Scripture: 1 Timothy 4:4 "For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving..."

         The second challenge is for STVCOLORJANICE5 challenge at StampTV

This was so much fun! It all started out with a "mistake"! lol   I loaded the "Music Score" stamp by Stampendous with Versamark and stamped it on white CS.  It did not stamp in the middle!!!!!!!

     I went ahead and heat embossed with  Blue Glass EP by Ranger.   Now WHAT TO DO!!!   Embossed with small Spellbinders Labels 8 in the center unstamped area with my Cuttlebug! Then I sponged around the inside of the die with "Spiced Marmalade" by Ranger.  Cut out Music Score with larger "Labels 8" & distressed around the edge with "Spiced Marmalade". Framed with Navy CS, background is DP by BasicGrey and Rhinestones from Studios18.

   Stamped "With Gratitude" from "Spring Florals" @ GinaK Designs

It's amazing how imperfections can turn out really neat if we don't give up & "trash" them....Thank God that He continues to work on our imperfections when we will let Him!!!!

 

Smart-Word Challenge & GinaK Designs Sept. Release Party

This card was entered at GinaK's September Release Party for Lee's Challenge On Oct.4, 2010
I also entered it at The Smart-Word Challenge for the October word  "BROWN"

UPDATE: At GinaK Designs CONGRATS TO Nan Gustafson!!!!!

Grandaughter Updates: 9/29, 10/1, 10/6

UPDATE:  Madie went home today 9/29/2010 about 55 hours post surgery!  I'm doing a happy dance...praising God!  She is hurting a lot, but she got up and walked to the dinner table with the family...didn't stay long....went back to bed shortly...but I'm totally amazed by this strong little girl.


UPDATE: 10/1/2010  My son just said Madi aka Minnie had a good day, she's doing better today cutting back on the meds more and moving a little less ginglerly.

UPDATE: 10/5/2010  My son said: "she's doin' really great went to school today! She stayed half a day at school and will do that the rest of the week!"   MeMa says PRAISE GOD!

10-2-10 Mt. card for Two challenges

I'm entering my "sponged" masculine card for 2 challenges. At The smART-Word Challenge 
October's challenge word is 'brown'.  Hmmmm... that could mean anything from dirt to chocolate, but it's up to you to decide...
     October's prize is this smART assortment of brown-related images:

The 2nd challenge I entered this card in is: September Release Challenge #2   at    GinaK Designs
This challenge is due Mon 10/4 by 7pm CST.  But don"t despair! Gina K has a big Blog Hop introducing her new stamp sets almost every month, so join StampTV and you'll be ready for the next release!
   A few notes about how I made my card:  I Sponged scene, for mountains, I tore paper for masks and sponged the whole scene with distress ink. Then stamped trees with Club Scrap stamps.
Cat, This is for a guy, so I couldn't get to blingy with my bling, so the 3 little metal tabs were chosen!

My grandaughter just got out of back surgery

God really does work in mysterious ways!!!:
1) Madi was supposed to have this rod removed (this was to be in preperation for a huge surgery that should happen about 1 year after the rod is removed) on August 23 (which was the 1st day of school) The week before at the pre-op appointment, however the surgeon hadn't gotten all the information from the other surgeon that will be doing her Huge surgery, so he canceled the surgery! We all wondered WHY LORD? A sidebar: Madi told her daddy after that surgery was canceled "Daddy, I prayed that I could go to school on the first day of school, & she did.)
2) Then a week after she started school . . . the rod broke and we all wondered WHY LORD?
Sometimes we never know WHY...but sometimes God graciously gives us a glimpse of what he has been doing behind the scene in His own time.
    Here is a look at the xray.  The smaller rod on the right is attached between 2 ribs this lets them ratchet the "titanium rib" out as she grew to stretch the rod as she grew.

3) The surgeon's report to my son shows us a little of what intervention God has been doing in Madie's life just in the last 45 days! He said: if I had removed the rod when the first surgery was scheduled, I would have had to make an incision from the top of the rod at her neck all the way down her back to the bottom of the rod to remove it. But since it broke at the bottom just above the anchoring screws into her disk, I was able to remove it with just 2 small incisions & she won't have near as much tissue that has to heal and less chance of infection! (But we still need to pray for protection from infection!)
Praise God! He truly works in mysterious ways! And He doesn't always let us know why... and unfortunately we don't always trust God when bad things happen in our lives. . . but we still need to trust Him . . . because He sees the whole picture & He knows what we need in order to grow in Him. Romans 8:28 comes to my mind so often. "For the good"...may not be what we would like to happen, but "for the good" that will bring us closer to God & to trust Him more.
Sorry this is so long.....
Please continue to pray for God's mercy & healing for Madi.
Thank you so much! MeMa Lagene

"Melanie Muenchinger is releasing a companion to her "A Year of Flowers" called "Buds and Vases"

"Melanie Muenchinger is releasing a companion to her "A Year of Flowers" called "Buds and Vases", a die cut stamp set filled with brand new flowers and containers, this Thursday night, September 30 at 10 PM CST from Gina K Designs! Be sure to check out her sneak preview of the set on her blog and enter for a chance to win the set!"
    HURRY & check it out here:   http://melaniemuenchinger.blogspot.com/2010/09/day-1-lovely-labels-and-buds-and-vases.html
UPDATE: CONGRATS  Paula Laird 

My New Blog / New to Blogging

Ok all you old time bloggers.....I'm new at this, so be patient with me.....but I think this is a very "user friendly" setup! So I'm off  &  crawling . . . maybe I'll advance to walking . . . and who knows maybe someday I'll even RUN with this!

House Mouse Thank You

For Challenge #78 at http://housemouse-challenge.blogspot.com/2010/09/challenge-no-78-special-sketch-blog-hop.html   I stamped Mudpie Munch with VersaMark & heat embossed with black EP.  Then colored by mixing LuminArte Powdered Pigments with Gum Arabic then painting the image.  I sponged around image with Burlap Distress Ink by Ranger.  The pearls are from Basics by Kaiser Craft.  Used Spellbinders Labels 8 dies and Fiskars Diamond boarder punch.  Colored the flower with TimHoltz Distress inks Fired Brick & Worn Lipstick.  "Thank You"  from  Inside and Out stamp set by Gina @ http://www.shop.ginakdesigns.com/category.sc?categoryId=3
     Also entered for Janice's color challenge using brown, red, green & ivory at StampTV http://stamptv.ning.com/forum/topics/color-challenge-2