Honoring Godly Women, Word art Wednesday and a freebie

This weeks anything goes challenge over at Word Art Wednesday  starts off with a wonderful devotion by Karen Letchworth.  This devotion centers around the power of the Living word in the lives of women, take the time and read it you will be blessed!

On a personal note, having been a Christian woman now for 35 years, living daily in my faith and walking one step at a time with the Lord.  I can testify that the words of this proverb are true. 

Christianity above any other faith honors women as they should be honored and treated as they should be. There is no gender prejudice, we are equals in all aspect of life and.  This equality is ordained by God's  Word.  My Life has not always been easy I have not always been loved and respected as I am now, but that alone is a testimony to the faithfulness of The Lord - if you walk long enough with the Lord and hang in there during the tough times - 'you SHALL rejoice in time to come.'

Here is this weeks verse done by the talented Karen Murry:

Here is my entry to the challenge, I find this portrait done in the late 1920's to be an arresting image

Here is my gift to you today, this is free for you to use within public domain art.

Isn't she beautiful!

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful day!

Ginny M

Happy Monday!

                    Here is a quick little card I made for Oriental Stamp Arts Challenge # 318

If  you are interested in Asian Art and card making and would like information about joining the wonderful group please leave a comment or email me at maxammade@hotmail,com

Thanks for Stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful week!

Ginny M

A beautiful Spring day here in western MA

Still a little chilly, but it was  sunny and nice, Yay!

I've had a busy day enjoying our Saturday.  I made this today and it is my first attempt ever at making pickles

.  I really enjoyed the process and I hope to enjoy the results tomorrow!!


This arrived yesterday,

More fun ahead!

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

Thanks for stopping by,

Ginny M

Kitchen Chemistry

Once of my favorite things to do in my kitchen is make up batches of spices and mixes.  I Like to start from the basics and batch it up.  I hear a lot of people say they don't have the time to cook, or they don't know how to cook.  I know very few of my friends that I can sit down and talk about where to get the best deal on Artisan flours.  I only have one friend that actually cooks organic.  I do have to cut some slack for my generation, we worked full time from high school or college, raised kids, continued education, some how managed to keep the family in clean clothes and go to sports practice, dance lessons and church.  Kuddos to my friends who have been living in hyper drive for 30 years!  

I did those things too but I have loved to cook since  I was a teenager.  Now that I am not living in hyper drive, I try to take full advantage of keeping and using a well stocked kitchen.  No one in my Family complains about this...

I buy bulk spices from Amazon,  San Fancisco Herb company, Atlantic Spice and my Local meat market  (Arnolds').

I love to make up batches of rubs for cooking.  Good Cooking is also Good Chemistry and knowing what works with what.  Fats and Acids are a must to bring out the flavors of food, spice enhance and amplify them. I work with what I know my family loves.   

The cost of purchasing mixes in spice shops is prohibitive to me, I can buy a pound of the excellent fresh dries basil for less than 20.00 - that will last me a year (kept in the freezer).  it is 6.99 for 2oz in the shops.

Today I made large batches of mixes for Chicken, Pork and Beef : The will go into roasts, stews, soups, sautes and marinades.  These mixes are a go-to  basic.

The base for all these mixes is parsley

I re use oil and vinegar bottles,  some day I will pick up a stainless funnel, but until then this 20 year old chipped cracked and stained one does the trick.

These will last me a month or so.

The basics for my cooking:

The Mixes, Parsley, Balsamic powder, Basil, Chive, Pink Sea Salt, Chopped Onion, Powdered Onion.  In the cabinet above the rest of my spices.

And because I have new Bride coming here in two months:

"How am I ever going to remember what is what"??  I caved in and labeled on oneside...

If your interested in the particulars, let me know...

Thanks for stopping by!

Ginny M

Planted by the waters and a freebie

Over at Word Art Wednesday the is a wonderful verse for you to add to your digital Stash!  Karen Murray has digitized a beautiful verse for everyone in a lovely graceful font:

Karen Letchworth also brings another beautiful devotion in a bible study  that brings it home.  I enjoyed reading her devotion and found it very refreshing.  This is one of my favorite verses.  It was the first one God spoke to me in a Rehema fashion.  I was a new Christian and making big life changing decisions.  I felt The Lord give me a direction to go somewhere that I did not want to go.  I had a whole list of why I should not go and when I poured my heart out to the lord in a way that I said " You can't be serious, It will kill me to do that" I had at least 25 reasons to back up my logic - I felt the Lord tell me to go to this scripture and then to Jeremiah 17:7-8.  I was a brand spankin new Christian, I had to look in the table of contents to find Jeremiah.  So I did what he told me to do, kicking and complaining - but I did it.  

Now I look back and think how rich my life has been and how this word has truly come to pass in my life and how The Lord has made my dreams come true.  Oh my life has not always been easy - far from it, but it has always been blessed and full of His Love!  I am so thankful I made the right decision that day!

Here is my card for word Art Wednesdays Challenge;

I am giving you this digital too, for your card making and paper crafting.

Thanks for stopping by and Be this Tree!!

Ginny M

What's On Your Work Desk # 307?

It's time for WOYWW#307 !  I haven't stopped by for quite some time!!  Always fun to peek around desks all over the globe for crafty and organizing inspiration!  Click over to Here: Julia's' blog and join in or just enjoy!

This is the "During" stage of making a challenge entry for Kraft Journal Blog, just a small mess.

Finished product:

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the blog hop!

Ginny M

Anything Goes Challenge # 220 - Girlfriends! and a give away

I've been having so much fun working with my Krafty Craft supplies, 

all because I found the Kraft Journal Blog.  

I found the Kraft Journal because I love Karen Lechworth's art and found the blinkie on her blog.  

This is how these blog links up are supposed to work, a giant circle of inspiration and creativity. 

I am still amazed at all the diversity of art you can find in card making and how willing everyone is to share - really the more the Merrier!

I love this weeks' theme at the Kraft Journal Challenge , I am so fortunate to have Girlfriend a that are as close as sister and sisters that are as close as girl friends!

I went vintage this week - Surprise!

Picked out my image and my papers;

A little distressing, I used these strange foam things, they are really a crayola product, part of a foam smores kit.  This white thing is a marshmallow, For some reason It landed in my craft room and I now have a set of distress tools that I spent 4.00 on and they work better than anything else I have tried.

Finished cards - I made a few

   The  Card is on a textured Kraft base weight 130# CS

   A little glitter and a little bling

Here is my card Girlfriend!!

Here is your own image for downloading

Thanks for stopping by and check out Kraft Journal Blog for more inspiration!!

Ginny M

We're home

We had an absolutely wonderful weekend away at Cape Cod!  We had a wedding to go to on Saturday, Steve surprised me by turning it into a long weekend get away!
We enjoyed one of the nicest weddings I've ever been too!  The wedding was at Sea Crest Beach Hotel on old silver beach and it was just awesome!  We were treated like royalty!  Wonderful food and accommodations.  We enjoyed lots of walking on the beach, shopping, and wonderful food!  We came home refreshed and relaxed!

Such a beautiful couple, and just as sweet and loving as they are handsome!!

I can't help but think of the day I married Steve it was so wonderful, and it only got better every day after!

 My Sweetheart

me

Cape Cod from our hotel

Beautiful Sunset - one of the few sea side places to see the sunset on the water on the East Coast!!

We always check out the local spice shops to find something new to bring home and try, On this trip we found 3 new wonderful blends:

I suspect I will be making these in much larger batches!

It's good to be home, supper is cooking and we're all unpacked - traveling light has a lot of advantages!

Thanks for stopping by,

Ginny M

Improvised Washi tape and OSA Challenge # 317

This weeks Challenge over at OSA involved making a tag with washi tape.  Only problem, I don't own any washi tapes so I improvised using the cover of a 6x6 paper pad!!

Making my Faux Washi using a cover to a 6x6 paper pad:

This requires a lot of skill. Okay maybe no skill....

And here is the finished project!

I hope you are having a great day!

Thanks for stopping by!

Patterned paper card

Sometimes the paper is just pretty you don't need toad another image for a focal point.
Remember your early card making days when you didn't even know what a focal point was?
I do, but then I used to make stamps by carving raw potatoes!  It worked!

I have a stack in my stash called Cherry blossom, I'm not sure who made it.  The papers are so pretty and unusuall they can really stand alone for card making.  I belong to a group called Tanoushi Swappoua, Japanese for 'beautiful swaps'.  It isn't an Asian art group only like OSA , but we do do a lot of Asian style cards.

This swap was themed Cherry Blossom.  When I signed up I had just this paper in mind along with a stamp .

This is a lovely Magenta Stamp # 0643P if you are interested. I love magenta stamps and not only do I use them to stamp with but I collect the as well, it is the only brand that I collect.  They went in to business in 1992 and I bought my first stamp from them in 1994, it was love at first sight.  Sometimes it is a love -hate relationship because they can be a pain to get a good image from!! If you use Magenta stamps you will know what I mean!

The papers

You might look at this and wonder how I can pull these three together?   The answer is: I couldn't !!

trying tp place that image anywhere on these two papers would have bee a disaster, so I opted to not use the stamp, but copy the look of it.

I prepared my 5x6 base

and began  fussy cutting my focal image:

a few minutes later and here is my card:

I actually managed to get my sentiment fully inked and straight!

 I hope your weekend is going well!  Steve and I are enjoying a weekend at Cape Cod!

Thanks for stopping by,

Word Art Wednesday entry

I especially love this weeks beautiful gift verse over at Word Art Wednesday.

 When I read it I instantly had a image in my mind and one I know I don't have in rubber.  

This verse brought back the time to me of when I was searching,  

This beautiful image reminds me of that desert walk in my life, and when I found Him,

The explosion of Joy I felt then and still today 35 years later.   

Here is my card:

Stop over to Word Art Wednesday and  read Karens' beautiful devotion and leave a little love. 

Make a card, drop it in the mail and make someones day!

Thanks for stopping by!

Ginny M

Mid week Project

Some of you will totally not relate to this post and may think I need to take a chill pill. 

If that is you, I'd love to know your secret!

I also know I say some of the same things over and over (I've raised three kids - that is a given). My mantra: Organize what you have, so you know what you have, so you can use what you have!

Some day I may have a craft room like this:

But right now it is a  9x11 room I am very happy to have.

So I have to keep things organized and in order

In the last two weeks I have cranked out two sets of wedding stationary including  the calligraphy and images on the envelopes, that is over 400 pieces in two weeks, and these were multi layered, very detailed, lots and lots of papers, inks and glues.

I have another dozen projects to move on to.  I ahve to stay organized to stay productive.

Part of my card making style is using lots of layers and printed papers , so I have lots and lots of paper.  Last Summer in an effort to make using my 12x12  pads easier to use . I chopped them up into 6x6 pads.  That worked, I really am glad I did that but that left me with another problem, How to keep those organized.  

I read posts on organizing by color a, theme, brand and thought about going the color route.  But then that might really take a long time to do and what about those colors you can't decide what color it really is? I know this is as my oldest son would say a totally 1st world problem, but it becomes a waste of resources if you don't use what you have and I do not want to waste our money or our time!

So I thought about it and last week I came up with a solution!  

I'm going to share it with you, The only way I can describe it is a simple indexing system.

This is what I am starting with , 5 drawers of  6x6 pads of paper that have been chopped from 12x12 pads.  I might remember what I have, but finding anything was becoming a problem. 

 This indexing system solved both problems and it only took about 6 hours to do.

Before:

During:

After:

This was really very simple

I sorted all the pads and put like together, some of the chops had ended up in more than one place;

Then I made Tags and labled them  - nothing fancy

here you see #29 the 3 means drawer 3

 each set of papers has a corresponding label from the index

using one of the cover sheets I create the index tag, so now I know what I have and where it is

I placed the indexed cards in a basket, and miscellaneous papers to work with.  There is no problem to add in new sets.

That basket goes on a counter, behind it are a few 8x8 pads I have,

These 6x6 pads work great for my personal card making 

I still keep pads in the 12x12 format.

I use the 12 x12's for kit making, Journal/book making, DT work, Batches of cards for sale and things like that.

So that is how I store my printed papers, I hope you find this helpful, I really like having an index and making this happen was pretty easy.

Thanks for stopping by!

Ginny M